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 seargeant 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.

This is a subject that most of us normally associate with overseas where it has been instrumental in making huge improvements in people’s lives all over Africa, South America and in Asia, indeed last Sunday’s Observer Food Magazine had a great article on the Ugandan Fairtrade Coffee industry (see here: http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/drink/story/0,,2286157,00.html ).

There is, however, a need for a similar system here in the UK to ensure that our farmers are protected and get a fair price for their produce and are encouraged to continue growing high quality local produce for us to use.  Our fruit and vegetable supplier, Bristol Fruit Sales, has developed its own brand called “Growfair” to do just this.  We have been buying asparagus and strawberries from them under this scheme this spring and summer and we are looking forwards to seeing what else is available later in the season.

I have found their web site but as yet they seem to have been concentrating on getting the food out of the fields!  More information will be available here soon: http://www.growfair.co.uk/ .

I have come across a few people recently who have been using the Cornish language, I must admit not conversationally but it is good to see it used.  The main language groups have now agreed on a common form so we should see more people learning this traditional language.  It will take a long time for us to get to the level of the Welsh but it is something to aim for.

From starting out just discovering what “Happy Christmas” is in Cornish I have picked up a few phrases myself and do exchange greetings in Cornish with a few people.  I must admit that most of these people are newcomers to Cornwall but at least there is some interest.

While I was at the Royal Cornwall Show I went into the county council exhibition with my Red Cross colleague and found the Cornish Language stand:  my colleague is Cornish but doesn’t know any of the language so I told him one of my favourite phrases to say to the staff ( no, I didn’t set him up with something rude!).  We both had a chat with them and even got some Cornish stickers.  Mine was the word for “cool” so I managed to use this when setting up our latest offer on the web site so when you have a look you will understand what “Koeth Kernow” means.

This also appeals to my literary tendencies with the alliteration, thankfully we didn’t have a third K to put in as an offer shortened to KKK would not have won us many friends!

Have a look at this web site and learn some Cornish before your next visit:  http://www.cornish-language.org/english/phrasebook.asp we’ll see how much of a conversation we can have!

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!

I’m back in The Met today after spending two days looking after The Idle Rocks Hotel in St Mawes for my colleague Chris.  He has had a tough time recently and needed the chance for a couple of days off so I volunteered to baby sit for him.  That’s not really the right phrase to use as his team is really good and ran the hotel very well. 

Chris has been building up his team since Christmas and is now set for the summer with some lovely people around him.  As ever in our industry and in Cornwall these people have come from all over the world so there is a wide range of accents and characters.

We did run into a few minor operational issues along the way but the girls just needed a little help in steering the right people into the right jobs.  In a small hotel it is really important for the staff to be ready to help each other out and many of them do switch from department to department during the day.  This gives them enough hours work and ensures that all the jobs get done, it also helps to break down lots of the barriers between departments that can build up in big hotels.

All the guests enjoyed their stays while I was there, the service was good and the food I saw last night from Amos and his team was stunning.  I am planning to make two trips back there, one with my wife just so we can enjoy the whole experience and another visit with Adam, my chef and Mel, my restaurant manager, so we can crib some good ideas from them on their cooking styles and service systems.  Hopefully we will be able to share some of our best practice too.

If Chris will let me I’ll be back there next week for a day and Andrea from Fowey will cover a couple of days too so Chris can get used to having time off again.  His team is coming together well and I’m sure he will be having regular (and frequent) days off with his team looking after the hotel for him confidently and competently.

As we host Padstow Rotary Club’s weekly meetings I am included in their regular news updates.  There was a little traffic over the week end regarding the dreadful situation in Burma following the cyclone and how the Shelter Box charity has been one of the few aid organisations that has been able to get people in on the ground and delivering aid where it is needed.  I was also pleasantly surprised to see that there is an Australian shelter box scheme too and they have been able to send in over 1000 units.

Having read this I was moved to help in some way so decided to hand back the money they all paid for their dinner last night.  While this wasn’t a huge amount it went towards the cash Padstow had already raised and was enough then to buy another box to send out.

This was great news to hear as all the news coverage seems to be on how intractible the Burmese government is and not enough aid is getting through.  While lots more certainly does need to happen it is good to be able to share something positive.

Do please follow these lilnks to see what is happening:

 The main shelterbox site:  http://www.shelterbox.org/

Padstow rotary: http://www.rotary-ribi.org/clubs/homepage.asp?ClubID=1049

An Observer article published just before the cyclone hit on the new constitution which seems to have been of more concern to the junta than the disaster:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/04/burma.humanrights  There are many more related stories on the pages around this link.

Latest news on shelter box in Burma: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/7404994.stm 

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.

The whole of Padstow is a bit quiet today, lots of people are still here but after all the May Day celebrations there is more than one sore head around town!

Visitors pour into Padstow for the day, many staying over for the event as there is so much to see:  the night singing is when everything starts as groups of “Mayers” go around and sing the night song under the windows of the older, established families.  Around 5.00 am more people go and collect green branches to decorate the town to go with all the bunting, flags and the May Pole, the town looks really great then, all fresh and clean in the morning sunlight. 

There are two or three kids osses who come out early and dance their way around the town, we were lucky enough to have two come in yesterday to dance for the residents during breakfast.  This starts things off in a great way for us.  As the parents and friends are with them we make sure the outside bar is open by 7.30 so they can all get a drink while they are here.

Once they have moved on there is a bit of a lull here until around 10.15 / 10.30 when the Blue Oss comes through on its way around Padstow.  As there is a whole army of followers the bar really gets hit so it is a case of head down and get on with serving the people in front of us.  I have to admit I’ve never seen much of the Oss itself while it is here as we are so busy.  Many people stay around after that, we have a BBQ going too and sell burgers, pasties and jacket potatoes, which makes a real change for the chefs who are out front with us, I think they enjoy the change and actually meeting some customers.

This year Ginty who works 2 nights a week and 3 days was the Master of Ceremonies for the Blue Oss, this is a real honour for him and he was really looking forward to leading the procession around Padstow.  We will be keeping a copy of today’s Western Morning News for him as he has a great picture on page 8.  The story may come up later on www.westernmorningnews.co.uk .

While we are now tidying up and putting things back to normal the committees for the 2 parties are already planning next year’s event.  If I can find some links to stories about it I’ll post them here later.

Here’s the article from the WMN with the picture of our Ginty looking very smart:

http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=248235&command=displayContent&sourceNode=248201&contentPK=20527708&folderPk=115131&pNodeId=249131