Hmmmmmm, this could be interesting !! Right, as organisers we do listen, we do want to know what was good and what can be improved.

Last year we listened maybe to those who shouted the most and maybe by doing so we didn't get it right for the majority, maybe we did, but we'd like to know. Last year folks wanted a more glamorous location and to be held further North - personally I think that fell flat but what do you think?

There were a number of issues that we are aware of and are taking up with Shrigley Hall, but we would value your constructive feedback too. We've read about what a great time folks had so some stuff must have been right.

So.............. let us know what you thought was good, what was not so good, and also what else you'd like to see - put yourself in the shoes of the organisers for next year and think away.

As organisers we will listen, some things we will be able to change, some we wont - you'd not believe some of he stuff that goes on behind the scenes to get these events running.

So ............ no Roulade a la Garlic Jus next year :confused: :D

Ok,

Firstly I do think that having the venue this year up north was a bit of a let down. The turnout should have been a lot higher tbh!! So many people moaned for it being down south last year....

Food is always going to be a problem and can't please everyone but a good effort was made after last years comment.
I think we should have an everyday menu for next year (Chips, Pies, Fish Fingers, Vegetables.. maybe a school dinners theme ;) )

And how about fancy dress with a theme? Films and TV :D

I had an ace time and for the first time ever, felt like Cinderella LOL .... so you did something right! .....

Shrigley hall was a gorgeous place and the staff were lovely ............. It was a pig and a half to find tho!!!!! lol

the only major thing i think about the place was .......... the dancefloor was no way near big enough for everyone who wanted to dance, i had to dance most of the nite by my table and not on the dancefloor ........... seems as though everyone wanted to dance so maybe take dancefloor size into consideration for the next ball, once the music started, most tables were empty and we were all packed onto a tiny dancelfoor lol.

the only other thing was, if it wasnt for sharing with Clare then i wouldnt of been able to afford the hotel for the night, you can get glam places for less than what we paid for the room, i'd much rather have a cheaper place to stop in and put more of a donation in the donation bucket- as i think everyone else should too seeing as its for charity- why should we bother about getting a top class place for us when the whole point of the event is to give to charity! ........

think thats all i have to say, hope i dont upset any of the organisers, you all did a FANTASTIC job and i cant fault you at all .......... although sham ...... you didnt keep your promise of a 4sum ;)

:red: :red: :)

Hmmm;)
In general we enjoyed the whole weekend.
The location was certainly spectacular.Although having said that did not really think it was worth £90 per night:eek: If we had not had the discount I think there may have been a lot of complaints.The rooms IMO were no better than last year, or Ibis/Holiday Inn etc.
The dance floor could have been bigger.The meal was more than acceptable for us anyway.
Believe we were ripped off with the booze prices, although this did not stop some, it certainly slowed me down. £9 for a pint and a glass of wine:aargh: :aargh:
Thought breakfast was good, and the general service was good even if sometimes it was difficult to make the staff understand.
Possibly for me at least fri night and helping on sat was the bonus for the weekend.

Having said the above we should not forget that organising an event such as this in your SPARE TIME is no mean achievement. All the organisers efforts should not go unrewarded, they have once again done a remarkable job trying to please a whole lot of DIFFERENT people with DIFFERENT aspirations, my hat goes off to them.:biggrin:
We will attend next years all being well, as there is no other better excuse for a good get together.

"You can't please everyone all of the time"

I agree with what has been said about the hotel....it was lovely but for me I would never have said it was a 4* hotel. 3* yes, but then I am a fussy moo about hotels.
Food was okish but then again, catering for lots of people can't be easy but in saying that it could have been better. The prices of the drink were disgustingly high. Living in London we are used to paying perhaps higher prices than anyone else in the country for things but nearly £8 for a vodka and a mixer is awful....sadly we were all captive and had no choice but to pay up or stay sober.

The car park security was a bit of a worry as was discovered.....something perhaps to be looked at for the next hotel? There are a lot of lovely cars that folk want looking after 24/7. The floral arrangements and balloons were lovely :)

Breakfast was great even though we are still waiting for our numerous pots of tea and toast that we ordered on Saturday morning!

At the end of the day we all had the most fantastic time and we appreciate the efforts that went into the organisation of the weekend. In a sense the hotel was booked in good faith and it isn't until you are actually there for the event that you get the real sense of it all and then it can be too late to do anything about it if it isn't up to scratch!

Many thanks to you all!

Being first timers, we had an excellent time and met some great people.

