About the Event
This year we are celebrating 25 years of being in business at Hempstead House Hotel & Spa. To mark this special occasion, we hosted a black tie gala dinner and dance on Friday 15th May 2015, which was a great success!
Guests were invited to arrive at 7:00pm and were greeted with champagne and canapés on arrival. At 7:30pm, our guests were called into the Heritage Suite to enjoy a three course meal with coffee. Etienne Pradier, who is famously known for his table magic performances, entertained our guests during their meal.
Following our delicious 3 course meal, Hempstead House Hotel & Spa proprietor, Mandy Holdstock, gave a wonderful speech in front of our 132 guests. In her speech, Mandy thanked our kind suppliers who supported this event by providing us with donations and/or ticket purchases.
Mandy also shared a little of her career history with the attendees; previously a school teacher, her journey in the hospitality industry started by filling in a questionnaire from a tourism database, followed by a phone call several months later requesting the rate for a double room. Luckily, Mandy had scribbled down some prices which proved agreeable and the first customers were booked.
However, not long after confirming the first booking, Mandy realised that she and her family were going away on the same weekend their first guests were due! How did she overcome this? You will have to read Mandy Holdstock's informative and delightful speech in full to find out.
Mike Wood, our General manager and newly appointed Director of Hempstead House Hotel presented his speech on the plans and future of the business. His Journey began when recession hit in 2008 but his strong, positive and ambitious approach along with his beliefs that the key success of the hotel is by providing the competitive packages, whilst maintaining the traditional family values with modern/luxury facilities and high class personal customer service will secure continued success for the next 25 years.
The formal speeches were then concluded with a heartfelt & jovial script of poetry from our Head Gardener David “Denzil” Goswell titled "Tribute to Mandy". After this, the live entertainment began with the band SF-6 and our resident DJ Aura, AKA Preston “Frosty” Frost.
"Tribute to Mandy" by Denzil
