Speaker Meeting with Stewart Drew DLWP

STEWART DREW ENTERTAINS BEXHILL ROTARY
At their October speaker meeting at the Cooden Beach Golf Club on Tuesday 18th,  Stewart Drew from the De La Warr Pavilion enthusiastically entertained the assembled Bexhill Rotarians and their guests.
Stewart joined the Pavilion in 2005, became Acting Director 5 years ago and was appointed Director and Chief Executive Officer in January 2013.
Stewart, who has just recently been appointed as the new Chair of 1066 Country to promote tourism in the area, waxed lyrical about how the De La Warr Pavilion has in recent times really gone out of its way to attract business events in conjunction with the Chamber of Commerce to improve the profile of doing business in Bexhill and Rother, and to encourage a wide range of types of businesses to invest in this area.  Being what Stewart described as a ‘community hub’, he is very pleased that the Pavilion has been able to support a range of different events, such as job fairs, to help local employers find the right staff – at the most recent event, Stewart said that over 600 people attended with around 350 potential conversations for jobs taking place resulting in 45 people actually being taken on for work.
Stewart then went on to say that the Pavilion has consciously sought to attract more people starting two years ago with a series of film nights which originally saw an audience of 200 rising more recently to 2,000.  The idea was to come out of the ‘ivory tower’ and reach out to the public, and to have some fun.  Another project in the same vein is to put on mini concerts for 100 people up in the restaurant, these are proving very popular and are often sponsored by local business.  Adding to these initiatives are the very successful and exciting art exhibitions which are attracting a lot of people from far and wide, especially London, who come to spend their money locally.
Stewart went on to say how excited he was about his new appointment to promote tourism is 1066 country particularly with such recent events as the 950th anniversary celebrations of the Battle of Hastings.  There is so much to attract people to this area, he claimed, and is enjoying working hard with a wide range of organisations.
Stewart rounded off his talk by saying how proud he is of the achievements of the De La Warr Pavilion with an increase of 130,000 people coming to enjoy events during the last two years, with the hope that the numbers will hit 600,000 in the near future.  There are currently 120 events in the auditorium with a big improvement on the past with a wide range of varied types of performance.  All this activity has led to the Pavilion achieving a £3.7 million turnover last year.
Bexhill Rotarian John Cooper when giving the vote of thanks congratulated Stewart Drew on his achievements for which he should be rightfully proud, this was followed by a hearty round of applause from the audience.

Prawn  cocktail, roast topside of beef with Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes and seasonal vegetables.