What better way is there to get to know your neighbours than sharing food in the sun? The Big Lunch (UK) is an event designed to celebrate your local community and meet new people who live near you (and eat some tasty treats along the way). A Big Lunch can be anything from inviting a few neighbours to a BBQ in the garden or the street, to a full blown street party with food, music and decoration that quite literally stops the traffic.

The Big Lunch takes place on Sunday 2nd June Check out website to get inspired and download flyers, posters and guides to help you organise your own event. http://www.thebiglunch.com/index.php

If you haven’t seen it yet, watch it here:

It doesn’t feature actors and this isn’t a film set. It’s a real community and a real story of hope, self-sufficiency and the power of possibility.

Christian Aid said “We made the ad because we wanted to show you what can happen when people are given innovative tools to lift themselves out of poverty.

That’s why we shot it in York Island, a very poor but vibrant fishing village of around 200 people in southern Sierra Leone.

We recorded the footage earlier this year with the full support, and involvement, of the community.”

Mo

The character of ‘Mo’ is played by the inspirational Michael, the head-teacher of York Island’s school and a former fisherman. All the rest of the cast are York Island locals too, including schoolchildren from Michael’s school.

York Island is part of Bonthe District, where Christian Aid supports innovative initiatives like the solar-powered freezer project featured in the ad.

This vital work is a real source of hope to the district’s poor fishing communities, where access to electricity is virtually non-existent. Without freezers they had no way of storing their fresh produce and had to sell it at low prices.

With Christian Aid funding, the local partner on the ground is helping to install the freezers in communities in across Bonthe, delivering a solution that is clean, sustainable and cost-effective.

Christian Aid help each community maintain and run its own freezer, which are relatively cheap, then the community gradually pays them up to half of the cost. This allows Christian Aid to replicate the project in other communities.

This creative approach to poverty is already reaping results across the region, increasing people’s incomes and helping them to bite back at hunger.

Well done guys and Keep up the good work :)

Five Things to Remember when Cooking with Children

Getting the kids involved in cooking the family meals, or baking a cake on a Sunday afternoon, is a great way to share some quality time together as a family. It’s also a good, cheap way to entertain the little ones, which teaches them life skills for the future.
I learnt techniques like how beat a mixture, or rub butter and flour together to resemble breadcrumbs, by cooking with my own mother. However, whether you are mixing batter for toad in the hole or icing a birthday cake, there are certain things to remember when cooking with children. Following these helpful hints might make things a little bit smoother for your

1. Children Like to Stick to What they Know

Most of the children I have known prefer to stick to eating what they are familiar with and are easily put off by new things. Anyone who has ever failed to persuade their child to try something other than chicken nuggets when out for a meal will agree. However, it is important that they embrace a varied and healthy diet. One way to encourage adventurous tastes is to hand them control of the cooking. If they can see themselves as a chef they might be more inclined to try some different ingredients!

2. Children are Competitive

Children love games and enjoy it when parents take the time to play with them. It’s easy to extend the competitive spirit into a cooking session by adding a little creativity. If you are baking cookies, ask them to come up with their own signature flavour, with a little guidance. Suggest dried fruits like cranberries or cherries, white or milk chocolate, chopped nuts (if over 3 years old and there are no allergies) or try favourite sweets like smarties. If you’re cooking breakfast (complete with sausages of course!) why not ask them to arrange the food into a smiley face? You can use tomatoes or mushrooms for eyes, beans for hair and a sausage for the mouth!

3. Children Love Mess

Recipes which call for children to get their (washed) hands “dirty” usually raise a laugh. Yes, this might require a little more patience on your part, but if they can have their own aprons (perhaps one of mum or dad’s old shirts) that will protect clothing and surfaces can always be wiped down. Asking them to mix cake batches with their hands, decorate biscuits, roll dough on the work surface and cut out cookie shapes are all great ideas. Just supervise and watch out for handprints on walls, fridges, floors, pets, etc.

4. Children Like to Help a Good Cause

It’s common for many schools to hold cake sales for charity, where children set up stalls at break time and charge a few pence for the cakes and other treats they have made. If these aren’t common practice at your school, enquire with the teachers. Working towards a shared goal helps children learn teamwork and organisation – not to mention the early education in business it can give them!

5. Children Don’t Like Washing Up

It’s certainly true that children find washing up to be the least interesting part of the cooking process. I think most adults would probably agree. However, if you have used tip number 3 above, you are going to need to clean up afterwards! I recommend that an adult does the washing and children help to dry up and put things away.
Happy cooking!

Big thank you to Liz at World Vision UK for writing this guest blog piece – World Vision is one of the world’s largest child sponsorship charities and they do some amazing work… Keep it up guys :)

Everyone at Good Little Company HQ loves these pictures from artist Richard Shilling , he has an amazing ability to take things we see everyday in the natural world and use them to create fantastic pieces of art.

Asked about what he aims to convey with his work, Shilling says, “My art is really all about the process, the act of making the sculpture itself. How it allows you to connect more deeply with nature, peel back the layers and reveal the hidden truths perhaps not immediately apparent to the fleeting eye. You can only use what you find, and the elements play a big part in what you are able to create. Through this you learn so many subtle and not so subtle things about the natural world.”

The best thing about these pieces is that everyone could try their hand at creating some land art and they have no environmental impact. We might try our hand at making some decorations to brighten up our Christmas tree :)

Having just recently flown the nest I’m constantly on the lookout for quick and simple meals I can make at home. One of the best websites I have found so far is the BBC Good Food Site . It has lots of great recipes even for novices like me, my personal favourite so far is sausages with wine gravy yummy :)

What’s your favourite winter warmer?

The Color Run is described as the happiest 5k run on the planet. Runner/walkers begin the 5k at the start line like a brand new pristine colouring book, they run through different stages of colour, being plastered with paint bombs. The end result is a fantastically happy rainbow mess.

We would love to do this someday. Does anyone know if there is a UK version?

Let’s face it, this summer has been a bit of washout. As much as we love our wellies and raincoats, we need some indoor rainy day fun recipes up our sleeves to keep everyone entertained while our socks dry on the radiator.

How about some finger painting? Along with being safe for little tots, edible finger paints are a good way to introduce colours and show tots how they change when mixed together.

You can find the recipe here.

Here it is! We’ve finally got our video from our Malawi trip edited, glued and taped together. This gives a really good sense of the atmosphere of hard work and appreciation of the Malawi people.

Make yourself a cup of tea, grab a biccy and have a watch.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about what we’re doing and how we can be even better, so let us know what you think.

We are loving The Good Challenge. The wonderful GOOD magazine sets a new challenge theme each month which asks its readers do learn or do one thing every day. Things that you’ve always wanted to do but would never otherwise get around to doing without a gentle push.

August’s theme is Back to School. The challenge is to commit to learn something new every day.

“You know how you always say you’re going to sign up for a class, visit the library, or use the web for something better than reading about celebrities’ love lives? Well, join us in using this month’s challenge to do all those things, as well as kickstart an “always learning” habit.”

So far we’ve had Learn First Aid Basics, Learn to Say Thank You in Ten Languages and Start a New Book.

Are you in?