The whole thing was very well organised. The tables were very well thought out and the room was decorated beautifully. The timings worked really well and the auction and raffle were real cliff hangers!!! Leaving loads of time for a boogie.

After reading previous threads and seeing the pictures I know you guys didn't have a lot of time to get things ready on the day, but you wouldn't have know that. It all looked fab.

I was pretty glad to learn that the ball was held on our doorstep, however after attending I feel totally disappointed with the Hall. The hotel has a reputation as being one of the best one in the area and prices to match, but after Saturday it will not be somewhere I will be recommending in a hurry. The whole suite was a bit shabby, threadbare carpets don't always give the right impression, the food was pot luck, not something I would have expected from Shrigley Hall.

So well done for all your hard work, it paid off. It was a shame the hotel couldn't follow your lead!

:)

The only complaint we had was the food. Is it possible for the organisers to get a sampler next time?

Ok,

Firstly I do think that having the venue this year up north was a bit of a let down. The turnout should have been a lot higher tbh!! So many people moaned for it being down south last year....

Food is always going to be a problem and can't please everyone but a good effort was made after last years comment.
I think we should have an everyday menu for next year (Chips, Pies, Fish Fingers, Vegetables.. maybe a school dinners theme ;) )

And how about fancy dress with a theme? Films and TV :D

Although I didnt go this year (but did last year) I agree with what speedd has said.

Last year the evening cost me over £200 and this is what stopped me going this year as it was even more expensive because of the venue.

For me to consider going again the cost would have to come down considerably and not go up! I think downgrading the dress code from black tie to smart would be a good start and would save me £35 alone. Then the price of the ticket could stay the same or even increase to get more money in for the charity, which is afterall, what it's all about. The evening left me skint last year so had no extra cash to donate or to bid on any really nice auction lots so the charity lost out :(

How about not just a school dinners theme for the food but school as a theme - fancy dress as well ;) St tirrians style ;) (just think Soggy you could be headmaster and cane all the bad boys - ie Rakey! ;) :D:D:D )

I think the midlands is the best place for the ball - if I can travel up from the south then the northerns can travel down from the north ;) I would say that personally I would prefer Birmingham as the road links are that much bettter and more central than Northampton (yes I know the M1 passes Soggy but its a pain getting over to the M1 if you live in the south, where as all motorways pass through or link directly to Birmingham ;) )

Love the idea Speedd had for the food - I say bangers and mash ;)All this lahdi dah stuff hotels serve for a fortune with a compot of this and a drissle of that is overpriced crap IMHO. We want good honest English grub that matches our good honest English cars ;)

Paul :)

"You can't please everyone all of the time"

I agree with what has been said about the hotel....it was lovely but for me I would never have said it was a 4* hotel. 3* yes, but then I am a fussy moo about hotels.

Stars, as far as I know, relate to facilities more than quality.

ok bad points first, get them out of the way:
- the hotel didn't live up to its promise. i can see why the organisers booked it, amazing setting & the lobby area looked amazing but the sad truth is its seen its best days. indifferent staff, grubby rooms & the bar prices tell a story of a a hotel that is only surviving on the back of events like ours.

- lack of northern support. no excuses really. this is supposed to be the opportunity of the year to put something back & to celebrate this great community we have. next year i'll travel south happily

good points:
- i know i said it on the night but its worth saying again - the room looked amazing. from walking into an empty room at 2pm to what we walked into at 7pm was outstanding.

- great organisation in keeping the night moving along. when you consider everyone who played a part has a full time job & a family it makes you appreciate how hard they worked.
- the auction went well, despite some low bidding. not sure how you change that really though

- having a room away from the rest of the hotel with its own bar meant everybody stayed & didn't drift off

- formal dress made it feel really special & it would be a shame to lose that, although fancy dress could be a fun alternative


things to consider changing
- like others have said, maybe make the meal less formal. i wouldn't want to go all the way down to a cold buffet but maybe something inbetween the two. something fast!

- overall there's not much else i would have changed other than the venue & the meal format

- formal dress made it feel really special & it would be a shame to lose that, although fancy dress could be a fun alternative
I agree we have to keep to formal dress. I forked out for a monkey suit now ;)

Venue - I thought the hall itself wasnt too bad... £100 a night wasnt too bad, but I think I probably wouldnt have had that opinion had we had to pay anymore than that...

Food - well I was a bit surprised how slow the service was, I ordered the salad starter but everyone had finished their starters before mine even showed up... and the pork with tomato soup dressing :eek: .. likes been said the drinks were pricey...

