This morning was very tight on time as we had a Q and A session organised by our regional morning paper, The Western Morning News.  We had to have breakfast all finished and cleared away and then set up for a theatre style meeting for 70 all by 10.30.

Mel had her team organised and two rooms set up for breakfast to buy us as much time as she could and it was a very good decision as we found out that the guests had all been asked to be with us between 10 and 10.30 so that they could all be seated before the VIP guest arrived.  Most of the guests arrived on time, some were even here before 10!  Our VIP arrived and made use of the Met lounge to collect his thoughts before the session began.  My claim to fame now is escorting him down to the toilets but I did wait outside!

Having tantalised long enough I can tell you that our VIP guest was David Cameron, who is spending his summer holiday near here, though if this is a holiday….

Thank you to the Western Morning News for bringing him here.  We’re hoping to get a few mentions in the paper as well as on local radio, there will be video footage on the Western Morning News website later on today or tomorrow and I am hoping Spotlight will pick it up too - the sun was shining on the estuary out of our picture windows and looked great!

Here’s the link to the Western Morning News article with the video clip, as of Wednesday morning it is just a preview, am hoping for more than 1 minute 21 seconds later on today!

http://www.thisiswesternmorningnews.co.uk/news/VIDEO-WMN-readers-quiz-Cameron/article-242093-detail/article.html

We have our first members!

I should explain that the Richie Rhino Club is for our younger guests and is nothing to do with spearmint!  We have launched this across all the hotels to give something extra to the children who come to stay with us.  The children get a special bag with a drinks bottle and some colouring pencils and a book but the best thing is the cuddly toy, a cute little rhino.  I have had to lock them all away to stop the receptionists having their own one each.

The other benefit while in the hotel is the complimentary coke or lemonade with dinner and the chance to fill the drinks bottle at breakfast.  I know this summer hasn’t exactly been like the costas yet but it is still important to keep hydrated.

We also have a website for the members to log onto http://www.richardsonhotels.co.uk/richierhino.php where there are some games to play and space to upload pictures and holiday stories.

Coming back to our first members - it was great to be able to give the first packs to two young ladies who have been coming to the hotel for a number of years with mum and grandma - the colouring books were being filled in rapidly last night, I hope they last the stay!

Yesterday evening was fairly quiet for me, got away form work at a very respectable time to go to a meeting, back home after that for a quiet beer when the phone rang.  Amy had had a call from a neighbouring police force regarding somebody they were concerned about who was staying with us, they said they would send somebody down to see her.  Amy was a little unsure at this stage as she felt it may not have been quite right so rang me to check, I suggested she rang our police to check as they should know.  I decided I ought to come in and check so jumped in the car, having left the slightly sipped beer in the fridge.  Less than halfway in to the hotel Amy rang me back to say all was OK, the local force knew about the situation and had given her a reference number.

So a quick turn around and off home to finish the beer.  Just going to bed and while cleaning my teeth I heard a siren go past my house and wondered where it was going.  Two minutes later if that and Amy was back on the phone:  I did need to come in as the guest in question was in a bad way, talking to one police officer with others in attendance.

Flew back in to the hotel and met up witht he police and the sergeant who came in shortly after me.  Naturally I won’t go into the details but we did have to stop a few people going to bed, must say they were most upset at having to go to the bar for a drink!  The police team did a great job and everything was resolved safely and the guest was taken to hospital. 

After a few cups of tea all around and a debrief the police team were on their way and I was able to get home too.  All in all a very dramatic end to the day and most unusual for this quiet corner of Cornwall!

… as there are people using the pool!  It’s always a rush to get the pool ready for its 1st July opening date and Tony managed to get everything ready despite losing his right hand man for the last couple of weeks.  As you can imagine we get the pool open and then the sun goes in, much like at home when I get to sit in the garden!

We had our first swimmers in yesterday afternoon and again this morning - they didn’t stay in for long but at least they did appreciate the warm water and a bit of sunshine.  It is also good for us to see people in the pool and making the most of it.

With apologies to “The Wurzels” for borrowing their song title ( B side to their Combineharvester hit from the late 70s).  A young ish blackbird flew into the front hall today and caused a bit of fuss while we evicted it.  It flew into the front windows a couple of times, then went into the Met Lounge, hit a few more windows, collapsed on the floor and eventually let me catch it by throwing a towel over it.

