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