Private party ?

[541woody]

I have just returned from the international at Swindon, a 150 mile round trip. The day started fine meeting a few old acquatances and a few new ones, then at about 12.30 a call that the BBQ had started in the hotel. Gradually the car park and show area begins to empty out so might as well go to the BBQ and get a bite to eat, unfortunately ariving at the BBQ which is in a separate area i am told open to ticket holders only staying at the hotel, so it seems day visitors are not allowed, what to do? Drive all the way back home and make myself a sandwich and a cup of tea for lunch as everyone has gone to lunch at the private party, Yes. Its a pity the club can not lay anything on for day visitors, just a cup of tea or coffee would be nice (dont mind paying). I am sure people traveled a lot longer than the 1-1/2 hours it took me to get there. Would I go again?

[VFK44]

Hi Colin. Sorry to hear you felt excluded today. There were teas and coffees available to purchase at the Bar most of the day, and when my wife and I missed out in getting food last night we popped into Wroughton and bought sandwiches from the Co-Op.

However, it is never nice to feel excluded and I'm sure your views will be taken into consideration by the Committee when planning next time. Hope the rest of the day made up for it, and you felt welcomed by your friends.

[Grant]

Drive all the way back home and make myself a sandwich and a cup of tea for lunch as everyone has gone to lunch at the private party, Yes. Its a pity the club can not lay anything on for day visitors, just a cup of tea or coffee would be nice (dont mind paying). I am sure people traveled a lot longer than the 1-1/2 hours it took me to get there. Would I go again?

Hi Mr Woody, I haven't been to one of the International event's for years, I'm always abroad on the date they seemed to be held, I guess I would have felt alittle sad about that situation too, but..I would have sneaked in somehow,They say I could get in where a draft wouldn't, but, in all fairness Mr Woody, would you really drive back 1.5hrs to get a sandwich?..Wouldn't the hotel make you a sandwich or even the local Tesco/Morrison or similar?,It's always sad to hear of a day out ending up a tad disgruntled

[Chris_R]

I have just returned from the international at Swindon, a 150 mile round trip. The day started fine meeting a few old acquatances and a few new ones, then at about 12.30 a call that the BBQ had started in the hotel. Gradually the car park and show area begins to empty out so might as well go to the BBQ and get a bite to eat, unfortunately ariving at the BBQ which is in a separate area i am told open to ticket holders only staying at the hotel, so it seems day visitors are not allowed, what to do? Drive all the way back home and make myself a sandwich and a cup of tea for lunch as everyone has gone to lunch at the private party, Yes. Its a pity the club can not lay anything on for day visitors, just a cup of tea or coffee would be nice (dont mind paying). I am sure people traveled a lot longer than the 1-1/2 hours it took me to get there. Would I go again?

It wasn't a private party, the International was open to members to join for the weekend and lunch was part of the package that we paid for, that I paid for, it wasn't free. The way it has been done is not changed from previous Internationals. Sunday lunch is part of the package for the weekend.
The hotel have to place food orders for delivery from their suppliers and have to cook the food. So, we have to tell the hotel how much is required, how many lunches they are to provide. We had to provide that information some weeks ago. Did we know you were coming in advance? Did we know how many day visitors would come and want food? If we order extras we have to pay for them in advance, how many day visitors will come and want lunch? If the weather is inclement fewer come and we would be left with food.
As for laying on teas/coffees we either have the hotel do that and following the Covid lockdowns the hotel are short of staff and could not do it (I couldn't even buy a tea in the hotel this afternoon as there was no one available due to a concurrent wedding), if we were to do it ourselves that means one of our members being tied up doing the teas.
Could we have a lunch option for day visitors? Perhaps we could but it would have to be paid for in advance and it would have to be non-refundable. Perhaps that is something that could be considered but it requires additional organisation by the International Organiser who has to do a huge job of covering everything from negotiating the rates to dealing with on the spot queries between the club and the hotel. But did you have to drive 75 miles back for lunch? There was a Tesco Express and Co-Op just 2.5 miles away. Other day visitors brought their own lunches with them, as I have done myself in the past when being a day visitor instead of a weekend attendee.

