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If you fancy getting our weekly news digest in your inbox, just join the innocent family here.
Hello. Hope youre alright.
This week we take you on a mango safari by bicycle, down a ladder to the worlds deepest river and back in time for a well crafted pancake. All from the comfort of your swivel chair. Hold on tight.
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Mango safari
Jess and Atha have just got back from Kenya where they were on safari to find a rare beast the Ngowe mango. Thankfully they had excellent guides from Technoserve to help steer them to the farmers who specialise in this aromatic fruit. Were looking at potentially using this African variety of mango in our drinks as well as the Indian Alphonso variety we already use. Mainly because it tastes just as good as the Alphonso but also because it would allow us to make our first purchase of fruit from smallholder farmers in Africa. Have a closer look at what Jess and Atha got up to right here. |
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New wheels
Handle and Gretel. Jimmy Saddle. Dick Van Bike. Not the latest in sketchy comeback tribute acts but the names of our three new office bikes. Sniggers aside, these bikes are for anyone in Fruit Towers to use instead of vans for little trips round the area. Theyre going to have their own personal bike racks. Theres enough wheel power to make up a decent bike polo team. And you can even take them home for the evening, provided you look after them and make sure they dont get nicked. Sort of like looking after the class hamster for the holidays but without the feeding responsibilities. Just need to start collecting free cereal packet spokies, fasten some ribbons to the handlebars and attach some pegs for backies and were all set to pedal. |
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Racks and ladders
Its been a while since we did the last pictorial instalment of Whats the office goss?. So heres what's been happening since last time we er, did it:
- Olly is currently topping the ping pong ladder as King of the Ping. All people called Ben are also doing well. The work to ping pong ratio is massively down.
- The kitchen has been upscaled (and made tidier) by the addition of blonde wood magazine rack. Posh.
- Sandwich Man has been replaced by Sandwich Lady. She moves too fast for photos but rest assured, next week, we will pap her as proof.
If youve had more exciting things happen in your office/house/internet café this week, let us know right here and the best top three stories will get a mention in next weeks news (not to mention a box of smoothies for their office).
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And finally...
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And finally, finally...
Only time for a one click fix this week?
Take a break here (thanks to Julie for this link).
What's the all about? Just click the birdy and it will let you re-tweet any of our 'and finally' links at the touch of a button. It's all about word of mouse these days.
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inside fruit towers
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Clovers birthday bouncy castle was a no show, Oli made a film about a massive cuddly horse, Helen got caught trying to steal Charlies bike, Beth got angry with a hairdresser, Liv said goodbye, Gurdeep mistook a keyring for high end fashion bracelet, Heather got caught in cross ping pong fire, James P is going to cycle the height, length and width of Britain on a tandem bike and Rich had a documentary crew follow his every move.
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twit bits...
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Fancy the most exciting job at Fruit Towers? We're looking for a Digital Manager. Tell friends, family & yourself: http://is.gd/dQlhw
@markhawker
Humans and robots will be given an equal opportunity.
@FARMAfrica
Our pleasure. It's a great and worthwhile job you are all doing.
@ScottBreese We are planning a revolutionary underwear business. Please join us.
follow us on twitter here
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bob of the week
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This weeks Bob of the Week is Bob of South London. Bob likes football, sleeping and finding photos of rabbits for his girlfriend, Catrin. Here he is, having just survived a plane flying through his ears, on the beach at Caswell Bay in the Gower.
Fancy being Bob of the Week or know a good Bob? Just email iambob@innocentdrinks.co.uk and it could be your Bob here next week.
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corner of the week
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Good afternoon, this is the news.
Leeds man claims to have invented funk. Animals featured in documentaries ‘too big for their boots’ says MP. And bark rubbing, is it the new fly fishing? None of these stories and more in this weeks innocent news.
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Bee quick (sorry)
Our Buy One Get One Bee special guest smoothie is coming to an end, so there’s only a little while left to help us help the bees. Our stripey carton and little bottle with free bee-friendly seeds is disappearing from shelves next week. But we’re not sad, because them disappearing means that actual bees won’t. So if you like lemons, honey & ginger smoothies and bees, get yourself down to a shop quick smart. |
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Not all sports days are outside, or sports based
Last week the weather was great so we organised our annual sports day in the park down the road. Obviously, that’s the quickest way to make sure that it starts raining. And it did. Loads. Sports day was rained off, but not to be deterred we changed it to ‘indoor pub style quiz day’ and a great time was had by all. There were really hard questions (like ‘what’s the coldest place on the earth’*), weird team names (like ‘Let’s Get Quizical’) and because it wasn’t actually in a pub, nobody lost points because their team expert on 80’s Pop Icons was getting a round in. Sports Days are dead. Long live Indoor pub style quiz days.
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Summer reading
Picture books, pop up books, books about shark attacks, biographies, auto biographies, celebrity hard backs. This is but a selection of all the book types that we could think of. Each more word filled than the last. We like books, so we thought we’d share a few recommendations from the desks and bags of those in fruit towers this summer. Enjoy, our learned friends.
Ceri: 'Ghostwritten' by David Mitchell
One of the best books I've ever read. Loads of different stories all cutting across each other, all interlinked and all making you want to read on and get to the next one.
Delia: 'Azteca' (Aztec) by Gary Jennings
Great old book about how the Aztecs lived their lives and their traditions before the Spaniards came to conquer Mexico. It's really amazing.
Ben W: '24 hour party people' by Tony Wilson
A book about the story of Factory (one of the best things to happen to music and culture ever.) Semi-truthfully told by a legend. It's really good.
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And finally...
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And finally, finally...
Only time for one click this week?
Here you go.
What's the all about? Just click the birdy and it will let you re-tweet any of our 'and finally' links at the touch of a button. It's all about word of mouse these days.
*Verkoyansk in Siberia.
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inside fruit towers
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Gurd and Oli are having a seafood disco party (we think Oli is going as a crab, and Caroline as the sea). Philippa's dog came in and weed on the floor. Ben got bitten by a mosquito (he thinks it was a cobra) and his hand’s gone massive. Kate’s Australian friend Laura popped in and helped us have ideas for a bit. Delia had a nap on the outdoor picnic table and Emilie was sent a brilliant thing that plugs into your iPod and turns any box into a speaker.
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twit bits...
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@arjun_pandya
Just watching the little BBC documentary on Innocent Drinks and their co-founder Richard Reed #interesting
If you fancy watching a 30 minute BBC documentary on our Rich (+a sneak peak of Fruit Towers 3) click on over here..
@arandabilly I just sat and watched the whole thing without realising
follow us on twitter here
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bob of the week
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This week’s Bob is not only from Australia, but is also a cat. Bob’s owner Barbara Taylor has this to say about him. Bob the cat currently resides in Adelaide, but has lived in 3 cities in Australia, he likes to snack on flowers in between meals, he can box, he’s flown in a plane and stayed in a cat motel – not bad for a stray found under a house as a kitten. Nice work Babs and Bob.