Traditionally New Yorkers aren’t really known for their friendliness so Chelsea Davison decided to try to shake things up and encourage some friendly fun by creating a public game of truth or dare.

She placed 300 cards around Washington Square Park and watched what happened…

Head Gardener is a guerilla gardening project by the wonderful Anna Garforth. Anna converted milk bottles into characters and planted them around her city. We would love to see people’s reactions to these.

Overfishing has become an incredibly important issue as we come to realise how unsustainable current fishing practices are. But the majority of people still don’t understand the scale of destruction and the impact it has on our future.

For example did you know that there are trawling vessels that cast nets so big they could hold 13 jumbo jets (or more commonly 500 tonnes of fish)!

This animation by Ocean2012 spells out what is happening and what can be done about. It’s definitely worth a watch.

Ending Overfishing from OCEAN2012 on Vimeo.

Very interesting infographics about our relationship to food and how healthy (or unhealthy) different countries are compared to each other.

In Malawi the tribes we visited considered themselves to be family. They each looked out for one another, shared resources and pulled together when times were difficult. They all cook and eat together everyday.

We met Edison Mbalangwe who is a 42 year old farmer and father of 3 from a village called Mawale in the central region of Malawi. He made us feel very welcome and wanted to share his experience of how his village’s life has been transformed.

Three years ago, Edison became involved with Christian Aid partner, The Baptist Clinic, when they began working with his community to ensure access to food.

“Before my life was very difficult and the wellbeing of my family was a constant concern. I was working on the farm harder than ever, but I still couldn’t feed my family”, Edison told us.

Donations from the Good Little Company offered Edison a life-line; enabling him to access the maize seeds he needed to grow enough food for his family and to sell at market.

“Now I have surplus seed that I can sell and can afford to help my family get things that they need. The family is so much happier now. We can actually pay school fees for our children instead of having to keep them at home. This work has changed my life”.

By combining the seeds that we help to provide with new, more effective farming techniques, communities are becoming more resilient to threats like seasonal drought.

All the people we talked to seemed extremely upbeat. They told us about the difficulties of the past but were keen to tell us that they now felt a sense of hope for the future for the first time in their lives. Our partnership really is enabling people to work their way out of poverty for good.

Big thanks to Christian Aid and to everyone who donates by buying Good Little Company products.

As we were visiting villages in Malawi we met Lenord Salanje, a farmer and father of 6. He lives in the central region of Malawi. He was a lovely guy and as interested in us as we were in him.

We asked him about what it was like for him before he began working with Christian Aid and the Baptist Clinic in 2009 and he wanted to share with us just how much his village had improved and how much it could improve further.

“It was difficult to get food because if you look at our soil, it’s more sand than soil. It needs water and more than anything, we need seeds to grow food in the first place. During the hunger season, the amount of food we used to grow was just not enough. With my children, it would only last a short time and then we wouldn’t have any food at all.”

This is what makes the donations given by the Good Little Company so vital. For every packet of sausages we sell, we donate enough money to Christian Aid to enable someone like Lenord to access a maize based meal every day for 7 days.

At a time of drastic food shortages, these donations are literally saving lives. The provision of seeds is also helping people like Lenord to generate a surplus of maize seed so that they can sell their produce at market and lift themselves permanently out of poverty.

This photo shows us grinding down the maize seed with a little water to make the maize starch which is then used to make a food which forms the basis of their diet. It is boiled and cooked and if they have other food they use it to dip in and scoop. It’s like our version of dipping bread.

When we left Lenord, his parting words were; “We can now sell the surplus seed and help our families by paying school fees and buying clothes and all of that is possible because of this work. Thank you.”

His village had just benefited from the introduction of a solar powered water pump which meant a great deal to everyone there.

They may have seemed poor by our standards but I got the sense that everyone was extremely proud of the advancements the village had undergone.

Craig is back home from Malawi full of news, stories and ideas. I’ll let him tell you a little bit about his first impressions in his own words…

“Basically the trip was amazing. Humbling. Your first impressions are of a poverty stricken country and I suppose because of this I had expected people to be… I don’t know… depressed or forlorn. They have nothing so how could they be happy?

In actual fact nothing could be further from the truth. They were the warmest and happiest people I have ever met. They sang when we arrived at each village and couldn’t wait to greet us and show us around. We were invited to have an evening meal with them which I “helped” prepare much to their amusement.

The people were incredible and to see people who have so little be so happy is a real lesson. They were so generous with us and wanted to show off their village. They were also so grateful for everything that Christian Aid had done for them.

I met loads of interesting people and heard all about their daily lives, their fears, their hopes and what our work means to them. Things we take for granted like going to the fridge, popping down to the shop and just generally always having food just doesn’t happen in places like Malawi.

But whereas in the past people lived in constant fear of hunger, now they have hope for the future. They have enough food to feed themselves and their families and a left over surplus to sell on and buy “luxuries” like education for their children, better fit for purpose housing and newer clothes. Their lives are no longer just about survival and they look forward with hope, not fear for the future.

Basically in every way the quality of their lives has improved beyond measure and I’m so thrilled to get to help a little bit.

Trust me, your donations are very much appreciated!“

Nine-year-old Martha Payne from Argyll in Scotland writes a revealing blog documenting her daily £2 school lunch.

Overall it’s a very interesting insight into what British children may typically eat for “the dreaded school dinner” and actually brings back a lot of fond/horrifying memories of how bad the food was in the school dinner hall. Remember those perfectly round ice-cream scoops of lumpy mashed potato? She also posts up photos and reviews of dinners that children from all over the world have sent her.

Update

Martha was told she was not permitted to take photos of her food anymore by the local council who seemed to be fearful about the criticism it may have caused. This backfired as thousands of tweeters and bloggers drew attention to the censorship and supported her efforts (including support from Jamie Oliver). The contributions to her chosen charity rolled in.

However this story ends, it has been a fascinating insight into the seemingly mundane but incredibly important issue of school dinners.

Go Martha!

Our man on the ground, Craig left for Malawi yesterday to meet some of the people who are benefitting from the Good Little Company / Christian Aid partnership. He’ll be meeting some of the families with Brendan from Christian Aid, having a meal with them and finding out how the Good Little Company can help more in the future. We can’t wait to hear his news about his adventures.

Malawi is prone to both drought and flooding, and a large number of Malawians are also living with HIV. This combination can often have a devastating effect. Christian Aid are helping families improve farming methods to grow more food, preventing the spread of HIV with awareness programmes and delivering effective care and treatment for those living the virus.

We’re so happy that we can contribute a little bit to help Christian Aid carry out their work.

Yum! This very handy dessert chart by Mark Bittman of the New York is a great guide to making dozens of dessert combinations with a few staple ingredients. There’s also an Everyday, Anytime Egg-Combination Generator chart too.

We love camping and we love food. This might be the best tent ever. Field Candy make a range of tents that certainly stand out in a campsite.

The makers of the wonderful Anorak magazine have created Food is Fun; a magazine that explores the fascinating world of food.

“Have you ever stopped and looked properly at the deep purple coat of an aubergine? A work of art! Have you ever wondered why such a sweet tasting fruit like a kiwi needs to be that hairy?”

It looks like loads of fun and packed with foody ideas.

