New business sees more pizzazz back in the Bay
NEW BUSINESS, Over the Moon, at 2, North Road Pevensey Bay, launched last night (March 9) with a celebration that saw local businesses and residents coming to support the party wares outlet that is stocked full of possibilities for everything from parties to anniversaries, birthdays and special social occasions.
Talking to owner Daina Martin last week prior to the launch left us in no doubt about the passion and intent behind the new venture.
Talking about the extensive range of goodies available to make any party pop, Daina told us ‘yes, we have a big range, what I haven’t got, I will be able to get within the week’.
The advantage of having somewhere local to plan a party became obvious as Daina introduced birthday, anniversary, wedding, christening and fancy dress options, and that was just what was immediately visible.
This is a well thought out and well stocked enterprise. The extra fizz that Daina supplies to the service support element of the business is infectious.
We would defy anyone walking in, with the task of organising the welcome for Great Aunt Edna from New Zealand for a visit to the Bay, not to walk out intoxicated by the possibilities of making the visit the most memorable event imagineable.
A major General Election 2015 hustings ‘Question Time’ style event, for the constituency of Bexhill and Battle, to be held at the Priory Court Hotel in Pevensey on April 14, will see Daina and her business ‘Over the Moon’ building ‘the pillar of the establishment’, which will feature balloons in all the party colours, complete with polka dot napkins in all the colours at the Bar as people grab their specially prepared paninis in readiness for the show.
How cool is that for a five minute consultation with an event management specialist and pitch for her first high profile gig in the locality?
There is a natural fit in the Bay for a business of this description. Pevensey Castle is becoming a location for festivals. We have seen events like the inspirational community-led Christmas Dickens Evening that attracted 500 people last December and of course public houses like the Castle Inn are well known for their charity weekend events.
Add to the mix the well established weekend scene with live bands, all the weekend events at St. Wilfrid’s Hall, and the thriving community led events calendar with seasonal treats at places like St. Nicolas Church and you have a natural breeding ground for the party spirit offering that is now adding such colour on the corner of the Wallsend Road.
Daina explained a background that included being manager of an alternative educational centre for troubled children. Something seems natural about the transfer of her skills base to the anarchy of parties that require specific frameworks and boundaries to succeed.
‘I just came home one night and said to my husband, I can’t do it anymore’, she told us, talking about her educational management role. ‘It was then that I came up with the idea of setting up my own party planning business, and knew that it would be brilliant for me’.
This brilliant idea looks very much like it could see the light shone on a business parade of shops including the Angler’s Den and the Happy Dragon in a new way.
Glowing in the dark ‘Over The Moon’, as the queues of cars wait for the lights to change at the crossroads, late in the evenings, is likely to become a marker of some description.
With free parking at the front and all the pizzazz, we are willing to bet that amongst the first customers will be someone coming in saying something like ‘we went past your shop last night and just had to come and take a look’.
Two visits have convinced us that there is a new business in the Bay that is worth a shout out.
When we visited this morning, in fact, the first customer had been greeted with a winning smile and a special party gift.
Last night, with the pre-launch, there was we understand, a real buzz and interest in the new business. The pictures bear witness to the fact that the show has already started.
But it is to young Harrison that we dedicate the opening day of Over the Moon.
Last week as we talked to Daina about her party plans and the business, a small lad grabbed the arm of his Mum as he knelt and pressed his nose to the glass door to see what was inside.
Welcoming him to take a look, Daina opened the door as he spilled into the shop let loose as the first person to see the show. ‘Don’t touch anything’, Mum said as he clocked one hundred and one possible goodies to browse. ‘It is Sasha’s birthday soon, so we will be back’. Dutifully he pulled back, reining in his excitement.
Convinced that he could return on his own terms, but still pulling to see if Mum would let him loose, he listened to our questions.
Little did he realise that what he said could end up published as the first critical review of the new enterprise that could make or break its fortunes.
‘What do you like most?’, we enquired.
His arm span round 45 degrees, like a supercharged gun turret on a nuclear tank as he pointed with precision, honing in on his target.
‘The balloon’, he said ‘it is just so big’, as his bright eyes lit the shop and sparked like diamonds.
Over the Moon, the party shop, opened today (March 10).
Simon Montgomery
editor, Bay Life
all rights reserved
OVER THE MOON PARTY SUPPLIES
2, North Road, Pevensey Bay BN24 6AY
overthemoonpartyshop.co.uk
IMAGE CREDIT : OVER THE MOON, PRE-LAUNCH PARTY NIGHT, MARCH 9 2015