Fancy being our Bob of the Week? just email iambob@innocentdrinks.co.uk
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corner of the week
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This week’s corner is the third corner on a tri-corner hat.

It was added to the timeless piece of headwear in 1727 when the original ‘Two-corner hat’ failed to take off due to people having to stand very still whilst wearing it because of the hat’s lack of corners. Plans to add a forth corner in 1823 were abandoned as it was feared the hat would collect rainwater and birds would nest in it.
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Burning questions of the week.
Why are foxgloves called fox gloves when foxes don’t have fingers? Do toads ever need stools? And why is froghopper fancy dress called cuckoo spit? All answers greatly appreciated. In the meantime, here is the news.
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Ask the keeper
Back in July, lots of you asked Tim the beekeeper questions as part of the competition we ran to win a trip to ‘meet the keeper’ and have a spot of afternoon tea while you’re at it. The lucky winner was Justin (big well done, Justin) who will be going along to Hanbury Hall in a couple of weeks to meet Tim and indulge in some scones. In the meantime though, Tim has very kindly answered every question posed. He’s good like that. So if you asked a question and want to know the answer, cast your eyes over here. |
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Back scratch
Thanks to Ian, everyday is Freggday at Fruit Towers. Ian is the man who delivers our eggs from Treflach Farm every week and in return, we give him any out-of-date smoothies we have for his pigs. A big chunk of the profits from the farm go towards running local community projects so we like to help out Ian and his team whenever we can. Recently, we had a raffle to raise funds for a new classroom at Treflach, where children can go along and learn all about being a farmer, working outdoors and looking after the environment. It’s all ready to go for September, complete with a shaggy haired bouncer. See the doggy doorman right here.
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Atha’s game
Atha. Oracle of all things mango, writer of novels (he’s on number 2), key vocal contributor to the innocent Glee Club and master of incredible mind games. On Monday morning, he had 180 people fall off their picnic benches in sheer amazement. And you can play it too. Just answer the questions very quickly and be wowed by the results. Then try it on everyone you know and share the wowery with them. (Don’t read ahead and cheat or you’ll just spoil it for yourself. You’ve been told.) |
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And finally...
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And finally, finally...
Only time for one click this week?
Don’t say no to panda.
What's the all about? Just click the birdy and it will let you re-tweet any of our 'and finally' links at the touch of a button. It's all about word of mouse these days.
*Officially this game is known as Kim’s Game after the hero of Rudyard Kipling’s Kim. In the book, it’s called the Jewel Game or the Play of the Jewels. It is also used in military training at Sniper School to train those eagle eyes. And boy scouts play it loads. This history lesson was brought to you c/o Wikipedia.
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inside fruit towers
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Navita came back, Mr. Ed unravelled the mysteries of Word, Helen L’s 10 year old blue Smarties calculator disappeared (along with a cool bag, some keys and a red notebook), Aslam was told he was hobbling round like Frasier’s dad (on account of his broken foot), Kat sent out a plea for old recipes and Dave became a lord.
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twit bits...
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Why not say hello to someone you've never said hello to before. dol.ec/W . Hello @LaurenEACooke
@alices Well *hello* there! bit.ly/helloisafiveletterword (via @innocentdrinks, who I've not said hello to, either)
Well hello to you to @alices. Very nice to se you on here this evening. Hope your day has treated you well?
@alices It has indeed. Despite never meeting him, @GrahamMiles made me do this: twitpic.com/2dqsq2 Saying hello can be fun.
follow us on twitter here
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bob of the week
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This week’s Bob of the Week is Sophie’s dad, Bob. Bob is a keen gardener and can usually be found down on his allotment, strimming his feet, his head and occasionally the odd bit of grass.

