It was all rather appropriate as this is the venue where I actually started my career in events and my passion for the industry was formulated here. As you can imagine the venue has a very special place in my heart.
In 1989 I joined the pre-opening team as PA to the Hotel Director – Alan McAinsh and spent 10 months working on a building site! It was very glamorous having to wear a hard hat as part of the uniform I can assure you. As well as lots of site visits I spent my time organising visits for the Forte family (the property was then in the Forte Hotels portfolio) and Raymond Blanc – who was our Chef Consultant. I learnt so much about 5-star service standards during these 10-months and will always be grateful to Alan McAinsh and Jean Claude Messant our Resident Manager at the time for instilling the true meaning of 5-star hospitality and service.
We opened the hotel in 1990 – and at this point I moved into the Events Department. I loved it from the word go and during my three years here met some amazing people and organised lots of high-profile events for organisations such as The Bank of England and company events for the likes of Shell, Bayer and Glaxo. The highlight would probably be when Diana Princess of Wales formally opened the hotel and we managed to tie the event in with a Charity Day for the British Heart Foundation.
So many happy memories of my 4 years here and delighted to say that many of the colleagues I worked with here remain staunch and true friends to this day.
Most of them – like me – are still in the wonderful hospitality industry.