August see's the Season Drawing to a Close

With 2 months of pandemonium in June and July there were some weary workers in the ranks but as the summer drew to a close the seasonal workers were in high spirits as they were closing in on their return to University – as most of them had already said that Uni was a much easier holiday than their supposed Summer Holiday!!

The first week of August started as busy as the previous weeks with a mixture of weddings, balls, Union Shows, Rugby Internationals, garden parties and also a new one for everyone with 3 marquees being erected near Denholm in Hawick for the Scottish National Sheepdog trials. The two weddings that were taking place this weekend were both situated very local with one being held in the Harmony House Gardens in Melrose and another literally two minutes down the road on the outskirts of Melrose. The Festival Inns (now G1 Group) had a marquee up at the Murrayfield Hotel in Edinburgh for the Scotland Rugby International that was happening on this weekend. The furniture was provided to the marquee in the grounds of the Lauderdale Hotel for the traditional Lauder Ball and there was also pagodas erected in Blainslie for a garden party and the week came to an end with a small marquee being put up in the Duns Show Ground for Countryside Kitchens in Kelso.

The following week brought a trip down to England with a large wedding being held at Lartington, County Durham. This again brought a week where the squads were split to attend to all the requirements of the clients over this busy weekend. The marquee that was up at Harmony House was kept up for a wedding this weekend which meant that extra stress of getting this marquee up and down was lifted from the team. There was also the Hendersyde Horse Trials just outside of Kelso taking place as well. The team then had trips to Cardrona and West Lothian respectively for weddings, the wedding at Cardrona being on a tennis court showing the versatility of our marquees and our ability to suit the client’s needs. There was also a Book Festival at Traquair House on this weekend and a gallery package was put together at Mellerstain House for a wedding. The end of the week brought a first for Best Intent with a marquee put up for a 100^th Birthday Party in Fairnington just outside of Maxton. No matter what the occasion is there is no tent too big or too small, Best Intent will always provide our remarkable service at all times. This week also brought the last weekend of the small marquee that had been situated in the Abbotsford House Estate for the full summer.

With the final week of the busy summer there was no respite for everyone as this week proved to be just as busy as the rest of the summer had been. With 5 weddings and the Pipe Band Festival taking place in the Gibson Park in Melrose the team were kept on their toes. There was a wedding on the Friday afternoon in Jedburgh as well as weekend weddings at Kippilaw, North Berwick, Middleton Moor and Aspatria everyone was well travelled by the end of the week. The Pipe Band Festival required a small marquee for Richie Gray’s Bar and there was also a small marquee put up at Floors Castle for the Household Cavalry event.

With all these jobs completed with style the busiest months were brought to a close. Best Intent would like to thank all the seasonal workers who helped over the summer months and wish them well with their studies over the coming year. We hope to see you all again at the beginning of next year.

July Sees The Summer in Full Flow

After a crazy month in June with Scotland and the North of England being provided with luxurious marquees for weddings, corporate events, cocktail parties and lunch parties, July seemed to start on a smaller scale. The first week brought a wedding, a 21st birthday party and the return of the Sound Music Festival to Scott Park in Galashiels. The team worked hard early on in the week with the de-rigging of marquees and the erecting of the jobs in Ancrum and St Mary’s in Melrose to earn a couple of well-earned days off at the end of the week. This rest was not to continue however with the coming weeks being very busy again and the old phrase of ‘The Busiest Week Ever’ still had a few more outings over the coming weeks.

The weekend 9th July saw 5 weddings and a drinks party on the calendar, which again meant long hours to ensure that the marquees were looking up to scratch for everyone’s big day. There was a local drinks party at Minto aswell as a wedding at Kersmains just outside of Kelso in the Scottish Borders area, but this week also found the team taking three different trips to Edinburgh and the surrounding areas. There were large marquees put up for weddings in Currie on a tennis court and Dunbar in a field looking onto the sea as well as a smaller marquee formulation being constructed in a small garden in South Queensferry, showing the adaptability of the team to fit marquees into any space to suit our clients’ individual requirements.
The middle of July saw some different projects for the team to deal with including doing the interior of a barn to get it up to standard for the wedding as well as a wedding at Preston Hall in Pathhead and another in Kelso. With the week after being an extremely hectic week a marquee was constructed a week in advance in St Andrews to try and take away some of the stresses the following week to make sure that everything ran smoothly.