What better way is there to get to know your neighbours than sharing food in the sun? The Big Lunch (UK) and Street Feast (Ireland) are events designed to celebrate your local community and meet new people who live near you (and eat some tasty treats along the way). A Big Lunch or a Street Feast can be anything from inviting a few neighbours to a BBQ in the garden or the street, to a full blown street party with food, music and decoration that quite literally stops the traffic.

The Big Lunch takes place on Sunday 3rd June and Street Feast happens on Sunday 17th June. Check out their websites to get inspired and download flyers, posters and guides to help you organise your own event.

Christian Aid rock. They do really important work and we’re so happy to support them.

It’s Christian Aid week from 13th – 19th May 2012.

Whatever you do and however you do it, by being part of Christian Aid Week you can help people in poverty out of poverty. You can help poor communities around the world find ways to improve their lives and have a brighter future.

No matter how much you raise, your contribution will help make a big difference. You can find out loads of ways to get involved here. And did you know that your donations are doubled thanks to the UK Aid Match scheme?

According to the NHS coeliac disease is now known to be a common condition that affects approximately 1 in every 100 people in the UK and women are two to three times more likely to develop coeliac disease than men.

All our Good Little Company products are gluten-free (hooray!) but if you, or your friends have Coeliac disease you will understand the frustration in trying to find more tasty gluten-free food options. Trying to eat out on a gluten-free diet can be even more stressful. Coeliac UK want you to get involved to help them prove to the catering industry that gluten-free food is in high demand. Gluten-free Challenge week (14th – 20th May) is a chance to collectively raise awareness of the need for more gluten-free products and menus.

Head over to their site to find out ways to get involved.

There’s no denying it, we love a good cup of coffee to get us started in the morning when all we can think about is a cosy bed, pillows, naps…zzz. But if you’re trying to cut down on caffeine these tips might help.

What a lovely idea. Shoppers can now impulse buy Hope (in the form of blocks of wood) at Budgens supermarkets for £1, which is donated to the Alzheimer’s Society. The block is then returned to the shelves so that other shoppers can ‘buy’ it.

We’re loving this Draw a Stickman site. Here’s a tip: don’t just draw a stickman…

It has been claimed that Easter is the holiday with the best sugary treats. It’s hard to dispute that claim so we plan to offset the inevitable confectionery overdose by running up and down hills, rolling eggs in parks.

Did you know you can dye your eggs naturally? Apparently purple cabbage makes green, red onion skins make red and ground turmeric makes yellow (on brown eggs). Find out how to make natural dyes for your egg decorating session with this tutorial.

Are you participating in Earth Hour this weekend? At 8.30pm tomorrow night (Saturday 31st March), join millions of people across the planet and switch off your lights for an hour. Then go beyond the hour…

“Earth Hour 2011 created history as the world’s largest ever voluntary action with people, businesses and governments in 135 countries across every continent coming together to celebrate an unambiguous commitment to the one thing that unites us all — the planet.”

Action for Happiness want to create a happier society. Research shows that despite the fact that we are richer than we have ever been, money and possessions just don’t make us happy.
Action for Happiness want to change this. They are calling for people to join together and pledge to create more happiness around them, by the actions they take every day – actions such as kindness to others and giving thanks.

What a great excuse to make some tasty food to share with friends. How about trying some traditional Irish colcannon with Great Big Sausages. Add a Guinness and you’re sorted.

They Draw and Cook is a website dedicated to recipes that are pretty enough to frame in your kitchen. What a great way of always having your favourite recipe to hand.

We love this idea for a new service which aims to combat the spread of loneliness and social isolation amongst older people. Working in Westminster, where over 50% of people over 60 live alone, Get-Together is a social phone network that helps to start conversations between like-minded people. It also arranges face-to-face group meetings and activities for Get-Together members. What a great way for older people to make new friends at their own pace who share similar interests. It is now being launched across the whole of London.

The Obliteration Room is the result of thousands of kids with thousands of coloured stickers, let loose on a pure white room. This installation by 82-year-old Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama makes us happy.

(via Monkey and the Bug)

Marija Jacimovic and Benoit Detalle’s stop motion animation brings Michael Pollan’s Food Rules talk to life using a whole lot of veggies and fruit. A great way to learn about why sustainable farming makes sense.

This print by Simone Lia made us smile.

(available to buy at Jealous Gallery)

My Daddy Cooks is fantastic video blog dedicated to cooking easy, delicious food with toddlers. Nick (the patient dad) and Archie (the super-cute toddler) make a brilliant (and hilarious) team, showing that kids love to be involved in the kitchen and it can actually be fun for the parent too.

The recipes are designed to be quick, mid-week dishes that double as entertainment for enthusiastic toddlers. A great source of family-friendly food ideas when you’re lacking inspiration.

Photographer Tom Robinson and his girlfriend Verity have documented their travels since 2005 by photographing their feet, resulting in a collection of over 90 photos. In 2011 the series took a new twist with the arrival of a third set of feet – their daughter Matilda.

This seems like a lovely idea to capture those significant, family moments in a nutshell.

(via Cup of Jo)

If you’re anything like us, you love nothing more than a nice day out with a picnic at the park. However spring weather still seems so far away and our picnic rug hasn’t seen any action since September. Park Here seems like a brilliant solution to Mid-Winter Greenery Withdrawal symptoms. It’s a free, indoor pop-up park in New York and has plush grass, giant bean bags, plants, hammocks and even food carts. It’s also hosts trivia and movie nights and kids’ mornings.

Who’ll be the first to set up a UK version? We’ll be there with the sossies on the BBQ as soon as it appears.

Christian Aid is responding to the devastation caused by Tropical Storm Washi (known locally as ‘Sendong’) across a huge area in the south of the country between 16-18 December.

On the evening of 16 December, strong winds and heavy rains started to fall in Iligan City, reaching neighbouring towns and provinces. By noon the following day, water in the city’s two major rivers and in many drainage systems began to overflow, affecting houses and commercial buildings.

Floodwater levels have now reached over two metres, with rainfall landing at an estimated 10-25mm every hour. Residents were unable to evacuate and respond immediately because most families were asleep.

To date there have been reports of over 700 fatalities, with more than 800 missing. Over 4,000 people are reported to be stranded and local partners expect this figure to rise.

With your support, Christian Aid will be able to provide medicines, temporary shelter, food items and non-food items.

For more information and to donate click on the link below:
Christian Aid – Typhoon Washi

Yayyyyy! Its Christmas and everyone at the good little company is super excited, we would just like to take the time now to thank all our customers for their continued support and wish each and every one of you a merry Christmas and a super happy new year!

In the coming weeks we hope to smash through the 10 Million meals donated mark. Were proud that every time someone buys a pack of Good Little Sausages, Great Big Sausages, Super Teeny Weeny Pork & Apple Cocktail Sausages or Good Little Tomato-y Pork Meatballs we donate 7p to Christian Aid remember all these pennies add up to pounds that make a real difference to people’s lives. So many, many thanks to all our lovely customers with your support we are able to help some of the world’s poorest people feed themselves and their families and get themselves out of poverty so they too can enjoy a better Christmas.

Over the last few years, a rocky global economy has made life in the UK and Ireland more challenging for all of us.

