Director
“John joined Marchday in 1989 from the glamorous world of interior design and became a director of the company in 1995. John enjoys surfing, Victorian taxidermy and has recently (against his better judgement) developed an unhealthy interest in golf. John is married with three children Tom, Beth and Noah and lives near Deal on the Kent coast.”
September 1st, 2010 - Student Loans MD talks about Lingfield Point, Darlington and Marchday.John recently met with Derek Ross, Managing Director of Student Loans Company to ask why SLC chose Lingfield Point as the home for its HQ in England, what his experience of the region has been and how the reality compares to his expectations.
Click on the link below to view the conversation;
August 14th, 2010 - No.1 of Marchday’s Magnificent 7.We’ve had a lot of fun making 7 short films about how we try to deliver a better service to our customers at Lingfield Point in Darlington. We’ve called them the Magnificent Seven. Here’s the first one. We hope you enjoy it!
Click on the link below to view;
August 2nd, 2010 - Grow Your Own!
The Grow Zone
The community allotments at Lingfield Point, Darlington are really starting to look good. As there’s a shortage of good allotments in the town we’ve worked in partnership with Friends of the Earth to find budding gardeners who want to grow their own and provided the land for them to do it.
Everybody is interested in where their food is produced and growing your own fruit and veg is the ultimate feel good experience. We’re creating a sustainable mixed community at Lingfield Point and permanent allotments will be just one of the life enhancing features on offer.
Christine McAllister, a keen allotment keeper in Darlington sums it up nicely;
‘Keeping allotments used to be the preserve of old men but over the last few years it’s become incredibly popular with young women. It’s becoming quite trendy with ageing sheds being replaced with pretty painted beach huts. I love being able to go to the allotment and collect vegetables for dinner straight off the plant; there’s nothing better.’
The allotments are available to all so now there’s no excuse for serving up second rate veg!
July 14th, 2010 - Come Fly with Me!
Once I get you up there.......
Whilst on holiday recently I had the chance to do a tandem paraglide from the highest paraglide venue in Europe. It was an amazing experience throwing yourself off the top off 6550ft Mount Babadag and being able to see directly to the coastline and sea below.
So when do I pull the cord?
We took off in the clouds and had a bit of a bumpy ride as we soared along just below them. I must admit to finding it terrifying/exhilarating and beautiful in equal parts. Of course Graham is our resident pilot and this gave me a glimpse into the attraction of flight with no engines – as they said in the sales blurb, ‘Come and find out why the birds sing!’
July 6th, 2010 - The Marchday Pancake – ‘Now that’s what I call customer service!’ Nomination No.3.
Turkish Delight
John recently went on holiday and came across an unusual demonstration of customer service which really impressed him;
The whole family recently travelled to a lovely resort, Lykia World in the south west corner of Turkey. Beth and Noah both loved the beach and swimming pools and Maggie and I loved the great food and childcare!
Every afternoon two local women would sit under a canopy and bake Turkish pancakes on top of a traditional charcoal oven. The resort didn’t promote this, it was something you eventually discovered as part of the experience. It was a delight to watch them working, one preparing the dough and rolling it to a unbelievable size and thiness before passing it (rolled on a long baton) to the other who carefully unfurled in on top of the hot oven. As soon as they started cooking a small queue of enlightened guests began to form watching this elegant performance.
Noah waits ...... and waits!
Eventually the pancakes (heavenly, melt in your mouth crispiness) were ready to serve and inevitably each guest would ask ‘How much?’ - to be told that they were free, a gift. It was somehow the combination of the authenticity and the performance that made this gift seems so valuable and unexpected and the customer service message so powerful. It left me thinking, ‘What can we do which is the property equivalent? What is the Marchday Pancake?’
What indeed? We’re thinking about it – Watch this space.
