Feedback April '08. hi Brendan, can you please remove our numbers from your list for waterford speed dating
Justin and Anne Marie. we met at the Tower on Thursday 28th 20/30 night in Tower Hotel. We have been seeing each other since. Thanks for your help!!!.... (Full names & phone numbers supplied).

At our 40/50's event 0n the 13/4/08 we met Martin who is a regular with his friend John. I enquired as to John's whereabouts and I was told that he was on holiday out foreign with his girlfriend who he met at one of our events. We were shown pictures on Martin's phone of the two of them hand in hand on a beach somewhere looking very much in love. (And another customer bites the dust. If we keep losing customers at this rate we'll be out of business in no time)

At last Thursdays event in Waterford 24/4/08 we met a couple who met at one of our events about 2 months ago. (Joe & Fiona) They came along to support Joe's sister Margaret who was attending that night. Joe assured me that this was the real thing and that he was knocked head over heels with Fiona. I hope it works out for you both. Please let us know when you tie the knot.

At last Sundays event 27/4/08 for 30s & 40s in Cork we got wind of our first official engagement. This particular guy called Joe, who travelled up from Kenmare for last Sunday's event informed us about his friend who has since become engaged after meeting his future bride at one of our events in Cork last October. Joe was so impressed he decided to try our speeddating events himself. (Joe had a few matches himself last Sunday. Good Luck)

January 2008. Just thought I should throw in a few comments regarding our progress since Sept 2007 when we restarted the speeddating in earnest after a break of 18 months. Since Sept '07 we ran events every 2nd Sunday in the Ambassador Hotel up to Christmas and almost without exception every event was sold out & a great success. However we made one major mistake. We thought a Christmas Party for our regular clients & friends would be a good idea without any speeddating for a change. We hired the ballroom, organised live music with Oliver Kane, a mulled wine reception and buffet food etc and all for the usual price of €35. We thought we would attract at least 100 people and possibly the max of 180. However we got it wrong. Not enough people expressed an interest in the party but most just wanted speeddating. So we thought we would combine both and have optional speeddating for all age groups before the music & dance etc. It sounded like a good idea. Anyway the long & short of it all was we didn't get the speeddating right or the party right. The main problem was the low turnout. However I think everyone enjoyed the bit of Ceili dancing with the Falla Luimni etc. It was a lesson learnt

Maria. Thanks Brendan. It was a great night. Very well organised & professional. Hoping for the best. Maria (30/40's Event 25/11/07)

Feedback since Sept'07. It is only recently becoming obvious to us the success we have had since September and we really need to do some research to find out the real extent. The following are a number of examples with names changed.

1. John has been coming to us since we started a few years ago on a regular basis. He had no problem travelling up from West Cork on Sunday nights. The strange thing was that he actually got very few matches. In fact he usually didn't get any and it was all the more strange to Marie & myself because he was (is) a regular guy, extremely nice, never married, self employed, short maybe but good looking and a very pleasant guy indeed with devil may care attitude about the whole thing. Lo and behold he got a match last October and everything is going great since with both of them.
2. We got a call from a guy in the Ring of Kerry who wanted to book an event because a friend of his, also from the Ring of Kerry, had found success with us. It was worth the Journey.
3. I rang this new client of ours since September who was always full of praise but who I hadn't seen for awhile. This guy was recently separated and divorced etc. A professional guy with a good happy go lucky personality from Cork. He always did very well at each event. In fact he did so well that he was actually seeing about 7 girls on a casual basis over a few months and all of whom he met while speeddating. He has since hit it off with a particular girl from Kerry who he met at one of our events and he seems to be very happy with life. That particular girl from Kerry came along to that event with her sister. The sister also found a partner at the event and they are still going together as well . I hope they all live happily ever after.
4. We recently found out about another 2 regular male clients of ours since 2005, both from North Cork who have found success as well with girls they met at one of our events since September. Good luck Paul & Noel.

If any of you out there would like to let us know how you are getting on after trying our speeddating events we would love to know?

Sept '2007.Nice to be back after a break of almost 18 months. Because of other commitments we took a break from the speeddating a year and a half ago and it feels as if we never took a break. We held our 1st event after the break at the start of last month on the 2nd Sept '07 and it turned out to be a very pleasant night with a very nice group of people. Not quite as big as previous events but nevertheless a great success. When the event was over a big group gathered near the bar and stayed chatting for another hour or two.

From a dating point of view it was also a great success. With the exception of 2 girls who choose not to tick anyone every girl got at least one match. The average was 2 or 3 with some getting as many as 5 matches. The guys did very well also. One particular guy who shall remain nameless got 5 matches. This guy is an old hand at the speeddating and a regular with us from the start. He has obviously found the secret. I have a feeling we won't be seeing him for a while.