For people in the developing world, the challenges are even greater as steadily rising food prices have made it even tougher for people to feed their families.

With this in mind, the Good Little Company recently got to together with our charity partner Christian Aid to see if there was anything more we could do to help people grow food in the world’s poorest countries. We quickly realised that we could, so from 1st of November 2011, we will be raising our donation from 0.05p to 0.07p for every packet of sausages that you buy.

We believe this will raise around £10,000 more for Christian Aid in the coming year.

However, in the knowledge that there could be even tougher times ahead, we want you to know that this may buy one rather than two weeks worth of staple meals for an individual (as is currently the case if you consider the price of maize seed in Malawi) so we will be changing the wording on our website and packaging to reflect this reality.

We hope that you are still enjoying our sausages and are as excited as we are about being able to give more to Christian Aid. Watch this space for an update on some of the families that have benefited from all the money you have so far helped us to raise by choosing from our sausage range.

Every time you buy sausages from the Good Little Company, you really are helping people in the developing world to lift themselves out of poverty.

Last year, we told you a story about the family of Kesten Mukango in Phalombe, Malawi, and how they were being supported by Christian Aid with tools, seeds and advice so that they could leave behind their daily battle with hunger and grow enough food to sell at the market.

We also told you about a new irrigation system that had been put in place, which channelled mountain water down from the source to the fields, where Kesten and his neighbours were given help to grow a variety of crops.

Our friends at *Christian Aid *recently went to visit the family and check on their progress, and were overjoyed to see that the Mukangos are continuing to thrive.

Using the money earned from his crops, Kesten has built a brick home and his children are still in school and doing well.

It’s incredible to think that just a decade ago, Kesten had to travel across the country to work on tea plantations for a pittance, while his family suffered from severe hunger back home.

In fact, 56 families in Phalombe are now able to grow crops thanks to the irrigation scheme. This means that they have enough produce to sell and invest in other activities such as livestock rearing. This diversifies income and means they have something to fall back on in the event of a bad harvest due to unpredictable weather such as droughts and floods.

As a customer of the Good Little Company, you have done so much to help people like Kesten and his family. You have enabled Christian Aid to buy seeds for people who tackle hunger everyday, allowing them to grow the food they need to survive and thrive.

With your continued backing, we can help lift even more people out of bitter poverty and hunger– so keep buying our delicious sausages! Thank you!

We have just started putting good little and great big sausages into their new packs! It is an exciting change; our sausages will now stand up proudly on shelves across the nation. We hope this will lead to even more people buying them and that means even more goodness for everyone!

This week is Coeliac Awareness week! It’s all about getting people to think about what it’s like to live on a gluten free diet. We hope that in the future there will be lots of gluten free food available in restaurants and supermarkets so that people with coeliac disease can enjoy a wide choice of good food. That’s why we make all of our tasty sausages gluten free!
There are lots of ways to get involved, look at http://www.coeliac.org.uk/node/146078 for more details.

.

We are all very proud of our new Aquaid water cooler here at our good little headquarters. Aquaid sponsor children in poor countries through Christian Aid and provide them with clean drinking water through Pump Aid. It’s good to know that when we take a drink someone in Africa can have one too

*

There is a really interesting article, The Great Giveaway by Sarah Nicolas in Director Magazine this week.

The article is all about companies who like us are trying to do something positive for others. We got a mention as did other alternative buy-one-give-one free schemes. Here’s some info on other companies and how they are making a difference

Ikea have annual movement to promote the right to education. For every soft toy sold, Ikea donated a euro to Unicef and Save the Children, which are helping more youngsters around the world attend school. Since 2003 this simple but effective campaign has raised €23.8m (£20.4m), enabling around eight million children in more than 30 countries to access education.

Last summer, Tesco also supported Save the Children’s education network by donating an item of school uniform to children in Kenya, Sri Lanka and Bangaldesh for every promotional item bought.

Masala Masala, is another company striving to do good for others, for every pot of stir-in sauce sold in the UK a homeless person in India is served a meal.

US footwear company Toms Shoes give a new pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair of shows sold. By last September, Toms had given more than one million pairs of shoes to children in need.
It’s great to see other companies running buy-one-give-one-free schemes, from sausages, toys, shoes, sauces and school uniforms there are now lots of ways we can help others.

To find out more and read the full article by Sarah Nicolas please go to http://www.director.co.uk/MAGAZINE/2011/2_Feb/buy-one-give-one-free_64_06.html

Yay! We’ve now donated over 7 million meals to the people who need it most! We can hardly believe it!

As the saying goes “every penny counts” and this really is the case for the money we donate through Christian Aid – everytime someone buys a pack of Good Little Sausages or Great Big Sausages we donate 5p and all these pennies add up to pounds that make a real difference. So many, many thanks to all our lovely customers with your support we are able to help some of the world’s poorest people feed themselves and their families and get themsleves out of poverty for good.

As you know we work closely with Christian Aid to support their wide range of amazing projects to help the people who need it most. At the minute Christian Aid have an emergency appeal to help people in Sri Lanka and Philippines who have been affected by the La Nina weather phenomenon. If you’d like to help please see the details below.

Emergency Appeal from Christian Aid

In Sri Lanka the torrential rain caused by La Nina has forced more than a million people to flee their homes, claiming 40 lives with four people missing, according to the government.
La Nina has also caused heavy rains and landslides in the Philippines, where the death toll now stands at 43 people, with more than a million people affected, according to disaster officials.
The devastation is huge and we need to respond now to save lives. With your help, Christian Aid will provide medical assistance, food, shelter and non-food items like hygiene kits to thousands of those in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.

If you are in a position to respond, contact the Christian Aid Supporter Relations team on 020 7523 2141 or email (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Many thanks

Hello there

Hope you all had a super lovely Christmas!

We had a really nice festive break here at GLC HQ and now we’re thinking of our next big plans for The Good Little Company in 2011 – so watch this space!

Thank you all so much for your support throughout 2010 – it has been a great year for us. New followers, winning awards and achieving a total of over 6 million meals donated through Christian Aid – it’s been brilliant – thanks!

Everyone here at GLC HQ would like to wish you a very happy new year – we hope 2011 is a great year for all of you x

Woo hoo!! Yee haa!! We have now donated over 6 million meals to the people who need it most!

Everyone at GLC HQ is delighted and we just want to say massive thanks to all our customers and well wishers for their support. By buying our Good Little Sausages and Great Big Sausages you are enabling us to helps families in places such as Malawi break free from hunger.

Supporting the Good Little Company translates into so much more than providing meals to the hungry. With your backing we are helping to lift people out of bitter poverty and hunger, ensuring farmers can grow enough to make a profit and improve the lives of their families for good – so thankyou!

Yay! We’ve now donated over 5 million meals – well 5,748,946 to be precise so we’re already well on our way to donating 6 million meals! Hooray!

Many thanks to all our lovely customers who have been buying our sausages – you are making a real difference to the people who need it most!

By buying our Good Little Sausages and Great Big Sausages you are enabling us to help families in places like Malawi break free from hunger so thankyou!

We’re delighted to announce that our Great Big Sausages have won a Great Taste Award!

We entered them into the gluten free category and we’re really chuffed that they were awarded one gold star – hooray!!

