What happened at Glen Ewin Estate on Friday night, the night the fires started? Whilst the wedding ceremony of Ashleigh & Sam was taking place, the first thick plumes of smoke were drifting over the Estate. Smoke from what soon turned into a devastating bushfire. We implemented our Bushfire plan and sent our facilities manager to the top the hill with a deck chair, umbrella and cold drinks to report on the fire conditions and direction. At this stage all seemed safe at our Estate. When the guests were seated in the Pulpshed for the reception, the wind changed direction and fanned the fire towards Glen Ewin Estate. At that moment we could only do one thing, something we hoped we would never have to do: we had to evacuate. All guests were asked to make their way to our assembly point, where our staff ensured all were present using the guest list. Within minutes all guests had safely vacated the property to be reassembled in a safe area away from the Hills. But the moment we ordered the evacuation, we broke the hearts of our lovely Bride and Groom. They had been planning their dream wedding for 18 months, so we had to find a way to continue what had started so beautifully that afternoon. It became apparent that the Alma hotel was available, and the call was made by the bride and groom’s families to move all the guests there. After discussion with our team the Alma very kindly agreed that we could borrow their kitchen, so our Chefs packed all the prepared food into mobile hotboxes and transported everything to the new venue, where our Maitre D’ was in charge of the team to serve the main course and desserts to the guests! We would like to thank every member of our amazing team for managing this crisis situation with such professionalism. You have all done an exceptional job! Huge credit goes to the guests that night, for staying so calm and working together with us on a very smooth evacuation. Last but certainly not least, a big thank you to the Alma Hotel for being so flexible in allowing our Chefs to use their kitchen! This video shows the story of Ashleigh and Sam, captured by Ten Eyewitness News.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 03:22:41 +0000
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