Thank you so much for booking on to one of my Original Murder Weekends. I am delighted that you will be joining the many thousands of people in our ‘Original Murder Mystery Family’.
Having been away for 18 months, it reinforced to all of us how fantastic Murder Weekends are for our wellbeing. We sleuth, sing, play and laugh a lot, generally entering a golden bubble of mystery and happiness where we can forget all the cares of the world
Although I invented interactive Murder Weekends 40 years ago, I created the mechanics – the plot, the characters, the murders, but what I didn’t knowingly create, but which has become abundantly clear is the very best part of them, is that they are so very sociable.
If this is your first time, we really hope that you thoroughly enjoy the experience and that we live up to your expectations. If you’ve been before, thank you so much for returning, welcome back and thank you for spreading the word!
Each Original Murder Weekend plot is based around a fictitious theme which is the vehicle to explain why a group of strangers would all meet up together in a hotel for the weekend. We hope that you, our very welcome guests, will enjoy playing along with the main characters in our plot. I always try to create a fun theme where we can all stretch our imagination and become people that we’re not, both actors and guests. and I hope that I’ve come up with a theme where we can all get really involved.
This is our 146th plot and I have a feeling in my bones that it’s going to be one of the most fun for a long time.
Jasmine Swallow has been running a 70’s vintage clothes shop for years, but during Lockdown created an online site which enveloped everything from the 70’s; the clothes, the films, the music. She called her website ‘Crazy about the Seventies’ or ‘CATS’ – and it became even more popular once she started running quizzes and kitchen discos on Zoom. Word spread and she gained thousands of new members.
Once restrictions were lifted, Jas promised to arrange a get-together where members can sing, dance, play games and enjoy all the fun in person!!
All of you, our Murder Weekend guests, will pretend that they joined during Lockdown, had made lots of friends and are very excited to meet them for the first time in person. Most of Jas’s family will be there, not only to help her, to enjoy the fun, but also to celebrate some exciting news. We’re hoping that 70’s music is so enduring and played so often, that even guests that were born long before or long after the 70’s will know the films and music, which will form quite a part of our games and partying.
We always have a colour theme on Friday night and to honour one of the top films of the decade ‘Grease’, I would like everyone to wear Black and Pink, we’ll look terrific. Also many guests have pink lady jackets from the last plot, so a great excuse to re-cycle! So you could wear pink pyjamas, Black suit and pink tie, pink ballgown, whatever you’re comfortable with and that you have in your wardrobe. Please don’t spend lots of money; as much as possible try and find things that you already have.
On Saturday night, there will be a themed party. For the last few plots we’ve had a themed party based on a letter and every weekend our fabulous guests astound us with so many fun, ingenious and creative outfits.
So this plot it’s going to be “Something beginning with S” for sensational Seventies. There are literally thousands upon thousands to choose from. But if fancy dress isn’t your bag, please don’t worry, just sticking something on your clothes would work – wear a black T shirt and jeans with a curvy row of S’s – and comes as the sound of a snake and be ‘Hissing Sid’ from the famous British Gas Advert; if you’re a bald male, dress in a black polo neck and trousers, and come as Sean Connery; how about Stella from the film ‘Street Car named Desire’ or even that title. If you have a spangly dress, you could come as Dame Shirley Bassey!
Often the simplest ideas are the most subtle and ingenious but if you want to go to town, as some of our guests love to do, saying it’s the fun build up which means their weekend starts long before they arrive, you could spend weeks making your outfit – unbelievably we had the most amazing gallery of Portraits, for the letter P! They must have been painting for months, but often, for our regular guests, the prep is half the fun. Just take a look at our facebook page for inspiration.
As usual, throughout the weekend, there will be some fun, themed, games, with prizes for the winning tables (but NOT for ‘Googlers’!!). None of them are complicated but just a light-hearted way to get you chatting to your fellow guests to break the ice and alleviate the stress on your brains from trying to make sense of the dastardly deeds – after all, if we were only sitting around talking about murder, it could get quite deep and dark and what we most enjoy on Murder Weekends is to laugh!
Nothing is compulsory on Murder Weekends, so if you’d rather not wear fancy dress or want to sit out a game, go for a snooze or visit the Incident Room to study the evidence, that’s fine. But remember there is always quite a lot of action and we only have rows, deaths etc when all the guests are assembled. This is usually over mealtimes and sometimes when we’re marking games, so even if you don’t play, do come back, otherwise you may miss something vital that’s related to the plot, like another murder! Timings will be in the timetable in your arrival welcome pack.
Please don’t hire anything unless you want to. We’d hate you to spend any money on what is, after all, just a bit of fun which always causes amusement and is a great photo opportunity for our guests. If you do get stuck, give Geri a ring at our office and she’ll help you with some ideas.
The Murder plot lasts for the entire weekend and the actors will be in character from the welcome reception on Friday night until the end of the summing up on Sunday. Over the course of the weekend there will be at least three murders in the complex plot and so that no one misses anything, they usually occur when everyone is together. Saturday morning is free, and you won’t miss anything by going out shopping or visiting the local places of interest, but do pop into the Police Incident Room to see the first pieces of evidence before you go out. Although the police will have announced on their arrival that no one can leave the hotel, I’m sure they’ll turn a blind eye!!
We know you’ll have a lot of fun no matter how you decide to play the game, but for those of you who want to solve the crime, I have enclosed some tips. Please read them as they will help. It is also a good idea to bring along a small notepad and pen to jot down conversations you overhear or evidence you think is important.
I hope you love the plot and enjoy all the many twists, turns and laughter that I promise there will be.
We very much look forward to meeting you on Friday at the Welcome Reception at 8.00pm, before dinner at 8.30pm. We hope you have a marvellous time and manage to crack the case, which will be solved when the Detective makes an arrest at 12 noon on Sunday, before we check out at 12.30pm.
