Last weekend the Central Hall Westminster team were kindly taken to Lille for a 48-hour trip to reward us for our hard work and having a successful 2018 for events, charitable donations and an overall increasing in annual revenue.
The adventure began on Friday afternoon when we left the office and made our way like a gaggle of ducks to the Eurostar at St. Pancras. Just 1 and a half hours later we arrived, Paul our MD commented that the journey took less time than his daily one-way commute (we are convinced he’s moving to Lille any day now!!)
As soon as we arrived, we discovered Lille is a gorgeous small city, the historic centre, Vieux Lille, is characterised by 17th-century brick town houses, cobbled pedestrian streets and the beautiful large central square, Grand Place.
One of the highlights of the trip which everyone enjoyed immensely was a tour around the city, but with a difference. We split up into groups and rode around with a guide in wonderful retro convertible Citron 2cvs. During the tour we discovered anecdotes of the monuments, the History and Architecture of the city. Yes, it was cold cold cold, but we wrapped up warm and it was well worth it.
After a long day taking in the sights and doing some shopping, we enjoyed a superb meal of fine French cuisine. The best course of which was the pudding (of course) but not ignoring the fact we in France, we also indulged in the cheese course, one dish (pictured) was of Camembert drizzled with Calvados which was then flamed – it was delicious when dunked with a piece of fine French bread.
We returned just in time for blue Monday, but with fond memories and the knowledge that we are lucky enough to work in a wonderful venue and with a terrific team.