canapes & conversations

diary of a Cornish Networker. avid fan of food & people!

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Festive Schmoozing part 3 started week with a cheeky lunch at Mannings with the lovely ladies from Wild Card PR, always fun! Tuesday was the Pickwick Club Xmas lunch at the Alverton for 92 people. Long day but fab fun! Wednesday brought the Nat West drinks bash followed closely by the Charles French event so Canapes & chat all round! end of week was a road drip to catch up with my Devon tribe. Thursday in Plymouth at RWY for lunch & six o clock bash in the evening: Friday kicked off with the Michelmores breakfast with guest speaker Michael Caines which was fab fun. Followed it with lunch at Magdelan Chapter with my other legal pals from Stephens Scown to discuss various projects for 2016! January and detox much needed!

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Christmas Schmoozing Part 2 Ended week at the latest Wild Wine Club bash which was magical: fab setting, interesting mix of people, yummy food and great conversation. Highly recommended!

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Festive Schmoozing Part One! Has been a busy couple of weeks with the corporate party season in full swing. First up was the Barclays bash at their Lemon Street office, lawyers, accountants and most of corporate tribe present. Nice pasties & good Schmoozing. Following day kicked off with Santander breakfast at Rose in Vale which was an excellent event: good speakers and nice eclectic mix of guests. Managed to squeeze in lunch at Spires in Truro with fab company & great conversation re Loreal because I'm worth it! On to drinks at Princess House with the wedding clan before rounding off evening at Coodes bash to catch up with most of the guests from the Barclays bash the day before! Thursday kicked off with Breakfast at The Greenbank with the Falmouth Business Club. Stayed put and treated my creative team to a working lunch which huge fun & totally inspiring: such a great group of people to work with!! To Newquay early evening to put in an appearance at the Crowdfunder bash which excellent! Back to Falmouth to end evening at The Pelaton bash which perfect end to a long day!

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Festive Schmoozing Part 2 Friday continued in Newquay: lunch at the fab Harbour Grill with the oyster guru Katy Davidson followed by the Cornwall Sustainability Awards at the Headland Hotel. Subject matter a bit earnest but excellent Schmoozing that continued late into the night! Weekend was spent in Padstow at The Xmas Festival which is Mecca for my Food/Drink Tribe for 4 days. Fantastic networking and fun, mostly centred around Bin Two in my case! Clever marketing from Sharp's with their legendary 'Secret Bar' and great demos. Made it to Nancarrow Farm on Saturday night for their last feast of the year: a candle lit affair in aide of 'Shelterbox. Fabulous evening of fab food and conversation: networking at its most basic! The madness continues next week!

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Festive Schmoozing part one! Started week with breakfast at 15 to discuss launch party & other exciting stuff! On to St Tudy Inn for lunch with Fiona the freelance Kiwi chef to discuss future projects. Wednesday kicked off with breakfast at Mannings with my accountant who picked up the tab! To Falmouth for meetings all day with a break for lunch at Gylly Beach. Let off steam at the Coodes drinks bash at St Michaels Hotel pm and got some serious Schmoozing done! At PIC first thing on Friday for first Innovation Club bash: good turn out & interesting speakers. On to St Tudy for second visit of the week: lunch with my North Cornwall Tribe (eclectic bunch of creatives) which involved fab food in a great setting and stimulating conversation! Highly recommended. Second part of week's adventures in part 2!

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Conference, Hotels and Awards Week started in Padstow with a visit to the National Lobster Hatchery, a charity close to my heart. Planning to work with them next year via The Samphire Club. To Rojarnos for lunch with the Blues Scribe ( Craig Blackburn) whom I met recently. Complimentary fizz and starter, great pizza and fab conversation! To Bovey Castle on Tuesday for a food/drink conference that was put together from my pals at Bluestone 360, PWC, Bond Dickinson, Nat West and the fab Alexis Bowater. Great event at a stunning venue: Schmoozing over drinks & dinner also excellent! Wednesday I decamped from Bovey Castle and headed to St Mawes for meetings at The Idle Rocks and Tresanton: 2 beautiful hotels in a stunning setting! Thursday kicked off with breakfast at Chapel House in Penzance and a good mix of the Penzance business tribe. Susan has created one of Cornwall's most romantic boutique hotels! To St Tudy Inn for a working lunch before retiring to the Greenbank Hotel to prepare for the annual Hub Awards. Always a great night and this year was no exception. The committee organised a fab evening of food/drink and first rate Schmoozing! Was delighted to present the Business Leader of the year to the fab Malcolm Bell! Worked from The Greenbank on Friday morning before ending the week recording at Pirate FM with Craig Blackburn and the fab Debbie Warner who arrived with Tarquins gin! Perfect way to end a very busy but productive week!

