One week to go!

Life at "the Palace" is a hive of activity as the countdown to the 2010 season reaches it's last week.

High level/low level cleaning is reaching a crescendo (not sure if cleaning can reach a crescendo but it feels as though it is?!) and everything is being cleaned, polished and painted ready for the doors to open next Saturday. There is always excitement around opening and there is always a keen anticipation for the months ahead - we have the same excellent core team in place and we go into year two of the annual pass scheme.

A year ago we were treading unknown ground with the annual pass scheme as it was a totally new initiative & product for us to trial; this year we open with 98,ooo annual pass holders out there and the uncertainty this year surrounds how the scheme will perform in year two. We are maintaining the scheme pretty much unchanged - a very clean and simple message - "Buy One Day - Get 12 Months Free!" - and we hope it will be popular again with high levels of renewals and high levels of new subscribers driven by positive word of mouth.

We have produced an excellent annual pass holders booklet which summarises a whole raft of initiatives, discounts and offers across the year - there really is a wonderful array of ways for an annual pass holder to connect with us and to derive excellent value from the relationship.

We hope year two will exceed our expectations - watch this space!

We are also looking to refresh and re-launch our "Friends" scheme and to run this through our charity - the Blenheim Palace Foundation - which will be very tax efficient through the gift aid scheme and which will allow us to demonstrate a direct linkage between our Friends support and the extensive repair and restoration agenda that lies ahead. Friends will have a dedicated hospitality space on site as well as a special programme of evening lectures and talks - we hope this 'product' will appeal and that "Friends" numbers will grow over the coming months.

We open with a 6 week exhibition in the Long Library showing an amazing collection of photographs depicting the winning Gardens from the last 25 years of the Historic Houses Association + Christie's Garden of the Year Award. Around 80 framed photographs, commissioned from a number of the country's leading photographers, will grace the Long Library and will look stunning - a "must see" once we get open next weekend.

At home, the girls are working hard at school and making us very proud with their achievements whilst Tracy is hard at work planning our forthcoming project to refresh/enlarge our kitchen. Only 7 years in the planning and now finally about to become reality - will be glad to get it underway and to get it completed - and to maintain our sanity throughout!

The weather yesterday felt positively spring-like (but the forecast talks of more snow and ice - aaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!!) and we hope to launch next Saturday with a positive start which then carries us through with positive momentum for the whole season.

Come back and see us very soon; use and renew your annual passes; explore and connect with the updated Friends scheme and make full use of everything on offer this year at Blenheim Palace.

We need your support and we value the contribution that you make to the long term restoration of this priceless world heritage site.

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Busy times!

Too long has passed since I last was able to blog - apologies for that but it has been a busy two or three weeks.

Our week in Lech, Austria was just perfect - all four of us had a great week's skiing and all four of us returned unscathed - well, apart from a bruise the size of Africa on Tracy's leg from a mightly crash into one of her ski school colleagues! Both girls were brilliant in adapting to their full week of ski school and they exceeded expectations in the end of week ski school races with Annabelle winning Gold and Louisa winning Silver - they were so chuffed!

We returned to a snowy Britain - in fact much more snow fell here than in Austria that week - and we have been hard at work in preparing everything for opening on Saturday 13 February 2010 and in preparing generally for the season ahead.

The calendar of events for the year ahead is virtually complete but we still hope that a larger corporate booking or two, plus some potential film location business, may be achievable.

Work surrounding the emerging new organisation for Oxfordshire to drive forward tourism is progressing well and the next couple of months will be critical to determine whether this baby will be born and as to whether it will thrive - hopefully the private sector will engage with enthusiasm!

The last week has been dominated by my birthday and by the ongoing work to get the papers ready for our next Trustees meeting in early February. Turning 53 does not really seem much cause for celebration but, as always, Tracy and the girls have spolit me with lots of presents and we are off to London this weekend with the girls to see "Billy Elliot" and to do some other fun things.

And finally, yesterday saw closure on the prosecution of one our former employees for fraud. This has been one of the most depressing things that I/we have had to deal with - the fact that she is now behind bars for an 18 month jail sentence is some comfort but it has been distressing at so many different levels. The support and work from Thames Valley Police has been fantastic; the resolve and grit demonstrated by all of our employees has been impressive; and the determination to get justice and to recover a substantial amount of the money stolen has been appropriate given the huge breach of trust. This has hurt us all but we have a fantastic, loyal and dedicated workforce on the Estate and in a strange way it has actually made us all stronger and even more united us in our resolve to drive the business forward to new heights in 2010. This chapter is closed and we move on.