We think our sausages are super yummy and it’s great to know that the judges agree. We’ll be showing off the shiny award on our packs soon.

Yay!!!! We have now donated over 4 million meals to the people who need it most!

Massive thanks to all our very lovely customers for buying Good Little Sausages and Great Big Sausages with your help we are able to make a real difference – so thankyou!

The Belfast Titanic Maritime Festival takes place this weekend from 4th – 6th June and features a number of majestic sailing ships which will dock in Belfast. Visitors to the festival will be able to board the ships to have a look good around.

There will be a wide range of activities for everyone to enjoy, such as a Continental Market, music, sports, storytelling, face painting, circus performers and demonstrations. So fingers crossed the sunshine stays around for a few more days!

To find out more visit http://www.gotobelfast.com or contact the Belfast Welcome Centre on 028 9024 6609 or email (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Rate My Sausage is a website dedicated to exactly that – rating sausages! Last week they rated our Great Big Sausages on meat content, flavour, texture, shrinkage, value for money and even through a child’s eyes and we’re pleased to say we stacked up well!

Here’s what they had to say…

The Good Little Company. Ever heard of them? No, nor had I until I spotted their “Great Big Sausages” pack on the shelves of posh people’s corner shop, Waitrose. I’m glad I did.

This is a company that actually Seems To Have A Moral Conscience. Yes, you read that right. These guys really do put their money where their heart is and divert some of the cash they make into providing meals for people who really need them in some of the world’s most deprived countries – Rate My Sausage’s contact tells us that they have now passed 3.2 MILLION meals provided so far, Most Excellent Dudes. I could write some old squit describing the whole process better, but you’d be better off visiting their website and reading it there. You’ll find them here: http://goodlittlecompany.com/index.php

Meat Content:
85%, the pack says. I reckon that’s pretty accurate, as these tasty little sausages ooze meaty goodness. Indeed, only the Fruitpig Company’s almost untouchable Toulouse, the Black Farmer, and Debbie & Andrew’s have scored higher (disclaimer – I didn’t ascertain the meat content of lots of early sausages, so if they do out-meat these ones, sorry). You can really taste the pork here, which puts these Great Big Sausages a step or two ahead of the competition.

Flavour:
Initially mild, but you’ll soon notice a delicious “proper sausage” flavour washing over your tastebuds. My first thought was “A little bland” but in a sausage aimed at feeding children you don’t want to pile on the pepper or soak them in salt. It’s, apparently, for “health reasons” whatever that means! The Great Bigs are a flavoursome little number, and you could do much, much worse with your weekly shop.

Shrinkage:
Average weight uncooked – 59g
Average weight cooked – 47g

Shrinkage – 19%

19% puts the Great Big bang in the middle of the shrinkage league table.

Value For Money:
£2.59 for 6 sausages weighing 351g = £7.38 per kg = 43p per snorker.

Quite expensive by weight and not of the same quality as similarly priced local butchers’ bangers. However, you’re paying a premium which goes to a worthy cause so we’ll let them off. All things considered, decent VFM.
　
Through A Child’s Eyes:
The six-year-old sidekick delivered the verdict of “OK. No….Nice!“ on the Great Big sausages. And that’s all he had to say about that. He has a way with words.

And Finally Esther:
A great little banger. When funds permit, I intend to obtain some more and taste-test them directly against some chipolatas from a few local butchers. A slight concern was the rapid transition from “not cooked” to “nearly burnt” which would have ruined the whole test – these were cooked in the standard 1 tbsp of oil, but seemed to reach a tipping point where they suddenly started to colour up at a rapid rate. It was only my anorak-ish constant observation of the cooking process that prevented a smoke alarm moment. My main quibble is the name! They may appear Great Big to a four-year-old, but really they are not. To sum up, the Great Bigs are actually Very Good Little sausages, from a company called….the Good Little Company. Good work chaps, keep it up!

To find out more and see the photos visit http://bangersandsausages.blogspot.com/

Great news!

We won the Pig & Poultry Marketing Award for Innovation in a non-multiple company – how exciting!!

The 2010 Pig & Poultry Marketing Awards took place at the very stylish London Haymarket Hotel on 6th May and we are delighted to have won the Award – Innovation in a non-multiple company. The category was sponsored by Pfizer Animal Health and we got a lovely, shiny new award which we’re very proud of.

The judges were very complimentary about The Good Little Company, they said they really liked the way we are able to combine sourcing of high welfare pigs with healthy eating, nutritional signposting and social responsibility through our partnership with Christian Aid, which they said is a real achievement. The judges have wished us success and hope that more GLC products will follow soon. Many thanks to the judges for choosing us as the winner and for their kind words.

Well done to all of this year’s winners, we hope you all enjoyed the awards ceremony.

A full briefing on the winners will be available in the next edition of Pig & Poultry Marketing with detailed features over the coming year. You can also see the winner listing and photos on line at http://www.farmbusiness.cc.

Yay!!! Thanks to all you lovely people we have just reached a total of 3 million meals donated to the people who need it most!

By buying our Good Little Sausages and Great Big Sausages you are enabling us to helps families such as the Mukango’s in Malawi break free from hunger.

The Mukango family: from left, Faresi, Kesten, Bizwek (15) Hazwel (14) and Chipumulo (12)

Over a decade ago the Mukango’s faced a daily battle with hunger. Determined to free his family from poverty and hunger, the father Kesten along with the help of Christian Aid partner ELDS, learned proper farming techniques, which helped him grow enough food to banish the fear of hunger to history. Seeds, tools, advice and a treadle pump enabled the Mukango’s to grow a second crop, and increase their yield each time. A few years later he led an irrigation scheme – in partnership with ELDS and the Malawian government’s Ministry of Agriculture – that helped his community bring water down from the mountains to the fields below, so they could water their crops all year round and not have to rely on the unreliable rains.

Now the Mukango’s not only have enough to eat, but enough left over to sell to pay for their children’s school fees and improve their home. Kesten is building a new house with a tin roof that won’t leak, his family are now well dressed and hopes for the children’s futures look bright. When eldest daughter Dolika qualified for secondary school the precious opportunity was lost as the family could not afford the fees. Instead she married young. But nowadays, thanks to the project, Biswek – the couple’s second son at 15 – is in secondary school and about to complete his form 2 exams, and his father is visually bursting with pride.

Kesten (foreground, blue shirt) and Faresi (far ground, white headscarf) in their fields where they grow 11 different types of crops.

As you can see, supporting the Good Little Company translates into so much more than providing meals to the hungry. With your backing we are helping to lift people out of bitter poverty and hunger, ensuring farmers like Kesten can grow enough to make a profit and improve the lives of their families for good – so thankyou!

Good news GLC sausage lovers!

Great Big Sausages and Good Little Sausages are currently on promotion in Waitrose stores! Get your hands on a pack of our super yummy, healthy sausages for just £2!

Enjoy!

P.S. Don’t forget you can freeze our sausages – so why not buy a pack for now and a pack for later and pop one in the freezer for sausage emergencies!

We got an exciting delivery in the post today – a crocodile!

Yes a crocodile!

Not just any crocodile – our very own Good Little Company crocodile Herbie!

