The Travel Retail Consortium (TRC) held their annual retailer weekend at Botley Park Hotel, Southampton on the 5-6 June, during which members of the TRC and guests were given the chance to mingle with executives from airport retailers, airlines, ferries/cruise-ships and distributors/agents.

A welcome drinks reception took place on Friday evening when Simon Hedley gave an introduction to the ‘Sailing Regatta’ and a glimpse into the next day’s activity. A BBQ on the hotel terrace followed, whilst a charity tombola, with prizes donated by suppliers, was held throughout the evening

On Saturday guests were divided into teams for a day of sailing on the Solent. Apparently, the teams faced tough, but ‘highly enjoyable’ conditions whilst they raced towards the Isle of Wight. The winning sailing team, ‘Stuart’s of Rod’ consisted of Corin Lehmann, Andy Hoile (Guinness), Andrew Hunter, Karen Hunter (Guinness), Brooke MacPherson, Matthew Popek (Harding Retail), Becci Calver and Philip Elliott (Taittinger Champagne).

After guests returned from a busy day sailing, they were able to enjoy a Gala Dinner ‘summer on the Solent’ hosted by the Fair Oak Suite.

Over the course of the evening £500 was raised for the TRC Chairman’s dedicated charity, Guillain Barre Syndrome, adding to the £400 already collected from the Friday night’s tombola. Chairman Peter Ayling auctioned off a magnum of Champagne on behalf of Champagne Taittinger to increase the total raised to £1,020.

“Once again the TRC held a great event that allowed everyone to interact, meet new people and have great fun,” says Anthony Fletorides, General Manager, DFASS UK LTD. “Sailing was a new activity for me and I certainly enjoyed it. The gala dinner and evening was enjoyable too and I even won a prize – very nice.”

“This was my first Travel Retail Consortium event and it certainly did not disappoint,” says Assistant Buyer, Caitlin Allen, Harding Retail. “Sailing was a perfect way to meet new people whilst having a lot of fun and I was made to feel very welcome by everyone who was involved. The entire weekend was beautifully organised from start to finish and it was truly a privilege to be part of such a fantastic event.”

Peter Ayling, TRC Chairman summarised the event: “I would like to thank everyone who helped to make this weekend such a success. The TRC has always run quite safe events previously and I wanted to organize something different, which according to the feedback has definitely paid off. “We are a unique industry, one which relies on close relationships. Events like the TRC weekend are vital to make new relationships and strengthen existing ones. I will be thinking hard as to how we can better this in 2016.”