Fancy being our Bob of the Week? just email iambob@innocentdrinks.co.uk
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corner of the week
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In honour of Atha’s excellent game, this week’s corner is Memory Corner*. Here is a picture of some random objects on a table.

Look at it for 10 seconds. Then look away/cover it up with your hand. How many pots of nail varnish were on the table? Answer at the bottom or play again for another 13 seconds of fun.
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Bob badge Bill.
Badge Bill Bob. Bill Bob badge. Bill Badge Bob. No matter how you say it, that’s the shape of this week’s news.
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Peace and raspberries
Did you know 21st September is Peace Day, the only annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence in the world? Nope, nor did we but after watching the inspirational story of how Peace One Day came about, we decided we wanted to do our bit to help. That’s why we’re using our new special guest recipe - the very welcome return of peaches & raspberries - to help spread the word of peace. And you can help spread the word too. As well as wearing your little badge (free with every little bottle) and drinking this smoothie, you can also show your support by joining the Wall of Peace and then getting all your friends to do the same. The more people who know about it, the more good Peace One Day can do. Find out more right here. |
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Billy-lots-of-mates
Bill Nighy dropped by last week when he was doing some recording over the road. Spreadsheets were abandoned, meetings eschewed and ping pong bats thrown down mid match as everyone scrambled to get a photo with him. But it’s not only Bill who’s been seduced by the bright lights of the Goldhawk Industrial Estate. Over the years, we’ve had Royalty, Prime Ministers, Comedians, Olympians, Movie Stars, Sports Stars, Magicians and a man who makes jam all stop by for some crushed fruit and a chat. At this rate, we’re going to have a Christmas special more star studded than the love child of the Royal Variety Show and Smash Hits Poll Winners Party.
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Little less
Sustainability Jess and Lou have been busy collecting examples of how people in Fruit Towers use a little less to do a little more in their daily lives. They’ve been getting everyone to write what they’re doing on a bit of waste paper and you can have a peak at what they are right here. Whilst each example might not make that much difference with just one person doing it, when loads of people do it, then a little becomes a lot. So see which one takes your fancy and give it a go. N.B. Delia’s tip is taken at your own risk. |
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And finally...
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And finally, finally...
Only time for one click this week?
Then this is the link for you .
What's the all about? Just click the birdy and it will let you re-tweet any of our 'and finally' links at the touch of a button. It's all about word of mouse these days.
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inside fruit towers
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Zoe became a food stylist, the entire office played a game of round-the-world ping pong, Anna had pineapple for breakfast, there was a silent auction, Emilie got hitched to Other Paul (innocent wedding no. 2), Cheese Club was French fromage vs English cheese (France won), Alex W got a screaming ovation, Sarah K got lilies and Shun learnt how to make silent eggs.
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twit bits...
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Take a Friday night Chill Pill and invent a new word. is.gd/erVik
@JeffYYTong Hello @innocentdrinks, how are you today? ^__^
Very well thanks Jeff, you?
@JeffYYTong I'm great thanks! Trying to cheer up the weather with my ukulele ^__^ Might need to strum louder...Hope you're well =D
follow us on twitter here
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bob of the week
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This week’s Bob is Iron Bob from Wallsend, Newcastle. He’s just completed his first Iron Man Triathlon in Nottingham (which consisted of a 2.4mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and a quick marathon to finish). Here he is in the Liverpool Triathlon, running the opposite way to everyone else. Always ahead of the curve, that Iron Bob.

Fancy being our Bob of the Week? just email iambob@innocentdrinks.co.uk
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corner of the week
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This week’s corner of the week belongs to one Mr. Horner of Pie Eating Corner.

Mr. Horner is available to hire throughout the Christmas period. No cutlery necessary. Thumb sized plum pies only.
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