Christmas

Now I can mention the 'C' word. CHRISTMAS - there you are I've done it. Christmas, Christmas, Christmas.

With the 'Big Turn On' (Alsager Lights) happening tomorrow Christmas is officially here.

The shop will be open from 02:00pm until 08:00pm. The official running order is:-

04:00pm - Market opens

05:00pm - Lantern procession

05:30pm Lights turn on

We are quite busy at the moment. Christmas Fairs and Farmers' Markets here, there and (very nearly) everywhere.

We are now taking orders for Christmas hampers. We have a good range but the most personal present is is a hamper where you have been to the shop and personally chosen the the produce to go into the hamper - a unique present.

If you are looking to do a cheese board we've got the lot - Local and specialist cheese, Culinary Concept cheese knives and some really lovely olive wood cheese boards

We are constantly topping up the Moorland Pottery Stokie mugs, and the Walton & Co range of Household Textiles.

Diary Dates

When and where you can find Delissimo - on the road / opening times

Sunday 29th November 4.00 - 8.00pm Alsager Christmas Lights turn on.

Thursday 3rd December - Late Night Shopping at Delissimo - open until 8:00pm

Saturday 5th December - Rode Hall Farmers' Market. - 9:00am - 1:30pm

Saturday 6th December - Four Oaks Christmas Market (Farm Lane, Lower Withington. SK11 9DU - 10:00am - 4:00pm

Wednesday 9th December - Ladies Night at Bank Corner, Alsager.

Saturday 12th December - Alsager Farmers' Market - 9:00am - 12:30pm

Sunday 20th December - Delissimo is open from 10:00am - 1:00pm

Christmas Eve - Delissimo is open 8:00am - 4:00pm

Delissimo is closed from 4:00pm on Christmas Eve until 10:00am on Thursday 31st December (We need a couple of days off)

Christmas

Yes I know - it's too early to mention the 'C' word. But it's not. The combined force which is Delissimo and Sunflower...at home, are holding our Christmas preview evening on Thursday 15th October from 5 to 8 pmi. We'll be handing out free mulled wine and home made mince pies while you peruse the shop and make your own Christmas list for friends and relatives to buy. You could also do some Christmas shopping of your own. So please come along and bring a friend.

A big thank you to all who came along to our Macmillan coffee morning. With your help we managed to raise £60 for the charity - thank you.

Diary Dates

A new feature to the blog. Where you can find us over the next few months:-

Thursday 15th October 5.00 - 8.00pm Christmas preview at the shop

Friday 16th October 11.00 - 2.oopm Tasting of the Gloucester Old Spot meats.

Thursday 26th November 11.00am - 6.00pm Christmas Fair at Wrenbury Hall Nantwich.

Friday 27th November 3.15 - 7.00pm Christmas fair at Pikemere school, Alsager.

Friday 27th to Sunday 29th November - Wesley Church Christmas Tree Festival

Sunday 29th November 4.00 - 8.00pm Alsager Christmas Lights turn on

The Worlds Biggest Coffee Morning

The Worlds Biggest Coffee Morning

Join us at this Friday, 25th September between 09:00 and 12:00 and be part of the worlds biggets coffee morning organised by Macmillan cancer care. We will be serving tea, coffee and Val's (my mum) home made cake all morning.

Also, take part in our 'grid' game. for a chance to win £7000 in John Lewis vouchers.

All donations go to Macmillan cancer care. See you Friday.




Car Parking
Sophie has had a response from Number 10. The letter is being passed on. We'll see.
We are now trying to get coverage TV and radio coverage to raise the profile of the campaign.


Christmas
Our Christmas preview is scheduled for Thursday 15th October. We'll be previewing our Christmas gifts from 5:00 until 08:00. Please come along.


The Walk The Never Was
Last March my friend Mark and were planning to do a 50 mile charity walk to raise money for Comic Relief. Unflortunatery Mark damaged his knee after only 10 miles which cost him two operations. The plan was that we would do the whole walk this September. It's not going to happen. The knee, while progressing nicely, just can't take the pressure at the moment. So, we're now looking to next Spring - watch this space. To see the photos from the original walk see the March blog

Christmas is coming

Yes, I know - it's far too early to start thinking about Christmas, we've not had summer yet! Sorry but the charity shops here in Alsager are already selling Christmas cards.
We are starting to get stock in but more importantly we are preparing for our Christmas preview night which is being held in October - more details will be posted here towards the end of September.
As far as the car park charges are concerned we have sent a letter to the council pointing out some of the discrepencies in their policies. Also, our daughter Sophie has written a letter to the P.M. putting her view of the situation, quite succinctly, for a 10 year old. This has ben posted and we'll see what comes of it.
The kids are now all back in school, the start of a new year. We've got some great lunch boxes - the most popular being the skull and cross bones design, closely followed by the red dotted.
We have also had our delivery of cheese knives and colive wood cheese boards, all looking very stylish. To view go to www.sunflowerathome.com/shop and click on the 'Culinary gifts' link.
As Christmas is just around the corner more and more stock will be coming into the shop - watch this space!!

Parking Fees in Alsager

We were at a meeting last night to hear how Cheshire East plan to implement car parking charges on the main car park in Alsager. Typical of politicians they had all of the answers but not to the questions that were asked which were specific to Alsager. The meeting was in a the local leisure centre games hall so the acoustics were awful (no fault of the leisure centre).
Points were put forward by the residents of Alsager on why there should be no parking fees:-
a. people will park in side streets and cause congestion.
b. the car park is as much for social activities (U3A, Library, Civic Centre etc) as it is for shopppers
c. If parking fees are applied shoppers and visitors will go to Newcastle, Tesco, Asda, Crewe etc as it will be more convenient to do all of their shopping there rather than in Alsager meaning that Alsager shops (most of which are small independents) will shut.
The council seemed to use larger towns such as Chester, Crewe and Macclesfield as reasons for fees. But they are not Alsager. Whilst Alsager may have the population of a town the shopping centre is definitely village.
But Cheshire East need money and admitted that they were looking to make a profit from the parking fees.
It seems like bad management to me that on the day that Cheshire East took over control of the council:-
1. The website was updated immediately
2. ALL the council vehicles had the new Cheshire East livery.
3. It seems that the majority of council vehicles (in Alsager) are new, not just the livery.
When we worked in industry livery etc was done on the roll. I.e. the livery was changed when the vehicle went in for a service, or had other work done on it or was replaced, thus spreading costs.
And another thing.
Whilst planning to charge for car parking (taking on the one hand) they are advertising whio they want ot support the local communities and shops. To such an extent that they will part fund (50:50) structural shop improvements.
Why not save that money and not have car parking. In that way more people will visit Alsager, shops will do better and be able to fund their own shop improvements.

Once again this reinforces my belief that ALL politicians/councils are at best incompetent and at worst - well - I won't use bad language on this blog.
If anybody agrees that parking fees should not be applied to Alsager please write/e-mail or even phone Cheshire East council

Well. what a brilliant weekend. The Rode Hall Farmers Market was as good as ever and the 'Booze and Blooz' fest was very good indeed. Two big thanks go out to Wade at the Rising Sun,

1. for arranging it all

2. for letting me have a stall to sell my bottled beer which meant that I had to be there. manning the stall, for the whole event. And, being quite competitive, I did have to try ALL of the beers to see if the festival beers were better than our Leek beers. As a completely unbiased drinker I'd say that Leek won. But I may have to go back for a second (and third) opinion..

So, what's next. On Wednesday 9th July Jane and I will have been in Delissimo for 2 whole years. So on Saturday 12th we are having a little celebration as a thank you to all our Customers.
At our party, we will have lots of tastings, free summer punch, birthday cake and our guitarists will be performing again.

Exclusively for newsletter readers, we are having a free draw with prizes donated by some of our lovely suppliers. Just give us your e-mail address when you come to the shop on our birthday and have a go. If you know anyone else who you think would like to receive our newsletter and enter the prize draw, please pass our details on to them.

We will be launching our birthday beer at the party; it’s a great idea for a birthday
present. Our personalised beers are popular too, so whatever the occasion, ask us for details or take a look at the Beers and Wines section on www.delissimo.biz
Hope to see you there!
Mark

Alsager Carnival - what a success, and the rain held off. I would like to thank all the organisers fro making it such an enjoyable event for all the family. It was a great success.
Thank you as well to all those people who came to Delissimo to watch the parade and listen to Derek, Pete and Bill who were entertaining everyone with there versions of popular songs. We have some photos somewhere which I will post shortly.
We still have a few bottles of Carniv-Ale left if anybody would like some more, we are still giving the Carnival organisers 50p per bottle sold. As far as I can see we owe them some where in the region of £50 - £60 so far with hopefully more over the next few days. I would also like to thank Graham Middleton from Alsager Leaisure Centre who was kind enough to sell the Carniv-Ale from his beer tent on Saturday, and worked very, very hard from all reports.
So, what's next.
Saturday 27th June is the Lions second Test in South Africa. After losing the first Test I think that they are going to struggle - but that's what Lions Tests are all about. Good luck to them.
Friday 3rd of July is the 'Booze and Blooz' beer festival at the Rising Sun pub in Scholar Green. The fest runs from the Friday right through until Sunday night and will feature beer, music, beer, beer and music - then more beer. There will be some great music (including the Barflys) and some superb beers, and we will have a stall selling our Alsager Ale and a new label - Booze and Blooz Beer. So come along and try some.
On Saturday 4th July it is Rode all Farmers Market once again. More fun and frolics (hopefully) and plenty of fresh food and good beer (yes OK it's mine again, but it really is good beer).