It’s amazing how much can happen in the space of one week; to the point where in some ways some of the things seem like they happened ages ago and others a few hours ago!
As usual we had quite a few events happening in various locations. Myself, well on Friday I was doing an event at Paradise by way of Kensal Green for Groovers Korner. Groovers Korner is a monthly soul night I’ve been running around North-West London for the past 11 years or so, but have had a break from it since April due to a venue change. Previously I had been holding events at a venue in Harrow called Freddy’s but attendance had been dropping off at the last few events and one of the main complaints from regulars was the extremely high price of the drinks. So after a lengthy search I negotiated a deal with The Paradise but was unable to actually hold an event there for a few months because of their busy schedule which was frustrating but in another way was encouraging.
Prior to last Fridays event I had tried a few new methods in promoting the event and getting news of the event to many more people than I’d previously managed, and in the weeks leading up to the event it seemed that the work that I’d put into it was bearing fruit as there was a much higher interest about the night than most of the previous ones, and I was receiving a lot of emails, calls and texts. At previous events although the doors always opened from 9pm we generally didn’t get busy until around 11.30pm, but last week it was very busy before 10pm! and not long after 10pm it was absolutely packed and stayed that way until the very last song at 2am. It was definitely the busiest night yet and I’ve received lots of appreciative comments ever since from people who really enjoyed it, so all in all a great night.
The following night was a wedding for Liz & Ed at a new venue for me, Cripps Barn in Bibury, Gloucestershire. It was a very impressive venue, that had paid a lot of attention to very small details. This photo gives an indication of how it looks, but the website certainly doesn’t do justice to how good the place really looks and in my opinion the website really sells themselves short compared to what they have.
As usual with most weddings the night ran very late and this seems to happen with about 90% of weddings these days, but it’s usually a good sign. The weddings that run exactly to time are rarely as much fun, because people are paying too much attention to a schedule rather than just enjoying themselves!
The first dance was Nick Drake – From the morning and after that they wanted to go straight into the dance music with Dizzee Rascal – Bonkers. Liz and Ed had given me quite a lengthy request list, which although quite varied wasn’t hugely succesful, especially because there were so few guests in quite a big room.
Wednesday morning was my weekly breakfast meeting at BNI Walpole in Ealing. Fitzroy Williams visited the chapter and mentioned sponsorship opportunities at the Ealing Winter Wonderland this Christmas.
Thursday night I did an event at the Honorable Artillery Company in the city, which was a corporate event for Deutsche Bank, which as with many corporate events meant a lot of sitting around while they were having their meal. The actual dancing section of the evening was less than 2 hours and thus went very quickly.
