TLH Leisure Resort, Torquay

New "greener" brochures

As part of it’s Green Tourism campaign this year TLH Leisure Resort has taken a fresh, green look at it’s new 2010 brochure and developed two separate publications to better meet the needs of their guests and the environment.

Whether it be Entertainment weekends with tributes to legends such as Frank Sinatra, Abba or Tom Jones or an Art holiday, Meet the Gardener or a Blues weekend there really is something for everyone.  Devon cream teas and locally sourced produce and drinks are celebrated on our Foodie breaks and the Off to the Races breaks offer the opportunity to improve your luck at the Exeter,

Racing at Newton Abbot

Newton Abbot or Taunton racecourse as you will meet up with a tipster prior to the meeting!

Even more Dancing holidays have been included and Learn to Tango is the front-runner in the popularity stakes so far – but Folk Dancing and Scottish Dancing are hard on it’s heels.  And don’t forget that you can actually learn to Bowl on one of our Discover Bowls holidays before you join in on one of our bowls tournaments or Short Mat festivals .

So call us soon on 01803 400500 for your copy of the TLH Leisure Resort 2010 Escape for a Break Diary

Have the UK gone mad with doggie Spa breaks?

We love our dogs in the UK; we buy them all kinds of treats and toys and even check into hotels that cater for them. But, is spending hundred of pounds on our furry friends to our detriment?

Do we spend to much on our pets?

Last year we Brits spent more than £2.4 million on our pets, 40% more than we ever did 10 years ago. The experts have even adopted a new term for this phenomenon, they call it ‘fur babying’.

Every year in November Harrods hold a doggie fashion show with pugs and poodles strutting their stuff in Vivienne Westwood couture.

Animal trainer Rona Brown, who promotes the event said ‘People like it best when it doesn’t go right,’ she says. ‘We had a pug in a little sailor’s hat that slipped down over its eyes. It sat down and wouldn’t move, and everyone clapped.’

Spa breaks in the UK – for Pugs?

Spa treatments designed for dogs are something else that we Brits are buying into. This little pug is shown indulging in all types of spa treatments like swimming, facials and massaging, and little Mimi does not always look very happy at the prospect.

Is it all about health benefits?

I can see why people would consider some of these treatments, if it were for a pet that was ill or old. After all a massage is wonderfully relaxing and eases any one’s aches and pains. Swimming as we all know is a really great exercise and is even recommended by vets in some cases. Mimi looks a little out of her depth in this one (throw her a life belt).

Why would we spend our money on doggy pedicures for our poodle or little Chihuahua sized dressing gowns? The sad thing behind this ‘fur babies’ phenomenon is that although we are spending money on our pets, we are desperately neglecting ourselves.

I personally think you should be spending more money on pampering YOU!, I would personally never consider a spa break for my dog or cat, but i’d happily book a whole weekend spa break for myself and a friend. The great thing about pampering ourselves is that it works, we have busy, stress filled lives and we need someone to press the off switch. Lets face it, we don’t spend all day staring at invisible flys on the wall or barking at the neighbours cat, we work in office, run households and hold down high powered jobs.

When we get pampered, it feels like a clean slate, its gives our bodies time to heal and we feel ready to face the world again. A spa make us feel special, less stressed with our pets, our families and much more pleasant to be around. So lets leave the doggles and the cutesy frocks to the Hiltons of this world and enjoy ourselves for once.

My dog would prefer a moldy old tennis ball to a spa treatment any day of the week; I know what i’d prefer.

Ever wanted to re-live those Times of Your Life? Well why not join us for one of Legends Tribute weekends here at TLH Leisure Resort on the English Riviera.  Every evening of your stay you can step back to a time when you knew all the words and dance the night away in our wonderful Starlight Cabaret lounge in the Derwent Hotel. From Soul and Motown greats to Abba, The Carpenters, Tom Jones and the Beatles each weekend features a tribute cabaret as well as our own Entertainment Team’s musical showcase of the era.  The weekends are really popular with groups of friends for that ‘Student’ or Family re-union, so take the chance for a great catch-up without any washing up – and everyone gets a bed and a proper chair!!

