Category: Business News

THIS impressive sum was a result of Travelodge HQ in Thame’s fourth, annual Green Day fundraiser, so-called because of the charity’s official brand colour.

At the event, held at Thame Town Cricket Club last Wednesday, August 17, staff pitted their wits against each other in a range of fun activities throughout the day which included a welly wanging competition, a scavenger hunt, a tug of war and the annual cricket match which this year was held between the Travelodge head office team, the company’s tax advisors, FTI Consultancy, and the company’s energy consultants, Smart Metering Systems (SMS). The match was won by the Travelodge head office team

Included in the £30,000 raised, was a donation of £20,000 from Travelodge’s bed manufacturer, Sleepeezee who produce the company’s popular luxurious king-size, Travelodge Dreamer bed – which has been installed into all of Travelodge’s  38,287 Rooms.

As the bed is so popular with customers, Travelodge and Sleepeezee have made the bed available for people to purchase and for every bed sold, Sleepeezee makes a donation towards Macmillan. The £20,000 donation payment was for Travelodge Dreamer beds sold during the last ten months.

Over 250 people attended Travelodge Green Day which included head office staff and their family and friends. For the first time ever, Travelodge held its own version of Crufts where thirteen dogs participated in the dog show with categories including Best in show, waggiest tail, dog agility, skills and walk to heel.

Meg, the Border Collie, aged two years old, won Travelodge Crufts, scoring the highest marks overall. Meg won for scoring highly in all of the challenges, especially in skills and the agility round.

Tom Edwards, Travelodge, Revenue Director,said: “Our annual Green Day is a great opportunity for team building and raising money for our nominated charity. We are a competitive bunch and this year, the head office functions really went above and beyond and organised some truly innovative activities. We had an amazing day, full of fun and laughter and most importantly we raised a lot of money, for a truly deserving cause. I would like to thank everyone for their efforts and support and especially the manufacturers of our Travelodge Dreamer Bed, Sleepeezee, who boosted our total to £30,000, this year with their donation of £20,000.

“Since the charity partnership was launched in 2013, Travelodge’s 10,000 staff members across the company’s 515 UK hotels and at the head office in Thame have raised over £750,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support to help people affected by cancer.”

Sally Hill, from Macmillan Cancer Support said: “We are so grateful for all the support Travelodge staff have given to Macmillan. Their dedication and enthusiasm will ensure that no one has to face cancer alone and we look forward to their continued support.”

Colin Cousins, Sleepeezee, Finance Director, concluded: “Sleepeezee is delighted to participate in this year’s Travelodge Green Day and donate £20,000 to the company’s nominated charity, Macmillan Cancer Support. This donation is the result of a successful partnership between Sleepeezee and Travelodge and is a measure of customer satisfaction with the Travelodge Dreamer bed.”

THAME’S award-winning High Street, a Rising Star winner in last year’s Great British High Street competion, has a chance to do even better this year – and win The Great British High Street of the Year 2016.

The competition is back and it is bigger and better. Once again judges will be looking for the nation’s best high streets and asking the public to help by voting for their winners. As well as the Rising Star Award for high streets that are taking their first steps turning around their fortunes, the organisers, the Association of Town and City Management, have introduced new categories seeking out the country’s High Street Heroes – examples of local business owners and store managers that are working hard for their towns and high streets.

Work on Thame’s application for The Great British High Street of the Year 2016, is already way and anyone who would like to nominate their own ‘High Street hero’ – examples of local business owners and store managers that are working hard for your towns and high street, can find the details and application forms HERE http://thegreatbritishhighstreet.co.uk/high-street-of-the-year-award

The Great British High Street’s purpose is to support those working to revive, adapt and diversify high streets. It is a Not for profit organisation which is government funded which aims to provide resources for high street regeneration, and ‘to celebrate innovative work going on in high streets across Britain’.

