‘Would you like to come to England and celebrate Christmas with us?’

In October, Naomi Bacon, founder and CEO of The Tandem Collective, posed an exciting question during an online meeting — and we didn’t hesitate! Plans were quickly made, flights were booked, and in December we traveled to England to attend The Tandem Collective’s Christmas party, a special event bringing together the whole of Team Tandem to celebrate together.

Naomi was the deputy CEO of our company from April until November because of my cancer treatment. Meeting Naomi in real life at the train station in Horsham (West Sussex) was an emotional moment. Four people and 3 large suitcases squeezed into a Ford Ka, heading for a cute little village called Amberley.

The Black Horse pub in Amberley was our holiday home for a few days. We wandered around the village for a bit, meeting with the locals at the small grocery store and in St. Michael’s church. Later that afternoon Naomi picked us up and drove us to Sullington Manor Farm so we could meet team Tandem.

We felt at home immediately. We hugged, we talked, we ate pizza, we played a Truth Or Lie game. It was a wonderful evening with a wonderful group of people that have the same love for books as we have.

On Wednesday we went to Arundel, a small historical city known for its castle. However, we didn’t come to visit the castle but the bookshops! We were in awe of Kims Bookshop. It looked small from the outside but this secondhand bookshop was 4 stories high! Of course we found some treasures and had to make tough decisions on which books to leave behind. There just wasn’t enough room in our suitcases for all the books we wanted to carry home. And when in England you need to get some delicious English tea right?

Jenny picked us up from Arundel and drove us back to Sullington Manor Farm. But not before we got some delicious Christmas cookies as a treat for the Tandem team.

After a few hours of drinking tea and chatting about books in one of the cottages at the farm, we made our way to the barn to have a delicious Christmas diner. Look at all those happy faces!

Late in the evening we said goodbye to this wonderful group of people that we consider our colleagues now. The next morning Naomi came to the pub in Amberley to have a cup of coffee with us before bringing us to the train station of Pulborough.

We are so grateful for the invitation to join Tandem’s annual Christmas dinner. We felt very welcome and our proud to call Tandem our (big) sister company. Here’s to many future celebrations together!