And for the Strictly Come Dancing devotees, the Carlton Hotel is offering a huge opportunity in February 2010 to Dance with the Stars. World Latin stars of ‘Strictly’ Andrew Cuerden and Hanna Haarala  (they’re our favourites!) will help you to develop your Latin American dancing every morning and host the dancing every evening in our beautiful Riviera Ballroom, overlooking Torbay right across to Brixham. The programme includes Mambo (remember Dirty Dancing?!) and Salsa as well as ballroom classics the Foxtrot, Quickstep and Waltz – plus the erotic Tango.  So polish up those dance shoes and join us for a mid week break to remember – perhaps it will be you on ‘Strictly’ next year!

Hello again from me and Chris Jackson, Albert’s Bar resident Karaoke man and former front man from Joey and the Lips.  You can catch Chris Jackson in Albert’s every Thursday and Saturday from 8.30pm.

This past week has been fantastic starting off with a great win for England over Belarus and with two busy nights of entertainment over the weekend.  As always on Saturday we held a competition on the night to find the best Robbie Williams singer out there.  Chris and I had to judge the competition, which was really hard. This week has been very busy with more and more locals joining us for the night and hearing so many new voices from the bay was just great. But the night saw only one overall winner – Paul Harrison – a holidaymaker staying with us in TLH Leisure resort’s Victoria Hotel, Torquay. Paul showed off with a great version of the classic   ‘She’s the one ‘ winning himself a bottle of our rose house wine.
Next week we are holding a movie soundtrack competition from Top Gun to Abba come along a enjoy the night with us Albert’s.
See you soon!

Paul Harrison wins with a Robbie song

Hello from me Albert’s supervisor – Chris Brimicombe – with my Sport rundown today,  following the England Belarus Game last Wednesday  – so if you missed it this is what happened.

First Half
England now looking for a convincing win made six changes from Saturday’s game against the Ukraine. Soon as the game kicked off England looked a bit shaky but with a quick goal from striker – Peter Crouch- you would think England would push the pace. But out worked by a better passing side we all thought England would loose the lead. Chances went both ways but with the First Half coming to an end the Team must look at manager -Fabio Capello- for direction. (First half England 1 Belarus 0)

Second Half
With only one change from half time Belarus, Standout -Rodionov- looked to get his side back in the game but with a few slow minutes England manager brought on – David Beckham- and it payed off . England scored again with a great goal by fast midfielder – Wright-Phillips- to put us in the further in the lead. The second half was all England their movement and passing was world class Belarus had no answers to get back in the game. England looked to extend their lead, then it came with a goal by Striker – Peter Crouch – A few, more chances came but with a fantastic second half the game finished.

Second half England 3 Belarus 0

Don’t forget – you can watch all of teh big sporting events live on our large screen TV her in Alberts Bar on Belgrave Road, Torquay.

Hello from me Albert’s Supervisor -Chris Brimicombe – and me Pub Quiz host – Lisa Brine. You can catch the pub quiz every Sunday night at 9.00pm in Alberts – next to the Victoria Hotel on Belgrave Road in Torquay. Prizes to be won every week.  So get your team together with questions from music to news to sport and more…. come along and be a winner.

This week saw a great number of new teams and returning champions to Albert’s.  In the running for the top spot were ” Team Generation Game” and ” Team Kelly’s Eye No 1″ – with three rounds of tough questions including a music trivia round which even I thought was tough.

But as always there is going to be one winner so a huge congratulations to Team  Generation Game, who fought off stiff competition to be our Sunday night winners? If you didn’t make it along here are the results.

1^st place Team – Generation game (62)
2^nd place Team-Kelly’s eye no1 (61)
3^rd place Team -This weeks wine losers (56)
4^th place Team -Art Bart & Fargo (47)

It only seems like a few weeks ago that we started planning for the autumn launch of the Aztec Fitness Studio, but it is nearly ready to go!

The finishing touches are now being put into place and the room looks great. We are now starting our marketing campaign ready for 2^nd November 09 – Aztec Studio Launch Week.

We will have a series of taster sessions running all week from Monday 2^nd to Friday 6^th November. This is your chance to come along and try Zumba, Pilates, yoga, aerobics, Strike! and many other classes. Also look out for the tokens appearing in the Herald Express to come along for a free Zumba class.

More of our popular Aqua Aerobics classes will be running too, both in the daytime and evening.

The Aztec Studio is going to be one of the most modern class facilities in Torquay, holding classes that are not available anywhere else locally. It will have classes for all abilities including over 50s fitness classes, ante natal Pilates classes and many others. For more information call 01803 400190 or look at the website www.tlh4locals.co.uk where you’ll find the full timetable.

