Passionate Blog

Wolverhampton Racecourse diners on to a winner thanks to new chefs

THE newly-appointed head chef of Wolverhampton Racecourse is backing local producers to be key in helping the venue’s restaurants rival the best in the region.

Solihull-born Chris Gordon, aged 38, has a great deal of experience catering for spectators at large sporting venues, having worked at the British Grand Prix, Wembley Stadium and various prestigious horse racing events, and is looking forward to putting his own stamp on the menus at the racecourse and conference centre.

Telford hotel helping green space to bloom for local community

STAFF from the Park Inn Hotel Telford are hoping to prove they are green-fingered as well as green-minded when they take part in a voluntary scheme to help bring a community orchard and garden back to life.

A team of at least 10 employees have volunteered their time to help the Green Wood Centre* with a project which involves managing a small orchard and helping to establish a sensory garden.

Ladies evening at Wolverhampton racecourse proves a winner

THIS year's Ladies Evening at Wolverhampton Racecourse attracted a record crowd of more than 3,000 people, who turned out in all their finery to enjoy some perfect late summer weather and a packed evening of entertainment.

As well as a full programme of racing, the event included a fashion show by House of Fraser Wolverhampton, which was watched by almost 400 guests in the Horizons restaurant, as well as special guest, Heart FM DJ Toby Anstis.

He judged a number of best dressed competitions, along with Miss Black Country, Andrea Sturmey, before going on to host a guest DJ set for more than 1,000 people following the racing.

Jockey Eddie Ahern, who won two of the evening's eight races, joined Toby and Andrea to help judge the Best Dressed Lady award, which was won by Debbie Grogan, from Whitchurch.

Nathan Corden, head of commercial development at Wolverhampton Racecourse, said the event has always been a popular date on the Black Country social diary, but this year had proved even more of a draw.

"Everyone made a fantastic effort, with some extraordinary outfits and hats on display, and we were thrilled to see such a turnout," he said.

"We were confident that the racing and the entertainment we had arranged would provide a wonderful night out, and the weather proved to be the icing on the cake.

"We are already making plans for next year's event, and hope to make that even bigger and better," he added.

Thanks from our Wolverhampton Racecourse day out winner

From our family travel and activities site Have a Lovely Time:

THANKS again to everyone who entered our chance to have a day out featuring Spongebob Squarepants and the Red Devils at Wolverhampton Racecourse.

The winner was Mar Dixon whose daughter and in-laws took up the prize.

Guess what, they had a lovely time.

More accolades for our parenting blogs

OVER the last year there has been such an explosion in parent blogging. The proliferation of sites and debates surrounding them has been quite staggering.

Passionate Media director Linda Jones started blogging in 2006 to offer support to parents of twins, triplets and more. Her blog You've Got Your Hands Full grew out of a role working with the charity Tamba, the Twins and Multiple Births Association as magazine editor and PR consultant. 

Recently it has been included in an index of top parenting blogs compiled by experts at the Wikio social media agency.

This is an interesting "league table". Based on links to the blogs included in the list, it measures who else online is talking about a blog's content on their own sites.

We started our Have a Lovely Time family travel blog last year. This is included in a list of top travel blogs by experts from another social media agency, Cision. The latest entry shows Have a Lovely Time has jumped from sixth to fourth place.

Opticians welcome back US customer

Mincher-Lockett Opticians in Stafford welcomed back one of their most dedicated customers when Wayne Evans, left, completed the 3,500 mile trip from his home in Philadelphia for his annual check-up.

The father-of-two has been so impressed with the level of service he gets from the opticians he has been making the 12-hour journey regularly for nearly 10 years.

He says the lenses the Stafford Street opticians provide can't be beat back home in Philadelphia, or New York or London for that matter.

The 44-year-old, who runs his own marketing and sales consultancy in the States, is long-sighted and needs hyperopic lenses which have a thicker, magnifying section in the middle.

Marathon car pull for Compton Hospice

When a charity car-pull is organised it's usually for a few hundred metres at most. So the 10-mile car pull organised by staff at a car dealership for Compton Hospice ranks as a real marathon.

The staff at Brindley Honda in West Bromwich, pictured left, are going to be hauling the near one-ton Honda Jazz car across the Black Country on Saturday September 11.

The group of 20 staff will take it in turns in teams of six to pull the car from Tipton to Compton Hospice stopping off at Queen's Square in Wolverhampton at about 2pm, they'll have collections tins out all the way.

Back to school means a busy time on Ready for Ten

 
CHECKED out Ready for Ten yet?

This is a parent-powered website for families with children aged six to nine which is edited by Linda Jones. Now's an exciting time for Ready for Ten. Just look at how the team has grown!

As the site prepares for autumn to set in, there's plenty more food for thought from its team of parent bloggers and experts.

'Blogladesh' highlights how social media can make a difference

HAVE you seen the wonderful work of Save the Children who recently took three UK mum bloggers to Bangladesh to report on why so many youngsters are needlessly suffering?

Every one of us can help play a part in saving children's lives.

Through blogs, facebook, Twitter, social bookmarking and photo sharing sites, not to mention YouTube, we're better equipped than ever before to help get the word out. The days when those messages only jostled for space in a packed news schedule are thankfully long behind us.

Bloggers Sian, Eva and Josie are now backing calls to supporters to Press for Change by leaving their thumbprint on a global petition calling on leaders to help end world poverty.

We're backing the petition and these remarkable mums all the way, especially as our director Linda used to work as a voluntary Save the Children media adviser.

Two BBC interviews for director Linda

RECENTLY Linda was one of a number of UK women described as an "immovable force" in a piece for the technology section of BBC Online all about the rise of mummy bloggers in the UK.

It's an interesting piece that reflects on Universal Studios paying bloggers for reviews and wondering how similar blogging is in the UK. Susanna Scott who set up British Mummy Bloggers is also featured, talking about a commitment to integrity.

A few weeks back, Linda was also interviewed by Mark Powlett on BBC Coventry and Warwickshire about twins, thanks to her blog You've Got Your Hands Full. If you know anyone with twins, triplets or more, we hope you may find this blog useful. It has provided advice for families since 2006 and we're delighted that it's still going strong.