This is something I posted a few months ago from the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation after I attended their Christmas Event & Art Auction in London.

I was thinking of it because I saw on Michelle Desilets' Facebook (Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation) that they had just taken in a 2 month old Orangutan off the palm oil plantations where his mum had been killed. she has since reported that he is starting to eat and drink, but will need years of care and then somewhere to go back to....

We have become so distant from where our food comes from and how what we do and what we eat has an impact somewhere else. Seems we cant do much for ourselves anymore, and yet in the 1940s during the war everyone got by and 'made do and mend'. We have lost so much and it seems we are about to lose something even more catastrophic...the lungs of our planet and the last of the Orangutans and all sub species in the rainforest.....let's hope that that margarine or eye make up was worth it....

Anne Frank said "How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."

And from Jane Goodall, who I had the pleasure to meet last year, "Let us remember, always, that we are the consumers. By exercising free choice, by choosing what to buy, what not to buy, we have the power, collectively to change the ethics of the business of industry. We have the potential to exert immense power for good—we each carry it with us, in our purses, cheque books, and credit cards."

I ponder when people cast(e) themselves by what they wear or where they go, or who they hang out with, because when it comes down to it, that's just nonsense, and it's a poor example to set our kids. maybe the tide can turn, because it needs to, and very very soon...

Watch this youtube video and see what we are doing, by being silent and complicit in our weekly shopping:

http://www.savetheorangutan.org.uk/

Jane of Little Satsuma wins title of one of Future 100! Yey!

Well what a lovely award to have. After a great year, raising awareness and taking onboard a national animal charity to our products....we get this!!!!

Little did I think as that crackers 12 year old in 1988 who joined Greenpeace and who stood (and then fainted!) in the drama theatre at school campaigning to stop people using CFCs and stop the whaling in international waters that things would have had turned out like this.....funny the paths we take, and how they lead us to where we were always supposed to be, no matter the diversions we take........

At Striding Out we searched for talented young entrepreneurs aged 18-35 who are demonstrating entrepreneurial flair and innovation in progressing a responsible business venture to celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week 2008 -17th - 21st November.

Our definition of responsible business, is one which demonstrates a balance between economic, environmental and social goals to achieve ultimate business success. The future of our world is in the hands of individuals who are committed to generating commercial and ethical returns.

"The future of our world is in the hands of individuals who are committed to generating commercial and ethical returns.
Challenging economic times can offer opportunities to question the way we operate as both a business community and a society. Our 'Future 100' young entrepreneurs are changing the face of everyday business and improve commerce's impact on the wider world."

Sydney Cruelty Free Festival 08

Well I haven't put anything on here for ages as I have been caught up with allsorts.

The good news is that the Australian Palm Oil Action Group contacted us to ask for flyers and sample soaps for the annual cruelty free festival in November. In fact I was pleased they even knew we existed!!!!!

Here is what Sydney Time Out said about the event:

http://www.timeoutsydney.com.au

She Suds You - liverpool.com

I chatted to Nicola Mostyn who writes for Liverpool.com
about soaps, the environment, liverpool and all sorts.
the photos were taken at a friend of mine's shop, Landbaby at the Bluecoat.
I thought it came out well and there's been lots of interest since about the soaps and the whole palm oil aspect which is great.
With thousands of American tourists coming in on the Cruiseliner on Wednesday let's hope they go to the Bluecoat and grab some soaps!!!! (:

Somewhere over the....

I saw a rainbow on the way home, a full one, I have never seen one of these before, not only that it was a double rainbow and it was beautiful.

Rising from...well...little ashes

If you had seen Liverpool 10 to 20 years ago you would
not even recognise the place now.
It was on it's knees, written off, down-trodden. There has always been art and culture bubbling away, just hidden away.

I had a cracking conversation with an 81 year old scouser last Friday, he had moved to Buxton 30 years ago and never been back. then that day we met he got in the car and came back home. I told him about what was being built and what had been going on and we had a good chat. I don't know his name but he was a really lovely man.
Since then I have met two more people doing the same and I had good chats with them, them filling me in on some past and me filling them in on some future.

Several years spent with half our city cordoned off behind steel fences. Every day on my way to work I watch the little ants in luminous jackets building us a canal, a new museum, a new pier head. We now have new spaces to sit, chat, eat, converse with strangers and we have the Mersey back again now the fences are down.

We had the launch on Thursday of the UK's first comprehensive exhibition of Klimt, we have a new shopping centre, a new canal, new hotels, a new cruise terminal, people pouring in from Ireland for the weekend. Every Friday walking home I have to navigate the Isle of Man Steam Packet arrivees with their suitcases as they ask directions to here there and everywhere. But it's good to see.

