The last day, of the last month. So a good day to look back to 2008.

On the training side, it's been "steady as she goes".

Our public courses (link to 2009 schedule) have been running all year at Well House Manor. New courses in Lua Programming and a more advanced PHP techniques Workshop were added to the schedule, and have been well received in their initial runs.

Private courses at Well House Manor have been run for a number of organisations and individuals, ranging from Java Bootcamps through to tailored versions of our Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP / Perl Deployment course with all sort of other topics from Tomcat to Soap to basic programming techniques in between.

On site courses seem to have been closer to home than in previous years; a possible course in Malaysia came to nothing, for example. But I would like to thank customers in London, Norwich, Cambridge, Bristol, Nottingham, Milton Keynes and Liverpool amongst others for having me come and present training to them at their offices. See here for details of how such courses are run, and for pricing information.

Most of the delegates on our Melksham courses have stayed at our hotel (those who have not stayed being the 10 to 20% of delegates who live locally, or who have friends and relatives nearby), and that's meant that our courses have continued to be a complete learning experience and not just daytime classes and wasted evenings.

It's been the second complete year of Well House Manor

... and we've found ourselves filling something of a niche for business visitors to the town who are looking for a quite place to stay, where they can both relax and work and can come and go as they please - early arrivals off overnight flights from the USA don't worry us, nor late ones off the last flight into Bristol.

In 2007, with a newly opened business, the hotel had quiet weeks between courses but in 2008 we've seen a much higher room occupancy during those periods - and we've made a number of very good friends who come and stay when they're working in the area.

Moving from a business development to a continuing business situation, we've found that we've been getting increasingly more efficient in how we work at the Hotel. Some tasks such as the laundry which were initially outsourced have been brought in house without the need to add extra staff, and indeed a couple of the staff who helped us in the early setup days (and who were very good in that development role) have chosen to move on to take up other opportunities, and we have been able to absorb their ongoing work into existing schedules, all be it with some overtime and re-arrangement.

And more generally

I'm going to describe it as a year of quiet consolidation on the personal side too, with no major events to report. I've continued to be somewhat active in the community and with the campaign for improved public transport - especially rail - to our town. We had strong flags that we were likely to achieve something of a more sensible service that the current one, but the opportunity floundered once again and I have to say that the more cynical part of me wonders if the various organisations concerned have a policy of raising hopes and torpedoing them in the hope that campaigners will give up.

With local business organisations, the Federation of Small Businesses, North and West Wilts Branch has gone from bad to worse. You can find over a dozen articles I have written here if you're a member. A small handful of people in the organisation's elected and paid roles do themselves great credit, and it's been a pleasure to work with them, but I have better things to do in 2009 and you'll find few new reports from me about the absurd goings on because I simply won't be there.

Melksham's Chamber of Commerce and Industry also got itself into a pickle, and split between the Chamber on one hand and the town centre traders on the other, a number of years ago - before Lisa and I were around. Over the years since then, though, the Chamber has gently ticked along and - with the Wessex Association of Chambers - looks after business contacts and interests at a more local level in a way that the FSB totally fails (and isn't mandated!) to do, town by town and county by county. Lisa and I have been on the committee for a couple of years, and I was honoured to be elected to the role of President last month. You can find Chamber articles here and in this case there will be an ongoing flow in 2009. Indeed - there will be a lot happening and a lot for me to say, but as a representative of the Chamber of Commerce and not purely in a personal role - so I'm holding back until we meet up in the new year and I can go forward with a continued view or Melksham.

And on the personal side

The public domain of this review and forum really isn't the place to tell you about family life and disclose all those personal secrets; the years slow down some of the more mature ones of us, and some of the younger ones continue to bloom to fill roles and life's tasks over and above what the could have done 12 or 24 months ago. A trip with Lisa in September to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, to visit family and to attend her 35 years on school reunion, showed how this group of 400 has spread - some locally, some around the world. Some remain fit and healthy, other have had hips replaced and other medical issues, one or two are seriously ill and a some have passed away. And there are mother and fathers, grandmother and grandfathers, and I think we even met the odd "great".

