“How many Euros can we buy for £100 sterling?” we asked the man at the Western Union bureau de change at Brussels Midi railway station, a few days after the shock referendum result to Brexit. “It’s 99” he replied, and thanking him we quickly sourced another bureau on the street that was giving 110. Whether this proves that railway stations are bad places to get good rates – due to the kick-back demanded by the station owners – or that some of the currency traders in Belgium were anxious to force down the value of sterling and teach us Brits an expensive lesson for daring to Brexit is not known. But it did leave a nasty taste. Continue reading →

Less than a week after an airline won a major best airline award two of their pilots were arrested on suspicion of being drunk at the controls as they prepared to take off with 250 passengers on board.

Canadian airline Air Transat, which flies from Scotland to destinations in Canada have confirmed the arrests of Imran Zafar Syed, 37, and Jean Franco Perrault, 39, as they were about to take off from Glasgow Airport at 1.00pm on Monday July 18 and fly to Toronto. Following the arrests, which were thought to follow concerns of other Air Transat staff over “alcoholic impairment” the 250 passengers were led off the plane and put up in Glasgow hotels until they could join a replacement flight the following day. The two, who are represented by their union, have been refused bail and have been charged with breaching Section 93 of the Railway and Transport Safety Act 2003. Continue reading →

Another roller coaster crash has again called into question their suitability for safe corporate events.

Following last year’s incident at Alton Towers that caused two young women to have leg amputations this one was on the inverted Tsunami ride at the M&D Theme Park, Motherwell, near Glasgow, where a number of the gondolas suspended below the track derailed and plunged 20 feet to the ground with two adults and seven children on board. One 12-year-old boy suffered serious chest, abdominal and leg injuries and an 11-year-old boy suffered serious arm and hand injuries. Continue reading →

Party planners should allow three drinks per hour per guest for their parties, and allow for each guest staying for five hours.

This is the reported advice of Peregrine Armstrong-Jones, co-founder of Bentley’s Entertainments, who has organised weddings and other events for such as Elton John David Beckham and Royalty. Continue reading →

The 900-bedroom Cumberland Hotel, Marble Arch is to become the UK’s first Hard Rock Hotel, opening after re-branding in 2018 and the group’s 24th in the franchise.

The hotel does have some associations with rock and roll in that is was where revered guitarist, the late Jimi Hendrix kept a suite as a bolthole and for meeting with the prostitutes that were a big part of the Cumberland’s reputation in the 60’s and 70’s – “hot and cold running hookers” as one Hendrix associate recalls. Hendrix had several boltholes but stayed in the Cumberland after playing his last UK concert, the Isle of Wight Festival in September 1970 where he and the Doors gave performances described as “disappointing” though sets by Miles Davies, Joni Mitchell and the Who were widely praised. Continue reading →

A day delegate rate of £25 per person is being offered by Lancaster University at their Green Lane Conference Centre, this applying to bookings placed before July 31 for September to December events.

The offer includes main meeting room hire and set-up, a deli-buffet lunch and morning and afternoon refreshments and is subject to availability. The centre has 14 rooms for up to 100.

Tel 01524 592444 email [email protected]

21-22 September 2016
Venues and Events Live exhibition, Old Billingsgate, London EC3.
web: venuesandevents.co.uk

19-20 October 2016
Showman’s Show for outdoor events, Newbury Showground.
web: 10times.com/the-showmans-show

It is folly to argue with Ingemar Bergman’s description of Edvard Munch, the 1974 documentary by Peter Watkins of the Norwegian Expressionist artist, as “a work of genius”, nor with another view that it is “one of the best films ever made of the artistic process”. Having watched this three hour and forty minute epic through twice we found it a fascinating, poetic and beguiling account of the troubled and often reviled artist who put so much of his damaged self into his paintings. Continue reading →