2010 is going to be an interesting year at many different levels - world cup; general election; new DMO for Oxfordshire; year 2 of our Annual Pass scheme; and so much more.

Please engage with Blenheim Palace in 2010 - we need your support and we value your input.

Have a great weekend.

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Happy New Year!

Christmas has flown by in a blur and 2010 has already arrived - best wishes to everyone for a very happy and prosperous new year.

We have had to do an early christmas clearance at home as we head off to Austria tomorrow for a week on the ski slopes - everyone very excited but tinged with sadness to see cards coming down and a sorry looking christmas tree stripped bare of its sparkling lights and decorations and already banished to the rubbish heap at the end of the garden.

Hopefully we will survive our week in one piece and we will post again when the real work for the year ahead starts from 11 January onwards.

Much was achieved in 2009 despite the gloomy predictions a year ago; lets hope that we will all fare well in 2010 and lets hope that we all enjoy much happiness and success.

Cheers one and all - be happy, have fun and be safe!

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Not many "sleeps" to Christmas!

This time of the year adopts a rather unreal feel as the "big day" looms closer and less work seems to be done each day!

The excitement is building in the Hoy household and my girls break up from school today - not a moment too soon as they are both pooped after a long and busy term.

This week alone has seen the following highlights:

>> Monday - Seasonal Staff Christmas Lunch in the Orangery. An excellent and well-earned opportunity to say a very big thank-you to the army of part-time staff who work within Operations and Retail. Every one of them makes a full contrinution towards delivering a wonderful experience to every visitor - their knowledge, their passion and their loyalty towards Blenheim Palace is first class. We again thank them for all their hard work through a busy year.

>> Tuesday - sneaked off to London to do some shopping - but don't tell the wife in case she gets too excited!

>> Wednesday - a busy day in the office - "Secret Santa" visited and delivered a much needed new pair of skiing socks (will be put to good use in the New Year) followed by a lunch out in Woodstock with the Marketing Team to say thankyou for all their hard work this year. The evening saw us heading in to London to see Annabelle sing with the Dragon School Choir in the Nordoff Robbins Christmas Concert in St Luke's Church, Chelsea. A fantastic event - with stars such as Alexandra Burke, Bill Nighy, and many others performing - but the real stars were the Dragon School - of course! Annabelle was very pleased to get Alexandra Burke's autograph and is very chuffed to have sung on the same stage as an X-Factor Winner!

>> Thursday - a day of mixed emotions - started in the dentist's chair, continued with the Christmas Managers Lunch (at which the Hoy Christmas Quiz was "enjoyed" by all - well by most anyway!!); carried on with the Middle School Christmas Concert at the Dragon (with Annabelle both singing and playing!) and ended exhausted on the sofa watching "Gavin and Stacey"

>> Friday - and into Friday when the girls break up from school. Both are on sleepovers tonight (but Annabelle has another Chamber Choir Concert at St Andrews Church in Oxford beforehand) ahead of the Dragon Sale back at school tomorrow. This event raises a staggering £100k or so for charity in 4 hours - amazing generosity - but Tracy will be glad to get it behind her as she is involved in running the sale for the first time this year. We are both off to a lovely party near Cheltenham this evening (weather permitting) so she can forget about the sale for a few hours!

After Saturday, Tracy and the girls can rest up until the "big day" and the "sleeps" countdown gets very exciting!

The year has flown by but I hope that everyone reading this has a well deserved break over christmas and that the christmas and new year time is both happy and rewarding for all.

Enjoy everything and re-charge batteries ahead of the new year challenges.

Many thanks for all the support that we have enjoyed from so many sources this year - not least the 97,000+ annual pass holders who have connected so positively with Blenheim Palace in 2009 - hopefully your new year resolution will be to connect again in 2010.

Take care and have fun!

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Last weekend - the 2009 Awards!

As we enter the last weekend of the Palace season, it is appropriate to look back on a busy year and to reflect upon the highlights - and challenges - through the year.

A summary of the 2009 Awards follows:

The Newcomer of the Year Award
Awarded to the amazing Annual Pass Scheme that has blown us all away during 2009. We are currently at around 95,000 members since this was launched back in February - a fantastic achievement and a very positive relaunch of our local profile - we hope everyone will re-connect with us and with an Annual Pass in 2010.

The "bounce-back" Award
Goes this year to the International Horse Trials held in September which "bounced back" from a washed-out event in 2008 - 4 days of fine weather delivered a very successful horse trials from everyone's point of view.

