Planet Angel - Live an Ordinary Life in an Extraordinary Way

Hi everyone, I don’t think I’ve blogged since before the June Party as we were straight off to the Sunrise Festival (after tying up the accounts.. boring). Well we’re back from a long week being debauched in a field somewhere in Somerset and feeling rejuvenated for the break!

The last party had a fantastic atmosphere, the new Thai BBQ in the garden worked really well and the treasure hunt was a hit too – Heather did a brilliant job in organising that one!  Sandy’s live Didge performance and Sean Taylor’s live guitar performance were great, although being our first live act in the new chill bar we have a bit of work to do regarding sound levels but it’s always a constant mission to improve and develop, it’s what we do…

The summer is always a bit quiet as far as parties go, which is why a lot of them close up until the autumn but when you run events you can’t help mulling over why an event was busy or quiet! June was a bit quiet for us, it’s always an unpredictable month with festivals starting up, lots of student exams and the football has been a massive event this year with lots of people choosing to stay home, it’s hitting the club scene across the board..

Thanks for the birthday cards guys!

It’s interesting to me that something that keeps popping up is how many people don’t understand Planet Angel’s not for profit ethos… some people think it means a charity and many people seem to think this means no one does  – or should – get paid… This happened again with a company I was speaking to this week.  I explained that actually we aim to fairly pay everyone who works with planet angel and we’ve always tried to offer everyone a fair rate for the time they put in… £5 per hour for all crew isn’t as much as we’d like, (and £3 per hour for Pete & I is way under the minimum wage!) but it’s a start! We’re hopeful that one day we’ll be able to fairly pay everyone involved as well as helping artists get exposure (if there are any profits, they go back into Planet Angel to further it’s aims and objectives). It’s a big plan and a bit strange explaining that we’re a not-for-profit ‘club’!  The main thing though with Planet Angel is the atmosphere and that’s almost impossible to explain, you’ve got to experience it!

Guestbook comments recently are all incredibly positive and mailing list signups are coming in thick and fast all with really nice comments from people who really seem to get the concept… most of the new people are aged around 25 to 35 and know how to have a good time! All the good stuff like this helps balance out the tougher bits like making ends meet but it looks like we’ve both got some part time work which will help…

The venue move - and all the highs, lows and extra work that generated - threw everything completely out of kilter, it actually took a lot more out of us than we thought and we didn’t manage to get involved with any festivals this year, we just wouldn’t have been able to pull together a good enough show, it’s a real shame though. But hey, next year….!  Now we’re settling into the new venue we’ve got the head space to be able to start planning the future and we are… The questionnaire replies are amazing, we’re still collating them and making sense of it all but we are listening very carefully to what everyone’s said………..  We gave up our careers and a lot else to start Planet Angel, the feedback we’ve got now makes us feel like we’re working with everyone to take things forward! It’s great!

Well, we’ve got to get on writing the mailshot (and hoping the damn email system works properly this time).. It’s tricky sometimes to find the right way to put things.. Like explaining that this time of year is a bit quiet so it’s a great time for people to bring that mate who’s been meaning to come for ages!!  I’m sure we’ll find a way of putting it!

Cheers for now.