And Mr McCartney is here tonight, and Stella launched her new collection at LIPA today. I find it dead exciting when I think back to decades ago when my Mum used to post out the Beatles fan mail from Heswall Post Office for Paul's Dad.

I left Liverpool in 1999 as the job prospects were fairly dire. I wanted to come home in 2004 when things were still a bit iffy so I did, more than anything I wanted to be back by the sea.

There is a sort of buzz in the air now, a sense that the city is changing, new jobs, new places, new faces. a sort of Phoenix from the Flames. Long may it continue...

Fit for THE Queen

Hello

Well what a day. After a full day at work, I picked up a call to ask if I could bring some soap and other Little Satsuma stuff over for Her Majesty the Queen's personal room that she will be using during her visit to Liverpool tomorrow (Thursday May 22nd).
Well I hit the road and got on the motorway over to Wirral to collect them and then straight back again to deliver them to Carl who was setting it all up at St Georges Hall for Her Majesty.

First I wasn't allowed in by the Police, after that Carl came out to collect them. I really hope she likes them. She will have aloe, goodbye and cucumber on hand tomorrow along with Lavender, Frankincense and Geranium Moisturiser on hand for hands!! She has all you need is lavender to take home and also A little Kelp from my friends which I do hope she gives to the Duke of Edinburgh!

So there we have it, Prince Charles got some on St Georges Day this year and now the Queen.

So we really can say that our soaps are fit for Queens and Kings!!!!! Yee haaaaaaaaaa! Now for a glass of wine....

Great Article in May's Lifescape & Women of The Year Nominations

We had a really good feature after Jane did an interview with journalist Liz Kirchner from the states.

It covered loads about palm oil and some background to LS and it was pretty funny, whilst getting the very serious palm oil message across.

It may come as a suprise to learn that there are Orangutans in your shower. In this case (Little Satsuma soap), a shower with an Orangutan is not only easy, it's fun and it smells terrific! She even covered the bit about giving away my double bed to a local charity (not Oxfam as it said but a charity for people who need furniture but can't afford it) when we started so we had room for more shelves for some stock.

I still can't believe we did that it was a hoot. I used to wake up in the mornings staring at rows of green B&Q shelves!! anyway thank god it's all moved on since then. We all have our own Satsuma sections of the house and my god we need it!!

And p.s thanks to everyone who has nominated me for Business Entrepeneur in Merseyside Women of the Year Awards! fingers crossed they might stick me on the short list!!

I want one of these!!!

I was down at Claire's shop, Landbaby, in the Bluecoat Liverpool and
late afternoon one of the new designers Claire's got in the shop came in.
I can't remember her name but she has set up SewSew as her business and she makes the most amazing things.

She sells them at Claire's shop and online on Etsy, which is a kind of ebay for deisgners and makers to sell their stuff.
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5752278

My fave is this guy the Ninja, I am well getting one of these. She has a yeti one, a dinosaur one and a Mr Mushroom one, plus..a Batman one.

Her handmade bags are also amazing. It's made me think about what Little Satsuma does and how maybe we should branch out into selling small local companies/ designers stuff, such as this. It's top quality, it's handmade with care, love and attention. We all share the same ethics and we all have a passion for handmade things that keep skills and trades that many more people had years ago, things we shouldn't lose.

Anyway I am sure there is more to follow on this one. I am going to put a plan together and have a think!

xx

The Candles are finally here

We can now offer palm oil free candles! We have 4 so far:
Grapefruit, Freshly Washed Linen, Coconut & Vanilla.

The come in either tea lights, tumbler jar or metro jar (pictured here).

Also on the way are more varieties in aluminium tins which will be Cranberry, Satsuma(!) and Almond with more to follow.

Some of them are made by us and some are made by another small business that have been really really helpful to us in our quest to perfect the art of candle making (which is noooo way as easy as you'd think it is). It's good for small businesses to stick together and support one another, I am a strong believer in that.

Anyway we are also just sorting out being able to give donations to the Orangutan Foundation from sales of the candles. More to follow...

OrangAid at London's Lyceum Theatre 12th May 08

Monday, May 12, 2008
7:30pm - 10:30pm

OrangAid will be headlined by Bill Bailey again this year, and also featuring Marcus Brigstocke, Russell Howard, Kevin Eldon, Shappi Khorsandi, and hosted by Dave Johns. All proceeds go to the Sumatran Orangutan Society for conservation projects for the critically endangered Sumatran orangutan.
Buy your tickets at www.ticketmaster.co.uk - search for "OrangAid", or call the Box Office on 020 7420 8113. They expect to sell out, so buy your tickets soon!