Everyone can get involved by using social media to share the good things about your town, share pictures and events etc, using the hashtag #gbhighst

The deadline for applications is September 9, 2016.

What? An open air event with stalls and demonstrations that aims to introduces all the larger businesses in Thame to the community.

When? TODAY !! Saturday, July 9, 2016 – 9am to 2 pm

Where? Thame town centre

THME Town Hall (aka Causton Town Hall) was the setting for a highly successful Midsomer Workshop last Wednesday, June 22, attended by over 50 local businesses and residents with an interest in developing Midsomer tourism in Thame.

Thame is one of the most-filmed locations in the globally popular ITV detective series, Midsomer Murders, with eight episodes filmed in the town. The purpose of the workshop was to help local businesses attract more visitors to Thame because of its associations with Midsomer.

Attendees, who included hotel and guest house owners, shops, pubs, cafes, and others involved in the tourist industry, heard from Douglas Watkinson, one of the original script writers of the show, how Midsomer tourism is a huge success and still growing, with its twentieth year approaching in 2017, and that it has been watched by a billion people across the world.

Capitalising on one of the UK’s biggest TV exports

Sarah Osborne of Tourism Angles, revealed that 6.5 million people watch Midsomer Murders in the UK and millions more in over 100 countries worldwide. The series is one of the UK’s biggest TV exports – rating in Denmark’s top three and Australia’s top 20. People see it on TV and want to come and visit the beautiful towns and villages of ‘Midsomer’ for themselves.

The event was opened by the Mayor of Thame, Cllr Linda Emery. She commented: “People were really surprised to learn how many episodes Thame has been in. We have around 15 specific filming locations, as well as a lot of recognisable street scenes from the show. Midsomer visitors can take selfies with our Causton Town Hall sign and enjoy a Barnaby Bun at Rumsey’s Chocolaterie, and the workshop produced lots of other great ideas we want to explore.”

Jean Gamester from Semaphora Consulting, who facilitated the workshop discussion groups, said: “There was a fantastic buzz, and it was great to see such enthusiasm and energy. I’m looking forward to seeing how Midsomer develops in Thame, including tours, merchandise, food and drink offerings.”

Neil Ainsworth, owner of the Argyll pub in Henley, another Midsomer location, told of his success with Midsomer ale and new products like Midsomer Pickle.  He reported that one 40 seater coach load of visitors spent £1,000 in his pub in two hours when they made a pitstop on their way to Oxford! While Tim Soar, owner of Long Crendon Manor which receives many Midsomer visitors, said he would like to see Thame offering more to attract his Midsomer tourists to the town. Chris Behan, author of Roaming Midsomer, published this year, mentioned that Midsomer plaques are currently being developed with a view to putting them up at filming locations in the town, to add to the attractions for visitors to Thame.

‘I could murder a Barnaby Bun’

Mary Rumsey runs Rumsey’s Chocolaterie in Thame. She was one of the first Thame businesses to jump on the Midsomer bandwagon, when people started coming into her shop having learned that it was a Midsomer location. Mary developed ‘the Barnaby bun’ – a cross between a rock cake and scone, served with jam and cream, which has proved very popular with visitors and locals alike. She told the audience how her company will now be revamping its website to better reflect the Midsomer connection and include links to the Midsomer website and information about local accommodation etc, something any local business could do very quickly and at no cost. One enterprising attendee came up with the slogan: “I could murder a Barnaby bun!”

Sarah Osborne concluded: “To benefit from the Midsomer effect, you don’t have to be a filming location; two thirds of tourist expenditure is made in shops, pubs and eateries in towns such as Thame. Village partners are also very important as part of the experience, and it’s good to see representatives from Long Crendon and Haddenham here today. Attracting tour companies will be crucial in developing Thame as a hub and getting the maximum benefit from Midsomer tourism.”

Get a free, professional consultation about benefiting your business

Ten local businesses took up Sarah’s offer of 1-1 sessions with her to discuss how they can make the most of the Midsomer phenomenon to help their business, and since the workshop, sarah has extended the invitation to any Thame business that didn’t fill in her yellow request form on the day (Contact details below).

