Don’t Judge A Book By Its Cover

We were told this often as children….. consider what is on the inside rather than be led by what is obvious and facing you on the outside….. mostly correct I’d say…. and especially no more so than now….whilst we rip out old windows, re paint 255 year old external stone walls… we are being patched, re-filled, re-painted, new signs and doors and colours and generally thoroughly titivated to match the rather extensive refurbishments we’ve made internally!

 

We look like we have a bad dose of chicken pox and are currently covered in calamine lotion!

PLEASE IGNORE THIS PRE-OP LOOK!

POST-OP FULLY BOTOXED EXTERIOR WILL RESUME BY THE END OF JUNE!

 

I thank you…

x

 

 

A Charity Do!

 

 

 

Ladies Charity Do

 Wednesday 20^th July

11.30am-3.30pm then 6pm-8.30pm

 

£35.00 per ticket

 

In aid of the lovely and worthwhile charity COPPAFEEL

Teaching young women about the need to be breast aware from a very young age.

The incidence of breast cancer in young women (under 30 years) is sadly on the increase as was demonstrated when the lovely Kris, a normal 21 year old woman found to her dismay a couple of years ago on diagnosis of stage 4 breast cancer.

Kris and her sister Maren founded Coppafeel charity to raise awareness of breast cancer in young women and encourages everyone to Cop-A-Feel and be breast aware earlier on in our lives.

 COPPAFEEL CHARITY DAY

Lunch, lingerie, nail art, zumba, jewelry, hand made candles and gorgeous gifts, goody bags, magic, auctions, raffles, Lancashire Life magazine taking a full active part in the day, featuring the event in September’s edition!

A delicious 3 course boob-orientated menu and a fun afternoon for women of all ages!

 £35 per person….

Come and help us support this fantastic charity and spread the word about

COPPAFEEL

 Tickets only

Please contact Martina @ The Red Pump Inn

 A limited number of places for the day.

 

A Reet Good “Do”!

I woke really really early….you know the type….stupid-o’clock….with a gazzillion ideas running around the grey matter…. so I did what any normal self-employed business owner would do….got up, made a brew and put it all down on paper.

The reason for the insomniacal moment was because a few days ago, a very close member of my family was diagnosed with breast cancer. Bit of a shock, not very pleasant for anyone involved and the first thing you think of is how many people this affects; not just her.

I mentioned it to a girlfriend of mine and she mentioned her niece had just been for a mastectomy; her niece is 29. Wow!

I was a bit shaken from my coccoon on Innkeeper-ness and went for a walk with the puppy to clear my head.

Things are tough in the world today; people losing jobs, losing homes…. recession is miserable and I am a genuine believer in proactivity….. and I have done what any self-respecting Innkepper would do in times of crisis…. bring everyone together for a “reet good do”.

All for charity mind!

I’ve chosen Coppafeel….. a wonderful young charity; a young woman, with her whole exciting life ahead of her, struck down at age 21 with stage 4 breast cancer. You can learn all about the beautiful & brave Cris and her twin Maren on their Coppafeel.org website…. but my aim is to raise a lot of money for their simple message…. Cop-a-feel….. you know…. breast examination…. get it?

So on the 20th July we put on a boobylicious show at the Red Pump Inn to raise lots of money for this very very special charity…. watch my progress here! I don’t for one minute think it’s going to be easy!… and no doubt I’ll shed a few tears along the way!

But to be honest, decent pubs and inns really do know how to put on a darn good “do”… and usually combine this with a fund raising slant too!

Charities are really suffering in this recession…we see it in the news all the time…. but follow my progress during the Life and Times of an Innkeeper….and see exactly how we come up trumps in Lancashire when it comes to a good cause!

TTFN.

M.

Fish and seafood and wine tasting evening….with beef!

We were thinking delicious light and lovely seafood; fish dishes which pop with clean fresh flavours and delicate sauces…. shellfish with a little chili garlic and ginger perhaps…..all matched up with carefully chosen white and red wines by one of our wine merchants to match each dish ….which will then be available to order directly with him on the night for a considerable reduction in usual cost!…..all in all a little fish & seafood & wine tasting evening was planned for the 9th June.

