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

Dru writing her blog

The indoor bowling season at TLH Leisure Resort in Torquay has started, and it always seems to go straight into top gear. Sarah Harris our Bowls Coordinator does a great job keeping her hair a lovely titian colour whilst mine went grey years ago!

I am so pleased to report that the Christmas Short Mat Festival is once again taking off with numbers just as good as ever. The 5 night stay at the Toorak Hotel is packed with fun things to do as well as being a great tournament. The week starts with a mulled wine reception, hosted by the bowls team.  During the week there is a fancy dress competition which is always a very close fought event. From Santa’s Elves to frisky reindeer nearly everyone takes part, and you could win a prize.

Christmas Fairies!

On presentation evening, which starts off with a glass of bubbly, the players receive all sorts of winners awards, in true Christmas spirit, and await the coveted GOLDEN TURKEY awards. There is a team that comes every year who always win a golden turkey, they call themselves the Turkey Defenders. Incidentally the turkeys are in stock now at the trophy shop and are causing havoc in the stock room – feathers everywhere I understand. We really must sort out a proper breeding programme.

So, short matters, where are you?  Come and join in the fun at TLH – Look at our Bowls Diary for more information on short mat bowling - there’s a whole page dedicated to you.

For long mat bowlers we have the Christmas Club Championship when teams of 4 enter to try to win £700 for their clubs. This, again, is a very popular event on the TLH calendar and is full of Christmas cheer. Its great fun with a Turkey and Tinsel theme as well as loads of bowling.

Weekenders in Torbay has a record number of bowlers this year with our long term friends from Buckfastleigh making a come back. Welcome girls, we’ve missed you.

For full details of all these tournaments and festivals please see calendar on our website. 

Now Dru Close has been to Wales on the first of the Winter Road Shows and visited Newport IBC with its spectacular ‘blue’ yes, blue carpet. She reports:-

After visiting Newport I visited Heatherton in Tenby, Pembrook, Carmarthen and Llanelli IBC’s where a great deal of interest has been generated for the upcoming Easter Festival.  These road shows are a great way of seeing old friends as well as spreading the word about TLH to the hoards of bowlers in Country -

Factoid – Did you know that there are more people interested in Bowls than football? How about that for a statistic!

Late November, Saturday 28^th, I will be travelling around Cornwall on a road show. I’ve made appointments at
Newquay: 9am to 10am
Bodmin: 12 noon to 1pm
Carradon: IBC  2 pm to 3pm.

There are many clubs in Cornwall that tour both in the summer and winter and with rising costs of transport are looking to travel closer to home for their tours. TLH is the ideal venue. So come to TLH – we truly can offer you or your group unlimited choices to suit your individual or club needs.

Have you got anything that really bugs you about bowling?
Do you want to get something about bowling off your chest?
Have you had anything funny happen to you on the green lately?
Have you got any questions that might help you to decide if you want to tour?
You can contact me, Dru Close 01803 400108

Or please – just send me an email.
That’s all folks
Dru Close (on end 8 sometime last week at Torquay United)

Being pregnant is great – once you get over the morning sickness, swollen ankles, indigestion, mood swings, aching back………apart from that, it’s wonderful!

To help ease any of these niggling aches and pains, the Aztec Spa has a fabulous new Elemis treatment, specifically designed for mothers to be. You will be treated to a wonderfully relaxing massage specially adapted to each stage of pregnancy using the unique Elemis beanbag. The technique used will help relieve tension in the back and alleviate those swollen ankles. As if that wasn’t enough, also included is a relaxing scalp massage and Elemis facial. You can then unwind some more in the tranquil Aztec relaxation area – just what you and baby need!

Back to those aches and pains…….gentle exercise can really help, as long as you don’t over-do it. The new Aztec Studio is running Ante-Natal Pilates sessions, tailored especially towards pregnant ladies. Pliates concentrates on the core muscles of the stomach and pelvic area which can help ease any backache and posture problems you may be getting. The deep abdominal muscles and all-important pelvic floor muscles are strengthened, which will help during labour and post recovery. The best thing is though that you can exercise in a class of other pregnant women, so you can compare bump size and any niggling problems without embarrassment!

When expecting, sometimes you feel like a little extra TLC so why not consider a Mother-to-be treat in the Aztec Spa or some gentle exercise with Ante-Natal Pilates – or do the both and help those 9 months sail by.

Call Aztec Reception for information on either of these Mother-to-be packages on 01803 400190.

Jumping up and down until you’re blue in the face may have its attractions, but with an ever increasing list of minor injuries, I’ve been looking at alternative ways to stave off the middle aged spread and the effects of gravity.

