Event Organisers Update ISSUE 128 May 2015

AN EVENTS TALE A group of intelligent, articulate and highly-talented students are just finishing their degree course in event management and are talking in the pub about jobs…

SHARK’S FINS CONFISCATED The Royal China restaurant group in London has had illegally imported shark fins confiscated by Westminster Council. Jason Chan …

HOTEL NEWS A rally of Neo-Nazis, Holocaust-deniers, and members of the National Front and BNP at the Grosvenor Hotel, Victoria on April 11 has angered the Campaign…

MEET VICTORIANA Those organising events in venues with some history will want to know about Clevedon Hall, a beautifully preserved 150 year-old Victorian mansion…

HISTORIC COMFORT IN YORKSHIRE Those looking for a base for a small residential event or executive retreat in Yorkshire can consider the Old Lodge hotel at Malton, a …

PEACE NEAR ROYSTON The Sheene Mill is a Grade II Listed 16th Century Mill House on the river Mel in the village of Melbourne, on the Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and …

ISLAND OF LOST SOULS This 1932 black and white science fiction horror shocker was the first, and far and away the best of three Hollywood adaptations of the 1896 H.G.Wells …

Germanwings murder, Police in the frame, Abuse of Power, Just taking,.

GERMANWINGS MURDER Male suicide prevention charity CALM has urged perspective over Andreas Lubitz, the Germanwings co-pilot who deliberately crashed …

POLICE IN THE FRAME An investigation of accusations that senior detectives at Scotland Yard covered up decades of child abuse, and possibly murder, has been …

ABUSE OF POWER The RSPCA has been accused of abusing its powers by a senior High Court judge after they, with police and officials from Tendring council, raided a …

MUGGING VICTIM’S CHARITABLE ACT A frail and elderly widower who was mugged for £5 has pledged to donate hundreds of pounds sent to him by well-wishers to charity…

JUST TAKING Popular donation site JustGiving has come out badly on a MoneySavingExpert.com comparison website. JustGiving charges a transaction fee of …

GET REGISTERED IN NORTHERN IRELAND Compulsory registration for charities in Northern Ireland has been introduced by the Charity Commission. With an estimated …

TIME TO CHECK? Those running charity shops might want to check incoming items a bit more carefully after an Arizona man bought an old watch for $6 at a Goodwill thrift shop …

Event Organisers Update ISSUE 127 April 2015

KNOW MY NAME AND REMEMBER The tragedy of the 150 dead victims of the Germanwings flight deliberately crashed in the French Alps by a co-pilot reportedly …

ONE TO EVICT, NOW One association understandably having problems staging some of its events is the Chartered Institute of Credit Management (CICM). Over the years its …

PROTESTS AS EVENTS Meanwhile those organisers who want, or need to know more about protests, and how they fit or not into the events industry can buy a fascinating …

CAMBRIDGE COLLEGE VENUE RIPPED OFF A former purchase ledger clerk at Pembroke College, Cambridge stole £286,000 from her employer to help finance a …

VENUE REVIEW SITE LAUNCHED A new venue review site for London venues, Eventopedia, has been launched. Unlike Tripadvisor those event organisers posting …

WOODEN CROSSES Those interested in the First World War and what it was really like in the trenches will want to see the searing depiction of Wooden Crosses, a recently …

Under the Radar, Big Tobacco, Big Pharma, Smart Spy, Dragons – Marketing Matters Mar/Apr 2015 ISSUE 43

JACK GOES UNDER THE RADAR A recent Channel 4 Dispatches documentary Politicians for Hire trawled twelve well-known names with fake offers of lucrative …

A CHOKER FOR BIG TOBACCO The marketing of cigarettes is to be restricted in the UK after MPs in the House of Commons voted by 367 to 113 to require tobacco …

BIG PHARMA CON? Legal action for allegedly misleading its customers with its marketing is being brought against pharma firm Reckitt Benckiser in Australia by the …

SMART SPY IN THE HOME TV manufacturers Samsung has advised its customers that its Smart sets that have a voice recognition system and connection to the internet …

TIGER SAVAGES DRAGONS Tiger Mobiles, a smart phone comparison site rejected for a slot on the Dragon’s Den reality BBC2 TV series by the producers in 2008 have …

KING OF THE FILM ADAPTATIONS A recent BT TV survey of books that adapted into successful films placed the Harry Potter collection by J K Rowling top of the list …

JEREMY PULLS IT OFF News that mild-mannered and softly-spoken Jeremy Clarkson has been suspended by the BBC from its popular Top Gear shows for allegedly …

Event Organisers Update ISSUE 126 Mar 2015

KILLER IN CAPITAL Those organising events in London might want to advise their delegates that the 50 worst blackspots in the country for illegally polluted air are all in …

MORE SPEAKER PROBLEMS A speaker who had been banned from speaking at the University of East Anglia for calling homosexuality “a filthy disease” was subsequently …

VINOPOLIS TO CLOSE Vinopolis, the wine tasting venue near London Bridge is to close at the end of this year, after 16 years trading, with the loss of 180 jobs. The 2.5 acre …

MAN OF THE WEST Those who like their westerns raw and gritty will enjoy Man of the West (1958) Giving a nervy, twitchy performance as Link Jones, a former family gang …

Charities Behaving Badly, Time for a Rethink, Fishing, Thieving, Jailed. – Charity Matters Feb/Mar 2015 Issue 59

MEET THE RACISTS A recent ITV documentary Exposure – Charities Behaving Badly focussed on three organisations enjoying charity status supported by, or supporting …

TIME FOR A RETHINK Four halal slaughter men have had their operating licences suspended after Animal Aid covertly filmed a catalogue of vicious cruelty at Bowood …

ABUSIVE NEIGHBOURS PROMPT SUICIDE A charity worker who had won a string of awards for he voluntary contribution to society killed herself after abuse from her …

FLORIDA FISHERMEN BEHAVING BADLY A Florida animal welfare charity, Save our Seabirds (SOS) has revealed that one of the birds it now cares for is a brown pelican …

THIEVING FROM CHARITIES, AND JAILED A number of individuals have recently been convicted of stealing, or attempting to steal, substantial sums of money from …

DRUNK KILLER OF CHARITY CYCLIST JAILED Bethany Mackie,18, was jailed for five years for her drink-driving causing the death of charity cyclist and father of three …

INSPIRED Suggs, the frontman for the Madness band, was inspired to raise money to fight pancreatic cancer after losing a much-loved sister-in-law to the disease in 2012…

Event Organisers Update ISSUE 125 Feb 2015

PARADISE, FOR SOME Campaigners opposing Germany’s legal brothels are concerned that some companies there view it as just another type of corporate hospitality they can …

VIRUS? Some in the events industry have been getting an email, styled as from MBL (Seminars) Ltd of Manchester advising them that they are overdue on payment for a …

HOTEL NEWS  Local residents are vociferously opposing a plan by Genting Casinos to install a 30,000 square foot, 24-hour casino, restaurant and bar on the ground and first …

EVENT CATERING TRENDS FOR 2015 These include, according to event caterers Tapenade :  Middle Eastern grain freekeh (pronounced fari-kah) to replace quinoa …

LOTS AT WHITTLEBURY Organisers wanting big spaces, or lots of little ones should view Whittlebury Hall Conference, Training Centre and Hotel, located near Towcester …

SCANDIC IN COPENHAGEN The Scandic Hotel Group have five properties in the Danish capital, giving organisers more than 1,000 bedrooms and 50 meetings rooms …

LET’S KISS BADGES One nifty encouragement to networking we recently experienced was the electronic delegate badge system used at the Clic+ organisers conference at …

THE OFFENCE Those who enjoy gritty psychological dramas will want to see The Offence (1972), a bleak and harrowing story of a detective-sergeant (Sean Connery) …

Fat Cats, Wonga, Driving, Fines, Corruption – Marketing Matters Jan/Feb 2015 ISSUE 42

STORM OVER THE FAT CATS An overdue and welcome storm is building, it seems, over the issues of company and executive greed. The first loud and frightening rumble…

WONGA FINALLY GETS IT Reviled payday lender Wonga has removed its branding from football club Newcastle United’s children’s replica kit after concern from MP’s that…

WATCH THE DRIVING More than £90 has to be added to car insurance premiums to cover the increase in fraudulent whiplash claims, which insurer Aviva say surged by…

FINES FOR BAD PHONE MARKETING Ofcom have fined two companies £20,000 each for making excessive numbers of silent and/or abandoned calls to consumers…

SHEERAZ, ANYONE? Britain’s new food policing unit, set up in the wake of last years horsemeat scandal is to focus on the growing trade in fake wine. One of the signs …

A TASTE OF THE ETHICAL STUFF As gourmet readers will know Waitrose does not sell foie gras – traditionally made in France from the unhealthily swollen livers of …

THE CORRUPTION GAME A student in Valencia has invented a board game that features the corruption rife in the ruling classes of Spanish society. With business …

Event Organisers Update ISSUE 124 Jan 2015

BUSINESS AS USUAL? Visitors to riot-damaged Thailand, once again under martial law since the bloodless coup to restore order on May 22, are being advised of the serious…

SPEAKING OF WHICH… Old Grit’s vitriolic rant about speakers who sell from their stages in Issue 123 touched a nerve, it seems, amongst professional speakers. When …

GO LARGE IN COPENHAGEN Those running, or looking at running events in Denmark will need to know about the modern Bella Center, and the adjacent Bella Sky Comwell …

OASIS AT HEATHROW Those wanting to run an event near Heathrow Airport will want to include the Marriott London Heathrow hotel in the list of options. This modern …

TEA FOR TWO FOR ONE Patisserie Valerie, the continental-style cafe and cake-shop chain, is to offer traditional English afternoon tea at its branches. This is for a charge …

DESTINATION SHOWCASE Featuring a range of 50 hotels, hotel groups, convention bureaux and DMC’s from 20 countries the Moulden Marketing B2B Destination …

SHOAH Shoah, a nine-hour, ten-minute documentary detailing the horrors of the Holocaust from interviews with survivors and perpetrators is not easy to watch, but …

Cyber Sickness, Flawed Politicians, Triumphs for Charity, Get Trained. – Charity Matters Dec 2014/Jan 2015 Issue 58

CYBER SICKNESS
The NSPCC, in conjunction with the Royal College of GPs (RCGPs) has issued guidelines to doctors to help them spot signs of cyber-bullying, as well as trafficking …

FLAWED POLITICIANS
World Animal Protection have launched a campaign to end bear baiting in Pakistan. This illegal entertainment involves tethering a bear that has had its teeth and claws removed…

GIVE MONEY FOR MURDER?
The Aid Convoy charity, based in London’s East End, has boasted of raising more than £1 million of aid amidst fears that it, and others, is a cover for foreign fighters to enter Syria …

TRIUMPHS FOR CHARITY
Greenpeace has won two major lobbying campaigns.
o They persuaded LEGO not to renew its contract with Arctic oil driller Shell whereby …

TICKING BOMB?
The Howard League for Penal Reform has warned that prisons in England and Wales are in crisis after losing 9,830 (41%) of their officers due to cuts in the last four years …

HOW MUCH?
More pensioners are risking their health by drinking too much, usually in their homes. According to Alcohol Concern a worrying and increasing number regularly exceed …

GIVE US YER MONEY
A new app that recognises charity logos and makes it easy for donors to donate to their chosen cause without fee has been launched…

GET TRAINED
Six one-day courses in charity governance are now offered by the Civil Society, covering the understanding of governance, finance for trustees, board leadership and chairs …

CUT TO THE CHASE
Visitor registration has just opened for the 2015 charities and association event CHASE, being held February 17 and 18 at the Business Design Centre, Islington, London.