Most excellent customer service

A talented Cotswold employee has scooped Silver at the prestigious South West Tourism Awards for Outstanding Customer Service.

Twenty-two-year-old Francesca Brennan, Assistant Catering Manager from Farncombe Estate in Broadway wowed the judges with her outstanding contribution to excellence.

Having only worked at the Estate – which offers a wide range of leisure courses and study breaks - for just over a year, Francesca was recognised for going the extra mile for staff and customers.  This included cross-country adventures to find Halal suppliers at the last minute, boosting morale with Christmas-themed snow days and one-to-one training for each of her 19 staff.

Richard Howdle, Operations Manager at Farncombe Estate, said: “We are especially proud of Frankie, who plays a leading role in our catering team.

“She works closely with customers, dealing with their individual needs – and she does it with an infectious smile.

“We are delighted to win such a prestigious award for customer service, especially as these awards cover the whole of the South West, the UK’s prime region for tourism.”

There were 67 different awards distributed to the region’s top achievers last night (6 February) at the event held at the Rivera Conference Centre, Torquay.

The winners were greeted by a star-studded line up, hosted by TV presenter Teresa Driscoll, and presented with their awards by journalist and broadcaster Simon Calder, Senior Travel Editor of the Independent.

“I am overjoyed to have received such an award, it really makes the hard work we do worthwhile,” said award-winning Francesca Brennan.

“It was a wonderful evening and such a great opportunity to be recognised by my industry peers, we’ll be working hard to achieve bigger and better things this year!”

Farncombe Estate has won a number of awards in the past 12 months, including Cotswold Leisure Break of the Year 2011 judged by an independent panel from London and Home Counties Today and a silver Green Tourism Award.

Ukulele Maestro Bows Out Of Teaching

Steven Sproat, probably the best-known ukulele exponent in the UK has decided it is time to close the doors of his workshops to take time out to concentrate on his songwriting and other projects.

Following his recent live appearance on Aled Jones’ Good Morning Sunday show on BBC Radio 2, singer/songwriter Steven Sproat acknowledges he has played a major part in the renaissance of the ukulele by passing on his techniques and tips to thousands of fellow uke players.

"I've been in such great demand for my workshops that it has left me with very little time to write songs and be creative with my music and I feel the time is right to take a break from teaching.  Today's ukulele scene is now fully established really.  I must have taught thousands of people over the years to play.  It's their time to flourish and develop their skills and individual style of playing to keep the flags flying for the ukulele.  I'm so very grateful for the opportunities I've had to teach those who have kindly come along to my uke workshops or on a one to one basis. I've had a lot of fun and learned a lot about myself on that journey and I can channel those experiences into my songwriting."

            2012 is the time for all uke fans to catch one of Steven’s final workshops.  Steven will be hosting around 12 workshops this year, with the last one in October, before he takes time out to focus on songwriting and other projects.   Please check his website www.stevensproat.com or his agent’s website: www.itwl.biz for details of when and where his concluding workshops will be.

Visit www.farncombeestate.co.uk to book your place on Steven's Workshop or call us on 0333 456 8580.