Croots Farm Shop scoops five accolades at the British Pie Awards

 

Derbyshire farm shop Croots is celebrating after winning five accolades at the British Pie Awards.

The haul brings to almost 60 the total number of awards that Croots has won for its home made pies, sausages and bacon over the past two years.

“We’re absolutely thrilled with the ratings given to our pies at the British Pie Awards, which had around 900 entries,” said Steve Croot, who runs Croots Farm Shop at Farnah House Farm, Wirksworth Road, Duffield.

“This was the second year we had entered the event in Melton Mowbray, and we were up against some very talented pie makers from across the country. All our pies are made by deputy manager Margaret Robinson, who’s excited to hear how well we’ve done.”

Croots scooped silver awards for its chicken, bacon and leek pie and its game pie, along with bronze awards for its beef and ale pie, corned beef and potato pie, and chicken and apricot pie.

Last year at the British Pie Awards, Croots won a gold for its popular steak and kidney pie, a silver in the dessert pie category for its rhubarb and cherry pie, and bronze awards for its pork pie and its little mutton pie.

This year’s awards attracted almost 50% more entries than in 2011. Judges included Daily Telegraph food writer Xanthe Clay and TV chefs Phil Vickery and Rachel Green.

Croots, which has its own in-house butchers’ team, as well as a delicatessen and cheese counter, has won many awards since opening in June 2008. Over the past two years alone the shop has scooped almost 60 accolades, including Great Taste Awards – the Oscars of the food industry – and BPEX awards, run by the pork industry.

All the pork sausages at Croots are made using pork from Packington Free Range at Barton-under-Needwood, near Burton-upon-Trent. Croots has a range of around 40 different flavours of banger, which it sells on a rotating basis.

The shop is planning a one-day sausage festival on Saturday May 5^th with 10% off bangers.

The pies at Croots Farm Shop are produced by Margaret Robinson, with the beef and ale, chicken, bacon and leek, and steak and kidney pies being the most popular.

“Our pies have become very well-liked with customers since we introduced them. I’m especially pleased to see that the corned beef and potato pie has received an award in the pie awards this year – it’s my favourite,” added Steve.

For more information visit www.croots.co.uk

Croots Farm Shop & Kitchen is open Sundays from 10am to 4pm (café until 3.45pm), and from Tuesday to Saturday from 9am to 5pm (café until 4.30pm). It is closed on Mondays.

Press release issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

  

Food and Drink Forum announces its AGM and networking supper date

One of the largest food and drink business support membership organisations in the East Midlands has announced the date for its flagship event of the year.

The Food and Drink Forum, which operates across Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland, will be staging its annual general meeting and networking supper on Tuesday June 26^th.

 Around 160 key industry figures from across the East Midlands took part in last year’s event, with more expected this year.

“Our AGM and networking supper provides the perfect opportunity for those connected to the region’s food and drink sector to meet other industry professionals, catch up on industry trends and to make important contacts,” said Food and Drink Forum managing director Fiona Anderson.

The Forum, which is based at Southglade Food Park, Nottingham, has members across the region, including manufacturers, food service operators, and consultants and businesses providing services to the food and drink sector.

Members are entitled to at least one free ticket to the AGM and networking supper, depending on their membership level. Food and drink firms interested in being a part of the Forum are invited to join ahead of the AGM event, which takes place at Kelham Hall, near Newark, from 4pm on June 26^th.

“The AGM is a key date on the calendar, and once again we’re expecting to attract members from across the East Midlands,” said Fiona Anderson.

Guest speakers are currently being lined up but will include Ian Noakes, from Dovedale Foods, which produces the Sauces of Choice brand.

The Food and Drink Forum was founded in 1998 as a not-for-profit, membership-led organisation to stimulate and support the sustainable growth and development of the food and drink industry in the East Midlands.

Its aims include championing the food and drink sector in the East Midlands, developing strategic influencing partnerships within and outside the East Midlands, and acting as a centre for information and knowledge on all subjects relating to the food and drink sector in the region.

It also aims to stimulate and facilitate sustainable change within companies of all sizes across the food chain, generate income and secure resources to meet the needs of a high-quality service, and promote the food and drink sector to future employees through education and the raising of skills.

For information about membership or the AGM and networking supper please call 0115 9758810.

www.foodanddrinkforum.co.uk

Issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

Rites of Spring folk event lined up for Leicester

Traditional springtime folk activities have inspired a new event being staged in Leicester this year for the first time.

