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As you may now have learned, Swansea City Football Team were successful in their efforts to win the Capital One Cup.  As a result the city will be welcoming the team home with a celebration parade.  This event will be taking place on Tuesday, 26th February 2013. 

The parade will leave the Kingsway adjacent to The Dragon Hotel at 4:30pm and make its way via the Kingsway and St Helen’s Road to the Guildhall.  It is anticipated that the event will be over by 6:30pm.

The following roads will be closed on a rolling basis:

4:30pm – 7:30pm            The Kingsway
                                        St Helen’s Road
                                        Guild Hall Road South

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause

An opportunity to manage the housekeeping department in Ascot came my way, what a fantastic chance to further my career.

This was my first time working away from home which was an amazing experience, the hotel was more rural than what I’m used to, being in the city centre at The Dragon Hotel.

I looked after the housekeeping team for a week to make sure standards of cleanliness were high in the 126 bedroom hotel. I would like to thank all the staff at Macdonald Berystede Hotel & Spa, for welcoming me as  part of their team and look forward to working with them again should the opportunity arise.

(Also, on a lighter note I would welcome the opportunity of working at any of our sister hotels in Portugal or Spain too!)

Love was in the air at The Dragon Hotel on Valentine’s day

Our bedrooms were presented with swans and rose petals

Valentine’s menu was a big success with our guests

Everyone including staff really enjoyed the occasion

Many thanks to Jaidon Williams for his hard work making the bedrooms look fantastic!

Pembrey Bedroom set-up

at the slumber party, however midnight treats were a must!

Sunday 10^th February saw The Pembrey suite here at The Dragon Hotel transformed into a teenager’s bedroom - complete with beds – for our Slumber Party themed Christmas Party, so Pyjamas were a must!

Party Games

Yes we know it’s February, but we were all too busy with Christmas itself to party in December!

The room was decorated and transformed by brother and sister dream team Tanisha & Jaidon Williams – what a fantastic job they did!

Resident DJ Steve helped create a fun atmosphere by playing party games like musical chairs along with agreeing to host a karaoke (big mistake!), a huge thanks to Steve for once again giving up his time to entertain us! Also a massive thanks to the kitchen team for providing us with some much need food and for Luke and Justin for being Bartenders Extraordinaire!

Tanisha & Jaidon

The raffle was held with a mixture of prizes including donations from SA3 Bistro; Brain Brown; Stratstone Newport and many more. Many thanks to all who contributed to the raffle!

Lastly a massive thank you to Tanisha & Jaidon for their efforts in making this ‘The BEST’ staff Christmas party ever held at The Dragon Hotel!

To view more photos please click here

It’s once again that time where we proudly announce the member of staff who has stood out amongst all.  Our team member of the month goes to our ‘Kitchen Porter’ Christopher Brown!

Chris has worked for the Hotel since July 2009, since his time at the hotel he has clearly demonstrated that his commitment and determination to his job shines through! From washing dishes to helping to prepare for some of our large events, Chris has been a big support to Steve and his team of chefs!

Chris has now decided to move departments within the hotel and will be joining our night’s team later this month. I am sure that he will continue to show great enthusiasm within his new role and be an asset to Kelly and her team!

Please join me in saying ‘Congratulations’ Chris on your well deserved award and good luck in your new position!

Shrove Tuesday will be upon us so we thought we’d get in really early and make sure that not only are you prepared for some flipping good fun, but you’re also having a healthy pancake day this year!

Tara Hammett, our Health Club Manager and one of Swansea and South Wales’ top Personal Trainers (Did we mention finalist in the National Fitness Awards Personal Trainer of the Year 2012?) has shared her healthy pancake recipe that will keep your mid week healthy nutrition in check! It’s gluten free, high in fibre and massive on taste!

Ingredients: (for one pancake, increase ingredients accordingly)

For the pancake:

1 Tablespoon Coconut Flour

2 Egg Whites

¼ Cup Coconut Milk

For cooking in the pan:

Coconut Oil

For adding at the end (optional):

¼ teaspoon Truvia

Lemon

Mix all your pancake ingredients together. Firstly I whisked my egg whites up, then I added the flour and milk to a nice little batter.

Add ½ teaspoon of coconut oil to the pan and swish it around.

Add your pancake batter to the pan and cook on one side for about a minute whilst swishing (said that twice now) the batter evenly around the edges.

