It was 10 years in November since the Coppid Beech Hotel opened its doors and staff marked the occasion in style – by raising thousands of pounds for charity.

Children in Need benefited to the tune of £8,000 during the two-week period around the Hotel’s anniversary at the beginning of November. Here’s a rundown of some of the events that took place:

• Hotel staff accosted drivers leaving neighbouring Lightfoots petrol station to ask for a charitable donation;
• two members of staff dressed up in teddy bear outfits and sold tickets for guests to win a valuable Steiff bear;
• a swimathon was held at Waves, the Hotel’s health club, with participants from the ages of five to 75;
• members of the sales team washed guests’ cars in the Hotel’s car park and charged £5 for the privilege; and
• a gungathon was held at the Chamber of Commerce’s regular breakfast meeting in the Hotel. Attendees paid a £20 fine to avoid being gunged. Those who refused to pay soon regretted it!

Alan Blenkinsopp, Hotel Operations Director for the Nike Group, told Connections: “The anniversary fundraising was so successful that we are going to do it again in 2003. In fact, the other Nike Group companies were so impressed with the amount of money we raised that it is likely to become a Group event this year.”

Alan, who has worked at the Coppid Beech Hotel since it was built, commented that it does not seem possible that it is a decade since the four star hotel – now one of the leading hotels in the area – opened for business. Nike Group Hotels has since added the Swan at Streatley to its portfolio and is hoping to enjoy similar success in the next 10 years.

Other events held to mark the anniversary were:

• every 10th guest checking into the Hotel on Monday 4 November received a bottle of bubbly;
• a slice of birthday cake was given to delegates attending meetings at the Hotel on 4 November;
• during the anniversary month, live entertainment in the Bier Keller featured bands that played at the Hotel when it opened 10 years ago; and
• a specially selected 10-year-old vintage wine was available to diners in Rowans restaurant.