Lisa and I continue to be "empty nesters" here at 404, The Spa, in Melksham and yet with family close by, and we hope to see other closely related, but geographically more distant, family here next year. And we continue to be naturally comfortable as a couple; everyone has there ups and downs (and I know I frustrate Lisa mightily at times!) but you'll find us here next year. And the year after. And the year after. I'm looking for words - and words fail me when they're REALLY important - to describe just how much Lisa means to me; how much I love her. How much I admire and care. So perhaps I had better just leave it with that as my sign off for 2008.
(written 2008-12-31)

 M100 - Introduction to Well House Manor
  [512] Exciting futures - the Well House Manor project - (2005-11-30)
  [571] Well House Manor - (2006-01-21)
  [677] Sympathetic development - (2006-04-09)
  [756] Seeing the bricks for the trees - (2006-06-11)
  [793] The Wilts and Berks Canal - (2006-07-05)
  [891] Well House Manor Hotel, Melksham, Wiltshire - (2006-10-10)
  [902] Brand new hotel and training centre, Melksham - (2006-10-22)
  [940] Winter at Well House Manor - Open Houses - (2006-11-23)
  [978] Wellhouse Manor, Hotel, Melksham - (2006-12-10)
  [1002] Meet the neighbours - (2006-12-20)
  [1018] Open Source Courses and Business Hotel - products and prices for 2007 - (2007-01-01)
  [1069] Rail trouble forced me to buy hotel - (2007-02-07)
  [1072] Well House Manor in the Snow - (2007-02-09)
  [1112] Bank Holiday country breaks in Melksham, Wiltshire - (2007-03-17)
  [1132] Well House Manor, Melksham, Art Gallery - (2007-04-02)
  [1211] A lot has happened in a year - (2007-05-31)
  [1261] High summer at Well House Manor - (2007-07-08)
  [1332] Melksham Hotel - Five Star Kitchen! - (2007-09-04)
  [1371] Hotel in Melksham at Christmas - (2007-09-29)
  [1384] An email update for past guests and delegates - (2007-10-08)
  [1388] Well House Manor - a year on - (2007-10-12)
  [1492] Well House Consultants Training and Hotel - 2008 news - (2008-01-01)
  [1706] The Story of Well House Manor - (2008-07-12)
  [1866] What a difference a day made - (2008-11-02)
  [1975] Well House Manor Hotel - on plan for 2009 business guests - (2009-01-03)
  [2076] A New Advert for Well House Manor - (2009-03-11)
  [2119] Make your business a DESTINATION business - (2009-04-05)
  [2125] We have lost a regular business guest - (2009-04-10)
  [2425] Weekend and Christmas Promotion - Well House Manor Hotel, Melksham - (2009-09-26)
  [2923] Fresh air and beautiful places in Wiltshire - (2010-08-15)
  [2941] Wedding season in Melksham - somewhere good to stay - (2010-08-31)
  [2978] Christmas 2010 - Well House Manor, Melksham, Hotel - (2010-10-01)
  [3014] Well House Manor - the next six years - (2010-10-24)
  [3115] Perl, Python, PHP, Lua, Linux, and more - and business hotel too. Menu for 2011 - (2010-12-31)
  [3202] Telling you something about us in just one line - (2011-03-15)
  [3611] A customer thanks Well House Manor - (2012-02-13)
  [3765] Christmas in June? Melksham hotel bookings and Santa train - (2012-06-15)
  [3800] Fancy a weekend away? Try Well House Manor in Melksham, Wiltshire - (2012-07-09)
  [3864] Guest Guide for Well House Manor and Melksham - (2012-09-18)
  [3985] Special weekend at Well House Manor - come and see Wiltshire - (2013-01-20)
  [4147] A hidden hotel gem in Melksham - (2013-07-31)
  [4299] The Best Bed and Breakfast in Melksham? - (2014-09-19)
  [4613] Our best hotel customers help us ... to help them ... be our best customers. - (2016-01-04)
  [4715] Well House Manor - Still five out of five! - (2016-10-30)

