You will have seen on social media, our YouTube videos and blog posts, that Hazel has changed her name. Hazel Cottrell, our owner and founder, married Dan Andrews, our Corporate Event Support. They have become Andrews-Oxlade. Of course, the Andrews part makes sense. But you may be wondering where the Oxlade part came from.
Hazel was very much bought up by her Grampy. An amazing man called Alec Oxlade. He has been the one person Hazel can turn too, whatever. Whether it’s support or reassurance, love or friendship – he has been there. Grampy is a rock to Hazel.
You may have seen him at some of our events. He has attended some of the company anniversaries over the years. Grampy also popped along to some business exhibitions to see how we were getting on. He can often be found snipping bits out of the local newspaper to give us companies to contact that he thinks we might be able to work with.
Hazel has no real links to her (now) old surname Cottrell. She doesn’t have parents to speak of, so had no issue changing her name to Andrews. However, she wanted to do something that gave a ‘nod’ to her Grampy. Hazel spoke to Dan, and he was keen to make their names double-barrelled too. The tricky part of this was keeping it a secret – especially with the wedding being postponed 2 years thanks to covid!
So, very few people knew about the new surname. This included Grampy!
All the guests knew the name was changing, but they didn’t know what to. As the fantastic celebrant, Rebecca of White Rose Ceremonies, was ready to announce the new name, she told Grampy to listen out.
Hazel and Dan kept a close eye on Grampy, as did the Videographer and Photographer. When the new name was announced Grampy was stunned. A huge smile spread across his face, and you could tell he was completely blown away. It was a wonderful way for Hazel to thank him for his love and support over the years.
So there we have it – that’s why we now have Hazel and Dan Andrews-Oxlade.