The "Little and Large" Location Award
Goes to 2oth Century Fox and their filming of Gulliver's Travels here at Blenheim Palace. Jack Black will star as Gulliver when this film launches Christmas 2010 but the real star will be Blenheim Palace - we enjoyed having them with us and we will enjoy being portayed as the Lilliputian Palace - home to Billy Connolly (King) and Catherine Tate (Queen)

The Umbrella Award
Is shared between a very wet Triathlon in June and the whole month of November - which was apparently over 200% up on the 27 year average for rainfall! The Triathlon was a phenomenal success despite the weather - but we hope for slightly better weather in 2010.

The "Wish you were here" Award
Goes to the "Festival for Heroes" event which tried to stage a concert in June to raise monies for the Royal British Legion but which failed to sell enough tickets and which ended up being cancelled - a great shame as it would have been a great day and it would have helped a very worthwhile cause. Maybe they will try again?

The "don't mention The Caravan Club" Award
Goes to The Camping and Caravanning Club who held their annual "Feast of Lanterns" rally at Blenheim Palace in August - a very well organised event and a great pleasure for us to host them this year.

The "could have done better" Award
Goes to Lancelot "Capability" Brown for not building the crest of the Blenheim Dam slightly higher (in the 1760's) so as to ensure compliance with the Reservoirs Act 1975! But he does get many commendations for the excellence of everything else he achieved!

The Environment Agency Award
Goes to all internal and external staff who worked on the restoration work surrounding the Blenheim Dam - a well organised and a well delivered project that has secured the future stability of the Dam for many future decades. Well done to Roger File, Chris Keeler and everyone at Bentleys.

The "cool dude" Award
Goes to Sean - the Bentley's Site Manager on the Dam Project - totally unflappable - and now on his annual sojourn in the Caribbean

The Bravery Awards
Tony White's wife and family, Paul Duffie, Veronica Thorneloe, the Frost Family - our thoughts and prayers are with them all as they remember loved ones at Christmas

The PR Award
Goes to David Cameron - our local MP - for quickly involving the Chinese Ambassador in a tree planting ceremony here at Blenheim last month and quickly naming the tree as the "Chinese Friendship Tree" - inspired thinking and we look forward to many visiting groups for China to see the tree as it grows!


The list could go on - but it has been a very memorable year where much has been achieved. We started the year not quite knowing what would happen but a combination of the "staycation" factor alongside the strength of the annual pass offer has delivered some fantastic results.

This has stretched our resources at times and it has certainty stretched our staff resources (and their patience!) through a long season - a huge thankyou to all of our staff for their huge input in delivering such high levels of customer service excellence throughout the year.

And so the Palace closes on Sunday evening and we then have two months to deep clean every nook and cranny - to both pass and satisfy any Ducal inspection - before we open again on Saturday 13 February 2010!

And so the cycle continues ...........

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Great man!

Since my last post, the anniversary has been and gone surrounding the birth of Sir Winston Churchill.

On 30 November 1874, 135 years ago, Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill arrived into the world here at Blenheim Palace - Blenheim's most famous son actually arrived several weeks early as his parents, Randolph and Jennie Spencer-Churchill, were weekending here at Blenheim - a very happy "accident" from our point of view and one that we 'celebrate' as actively as we can.

Much has been written about Sir Winston and he was of course voted as "our Greatest Briton of all time" in a poll conducted a few years ago. He was also the first man to be made an honorary citizen of the United States - by an Act of Congress on 9 April 1963 just two years or so before his death in January 1965.

His curls are on display in the Palace alongside other exhibits surrounding his very close ties with the Palace and with the family but it is on the wider international stage that his fame will stand forever.

He entered parliament at the age of 26 in 1900 having already distinguished himself as a soldier in several wars - he proceeded to hold a number of important ministerial posts over the next 55 years.

When World War II came to Britain in 1939, his authority and his oratory held great sway and his time as Prime Minister (1940-45) helped to turn the tide - who will ever forget his "We shall never surrender" speech on 4 June 1940 following the evacuation of trapped Allied Forces from the beaches at Dunkirk.

Sir Winston achieved so much and he possessed a sharp wit; he achieved a world reputation not only as a gifted strategist and inspiring war leader but also as a great orator, a talented painter and a stylish writed with a profound sense of history.

History will forever record his importance on the world stage and his influence today is as powerful as ever - his connection with Blenheim Palace (he was born here; he proposed to Clementine here; and he is buried nearby in Bladon) still acts as a powerful magnate to so many.

We receive many visitors from North America, and increasingly from the Far East/China, all hungry to explore the Churchill connection and we hugely value every visit and we strive to make every visit as memorable as we can. Indeed a recent delegation from China suggested that we should drop any reference to Blenheim Palace and merely promote Winston Churchill!

The Churchill influence also manifests itself in other powerful ways.

I met this week with a serving RAF Officer who wants special permission to propose to his girlfriend in the Temple of Diana in the Formal Gardens to the south of the Palace on one of our remaining open days before christmas - this is where Sir Winston proposed to Clementine on 11 August 1908. I need to be careful not to spoil their surprise by revealing too much, but both of them are serving officers in todays armed forces and they are both still hugely influenced and inspired by Sir Winston Churchill and his heroic deeds - wartime deeds that is not just the 'getting engaged bit!'.

We will make a very special exception for these special people - we feel it is our duty to do so - partly in memory of Sir Winston but also in recognition of the many challenges faced today by our armed forces around the world - and particularly in Afghanistan.

We will make it a very special moment for them and one that they will remember forever - I am sure that Sir Winston and 'Clemmie' would approve - and of course I hope his 'intended' says yes!

What a special time of the year as we remember a Great Man.

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The Annual Cycle

As we head out of November and into the final month of the year, it is frightening to think how fast 2009 has raced by - just where has the year gone? - and that 2010 is virtually with us.

We are heavily into setting our budgets for April 2010 to March 2011 and we are hard at work sorting out our leaflets and our marketing materials to support the 2010 season - but before that we have a few weeks left before we close followed by a very hectic two month period when the Palace is closed (mid-December 2009 to mid-February 2010) and this heralds the annual deep clean when we try to reach every part - however high, low or hidden - and leave it sparklingly dusted, polished and gleaming ready for the new season.

2009 will always be remembered for the sensational success of the annual pass scheme; for the significant surge in visitor numbers (an extra 200k in the year!); for a number of iconic and memorable events and for the extensive location filming for 'Gullivers Travels'.

Looking into 2010 we start again from zero visitors and we must now be looking for a minimum of 500k visitors to maintain momentum from the current year and to maintain performance - sounds daunting but I have no reason to believe that the annual pass scheme will be any less successful in year two and thus this must represent a realistic and achievable target.

Next year will for certain see a General Election and a Football World Cup - who will win in each case and how will these "events" impact upon the country's mood and desire to enjoy their leisure time? General Election's can distract the country and World Cup's can either absorb our total attention (at the exclusion of all else) or it can put us into a deep depression! We shall see what evolves and I shall resist trying to predict outcomes or winners + losers!

What will the weather be like in 2010; what will happen to the strength of the pound, where will bank interest rates track during the year; and how will the recovery from the economic downturn pan out into the coming year - all factors that we cannot control but all factors that may (or could) (or will) have a significant influence on the performance of our visitor business through the coming year.

All of our managers are knee deep in budgetting - they love it really! - with excellent support and encouragement from Dominic and his team - and it will be tough to keep the focus on cost containment/control after such a positive year of trading whilst also driving repeat/new income streams for the business.

It will be interesting to see the first cut of the budget figures next week and to get an early insight into how things are looking - our progress over the last seven years has been exceptional but we cannot rest on our laurels and we must continue to push for 'growth with stability' so that we can continue to reinvest in the repair, restoration and conservation of this unique world heritage site for future generations to enjoy.

2009 has been a ground breaking year for so many reasons but that year - with only a few weeks to go - will soon be consigned to the history books and then we face the new challenge in making 2010 even more impressive!

It never ceases to amaze me how hard everyone works across the Estate and how unified we are as a team in both understanding the challenges across the business and in supporting + encouraging each other to drive the business forward - we are very fortunate to have such a talented and dedicated workforce at every level.

And so we must focus back onto the tail-end of the 2009 season - the Palace stays 'dressed for christmas' through to Sunday 13 December with our theme "Christmas Nostalgia - Toys, Treats and Treasures" bringing the Palace State Rooms to life and the fnal weekend (12 + 13 December) will see lots of choirs and singing in the Palace to give the season a good sewnd-off!

Our shops are full of wonderful gifts for christmas and from Tuesday we start selling our home-grown christmas trees - if you want to buy a "Blenheim" tree then call 01993-813196 or visit christmastrees@blenheimpalace.com to place your order.

Christmas is coming and so is the next year - enjoy this special time and thanks for all your support!

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