July 2008 - Posts

A lovely letter

Feeling a bit uninspired this week, in terms of what to write about on the blog, so apologies if the entries are even duller than normal.

To be honest, there's so much work to do on the September issue that we've all just got our heads down getting on with it really - and, after all, there's only so much you can write about sitting at your desk

One thing I would like to share with you, though, is this wonderful letter about the August issue (on sale in the shops now), which really cheered us up today (and I promise it's not from my mum...)

I just had to say how much i love my surrey life
it is quite the best monthly mag on the market,i have subscribed for quite a log time now,and i still look forward to dropping on to the mat.
It has so much in it every month , for instance the article on the 10 best tea rooms, i never realised that we had a historic mansion in cheam village, i will certainly be visiting in the near future .
i have been to the packhouse at Farnham many times and have quite a few pieces i have picked upfrom that amazing place
anyway thanks to everyone at surrey life .
 
maureen wright
 
Well, Mrs Wright, we're thrilled to bits to hear that you enjoy the magazine so much, and will endeavour to keep bringing you interesting features about all the many wonderful places there are in Surrey - be it teashops or pubs, galleries or museums, gardens or countryside.
 
As always, if there's anything that any of you would like to see us cover in the magazine, do let us know.  
 
 

..

 

posted by Caroline Harrap with 0 Comments

Room with a view

I've written before about the view from our office window, looking out towards Reigate Hill, and I have to say it looks particularly lovely at this moment bathed in the evening sunlight.

In fact, whenever I glance up at the hill, which is absolutely covered with lush green trees, it always reminds me how very lucky we are to live in the most wooded county in England.

It also makes me think I should really make the effort to get out and explore it a bit more... (Note to self: must do more healthy outdoor activities...)

In the meantime, though, we're stuck in the office absolutely flat out with the September edition, which is going to be the biggest ever issue of Surrey Life.

Whilst on the one hand that's all very exciting, on the other it's also rather terrifying, given that we go to press a week on Monday - gulp!

Anyway, it's far too nice an evening to stay cooped up in the office worrying about it, so I'm off to sit in the garden with a good book, and I'll return for more fun and games bright and early tomorrow.

 

posted by Caroline Harrap with 2 Comments

Absolutely crackers

Honestly, this place just gets weirder...

It all started last night when I picked up the phone and someone asked if they could place an order.

Ah, excellent - a reader calling up about our excellent new subscriptions offer (a tantalisingly good deal of buy six issues, get six free, by the way).

Imagine my surprise then when the lady on the phone said she would like some Peking duck, egg fried rice and sweet and sour prawn balls...

Er, pardon?

When a chap then phoned up this morning and asked if we did deliveries, it became clear something was amiss. 

Upon further investigation, it transpires that our number has been included on a website called, of all things, www.prawncrackers.co.uk (crackers being the operative word as they clearly can't tell the difference between a magazine and a Chinese restaurant).

The worry is that if it's like this now, what's it going to be like on Friday night?

Anyway, I'm sure that we can forget about the whole sorry incident when they deliver us our complimentary Chinese takeaway ... right Prawn Crackers? 

posted by Caroline Harrap with 2 Comments

If you can't stand the heat...

Phew! It feels like a sauna in the Surrey Life office today - quite literally - as the walls and ceiling are all covered with slats of wood.

I keep half expecting to hear the sizzle of steam as someone in the corner sloshes big ladles of water onto hot coals.

At least if we were working in a sauna, there would be a nice cool pool to dive into next door, but I don't think the people downstairs at Everycare would appreciate us all turning up in our swimsuits ands towels.

In spite of the heat, we're ploughing on regardless doing our best to get through the September issue, which seems to be moving painfully slowly.

It's just one of those months where nothing is quite going to plan - and hence we're more than a little behind schedule. 

It's looking like a tantalisingly good issue, but at the moment, the end product seems about a million miles away - and we go to press two weeks today - yikes.

Anyway, I've been here long enough to know that, as always, the whole team will rise to the challenge and we'll get there in the end.

For the moment, though, I need a cold bath... 

 

  

posted by Caroline Harrap with 2 Comments

Feedback

Just received the most wonderful letter from a reader that almost brought a tear to my eye.

It was all about how much she enjoyed the August editon of the magazine and was looking forward to trying the teashops, visiting the Watts Gallery etc. etc.

To be honest, it's quite rare to hear from satisfied customers - it's far more common to get letters from people complaining about things in the magazine, which happens more often than you might think.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that no matter how positive an article is, someone somewhere won't like it - and they're always the first ones to get in touch to share their views.  

I suppose it's a bit like when you go out for dinner. If it's really impressive then you might tell your friends about it but you probably wouldn't bother writing a letter. If, however, you were disappointed with some element of the evening, you wouldn't hesitate to put pen to paper.    

