Here are some of the great things the shops and businesses in West Bridgford are offering over the FiverFest. Take your time to rediscover just exactly what you can find on your doorsteps.

Come down to the park and find out how people in the area are trying to make West Bridgford that little bit better now and for the future. You’ll be surprised at just how much a difference people are making…

At long last, the new issue of  the Totally Locally West Bridgford Times and boy has a lot of people’s wonderful efforts, hard work and downright love for West Bridgford gone into it… The biggest issue of a TL Times yet for any TL Town with a whopping 32 pages!

It will be coming to a post box / shop counter / cafe / bus near you soon so keep your eyes peeled and grab it while you can! We hope you enjoy it!

http://issuu.com/mikefinntl/docs/tlwbforweb?mode=mobile

Check out the good stuff going on in West Bridgford! Loads of local shops and businesses have got some great fiver fest offers starting today and lasting for 2 weeks! Grab some bargains and support your local businesses! Everyone’s a winner!

We don’t do things by halves at Totally Locally, so we’re delighted that local artist Helen Woodford was able to collaborate with the wonderful map of the town for the upcoming Fiver Fest to guide you lovely folk of West Bridgford around some of our wonderful Hidden Gems. We hope to navigate you through the gigantic pile of brilliant offers, although we can’t promise that the map’s not completely accurate..although we always encourage people to get lost in their own towns so this just emphasises the point really!

We think this is by far the most offers EVER put in for a Totally Locally town Fiver Fest, it will be running for 2 weeks from it’s launch at the Summer Gathering on Friday 19th May until 31st May, so make the most of your brilliant local businesses and snap up these deals whilst you can… and you may well discover a new hidden gem all of your own along the way (if you do, please let us know!)

Any extra offers won’t be able to squeeze on to the printed version of the map (coming to a shop near you soon), so keep your eyes on our Facebook page for any extra offers that get added throughout the event. We would’t want you to miss out on anything now would we!

We love a gathering of any kind, but a summer one must certainly be the best kind!

What a lovely idea the mini Tiffin at Leo’s day nursery, with bunting, cups and saucers and even an oven, Tiffin invited the children to a cake decorating session. Cup cakes were decorated with an assortment of sweets, chocolate drops and icing. The children were absorbed in their master pieces and went back to nursery very happy with their mornings work!

Tiffin’s facebook is here>>

Inspiring, keep up the good work

Totally Locally Karina

2012 is the year of the cyclist, what with the Olympics coming up and Nottingham’S Cycle live Festival of Cycling, so what better time for The Cycle Garage, after 3 years of operating, to expand and move premises so they are able to accommodate their ever expanding customer base. (more…)

Local writer and illustrator!

The Write up

What a fantastic day the launch in West Bridgford at the Melton Road Shops Market was. The sun was shining and the good people of West Bridgford came out in their hundreds to support their local town, shops, businesses and people. Warming on the soul in all respects.

It was great to have music in and around the event all day from the Bevox choir kicking us off at 10am, with blues, jazz, barber shop, traditional folk, musical debuts right through to the Violinists of Jesse Gray School. This made the whole event go with a swing.

For us it was great to talk with so many of the people that braved the scorching sunshine about Totally Locally, what it was about, what or £5 message was all about, how the campaign would continue throughout the year, how people could get involved, etc…we were able to give away about 200 Totally Locally West Bridgford bags so we hope to see those as a regular occurrence in the independent shops around West Bridgford in the coming weeks.

All of the shops and the stall holders we spoke to said it was the busiest that the Melton Road Shops Market had ever been which was great and I am sure that it will have a continuing effect on the local areas as there were a fair few people that we spoke to that didn’t know that some of the Hidden Gems we had on the website were there…and they did promise to try them. Whether it was butcher, fishmongers, brewers or organic dog biscuit makers…I think that pretty much everyone there found out something new about their local area on the day.

The Totally Locally team managed to come away with Sausage Rolls, Pork Pie, Chilli Jam, Red Onion Marmalade, as well as homemade cakes washed down with the odd coffee and cold drinks from the local cafes…not to mention a well timed, life saving apple juice from the Abundance team when the day was at its hottest.

But it was not all about us taking away some fantastic local produce…we spoke to a lot of people about their favourite shops and businesses in West Bridgford (and not just on Melton Road) so we are armed with a small sackful of nice comments about hidden gems that you love. I think that the most touching of all of these were for Burton’s Fruit & Veg…pretty much most of the people that loved the shop mentioned Tony by name and just how friendly, and the excellent customer service he gave. They also mentioned how much they will miss both him and the shop when he decides to call it a day…and how it will be a great loss to the area.

There were plenty of nice things that were said to us or that we overheard on the day…the fact that school children new just as much about our £5 message as much as the adult, the fact that shops were having their business Saturday ever…that they ran out of apples, and that we ran out of bags.

Whilst this may not seem like a big deal to some – it just confirms what were already knew about West Bridgford…and that is there are some great independent shops that people think are special, and that there is room for everyone to explore and find out even more hidden gems…we know that people genuinely want to spend their £5 in their local shops and there is a certainly a passion for people to change that little bit and keep a choice on their high street with independent standing next to and hand in hand with the chain store.

