Tales From Wales - Graeme Urwin

I seem to have spent quite a bit of time in Wales recently.

Two new clients have come on board recently, both north and south Wales, and on Monday Ray and I were off to the Celtic Manor in Newport.

This was because we are members of the Institute of Financial Planning, and it was the yearly National Conference time again (another year gone!).

It was civilised getting there - plane to Bristol then train to Newport - and arriving early meant that we could get have a workout in the gym before the first workshop.

As I was getting changed, someone tapped me on the shoulder. Looking round, a chap was beaming a smile at me and asking how I was.

Now you know how it is. I definitely knew him, but could for the life of me not place who he was or how I knew him. Just as I was getting there, he reminded me.

'Remember? Richard, Felicity's father'. Of course!

We holiday every year in Saundersfoot in south west Wales and always meet up with them as we have done for 6 or 7 years. Felicity is my daughter Charlotte's age and they have a great time together.

Now I knew they lived in Newport, but what a coincidence!

Anyway, I had a good workout, attended the 2 workshops and got into my room. Not bad. Very comfortable and a nice view of the golf course.

That night was an informal one, with around 400 plus planners meeting in the bar to chew the cud. One of the nice things about it (apart from the beer) was that they are like minded folk, and therefore we can talk at a certain level about how we help clients and swap ideas on how we can get better at our job. Some of the events we used to go to were full of sales people, and it is refreshing to mix with some of the top guys.

As the night wore on and alcohol was consumed, a memory of a Conference long ago came to mind. It was in Buxton in the late eighties, at one of those Spa hotels. I was very young and innocent (honest), and was enjoying a game of pool at 3 in the morning.

Unfortunatley. the guy I was playing decided to play an aggressive shot, and in so doing the butt of the cue went through the glass of the fire alarm.

It was chaos!

The poor hotel staff proceeded to attempt to shepherd over 50 or 60 fairly drunk people to the assembly area. On the way, certain hotel bedrooms were passed, and it was the talk of the company for months afterwards as to who was coming out of whose bedroom!

Anyway, back to the Celtic Manor.

The following day was the main day, with lots of workshops and speakers, followed that night by the Gala Dinner. All went well, and I even found myself sitting beside a lady from Luxembourg who laughed at my jokes and liked history and genealogy. At least that is my memory of what happened

As there was more work in the morning, I made sure that I got to bed before 2 o’clock. I would say that at least half of the crowd were still having a great time when I left.

The final speaker at 1 o’clock the following day was a lady called Michelle Mone. She invented the Ultimo Bra, and after the usual jokes of how it was an uplifting experience, she gave an excellent account of her life. From a tough upbringing in the east end of Glasgow, she had many challenges, and against all odds she invented the bra, going massively into debt to do so.

The story of how she got a major London store to stock it was priceless. Pregnant with her third child, and this debt hanging over herself and her husband, Michelle got an appointment to see the buyer. But on arriving she was told to leave samples, and they would get back to her within 6 months!

This was not acceptable to Michelle. She marched into the female Buyers office, and explained her situation and would she not just try one on? Well, the buyer did, and was so delighted with the product that she ordered thousands.

Success! But Michelle needed to get the product selling big time straight away. How could she achieve this? Down to her last £500, she paid 10 actors to dress as plastic surgeons and instructed them to march outside the store on Oxford Street with placards that read:

"Ban the Ultimo Bra. It is ruining us!"

It got loads of press coverage, and the store sold out within 3 hours!

As they say, the rest is history.

So the Conference finished, and it was time for home. We got a lift to the train station, and arrived at the airport with loads of time to go. In fact our plane wasn’t taking off until 6.30pm, and it was only 4 ish.

However, we ended up with even more time on our hands as it turned out. On the screen came the dreaded message:

"Plane delayed due to technical problems" Aaaagh!

We actually took off at 10.30pm. I got back home at 1.00am.

It was well worth the trip but not it's back to work!

Other Related Posts

• UK Dentists & Doctors - How Much Is Enough For Your Retirement?