Smarter Group is an umbrella company which covers several entertainment-related businesses, such as Mainline Casinos, Madworld Costume Company, and two nightclubs, among others. Smarter Group was set up this year to bring all our companies together, and to offer a complete entertainment portfolio to clients.

Plenty! I do research, project management, office management, admin support, and I'm PA to the owner Nicholas Smart, too. In one day I can be researching new costumes that need designing, recruiting a contract croupier for the casino table business, chasing an outstanding invoice, checking that a venue is big enough to hold a casino party, investigating franchises and suppliers for one of our businesses, trying to find a cabaret singer, making bookings for parties, and working on people's requirements.

For me, 10 hour days are the norm. In the run up to Christmas - much longer! But my background is in catering management, so anything less than 10 hours a day is luxury!

Just a bit! December is when things really hot up, and the parties and events are taking place. We have casinos and costumes going all over the country, and back-to-back bookings in our restaurants and nightclubs, and it's really full on!

Constantly! We've had people who got their own date wrong, and thought the 15th was a Thursday but in fact it's a Wednesday so everything has to be re-arranged; people who want to invite more guests; others want fewer guests; clients who'd suddenly like to have an entertainer, or change their party theme, and so on. But that's the entertainment industry - it's very flexible!

Yes, things can always go wrong. Sometimes it's no-one's fault - like the party we organised for a client who was inviting 100 guests to a dinner, followed by a comedian. But a bad 'flu bug struck the company, and every day leading up the party the poor MD's PA rang to tell me how many more people were off sick. Eventually, only 35 people made it, and sadly I think the event was a bit flat. You need around 100 for a good comedy atmosphere, and these 35 were also exhausted from covering everyone else's workload! Another time I recall, the good old M25 let us down, and a casino table heading up north was stuck for hours in a massive traffic jam.

They can be, but all they want is the best party or event possible, so we try to accommodate them. We want them to be happy, after all! I remember one wedding party themed on the jungle, and bride and groom were going to be kitted out with Jane and Tarzan outfits. The room was all booked and themed along the Jungle idea, even to the food and favours. A week before, the bride rang up to say she needed to change the theme, because her guests were refusing to come in costume!! So, I put my thinking cap on, and suggested that instead of costumes, all guests be given an animal stick mask to hold. That saved the day!

Another time, a PA threatened to cancel the event with only a few hours' notice, if we couldn't find a childminder for the boss' kids, because otherwise he wouldn't be able to come! I ended up asking my boss' wife if she'd cover, which she generously did!

I'm too discreet to answer that, but I will tell you that there is always somebody who gets stuck in the toilets! Many times we have either had to call the fire department or remove toilet doors. One time we had somebody taken to Accident and Emergency as nobody would accept responsibility for them! It is shocking how some people behave when they get partying! Fortunately, they are the rarer ones.

I'm pretty good, really. I tend to be the calm one in the office. It comes from working in the catering business and having managed restaurants and bars in central London for years. I was there during the IRA bombing campaigns, too, when we regularly used to evacuate our restaurants and deal with emergencies. Occasionally, when it all gets a bit too much I'll go out for a walk for an hour, to get my perspective back on things.

I'm a firm believer that there's always a solution. You just have to find it. And I also think it's the difficult situations that you learn from, so although tricky at the time, there is often a positive outcome.

You deal with it before it happens, by having a contingency plan for everything you possibly can. That's what PAs do, isn't it! For example, the casino table stuck on the M25 never did make it up north, but days before I had located a casino table firm in the local area, and I knew I'd contact them if I had a problem. Well, I did have a problem so I rang them, and fortunately they had a table free, and they helped me out. For every event, and every eventuality, I try to have a back-up plan. I must admit, the childminder for the boss's children caught me on the hop, but I managed!

Most of the time the PAs themselves are really busy, and quite hassled. And often they are reporting to someone else, who keeps changing their mind! So I try to be a calming influence for them, and help where I can. If someone needs a face painter, for example, I'll offer to find one for them. I know of several, whereas the PAs may spend hours looking for one. It's all part of the extra services we try to offer. Recently we sent a make-up artist along to a fancy dress party, as a free surprise for the clients, and they were so delighted! It made a huge difference to their costumes, and to their event.

No! I'm used to it now. It's fun, anyway. I like all the activity. Never a dull moment, always changing tasks.

Believe it or not this is the hardest party to organise! I have to consider the various age groups of the staff who work for us and their partners. Also as our staff are scattered all over the country we also have to consider accommodation and travel for them as well. And you can't organise any event by yourself - you always need the assistance of others and therefore need to motivate them in order to produce the goods. Budgets being budgets this tends to be a once a year affair. Thank Goodness!