Victorious in Istanbul

Stuart Rooker hit two milestones in May, his 60th Birthday and 27 years at Makers. As part of Stuarts 60th Birthday celebrations, his finance team decided to decorate the office to remind him of this most notable event.

Whilst Stuart was away in Belgium to celebrate his birthday his beloved Aston Villa reached the final of the Europa Cup in Istanbul. Wheels in motion we managed to secure a pair of tickets to the final but without knowing Stuarts plans were unable to secure flights and accommodation until his return from his trip to Belgium to see an American jazz singer called Lady Blackbird.

Stuart was then presented with photos depicting some iconic Villa moments captured in black and white photography. Allowed to wear his Villa shirt for work as a concession of his 60th Birthday he was then greeted with the news we had secured 2 tickets for him to see Villa take on the German side Freiberg in Istanbul, the only catch being we didn’t have any flights or accommodation at that time which is fortunate as our lovely ladies not being purveyors of football were busy looking at flights to Budapest for the Champions League Final, luckily that was quickly remedied.

Unfortunately, Stuart’s friend who goes to all the Villa home games was unable to travel and so Stuart’s son Zak was the beneficiary, some 20 frantic phone calls later, flights and accommodation booked and then the scramble for the Villa away kit. Sorry, all gone, you will have to make do with an old one that just fits.

Well Villa goes on and win 3-0 Stuart returns exhausted but elated, silverware finally in the trophy cabinet this millennium. We hear of stories of travelling to the wrong airport in Istanbul to get home, who knew they had 2! Old age we think, but after a frantic taxi ride via google translate on the phone Stuart arrives back in the UK only to be greeted by a letter from the Cake Police demanding why cakes have not been present 16 days after one’s birthday.

We can confirm that incarceration was narrowly avoided, a large selection of cakes has now been provided and calm restored.

60th Birthdays should always be memorable, I don’t think we did too badly, organising the tickets, the win, the weather and no doubt copious bottles of Efes.

Congratulations Stuart we hope you enjoyed your 60th Birthday celebration from everyone here at Makers.