The lovely folks at furrytails who specialise in bespoke hand made soft toys made him especially for us – thanks furrytails we love him!

Woooo hooooo! Yeeeee haaaa!

You’ve done it!

Thanks to all our lovely customers we’ve managed to donate a whopping 2 million meals to the people who need it most – yipee!

Everyone at GLC HQ is delighted and we just want to say massive thanks to all our customers and well wishers for their support, we’ve had lots of lovely emails, letters and calls this year and we look forward to hearing from lots more people in 2010.

Best wishes for 2010 from all of us at The Good Little Company x

Christmas is getting very close and at GLC HQ we are all getting in the festive mood, wearing santa hats and whistling Christmas songs while we work!

We know not everyone is going to be having lots of fun this Christmas, that’s why we’ve doubled our donations to Christian Aid for December, so everytime someone buys a pack of our sausages we’re donating 28 staple meals to the people who need it most.

Thanks so much to everyone who has been buying our sausages, so far we’ve donated a whopping 1,793,375 meals. Fingers crossed with your help we’ll be hitting 2 million meals very soon!

We hope that maybe you’ll have some tasty Good Little Sausages with your turkey dinner on Christmas day or have some Great Big Sausages for Boxing day brunch and someone else will benefit whilst you have some yummy sausages.

Wishing you a very happy Christmas from all The Good Little Company team!

Everyone at GLC HQ loves Christmas! But we all agree it can be hard work trying to think of exciting and inventive gift ideas for all our friends and family. That’s where Christian Aid comes in!

Present Aid by Christian Aid is an ingenious catalogue filled with fantastic present ideas.

There are presents to suit all budgets and all ages. If you need a present for a keen gardener you can buy a watering can for £12, seeds and tools for £18 or even plant a forest for just £30. Or if you’re searching for the perfect pressie for a teacher you can furnish a classroom for £51, supply a teacher for a term for £96. Other great gifts include a beehive for £24, a flood survival kit for £20, 16 ducks for £25, we especially love the 3 pigs for £24 and the 80 meals for just £10.

The person who you buy the gift for will receive a nice card telling them what you have donated on their behalf and how communities in the developing world will benefit.

So rather than trawling the shops and spending hours in queues this festive season, stay in, light the fire, put your feet up and relax with a nice cup of hot chocolate (or maybe a glass mulled wine if you’re a grown up!) and buy some great presents online, by phone or by post from the Present Aid catalogue. Not only will your present be completely different you will be making a real difference to the people who need it most this Christmas.

Whatever you buy, the money received is directed to one of five project funds: Agriculture and livestock, Emergency and disaster, Healthcare, including HIV, Training and education or Water and environment.

To give something unexpected this Christmas visit http://www.presentaid.org/ or call 0845 3300500

(Please make sure you place your order by 12th December)

From 9th – 16th December lots of lovely people will be taking part in the Christian Aid bike ride from London to Copenhagen for the UN Climate Change Conference.

Sponsorship raised for cycling the 140 mile journey in 3 days will go to help Christian Aid’s work in developing countries whilst is also raising awareness of climate change which is likely to affect poorer countries more than us.

Ben, who’s just turned 15, is taking part and paying for his own tour costs so that every penny raised goes direct to Christian Aid.

We think this is fantastic!

If you’d like to support Ben please click on the link below to sponsor him http://www.justgiving.com/Ben-Tait?ref=nf

Or to find out more please see http://www.christianaid.org.uk/images/london-copenhagen-brochure.pdf

Good luck to Ben and all those taking part!

By the time Christmas comes we’re hoping to have donated 2 million staple meals to the people who need it most, so we’ve decided to double our donations for December. Every time someone buys of pack of Good Little Sausages or Great Big Sausages we’re donating 28 staple meals through Christian Aid.

As part of our drive to get to 2 million meals by Christmas we’re also running competitions on a number of radio stations across the UK. Our prize which is perfect for sausage lovers, includes a cast iron griddle pan, a sausage cookery book, some sausage turning tongs and a £10 Waitrose voucher so you can purchase some Good Little Sausages or Great Big Sausages.

Here’s a list of some of the radio stations taking part incase you want to try your luck at the competition.

Aston FM Birmingham
Metro Radio Tyne & Wear
96.4 The Eagle Guildford, Surrey
96.4 FM The Wave Swansea
Premier Christian Radio Greater London
Swansea Sound
Minster FM York
Waves Radio Peterhead
107.6 Kestrel FM Basingstoke
Radio Maldwyn Magic 756 Mid-Wales
Sovereign Radio 107.5 East Sussex
107 The Bee Blackburn, Hyndburn & The Ribble Valley
Radio Jackie South West London and Surrey
107.9 Bath FM Bath & North East Somerset

Last week we went to the Northern Ireland Food and Drink Association annual dinner and we had a really lovely time!

Thanks very much to NIFDA Chairman, Richard Moore for being so kind as to mention us reaching 1 million meals donated in his opening speech and also to Michael Bell, Executive Director who took the time to have a photo taken. We also want to say a big and well done and a huge thankyou to Joan Sherman, PA to the Director for organising such an enjoyable and successful event!

This Sunday 18th October the Christian Aid team in Belfast are having their Annual Laganside walk and we would like to encourage as many people as possible to come along!

Registration is taking place from 2.30-3.00pm at the visitors’ centre adjacent to Lock-Keeper’s Cottage and parking is available at Cooke/Inst. Rugby Club Car park (access on left past Ramada Hotel, Shaws Bridge).

Absolutely everyone is welcome and the route is suitable for buggies and wheelchairs and just incase it’s a chilly day there’ll be some well deserved coffee to warm you up plus entertainment at the Lock-Keeper’s Cottage!

To take part it’s just £5 per adult and £10 per family – well worth it to help the world’s poorest people whilst having a nice Sunday stroll.

If you would like to register early or find out more about sponsorship details please contact Ann McIntyre at Christian Aid’s Belfast Office on 02890 381204 or email (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Really hope to see you all there!

We are absolutely delighted to announce that thanks to all our very lovely customers and our friends at Christian Aid we have now donated over 1 million staple meals to the people who need it most – yipee!!

Huge thanks to everyone who has bought our sausages, because for every pack sold we give someone in a developing country the means to grow enough food to have a staple meal, every day for two weeks, that means that 14 staple meals are donated everytime someone buys a pack of our sausages!

We’re not just stopping at 1 million meals – we hope that with your help we will have donated 2 million staple meals by Christmas!

If you’d like us to donate a meal (or 4!) on your behalf, for free, then please follow us on twitter, become a fan on Facebook, join our email mailing list or post our video on your blog (don’t forget to email us to let us know you’ve posted it on your blog). We don’t even mind if you trick us by doing all 4 — in fact, if you do, we’ll donate 4 meals on your behalf!

If you’d like to find out more about Christian Aid and their Poverty Over campaign visit http://www.christianaid.org.uk/

A big GLC hello and thank you to all our new customers who have taken the time to get in touch and tell us what you think of our sausages. We are delighted to receive your feedback and it is wonderful to know that so many people are enjoying our tasty sausages and supporting our partnership with Christian Aid.

Thanks to all of you lovely people it is hoped that by next week we will have donated over 1 million staple meals to the people who need it most!

