Bowled over by a sweet celebration of success

This month has seen the gaining of another two awards.

The first came from the Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce Business Women of the Year awards, and was presented at a gala dinner.

The second wasn't quite so grand. A few weeks ago, we celebrated the sixth anniversary of the company's formation. For the third year in a row, owing to its success, we decided to take all the unit managers and head office staff tenpin bowling.

Four teams showed great competitiveness in their attempt to knock "Birdie" from her perch. Unfortunately, this was too easily achieved and at the end of the evening I was awarded a certificate as "Super-Flop", together with a bottle of sparkling wine, for having scored the fewest points.

However, I wasn't the only under-performer. Although we had all ordered our meals a week in advance from a very reputable fast-food outlet, they finally arrived at 10pm - an hour after our order was taken again!

With it being our sixth (or candy) anniversary, if you follow this system, we decided to include our clients and associates in the celebrations.

More significant

No, we're not talking about grand events but something far more significant: a stick of pink rock. This, though, was no ordinary stick of rock as it had the words "Charlton House" running through it.

Unfortunately, the minimum "boil" this required has left me with a few sticks spare!

For the benefit of new diary readers, the finance director for the company is my husband Tim. An alarming number of people are aghast at this close working relationship. However, I would assume that catering is probably one of the key industries which attracts this type of partnership.

Amazingly, we don't have "domestics" in the office, and last year it took a new recruit at head office a few weeks before she realised that we were husband and wife, which is why I found a recent article in a business magazine about "the ultimate partnership" most amusing.

The article focused on four couples, each of whom had a different approach to making a winning team. These ranged from no shop talk after 9pm to discussing balance sheets in the bath. One husband insists on separate cars to drive to work but is happy to call his wife on the phone once there!

At the end, the article laid down a husband-and-wife business charter. I found the final point the most amusing:

"When communicating with my spouse in stressful times:

"I will be factual.

"I will not make blaming, accusative ‘you… ‘ statements.

"I will make calm, thoughtful ‘I think… ‘ statements.

"I will communicate directly to my spouse about our relationship and not through someone else.

"And finally, I will NOT take responsibility for my spouse's emotional fulfilment and happiness."

Next diary from Robyn Jones will be on 21 August