Dig for victory
Trees are very close to our hearts, as are most natural
things (though we could probably do without wasps). So for a while now,
we have had a small tree-planting programme in operation, planting trees
in areas that need help with regeneration, and getting help from local
schoolchildren to teach them a bit about the different types of trees
that we're planting. This weekend we added Bristol to our list of newly
arborealised places (Walsall, Leeds, Bexleyheath, Dublin and Manchester
being the others).
Lucy and Ailana went to Emerson's Green in East Bristol
to help with the tree-planting, which culminated with the planting of
a young oak tree by the local MP (the very nice and aptly named Roger
Berry). And although it rained a bit, quite a few people
turned out to help us. Thanks in particular to Mangotsfield Parish Council
(hello Doreen) and our friends Mike and Mark at CO2
Balance who helped us sort everything out. For pictures of
the joyous occasion, click here.
People, power, progress
Fruit Towers would be a bit boring if it didn't have any
people in it. So we are glad to announce that we've found two new individuals
to come and help us do all of the stuff that we need to do. First up is
Roanne, a lovely man from somewhere near the Kruger National Park in South
Africa. He says that he has never seen a lion or elephant in his back
garden, but there are lots of snakes about. Roanne is going to be out
and about this summer, helping with our big roadshow and trying to get
a few more places to stock our drinks.
And then there's Richard. Richard has got great curly hair
and is from Australia. Admittedly, he only started working here today,
but already we have found out that he likes to surf, and I think I saw
him drinking tea earlier, so we can assume that he likes tea as well.
Richard is going to be looking after some of our bigger customers, and
we reckon he will have a fine old time while he does it.
Finally, we'd like to extend all of our love and nice feelings
to our Dan, who has been suffering from glandular fever and has been laid
up up in bed for weeks. He came back to work today and we just want to
say "we missed you". You're still the best, you're still a funny
man, and there's a big pile of invoices on your desk just where you left
them.
Famous faces
We haven't had a famous people alert for a while, so here
you go. Two famous people popped into Fruit Towers last week. The first
was Bernard Cribbins, the voice of The Wombles, the best storyteller ever
to feature on Jackanory, and star of Fawlty Towers, Carry On films etc
etc. A legend. The second famous person was John Scales, who played football
for Wimbledon and Liverpool, and is a very nice chap. Thank you for stopping
by, famous people.
Running fools
Two innocent people must be praised for their athletic prowess
this week. One is Geoff, aka Big Geoff, aka Geoffcam
who ran the Paris marathon in 3 hours 38 minutes. He's virtually Kenyan.
And the other is Barney, who is virtually insane, and is off to do the
Marathon des Sables on Thursday - 151 miles of running, stretched over
six days in the not inconsiderable heat of the Sahara. Check www.desertcrazy.co.uk
to see what Barney is up to, and please wish him luck at barney@innocentdrinks.co.uk
Going home
It's a week of comings and goings here at Fruit Towers.
We are sad to be saying goodbye to David, who came over from the USA to
do a placement with us for a few months. Now it's time for him to go back
to the land of cherry pie and finish his studies, but never fear, for
we have found someone to step into his sneakers. His name is Paul Italia,
he has a great name and he starts work here tomorrow, so we don't have
any funny facts about him yet, apart from this one - he once made a scale
replica of HMS Victory using chicken wire and papier mache*. We'd also
like to take this opportunity to welcome Chloë, who is here to help
us organise our Fruitstock festival. Chloë's favourite film star
is Audrey Hepburn and she likes bare feet better than socks.
As ever, if you fancy working at innocent, you should click
here. There's
a very nice new job up there this week, which involves helping us organise
events this summer (it's a temporary position), so please check it out
(it's listed as Trade Marketing Assistant).
Aren't you that bloke off the telly?
Last week's famous people update only seems to have opened
the floodgates. This weekend Richard saw Joanna Lumley and Felicity Kendal,
whilst Travis met Mark Owen in a disco and Gemma sat next to Ricardo the
camp frock-wearing hairdresser on the tube. If you saw anyone famous this
weekend, please let us know by emailing ijustsawmadonnainthenewsagentsbuyingsomescratchcards@innocentdrinks.co.uk
and we'll reward the best celebrity spot with a nice little case of our
drinks.
>Dune bug
Thank you to everyone who wished our Barney luck before
his gruelling and slightly daft run in the desert. For those of you who
didn't read the news last week, Barney has embarked upon the Marathon
des Sables, a 151 mile run in the Sahara that takes about 6 days. We have
been checking the website
and it seems that Barney has completed the first two stages in lunchtime
temperatures of 43C, and is currently lying in 436th place. He has emailed
us to say "Hello you guys - you should see my feet - stinking; amazing
crowd, damn hot, long way; pls send me an email."