Location - better for us, but It was probably still 3 hour drive... but tbh we would come down to wherever it was next year... I guess the old adage you cant please all of the people all of the time springs to mind...

Organisation - very well done and obviously a lot of care and attention had gone into it, a great achievement for a group of organisers who already have full time jobs and lives...

Overall it was a great night :D

Hello.

Would like to say a big thank you to the organisers of the ball.:D

Good points:p :smile:
Great company
well organised from mini 2 side
great location ( only 40 mins from home )
great aution prizes ( skint so didn't bid )
great raffle prizes ( crap at raffles so didn't win )
great breakie on Sunday morning.
Better half enjoyed shopping for outfit .:confused:

Bad points.
Dissapointed with the hotel room, did pay alot for this but looking slightly passed it's best.
Expensive booze ( always a bummer )
Food was just ok ( Table service very slow )
Small dance floor. ( very bad dancer so need lots of room )
Felt slightly rough the next day day must be the cheshire air .

But thanks again to the organisers and if held down south will still go anyway.

cheers :biggrin:

Right then.,.. where to start..

First of all the night wouldnt have been a success without those who turned up & without those who organised it :D

The location who good for me as its only 20mins away but i wouldnt had minded travelling..
But for the price of the room and the photos online i think i was expecting more :o

The daytime drinkg session was also top class...:D

Watching peoples faces as we got the cars in also...;)



the bar was expensive but hotels normally are so :rolleyes:

not sure about the dance floor as didnt make it that far sort of stayed talking to everyone by the bar:rolleyes: :p

think the parking could have been better tho.. CCTV next time..

but overall a great night and a great bunch of peeps..:D

My 50p worth

Hotel
Bad points. A little expensive, £115 for a single room nearly stopped me coming at all. Not really a **** Hotel. Was worried when i parked in the back car park and saw car glass on the floor, hopefully no-one from here had any issues?
Good points. Lovely location, not too far from home (45 minutes to gey home on sunday)

Food + Drink
Bad points. My meal was a little hit and miss, i've had better, but also had worse and paid more too! The drinks were expensive but i was only drinking beer thankfully. I kinda expected this from the type of hotel it was.
Good points. The staff must have been pushed on an evening like this and i thought the evening staff did well, 15 large tables to manage can't be easy.

Location.
Bad points. None.
Good points. Close to home, although i would travel further to this event again. The Midlands seems to be a good idea.

Dress code.
Bad points. Had to buy a DJ as it made more sense then renting!
Good points. Had to buy a DJ as it made more sense then renting! Fancy dress might be fun???

Overall i has a smashing time and would travel to this event again to meet up with the fab people from this site who made it such an entertaining evening.

Thanks, Mark.

ok......... the food was a bit iffy and you would have needed step by step instruction to get back to your room! but the company was good and thats whats important!

only problem i had......... by the time the girl behind the bar had got the order right it was time to order another drink :D

i can't comment on possible venue changes cos i'd have to get across the water anyway!

Stars, as far as I know, relate to facilities more than quality.

There are lots of things that are looked for when giving star ratings Paul so yes your right!

Stars, as far as I know, relate to facilities more than quality.

The tennis courts weren't safe to play on :rolleyes:

Stolen from about.com:


1 Star
Very basic. Includes a large proportion of rooms without en-suite bath or shower. Will not have a Restaurant for Lunch or Dinner.
2 Stars
Very basic. Includes a large proportion of rooms without en-suite bath or shower. Will not have a Restaurant for Lunch or Dinner. Can include a lesser proportion of rooms without en-suite bath or shower, though in many cases are fully en-suite. Probably does not have a Restaurant for Lunch or Dinner. At this level you can find some small, sometimes family run, and very friendly gems can often be found.
3 Stars
Fully en-suite and with a Restaurant for cooked breakfast and Dinner, at the very minimum. Often smallish with 50-80 bedrooms and friendlier places to stay. 24 hour Reception cover enables you to stay out late.
4 Stars
Everything at 3 star level plus the refinements of 24 hour room service, minibars in bedrooms and so on. Public areas will be larger than in 3 star. Tend to be focused on business travellers. When business is brisk, are generally pricey for the services offered.
5 Stars
Very few hotels achieve this standard and most are household names: The Ritz, the Savoy Hotel, the Dorchester to name a few. Almost without exception, large hotels with terribly polite but not so personal service.But that's not set in stone I believe there's more to it than that.

;)

First and Foremost, I had a brilliant time!! A big thank you to everyone who helped with organising, and to everyone who came.