Once I’d got it I released him from well outside the front door and off he went. leaving Jill to do a little cleaning!  We did think the newly covered chairs had escaped but unfortunatley not.  Luckily Jill is a dab hand at doing odd cleaning jobs and you would never know.

I know now that the bird must have been concussed because later that afternoon he came back!  This time he was much more wary of my bath towel and kept up high to avoid me before eventually running down the corridor to the restaurant, flying (cleanly) around there before going for another run around the tables.  I threw the towel over him but he kept on running and just ran out from under the edge, in this case a quick learner.  I got him at the second attempt, pinning down the edges of the towel before picking him up.  This time I shut the front door behind me as I took him out and left it shut so hopefully he won’t be able to get back in!

Today we hosted our first coffee morning in aid of the town’s lifeboat for a very long time.  The local fundraisers, headed up by Margaret, did all the organising for the stalls and the publicity so all we had to do was provide the room and the coffee.

When we started to put the tables in the Met Lounge yesterday I was a bit concerned about how much space they would have left but after a bit of juggling around this morning I managed to find a bit more room for them all.  As with previous events we have held for Save the Children we served the coffee and homemade biscuits in the main lounge and the CafeBar to give everyone a bit more room and also a chance to enjoy our fabulous view over the estuary.

The entrance fee was just £1 which included the coffee and then there was a myriad of stalls from the expected cake stall (lovely chocolate cake) to a raffle and a wide range of Padstow Lifeboat clothing.  I have my tickets from the national fundraising draw  stuck up on my office wall waiting for the end of June.  Mary, who was selling these tickets, is a real character and has an amazing technique for getting her cash - it is a long while since I have been threatened with physical violence….!

All in all the team raised over £400 from this morning’s work which is all very useful in keeping our lifeboat afloat.  A big thank you to all of those who came to support this cause and to all my staff who worked hard to make it a success.

Very well indeed!  I was just chatting with Giles about the herbs he’s just bought and is putting in, we will have a really good selection for the kitchen this year: loads of marjoram, some thyme, flat leaf parsley and dill as well as different types of mint.

We will leave Miles to bring us in the more esoteric things that he forages but we should be able to grow all we need of most herbs that we use. 

Well, OK it’s blood donor day today not a Bramstoker Appreciation Society event.  Mel, Laura and I went along around 2pm, Cath and Tracey are going to go nearer tea time and I am hoping Joyce will be able to go today too.

That was the good start, I am now sitting here wearing my sticker but both Mel and Laura were sent on their way!  Not sure why, hope to find out when Laura comes back to work later on today.  I will update on the others when I find out but so far our average donation rate isn’t very good.

 Well I’m pleased to say that Tracey and Cath have done their bit and we now have a positive donation ratio.  The girls are both OK but Tracey did have a problem stopping bleeding - it is a long time since she’s given blood so I guess a bit more wanted to escape.  They assure me they haven’t gone to the pub to replace their lost fluid but…

I met a supplier called Miles this morning who has set up a great business selling wild, foraged foods.  He had a great range of seaweeds, wild garlic, sorrell and two sorts of samphire to show us.  Mark took a selection to try on tonight’s menu and I’m really looking forward to seeing what it is like. 

Some of it will be a salad or a vegetable part of the dish and others will just be for garnishing but it is really exciting to see these things on the menu.  Using local and sustainable produce is quite rightly all the rage at the moment and it is good for us to be able to play our part.

 Have a look at Miles’ web site to see what he sells http://mileslavers.googlepages.com/ towards the bottom are some thoughts and ideas about wild foods and then a couple of meat recipes, don’t worry - we’re not going this far!

I’ll let you know what the leaves are like later in the week.

April 22nd is the next time we will all go and give blood here in Padstow so we need to make sure our iron levels are good.  I must admit the Guinness is the most pleasant option above liver and spinach but I am happy to say I would happily have all three!

Cath is the team member who needs the most iron boosting ahead of the donor day but it wouldn’t hurt us all to build our red counts up.  I am hoping we will all be able to get appointments at a similar time and it would be reat if we can encourage a few more people from the hotel to go along.  At the moment there are at least five of us who go - it would look great if we could fill all the beds at the same time but that may be too much of a challenge.

I am going to let our local paper know we will be going - if it is a quiet news week we may make the middle pages!  Wish us luck and we’ll see how many pints we give between us.