One of the reasons I joined Rock the Cotswolds, when we moved here from London, was because I couldn’t quite believe that there were all these amazing businesses tucked away behind a bramble bush.
Turns out it’s flippin’ true though and in 25 years of organising events (including a ton in Italy where they take no prisoners when it comes to attention to detail) I have never come across so many creative and generous people who help to make an event actually happen….particularly our latest one – Business Rocks the Cotswolds.
As a not-for-profit social enterprise, Rock the Cotswolds simply won’t survive without sponsorship.
However as important as the readies, are the people who help us out in other ways – those who give us their valuable time, their supplies and don’t slam the phone down on the three of us when we ask if they’d consider helping us out …..errrr….free of charge?
Some do, some really can’t but all reply with grace because they like what we stand for so we don’t feel like total eejits for asking. I suppose I should be a little thicker-skinned with a Scottish dad who I’ve witnessed haggle down the price of a 30p newspaper.
So as well as a big, big thank you to our host Anne Dawson, former TV presenter and now head of media at the University of Gloucestershire and our speakers (did we really have all those incredible businesspeople in one room?):
Chris Wright, who signed bands such as Blondie, Billy Idol and Spandau Ballet to his record label Chrysalis, and who launched Heart Radio in the 90s.
Retail guru George Davies, who gave life to national brands Next, George at Asda and Per Una, and who’s now doing the same for his latest brand FG4.
PR supremo Mark Borkowski, who’s managed clients from Eddie Izzard to Cirque du Soleil, and corporates such as Vodafone and Mercedes.
Sarah Dunning, the food visionary who opened the UK’s coolest motorway services on Gloucester’s M5 motorway earlier this year.
here’s also a massive thank you to all you lovely people who also made Business Rocks happen…..
So in no particular order we’d like to show our appreciation to:
Elmore Court – Leesa, Louise, Simon and Rachel – thank you for looking after us, for switching on the disco ball and allowing us to use one of the most beautiful venues in the world. I could definitely have coped with team building exercises if they’d been held at The Gillyflower….
LoveBites – the most delicious and beautiful canapés ever. Thank you Kelly, Rachel and Grace – for all your ideas, hard work and humour. Heard some cracking reactions to the pretty edible flowers.
Loco glass – thank you Colin, Louise and Richie – the tumblers you made for our speakers Anne, Chris, George, Mark and Sarah were beautiful and it was hard to choose from the samples you made. I’ll be signing up for one of your workshops…probably without my two year old in tow next time…
Sarah McDowall – your photos are incredible and you were so professional particularly when I was probably making absolutely no sense two minutes before we started. Thank you to the tutors at the University of Gloucestershire for helping us find you. Here are a few of Sarah’s photos from the day.
Alex Robertson – how do you do it? Go on tell us please….the magic circle’s not going to find out…..thank you for your wizardry and charm. We’re delighted your sessions at CarFest has meant future bookings and that Brand Events has recognised your talent too.
Cotswolds Distillery – Dan, I confess I was dangerously tempted to take a quick swig of the delicious gin you handed over but resisted because our speakers deserved to have a full bottle each. I’ll be at the distillery with my Christmas orders…
McPherson Stevens – Soooooo excited to see the videos….thank you for always being such great support, we love working with you.
Every Event hire– those bean bags were rocking – super comfy, brightened the day and Stuart we really appreciate you driving back and forth no less than four times in total (eek) to get us everything we needed.
Major Entertainment – I’ve worked with a lot of tech companies and you are up there my friends. With 24 hours notice you delivered all that we needed, were calm in a crisis and didn’t get wound up when the Rock the Cotswolds team danced around with the lectern saying ‘left a bit, no right a bit’…
Somewhere Else – Andy and Harry – thank you for organising all of the drinks and for helping me out when I was having a nosebleed trying to calculate how much milk you actually need for one cup of tea….these things matter.
Oasis Events – Dany, Mark, Cleo and Derek – you never let us down. The furniture was perfect and thank you for offering so many options. I obviously tried to sneak the beautiful leather armchairs out in my holdall….
Rebecca at Gloucester Services, Miles at SLG, Danielle at The Cotswold Children’s Party Company thank you for the fantastic goody bag items. Very generous.
Thank you also to Laith Clark for helping us set up, fantastic job with the tree bunting sir.
Of course to the fab Callum Smith for help with name badges and all the team at Neonplay who always help lug boxes speedily to the car when I’m parked outside, hazard lights going berserk.
Thank you to all of our fabulous guests who took time out of their busy work schedules…there were over 80 of you brilliant people no less.
Last, but by absolutely no means least, an infinite thank you to our sponsors.
With your financial backing and belief in the Rock the Cotswolds campaign we’ve held our first ever Rockference: big hand to our headline sponsor Crowe Clark Whitehill as well as the lovely Tanners, The Growth Hub and NatWest.….we salute you.
Thank you, thank you, thank you all for your valued support, for donating to the goody bags and knowing how, when and where to pop up your pop-ups.
We couldn’t have done it without you.
And of course….big thanks to my partners in crime Nicky and Oli. Always there to get stuck in, stuck up ladders and literally neck deep in coffee cups (ask Nicky exactly how many zillion you can get in a Fiat 500).
…here’s to our next rocking event..
Posted by Melissa