It seems that the Aztec Studio at the Carlton Hotel has it covered with a range of new classes focusing more on the slow burn rather than feel the burn (and the tomato red face and pulled muscles!) The Studio opened last week with over 300 people keen to try some of the new classes. Everybody was talking about Zumba – a Latin inspired fitness routine, whose tag line is ‘Ditch the workout, join the party!’ – sounds good to me. Apparently you get a good workout without actually feeling like you’re working out – how amazing is that!

If that still sounds like too much face-paced activity, then maybe Pilates or yoga would be a safer bet. That’s not to say either is an easy option. Having tried both in the past I know that your muscles can be crying out for mercy at the end of a class – but in a good way! The aim being a leaner, more toned body and a soothed soul – both disciplines really help clear your mind and are suitable for all ages and abilities. And if you happen to be pregnant, the Studio have also started Ante-Natal Pilates classes, much sought after in the area. Suitable for all levels of pregnancy, these classes concentrate on the pelvic muscles and are said to help prepare your body for labour.

What I’m really interested in though is Body Revive, a blend of Pilates, yoga and tai chi set to a funky soundtrack. I tried a taster class and really felt like I’d worked out, but in a low-impact way. The warm-up raises your heart rate slightly and warms your muscles then you’re in to a range of flowing movements to help increase flexibility, balance and tone. Those all important core muscles, which help us stand tall and drop a dress size (honestly!), are engaged throughout so you really feel the benefit.

So, I’m off to my first proper Body Revive class at the Aztec Studio this evening with high hopes of feeling fighting fit before the festive onslaught. I’ll let you know how I get on.

You don’t have to be an Aztec Club member to use the Aztec Studio but they do advise you book in advance. Call 01803 400190.

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!

Staff here at TLH Leisure Resort in Torquay are really getting busy with their personal development and today we had 3 more people complete their NVQ’s! This time it was through South Devon College under the tutelage of Sarah White.

Kamil Szczepaniak from the Derwent Restaurant completed the level 2 in Customer Service whilst Dawn Middleton from the Victoria Hotel Housekeeping team and Kathy Watton from the Toorak Housekeeping team both completed the level 2 in Housekeeping. All three are now keen to progress onto the next level and I’m really looking forward to getting this started for them.

It’s always great when I get to share good news with everyone and I’m really proud of all our staff who complete NVQ’s. These are excellent qualifications to have there are no restrictions to who can complete them. It’s a win win situation as staff feel more appreciated and valued, guests receive an increased level of service and as a business we get a more skilled and motivated work force! As we have lots of people doing NVQ’s at the moment I’m sure I will be back blogging again soon with more success stories!’

It’s that time of year again when I have to deliver our in-house Fire and Health & Safety Training to all out staff,  so over the past 2 weeks I have held 13 sessions and trained 313 of our staff in  what to do if they discover a fire, what extinguisher to use and  how to evacuate the building, and how we evacuate our mobility restricted guests. We also looked at  what to do if there is sickness or swine flu ! It’s a lot to cover but I managed it in just under 1 hour!

I know what you’re thinking –  how can so much information be taken in during only 1 hour!! Well, with a mixture of serious issues and a bit of fun, it was easy! It also helps when you have staff who are genuinely interested and concerned that they are following the correct procedures.  So to all our staff who have been before, thank you for taking this subject so seriously and for those new guys, I hope you enjoyed the first of many fire training sessions!

The safety of our guests here at TLH Leisure Resort is of the utmost importance to us so we always make sure that we deliver fire training once a year and also run practical evacuations to ensure everything runs smoothly, and next year we may even have a go at using fire extinguishers……maybe!

Hi all, it’s me again! Just wanted to let you all know some really exciting news……..Pam Dobson, a Bowls Steward in our Bowls Arena, has just become the oldest member of staff at TLH Leisure Resort to complete an NVQ! At the age of 74yrs, Pam has just completed the NVQ Level 2 in Customer Service. This is a great achievement, especially as Pam only works on a part time and casual basis.

Pam worked really hard and with the assistance of Lara at Paignton Sec Info Tech, as well as some help from me, andcompleted the NVQ in 8 months. Her manager, Sarah, was great and allowed Pam to take on a few more responsibilities so that she could do all the units. Not only has this helped Pam and given her an excellent qualification, it is also helping towards our goal of achieving customer service excellence at all levels! This just goes to prove that you can always learn new skills and no matter your age an NVQ could be for you!! Well done Pam!

Jenny

Pam with her certificate

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.