Well, the weather’s turning, Spring is err, Springing and the Sunday Supplement is getting bigger and better month by month.
We do need to say a (slightly overdue) great big thanks to everyone who comes along to the Market on the first Sunday of the month in Leek and the stall holders who took a gamble being with us for the launch of a brand new market, those 7 or 8 months ago.

The next Sunday Supplement is on Sunday May 5th with the first ever Leeks Totally Acoustic festival organised by local musician Dom Morgan – also playing will be the Totally Locally youth band who have been rehearsing over the last few months for their 2nd gig.

As usual the Sunday Supplement has a makers market with over 30 stalls of locally produced food and artisan crafts people making jewellery, glassware, original art, photography, cushions, homeware and loads more – with the independent shops open, cafes, pubs, arts centre, gallery, heritage display it’s going to be a fab day.

Sunday 16th September, what a day! Totally Locally Leek celebrated one year of, well, Totally Localliness and there couldn’t be a better place to celebrate than at The Foxlowe Arts Centre – a community arts centre which started around the same time as Totally Locally did.

We’d like to think that both of these community ventures have added to Leek’s vibe over the last year, one visitors’s comment summed up so much – Leek’s got its mojo back!

Anyway enough wittering, here are some pictures of the party events – including a balloon cake! Childrens activites and games all provided by local businesses, artists and shops – a small but perfectly formed Totally Locally market with hand made chocolates and truffles, jams, chutneys, glass and button, jewelery, art and photography, cup cake decorating workshops and mono printing and collage workshop.

We then held the big raffle draw, with prizes donated by local shops (including a bike worth £189!), then the 2012 Totally Locally awards and finally the debut of the Totally Locally Electric Youth Orchestra, a band formed by teenagers over the summer holidays tutored by local music teachers. They were followed by another youth band and four local bands.

A great day and night, we hope everyone enjoyed themselves – here’s to next year!

Wahey! A nice bit of press for Totally Locally Leek! It seems we’re setting a good example and everyone wants to be a part of Totally Locally… which is fine by us, the more the merrier!

A lovely write up in the Stone & Eccleshall Gazette that made our hearts at Totally Locally Towers go a bit fuzzy, because a bit of positivity and passion goes a long way. Its nice to be nice isn’t it!

Have you been in the Roebuck since it was refurbished and reopened by Titanic last year. Apart from being a smashing pub with local beer, locally sourced food, flowers, newspapers, wines and whisky they keep popping Totally Locally messages up on their blackboards.

This one’s the latest, when we called in the other night one of the customers read it and commented out loud – that’s great that, isn’t it?
And it is – which is why we love the Roebuck, thanks guys!

We’ve done it – we’ve got the Christmas leaflets for Leek printed and out to the shops in town. More will be distributed door to door over the next coupe of weeks (if you could help, please do get in touch).

This is the first Christmas material paid for and put together by Leek’s businesses (and designed for free by Totally Locally in Calderdale – yep, free). So over 40 businesses chucked in £20 (that’s 4 fivers if you’re following the fiver fest this weekend) and we’ve got 3,000 Festive Maps and a bit in the kitty for more promotion as well – which is great.

So far loads of people really like them (apart from one business so they’ve had their money back, no point in peeps being unhappy is there?). There are a few mistakes in it and we may hold a competition for the person who can find the most – watch this space.

So how did this masterpiece come together – 4 of Leek’s business owners went round asking the others if they thought it was a good idea – they said yes, handed over their dosh and we spent a few weeks pulling the content together – What’s on, a Totally Locally market, side splittingly funny (not) write ups for all the businesses, text for the pages etc. Then the fun began – design work was pulled together from Calderdale, a Sunday trip to Hedben Bridge to look at the first design, spot the typo’s move pages round (that was this Sunday 13th November). Bit of work til 1am,  2nd design Monday by Totally Locally Chris in a car whilst being driven to a Totally Locally trip in Scotland by Totally Locally Nigel with design being bounced over to Totally Locally Kerri in Norway and Totally Locally Sam co-ordintaing. Tuesday 14th 8am sent to printers, Thursday 10am  arrives in Leek, by mid day most of the shops had their leaflets, phew.

Now that is team work folks – we just hope you will seek them out have a read and maybe find out something you didn’t know, go in a shop you weren’t aware of or just enjoy it.

Thanks Very Much

From
The Totally Locally Leekies.

After visiting our launch stall at Leek’s Fine Food Market our MP Karen Bradley has gone Totally Locally

As seen on the cover of the Leek Post & Times – Totally Locally Chris, Kerri & Nigel

After months of planning, discussing and all round getting excited; the Totally Locally Leek Launch finally took place on Saturday at the Fine Food Market!