[541woody]

That is the problem, a total misunderstanding of the problem, of course i did not have to drive home to have lunch, i could have gone to tesco (only 2.5 miles away !) or sat in my car and talked to myself. The point is you go to a car meeting to talk to people and meet other owners and look at cars, when 95% of members then go to lunch in a seperate area, the remaining 5% then have to talk to themselves for the next 1-1/2 hrs,(or go home and have their own lunch which i am sure others did as well). If the BBQ had been held in the same area as the cars or the food was available to purchase for day visitors the problem would not have arisen. I can see from stephens (VFK44) comments he understood the problem, you have to remember not all members are staying at the hotel but are still members (i have been a member over 20 years) attending the main meeting of the year, perhaps some thought for them also. I would like to point out i was not expecting a free lunch and know you have paid through the hotel, thanks.

[shaun]

I believe, and somebody correct me, there was food available through the hotel restaurant.
It must be understood that, particularly in current climate, that the Club had to pre-order the food for the Sunday based on numbers booked.
The Club will have a look at the at the arrangements for future events and see if we can have a more appropriate arrangement to suit the daily visitors.

[541woody]

It looks like I will have to spell it out ! The food is not the problem ! why hold the lunch in a private area where only ticket holder residents of the hotel club members are allowed in ( I was asked to leave) if there is a resturant open to all (it looks like there is on the web site) why not have the lunch there so all members can attend. I have never been ejected from a do before, its lucky i am fairly thick skined and an old member as i sure most new members would think this is a very close knit club for the few and leave. As VKFF said "sorry to hear you felt excluded"

[rmangroo]

Hi Colin,

I was on the call with the event organiser and the hotel when we discuss the Sunday BBQ. The hotel informed us that due to the current short staff they are experiencing, 3 weddings booked in for the entire weekend as well as the 80 JOC members booked in for the whole weekend, the restaurant was going to be closed on the Sunday hence there was not food for day visitors on Sunday. Tea/Coffee as Chris said was available at the bar but it was a long wait due to it being maned by one bartender the whole weekend and I was their from Thursday evening and on Sunday only managed to get my breakfast and one cup of coffee which it took Karan nearly 45 min to get for me.

Members need to respect that our International Secretary and his partner work really hard to make the weekend a success which in my view was. Sometimes things are outside their control and can only assist in guiding those that come on the day. I appreciate your comment is not about the food and you were asked to leave, by whom I do not know, and can only assume it was from one of the hotel staff, however anyone that did ask me about the BBQ, I informed them that the meal was only for the members that booked for the weekend and that the restaurant was closed due to short staff. I feel in future feed back as such should be sent in via e-mail rather than venting frustration on a CAR Forum. All constructive feed back has been and always will be taken into consideration buy the whole committee.

I for sure already have comments in which I will be feeding back of what worked, what could be improved and how to move forward not backwards.

In the end I hope you manage to get something sorted and you enjoyed the day out nevertheless.

Regards Raj

[zacmarshall]

I'm sure as has been said the committee will look at better ways of doing this in future.

It would have helped if something had been posted on the forum / facebook before hand that the restaurant would be closed and that there was a shop within walking distance for sandwiches (whether they still had any stock is another issue). Also if there had been a notice in the hotel / car park. At least there were actually notices with what was planned this time.

Maybe consider allowing day attendees to buy tickets for the BBQ in future?

On a positive (?) notice you didn't miss that much with the BBQ, the sausages were nice but I wasn't impressed with the burgers. I noticed some of my friends left their burgers. To be fair the salad was good.

[Stuartjensen]

Sorry to be late in responding, Gill & I didn’t get back until after 11 last night and the forum was reluctant to allow me on this morning! Most of the most important points have been well made but:

• It is correct that we have to give the numbers for lunch and pay well before the event; this is always the case but was particularly acute this year as the well-publicised issues with the delivery chain meant there was no capacity for changes. I take Woody’s point that paying is not the issue, I acknowledge that he and other day attendees would pay given the opportunity.