Then…..the next move is your shout….what will it be??

A Flip????

Or

Risk a toss???

Well…..I’m gonna put it out there – I flipped!! Which I must say is medium on the adventurous scale, because sometimes I totally bail out and cook the other side under the grill (top tip).

Cook the other side for about another 30 seconds, then slide it out onto your plate, sprinkle with a bit of truvia and squeeze some fresh lemon and tuck in!!

NOM!!

So, you’ve had fun, you feel like you’ve indulged and you can enjoy the rest of your evening guilt free!!

Macros per pancake:

139 kCals

9g Protein

6g Carbs

3g Fibre

9g Fat

Enjoy!!!

Tara x

Well she couldn’t have picked a busier week to come and join The Dragon Hotel, but our Work Experience girl Katherine made the most of her Week of Work.  Organized by Swansea University where she is a Language student, the scheme was set up to help those who didn’t have much experience get an insight into the running of a hotel.

During her days with us, she has got stuck into the cleaning of the rooms (literally getting tangled in the bed sheets . . . but got the hang of it in the end). Attended the meetings after which she had taken in so much information an urgent lunch break was needed, and helpfully created 2 months worth of Hootsuite databases which the staff seemed extremely grateful for!

Most importantly though, she got to talk to most of the people who work at the hotel, who sat down with her and explained their personal roles in detail.  This was a great help to her and she is extremely grateful to those who took time out of their jobs to talk to her about their responsibilities at The Dragon Hotel.

Of course the snow arrived, which meant Katherine had the experience of seeing the trouble this bought to working life.  However, even though the weather outstayed its welcome she never got the impression that she was doing the same.

Everyone has been so welcoming and friendly! And despite the fact that according to her badge, her name was ‘Work Experience’, they all remembered her name and always took the chance to ask how her experience was going and if she was enjoying her time here.

On the whole, her time with The Dragon Hotel has proved to be a great experience and she has enjoyed every second! She would like to thank all of those who have looked after her in the different departments (there are too many to name!) and a special thanks to the General Manager Catherine Garcia for giving her this opportunity!

She will look forward to seeing you again when she visits the hotel – which after seeing the rooms, will be very soon!!

Well it has been a very coooold one in Swansea!

The snow certainly came and made its mark and it’s been getting to the health club staff as outdoor training has been a no go and it’s been quiet as many of the team’s personal training clients from Swansea have been snowed in, even though Swansea City Centre was still moving.  Although residential areas certainly resembled more of a winter wonderland!

Andrew hasn’t been out on his bike for a week – which is unheard of! Tara had to sleep in the hotel (not that she’s moaning) on Thursday night. Rob has put on a few pounds as he’s not been able to go out running and believes ‘comfort eating’ will protect him from the cold. James has also missed a few gym sessions but luckily, we all have Tara’s home HIIT workout video’s to follow to make sure the snow doesn’t sabotage our fitness to much!

But…we’re hopeful that the big melt is on its way and getting back to fitness and healthy eating is high on the agenda!

Tara has kicked off the Diet Tribe with Badger & Claire on 96.4fm The Wave and we’re all looking forward to seeing how much weight the tribe will lose over the next 6 weeks! Listen out to Tara on air for all her top fitness and nutrition tips.

You can also download her FREE E-book and join in with the journey on Facebook.

We hope you’re keeping safe & warm and continuing with your healthy 2013 goals!!

The Festive Season is drawing to a close… and we all here at The Dragon Hotel heave a collective sigh of relief!

We have served hundreds of Festive meals… opened countless bottles of wine…  rocked around the Christmas tree – and kissed under the Mistletoe!

Thank you for your support throughout 2012, a year which saw some big changes at The Dragon Hotel, we very much look forward to seeing you again in 2013. We would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year.

Hayley is one of our Senior Sous Chefs. She’s the first to be called in for breakfast on the rare occasion that our Breakfast Chef oversleeps (her Bacon & Eggs are second to none so the guests tell me) and also organises the rotas of the kitchen porters, often stepping into the breach herself.  Hayley is also our chief dessert maker, for which there are plenty of volunteers for quality checks -  just don’t tell Tara in the Gym!

Hayley can often be heard in the Kitchen howling along to Justin Bieber and her favourite song at this time of the year is All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth – although I hasten to add that hers are intact!

Please join me in congratulating Hayley for winning the Team Member of the Month – November accolade