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Awards season in full swing! After the Trencherman Awards on Monday the week continued with the Cornwall Wedding Meet Up organised by the dynamic duo: Hazel Parsons & Jenny Phipps. Excellent event which brought together Cornwall's wedding tribe. Excellent speakers, fab lunch & great Schmoozing! Ended the day at the Hub Box with the Women in Property which serious fun! Was honoured to be invited! Started Thursday with a swim and breakfast at 15 with Debbie who is one of Cornwall's top sommeliers and has a fantastic club ' Wild Wine' which puts on fabulous pop up events:,highly recommended! Day ended with the Cornwall Tourism Awards at the Headland Hotel in Newquay which is one of my favourite events in the calendar! Bring together the cream of the hospitality tribe, provide fab food & copious amounts of booze, put Daphne on the bridge and a fun night is on the cards! Schmoozing of the highest order! Week ended with the networking at the Hall For Cornwall which always draws a nice mix of people! Party/awards season now under way so expect more of the same next week!

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Trencherman Awards Kicked off the week with the Trencherman Awards at the Seafood Restaurant in Padstow. Food heaven with fabulous Schmoozing in a wonderful environment! Caught up with old contacts and made some valuable new ones! Rest of week covered in next post.

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Busy fun week of schmoozing! Week kicked off with productive meeting with Business Cornwall Magazine: going to have a column going forward to cover events diary & share some networking tips! Chefs Club dinner Monday night at The Shore in Penzance, fab food, much laughter & great to finally meet Fiona who has been on my radar for ages! Spent Tuesday morning in Falmouth at the Greenbank Hotel & Espressinni my preferred places to hold meetings! On to Pirate FM to record with Dan my hair stylist who also happens to teach Kav Magra to women in villages in India & Pakistan! Drove north on Wednesday for lunch at The Cardinals Hat with Ali from Total Energy Solutions to discuss mentoring etc, exciting! On to Royal William Yard for afternoon tea at The Bakery with Lucy from Marvellous PR whom I met recently, a delight! Back to Penzance pm for a town chamber meeting. Thursday started with a breakfast meeting at the Pool Innovation Centre and general coffee drinking & Schmoozing at the cafe! To St Tudy for a fab lunch with the irrepressible Mike Coulter to discuss various projects over a long lunch. We were joined by the lady of the house, the fab Emily Scott to discuss all thongs food! On to Truro for the Ward Williams monthly drinks at Mannings, where I caught up with the legal eagle Toby who has followed Gavin from Foot Anstey to Stephens Scown! Ended the evening at The Hub Quiz at Heartlands. Friday began with a breakfast meeting at Baker Tom in Redruth and then continued with a catch up with Malcolm Bell to discuss all things tourism. Another productive week and huge thanks to all of you who Made it fun!

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Another week of food & fun with a bit of work thrown into the mix! Week kicked off with breakfast at Lewinick Lodge in Newquay to herald the start of Newquay Business Week: fab location & always a good breakfast. After a morning holed up at Watergate Bay Hotel I was back in Newquay for lunch: tempura oysters with the lovely Katy at her fab seafood shack 'Amity' highly recommended! Day continued with my first ever Acupunture treatment administered by the wonderful Jess Hewitt who I met recently at a Wild Wine event: one of the most relaxing hours of my life! Evening catch up with Chris Mugford to look at ideas for a film for the launch party for The Samphire Club, exciting! Tuesday kicked off with the monthly Chamber breakfast at Bedruthan which always a good occasion: great food & a lovely location! To Truro for the monthly Pickwick Lunch which always a delight. Nice mix of people sitting down to break bread and natter, networking at its most basic! Was treated to lunch on Wednesday by my banker chums from Nat West, and ended up at Hub Box! Kind of corporate lunch I like!! To the Falmouth Hotel pm to do a talk at their new monthly evening event which is a nice addition to the calendar, and Tiffany is one of my valued contacts. Had a bunch of business students from Exeter University in the audience which was great to see, never too early to get to grips with networking and learn from your elders! Talk followed by dinner which involved more breaking of the bread & wine: best way to build relationships! Thursday started in the hotel pool at 6.30 followed by a catch up over breakfast with Tiffany. To Pirate FM at lunchtime to record with the fab Christine from ' Peboryan' cakes! Yes we had tea & cake in the studio! Day ended on the Lizard peninsula with dinner at The Ship Inn in Mawgan with Sue Bradbury & Viki Carpenter. Did a review for Cornwall Today & talked magazines both are helping put together the launch edition for The Samphire Club! Spent Friday morning at Tremough Innovation Centre in meetings before retiring to The Greenbank Hotel to work quietly all afternoon. Fun week with lovely people in lovely locations, how I like to operate!

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Corporate schmoozing & feasts Wednesday started with breakfast at Fifteen with the lovely Nat from Bishop Fleming: much giggles over the absurdity of the U.K. Residency application system! to Lang Bennetts in Falmouth late afternoon to celebrate their new office: canapés of course! Ended the day at Nancarrow for one of their legendary feast nights! Long communal tables, fab food & conversation! Highly recommended! Thursday brought a lunch invitation to my banker chums at RBS in Truro: a customer focus group which was excellent and great to see a bank Listening to their customers, refreshing! Quick visit to Pirate FM to record my show & deliver cake to Holly & Johnny! To Bustopher Jones pm for opening bash: Corporate Truro & canapés, what's not to like! Ended the week at a black tie networking dinner at The Cove which was organised by my pals at Eight Wire. Fabulous food, great company and a lovely way to end the week!

