Plastics event picks Telford as perfect fit

Telford is celebrating success after securing another major innovation and manufacturing event to the area.

Leading convention bureau, Meet Telford & Shropshire worked in partnership with The International Centre Telford, to successfully tempt PDM away from its London base in favour of the new and enhanced offer in Telford, and this year promises to be its biggest event yet.

Expansion Plans for Historic Shropshire Hotel

Just over 25 years ago an historic hotel in the heart of a Shropshire World Heritage site was operating as a six-bedroom B&B.

But now more than two decades on bosses are preparing for a major expansion to increase the number of rooms at the Best Western Valley Hotel in Ironbridge to 70. The new development has been made possible after planning permission was secured from councillors. And bosses are expecting the extension, adding 26 rooms, to move a step closer to reality in 2013.

Golf resort staff turned players for competition

STAFF at a luxury golf resort turned players for the day in a Ryder Cup style competition held on their own fairways.

Macdonald Hill Valley Spa, Hotel and Golf in Whitchurch fielded six players in teams of two to take on the teams from booking agents Your Golf Travel, Europe’s biggest golf travel company, on Saturday, October 20.

Despite having the home advantage the team from Hill Valley, including General Manager Terence Southward, Leisure Manager Phil Murphy and Head Greenkeeper Mike Evans, lost all three matches.

"Of course, we would have preferred to have claimed victory on our home turf but the YGT teams were just too good,"said Terence Southward, General Manager of Hill Valley.

New faces join the Telford team

A leading Midlands venue has strengthened its team with three key appointments.

The International Centre, Telford, has gone from strength to strength since its latest £10 million redevelopment, and has taken on three new event managers to handle an increase in business.

Tom Gray, chief executive of the Southwater Event Group which owns the venue, said: “All three new managers have strong backgrounds in the events industry and they all bring great skills that will complement the strengths of our existing team.

“We’re delighted to welcome such professional and committed managers and look forward to their input as we develop our business still further.

“This is an exciting time for our venue with a marked increase in business since our newest events suite was launched, and it’s great to be looking forward to an extremely positive future.”

Hannah Williams has joined The International Centre team after working as a development officer at Harper Adams University College.

She worked on post graduate and employer engagement courses working with students and tutors and organising residential and teaching sessions. Hannah has also worked for the Royal Agricultural Society as a sales and sponsorship manager.

The second new face is Hollie Jones who previously worked with the Olympic and Paralympic archers at Archery GB, based at Lilleshall National Sports Centre.

Hollie organised training camps, helped to run competitions around the world, and organised the selection shoots to choose the GB team for London 2012.

Laura Jones is the third appointment – she spent three years at ACC Liverpool as part of the sales team securing events, promoting the venue and managing events.

She also worked at The Post House in Stafford as sales and marketing manager, running a range of events from business meetings to weddings.

Hill Valley hosts fairway fun for Easi Drive

MACDONALD Hill Valley Spa, Hotel and Golf hosted more than 50 people on a corporate golf day with Easi Drive.

Relay ace Derek Redmond welcomed to Wellington school

Former Olympian Derek Redmond visited Shropshire to inspire youngsters to chase their dreams.

The former 4x400m relay World Champion was at the Charlton School in Wellington to give a speech to pupils and help kick-start its Olympic fortnight. More than 900 pupils at the school cheered Mr Redmond as he told tales of two pivotal moments in his career.

First he described the build-up to the moment he won the 4X400m relay at the World Championships in 1991, with team-mates Roger Black, John Regis and Kriss Akabusi.

Weston Park

Event Overview

Sixty clients and their partners enjoyed exclusive use of one of England’s finest stately homes for a 1920’s themed murder mystery evening. Flapper dancers and murder mystery players provided the entertainment at a Champagne reception in the Orangery and the guests were then treated to a luxurious four-course dinner in the superb Dining Room, followed by an overnight stay.

Weston Park provided the perfect setting for our corporate evening. Hosting an entertaining corporate event that encompasses fine dining, lavish accommodation, and which can keep everyone enthralled can be a difficult task – but Weston Park made the whole process effortless. The first class service and the impressive location simply added to the experience.

The Ironbridge Gorge Museum

Event Overview

An excellent relationship between the event management company and venue staff ensured the success of this prestigious annual event for the client. A unique combination of character filled industrial venues combined with state of the art audio visual equipment created a winning formula, inspiring creative thinking and a sense of corporate pride in delegates.

The team at Ironbridge Museum were second to none. They fully understood the objectives we were trying to achieve and were on top of our requirements both before and during the event. The food quality was extremely high and very professionally presented. We would not hesitate to return to this venue for future events.

The Tandem Experience

Event Overview

The Tandem Experience is a unique opportunity in Team-building. Riding a tandem is used as the focus to concentrate the team's energy, building on relationships and promoting cooperation. Team members experienced piloting and co-piloting a tandem while taking part in: steering and navigating exercises, Tandem team games and a treasure hunt.

The 'Tandem Experience' ticked all our boxes - fun, supporting each other, using each other's skills, communication, building relationships and achieving success as a team. It also helped them understand the different 'teams' they are in within a branch and how they need to work together to achieve results.
Melanie Hobbs - Waitrose

The International Centre

Event Overview

The Youth Sport Trust is an independent charity, established in 1994 and has held events at The International Centre for the past 7 years. The Schools and Sports Partnership event took place in October 2010 and was a huge success. This 2 day event welcomed over 1600 delegates from all over the country and consisted of a conference, gala dinner and an exhibition occupying over 3500 sq m of event space.

This event enabled us to bring together PE and sport professionals, national governing bodies of sport, a wide array of exhibitors and first class presenters under one roof and offer them a comprehensive programme of plenary and workshop sessions, together with excellent networking opportunities. The International Centre delivered a seamless event and is our preferred venue.

Convention Capital: Tom Gray

Ambitious plans is a phrase Tom Gray, Chief Executive of Southwater Event Group, never tires of hearing.

Tom and his business have come a long way since they took over The International Centre in Telford, then a racket sports club, in 1984 and decided to relaunch it as an exhibition venue.

Iconic Places and People: Paul Gossage

Paul Gossage is Director of Marketing & PR for the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, which operates the ten museums in the World Heritage Site.

Events Excellence: Emma Kennard

Emma Kennard is Operations Manager for The Venue Pot, the venue finding service of the award winning communications agency drpgroup. She has been working in the industry for 15 years and has organised numerous events at venues across Telford and Shropshire.

Taste of Shropshire: Will Holland

Will Holland is Chef Patron of La Bécasse, an award winning restaurant in Ludlow. Since 2007 Willl has gained a Michelin Star, an Acorn Award and 3AA Rosettes. The Good Food Guide has ranked Will Holland as one of the UK’s Top 10 Chefs predicated to dominate the restaurant scene in the next 10 years. He describes his food as a modern British interpretation of classic cuisines using plenty of locally sourced produce.