The hotel setting was very nice. I did think the rooms were a tad expensive considering the size/facilities of the room. My room was tiny (walking sideways past the beds) with a television that looked fresh out of the 70s. The ballroom was stunning.

I was actually quite satisfied with my meal, but then I am extremely unfussy when it comes to food, and I like everything.

The actual ball went very well. The auction was a little slow (in terms of not many people bidding) but other than that, all was well. Maybe have to get people a bit more tiddled next year! :D

Mikeys car was in prime position, and provided a few tunes for folks in the bar... that was great!

The bar was shockingly expensive! In fairness that didn't stop me though!


So what would I change?? Maybe a bit more south next year... It was a good idea to move it up north to attract the northern members, but they didn't seem to go for it en mass.

I don't really agree with lowering the dress code, its a formal event after all. Maybe some more general food choices wouldn't be a bad choice... anything but Bettys Hotpot!

I think the venue is key to the whole evening... so really thats all i would change...

well said bravo *claps*

Here is my two bobs worth.

We had to ask 3 times Fri eve for an ash tray in our room, it was brought while we where out and they left the room door open, luckily nothing was missing from our room when we returned around 12.30am

Bedspread was thread bare in places, not much room around bed, bathroom was bigger.
Draft through the windows were terrible Sat eve.

Caught my heal on a metal runner during the ball, luckily I managed to keep my balance but it took the rubber clean off the heal. It took the staff nearly an hour to put some tape on it, but they run out of tape so the runner wasn't covered properly. Had the incident put in the accident book and I will be sending them the bill when I get my shoes re healed. Had to walk round bare foot all night good job most of it was carpetted.

Saturday morning when we went down for breakfast there was hardly any hot food left, we had to wait a while for them to bring more out. There was lots of people waiting to be seated so they should make sure there is enough food.

It was a long drive up nearly 4 hours. Hotel and bar was very pricey. Hotel looked lovely from the outside but needed an over haul, and a bit out of the way.

This was out first ball we both had a lovely time, nice to meet lots of new people. Brill curry on Friday eve. Thanks Lorraine for organising that. Shame there wasn't many taxi's around had to wait ages.

Gemini :elecone: :smile:

For me (and the +1), the venue was much better than last year, even tho' it was a bit more expensive and the rooms small etc (as said before) - the spa really made it - if you didn't use it then I guess the hotel is expensive. I guess the only dissapointment was with the auction.......last year folk were bidding over £50 just for cufflinks, but this year, even with better products, IMHO bidding was low - I can only summise that the cost of the booze meant more folk were sober, and kept their sensible heads on. Shame, as the point of the ball was to raise money (I spent a fortune on raffle tickets, but still didn't win.....).

However, the whole event was flawlessly organised, and great fun. IMHO, it really is worth spending the Friday night at the venue - this means you meet folk before the ball, get to have an entertaining curry, and can take part in the run. This makes the ball all the more enjoyable and worth the money.

P.S. I guess the £90 per night charge is to subsidise the keeping of the grounds for the golfers..........

not sure I can add more to what has been said really

Can't fault the organisation of such a major event, to achieve the night must have taken a hell of a lot of planning and comitment that we would never fully appreicate. Perhaps there is a new career for a few of you doing this for a living?:D

Ok, the bits that could be better, (but didn't spoil it for me) :

Hotel: lovely settings but that was about it, next time rooms should be checked for quality and distance from the facilities. Also secure parking should be a must so that everyone doesn't fear for their cars and is constantly looking for a spot at the front where it was safe.

Food: was not great, but I guess when there is so many to feed and the ticket price has to be kept down then we got what we paid for. But the service was slow and the fact that some didn't get what they ordered due to others changing their minds was something that could be addressed, as the staff could see on the name tickets who had ordered what.

Dress: I liked it been Dinner Suit, its not often we get chance to dress up, and I like it, but can see the fun in maybe fancy dress next time but this could put more people off than attract them. So think we should stick to smart as its a good bit of encouragment for the ladies, as they always like to dress up in nice frocks and they look hot too:D

Location: I like the idea of it been in the North this time, but I did feel let down by those from the north that said they didn't come as it was down south, and then when the organisers moved it closer to them they still didn't make any effort:( I think next year it should be more towards the south again, as its only fair on the majority that make the effort to put it on their doorstep seeing as they made the effort this year;)

Auction: I liked the quality of items in the Auction, and so wanted to bid more on some of them, but due to the cost of the event and other things I have going on this month I couldn't buy the items I wanted:( I think the cost of the overall weekend for many decreased the bidding too, that and the fact that the bar was well over priced at £3.20 for a Guinness and £3 for a pint of Coke:eek: If people aren't drunk or are watching the pennies then they won't get carried away like we want them to.