We are looking forward to it, me and the lovely Miss Vincent, a good mate of mine are volunteering on the night and there will be Little Satsuma soaps on sale. All proceeds will go to the Sumatran Orangutan Society.

Should be good fun, hopefully see you there! xxx

Hills & Peanuts

Sometimes this venture has been like pushing a peanut up a hill with our noses. Tricky, tiring, but there is a great view to be had at the top when you get there.
We have just got an order for soaps for the England Tourism Awards goodie bags for the event on 23rd April which is really fantastic news.
And The Orangutan Foundation have had a new member sign up through us which makes me very very happy.
We will be at the London WorldFair again in December and lots of other eco events.

And the long awaited palm oil free candles are nearly ready. It sounds simple, melt some wax, put in some scent and let it set.......300 candle trials or so later we think we've got the knack of making a candle that actually smells!

They will also be on sale at my friend's shop at the Bluecoat Centre in central Liverpool. see next blog x

Borneo Orangutan Survival

I have been looking for this to post. It is from the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation and was shown at their Christmas Event & Art Auction which I attended at Flemings.
It really says it all about what is being done to the Orangutans, many other species, local people and their forest home. The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation have teams that rescue Orangutans from the Palm oil plantations and during the de-forestation. http://www.savetheorangutan.org.uk/

Happy New Chinese Year Celebrations 10th Feb 08- Year of the Rat

Happy Chinese New Year for 7th Feb! (:

Am hoping to get along to China Town on Sunday for the New Year Celebrations. This is a big event in Liverpool, everywhere is packed and the atmosphere is really lovely.

Liverpool is home to one of the oldest Chinese communities in Europe. Chinese New Year is celebrated at the Chinese Arch on Nelson Street, and 2008 is the Year of the Rat.

There will be dancing dragons, unicorns and lions, firecracker performances and Tai Chi demonstrations. The event is also a great opportunity to enjoy a variety of Chinese food and traditional New Year's delicacies.

Year of the Rat - gave me a smile too - will be a good year for some men I know (:

imagine

whilst at the Anne Frank+ you exhibition at Liverpool Cathedral I also did some other stuff.

I sneaked a look at our Scouse Soap on sale in the shop ( and earwigged into two tourists laughing at the names which made me smile).

I went and had a look at Anthony Brown's portraits from his '100 Heads thinking as one'. There are a few of the 100 on display, and each portrait has pictures and press cuttings about the subject within the piece. I liked this one of John Lennon.

http://www.100heads.co.uk/

As I live just along from Penny Lane, quite often drive past the church in Woolton where Paul and John first met and live down the road from where they grew up (hence the Fab Four taxi tours can always been seen round and about) I often think how even though we don't realise it, somehow the Beatles are woven into the Tapestry of every Scousers life someway or another. maybe that's why we make Scouse Soap!

seeing through someone else's eyes

Liverpool hosted this years Holocaust Memorial Commemorations throughout January 08. There were some thought provoking exhibitions and events.

I went to Liverpool Cathedral to see the Anne Frank + You exhibition which runs until early Feb. Survivors who came to Liverpool on the Kindertransport to escape persecution and settle with foster families have been talking to school children during the event to give them an insight and remind us of how 'bad things happen when good men fall silent".

Having been ill I intended to just pop into the 'Respectacles' exhibition at the town hall to donate 3 pairs of glasses as they are all going to Vision Aid when the exhibition finishes. But I was drawn into the exhibition and the main hall. It was of thousands of glasses representing different communities who were pulled to pieces during the Third Reich's reign. Some were laid out on a train track to represent the camps and other spelled out the word 'Hope'. It was easily one of the most moving and 'get under your skin' exhibitions I have seen about the subject of the Holocaust and I am proud that Liverpool had the chance to host it.

I am going to Bosnia this year to do holistic treatments at a centre in Sarajevo and other work in local villages with people who suffered during the Balkans conflicts. It really brought home to me seeing this exhibition that the Holocaust was only several decades ago and though we say it must never happen again there are genocides occurring everywhere. We can do our bit, but politicians must do theirs, as actions speak louder than words and also save many more thousands of lives.

One quote from the exhibition stuck out too, it was both sad and optimistic at once, it was found, scrawled on the wall below a Star of David, by American soldiers searching a cellar of a bombed house in one of the war-torn cities of Germany. Whilst I am not religious it seemed very profound in so many ways. It could mean something to so many people in so many different circumstances.
"I believe in the sun, even when it is not shining. I believe in love, even when I do not feel it. I believe in God, even when He is silent."

and to end with some words from Anne Frank,” How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."