G400 - Well House Consultants - Private course
  [181] Maximum number of trainees on a course - (2005-01-18)
  [321] Sales - the alternative close - (2005-05-23)
  [387] Training course plans for 2006 - (2005-07-23)
  [994] Training on Cascading Style Sheets - (2006-12-17)
  [1092] Tcl training - often for a larger group - (2007-02-24)
  [1414] What we teach - expained for the non-technical - (2007-10-28)
  [1555] Advanced Python, Perl, PHP and Tcl training courses / classes - (2008-02-25)
  [1929] 2009 - Hotel, Meeting, Training Course prices - (2008-12-07)
  [2802] After the Perl course in Nurnberg - (2010-06-11)
  [2881] Tailoring of courses to meet customers needs - how it works - (2010-07-21)
  [2928] Public (scheduled) or private course? Book direct, or through a third party? - (2010-08-19)
  [2953] Turning an exercise into the real thing with extreme programming - (2010-09-11)
  [2965] Testimonials - Well House Consultants Open Source courses - (2010-09-21)
  [3071] Well House Price list, January to March 2011 - (2010-11-25)
  [3074] Running a course ... what if the tutor isn't well? - (2010-11-29)
  [4082] Training around the world - easy payment in pounds Sterling - (2013-05-10)
  [4358] A brilliant finish to 2014 training and business guests, and a look to 2015 - (2014-12-20)

