Unexpected tales from Roger
Kerry Bailey infiltrates the John Lewis department store at Welwyn Garden City to talk to its Social Events Organiser, Roger Filler, about the many domestic day trips he arranges, along with some rather more unusual events.
As I walk through the corridors and staff areas of the John Lewis branch at Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire with Roger Filler, its Social Events Organiser of four years, I almost get the feeling that I am in the presence of a local celebrity. Fellow staff members wave and shout greetings from tables in the canteen, young men in suits slap him on the back as he crosses the shop floor and various people push booking forms for trips into his hand as we ascend the stairs to his office.
“I even get the occasional ‘Is that you Rog?’ whilst I’m in a toilet cubicle!” he grins.
But for Roger, it’s all part of the job he loves. “I’ve been with John Lewis in various roles for 28 years, man and boy,” he tells me happily. “When I saw the paid position of Social Events Organiser advertised in the staff magazine however, I knew I had to go for it. Four years on, I still love my job and consider myself very lucky in what I do.”
The John Lewis way of life
Explaining how it all works Roger says: “The John Lewis Partnership has 26 department stores and 184 Waitrose supermarkets in the UK. I organise events and travel for the 1,000 partners – or staff members – working at the Welwyn Garden City branch.” He continues, “John Lewis likes to provide good working conditions and plenty of social activities for its employees. It’s my job to think up and implement events and travel for the partners to take advantage of and I really like to find out of the ordinary activities that will interest everyone.” He adds with a grin, “Someone has to do it!”
All employees at the branch are automatically eligible to join in with events and outings and there is no membership fee. “Far from it,” stresses Roger. “There is no cost involved for membership whatsoever and I am given an annual budget by John Lewis to subsidise the cost of trips for partners so that the outlay for them is as minimal as it can be. Friends and family are welcome to join us, however I can’t subsidise the costs for them.”
Roger also has the support of a voluntary committee. “The committee is comprised of ten people, each of whom works in various departments in the store. We try to meet once a month to discuss new ideas for trips and how the current programme of events is going down with the partners.”
And although Roger is brimming with ideas, he does find that the varying ages of the committee members helps him to come up with ideas to suit partners young and old alike.
“The committee members range from 18 to 60 year olds, so I get suggestions that vary from seaside trips and ladies’ pampering days to limousine driven clubbing nights.”
Alternative activities and firm favourites
Roger tries to organise lots of events that take place within the store itself, or as nearby as possible, with regulars including snail races, pub-style quizzes, charity sporting events such as the ‘Race for Life’ for Cancer Research UK, clairvoyant nights and a chocolate tasting evening, which he has booked more of in the future. “The ladies especially loved the chocolate evening,” he tells me. “It was held in our customer restaurant after the store closed. Staff from the local Thornton’s branch brought all sorts of chocolate goodies for us to try and we had lots of fun and games.”
The restaurant also plays host to the annual staff X-Factor challenge, where management judges the vocal talents of partners from different departments.
“It takes a while to get people interested and involved but when the event actually comes off, it’s very funny and everyone has a fantastic time!”
It’s arranging day trips that takes up a large portion of Roger’s time, however, and he organises around 30 a year.
“Visiting Buckingham Palace was a particular highlight,” he says. “I pre-booked 50 tickets through the Royal Collection, the organisation that oversees a collection of royal residences in the UK, for a morning visit in June 2005. The Palace is very well prepared for groups and we were all so impressed with how much of the building we actually got to see.”
On that same afternoon, Roger had pre-booked a guided tour of the Houses of Parliament for the group with the Parliamentary Education Unit. “Again, this was very informative and it made a good conclusion to the day.”
“Although we didn’t do it on the Buckingham Palace trip, I do usually like to arrange a guided walk of London whenever we visit the capital,” he says. “We often use The Original London Walks Company for this. The office staff there are very professional and the guides are superb. Our particular favourite tour is the ‘Along the Thames Pub Walk’,” he grins.
Another favourite for the Welwyn Garden City partners is the Lambing Weekend at Wimpole Hall, the National Trust property near Cambridge, which takes place in March. “I organise a trip to Wimpole every year,” begins Roger. “Last year I had a full coach of 57 and had to turn people away as it was so popular. It’s a good all-rounder because the partners who prefer not to pitch in with the lambing can visit the Hall or wander around the grounds.”
“I also had a full coach of 57 when I arranged a trip to the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show in July last year and everyone had a good time,” says Roger. “I had to pre-book the tickets via the Royal Horticultural Society and I’m hoping to get tickets for the Chelsea Flower Show this year.”
A tour of the BBC Television Centre in London is another trip worth doing according to Roger. “Everyone loved getting behind the scenes at the studios on the occasions that we have done this tour and the guides are always really fun,” he recalls. “I have pre-booked another tour for this year although this time its the CBBC Tour, which visits the sets of children’s programmes.”
For his more active members, Roger also organised a day’s go-karting at the Rye House Go-Karting Track in Hoddeston, Hertfordshire, for 25 people in September. “They really enjoyed spending the day thrashing around the circuit and it’s an activity I would recommend for GTOs with younger members to occupy.”