We couldn’t have wished for a better day! We can’t even curse the rain because, well, that’s England for you, and it made those sunny spells all the more brighter! The turnout was incredible, there were people who had heard about us and came to hear more, and people who were none the wiser but were more than happy to stop by at our stall and have a chat and suggest their favourite independent shops!

(more…)

Another piece of great Totally Locally Leek coverage. This bit is from the Sentinel Newspaper about the launch of Totally Locally Leek at the weekend. Just how much fun did Bibelot Liz and Sherratt & Reece Nicola have standing in the rain for ‘just one more picture’?

A really nice write up about  Totally Locally coming to Leek in Your Leek Paper.
We are really looking forward to seeing you all on Saturday 17th at Leek’s Fine Food Market.

During a visit to Leek, Totally Locally Chris was interviewed by Radio Stoke about the town, the mix of shops and Totally Locally launch. Joined by Colloco Marc – here it is (with some lovely pictures of your lovely town!).

Hooray, ready in time for the Leek Launch, Chris’ wonderful map (see below) in all it’s glory.

We’ll be adding more splendid shops soon. You can get them from most of the shops listed here. Grab one, pack your rucksack and head off on your very own Totally Locally adventure.

Marvellous.

We thought you’d like a quick look at this great map drawn for the launch day on the 17th. Created by the very talented Chris Thompson. Thanks Chris, you’re a star. Check out his artwork at www.warmigloo.net

For the launch lots of shops will be added and some great offers too. Watch this space

(or how to turn £10 into £50!).
That got your interest didn’t it.

There’s a bit of maths that says if you spend £10 in a local shop that sells stuff from local
producers the amount of money that goes back into Leek’s economy can be over £50!

Well if you imagine that when you buy a Leek-made pie from a local shop, a big part of your money is passed on to the local piemaker. The shop employs a local accountant or even a decorator. In turn the piemaker who sources his meat from a local farm spends a big percentage of his money with the farmer. The farmer then spends some of his money at his local garage, the garage owner etc. etc….. (more…)

I came to Leek to present the Totally Locally concept to some of the businesses in the town as we were asked if there was a possibility of a Totally Locally Leek (a bit hard to say!!).

We were contacted by Marc & Julie from a stunning shop called Colloco. I met up with Marc, Patrick and Denis from the Chamber of Trade, at the Old Cock Inn in the town centre.

Marc & Julie from Colloco

The whole ‘looking around for an idea to promote local shops’ came because of Sainsburys about to build a huge supermarket at the bottom of the hill just outside the town, which shop owners feel could have a big negative impact on the town centre, if they didn’t start to highlight what’s great in the town already. This is the perfect vehicle for Totally Locally as it’s already proven to do just that, and it gives a long term strategy rather than a quick stab at an idea then onto something else. (more…)

(or how to turn £10 into £50!)

That got your interest didn’t it.

There’s a bit of maths that says if you spend £10 in a local shop that sells stuff from local producers the amount of money that goes back into Leek’s economy can be over £50!

Well if you imagine that when you buy a Leek-made pie from a local shop, a big part of your money is passed on to the local piemaker. The shop employs a local accountant or even a decorator. In turn the piemaker who sources his meat from a local farm spends a big percentage of his money with the farmer. The farmer then spends some of his money at his local garage, the garage owner etc. etc…..

With each step, in a case like this, around 80% of each spend often goes into the local economy. So in effect the money that stays within Leek gets more & more.

Local independent businesses are far more likely to use other local firms than any of the big national giants would – it’s what makes them tick and they know the true value of keeping it “Totally Locally”. It’s also a lot easier!

The more everyone spends within our area the stronger our economy grows, which means more jobs, better facilities, a vibrant town centre and a nicer place for us all to live.

This can be applied to everything from a college to bike manufacturers, to music shops, to food producers.

If you compare this with buying online & outside the area – where none of the money comes back into the Leek economy – it seems to make sense really. Add to this a smaller impact on the environment due to less transportation and you have good reasons for keeping your purchasing Totally Locally.

It’s not about protectionism, it’s about small decisions that have a big impact on where we live.

Only by following the money trail do you get a true sense of the knock-on effects of buying Totally Locally Leek. It takes you in all kinds of directions, ping-ponging from groceries and clothing, to tradesmen and accountants, each time adding to our economy. The trail is staggering.

So when you go for your next purchase, be it eggs, a sofa or new pair of shoes, consider the true effect of how you buy.

If every adult in the Leek area spent £5 with their local independent shops and businesses instead of online or with the big supermarkets, it will be worth an extra £4.1m into the local economy.

Which means more jobs, better facilities and a nicer place to live for us all.

Makes you think doesn’t it.