Compassionate Shopping Guide - we're in it (:

Little Satsuma and Scouse Soaps are happy to be endorsed in the 2008 Compassionate Shopping Guide from NatureWatch (http://www.naturewatch.org/)
The 80 page pocket size Guide provides a very practical and positive way in which you can make a difference. It clearly lists which products have been developed using recently animal tested ingredients, and covers most personal and household brands in the UK. Through making informed choices, you can use your purchasing power to support companies that have committed to cruelty free - you do have more power than you think!

Cruelty-free shopping needn't be difficult, once you know which companies do have an ethically sound approach to animal testing, and which don't. So keep this essential guide in your shopping bag - don't leave home without it!

Meeting Jane Goodall - Dec 2007

I got to meet Jane Goodall at a lecture at Liverpool University one evening in December 07. I have a quote on the website in 'Poems to Ponder' page, taken from her book 'Reasons for Hope' and she signed the book for me.
She is one of my heroes and so I was soooo pleased to share the same air as her for just a short time. One of Leakey's Angels she headed off to live in the middle of nowhere in Africa to study chimps. Only 5 days later I was in Mayfair at the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation Christmas Event and there she was sending a video message to us all!!

Just a shame I look like a right wally on the photo! (:

Lords & Ladies - Liverpool Theatre Network

Liverpool Theatre Network - Lords & Ladies. (with Duncan in an Orangutan Suit hired from the Orangutan Foundation (OF).
Thanks for Frank and everyone else we raised some money for the OF too.

info stand and free samples!

having a few days off the day job I have been rummaging around my photos this morning before I head off out.
Liverpool Theatre Network staged a performance of Terry Pratchett's (himself a Trustee of the Orangutan Foundation) and they hired the Foundations Orangutan Outfit which the poor actor had to sweat in throughout the whole performance on a hot summer evening.
We gave out leaflets and sample soaps and the programs had info about the Orangutan Foundation and why they need support.

a message from above (on the ceiling that is)

I did the London Worldfair for the first time in
December 07.
One of the weirdest weekends ever.
Friday I went to a leaving party and had a drink, did a radio talk show on Radio Merseyide, left there at 12am, went to bed a 1am. Got up at 4.30am on Saturday and packed the car and drove to London to do the Worldfair.
I drank redbull and was ill for a week after!
Left London at 6pm, got to Liverpool 10.30pm.
Had tea. went to bed. got up next day (Sunday), packed all the web orders and headed back to London at 1pm to get to an Orangutan Fundraiser event for 6.30pm.
The event finished about 10.30pm and we drove back to Liverpool again!
I had sea sickness by the end of it but it was well worth it.

And in the midst of that weekend, I looked over to the wall opposite me at the Worldfair (my stand was on the balcony) and saw this message as you can see on the photo. A message we should all take in and food for thought. I kept looking at it during the course of the day in between reading my newly signed Jane Goodall book 'A Reason for Hope' - and thinking about it indeed there are many reasons for hope, you just have to look for them and make them happen.

Girls Make Your Mark

Playing 'What's my line' at a really good event from the
Liverpool Make Your Mark Team. Held at Aintree Racecourse for about 200 girls from various schools on Merseyside. Hopefully it got some of them thinking about what they want to do and what they are capable of acheiving.

Ethical Consumer = Happy Little Satsuma

one of the best bits of 2007 was getting rated as a best buy in
Ethical Consumer in Sept/ Oct 07.

the latest addition...

in homage to Liverpool the 'Little Apple' is our apple, frankincense and
green tea soap.
Sold in most tourist places in Liverpool, it's gone down very well.

With the opening of the Hard Day's Night Hotel just at the top of Matthew Street in Liverpool on 1st February 2008 we are looking forward to spreading the Palm oil-free message to more visitors than ever before.

And Ringo won't be able to miss it as he can order online as we ship most places in the world..

Scouse Soaps

Me trying to be 'arty' with the Scouse Soaps

a night in barcelona

after a manic year at Little Satsuma and my day job, I got my first break away in November. Watching Barcelona beat Rangers in the Champions League. (:

the human world going to sleep

sunset. this is the time my brain starts going in to overdrive with ideas and new things to do! sometimes I wish I could switch it off for a bit.

a stark reminder

A reminder of why palm oil should be avoided. We all play a part in this every time we go shopping.

Wirral Food & Drink Festival

One of our last markets ever...as the website is getting
busier every day we have to spend more time on that, the brucey bonus is that getting up early at 6am for festivals and events is now a thing of the past! (: