Croots Farm Shop raises over £100 from Rugby World Cup charity sausages

Steve Croot with his Croots Scrummy Sausages

Sausage loving customers have raised £153 for charity after buying special sausages created to mark the Rugby World Cup.

Derbyshire farm shop Croots will donate the funds to the ongoing fundraising effort for its adopted charity, the Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre. The charity provides disadvantaged children with holidays in Skegness, helping to boost the children’s confidence and self-esteem.

Croots Scrummy sausage and Croots Scrumpy sausage were created by the farm shop near Duffield for the Rugby World Cup continuing from the success of its ‘Olympig’ and ‘Bangerooney’ sausages, which have been created previously for sporting occasions.

The farm shop donated 20% of sales of the sausages to the charity, which offers 450 holiday places per season.

“Our customers are always very supportive of our charity fundraising efforts and Croots is delighted to be able to donate the £153 raised to the Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre,” said Steve Croot, who runs Croots Farm Shop at Farnah House Farm on Wirksworth Road.

The farm shop is also starting its annual festive charity fundraising in November and December supporting the Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre, which celebrates its 125^th birthday next year. It is staging a raffle with the chance to win a tasty hamper packed with food and drink, worth £80.

Derbyshire-based Croots is popular for its wide range of sausage flavours and local food. Croots Farm Shop has won numerous awards, from the Great Taste Awards to meat industry awards, all judged by meat and fine food experts.

Croots Farm Shop is open Monday to Saturday from 9am to 5pm (Shires Eatery until 4.30pm) and from 10am to 4pm on Sundays. Croots runs Fresh Fish Thursdays between 9am and 1pm on Thursdays.

For more information visit www.croots.co.uk

Find Croots on Twitter @crootsfarm_shop or on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/Croots-Farm-shop-127012538821/

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

Haughton Honey buzzing with appearance at top food and drink show

Cheshire-based honey producer Haughton Honey is joining the cream of the crop at one of the UK’s most popular food and drink events.

Bee farmer Crispin Reeves will be taking his Haughton Honey brand to the BBC Good Food Show at the NEC, Birmingham, from 26^th to 29^th November 2015.  

The honey is currently on sale at more than 60 stores across the North West and the Midlands, with plans to expand further afield after a recent partnership with a food distribution service Bikold Foodservice. However, exhibiting at the BBC Good Food Show will be great exposure for Haughton Honey, said Crispin. 

Based at Radmore Farm, Haughton, in Cheshire, the English honey brand has gone from strength to strength since launching in 2014. 

Probably the most unadulterated honey that you can buy, it is the sweet essential for everyone’s kitchen cupboard, being perfect in puddings, flavoursome in casseroles, sauces and dressings, and the ideal substitute for sugar.

Haughton Honey now has more than 1,600 hives in the cooperative, stretching across the North West and the Midlands regions, including Cheshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire.

Haughton Honey is raw honey which comes straight from the hive, is cold extracted and never pasteurised which means that it retains all of the natural enzymes and proteins that make English honey so special. It is also 100% natural and pure and features traces of dandelion, chestnut, blackberry, clover and other wildflowers.

It’s also popular with many hay fever sufferers who swear by using raw honey as a natural remedy for streaming eyes and runny noses, saying that it has helped to ease their symptoms and transform their lives. The principle behind the theory is that the tiny amounts of pollen found in raw honey helps to desensitise the body - preventing a reaction to pollen in the atmosphere during spring and early summer.

Haughton Honey is exhibiting on stand H104 in the Guild of Fine Food Great Taste section of the BBC Good Food Show from 26-29 November 2015 at the NEC, Birmingham.

Haughton Honey is available from more than 60 stores, currently across the North West and the Midlands and also through food distribution company Bikold Foodservice (www.bikold.co.uk) based in Ludlow, with plans to expand throughout the UK. It is also available online, priced £5.25 for a 340g jar, via www.haughtonhoney.com

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

Derbyshire farm shop Croots launches annual festive charity fundraising

Croots Farm Shop is launching its annual festive fundraising effort in aid of Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre with a special event on Thursday 12^th November.

The farm shop, based at Farnah House Farm, Wirksworth Road, near Duffield, will be staging a Christmas taster evening, with a range of producer demonstrations and sampling sessions.

The event, which runs from 5pm until 8pm, is free to attend and will also kick start a festive charity appeal in aid of Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre, which has been the farm shop’s adopted charity for a number of years.

Customers and staff have raised hundreds of pounds in support of the charity, which provides disadvantaged Derbyshire children with holidays in Skegness.

Steve Croot, who runs Croots Farm Shop with wife Kay, said: “We’re delighted to once again be raising money for such a good cause and would like to thank our customers in advance for the support that I know they will be happy to give. Hopefully we can raise a nice sum and present Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre with a really good Christmas gift of their own.

“The event will also be the chance for customers to meet producers and to find out more and taste some of the products we sell at Croots, as well as benefiting from a 10 per cent discount on their shopping basket.”