The other people we sometimes hear from are disgruntled celebrities. Most of them are fine, and we're fortunate to have a good relationship with pretty much all the celebs in Surrey, but there's always the odd one who's unhappy about something or other (we heard from one yesterday, for example, though better not say too much more about that for the timebeing...).

Anyway, if any of you feel the inclination to send us a nice letter, please don't hold back - it will make our day.

 

posted by Caroline Harrap with 0 Comments

Lock-in

A lock-in down the pub is one thing, but a lock-in at the office? Hmm, that's another matter entirely....

Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened this evening, though, when the people downstairs forgot that the latch was broken and slammed the door shut, leaving three of us locked in.

Now the occasional evening working late is fine, but the whole night? I don't think so...

Fortunately, production co-ordinator Helen managed to contact her dad, a true knight in shining armour, who kindly made the trek to the office to rescue us.

Come to think of it, Helen has long blonde hair, so we could have done a re-enactment of Rapunzel, but in fact they decided to go for the rather more straightforward option of passing her keys through the letterbox so her dad could open the door from the outside.

Ho hum, always something, hey?!

posted by Caroline Harrap with 2 Comments

August edition hits the shops!

Busy old day here at Surrey Life as we start work in earnest on what looks set to be our biggest ever issue. Suffice to say, September is shaping up to be a bumper edition - but more on that later...

In the meantime, the August mag arrived at our office today and, whilst not quite as big as September, it's an absolutele cracker - one of my favourites so far!

Highlights include ....

- An interview with Phil Tufnell, who talks frankly about his life in the county and why he loves living in Kingswood

- A wonderful feature on Surrey's best teashops (written by none other than Mark Davison of Surrey Mirror Time for Tea fame)

- An in depth look at the county's thriving allotments and why they've never been in such big demand

- A comprehensive guide to golf in Surrey - from an interview with golf guru and former Crystal Palace chairman Ron Noades to tips from the county's top pros and advice for those looking to take up the game

- Interviews with some of the people behind the fantastic event that is Cranleigh Show

Now if all that isn't enough to whet your appetitie, I don't know what is! Look out for it in the shops from tomorrow.

   

posted by Caroline Harrap with 0 Comments

Walking wounded

Arrived in the office this morning looking a bit like I'd done a round with Mike Tyson - though, in fact, the truth was even more bizarre.

 If I told you I was at a roller disco on Saturday night and was accidentally punched in the face by the flailing arm of a fellow skater, would you believe me? Thought not, but that's exactly what did happen...

We were at the Renaissance Rooms Roller Disco up in Vauxhall for my friend Carolyn's hen night, but as a result of my little mishap, I spent most of the evening being tended to in the club's version of A&E.

I don't know what was more surreal - actually trying to get to the first aid room, which was only accessible down a steep ramp, with the result that I almost killed one of the medics as I careered still skate-clad towards the entrance, or trying to recite my name, address, postcode etc while blood poured out my split lip.  

The upshot of the whole thing was that I had to attend a charity lunch at Nutfield Priory today looking like I had a bad case of trout pout, only able to eat on one side of my mouth and so stiff I could hardly walk.

That aside, it was a lovely occasion with a wonderful guest speaker in the form of Christopher Biggins who had the audience in stitches as he regaled them with hilarious stories from his time in the the jungle. Bless him, he's such a sweetie and really made time for everyone. 

It was all in a good cause, too, with proceeds going to the Leatherhead-based Rainbow Trust - a fantastic charity that helps terminally ill children and their families (you can find out more about them at www.rainbowtrust.org.uk).

Anyway, won't ramble on any more now. Somehow it's got to 8.45pm so I'm going to limp off home to tend to my wounds...    

 

posted by Caroline Harrap with 0 Comments

Public relations

I have to say, my head is absolutely spinning today after a manic (albeit very interesting) day of meetings yesterday. 

It all began down at HQ in Worthing where several of us met up with Andrew Smith, a former editor of the Northern Echo, who now runs his own very successful PR company called Media Matters.

In a nutshell, our head office has appointed them on a three-month trial basis to do our PR, and this was a kind of exploratory meeting to see how we might best be able to work together.

He had some fantastic ideas - as you'd expect from the former editor of one the country's most respected papers - though, somewhat worryingly, one of his key stategies is to get all our editors onto TV and radio on a regular basis.

As a result, I now find myself with the daunting prospect of possibly having to appear on BBC Southern Counties Radio in the next few days to talk about the pros and cons of getting an allotment - one of our main features in the Auguest edition - hmmm...

In the next few weeks, we're also going to be learning how to 'talk to camera', cope with difficult radio interviews and record podcasts - all of which sounds very exciting and glamorous, but also utterly terrifying. 

What is particularly interesting about all this is how blurred the lines are becoming between the different sections of the media. Where once newspapers, magazines, television, radio and even websites all operated very independently of each other, these days there is ever more of a cross-over taking place.

No sooner had I begun to try and get my head around all this than it was time to get back in the car and race up to Surrey to attend the annual dinner of the Red Cross at the beautiful Woodcote Park in Epsom.

If I thought the meeting during the day was scary, that was nothing compared to this, with all sorts of important people and dignitaries in attendance.

Nevertheless, it turned out to be a fascinating evening, and a real privilege to meet the chief executive of the Red Cross, Sir Nicholas Young, who was actually not that scary at all but really rather lovely.

It was also a great thrill to meet the eminent BBC journalist John Simpson who was the special guest speaker for the evening (for the record, probably the best public speaker I have ever heard).

Undoubtedly one of the bravest and most talented journalists in the world, he is also one of the funniest, and by turns had the audience utterly enthralled with sories of Robert Mugabe, life in Iraq and the future of the BBC and then in fits of laughter.

Anyway, I won't go on, but I would just like to say a big thank you to the Red Cross for such a wonderful evening. They really are an amazing organisation and the breadth of work they do is extraordinary - you can find out more at: www.redcross.org.uk 

I would also like to thank my sister Lindsey for accompanying me to yet another random event (thanks Linds - I owe you one!)

In the meantime, back to the studio, er, the office I mean...

posted by Caroline Harrap with 0 Comments

Blog wars

It's been a busy day on the Surrey Life website.

Aside from the fact that we very nearly had a bit of a fracas going on (see Calling all digital spies!), we also bring you a brand-new blog courtesy of Surrey Life's very own golden retriever, Benson! 

As regular readers of the mag will know, Benson is the star of our popular dog walking series and, suffice to say, he's become a bit of a legend in Surrey.

Now, though, instead of waiting for his monthly instalment, readers will be able to catch up on all his many adventures throughout the month.

Check out what he's been up to at Benson's Blog

My only concern now, though, is that his blog might end up getting more hits than mine (it's already not far behind and it's only been up for two days - hmmmm...).

posted by Caroline Harrap with 2 Comments

Brain teaser

Got the mag off to the printers last night without too many problems, though one of the cover lines did leave us scratching our heads until right at the eleventh hour.

One of our features this month is on the Cranleigh Show, which is always a popular event, so naturally we wanted to make sure we had that mentioned on the cover.

The problem was coming up with a line that worked.

What we really wanted to say was something like this...

"Cranleigh Show: Celebrating the best of rural Surrey"

OR

"Cranleigh Show: The very best of rural life"

... Except, we couldn't because we had already used the words 'best', 'life' and 'Surrey' in other cover lines.

Hence, there we were at 7pm last night still trying to come up with a nice agricultural style line that conjured up the idea of food, farming and country pursuits in Surrey, but in less than eight words and without using any of those we'd used elsewhere.

Suffice to say, it started to feel a bit like some weird game of scrabble after a while (though rather less fun, given that unless we came up with something quick pronto, we were going to miss the print deadline).

Anyway, I won't tell you what we finally settled on (that would be far too easy!) but answers on a postcard to the usual address or let us know your suggestions below!

posted by Caroline Harrap with 0 Comments

Croydon Summer Festival

Just popped up into the office to catch up on a few bits and pieces before the onslaught of tomorrow's deadline day.

Nowadays, I usually try to avoid working at weekends, but I do make an exception during deadline week. 

The thing is, I always get twice as much done when it's so blissfully quiet - no phones ringing, no e-mails popping up, no random people turning up at the office with giant aviaries (see: Never a dull moment).

I did manage to take a bit of time out yesterday, however, to catch one of my all-time favourite bands, the Stereo MC's, who were headlining the Croydon Summer Festival in Lloyd Park.

They are always amazing live, but this time they were absolutely phenomenal and, suffice to say, the whole place went wild. 

This was the first time I'd been to Croydon Summer Festival and, I have to say, I was really impressed with the whole thing - the wide range of music; the colourful stalls; the relaxed, friendly vibe. What is more, amazingly, the whole thing is completely free.

The festival carries on all day today as well, so there's still plenty of time to pop over there and have a look round - it really is well worth it.  

As for me, though, it's time to return to the proofreading extravaganza...

posted by Caroline Harrap with 3 Comments

Calling all digital spies!

It came to our attention yesterday that some of the entries on this blog, and also the Surrey Life website more generally, are getting picked up on a website called Digital Spy.

Now from what I can deduce, this seems to be a website for all things media and entertainment related, and whenever we mention either Mark Ramprakash or Flavia & Vincent from Strictly Come Dancing, it results in a flurry of activity on their forum.