• We could order more meals that weekend attendees but the number attending on Sunday is very weather dependent, we would either be left with meals the club had paid for or again have some disappointed members. (Unless anyone has a very well calibrated crystal ball?)

• We did explore the possibility of serving the BBQ adjacent to the car park where the Concours was taking place; the point was made that the courtyard we used had ample outside seating with more on the lawn to the front of the hotel and we could also use the restaurant seating should the weather turn, so this seemed the better alternative.

• When we booked the hotel it was envisaged light meals would be available at the bar, sadly this was not possible due to the same delivery chain/staffing issues. When I passed the bar in the morning they seemed to be doing a brisk trade in teas & coffees though.

We are very keen to take on suggestions for the weekend, we could take advanced (paid) bookings for future events if there is sufficient demand.

[Martin R]

I'm also sorry to hear that you felt excluded. Perhaps the club could have tried to make it more clear in advance that the hotel wasn't able to open the restaurant but, sadly with staffing numbers etc. in these times, clearly made it impossible.

However, to arrive at the event on Sunday, feel that most people went to lunch and that you couldn't join them in any meaningful way, must indeed have been frustrating to say the least.
By its nature, with fresh food top-ups coming from the kitchen during the BBQ, (actually not a BBQ as it was all cooked in the kitchen) the distance from the kitchen to the car park meant it not practical to hold the BBQ in the car park.

Additionally, I was told that the the restaurant was effectively the stand-by indoor seating area / overflow in case of bad weather.

Hopefully we (all members) can somehow come up with an effective solution for next year.

[Richie]

On a positive (?) notice you didn't miss that much with the BBQ, the sausages were nice but I wasn't impressed with the burgers.

I gave my burger to Minty, Dave Pearce's dog.
I'm not sure he was impressed with it either...

But I was impressed to simply be at an international and am thankful to those that made the weekend happen. Trying to organise such an event at the best of times is no enviable task. And trying to do so whilst the rules surrounding such an event are constantly changing even less so.

As such, whilst recognising that certain aspects weren't perfect, and in hindsight some things could've perhaps been done differently, it's perhaps equally important to recognise the significant external constraints with which the volunteers who put the event together were faced.

My sincere thanks go to all those involved.

Had a great weekend.

[Grant]

I gave my burger to Minty, Dave Pearce's dog.

I Love Minty, He is my Favorite person in the whole Club. I hope he feels the same about me
MINTY, ARE YOU HERE

[Grant]

Ahh..There you are MintyMan
>>

Minty.jpg (73.78 KiB) Viewed 2965 times

[braper]

On the whole felt that the weekend was a success and well done to all those involved, even the weather played ball. We arrived around 10 on Saturday as told via rob Heydon that the run was leaving at 10.30, however I decided to remain at the hotel to keep all the smith's company. Around 12.30 we managed to get checked in and asked if the bar was going to open and was it possible to get a sandwich, the reply was in the negative. No Coffee either. A Bill & myself took a trip to the local Co-oP where there was little choice in the way of takeaway food. The bar eventually opened around 3pm. The evening food was not the best cool Cauliflower soup followed by cold but over cooked Chicken Supreme with 1/2 an onion, a potato crisp and a large pile of sweetcorn, missing its sauce and served on a stone cold plate, mmm lovely, after the speech we received a very rich Chocolate pudding. The offer of Coffee or Tea failed to materialise! Breakfast wasn't much better with cold scrambled eggs, sausage, bean's, mushrooms and bacon again served on cold plates! As we hadn't booked for the whole weekend the "BBQ" prepared by the kitchen, wasn't available to us, no other food option was available. No matter, if hungry we can pop up the Co-oP, however it was reported that the local shops were shut. I understood from many that the BBQ food on offer was poor so didn't miss much there! Other than when the bar was open, which was infrequently during Sunday lunch, Tea's and Coffee's were not available.
As we had booked our own room through a booking site for Saturday, but did have dinner dance tickets we thought that the BBQ would have been offered to those staying only on the Saturday night. It would have been nice to have the option on the booking form to book Saturday night, Dinner Dance Tickets and BBQ tickets. Perhaps something to think about next year?
Anyway well done to those involved again in these difficult times.