Our singles weekend in Hertfordshire

I’ve just been Hosting our End of Summer Dinner Dance for single travellers, so there wasn’t much time to lament the end of the season in the Med, as I had to pack and fly back to the UK in time to get my best frock out of the wardrobe…  Sorry this post is a few days late: blame technology!

The autumn singles event is a favourite weekend of mine, because I get to meet lots of guests, some who are regulars at our dinner dances, and quite a few trying out Friendship Travel for the first time.

This year, we introduced a new venue for this singles weekend:  Harpenden House Hotel in … Harpenden!   As more and more people checked in, the hotel became a hive of activity as everyone congregated in the lounge area.  Excitement built as guests introduced themselves to each other, and there was lots of chatter, even before the bar opened.

By the evening the ladies and gents were all dressed in their best for the Black Tie Ball.  As people checked the seating plan and made their way through to the Wine Press Restaurant, they were soon seated and served a lovely three-course meal with wine.  During dinner we sold raffle tickets to help raise money for the NSPCC, and all guests gave generously in a bid to win our First Prize – five days at La Source in Grenada!

After coffee was served the disco got under way, the winning raffle ticket was drawn, and we partied hard until 1am…  But the night didn’t end there for some, with the clocks going back, this meant an extra hour to spend in the bar catching up with old friends and new!

By the way, there’s some brilliant photos from the dinner that Lynne has kindly shared on Facebook.   Hope she won’t mind if  I share her album. 

Breakfast the following morning was a little quieter (not surprising), but with a lot of laughs as tales of the night before were told… and the Hosts were asked loads of questions about our 2012 programme – what is going to be in our Summer brochure?

All in all, a really good ‘do’, with a lot of positive feedback for the hotel and a successful event.  And I’m already looking forward to my next singles event , cos I’m Hosting the New Year’s Ball at our long-established venue, the Donnington Vallyl Hotel.  See you there?

PS Colum tells me that the Summer 2012 brochure is about to go to the printers, and that in Turkey alone we’ll have two new hotels added to the line-up and two different options for Gulet cruises.  Can’t wait.