THE BIG POINT: Bar prices, I mentioned it above, and I know it didn't stop a few of us really hammering it, but the prices were crazy, yet when we were in the Club house earlier in the day, prices were cheaper on beer and food, so it shows that they sting those that are not golfers to keep the place going:(

All I would like to say again is well done to those involved arranging this, as I had a top time, its not the best time of year for such an event for me with MtM also in this month and so close to Christmas and a summer Ball might be nice for a change, but I cant' wait to do it again if you guys decide to arrange it:)

Hi Everyone
First of all I would just like to say what a wonderful evening we had. It was our (mine, Mini Me GB and Jayne Park Lane) first Mini2 Charity ball and we would definately go again.

At first we weren't sure whether to go due to the price of the hotel. Certainly the prices of the sandwiches and drinks matched the price of the hotel!! Plus the fact that the rooms were no better than a holiday inn. However I don't believe that the organisers could have really known this, the brouchure/website certainly made it look better than it was. And it's not always easy to tell these things from one visit.

Distance doesn't really matter to us. As long as you have it at a weekend then what's the point of having a MINI unless you get to drive it!!! Scotland could be a nice setting and a nice long drive for all of us! :D

Food - was acceptable but not as posh as it sounded. However again there was no way the organisers could have known this - you could sample a first class meal in the restaurant but i bet it was a different chef cooking for us!!

My grandfather plays bowls and they regularly have dances etc where the food served is fish and chips. They have a good local fish and chip van arrive at the venue and the organisers bring it to your table - that way there are only two options as well - fish and chips or veggie burger and chips! I bet it saves on cost too!! I have heard of fish and chip balls!

Dress - someone said it should be reduced from black tie to smart. i kinda agree with this as it means us girlies still get to dress up but the men do not have to go out and buy/rent a suit. i mean smart could still include ties, shirts and no jeans!!

Price - if the venue could possibly go down then the tickets could definately go up - we thought they were very cheap for a charity ball.

Maybe it sounds like i'm moaning a lot - i'm really not. the only thing that disappointed us was the venue and their food. However we had a lovely time - enjoyed seeing the mini's indoors, meeting lots of different people and putting faces to names. We enjoyed the dinner - or laughing about it with our fellow table guests! It was edible that's all that mattered, we had fun with the little bits and pieces left on our table - only 1/7 of us were able to blow those balloons up lol! we pocketed the mints and took a little yellow mini home for Captain who was unable to attend because of work! We enjoyed the auction (esp when i won the Russ Swift Ride) but felt things should have gone for more - not sure what can be done about that though!! and the raffle. The cheesy music was great although more dance space needed. The place looked beautiful - the balloons and flowers... although mum upset a lady the next day, saw her with some flowers just like ours but without the lemons and said to her 'yes i was considering taking our table flowers too' the lady replied 'this is the bridesmaids bouquet' - opps!!

We went to bed happy and smiling, talking about a great night ever since - thank you everyone who worked so hard!

Even though I wasn't there I'd like to put my big oar in. :D

I've arranged a couple of conferences and meetings at various hotels and:

- One visit to the hotel isn't good enough. You really need to pop in unannounced at busy periods to see how they coped say on a Friday or Saturday night - difficult when the hotel is far away. When organisers visit they should ask to have an actual sample of the meal to test. Most decent hotels won't have a problem with that.

- Never forget to negotiate a discount on food and drink prices. Rack rates on food and drinks are for corporate guests, not MINI2ers out on the razz. If you got a discount for rooms you can get one on food and drink. Just to make you feel better I bought 2 drinks at a hotel in Central London and got £2.30 change from £35. :eek:

Rack rates on food and drinks are for corporate guests, not MINI2ers out on the razz. We also paid a corporate rate for the taxis to the Indian restaurant :eek: But that was our fault for paying, not the hotel's ;)

The place looked beautiful - the balloons and flowers... although mum upset a lady the next day, saw her with some flowers just like ours but without the lemons and said to her 'yes i was considering taking our table flowers too' the lady replied 'this is the bridesmaids bouquet' - opps!!!

Quality... That picture would have been worth paying for :biggrin:

Agree with your write up and hope we all try to make that extra effort for 2007 ;)

Roll on the next one :nice: