January 2012

What a month to take over the reins of venue and agency relationship manager!

December– ‘tis the Season to be merry. Twas also the season to work…and work we did!! It was a really busy time for us as Christmas started in November. All in all; although the last event of the Christmas run definitely featured more ‘touché éclat’, our team were full of Christmas spirit and secretly rather sad for it all to end.

Luckily we all got to take our Christmas cheer home to our families!

We were thrilled to see some of our regular clients return to celebrate Christmas with us, but also pleased to have forged some new relationships. The busiest month in the year has also meant that we really got to catch up with lots of familiar faces from our venues. From fencing demonstrations at The Banqueting House to Pickpockets in Sailor Town at Museum of London Docklands; our team was out and about creating some truly amazing events.

It was a fantastic time for us to spread some Christmas cheer in person too. I hosted some brilliant nights of hospitality to thank our clients; from the rip-roaring humour of Manchester’s obsession for pies (courtesy of Jason Manford) to learning football chants (I am now a number one Spurs fan!). We were even forced (although secretly I loved it) to sing carols at the ISIS Christmas Party and Christ Church Spitalfields.

It’s a scary reality once Christmas was already in full swing, we were already thinking about next year! We are already talking chestnut macaroons, hot punches from tankards and pomegranate bellinis for 2012. Our self-appointed in-house ‘Cocktail Club’ has been sampling them all season. We have also been busy preparing our new packages so that we are ahead of the game when we take part in the Venue Reservations showcase in February.

Our team are super-fans of our new executive chef, Adrian Booth, and our tasting sessions have been full of his new Spring menus. We have all fallen in love with his ‘Line-caught sea bass ceviche, chilli and mango salad and black pepper ice’ and I genuinely wish I could eat this everyday.

After my Christmas break (full of my ma’s ‘grand marnier marmalade’ on toast, daily walks on the Malvern hills, the Leon cookbook trilogy and a heck of a lot of chick lit reading) January has started and our team is back in London, back at our desks and back on the road!

You’ll think we are geeks about our jobs but we are truly excited for what 2012 holds for us! We can’t wait to get our teeth into it.

Happy new year!!