Award-winning local PR and journalist Amanda Chalmers is teaming up with one of her longstanding clients to host the first in a series of brand new workshops to support small and independent businesses.
PR & Pies, hosted by The Fleur de Lys pub in Lowsonford, is offering the exclusive two-hour workshop with Chalmers News PR, which promises to empower entrepreneurs with valuable PR top tips and strategies to adopt for their own brands.
The intimate session, which is limited to 15 people, includes a short presentation followed by guaranteed one-on-one time with Amanda. She will give valuable insight and guidance that will directly benefit your brand, including essential tips on press release writing, how to get published and how to then capitalise on the exposure.
And, following this, you get to reward yourself with a delicious pie of your choice from the award-winning Fleur de Lys menu, as well as a welcome hot drink.
Since its launch, in Warwick, in 2018, Chalmers News PR has gone on to win a series of national business awards, including being listed among the Top 10 in the ‘Best Business From Home’ category at the recent UK Business Awards.
She spent 30 years working in the regional press, culminating with a five-year stint in the Stratford-Upon-Avon Herald editor’s chair between, before launching her agency, which specialises in affordable cross-sector PR for small businesses and start-ups as well as charities and not-for-profits.
Amanda worked on newsdesks in and around Warwickshire, including the former Nuneaton Tribune and Rugby Advertiser, and, as deputy editor at The Daventry Express and Buckingham and Winslow Advertiser series before joining the Herald.
She said: “This workshop has been a long time coming and is my response to increasing demand. Working predominantly with small and independent businesses and organisations, I know the dilemma they face when it comes to balancing the importance of PR against the costs involved.
“However, my USP has always been to keep fees affordable to the smaller businesses who most benefit from the extra visibility. And this workshop is the next step in doing just that. For just £25 you will walk away feeling emboldened to start introducing your own PR techniques and learn the essentials for a press release that will get noticed by journalists!
The Fleur de Lys, which sits on the banks of the Stratford Canal, has a rich pie-making history now famous the world over. The Grade II listed pub first began serving pies through the kitchen hatch during the 1950s, drawing crowds from all over the Midlands to sample the finest steak and kidney or chicken and mushroom pies. The pub also went on to supply its pies to chip shops all over the county, becoming a staple treat for many.
But in 1964 the original pie recipe was sold to Avana Meat Products in South Wales, who were subsequently absorbed by Premier Foods.
Determined to keep the pie legacy alive, under the auspices of current landlords Emma and Nick Woodhouse, in 2018 The Lowsonford Pie Company was born, the Fleur de Lys pies continuing tradition and once again becoming sought after – handmade and served from the Fleur De Lys kitchen for both dining in and takeaway.
Many of the recipes have gone on to win a raft of national Pie Awards as well as the inn itself being named Pub of the Year in last year’s Coventry and Warwickshire Foodie Awards.
The PR and Pies workshop is a first for both brands and forms part of a series of collaborations by the pub with local businesses.
Emma said: “Having worked with Amanda for the last two years, we have firsthand experience of how invaluable her PR skills and expertise are for small businesses like ours. That old saying about learning how to shout about yourself because no one else will falls on deaf ears as Amanda is always in our corner, always shouting about us and, most importantly, getting heard by media outlets who know and trust her.
“It’s an honour to be hosting this PR & Pies Workshop because we know it’s going to be a business-altering two hours for founders and creatives who are looking to get themselves heard in our noisy modern world. Take it from us: there’s no one better to guide you through the PR process than Amanda.”
To book your place on the workshop, on June 10th, visit HERE.