Chris Brimmicombe

Hello from me – Chris Brimmicombe, Albert’s Bar Supervisor. This week’s Karaoke competition on Saturday night was to find the best Neil Diamond singer out there, and our overall winner  was local and regular of Albert’s Fergus Patrick Frew, with his version of  ‘I’m a Believer’ winning him a bottle of rose wine for his efforts.

On Saturday 9^th October we are calling all you Take That fans so come along and enjoy the night with us in Albert’s. 

We also want to say a huge “well done” and “congratulations” to our barman Mike Timlin, who had his first Thai Boxing cage fight in Torquay at the Play Night Club.  If you missed out on seeing him, he had a tough six round fight against Alex Thomas from

Mike Timlin with his award

Bournemouth but the winner by a mile was Mike. So on  Friday it was our pleasure to give him a special award -”Fight of the Night” – for his courage and hard work on the day. And many thanks go to Doug Bradley who arranged the trophy for him.

 A quick entertainment run-down features a new performer who entertained a busy Alberts on Friday night, singer and keyboard player Steve Watts. Steve had the hard task of filling in for Jonathan Mark who couldn’t be with us last week. Steve went down a storm with the crowd and had the whole bar singing and dancing along with a great selection of songs from the 80’s and 90’s. We look forward to seeing him again, but don’t worry all you Jonathan Mark fans – he will be with us next Friday 8^th October at 9.30pm but get here early for the best seats.

 Look forward to seeing you all soon
All the best.

Chris

Karaoke winner Fergus

Zumba is a Latin-inspired dance fitness class for all fitness levels to attend. You do not have to be a dancer or fitness fanatic to attend but just the ability to let go, have fun and shake that booty!

I attended a Zumba training course to find out more and become fully qualified to run these classes in the brand new Aztec Studio at TLH Leisure Resort in Torquay. The course itself was held in Basingstoke and started at 8am to 5pm, and on a Sunday!! It was an intense crash course of the practical and theory behind the magic that is Zumba! I firstly took part in a master class which is similar to what I will be teaching you. I have attended many fitness/ dance classes/ courses and workshops but none quite like this! The emphasis was on the joy of movement to funky, spicy tracks and to literally have a laugh! All while burning fat, toning up and sculpting the body and the best part, without even realising, can’t be bad, eh! If mistakes were made it really didn’t matter as long as you were moving and have fun. On the course itself the age range was from 18 to 65 and that was for instructing! Every movement is designed for everyone, all ages and all abilities, it’s easy and effective and everyone has a good time.

For me, the music is probably the most important part to a work-out to get your clients motivated, in the master class of 50, let me tell you no-one was lacking in any way! The music is such a fantastic mix covering Salsa, Merengue, Cumbia, Reggaeton to name just a-few. The moves themselves are very easy but still fresh and exciting. The founder of Zumba, ‘Beto Perez’ even has signature moves which I will certainly be adding to my programme. Being a dancer, I was surprised that there were even some  styles I had never heard of, but it really didn’t matter, the music gets you moving gives you the feel good factor and really makes you shake your thang!

The whole day was thoroughly enjoyable and I really can’t wait to get into the new Aztec Studio and get the party started along with you guys!

I hope to see you there

Zoe

Find out about our brand NEW Aztec Studio and the new exercise timetable, including Zumba from Aztec Reception 01803 400190

It has always been part of the Aztec club plan to put in a fitness studio for aerobic, dance and fitness classes. I am really pleased to say that this work is now underway!

I saw the plans a few weeks ago and they are amazing. The studio will be Torquay’s newest fitness studio and will be fully air-conditioned, sports flooring and have an excellent built in sound system. The work for the team and myself now is to start deciding what classes to run and get it ready to launch this autumn.

We have discussed running so many classes like yoga, Pilates, spinning, boxercise, circuits, tai chi, body conditioning, salsa and aerobics to name a few and over the next few weeks we will be putting together the timetable and will be aiming to make this as varied as possible.

Our Aztec gym membership has grown over the past year and the new studio will be another great facility for our members to use as part of their training programme.

Also watch this space for an announcement of a really exciting new aerobic and dance class, which will be the first in the Torbay area.

We will keep updating the blog with the plans as they unfold over the next few months and photos of the progress. For information about gym membership call 01803 400190.