Now, I’m pretty good at navigating and second-guessing the nuances of wizz kid web designers.  So whilst I won’t admit the new Spicer Hallfield website actually got me beat, time is money, and after fifteen minutes of trying to locate the products I wanted, I caved in and picked up the phone.

• Me: Hello, I’d like to place an order please.
• SH: I’m sorry we can’t take your order over the phone.

After explaining I couldn’t locate the items on their new web site, she put me through to someone called Mark who kindly talked me through the intricacies of the new portal.  Apparently it is easier to enter a keyword, such as “Classic” to narrow down the number of items you have to scroll through!  Once you’ve found the album you require, however, there is no link to buy spare pages for that album.  You have to start a completely new search, again guessing what the best keyword might be this time!

OK, so we’re getting there.  Wait…!  It states on the website that Click here to continue… »

Whilst in the thick of decorating and floor-laying last week, we reopened the studio briefly (pun intended) to do a quick fashion shoot in the name of charity.

Roger (Mr July) of Autoproducts, has been testing out his company’s new printing press by putting all the Cheeky Chappies calendar pictures onto tee shirts and knickers to be sold for charity.

The calendar itself raised over £2,700 for North Wales Cancer Services.  It is hoped the sale of the printed tee-shirts and knickers will push the total to over £3,000.

Law student Charli, of Bodfari, took time out from her studies to model the garments.  It was hard to believe she had never modelled before.  She was an absolute pleasure to work with.

So if one of the Cheeky Chappies is close to your… erm.. heart, you will soon be able to buy one of these limited edition sets via the Cheeky Chappies web site or at selected outlets in Ruthin.

More pictures on the Cheeky Chappies web site soon.

We’ve just enjoyed another great night out in Liverpool.

The evening began with a nosh at the Everyman Bistro.  Who cares if it’s like sitting in a school canteen - the food was brilliant.  Loads of vegetarian choices and lots of gluten-free dishes too.  (It truly is the mark of a good, caring, restaurant when they acknowledge the one in fourteen of us who are veggies and the ever growing number who are medically intolerant to wheat).  The atmosphere in there was great too.  And it was interesting ear-wigging Matthew Kelly and his chums on the next table!

Our theatre tickets, however, were for elsewhere.  So we left the Matthews Rixon and Kelly to perform their Endgame at The Everyman and walked back into the city centre.

Alan Bleasdale penned On The Ledge some fifteen years ago, and has rewritten parts of this black comedy for it’s current airing at the Royal Court Theatre.

It is set three stories up Click here to continue… »

We’ve got wall-to-wall floors you know!

…and sore knees!

Actually, the laminate flooring went down quite well.  It took all afternoon, mind you.  And by afternoon, I don’t mean a couple of hours after a long lunch, then a tea break, then another hour before going home.  No,  I mean the whole six-hour afternoon - and a chunk of the evening!

It’s not that it was a large area. Far from it.  It’s just that our shop/reception is in a part of the building that was added in 1933 on a piece of triangular land between this property and next door, so there are no right angles in the whole room.  They got away with all sorts in those days.  Now, if you so much as utter the phrase  “uPVC Windows” the listed building police will come and take you away.

No Skirting boards yet.  That’s a job for the morning - along with clearing all the junk out of the camera room for a fashion shoot in the afternoon.  Then it’s business as usual for a few days before starting on the camera room itself.

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