GFTU BGCM Minutes 2017

Staff retention over the last two years, we virtually have not lost any members

of staff for two years. We currently have two apprenticeships and nine other

team members enrolled in courses with Leicester College. This includes the

three original apprenticeships we took on when the GFTU took over who are

still with us and furthering their qualifications. We have only really lost one

employee and that was Alison, the gardener, who left a fantastic legacy for the

hotel and we were all very sad to see her go, she moved off to Cumbria, but I

can assure you that the current gardening team we have now, contract

gardeners, are actually keeping the standard of the gardens as they were and

improving them and we have been chosen again as a finalist in the East

Midlands in Bloom competition.

Just to finish up, in general we have been very well supported by the unions

with many training courses and seminars now being held at the hotel and I

would like to thank you for that support and continued support and I would also

like you to help us to reach further unions that are not currently using this,

because we could do a lot, lot more. I am around for dinner and tomorrow

morning so if there are any questions or if you do want to try and make a

booking with us, I can get online to do that for you. The only quote I can

remember from one of my past GMs, Doug, (and I did not know about this

competition either, so I think it must have been a select few) was “Action is

eloquence”, but I cannot remember where it came from. (Applause)

THE PRESIDENT: Thanks very much. Tim is obviously too shy to say that over the

period in which we have run the hotel we have turned it round from a failing

organisation to an extremely good and, as it turns out, profitable organisation

which is now I think running at more or less double the level of marketing when

we bought it. This is an extraordinary success story, it really is, so

congratulations, Tim, and congratulations to the whole team. (Applause)

Congratulations to us too, because this is probably the only hotel in the whole

of the Midlands that pays the national living wage and provides decent pension

arrangements for its employees.

67