Right, that sounded a bit heavy that last paragraph…where’s my pie.

The TV Coverage

AND…here’s a nice little video fresh from BBC East Midlands Today to whet your appetite.

The Video

A list of what’s going on at The Melton Rd Market / Launch this Saturday – be there or be …………………probably somewhere a lot less interesting.

Special Occurences

Start Time
10.00-10.30    Bevox choir opening Totally Locally West Bridgford Campaign
10.00-12.00    Face painting with Martha 10-12 @ Canterbury’s
10.00-12.00    Peppa Pig &  Jo Jingles ; music and entertainment for your nkle snappers  in front of Isobel and Henry
10.00-12.30   Guitar base  in front of Paolo’s Fish Mongers (would that be ‘sole’ music then?).
10.30      Dapper Dan (Rick Dizon) from  Selby Road  in front of Treats
10.30     Totally Locally apple pressing with the Abundance people in front of Isobel & Henry
11.00    Greenwood Clog dancers in front of the post office
11.30    Totally Locally apple pressing with the Abundance people in front of Isobel & Henry
11.30     onwards Dapper Dan (Rick Dizon) and his friends Chilli Dogs play music in front of Treats
12.00-12.30    Debut musical performance of local teenagers: Asher, Ryan and Joe at Signature
From 12.00    Contemporary Indian food by Indian Nights
12.30    Totally Locally apple pressing with the Abundance people in front of Isobel & Henry
12.30 – 13.00    Barbershop Quartet  in front of J&J the barbers
13.00    Suzuki violinists of Jesse Gray School in front of the Post Office
13.30    Totally Locally apple pressing with the Abundance people in front of Isobel & Henry
13.30 – 14.00    Debut musical performance of local teenagers: Asher, Ryan and Joe at Signature (Jazz)
14.00-15.00    Totally Locally Heritage walk with Peter Hammond of the Local History society from Signature
14.30     Totally Locally apple pressing with the Abundance people in front of Isobel & Henry

Some All Day Occurrences

Autumn crafts at Isobel & Henry
Totally local craft with Helen Woodford Illustration
from Musters Road in front of Tony Burton’s fruit and vegetable shop
Arty glassy things handmade in West Bridgford by Zena West – www.WestArtAndGlass.com
Tastings of probably the world’s best sausage rolls (as judged by Totally Locally Nigel & Chris) and pies with C Brumpton
Tastings of home made Chutneys  by Taste – that would be tasty then?
Tastings of Ale from Totally Locally Magpie Brewery -.Iremonger Road Nottingham @ Clumber Road Off-licence
Tastings of Cheese, bread and olive at Canterbury’s
Tastings of wild mussels (from Norfolk coast) @ Paolo’s
Totally locally beekeeper Rob Jarvis with  West Bridgford honey-  Bee there!
The Health And Beauty People with Anna Girstun from South Road
Solar Heat UK and the fireplace centre – from  Radcliffe Road
Transition West Bridgford  including  Eco House Group
Stonebridge City Farm selling Plants, jams, honey, wax candles based in St Ann’s
Hair accessories by Alice&Rose  from Exchange Road in front of Real
Weekend cupcakes by Shazia Munir from Boundary Road @ Taste
Totally Locally stall meet the Founders Chris Sands and Nigel Goddard in front of Head2Toes (form a queue…. not).
South Nottingham College handing out Totally locally shopping bags (they are the ones that kindly printed them for free).
Trent Barton busses promoting their mango card (not  a mango company promoting their bus card).
The service tree (based on Elm Tree Avenue)
Jewellery by The Vulnerable Bead in front of the Tall Frog (full marks for best business name of the day!).
Seymours Butchers and  Asiri Hall from Asiri foods promoting  indian pickles & chutneys at the Tall Frog. Spicy!
Organic home made dog biscuits produced by young  entrepreneur Ben Gibson from Taunton Road at Scotts the newsagents

Scotts Newsagents – Halloween treats (seems a bit wrong in the hot hot sun!).
The cycle garage with Ed from Trevor Road in front of Click sports – 2 wheels good – 4 wheels bad.

The launch for Totally Locally West Bridgford has had a LOAD of coverage in The Nottingham Post, BBC Radio Nottingham & on TV on BBC Midlands Today. (more…)

A right nice write up in the Nottingham Post from Monday. Getting excited about the launch on October 1st now, always good to see people getting involved!

Check out this brilliant blog highlighting all the good stuff in and around the Melton Road shops right here in West Bridgford.

The abundance re-distribution is a brilliant idea and everybody loves a bit of free fruit and veg don’t they! And if it gets people into their local shops whilst they’re apple grabbing, then everyone’s a winner! Wahey! (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 West Bridgford’s economy can be over £50!

Well if you imagine that when you buy a West Bridgford-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…)

If every adult in West Bridgeford spent just £5 with their local independent shops and businesses instead of online or with the big supermarkets, it will be worth an extra £9.3m 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?

For more information visit

www.totally-locally.co.uk