To send Barney a spirit-lifting email, click here,
find Barney (his competitor number is 514) and click his surname. A little
window should pop up - fill in all the gaps, and in the actual message
box, type "Barnaby Mauleverer 514" before carrying on with your
words of advice, good luck and solace.
Finally...
...our summer blitz visits Oxford, Salisbury and Winchester
this week, so if you see our vans out and about, please give them a little
wave.
* maybe
New stuff for summer
Even though the rain that's hammering on the roof at Fruit
Towers might indicate otherwise, it's going to be summer quite soon. So
it's time to introduce our brand new Juicy Water recipe - the most natural
blackcurrant drink we could possibly come up with. It's made by adding
some, erm, blackcurrants to spring water from Europe's deepest well, with
a bit of lemon juice and sugar to give it some zing. And we reckon that
it tastes more like real blackcurrants than any other blackcurrant drink
in the world. But then we would say that. Read more about it here.
Hard graft
We work with lots of different companies, but this week
we'd like to single one out for special attention. JD's Food Group distribute
our drinks all over London and beyond, and have been working with us since
day one. The great thing is that we've grown up together, so we were very
happy to see them win a Grafta Award recently. The Graftas are given to
small businesses that have shown a bit of gumption and determination in
making a success of things, which is certainly the case with JD's, and
as a reward for winning Small Business of the Year, they get a shiny new
Mercedes van, as well as lots of pictures in The Sun, one of the awards'
sponsors. Click here
to see our friend John with his new best friends, courtesy of The Sun.
Dining with Elvis
Please say hello to Sara, our newest recruit and dreamer
of weird dreams. Sara is here to help out on this summer's sales blitz,
and says that she foresaw getting the job one night when a vision came
to her. You see, she had a dream that she was having dinner with Elvis,
and they were eating spaghetti with blackcurrants. So she figured that
this fruit-based reverie meant that she'd end up working here. And who
are we to doubt her mystical powers? Other great fruit-related moments
from Sara's life include making water melon seed necklaces one summer,
which she tried to sell to make a bit of pocket money. But they took a
bit too long to make so she packed it in. Ho hum.
In other news...
First up this week, the final word on Barney the insane
multiple marathon runner. He finished his 151 mile odyssey in 359th place,
and apparently has a few blisters. Hats off to Barney, and trainers and
sand gaiters off too. Check him out here.
And in celebrity spotting corner, the winner of the case of drinks was
Angela, who spotted Woody Allen in a New York hotel and even sent us the
photos to prove it. That's all for now.
Fresher than the Fonz in Fiorucci
As you may know, our orange juice comes with a freshness
guarantee, something along the lines of "if you don't think this
tastes fresh enough then we'll come round to your house and squeeze some
right there and then." Occasionally, people are kind enough to take
us up on this offer, so two lucky innocent people are chosen at random
to get up very early and get round to someone's house to make them some
fresh juice for breakfast. This time it was the turn of Geoff and Jess,
and off they drove last week, arriving outside a little cottage in Surrey
around the same time that the cock crows and the toast burns. Their hosts
that morning were Didi, Charlie, George and Minty the dog - to witness
the event in glorious pixelvision, please click here.
We are five
Birthdays are great, except for the one when you turn thirty
one, which nobody seems to particularly enjoy. Luckily for us, that milestone
is some way ahead, but this is the week in which we celebrate a slightly
more modest coming of age. This week innocent is five. Like other five
year olds, we'll be celebrating with a quick game of sleeping lions and
perhaps some ice cream. And we'll make sure that we have a spare pair
of pants in our little party bag in case we wet ourselves; we've heard
that this can sometimes happen when five year olds get a bit too excited.
Anyway, we hope that you can join us for our proper big party later in
the year (Fruitstock), which will be happening in Regents Park on 7th/8th
August (as long as the council let us do it again, of course).
Conditioner she bought
All other entries to celeb-spotting corner (Simon Callow,
Charlie Dimmock, Chris and Billie, bloke out of Coldplay) were overshadowed
this week when one of our agents spotted Angela Lansbury in Superdrug
on The Strand. Younger readers may feel slightly more enlightened when
we tell you that Angela Lansbury is an actress who appears in Murder She
Wrote.
PS Celeb-spotting corner is now dead. As of today, we urge
you (and ourselves) to start looking at unfamous people a bit more.
PPS Flowers of the week is back after a holiday. Nice pictures
right here.
|
innocent foundation
