Month: April 2023

A packed day of summer fun and entertainment has been announced with the launch of a brand new festival for south Warwickshire.

An all-day line-up of live musicians will take centre stage in Napton-on-the-Hill all performing their own music for the Cidery’s Hillside Jamm event, near the Cidery, on July 29^th.

As well as Napton Cidery’s range of ciders, the event will feature stalls selling a variety of festival goods and mementoes plus the chance to buy from some of the best food and drink producers in the area, including Purity in Alcester; Windmill Hill Brewers in Leamington; Tacos El Pap in Southam and Red Bangers and Water Buffalo Ice cream – made from locally-reared water buffalo – both from Napton.

It will also be an opportunity to sample the Cidery’s new limited-edition 2022 Vintage Perry Cider.

Visitors can buy festival merchandise – including T-shirts – and enjoy fun-themed stalls as well as a host of family activities to keep the youngsters entertained, including magicians and face painters.

Co-owner of the Cidery, Jolyon Olivier, said he hopes Hillside Jamm can become a permanent fixture on the local calendar. “It should be a great fun day out. The festival has got something for everyone and is family-friendly, with plenty going on with local music, food, entertainment and traders.”

Central to Napton’s growing popularity among customers is its strong sustainability ethos, from harvesting through to packaging. All of its apples come from traditional unsprayed orchards, organic and biodiverse growers, so no unnatural chemicals are introduced into the ecosystem. The cider is also naturally fermented using only wild yeasts and packaged in recyclable materials and all ingredients sourced as locally as possible.

In keeping with this ethos, the festival is also banning single-use plastics and all visitors will receive a branded reusable cup to use throughout the day. The event is also donating one pound from every ticket sold to the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust.

Jolyon added: “It is important that, as a business, we move with the times and we care about our planet. We want to go into a field and then leave it the way we found it. There’s only so much planet and we all have to do our bit for it. One of the requirements for businesses to attend the festival is that their packaging is compostable. This is our way of giving back to nature what we’ve taken from fruit.”

Headliners for the musical line-up include the award-winning husband and wife duo When Rivers Meet, supported throughout the day by local and UK bands, including Loveday, from Leamington; Clemency Duo, from Leamington; The Hatstand Band from Rugby; The Folly Brothers from Napton and The Collective, fronted by the Cidery’s own taproom host Nick Geden.

The festival runs between 11am and 11pm but camping is also available overnight on Friday and Saturday for £20per pitch. Early bird admission tickets at £32 for adults and £16 for 15-17-year-olds are available now for a limited time. Under 15s go free.

Donna Hook, of the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, said: “We are delighted to attend the festival and are pleased to see the work Napton Cidery have done to promote sustainability at their event.  The Trust will be available at the event for people to find out more about how they can support wildlife in their area and make a difference to their environment.”

The taproom also hosts regular quiz nights, live music, stand-up comedy and cider tasting tours.

To book for Hillside Jamm and see Napton Cidery’s upcoming events calendar visit here

A south Warwickshire woman who helped navigate her new boss’s business through the challenges of lockdown, has been named among the winners of a national awards celebrating female achievers.

Hayley Alexander, from Welford, won the Ladies First Professional Development Awards Excellence In Marketing category after judges heard from Shakespeare Media CEO Vicki Bravington about how she’d helped to take the company from near closure to the multi-million-pound agency it is today. This was despite starting her role there just three months before the pandemic struck.

Vicki said: “Having hit the ground running and learning everything there possibly was about a new industry within a short period of time, Hayley was then put on furlough for 12 months. Upon returning the landscape had completely changed and the ways to market a business had changed, therefore Hayley was starting from scratch again.

“It was touch and go as to whether Shakespeare Media could find its new feet and survive. But thankfully down to the determination of myself and Hayley we did not let this happen.

“Hayley adapted herself and put her heart and soul into finding solution for new clients after coming through a very tricky period. She was instrumental in us winning some very large contracts and fully exceeding their expectations and marketing results.”

She added: “Hayley is a dream – she is passionate, committed, determined and positive. We have had an extremely difficult few years with advertising being the first thing that clients sadly scale back on, but Hayley has always found a different solution that works for them.”

Thirty-three-year-old Hayley grew up in Wellesbourne before moving to Stratford, and enjoyed a nine-year career in local radio prior to embarking on a new challenge at Shakespeare Media, in Atherstone On Stour.

She was among 35 winners who were selected from hundreds of nominations across the UK at a glittering awards ceremony, hosted at Coombe Abbey Hotel in Coventry last month.

Looking back, Hayley said: “It was incredibly difficult. I’d been at Shakespeare Media for just three months and then suddenly the world stopped and this job that I was just beginning to grow into, was halted. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. However, I knew that I had to be proactive, so I used it as an opportunity to upskill and learn more/teach myself about digital marketing and social media advertising.

Reacting to her award, she added: “I’m incredibly proud to win. It’s a very special moment for me and it marks an amazing three years at Shakespeare Media. To be recognised in this way, by my peers, is humbling.

“I truly LOVE my job. I’m so passionate about what we do and I’m very lucky to work with incredible clients & businesses who put a lot of trust in me. My colleagues at Shakespeare Media are the best in the business. The passion that we all have for what we do is palpable. It’s a privilege to work alongside them.

“My ambition is to help grow Shakespeare Media. We already do amazing things every day, as a small team, but there is so much more that we can do. I never want to stop learning.”

Other winners from south Warwickshire were: Emily Biddle who was awarded Business Woman of the Year for Emily Jayne Hair & Beauty, in Southam; Sue Ford from ActionCOACH in Warwick (Achieves Through Networking); Lisa Devine, Therapy & Fitness Centre, Leamington (Excellence In Health & Wellbeing); Kate Wilson of Medics to Medics, from Kenilworth (Woman of Courage); Charlotte Pitts, HR Consultants, from Stratford (Service Provider of the Year); Jayne Scandrett and Jane Medd, Justina and Dice, from Wellesbourne and Shipston (Service Provider of the Year – Retail); Sarah Day, One Day Film Productions, from Henley-in-Arden (Unique Business); Leanne Horne, Air Aesthetics, from Henley-in-Arden (Rising Star) and former Stratford Herald editor Amanda Chalmers, Director of Chalmers News PR in Warwick. (Excellence In Media)

Hayley’s recent success keeps the award in the Shakespeare Media family following Vicki Bravington’s win in the same category last year.

Vicki established media planning and independent buying agency Shakespeare Media in 2014 working with local and national brands such as the RSC, Warwickshire College Group, The Jockey Club including the Cheltenham Festival and Randox Grand National, Bell Court Shopping Centre and Michelin Star restaurants.