G300 - Well House Consultants - Public Courses
  [172] Public courses in London - (2005-01-07)
  [646] PHP - London course, Melksham Course, Evening course - (2006-03-14)
  [845] Course scheduling and Geekmas - are they traditions yet? - (2006-08-26)
  [933] Course Joining package - updated - (2006-11-20)
  [1035] Longer hours and better value courses - (2007-01-15)
  [1420] The Learning Perl crew, October 2007 - (2007-11-03)
  [1565] Languages compared - based on developer community size - (2008-03-05)
  [1615] PHP training courses every month - (2008-04-18)
  [1693] July to December 2008 - Open Source training schedule - (2008-07-01)
  [1751] Public Training Course Dates until July 2009 - (2008-08-13)
  [1836] Next in the sequence - courses next year (2009) - (2008-10-12)
  [1857] November and December Public Course Schedule - (2008-10-27)
  [2048] Learning to program in PHP, Python, Java or Lua ... - (2009-02-19)
  [2332] Formation, des langages Open Source - (2009-08-09)
  [2333] Formaci[83][c2]ón, de los lenguajes de c[83][c2]ódigo abierto - (2009-08-09)
  [2334] Formazione, Open Source computer lingue - (2009-08-09)
  [2335] Ausbildung, die Open-Source-Sprachen - (2009-08-09)
  [2336] Forma[83][c2]ç[83][c2]ão, Open Source computador l[83][c2]ínguas - (2009-08-09)
  [2337] Opleiding, Open Source computertalen - (2009-08-09)
  [2338] Uddannelse, Open Source computer sprog - (2009-08-09)
  [2339] Oppl[83][c2]æring, Open Source datamaskinen spr[83][c2]åk - (2009-08-09)
  [2340] ldning, Open Source dator spr[83][c2]åk - (2009-08-09)
  [2341] Koulutus, Open Source tietokone kielill[83][c2]ä - (2009-08-09)
  [2558] Happy new decade - and course and hotel prices for 2010 - (2010-01-01)
  [2736] Perl Course FAQ - (2010-04-23)
  [2839] Software versions used - June 2010 - (2010-06-30)
  [2927] Announcing 2011 Open Source Training courses - dates and prices - (2010-08-18)
  [2942] Open Source Programming - Training Course Schedule - (2010-08-31)
  [3021] Courses for late 2010 and early 2011 - (2010-10-30)
  [3078] Royal Wedding. How William and Catherine have changed our schedule - (2010-12-02)
  [3129] Extra courses - C and C++ - (2011-01-12)
  [3160] Extra courses - Advanced PHP, MySQL and Lua - (2011-02-07)
  [3205] Open Source (Public) courses - PHP, Tcl, SQL, Python, C and C++ in Melksham, Wiltshire, UK - (2011-03-18)
  [3219] How do I become a Linux System Administrator? - (2011-03-28)
  [3358] Upcoming Programming courses ... High Summer, 2011 - (2011-07-15)
  [3365] Turning bright delegates into bright and knowledgable ones - (2011-07-21)
  [3401] Open Source Training Schedule - learn a programming language - in Autumn 2011 or 2012 - (2011-08-20)
  [3528] December courses - PHP, Python, Perl - and a weekend Lua course - (2011-11-24)
  [3559] Well House Consultants - Open Source Programming Courses for 2012 - (2011-12-21)
  [3573] New in Java 7 - and why we are not running public Java 7 courses - (2012-01-08)
  [3637] April, May and June 2012 - Public Open Source Programming Courses - (2012-03-04)
  [3823] Know Python or PHP? Want to learn Perl too? - (2012-07-31)
  [3829] Training courses - rest of 2012, 2013 and January 2014 - (2012-08-06)
  [3876] October to December 2012 - Public Courses - (2012-09-30)
  [3903] Python Programming class for delegates who have already self-taught the basics - (2012-10-25)
  [3911] How well do you know Perl and / or Python? - (2012-11-04)
  [3924] The bedrooms at Well House Manor - (2012-11-16)
  [3964] What is coming up from Well House in 2013 - public Open Source / IT courses. - (2012-12-28)
  [3983] Upcoming courses at Well House Manor - Ruby, Python, Perl - (2013-01-19)
  [4015] Upcoming courses and availabiity - (2013-02-22)
  [4172] Public courses - Python, PHP, Perl, Ruby, Lua, Tcl, C and C++ - autumn 2013 and through 2014 - (2013-09-13)
  [4197] Python and Tcl courses, November, UK (Melksham) ... just a few places left - (2013-10-23)
  [4230] Well House Consultants - course prices for 2014 - (2013-12-26)
  [4279] Upcoming public courses from Well House Consultants - (2014-05-31)
  [4300] Public courses - Autumn 2014 and 2015 - (2014-09-19)
  [4375] Final examples for 2014 - and a look at our 2015 training course options - (2014-12-31)
  [4408] Additional Python courses added to our schedule - (2015-01-29)
  [4416] Challenging the IT course business model - (2015-02-05)
  [4434] Public training courses - upcoming dates - (2015-02-21)
  [4519] Course Schedule - October 2015 to June 2016 - (2015-09-27)
  [4564] Perl, PHP, Python, Lua, Tcl, C++, Ruby - final public courses for 2015 - (2015-10-30)
  [4689] Training Course schedule for summer and autumn 2016 - (2016-05-30)
  [4705] Course dates - from October 2016 to December 2017 - (2016-09-25)
  [4739] A year of changes for Lisa and Graham Ellis, and Well House - (2017-05-27)
  [4751] Final day of training at Well House Manor - Python, Lua, Tcl and C/C++ continue at The Spa, Melksham - (2017-06-30)
  [4769] Python, Tcl, Lua and other Open Source programming courses for 2018 - (2017-12-31)

Back to LinkedIn - Thrice Asked, and joined.

Previous and next or Horse's mouth home

Forward to Search Engines. Getting the right pages seen.

Pettifog and forum boards away from public view
Telling Google which country your business trades in
Plagarism - who is copying my pages?
Search Engines. Getting the right pages seen.
Review of 2008
LinkedIn - Thrice Asked, and joined.
Background to the TransWilts Train Fiasco
How much does a train service actually cost
Why hasnt the fiasco been put right
Best source to learn Java (or Perl or PHP or Python)