Starring roles
Something that always generates a lot of interest amongst partners, Roger finds, are theatre trips and he tends to take groups to see most of the top West End shows in addition to a traditional pantomime at Christmas.
“I always use Chambers Coaches, a coach operator based in Stevenage, for my coach travel whether for theatre or day trips. It is an excellent company to deal with and I wouldn’t use anyone else,” he says.
For theatre tickets, meanwhile, two ticketing agencies play a starring role in Roger’s contact book. “Because I work in a retail environment, I am hot on excellent customer service and that is exactly what I get when I use Group Line in London. It operates very smoothly and I never have any problems.”
“Ticketmaster Groups in London is also very good. I really like the fact that I don’t have to pay a deposit as soon as I book too, which comes in very handy when you’re dealing with large groups and large amounts of money.”
Roger’s theatre trips in 2006 alone included ‘Wicked’, ‘Billy Elliot’, ‘The Sound of Music’, ‘Evita’, ‘Mary Poppins’ and ‘Mama Mia’.
“Ah ‘Mama Mia’ was a show that everyone enjoyed,” he recalls. “I booked the tickets through Group Line – easily as ever – arranged coach travel with Chambers Coaches and took a group of 50 people to see it in London in June. It was a great night and everyone really enjoyed the show.”
For something extra special, Roger occasionally books a whole venue out for the evening for an exclusive John Lewis showing, where he shares the venue with other John Lewis branches. “We have so much fun when we do this and get all kinds of perks.”
He continues, “When we booked out the Gordon Craig Theatre in Stevenage last December for a showing of the Snow White pantomime for example, Shane Lynch – formerly of the pop group Boyzone – had played Prince Charming and came out to sign autographs after the show. Everyone loved that!”
Another memorable event took place last November, when partners enjoyed exclusive use of the Jongleurs Comedy Club in Watford. “The comedy night was such a blast,” Roger says enthusiastically. “It took a lot to organise but we had three fantastic comedians on the entertainment bill and it was a real success.”
Inland exploring
Roger has started to introduce a sprinkling of weekend UK city breaks to his events programme over the past couple of years and, although he is very keen on obtaining recommendations from tourist boards, he prefers to do all of the organising and booking himself.
May saw him accompany 30 partners to the city of York travelling with GNER, the rail operator based in Yorkshire. “It was a superb company to deal with and, because we booked three months in advance, the savings were spectacular!”
Once the group had arrived in York, they made the most of their two days and packed lots in. “York is beautiful and it has so many attractions to suit different interests,” comments Roger. “A particular highlight included a Ghost Walk with the Original Ghost Walk of York Company, which I highly recommend to other groups visiting the area.”
Another memorable weekend break took place in July 2005, when Roger took a group of 24 to Manchester for two days. “One of the best parts of the weekend was on the first day when we dropped the ladies off at the Trafford Centre for some retail therapy whilst us lads went for a pre-booked guided tour of Old Trafford, Manchester United’s home ground.”
On the second day the group managed to Fit in a stop at the Lowry Museum and the ‘tip-top’ ImperialWar Museum North before returning home.
Worldwide sightseeing
“It can be difficult to arrange breaks overseas,” explains Roger when I ask him about his trips further afield. “Purely because it’s sometimes hard to book time off for lots of people at the same time; however, we do manage it and often team up with partners from other branches.”
One of the more recent overseas breaks saw Roger organise a weekend city break for 24 people in Paris in May.
“I organised that break myself, but I mainly use the services of Success Tours, the Wiltshire-based tour operator, when planning an overseas holiday. I find it reassuring to have professional help with the planning of finer details.”
He continues, “I really like the company because it tailors trips to your particular needs. It also specialises in finding excellent family-run establishments that offer a real personal touch.”
One such break, organised by Success Tours, took place last April, when Roger accompanied a group of 25 to Lake Garda in Italy for four days. “Success organised everything,” he begins. “On the first day, we just settled in at our superb hotel called Bellevue San Lorenzo, which is in Melcesine, overlooking the beautiful Lake Garda. The following day, we enjoyed a tour of the island with an English speaking guide and a blow-out lunch with unlimited wine at a fantastic family-run restaurant called Trattoria Castello in the town of Moniga del Garda. The next two days were spent in Verona and Venice before we returned home. The package was great!”
The following September, meanwhile, saw Roger and 29 partners head to Austria for four days on another Success holiday. “This trip was received particularly well and Success Tours did an excellent job with it,” nods Roger. “The break was taken up with all sorts of excursions to places such as Salzburg and Lake Konigsee, where we also visited the nearby Eagles Nest, Hitler’s one-time holiday home.”
Future escapades
Already Roger is laying the foundations for a five-day trip to New York in May – for which he is using the services of the Gloucestershire-based tour operator Travelscope for the first time – and a four-day break in Tuscany, Italy, for wine tastings and cookery lessons, organised by Success Tours.
As we draw to a close and I prepare to leave, I can’t resist asking what the secret behind being such a successful GTO is. “I just really, really love my job and I never run short of ideas of weird and wonderful things for the partners to do,” he says shaking his head. “I just hope we manage to accomplish them all!”