We have absolutely no problem with this at all - indeed, we're actually rather flattered - but we're just rather curious about how they're finding us, given that it's a national website and presumably most of the people on their forum don't live in Surrey.

So 'Digital Spies', if any of you out there are reading this, do get in touch and say hello! 

In fact, here's a thing - the first person to get in contact, either by posting a comment below or on our forum, will go away with a nice bit of Strictly gossip!       

  
  

 

 

 

posted by Caroline Harrap with 8 Comments

GuilFest update

PS Almost forgot, if you were at GuilFest then we'd love to hear from you with your thoughts, stories and pictures from the festival. Either post a comment below, visit the Surrey Life forum or send an e-mail to editor@surreylife.co.uk  

posted by Caroline Harrap with 0 Comments

Gossip from GuilFest

So, in despite of the mixed weather, this year's GuilFest turned out to be another cracking weekend.

Anyone else see Blondie? I though they were marvellous - though, having said that, I don't think anybody was very impressed when five minutes before the band were due to go on, Debbie Harry announced that she didn't want any photographers in the pit.

Inevitably, this led to the words 'prima donna' and 'wrinkles' being bandied around fairly liberally backstage, but that aside, it was a storming gig, the atmosphere was brilliant and Stoke Park was packed out. I've no idea what the official figures were, but the place was heaving.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said for the rest of the weekend, when numbers did seem to be a bit down. This could have been due in part to the unsettled weather, but I can't help wondering if it was also due to the slightly odd choice of headliners on the other nights.

The Levellers would have been great as a second or third on the bill, but a headline act? Equally, I'm sure Australian Pink Floyd were amazing - but I'm afraid I didn't stay to find out because I felt vaguely cheated by having a tribute band as top of the bill.

All in all, though, a fantastic weekend - loads of brilliant of bands (Senser asolutely rocked!), a really laid-back, friendly atmosphere and plenty of fabulous festival shopping with lots of lovely veggie food - perfect!     

 

posted by Caroline Harrap with 1 Comments

GuilFest...

So how many of you are off to GuilFest this weekend?

Alas, I am stuck in the office at the moment, feeling a bit like a modern day Cinderella, but I'm hoping to make it over to Stoke Park tomorrow.

 Let's just hope, given the poor weather forecast, that it doesn't turn out to be a complete wash-out like the Surrey County Show.

Think it's going to be a case of Sou'westers and wellies rather than soaking up the sun!

Anyway, if you are braving the elements, hope you have a fantastic time - and look forward to seeing you there.  

posted by Caroline Harrap with 0 Comments

Never a dull moment

Today has been nothing short of bizarre. These are a few of the stranger things that have happened...

1) A delivery man arrived at our office and said to me, "I've got an aviary for you, but it's too big to bring up the stairs."

2) The enormous cage in question turned out to be for the chinchilla of production co-ordinator Helen Hughes, and when this was finally established, the delivery man turned round to advertising manager Damien St George and said: "Are you Helen?"

3) In a landmark decision, the production editor gave his seal of approval to our first choice of cover (albeit after a fair bit of to-ing and fro-ing)

4) Deputy editor, Matthew Williams, made everyone a coffee...

5) I received an e-mail that read simply: "You look really stupid editor." (though, admittedly, they probably had a point...)

Hey ho; just another day at Surrey Life...

 

posted by Caroline Harrap with 2 Comments

Bewitched?

We were chatting in the office this morning about the first albums that we owned.

My first record was Abba's Super Trouper album - fairly respectable I think - and my first single was Rapture by Blondie (who are, of course, appearing at GuilFest this weekend).

I think the person who owned up to the Bewitched album, however, needs to seriously re-think their CD collection.

In other news, with just over a week until we go to press, there still seems a scarily huge amount to do.

However, on the plus side, I think we now have our cover (praise be to God and all his angels), though after last month's lavender debacle I'm not saying a word more for fear of tempting fate.

Right, better crack on... have a list of things to do as long as my arm... 

 

posted by Caroline Harrap with 0 Comments

Beautiful Surrey

Before I became the editor at Surrey Life, a day like today - with cornflower blue sky, dazzling bright sunshine and crystal clear air - was always enough to put me in a good mood.

Nowadays, it is guaranteed to send me into paroxysms of panic - because it means it is one of those rare windows of opportunity to get pictures.

Cover shots can only ever be taken on a day like today - so we'll be making sure we get the August cover photo taken - but we also need pics for our Beautiful Surrey series, main features, town profiles etc, etc.

This means a frantic ring round all of our photographers telling them to cancel all their plans and get out and about in the Surrey countryside instead.

Incidentally, don't forget that we also accept readers' photos for our Beautiful Surrey series, so if you fancy getting out with your camera today, too, then don't hold back!

 

posted by Caroline Harrap with 0 Comments