The Rites of Spring will feature Morris dancing, folk music, maypole dancing, story telling, children’s crafts and more.

Something for all the family has been lined up at the event, which takes place on Sunday May 6^th against the backdrop of Leicester’s 14^th Century Guildhall.

The Rites of Spring, which is being billed as a celebration of folk custom, music and dance, has been organised by Louise Dawson, from West End, Leicester, with friends. She said: “Traditional springtime festivities have long since inspired song, dance and custom.

“A steady undercurrent that has trickled down through the ages, mysterious and sometimes unfathomable, folk traditions have remained resonant and a force for creativity and imagination, resolutely bound to the landscape and seasons.

“This is a new event for Leicester, and we’ve been delighted with how it’s grown from a small idea into something which will feature a wide range of folk-inspired activities.”

The event kicks off at 1pm on Sunday May 6^th, and at regular intervals throughout the day there will be Morris dancing displays, from Leicester Morris Men, and maypole dancing.

Other attractions include children’s crafts, face painting, live art, story telling and stalls.

Films and talks also appear on the programme, including a short film about folk customs and the Way of the Morris, a documentary film directed by Tim Plester. Tim will host a question and answer session afterwards.

The evening programme features three folk bands who have travelled the world with their songs - Nick Jonah Davis, Cath and Phil Tyler, and Mary Hampton.

From 7pm, a bar run by the Orange Tree in Leicester will be selling real ale, cider and wine.

Advanced tickets, available from the Guildhall box office or from behind the Orange Tree bar in High Street, Leicester, are £12 for the whole day, £8 for the evening or £5 for the day time events.

For more details about the programme visit www.theritesofspring.net

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Holdsworth Chocolates reveals Union Jack Box for summer 2012

Exquisite handmade chocolate maker Holdsworth Chocolates has launched a Union Jack chocolate box to mark the summer of celebrations in the UK.

The 240g box features delicious quintessentially British-themed chocolates, such as clotted cream truffle, praline cup, and apple and geranium cream.

Designed to be re-used as a keepsake gift box, the Union Jack selection box has been created to celebrate both the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics.

Holdsworth Chocolates, which is based in the heart of the Peak District at Bakewell in Derbyshire, has a team of skilled chocolatiers led by creative director Genevieve Holdsworth.

Each chocolate is handmade – not just hand-finished – and a number have been awarded gold star rating in the Guild of Fine Food’s Great Taste Awards…the Oscars of the speciality food industry.

“Holdsworth Chocolates’ Union Jack Box is a traditional British product, filled with chocolates that have been made in the heart of the UK using the finest ingredients,” said Genevieve Holdsworth. “It makes a wonderful gift or an indulgent treat, and of course the box can be re-used as a gift box as a reminder of the historic events of the summer of 2012.”

Available nationally in selected stores and directly from Holdsworth Chocolates via www.holdsworthchocolates.co.uk, the recommended retail price for the Union Jack Box is £14.95.

The company was created by Barbara Holdsworth in 1988. Spurred on by a passionate belief in making chocolates by hand, she developed her own recipes. Barbara handed over to daughter Genevieve in 2002.

Stockists of Holdsworth Chocolates include Harrods, Selfridges, Waitrose, Chatsworth House shop and Chatsworth Farm Shop and Ibbotsons of Ashford.

Holdsworth Chocolates is based in Station Road, Bakewell, Derbyshire, DE45 1GE. Telephone 01629 813573. E-mail info@holdsworthchocolates.co.uk or visit the website www.holdsworthchocolates.co.uk

Issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

Focus Consultants partner completes the London Marathon for charity

Sporting Steven Fletcher, a partner at Nottingham-based Focus Consultants, has raised more than £2,500 for charity after taking part in the London Marathon.

Steven, who lives at Ravenshead, completed the 26 miles and 385 yards, in three hours 41 minutes.

It was the fourth marathon he’d undertaken in the last four years, having previously run the London, New York and Edinburgh marathons.

Steven, 43, ran in aid of Get Kids Going - a national charity that gives children and young people with disabilities the specialist support to participate in sport.

“My mother used to work at Fountaindale School in Mansfield which is a specialised school for disabled children, plus I am absolutely passionate about sport of any kind and I am lucky enough to have two fit and healthy children who have every opportunity to take part in sport, so for me it is important that others are given the same access to opportunities,” said Steven.

Among those who donated were Steven’s colleagues at Focus offices at Phoenix Business Park, Nottingham, Endeavour Park, Boston, Princess Road East, Leicester, Aubourn, Lincoln, and Holborn, London.