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Schmoozing in Exeter Kicked the week off with a visit to my legal chums at Michelmores in Exeter. Was invited to be a judge at their internal Bake Off competition: can confirm that it takes years of training to deal with iced buns and cake at 9.30 am! Moved on to the Magdelan Chapter for lunch with Ben Rhodes who the big cheese at the Devon Cornwall Business Council: great food & conversation. Continued with afternoon coffee with Robin Barker to discuss Cornish Tourism Awards: The Samphire Club will be sponsoring an award! Tuesday brought a fab lunch at the Tolcarne Inn with Susan who has created one of Cornwall's hidden gems at Chapel House in Penzance! Rest of week covered in next post

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Fun filled week of schmoozing! Week kicked off with breakfast at 15 with Daphne which always a delight. We were joined by Claire Vickers which added to the fun! Was in Truro on Wednesday morning for an excellent event at Barclays which brought together members of my tourism tribe. Good speakers and a buffet! To TIC for a lunchtime bash with car racing and hot dogs: great combo! Ended day with drinks at Gylly Beach to discuss the feasibility of bringing power boat racing to Falmouth next year. If interested get in touch. To The Cornwall Hotel for lunch on Thursday which was arranged by The Falmouth Business Club. Fab food with a nice mix of people in a lovely setting! Ended the day schmoozing at the Kingdom & Sparrow bash in Falmouth. Hugely talented design agency & great team! Fab mix of people & we all decamped to Dolly's for dinner. Huge fun! Ended the week at the Falmouth Oyster Festival hosting a lunch on the Top Table. Fab mix of people including my branding guru & my accountant! Food provided by the talented Nick Hodges from the Greenbank who was doing demo! A fun and varied week, productive too!

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Schmoozing part 2: Left expo for working lunch at St Tudy Inn which always a joy! to Falmouth pm for a new monthly networking event at the Falmouth Hotel organised by Tiffany which was delightful, lovely talk from Amanda at Spiezia! Breakfast meeting at Espressini on Thursday followed by morning in TIC. Lunch at the Star & Garter in Falmouth which fab! To Steins Cookery School pm for an evening with Bernard & his team from the Innovation Centres: great fun & a wonderful way to build relationships. I can confirm that I cannot fillet a fish: carnage! Spent Friday at a tourism conference at Watergate Bay: great speakers and a good example of people coming together to share their knowledge etc. Lunch excellent too! Ended the week camping at a Wild Wine bash organised by Debbie Warner & Adam Banks. Magical evening of schmoozing over shared food with matched wines ending with hot chocolate by a roaring fire! Big thanks to Jess Ratty for use of the camper van(cornish camper van co) Long exhausting week but great fun & very productive!

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Schmoozing part one: Week started with a dawn ride to Plymouth for the Ashfords breakfast at River Cottage Canteen in Royal William Yard. Normal suspects from corporate Plymouth present & fab to catch up with Kate Bourke, Deborah Edwards, & Mervyn! Back to Cornwall for opening bash at Figolux a new photography studio in Redruth. Nice event organised by my pals at Wild Card & good to schmooze with the snappers! Wednesday kicked off with a visit to Cornwall Expo which fantastic! Lovely to see the new Sleeper from GWR & great schmoozing in general! To be continued in part 2!

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Big week for schmoozing! networking circuit was back in full swing last week and what a fun time was had by all! Started with Chamber Breakfast at St Michaels Hotel who provided fab hospitality. Inspiring talk from Bishop Tim! On to Truro for Pickwick Lunch along with fellow networking queen Amanda Williams: always a fun event with lovely food & stimulating conversation. Spoke at the Business Show at Roadford Lake on Wednesday: met some lovely new people & caught up with the fab Donna from Sekoya: great employment lawyer if you can't afford Verity!! We had so much fun that I dragged her into the studio at Pirate to chat about her networking experience. It's available on the podcast of the Business Hub. Thursday kicked off with a delightful breakfast at Chapel House in Penzance: arguably Cornwall's most romantic bolt hole, do check it out!! Was a breakfast for the Penzance business tribe & a nice change to be on home turf. To Newquay for SEF lunch at Atlantic Hotel, excellent schmoozing as always and fab to catch up with the lovely Karen from Parc Signs! to Mannings for the Ward Williams Property Club drinks before ending the day at Retallack Resort with the Hub! headed to Truro on Friday to spend the day schmoozing at the Food/Drink Festival which was fabulous. Grabbed a cheeky lunch with my pals from Tregothnan & caught up with members of my food tribe! Broke off to attend HFC networking bash where we were treated to a talk from my banker chums at Santander. Rogers & Jenkins: is there a smoother double act? Kind of week I love, full on fun & very stimulating. Met new people, caught up with old pals, and initiated some great connections!