Six Months at Smyle!

March 2006

I joined Smyle in June 2005 as their Senior Account Manager, the Events Director, Rick Stainton, asked me to start my role and meet the rest of the Event and Production teams at the 50th Anniversary of Guards Polo Club in Windsor.  As a first day on the job go, this has to top them all!  Not only did I spend the day enjoying the Hildon Queens Cup Polo Championships in the summer sun, but HRH The Queen also unveiled a commemorative statue for the club’s President, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh.  I was then lucky enough to discuss the lovely day with them both during the champagne reception.

My first few months with Smyle were very exciting, as I literately hit the ground running ;  the team were very busy with various events such as a Directors’ Conference for a FTSE 100 company, a Summer Sales Conference for a US pharmaceutical organisation, several well known private clients’ summer parties as well as the run up to the Cartier International Polo Players Marquee event.

At the beginning of July I organised an event for the Spinal charity Smyle supports, Inspire.  This involved the Rundle Cup Inspire Charity Polo day at Tidworth Polo Club in Hampshire. As a highlight of the day, we put together a celebrity fun polo match with various players such as Zara Phillips, Jack Kidd and Richard Johnson riding around on bikes playing polo, followed by a wheelchair relay race!

The charity lunch with an auction followed and the event concluded with HRH Prince of Wales and Prince Harry playing polo in front of a very enthusiastic sun drenched crowd!

At the end of July, the Cartier International Polo finally arrived  ;  for the first time, Smyle were creating, funding and managing the finale of the day, the Official Players Marquee Party, in conjunction with Jack & Jodie Kidd.  After providing pre-ordered luxury picnics for 750 guests during the day, we then transformed the futuristic structure into the party of the summer for over 3000 polo party people including Lenny Kravitz, Cate Blanchett, Jamie & Louise Redknapp, Zara Philips, the Kidd family and many more celebrities soaking up the awesome atmosphere!  The main attraction, and quite a coup for the event, was securing James Blunt to perform a set, especially as his album and single went to number 1 the day of the party!  After a long day of hard work, we all rewarded ourselves with a well deserved break as we sang along to James Blunt from the side of the stage.  I had a very surreal moment at one point, as I found myself dancing away with Orlando Bloom on my right, and Jodie Kidd on my left, with James Blunt coming over to the side to sing to us during his set!!  A moment I will never forget!

After recovering from Cartier, the August weeks went so quickly, as suddenly I was finalising last minute issues for a Family Fun Day for the largest automotive supplier in the world for approx 1000 guests.  The day was a great success for everyone, and after I finished clearing the site of all our suppliers, I headed down to Hickstead in Sussex to meet up with the rest of the Smyle team who were managing Jodie Kidd’s wedding to Aidan Butler, and their reception.  As I was now ‘off-duty’ I was able to relax and enjoy the speeches and fireworks before having a few drinks and dancing away with the rest of the guests at the party, including Erin O’Connor, Jamie Theakston, Tamara Mellon and Lawrence Dallaglio.

October was slightly quieter which was great as I was able to catch up on my meetings with clients – of particular buzz was a site visit in Marbella for a private client’s party in 2006 as well as preparing for the festive season!  However, November came very quickly where we had an array of high profile events.  One of which was the computer game PACMAN’s 25th Anniversary held at Namco Station in London.  This was a great day with the European Grand Final of the PACMAN i-Mode Tournament fighting it out for the limited edition 25th Anniversary PACMAN Arcade Machine.  As well as the BBC and various Sky Gaming Channels filming the day, Namco and O2 i-mode officials were also on hand to cheer on the contestants.

Two days later, we were flat out again setting up Old Billingsgate in London for the Teenage Cancer Trust Charity Gala Dinner hosted by Frank Lampard.  This was very hectic as we had only the day to set up, but the Winter Wonderland was ready just as the guests started arriving.  Not only were there various big names from the world of football, but there were also other well known figures such as Eddie Jordan, Roger Daltrey, Gordon Ramsay, and the model Jordan.  The night was a great success with UB40 peforming live and the charity raising over £500,000.

We all finished off the year with several Christmas and Charity events for a high profile city client alongside a 25th Anniversary Gala Dinner for a major car company, where my client completely embarrassed me on stage after presenting me with flowers in front of his 300 guests! 

Planning is already underway for private events next year in Marbella, Dubrovnik & Monaco, bigger & bolder corporate events as well as the mission to maintain the reputation of the social party of the summer, The Players Marquee at the Cartier International Polo on the 30th July.

Sadly however, I have to leave the Smyle team unexpectedly after Christmas to go to New Zealand for family reasons for a year.  It has been great to be able to reflect on the last six months with Smyle as there have been some tricky times, as well as the fun times, but overall it has been exhilarating!  And I can’t wait to join them again, when I am back in 2007!

Written by: Sorely missed Events Producer