Focus Consultants specialises in creative approaches to securing funding packages and delivering high quality projects across the UK. Since its creation in 1994, Focus has secured over £800 million of grant assistance, and delivered more than £1 billion of projects and programmes - including enterprise support, innovation, culture, health, regeneration, affordable homes and energy carbon sustainability projects.

Anyone wishing to add to the total raised, which stands at more than £2,500, can visit Steven’s fundraising webpage at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/StevenFletcher1

www.focus-consultants.co.uk

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Award-winning Anila’s Authentic Sauces secures Hong Kong contract

Premium curry sauce producer Anila’s Authentic Sauces has gained a contract to supply a prestigious group of stores in Hong Kong.

The range has just launched in the flagship ParknShop food hall store, Great, in Central Hong Kong, as well as the ParknShop’s Taste store, in Stanley, Hong Kong.

The products are currently featuring as part of a British promotion in the retail outlets.

The news comes as Anila’s Authentic Sauces scoops another award for its curry sauces – this time for the Goan Green Curry Sauce, which has been named a winner in the FreeFrom Food Awards 2012.

It is the latest award given to the Goan Green, which was also named Best Vegan Product in The Veggie Awards 2011 by Cook Vegetarian! magazine, with the judges saying: “Not only one of the best vegan curry sauces we’ve ever tried but one of the best curry sauces available. Its complexity of flavours makes its taste truly sensational.”

At the FreeFrom Food Awards 2012, the judges said: “Anila’s sauces are always so wonderful as she uses such beautifully fresh and pure ingredients in such perfect balance. Lovely, subtle flavours, gently permeated by the coconut milk. Deep green flavour and fantastic ingredients.”

Eighteen of Anila’s products are now on sale in the Hong Kong stores, including curry sauces and accompaniments. The firm also exports to Germany and Ireland.

“I am very pleased to have secured an order to supply to such a well-regarded group of stores in Hong Kong,” said Anila Vaghela, who runs the company with husband Dan. “And of course we are delighted that our Goan Green Curry Sauce has won another award. It’s our most popular product.”

Anila’s Authentic Sauces, which is based in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, with a production unit in Hounslow, produces a range of eight varieties of curry sauce and 17 types of a mix of pickles, chutneys and dips, including a new spicy Indian salsa which has been launched in 2012 to mark 20 years since Anila sold her first curry sauce at a local fair.

Anila’s sauces are free from artificial colours, additives and preservatives, are sugar, dairy and gluten free, contain no onion or garlic, and are suitable for vegetarians and vegans. The accompaniments are made with single fruits and vegetables, and natural ingredients.

Anila’s Authentic Sauces supplies hundreds of outlets that include speciality food halls, garden centres, delis, farm shops, gift shops and also health stores. The firm also sells direct to the public at farmers’ markets and at food shows and festivals as well as online via www.anilassauces.com

Products are on sale at places like Harrods, John Lewis Oxford Street and Bluewater, Chatsworth Farm Shop, and Booths in Penrith and Manchester.

Visit www.anilassauces.com for more information.

Issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

Third charity swap shop event at The Lansdowne in Leicester

A popular swap shop event returns to Leicester pub The Lansdowne next month, offering customers the chance to freshen up their wardrobes for the summer.

The event, which is in aid of Leicestershire and Rutland hospice LOROS, will be the third event of its kind at The Lansdowne in London Road.

“Our previous swap shops have been very popular with customers, and we’ve raised a nice sum for LOROS as well, which we hope to do again,” said organiser Rachel Hurst.

“Clothes swapping events have become a fashionable way of bagging a bargain and recycling items that no longer fit or are no longer worn. With summer hopefully on its way soon, it’s a perfect opportunity to have a bit of a clear out and help charity at the same time.”

The Lansdowne is inviting people to drop off any clothes, shoes, handbags or accessories at least a week before the event, which takes place on Saturday May 12th from 1pm to 6pm.

In exchange, they will receive tokens that can be used to buy items at the swap shop. Additional tokens can be bought on the day.

Clothes swapping events have become particularly popular in the current economic climate, as fashion fans aim to freshen up their look without shelling out a fortune.

It’s an opportunity to collect some cool clothes, while at the same time finding new homes for items that are cluttering up the wardrobe.

LOROS will receive the proceeds from any tokens that are sold, will benefit from donations given at the event, and any left over items, which will be donated to a LOROS shop.

www.orangetree.co.uk

Issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk