Panto Pride @ We Clean!
The UK’s biggest regional panto is back in action this Saturday the 16th at the Birmingham Hippodrome as they gear up to welcome thousands of visitors through their doors over the festive period and into January!
‘Panto season’ is always an immensely exciting and busy time in the we clean calendar as we ready ourselves to tackle the heightened cleaning challenges for our 17th Panto and as is tradition, we have kicked off preparations with the annual ‘Pre Panto Breakfast’ with our longstanding onsite cleaning team!
As a Management Team we use this important gathering to thank the team wholeheartedly for all their hard work throughout the year whilst appreciating the specific cleaning challenges the Panto Season presents! Yesterday’s gathering also offered the perfect opportunity to make a number of very special presentations…
Our Birmingham Hippodrome & Panto Experience
We have forged a ‘genuine partnership’ with the Birmingham Hippodrome that dates back to 2006 and have have been fortunate to galvanise a vastly experienced team of staff that has progressed each year and overcome the many challenges that providing a cleaning service to this iconic theatre presents.
The entertainment sector was hit particularly hard during the COVID pandemic and the resilience shown by our Cleaning Team to adapt to these difficult circumstances was immeasurable, from Yvette Meade, Site Cleaning Manager through to all the frontline Cleaning Operatives they grouped together to continue to provide the exemplary service that we pride ourselves upon.
Fast forward to 2023 and the Hippodrome has certainly bounced back, demand for shows has soared with ‘The Lion King’ ensuring the theatre was sold out for most of July, August and September, 7 days a week. This consumer confidence has continued with the Panto proving to be as popular as ever with ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ rolling into town. The next couple of months are truly gruelling for our front-line team as they manage up to 2 shows a day with very tight turnarounds and a huge footfall of festive theatre-goers!
Dee Richards Pride Team Award
The unwavering dedication and commitment displayed by our Hippodrome Cleaning Team has not gone unnoticed and this year they have been chosen as our ‘Dee Richards Pride ‘Team Award’ Winners’ – this most prestigious award within our organisation is testament to the service they have provided not just these last 12 months, but over the last 17 years!
Now into its third year the ‘Team Award’ recognises the importance that the late Dee Richards placed upon ‘teamwork’ where she clearly understood that as a collective we are able to achieve far greater than as individuals and she impressed this upon all those that she managed.
Consistency is the bedrock of any successful cleaning regime and this is truly epitomised through the longevity of those within our Hippodrome Cleaning Team. The average service length across all 19 team members is a mind-blowing 10.8 years – almost unheard of within the cleaning industry!
10 Year Service Award
And it wasn’t just the Cleaning Team that were presented with an award, Yvette Meade, Site Cleaning Manager was presented with her own we clean 10 Year Service Award! Yvette embodies everything good about ‘we clean’ and our presence on site where she has developed a keen eye for ‘people management’ and identifying service efficiencies – critical when time is of the essence between a busy afternoon and evening show schedule.
David Holmes, Health & Safety Manager who himself carried out the role of Hippodrome Site Cleaning Manager couldn’t be prouder of Yvette and how she has developed throughout her career with the organisation:
“Yvette joined the Birmingham Hippodrome not long after myself and has been a vital part of the team ever since, working her way up to the role of Site Cleaning Manager providing outstanding service to ensure the team keep up the high standards of cleanliness that the Hippodrome demands. Yvette carries out her duties professionally at all times and is always immaculately presented. Yvette is an excellent problem solver and has a can do attitude towards getting the job done and nothing is too much trouble. Well done on your 10 Years Yvette – I look forward to watching you develop even further in the years to come!”
Dee Richards Pride Winner
Finally on the award front was the announcement of our first 2023 Individual Dee Richards Pride Award recipient – our very own Michael Fishwick who is not just one of the longest serving members of the Hippodrome Cleaning Team – but within the company as a whole!
Michael joined we clean back in 2007 after being interviewed by David and Paul as we began our Hippodrome tenure and from the outset ‘Mick’ as he is affectionately known by many within the Theatre showed himself to be a real character, a genuine gem who carries out his daily duties within the auditorium with a beaming smile on his face!
Michael is fully deserving of his Pride Award as he is always arrives early to start his shift and is typically one of the last to leave, he never thinks twice about going above and beyond or doing that little bit extra to meet the required standards and has a passion and desire to do the job right!
Director Paul Concannon took great pleasure in awarding Michael his Pride Award, commenting:
“Mick has shown tremendous loyalty to both we clean and the Birmingham Hippodrome over so many years displaying unwavering reliability at all times, he is a genuine team player and has that desire to go the extra mile! As a madly passionate Blues supporter, he is never shy in giving me some banter whenever I visit site but we are immensely proud to have him in our team and he is very deserving of this Dee Richards Pride Award! Well done Mick”!
Our Hippodrome Cleaning Team really do go above and beyond and they are a credit to both the Hippodrome and we clean as we look forward to supporting and serving this iconic and much loved theatre for many more years to come!