With the job in St Andrews already up there were more weddings in store for the penultimate weekend in July. There were two weddings in the Hawick area with one overlooking the Vertish Hill and the other being just outside Hawick in Hassendean. There were also different jobs in store in this week with a party in Glasgow that required some delicate touches and also providing furniture to Kippilaw for a wedding. Best Intent are quite happy to hire out our furniture for your event including chairs, tables and staging so don’t be tricked into thinking that the business is just a ‘one trick pony’ and only provides marquees, it is a lot more diverse.
The final week in July found the team making two seperate trips across the Forth Road Bridge to the Perth area for two different weddings. Milnathort was the first venue with 4 small marquees being erected in the back garden of a private house followed by another wedding in Balbeggie. There was a triathlon at St Mary’s Loch which required a marquee for the after party at Tibbieshiels and also a small wedding at Birgham just outside Kelso. The end of the week brought the Medics party at the Borders General Hospital, pagodas at Musselburgh Races for their latest meeting and the Border Union Show at Kelso where we had been contracted by 5 corporate clients all requiring small marquees where they could meet and greet their customers and showcase their wares.

July came and went in the blink of an eye and August, the last month of the seasonal workers before they all head back to their respective Universities, was looming fast.

June - The Month of Madness

With the Rugby 7s season closing up at the end of May and the Hearts for Heroes Challenge behind us, June brought the beginning of the busy wedding season. The start of the month found an extremely big job at Haddington being coupled with a wedding in the Tweedsmuir valley. The team were also back at Musselburgh Racecourse to put up pagodas for their latest meet and we also did a lunch on the Winton Estate in East Lothian. The following week the team had to de-rig these jobs quickly as the busiest 3 week period of the year was looming. There were weddings all over the country this week with the team rushing round to ensure that everything was perfect for all the clients. This even involved a late Friday night trip to Aberfeldy to cater for a customer’s last minute needs – displaying the flexibile and personal service that Best Intent prides itself on. There was a mixture of traditional poled marquees (in Westruther and Melrose) and clearspan framed marquees (in Gifford and Aberfeldy and at Traquair House).

There was no rest as the next week brought the Borders Book Festival at Harmony House Gardens with 7 tents being erected of all different sizes to cater for all the different Festival events. With all the marquees required to be up for the Tuesday the start of the week was hectic – we had to get the previous weeks’ marquees de-rigged and there were some long hours worked to ensure completion for the Book Festival’s deadline. There was also a meeting at Musselburgh Racecourse this week –as well as the usual pagodas that go up there was also a marquee required on the Queens Lawn for the Owners and Trainers. The end of the week was also busy with weddings at Cardross, just north of Glasgow, and Sprouston to end a strenuous week and the week that Charles proclaimed to be ‘The Busiest Week Ever’ (this isn’t the first time this term was to be used over the course of the summer).

The following week was the one that had caught the attention of Philip and was the week that he had pinpointed as ‘The Busiest Week Ever’ so the team were once again prepared to work around the clock. With the Borders Book Festival finished the large marquee was transferred just down the road to Annay Road for the Melrose Ball. There were 3 weddings in this week with the squads being split to be able to get all the jobs completed in time for the weekends festivities. Half the team went west to Ayrshire and the other half went South for a foray into the North of England for another wedding in Alnwick. There was also a local wedding in Selkirk and a party in Maxton to keep the team busy before the week ended with everyone being reunited for a trip to Annan to rig up a marquee for the Pipe Band Championships over that weekend.

This weekend brought to the close the end of the hectic month that was June. There were a lot of tired bodies and minds but a very successful month and a lot of happy customers. Bring on July!!!!!