The Midsomer Workshop was co-funded by Thame Town Council and the Rising Star prize fund from the Great British High Street Competition, that Thame was awarded last year, and organised by members of 21st Century Thame.

For more information about Midsomer or how to take part in developing the Midsomer experience in Thame, contact Sarah Osborne, Tourism Angles, on 07787 122050 or email sarah2108@msn.com or Helen Johns, 21st Century Thame, on 0771 743 4983 or email helen.johns39@gmail.com.

For more information about Semaphora Consulting and their facilitation of workshops, contact Jean Gamester on 07877 970250 or email jean@semaphora.com.

For more information about Midsomer, visit http://www.visitmidsomer.com

IT was a proud night for Thame at the Oxfordshire Business Awards on Friday (18/06), where Thame-based StuartBarrCDR walked away with the Apprenticeship of the Year Award, its MD and former Apprentice, Stuart Barr, was named the Shaw Gibbs Young Business Person of the Year 2016, AND Thame Food Festival received the Heart Cultural Event and Tourism Award.

Accepting his award, Stuart said: “Thank you for recognizing that what we do is fantastic. We believe our apprentice scheme is great and it’s an honour to have this seal of approval. Watching the video clips on the big screen of our apprentices makes us realise how far our apprentices have come – it’s a feeling of great satisfaction. Many of our previous apprentices are now in key roles within the business, with huge responsibility; they really are our future. Thanks again, this means the world to us.”

Lotte Duncan, posting on the Thame Food Festival 2016 Facebook page, said: “we are over the moon! This the second time we’ve won this award and it’s a great recognition of all the hard work our team, supporters, volunteers and sponsors do.”

Around 500 people attended the Awards Dinner at the Four Pillars Hotel in Sandford to celebrate the best of Oxfordshire business.

A Thame pub has been named the Best Pub in Oxfordshire at the inaugural National Pub & Bar Awards 2016, earning the popular gastro pub the chance to go forward to the grand finals next month and be a regional or even national winner.

Manager at The Thatch, Evelin Rae and her team celebrated with a glass of bubbly on learning that the pub had been named top in its county, one of only 94 from across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to earn the accolade of being best in their area.

As county winner, Evelin will be off to London’s iconic BAFTA theatre on Tuesday, May 24, to the National Pub & Bar Awards Grand Final, when 12 regional winners and one overall National Pub & Bar of the Year will be announced.

“It’s a great honour to be named best in our county and to have a shot at being the South East winner or even come away with the title of best pub in the land at the National Pub & Bar Awards,” said Evelin. “With so many fine hostelries on our doorstep, we know there’s a lot of stiff competition out there so it’s fantastic to be recognised by being a finalist.

“In the eight years we’ve been at the pub, we have invested a lot into it, bringing a new look and feel to the place, seasonal food and a quality drink offer served by people who’ve been well trained and who like me, love working here. We are proud of what we have achieved and even prouder at being able to represent the county at the awards,” she added.

The Thatch joins 93 other county winners selected by Pub & Bar magazine’s internal judging panel on all of the aspects required to provide ultimate hospitality within the on-trade. The panel looked at everything from perfect service to product range, aesthetic design to entertainment schedules in selecting its finalists.

Tristan O’Hana, Editor of Pub & Bar magazine, said: “These pubs represent all that is great about the modern on-trade. You can only imagine the fantastic variety of operations we have discovered through the judging process – it’s been an absolute pleasure to investigate just how all of these incredible operators run their businesses.

“What’s great about the awards is that all the attendees of the grand final are already winners – we’re very much looking forward to celebrating with everyone at BAFTA in London on May 24.”

The Thatch is at 29-30 Lower High Street, Thame, Oxon, OX9 2AA. Tel: 01844 214340.
www.thethatchthame.co.uk