We are delighted with the hotel for a number of reasons. The room is a perfect size, with its own private bar, soft lighting and with candles lighting on every table. The adjacent toilets are spotless and the continuous bar service throughout the evening is always fantastic.

Your feedback about the venue is very positive. A lot of people have compared our venue & events very favourably to others. It seems that some of the other events have huge crowds with little or no privacy or the venue isn't very nice. etc. etc. Thank you for your comments & encouragement. They are always appreciated.

Many thanks to the hotel manager, Mr.John McCarthy and his very capable staff for making the effort. We are extremely happy with the venue and we hope to remain there for a long time to come, if at all possible.

Feedback from Sunday 14th. October '07 40/50's Event

Eleanor: Had a great time last night. Thank you for the numbers. It was great to meet so many nice people.

Answer: Thank you Eleanor for your kind comments and for going to the trouble.

Feedback from Sunday 12th. March '06

COLMAN: Attended the event in Cork last night and while I enjoyed the event I very
quickly noticed how much confusion there was among us all and have no doubt that
some people may be suprised by their dates or lack of. This is very easily addressed by a couple of minutes of instruction before each event and if an overhead
projector was used as well it would make things clearer still, but besides that
hiccup that badly needs to be addressed the overall idea is a winner.
Colman.

Answer: Thanks Colman for your comments. We have taken note & promise to improve. We must have been a little rusty after the long break. Glad you enjoyed the night though. (We have since improved matters by placing instructional leaflets around the room and also by pointing out to people where mistakes are normally made. In fact since we made these changes the events are now very relaxed. The feedback also suggests that the events are now very professional and well organised.)

Deirdre: Brendan & Marie, had a great night out Sunday night. Much easier and more fun than I imagined. Thanks, Deirdre. (Name has been changed)

Answer: Thank you for your kind comments Deirdre.

Niall: I think it's a great idea. If I wasn't here tonight I'd be sitting at home in front of the telly wasting my life away. I'd much rather be here.

Sean: This speeddating is having a very positive effect on me. In the past I wouldn't have bothered much with girls I didn't fancy but the speeddating forces you to speak to everyone for a few minutes. I must say, I have been pleasantly surprised. I have met all sorts. Good looking, not so good looking, interesting & not so interesting, shy & not so shy and mostly all very friendly & extremely nice. And I have made a few new friends. If I am not careful I might actually turn into a nicer person.

Previous Events held before the Summer of 2005

We held our 4th. event on Sunday 15th. May at the Vienna Woods Hotel in Glanmire. This night was a bit of an experiment in that we held our first event for an older age group, namely 40/50's. We took a bit of a gamble. We had a full house again except for the one or two guys who didn't turn up and the small group of girls who got cold feet at the last minute and did a runner. Nearly everybody was in good humour after the event. Everybody also remarked how nice and friendly everybody was on the night. One particular guy, who shall remain nameless, thought it was better than any therapy. The same guy was only recently divorced and this was his first real social event with the opposite sex since the breakup of his marriage. He had to be coerced into going but he was really glad afterwards that he made the effort. He was actually on a bit of a high afterwards. I hope he keeps up the good work. Life is really too short.

From a matching point of view it wasn't as successful as our usual 30/40's event but it was still a worthwhile exercise. We will probably introduce a friendship box on the card for this group as well as the normal box. It seems that people in this group are less inclined to commit themselves to a date but wouldn't object to meeting someone on a friendship basis only.

We held our last event before the summer on the 29th. of May and this was also a bit of a gamble with a slightly younger age group. However it turned out to be a great night and not much different from the normal 30/40's night.

Our 2nd event was probably our most successful to date from our point of view.That night we had a very nice bunch of people and for some strange reason we seemed to attract a better mix of professional types than previously. I think Colette Sheridan from the Irish Examiner would have been in her element. Colette attended our 1st event and complained about the number of farmers present. (See her article below). This time we had a better mix. We certainly had some farmers and a very nice bunch of people they were but we also had teachers, engineers, lawyers, doctors, nurses, vets, auctioneers, entrepeneurs, building contractors, hairdressers etc. etc. Our 3rd night also had a nice similar mix of people but not up to our usual standards (according to one of our regulars). It obviously can't be the same every night.

We still have one or two minor improvements to make for our next event. Overall everybody seems to be on a high after each event and with few exceptions everybody is lavish with their praise and encouragement to keep up the good work.

More Feedback (Sunday 23rd. January)

Violet. Very enjoyable evening. Would return to do another event.

Brendan. Great night. Sign me up for the next event immediately. By the way I've met a lot of the girls who were at the event later on by chance around the city. It's definitely a good way to expand your social circle.

Cameron. Very interesting night.