Among those lined up to take part are Duffield Dairy, Luke Evans Bakery, cattle farmer Margaret Heath, who supplies beef to Croots, Darley Abbey Wines, Sloemotion and Hartington Cheese. There will be a ten per cent discount on shopping during the evening. Croots will run two further late night Christmas shopping evenings on Friday 11^th and Friday 18^th December until 8pm.

Other festive events lined up include a cheese and wine evening on Friday 4^th December from 6pm to 9pm, when Andy Little from Darley Abbey Wines will deliver an entertaining talk on wines to complement the Christmas cheese board. Tickets are £5.

Croots will also be running breakfast with Santa sessions on Sunday 6^th, Saturday 12^th and Saturday 19^th December from 8.30am, with pre-booking required, at £12 per child.

This year’s charity effort for Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre, which next year celebrates its 125 birthday, and which offers 450 holiday places per season, features a raffle with the chance to win a tasty hamper packed with food and drink worth £80.

Croots Farm Shop is open Monday to Saturday from 9am to 5pm (Shires Eatery until 4.30pm) and from 10am to 4pm on Sundays. Croots runs Fresh Fish Thursdays between 9am and 1pm on Thursdays.

For more information visit www.croots.co.uk

Find Croots on Twitter @crootsfarm_shop or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Croots-Farm-shop-127012538821/ 

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

New Partners appointed as Focus Consultants celebrates 21 years with news of Nottinghamshire County Council grant of more than £83,000

Economic development and construction consultancy Focus Consultants has appointed two new Partners.

Heather Frecklington, who is based at the Nottingham headquarters of Focus, and Eleanor Clarke, who works from the firm’s London office, are the first two female Partners in the company’s 21-year history.

Alongside Jason Redfearn, who leads the Energy Team at Focus and who was also recently appointed a Partner, and Partners Keith Butler and Steven Fletcher, they will be part of the team of five who will spearhead the development of the company.

They will be supported by founding Partners Kevin Osbon, Ian Stevens and Karl Marriott, and Partners Richard Aston and Trevor Newton as part of a succession planning process which will be implemented between now and 2018.

“Since being founded in 1994 in Nottingham, Focus Consultants has developed into a thriving business that offers a unique set of services to clients locally, regionally and across the UK,” said Kevin Osbon. “We are delighted to have appointed our first two female Partners as part of the new leadership team. As we move through a transitional phase, the team will be mentored and supported by the Partners who have shaped Focus into the successful business it is today.”   

The news coincides with an announcement from Nottinghamshire County Council that it is awarding Focus Consultants an £83,468 grant from its Nottinghamshire Economic Development Capital Fund – a £3million pot which is supporting businesses across the county to innovate, grow and create new jobs.

Focus will use the grant to radically overhaul the ICT it uses, investing in a new CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system, BIM (Building Information Modelling) software to enable 3D modelling and mobile technology. The investment will create four new jobs and two apprenticeships at the company, which is based at Phoenix Business Park and has branches in Holborn in London, Leicester, and Boston and Aubourn in Lincolnshire.

New Focus Partner, Heather Frecklington, said: “For 21 years Focus has been based in Nottinghamshire. We are delighted to work with the County Council on the next stage of the Focus story - this grant will co-finance a huge step change in our performance through investment in the very latest technologies. It will enable us to grow, create new jobs, open exciting opportunities and compete with the major national consultancies.”

Focus specialises in funding and economic development including area regeneration strategies, funding applications, economic impact appraisals, business plans, and research and evaluation.  Since 1994 Focus has also secured for clients more than £953 million of grants for projects and businesses across the UK and delivered more than £1.3 billion worth of projects and programmes – making it one of the most successful businesses of its kind in the country.

It has secured more than £200 million for projects in its home city of Nottingham alone since it was launched in 1994 – helping to create jobs, preserve heritage, improve the environment, support businesses and develop communities.

“Without Focus, quite simply Nottingham would not be the city it is today,” added Kevin Osbon.

The company, which employs 65 people, has been behind numerous local and national construction and economic development projects, including securing £12.98 million of Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for Nottingham Castle, £9.5 million for the City Creative Quarter, £2.8 million for the NBV Enterprise Solutions workspace on David's Lane, Basford, and project managing the innovative Trent Basin regeneration development, which are all in Nottingham.

Nationally, Focus has also taken forward exciting developments for the Imperial War Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum in London, The Curve in Leicester after helping Leicester City Council to secure the £60 million funding package for the theatre and performing arts centre, and is currently overseeing a £35 million masterplan project for Devonshire Park in Eastbourne, which will breathe new life into the town’s major attractions.

It also offers services to the property and construction industry, including building surveying, quantity surveying, project management, CDM Co-ordinator services and sustainable development support. 

The latest company announcements were made during a 21^st birthday celebration for employees held on a Nottingham Princess River Trent cruise.

For more information visit www.focus-consultants.co.uk

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