Monday 23 July 2012

Another day another abandonment!

So another week has passed and unfortunately another abandonment under our belt! It was so disappointing to cancel Friday 20th July as we had already had Ladies Night which was abandoned in July and to finish off the month with yet more rain and another race meeting abandoned was devestating to say the least!

Always one to think on the positive side however, we have 3 fab race meetings coming up in August:

Firstly, Magical Circus Day on Thursday 2nd August. We have the National Festival Circus performing throughout the afternoon and a bouncy castle for the kids so it is a perfect day to bring the family to during the Summer Holidays. We are also teaming up with The Firefighter’s Charity to host a mascot race 45 minutes before the first race.
Secondly, Grab a Grand Evening on Tuesday 14th August is your chance to win £1,000.00 by taking part in a ‘cash booth’ challenge. Keeping with the theme of the night, book your ‘Grand’ hospitality box now for just £1,000.00 for up to 20 people to include:
Private Hospitality Box with trackside balcony
Ploughman’s Buffet
12 Cans of Beer and Lager
4 Bottles of House Wine
Racecards

*So if you have 20 people in your box, this is £50.00 per person, which is exceptional value!

Lastly, join us for our new Ladies Day on Friday 17th August to make up for Ladies Night on Saturday 7th July! With live music and entertainment throughout the afternoon, and a Best Dressed Competition with prizes supplied by City Life & County Living Magazine it is going to be a great day! We also have a bouncy castle for the kid’s so bring the whole family down for this great fixture.

As a special thank you, we are offering all you avid race-goers half price Grandstand Admission in to Ladies Day, Friday 17th August. Bring along your ticket from either 2nd or 14th August to the turnstiles on the day and you will receive half price entry into the course!

Remember children under 18 come free to all meetings so bring them along for a great day out in the summer holidays!

Book your tickets through the ticket hotline on 0844 579 3011 or via the website at https://salesportal.jockeyclubracecourses.com/jcr_ws/jcr.aspx?venue=NOT

Enjoy the sunshine and the summer we are now experiencing....remember to put on the suncream and enjoy a glass of Pimm's in the garden while you can!

xoxo The Commercial Boss

Saturday 14 July 2012

I am back!

Hi Guys

Long time no speak! Things have been pretty hectic at Nottingham over the past few weeks hence no writing to you...but hey that is no excuse!

As most of you will know, we lost our biggest race day of the year last week, Ladies Night! I must say since working at the course, I have never had an abandoned race day and have now had to experience my first abandonment as Commercial manager! A commercial and operational nightmare that is for sure!

It is heart breaking to see so much work go to waste due to the rain, but seeing the amount of rain that we experienced at the racecourse on Friday 6th July was absolutely incredible and indeed made the decision to abandon a very easy one. The caterers had to go and buy wellies to try and get things out of their outdoor bars as they were knee deep in water. The flower beds looked like ponds with flowers floating in them.....

Onwards and upwards, no point dwelling on the past few weeks as we have a jam packed few weeks ahead of us! We race next Friday, 20th July which will be great and as it is our first race day since Thursday 14th June, we are all excited to get back in to it now.

We then have a bumper August with Circus Day on Thursday 2nd, where the Firefighter's Charity are joining us for a mascot race 45 minutes before our first race....followed by Grab A Grand on Tuesday 14th, where one lucky race-goer can win £1000.00 by taking part in a 'cash booth' challenge! Exciting stuff! Then if that is not enough, we are moving Ladies Night to Friday 17th, and making a special Ladies Day! The same entertainment and fantastic best dressed competition prizes as planned on the abandoned Saturday meeting, so Ladies get dressed up and come down and join us! Men too of course!

Call the ticket hotline on 0844 579 3011 to book your tickets now or visit www.nottinghamracecourse.co.uk.

Finally we are looking to recruit a part time administrator at Nottingham Racecourse, so if you or anyone you know are interested in finding out more information, please contact me, Kirsty Edwards on 0870 850 7634 or email me at kirsty.edwards@thejockeyclub.co.uk.

Speak soon
xoxo The Commercial Boss

Tuesday 19 June 2012

The sun is out at last!

Good Afternoon

I hope you are all well. We have been busy here over the past week getting ready for our race meeting last Thursday! I then took a quick trip to the Burt-Fest on Saturday to get some ideas for when The Maze run their festival with us in September and to just to get a feel for what we can expect. It was a shame the weather was so terrible to be honest (Wellie Boots were required) as I think that is what put a few people off going along.

Now we are all getting ready for Ladies Night on Saturday 7th July and if it is anything like our Ladies Day in May it is going to be fantastic! We have some great race-goer packages for just £28.00 per person which are our 'His'n'Hers' Packages; more information can be found on our website http://www.nottinghamracecourse.co.uk/.

We are now also looking a little further forward at our Circus Day on Thursday 2nd August and offering a £55.00 + VAT Hospitality Package to include:
Hot Dish of the Day
All Inclusive Bar *Beers, wines & soft drinks (Please note bar will close on the last race)
Private Box with Trackside Viewing
Premier Admission Badge
Racecards
Raceday TV

Contact the Commercial Team on 0870 850 7634 for more information. Only 3 boxes remaining so be quick to grab them! (Min of 10 guests in a box apply)

This week for me now is full of meetings (not forgetting a bit of Royal Ascot on the TV) and hopefully some fantastic opportunities will come out of them to work with some great companies and charities for a whole host of different events in the future!

Anyway, better go as the phones are ringing about Ladies Night!

Speak Soon
xoxo The Commercial Boss

Monday 11 June 2012

Another race meeting....

Well i wish that I was writing this full of energy ready for the week ahead but unfortunately I am a bit poorly and have been all weekend. I am possibly the worst sick person you will ever come across as I am always full of beans, so having to lay down all weekend and do nothing has filled me with boredom and tiredness!

But no rest for the wicked as we have another race meeting on Thursday this week so lots to sort out. This meeting appears to be a particularly busy one for us as we are fully booked in our Hospitality Suites and our Restaurant so it should be a really good day for our corporate guests. The team are starting all their organising of the day today and once declarations are done tomorrow, everything will be under way.

Then I am off to Newmarket on Wednesday for a meeting which shall be good. I have been there racing once before but not had a chance to have a look around properly so I am looking forward to that.

Anyway, I hope you all have a good week, and if you get a chance make sure you come down to Nottingham Racecourse on Thursday when the gates open at 12.30pm for an afternoon of racing.

Speak soon
xoxo The Commercial Boss




Monday 4 June 2012

A tiring week for the Racecourse

Sorry for the long time with no contact! It's been a busy week for us at the Racecourse with racing over the weekend! Last week and this week has officially merged into one with Family Fun Day on Sunday and racing again on Wednesday and there is so much to tell you.....

We had our staff night out last Thursday which was great for the team to interact and chill out after a busy spell of racing and to gear us all up for another one..I will admit not so great waking up 3 hours after going to bed to get ready for work, but it's a rare occasion and we all deserved it. Friday by all accounts was a more subdued affair with bacon rolls being summoned at 10.00am in order to get us through the day, plus plenty of coffee (tea for me as i don't drink the strong stuff).

After getting through a to do list as long as an A4 piece of paper we all call it a day and head home for a day off before having to be back at 7.00am on Sunday!

I have to admit waking up on Sunday morning and seeing the rain didn't fill me with hope for the day but as they say, the show must go on! With a few hiccups such as the usual internet not working, things not turning up and a quick change around of where to put the entertainment due to the horrific weather we were all set! The day did not get any drier, nor did the racecourse team who all looked damp and frizzy (the girls anyway) but we got through it with smiles on our faces. The race-goers looked like they had a great time despite the weather and I am grateful for their support as I can appreciate how easy it would have been to have a day in bed in the warm!

Waking up this morning i remember thinking well thats typical, blue skies! Sitting here writing this blog its still blue skies and i am still thinking the same thing! I popped into work to get a few bits done for racing this morning and had a much needed gym session and I will be back in to work tomorrow morning to check the buildings are set and ready for Wednesdays Race Meeting, so certainly no time to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee this weekend.

I do however hope that you are all enjoying the long Bank Holiday and making the most out of all the street parties and that the weather stays dry for you all... if you are in Nottingham on Wednesday make sure you pop in and say hi when the gates open at midday and we race again :-)

Speak soon

xoxo The Commercial Boss



Monday 28 May 2012

Jubilee Week Preparations

Back from my weekend in Somerset and the sun is still shining just in time for the start of Jubilee Week preparation! In work this morning with a lot of emails and calls to be made in order to get racing sorted for the weekend. I have emailed all the entertainment, our singer Richie Muir, the caricaturist, the Pets Corner and the bouncy castle supplier to check all is okay for Family Day on Sunday. Lastly I am just organising the timings for Peppa Pig who is with us in the afternoon, and sorting queuing systems to make sure that every child gets a cuddle and a picture with Peppa on the day. We are also doing a little competition for the kids to draw a picture to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the winner will be drawn out on the day and used as the front page of our Racecard on Weds 6th June when we race again! We had an influx of calls and people coming in today to claim their Nottingham Post 2 for 1 Offer by bringing in their vouchers. This meant that Ann and I had a particularly busy day as I had sent my 2 Execs to Uxbridge to see an agency to do a presentation about our Conference Facilities so we were a bit short staffed for the morning. I'm not one to turn an opportunity down to promote the venue however so it was well worth the Monday Morning Madness!! Still lots to do and to organise for the weekend and with a day in Warwick tomorrow for a training course, i am going to be a busy bee! So remember while you are all planning what to do on your 4 days off, make sure come down and support us on Sunday for our Family Day! Speak soon xoxo The Commercial Boss

Wednesday 23 May 2012

The lull after racing!

So it's the day after racing and its absolutely gorgeous here at Nottingham Racecourse, although we wouldn't really know it here in the office as there is too much work to be done!

We are all exhausted from a long and hot days racing yesterday which went fantastically; we had a great crowd too who were enjoying the sunshine (and the outdoor furniture) but I think the weather and tiredness has affected us all today...other than our Ops Manager Ann who got in to the office at about 7am this morning as she forgot to change her alarm back to normal time.....oops! I on the other hand was still in bed...although had been up at 4am with my 2 pyschotic cats running around wanting to go outside and enjoy the early sunshine.

We have a full 2 days of conferences here aswell this week so the team are looking forward to friday when they can wind down and get ready for the weekend; whereas I am going to be enjoying a long weekend with my Family in Somerset! Hope the weather is nice...anyone fancy a BBQ?!! 

Then back to work on Monday to prepare for the Jubilee Weekend....Family Day on Sunday 3rd June and Wednesday 6th June! Very excited but lots of work to do, so I shall enjoy the break whilst I have it! Remember you can always book tickets for our racedays online at http://www.nottinghamracecourse.co.uk/ or through our ticket hotline on 0844 579 3011 and then you can enjoy the Jubilee Weekend with us too!

Enjoy the sunshine everyone and speak soon!

xoxo The Commercial Boss

Monday 21 May 2012

The Exciting First Post

So my first post on a blog! I want to write something that people will be interested in and people want to read every time i post a 'blog' so fingers crossed it works..

I have been working at the racecourse for 2 and a half years now but have taken over as Commercial Manager since February this year. Its a huge challenge as there is so much to think about when leading the Commercial Team, such as the sales for Conferencing, Hospitality, Sponsorship and the endless Advertising Opportunities that we can offer.

Now I dont want this to be a sales pitch but sales are in my blood, and i can always turn something to a positive and try and sell it...i think thats called being in the right job. I havent always been in the 'right' job whatever that may be, but was lucky to be given the opportunity as a Sales Executive at the course when i moved up from Taunton in September 2009.

We host a large array of events, from conferences, training, seminars, dinners and weddings! What a beautiful place to get married......(see, just cannot stop selling) and i was responsible for the pro-active selling and the organising of events. That suited me perfectly as i am possibly the most organised lady you will ever meet and i think the team will agree if you ask them??

My main role now is to oversee the sales team and to sell advertising and sponsorship and do all the marketing for the course...yes this is a lot of work but I love every minute of it and love the guys in the office. They always keep me occupied and provide me with laughs throughout the day! I will often come in to work with a 'great' idea that needs reigning in or tweaking so its actually possible which is where our Ops Manager lends a hand as she has been there 20 years so can help make my ideas a reality. We are only an office of 4 so we have to work together to provide the very best results.

I hope that this provides you with a snap shot of what we do at Nottingham Racecourse and what we have to offer and that you keep following me for some entertaining posts on all the gossip behind the scenes that no one gets to see....

Racing tomorrow so in for 7am! Going to be a long day but will be worth it once the gates open and the racing starts!

Speak soon

xoxo The Commercial Boss