Jennette. Thanks Marie & Brendan. Really enjoyed the night. Sure you'd never know.

Text from Mary in response to text from Velo re next event: Tanks Marie 4 update, but u def made a match 4 me the last time. Still madly in love! I'll b in touch if it doesn't work out!!! Mary (Name changed)

Feedback from Sunday 13th. March

Helen. Well you know what? I never had such a great time. I've been laughing & smiling to myself all day thinking about last night. I really, really enjoyed it.

Nick. Thanks for a great night. I will definitely give you some feedback on the web and I will definitely spread the word. Keep up the good work. (We're still waiting Nick)

Mary: A great night again. I think it's a great idea. Keep up the good work. (Mary booked for the next event 5 days later) Mary has attended every event so far and seems to be hooked.

John: (a very popular guy) A great night. A fantastic idea. Put me down for the next event immediately. (John, I don't know where you get your energy from. I would have thought 5 or 6 dates would keep you going for awhile) (Name changed) John cancelled a few days before the next event because he was still seeing one particular girl who he met at the 1st event. Seems fairly serious. We haven't seen John since. (1 year later)

Re the press coverage below it should be remembered that it was our very 1st event.

On todays Irish Examiner we got press coverage for our first event. On the top of the front page it states:

Mating game Colette Sheridan speeds ahead to find a date. Features: page 19.
Speed Wobble. With just six minutes to spark some kind of attraction, Colette Sheridan clocks into the mating game.

I took the plunge and went speed-dating this week, curious about the type of singleton who is willing to admit they can't find a partner in standard social situations.

What first struck me was the number of men who had travelled all over Munster to try and get a date. Is there really nothing going on in Kerry or Tipperary that these guys had to travel 50 or 60 miles in an effort to hook up with a woman?

The organiser said that the event was geared towards people between 25-40, so I had to take a few years off my age to be admitted. But the reassuring thing was that there were lots of people there over 35.

All 15 of us women had to sit at individual tables, each one allocated with a number. The 15 men had to circulate and chat to each woman for six minutes, after which a bell rang.

Six minutes is not a lot of time in which to try and form an impression about somebody and, crucially, decide whether you were going to put a tick next to his name , therby signalling that you'd like to meet him again.

However, it suited me. I'm prone to sizing people up very quickly. I dismissed out of hand one guy who was wearing cowboy boots. A bit too country 'n' western for my taste and besides he was a little bitter about women, having broken up with his wife some years previously.

Then there was the guy who looked a little like Bill Clinton- minus the charisma. He turned out to be an old hand at singles' events and had recently been to a singles weekend up the country. "If you're not in, you can't win," he said, grinning. I mentally wrote him off. Anyone who talks in inane platitudes is seriously lacking in conversation skills.

I met several farmers and had bizarre conversations about dry stock. I even found myself doing the cute hoor thing and asking one guy how many acres he had! The farmers were eminently practical. They were there to get a woman. She didn't have to be beautiful, witty or enchanting. She just had to be willing. A case of 'brace yourself Bridgid!' Thinking it must get lonely down there on the farm for these poor guys, I tried to envisage a future that involved going to Macra dances and helping to bring in the hay. But I really couldn't go there.

Apart from sons of the soil, I spoke to several men who were fed up with the pub scene. They simply couldn't meet women in pubs. Try chatting up a woman in a pub and chances are she'll report you to the Equality Authority for harassment, one guy said to me. Yes, it's a mine-field out there. Which is why speed-dating , the personal ads and internet chat rooms are increasingly the way to go if you're looking for a relationship.

With just six minutes to go, I hadn't ticked off a single guy on my card, despite having paid €30 for the privilege of discussing acreage and the like with available men.

But , then, this rather good-looking, non-national man sat down at my table and I perked up. I knew he was younger than me and asked him his age. He was 35. When you have only six minutes, there really is no time for preambles. I asked him what he did. He said he worked in a hospital. After a bit of probing I established he was a doctor and the snob in me became more interested.

He then paid me a compliment - but not the kind I wanted to hear. "Why are you here? You obviously have a high IQ. Surely you can see that men are just simple creatures" he said. I was totally disarmed. This guy had sussed out the whole men/women scenario and he was right. Men ARE simple creatures with basic needs. But then women have their needs too, even if we're not simple! In any case I put a tick beside the good doctor's name and went off into the night.

The idea is that the organiser rings you the next day with the results. You may want a date with someone but unless they, too, have put a tick after you're number, making it a situation of mutual desire, you can forget it. I was told two guys had been interested in seeing me - but then the doctor wasn't one of them.

Would I pay €30 again to go speed-dating? I don't think so. Fifteen men and not a single date. But at least you leave with you're dignity. Now is there any way I can engineer a situation to bump into the good doctor? ( END OF ARTICLE )