Many thanks from The Good Little Company, Christian Aid and of course from all the people you are feeding!

We all had a wonderful time at Garden Gourmet!

Thanks to everyone who came to see us and who tried Good Little Sausages and Great Big Sausages, we’re delighted that you enjoyed our sausage samples and the tasty hotdogs too. Thanks for all the lovely feedback and positive comments, it makes it all worthwhile!

We especially want to say a big Good Little Company hello! to our two facebook fans who were first to our stand when the event opened on Saturday. We were over the moon to meet Good Little Company fans and to know that other people are as excited about the launch of Great Big Sausages as we are! You made our day thankyou!

(If anyone else wants to become a fan you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter)

Happy eating to all of you who bought packs of our sausages over the weekend we hope you’ll love them!

We are delighted to announce that The Good Little Company is going national!

Good Little Sausages and Great Big Sausages are launching in 150 Waitrose stores across the UK today – we are VERY excited!

We really hope that the nice Waitrose customers will enjoy them as much as our lovely customers in Northern Ireland do.

(Details of the 150 Waitrose stores will be added to our website very soon!)

We’re at Garden Gourmet in Botanic Gardens in Belfast this weekend, it’s on Saturday 19th & Sunday 20th from 12.30-6pm both days.

The event is packed with lots of lovely food, pretty flowers and plants as well as music and entertainment, cooking demonstrations, craft stalls, plus face painting and a magic show. Entry costs £3 for adults, £2 for concessions and under 16’s go free!

We’re very excited that we’ll be showing off our nice new packaging for Good Little Sausages and what’s even more exciting is that Great Big Sausages will be making their first debut in Northern Ireland!

During Garden Gourmet we’re doing a super duper sausage offer where you can buy two packs of our tasty sausages and an eco-friendly Good Little Bag for just £5. Oh and incase anyones hungry we’ll be selling yummy hotdogs too!

Hope to see you there!

Great news for all Good Little Sausage fans – we are delighted to announce that Good Little Sausages are now on sale in 6 lovely Spar stores. Yippee!

Good Little Sausages are currently on sale in the following Spar stores:

• Ashury
• Brackenvale
• Dundonald
• Malone Road
• Rathgael
• Templepatrick

We’re crossing our fingers Good Little Sausages will be flying off the shelves and that soon they’ll be rolled out to lots more Spar stores all over Northern Ireland – we’ll be sure to keep you posted!

We are delighted to announce that since launching The Good Little Company in April this year we have donated over half a million staple meals (601,286 staple meals to be precise!) to the people who need it most.

The 5p we donate to Christian Aid every time we sell a pack of Good Little Sausages means that we are able to help lots of families, so we’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has bought our tasty sausages and supported Christian Aid’s food security projects. Not only have you been eating healthy, wholesome, super yummy sausages you have been assisting people in developing countries such as Malawi to grow their own crops to feed themselves and their families!

We would also like to say a big well done and a massive thank you to the NI Scrambles Club who have played a key role in enabling us to help so many people, the NI Scrambles Club event held on our grounds in June raised a whopping £1400!!

Pictured above: The Good Little Company visiting Forthill Farm to present a nice shiny cup to John Adams, chairman of Castlewellan Show along with Kenny Gracey, Forthill Farm and some of his lovely rare breed Saddleback pigs.

We’re all really looking forward to the Castlewellan & District 42nd Annual Agricultural Show takes place this Saturday 18th July 2009 at Castlewellan Forest Park.

There’ll be plenty to see and do; classes for cattle, sheep, pigs, horses, ponies, donkeys, goats, poultry and dogs, plus family fun competitions, a craft marquee and food marquee as well as a wide range of rural pursuits including sheep shearing, stick making, vintage tractors, birds of prey, archery and bee keeping and lots, lots more…

The Good Little Company is delighted to sponsor the Pig class and support the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. Remember to look out for our nice shiny cup which they’ll be presenting on the day.
If you’d like to find out more have a look at:

http://www.castlewellanshow.com/

http://www.rbst.org.uk/

Photo of a pupil from Oakwood Integrated Primary School, Dunmurry, Belfast enjoying Good Little Sausages

The Good Little Company recently supported a brilliant initiative organised by South Eastern Health & Social Trust (Health Development Dept) and Colin Neighbourhood Partnership. The aim of the “Take your parent/carer to school day” event was to promote health and well being within the communities in the Colin area of Belfast. The P1 children in seven schools; The Good Shepherd Primary School, Christ The Redeemer Primary School, St Mark’s Primary School, St Kieran’s Primary School, Scoil Na Fuiseoige (Irish School), Oakwood Integrated Primary School, St Luke’s Primary School had lots of fun taking part.

The event included physical activities such as Kung Fu classes and mini circuit training giving parents and children the chance to get fit together whilst having fun. The children then made healthy smoothies, for themselves and their parents, and enjoyed the “Wally and wise” puppet show which was held by action cancer to teach them in a fun way the damages of smoking and not covering up in the sun.

Next came our Good Little Sausages which had the children (and adults) queuing up for second helpings – we’re delighted everyone enjoyed them! After the sausages the children were shown a presentation from the dental hygienist on how to care for their teeth and they all received new toothbrushes.

At the end of the day the children returned to their classrooms and their parents were able to look at the displays and talk to Community Reps on programmes taking place in their communities.

Feedback from parents, schools and teachers involved has shown the event was a huge success so well done to South Eastern Health & Social Trust (Health Development Dept), Colin Neighbourhood Partnership, the schools and everyone who took part. We really hope all the children and their parents will continue to enjoy keeping fit and eating healthily – especially now they all know they that fitness can be fun and healthy food can be tasty!

For all you Good Little Sausages fans there’s a special promotion in Tesco NI stores from 1st – 21st July where you get your hands on 2 packs of our super tasty, healthy Good Little Sausages for just £3.50 (saving a whopping £1.48!). So if you love them lots and lots or you’re having a BBQ or you want an extra pack to pop in the freezer for emergencies or maybe you haven’t tried them before then now is the time to get some!! Enjoy!

It’s the Sea Bangor Festival this weekend Saturday 13th – Sunday 14th June and we think it’s going to be a fantastic, fun packed weekend for the whole family to enjoy!

There’ll be lots of exciting things to see and do, why not step aboard the Tall Ship ‘Thalassa’, have a look at the model boats, learn something new and interesting in the Curiosity Spot or enjoy the nautical street theatre. Children are sure to have lots of fun playing in the Kids Tent and the Food Tent will definitely have some tasty delights on offer.

If you’re in the Food Tent be sure to pop by and say hello to our lovely friends from The Bay Tree Holywood, they’re selling our healthy Good Little Sausages in yummy hotdogs or if you fancy something sweet make sure you try the cinnamon scones!

This is sure to be a terrific event and it’s FREE!!

It’s on from 10am-6pm both days, for more details contact Bangor Tourist Information Centre on 028 9127 0069 or email (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

http://www.baytreeholywood.co.uk

http://www.northdown.gov.uk

The Northern Ireland Classic Scrambles club has organised a two-day charity motocross event on Friday 12th & Saturday 13th June and we are delighted that they have decided to donate all profits from the weekend to our lovely friends at Christian Aid!

The event is being held at the Finnebrogue estate (near Killyleagh) which boasts massive acreage of rolling hills – perfect for vintage and classic motocross! It is hoped the event will attract an International field of competitors for what is becoming one of the fastest growing sports in the province with rider numbers increasing almost 3 fold in the last year. Up to 100 Riders are expected from Scotland, England and the Republic of Ireland to join the local boys as they take on the spectacular County Down terrain.

A full racing program has been put in place including Grade A, B and C pre77, pre 68, 500cc and 250cc classes as well as full junior and Sidecar support races. Racing on Friday evening is scheduled for a 6:00pm start through until 9:00pm and Saturday racing should commence at 11:00am until approximately 5:00pm. Please note that the Saturday competition will form part of the Norman Watt Classic Championship so points are available to all club members, while prizes will also be awarded for aggregate performances over the two days as usual.

Catering Facilities are expected for both days and camping is available.

Further information about the N.I Classic Scrambles Club can be obtained from the club on 028 91872958 or the Secretary Davy Buckley 07775653940.

Pictured in the photo (left to right) is Ex GP rider Laurence Spence (Riding on Friday evening) Sidecar crew is Peter and Michael Buckley, Arthur McMullan, and NI Classic Scrambles chairman Tom Rutherford. Photo taken at Finnebrogue Estate by Trevor Lindsay.

http://www.niclassicscramblesclub.com

We’re loving the work of super-happy Belfast-based clothing company Tee and Toast, especially the nod towards cult Norn Iron food. Who doesn’t want to declare their appreciation of toasted Veda on a t-shirt? Get down to St.George’s Market on a Saturday and peruse their wares or buy online.

Come and visit us at the Balmoral Show next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (13th – 15th May). You can find us at the Food Pavillion at stand FP13. We’ll be doing tastings of our lovely Good Little Sausages and we even have a special show offer of 2 packs of Good Little Sausages with an eco-friendly Good Little Bag all for just £5!

We also want to hear your thoughts on what products we should be launching next – so we’re leaving it up to you – the discerning (and handsome) public to cast the final vote on which product gets made next. By voting you also have a chance of winning some Good Little Goodies too.

Hope to see you there!

All of us in GLC HQ were moaning about how we should be fitter and healthier. Then the answer came to us… it was in our own back garden. We decided to climb the highest peak in Northern Ireland, Slieve Donard and raise some money for Christian Aid week while we were at it. So an energetic(ish) bunch of men, women and children set off on Saturday morning for a fun day of walking in the scenic Mourne mountains of County Down.

Some of us made it half-way until parental duties kicked in and the kids gave the parents an excuse to head back down. Seventeen brave souls carried onwards and upwards, only stopping at the Mourne wall for a wee picnic of tea and choccy biscuits to help keep the energy levels up. When we finally we made to the top the views were stunning – Wicklow hills to the south and Scottish highlands to the east. It was well worth the wobbly legs.

A special mention must go to Tara (10) and Sara (14) the youngest members of our team to make the 849m hike to the very top! And of course to Lucia the only one of our factory staff to make it the whole way to the top. Well done everyone!

(Oh and by the way Dom fell in the river on the way back down but don’t tell him I told you!)

We’re currently twisting arms and raiding piggy banks for sponsorship money, we’ll keep you posted on the amount raised once we’ve counted the final pennies.

A fantastically sausagey time was had by all at the launch of the Good Little Company at Nick’s Warehouse. There was a great atmosphere and lots of lovely compliments. We really appreciate the support from everyone who came. You can see more photos from the party here

Special mentions and big thanks go to:

- The lovely team from Atto for all their help in making sure everything looked great and that the party ran smoothly.

- Nick from Nick’s Warehouse and all his brilliant staff for the very tasty Good Little Hotdogs and the Good Little Sausages with onion gravy and mash and let’s not forget the yummy jelly and ice cream!

- Deborah Doherty from Christian Aid Ireland for her ongoing encouragement and for her inspirational speech about the amazing work that Christian Aid does.

- Sharon Gilmore from Food Standards Agency NI for her support and guidance and also for her kind words at our launch party.

Look out for the GLC giveaway roadshow – we’re at Springhill Tescos in Bangor tomorrow from 2-6pm so come and get some free Good Little Sausages and have a chat.

We are very proud of our Good Little Sausages and one day during a taste panel we thought to ourselves – these sausages are so good they deserve an award!

So, we entered a competition.

We entered the Northern Ireland food and drinks industry (NIFDA) awards; they’re a bit like the Oscars but with more tractors in the car park. (Only joking – it’s quite fancy really).

The Good Little Company team all got dressed up nice and went along to the awards ceremony at the Ramada hotel in Belfast, where we had the red carpet treatment. We were so excited and nervous some of us could hardly eat our dinner! When it came to the results for our category, Best New Product Small Company, we all held our breath. Our fingers (and toes) were crossed the whole time and it paid off!

We won Highly Commended. Hooray!

The judges said our sausages have “good texture and flavour,” are “good for kids” and taste “delicious.”

We’re absolutely delighted to have won such a prestigious award. We got presented with a lovely glass award and we keep it pride of place in our office. It’s great to get recognition for all the hard work that has taken place to develop the Good Little Company brand and the innovation behind Good Little Sausages.

Think big, act small; that’s what we always say!

Yikes. A giant Dalek has appeared on Black Mountain. Fear not, apparently it’s made of bed sheets and is a stunt for a sci-fi convention being held in Belfast. Nice work!

(via BBC news)

Get the tent out! I don’t believe there is a better combination than camping and cakes. We can’t wait to try out these mini citrus campfire cakes from Alicia Lynn Carrier – they look so simple and fun to make.

Victor and Susie is a children’s book from design studio Brighten the Corners, illustrated entirely from type. It tells the story of Victor the snail, who has a hole in his shell – and Susie, his friend, who nurses him back to health with steady supply of love and lettuce…

The book is available in bookshops or from the Brighten the Corners online shop (£5).

We love getting our hands dirty and now that the sun is starting to creep out from behind the winter clouds it’s time to get stuck into making the garden a haven of colour and healthy things.

There’s nothing more satisfying than cooking the food you’ve grown yourself and watching your garden bloom. There are lots of ideas on how to get the whole family involved at www.gardeningwithchildren.co.uk and the BBC website.

You can even try out your ideas with a virtual garden before you start digging

(Our favourites are peas in the pod).

The Festival of Fools is will be making Belfast’s collective jaw drop in amazement from Thur 30 April to Mon 4 May as the festival’s kooky characters infiltrate the city centre.

The chaos begins in Writer’s Square, opposite St. Anne’s Cathedral, on the evening of Thur 30 April with a contemporary telling of Don Quixote performed by one man and his mechanical fire breathing horse.

Get lost in the centrepiece of this year’s Festival – a giant installation of a maze, populated by bizarre characters, the City Hall lawns.

Keep your eyes peeled at Victoria Square for a family of mountain gorillas, living gargoyles, a band of surreal musicians, mythical creatures and even a Man in a Box.

All street performances are free and there are spellbinding theatre events too. For more info on who’s doing what when and where tel. 028 9033 3003 or check out http://www.foolsfestival.com.