Lots of interest so far as you’d imagine, but we’ve had to change it from just purely a fish “do” as a gang of ladies have sabotaged the evening by asking that our fantastic steaks are still made available too!

So the fish and seafood and wine tasting evening is now a surf and turf night with wine….

Still a fish and seafood celebration,,,,,,  just with beef

TTFN.

M

x

Have a look around why don’t you!

So Hot Shot’s night with Chef de Partie Luke on April 29th went swimmingly!

Preparations started very early with everyone on their own section….Luke decided to go outside to the refridgerated storage for a large tray of hand rolled apple&blackpudding raviolis for the belly of pork dish (which incidentally took over three hours to do!)….and pretended to drop the tray outside the kitchen window….banging, clattering and using unusual profane language!

Head Chef dropped everything and hurtled outside to see a grinning Luke holding the full tray of raviolis up and the empty one he’d clanged on the wall to pretend to his slavish colleagues inside the kitchen that their hard work and efforts had just been dropped on the floor!…..Head Chef wasn’t impressed I can tell you!

It was a full house and that was the bar, snug, restaurant and the Coach-House!

Preparations where going well in the kitchen with Luke enjoying his moment of being the head chef….. until we asked him to work the margins out for the new menu and assess the new potential suppliers and write the appraisals for his colleagues and plan the menus for Summer and Autumn and Winter 2011 and set the menus for Christmas parties 2011 and set menus for…….. you get my drift….his short-lived experience of a Head Chef wasn’t really that all-encompassing but yes, he did do exceedingly well! And yes he LOVED bossing his boss about for the day!!

Needless to say, Head Chef James quickly put him in his place the following morning on 30th April when they came in and Luke was put on larder prep!

Enjoy the photos, they show our Inn and our staff off!

I do believe I have the best looking front of house staff in the North! But then I’m biased of course!

TTFN

M.

x

Oh The Glamour Of This Life

bread buns...cooling their bums

Just when you though I’d be relaxing on my one and only day off this week, with a chilled long glass of Pimms (or other such summery snifter), gently rubbing my puppy’s belly whilst reading a book and having dinner prepared for me…….the washing machine decides to have a fit, the orders for the next Bank Holiday weekend need to be done, the confirmation of the many reservations we have taken for rooms recently also need to be sent out, the tops of the wardrobes in the guest rooms need hoovering, the restaurant carpet needs cleaning, the ladies loo needs fixing, the outside store needs a new door hinge, the bar floor needs to have melted wax shaved off it and the exit doors from the restaurant into the back courtyard and gardens needs to be de-bird pooed below the newly acquired birds nesting in the eaves above the doorway.

And then the bread buns need putting away!

And that’s just today!…..

Oh the glamour of this Innkeeper’s life!

TTFN,

M.

Please support Bill!

We love RSPB…. it’s our chosen house-charity.

We also do a little bit for the AONB (that’s the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) that is Bowland….. but now and again, we do like to support a particularly good egg who is going the extra-mile (yes….pun intended here) for cancer-research.

Bill Honeywell is doing his bit for charity folks…… a 4300 mile round trip of the British coastline all in aid of Cancer Research UK. He starts on 10th May and really wants to get to £20,000, and by-jove I think he’ll do it too!

In order to get a little more donations in his coffers, we at the Red Pump Inn are offering DINNER FOR TWO AND a night’s B&B to the winners of the next auction with Bill! 

 The offer is worth at least £120 and, “The more you bid, the more we’ll throw in!” 

All you have to do is promise to make a donation to Cancer Research UK. This is how it will work – send an email to bill.honeywell@gmail.com with your name and the amount you are ‘bidding’. Bids will close at 5.00 pm on Sunday 8th May, and he will then notify the winner, and post details on his blog. If you wish to remain anonymous say so in your initial email to Bill.  If you win, you make the donation and the prize is yours and we will welcome you with open arms!.

 Bill willup-date the blog from time to time with how bids are going.

So why not have a superb break AND make a difference in the fight against cancer at the same time.  Please be generous and good luck!

TTFN.

M.