Tag Archives: North Devon

Not a cordial invitation . . .

July 29, 2012   robertz   No comments

. . . but an energy drink one.

I’m not sure whether I’ve ever drunk an energy drink. Certainly, from what I’ve heard about them and the list of ingredients I’ve read on cans, I would not choose to drink them. However, I do like to give things a try. For all I know, they could be delicious and I could be doing them a disservice because I don’t know what they are like.

A number of years ago, I did testings of so-called premium lagers. I managed to drink all of nearly every one I sampled, although I do remember pouring most of one bottle down the toilet. The result of this test was to confirm that bitter has more flavour . . . and less gas.

But back to energy drinks: I would like to test them, but I really don’t want to drink a whole can of each one.

So I was wondering if anyone else in North Devon is similarly curious enough to join me in an energy drink taster session where we could all have a sip of various brands interspersed with water to cleanse the taste buds.

Is this a good idea or am I suffering from a dose of summer madness due to the recent hot weather?

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New NDBA magazine

March 16, 2012   Elaine Isaac   No comments

Yesterday at the B2B event in Barnstaple I picked up the latest copy of the North Devon Business Alliance magazine.  I had a chance to have a quick read this morning and must say it’s a very good read. This copy focuses on Twitter and has some great articles on Twitter basics and getting the most out of Twitter.

The magazine has articles written by local North Devon business people, but I must single out one of them. Robert Zarywacz not only wrote articles he also edited, designed and arranged the publication of the magazine. This obviously takes time and I would like to offer my personal thanks to him for all the effort and hard work that he puts into it as well as his other business activities.

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What is service?

March 10, 2012   robertz   No comments

Today I went into Pedlar’s, a department store in Ilfracombe. Nick Pedlar, the owner, was on the phone trying to source a scarce item for a family. They had found what they wanted online, but because Nick had helped them find something previously, they wanted to give him their custom. Once again, he was phoning around trying to source what they wanted.

I’d gone in to buy some potting compost. I picked up a bag I saw and went to pay for it. Ivan, who works with Nick, asked if that was the size I needed and pointed out another size in the shop and two more larger sizes they kept out the back. As it happened, I did want one of the larger sizes and left very satisfied because I’d got just what I wanted.

It’s unlikely that this level of service would be available at many national chains. How often have I heard: “If it’s not on the shelf, we haven’t got it.”

It’s no surprise that a number of national retailers are failing. What is more surprising is that so many have survived until now when they have provided such poor service.

What is so valuable in Ilfracombe, and I’m sure it’s similar in some other North Devon towns, is very helpful shopkeepers who offer a personal service. They care for their customers.

That is why I always go to Pedlar’s first for my garden supplies and other local shops for other goods before even thinking of a big garden centre or national chain.

Perhaps larger retailers and high streets could learn from this?

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Time for #NDevon Social Tweetup – 15th March?

March 05, 2012   Kevin Woodward   2 Comments

It’s been on my mind now that we haven’t had a tweet-up for quite a while – yes I know that there was a successful tweet-up at Lilico’s last month, but I couldn’t make it!

As I tweet a lot about business it is always assumed that if I ever organise anything there has to be a business angle to the tweet-up, so I have put a bit of thought into it and along with Ian Starling at The Voice we have a plan.

As some of you may know, the Voice will be broadcasting around Barnstaple on FM 107.1 for 28 days from 16th March to 12th April and are also working hard to get a DAB radio station and/or a full time FM licence to broadcast to North Devon. What better way to promote the launch of the next 28 day license than have a tweet-up at their premises the day before the launch.

A chance to see the studio in action – they’ll be broadcasting online, as they are now, (listen here) – meet some of the presenters and have a slice of cake made by the wonderful Mrs Starling herself.

A pure social tweet-up from 5.30pm – get to listen to some great music – talk to other tweeters and show some support for the Voice FM.

The Voice is located at:-

Back Of Coop, 21 High Street, Barnstaple. Need to go towards church yard. Blue door – numbered – at back!

Tweet @thevoicefm or indeed myself @llamakevin or @robertz nearer the time to find out more!

Time for a social tweet-up – I hope to see you there!

 

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Blow someone elses trumpet! #NDevon

February 10, 2012   Kevin Woodward   2 Comments

Many people blog and tweet, and in the main they are blowing their own trumpet to tell the world how good they are at what they do. I did a 30day Blog challenge last year set by the great @NikkiPilkington – and on day 6 we had to say something nice about someone else, on that occasion it was @robertz who got the plaudits!

On a follow up to that blog, which I did on my own website, I thought it would be a good idea to have a regular blow of someone else’s trumpet and so today I would like to blow the trumpet of Lance Rice!

I have known Lance for quite a few years now, meeting him at one of those breakfast networking events that seem to come around with far too much regularity, but having struck up a rapport with Lance, I was very soon a customer of his. I liked his attitude and approach to running his business and nothing was ever too much trouble – even to the point of lending me some document wallets – I only wanted 20 or so but you had to buy them in packs of 500 – the project I was working on came off and yes, I eventually bought a box of 500 of them.

Last month, my printer played up and just wouldn’t talk to my computer, not the first time it has happened but as the printer was very old, it was time to treat myself to a new one. One call to Lance and he talked me through several options and gave me a few recommendations, and yes, I did check elsewhere, and didn’t find his recommendations any cheaper, so I ordered a nice duplex, scanner, fax, printing machine.

It was delivered personally by Lance and he gave me a few hints on how to get the best out of the machine, and also how to use the registration process and get the best deal on offer – 3 years free on-site warranty – and not only that, he called to make sure that I had got it set-up and yes, I did have a bit of trouble, and he even offered to pop by sometime and help, but no, I did do it myself in the end.

I’m very happy with the printer, and even happier with the service that I got, Lance will even take back unused cartridges from my old machine and give me full credit for them.

Why not check Lance out, here on Twitter as Lance or here as SW Office Supplies, or why not go direct to their website HERE!

You’ll be amazed, not just at the service, but at the prices as well!

Thanks Lance!

 

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Time for a #NDevon tweetup

February 05, 2012   Kevin Woodward   1 Comment

A bit of a bummer, but I cannot make it, but there is a tweetup happening this coming Tuesday!

On 7th February – at Lilico’s in Barnstaple – from 5pm to 8pm there is going to be a tweetup to help promote the use of social media for both businesses and of course for social purposes.

There is  no need to book up, as the whole point of a tweetup IMHO, is that it is spontaneous and you make your mind up whether you can make it right up to the last minute.

As far as I can see the main people behind the event are Easy Computing and Sarah Escott – two great people who deserve a great turnout!

So, if you are in Barnstaple on Tuesday, please pop in and say hi to these great people, even if just for 5 minutes!

Watch out for the next one in March – follow us on twitter to find out all about it!

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#hashtag debate

January 29, 2012   Kevin Woodward   2 Comments

I noticed on twitter last night when I got home that there had been a hashtag debate.

In particular the use of #NDevon #NorthDevon #North_Devon amongst others all in essence referring to the same thing. The debate suggested that we should try to unify these hashtags under the one banner!

It was good to see several points of view, and the thing that struck me was that all of the points of view were right!

On the one hand if we try and unify the North Devon area under the #NDevon hashtag, one that I myself prefer to use, we can get some sort of identification to the area and add interest to those people that either use or follow the hashtag. The reason I use it is that it is the shortest – with a 140 character limit in your tweets (yes, I know that there are apps that allow you to post longer, but…) the more space you have to say what you want without giving way to a long hashtag.

On the other hand, it is a little bit like google – what search criteria do you use to find a particular term. If you are new to twitter and wanted to find out what was happening in North Devon, your first thought would be to type in North Devon. In that case people using the #northdevon or #north_devon hashtags are far more likely to have their tweets found. Of course with regular use of #NDevon they will come across that hashtag and see it but it wouldn’t be their first choice. Would it?

I think as a community, it would make far more sense to have a single hashtag, for us to remain in contact with one another and to have a search facility where we can see what is happening in that stream, but to bring in outsiders we still need to use the longer hashtags.

Of course there are plenty of other reasons to use either one or other of those hashtags as well as to add subject matter hashtags as well, and all of them are valid. After all, we all use twitter for our own purposes, and we all have our own way of using it.

I may well have missed some of the debate, and if I have missed out a good point, please do add it here for others to see & debate!

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Is this a waste of electricity?

January 03, 2012   robertz   1 Comment

The East Wilder Brook at Bicclescombe Park, Ilfracombe, North DevonThe East Wilder Brook flows through Bicclescombe Park in Ilfracombe, North Devon. There is a reasonable current most of the year as the water flows down from the hills to the sea. At times of heavy rainfall, the speed and volume of the water is considerable.

The brook descends via four small waterfalls in the park. It also feeds a millstream which used to power the waterwheel preserved at the old mill building.

If there was sufficient water to power the waterwheel, I wonder whether there is sufficient water to power turbines to generate electricity. Could they be installed discreetly? Would they be cost effective?

With budgets stretched, could it generate enough power to raise revenue to maintain and extend the park, the mill, the tennis club and more leisure services for the community?

At a time when we seem to be trying to generate every watt of electricity we can, are we letting a valuable source of electricity generation wash away into the sea?

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Finding a good tradesman – electricians in this case!

November 30, 2011   Kevin Woodward   3 Comments

My little company that sells infrared heating panels went off to an exhibition in London last year looking for new products to sell. We came across the VPhase product, which can save you up to 17% electricity use on some electrical appliances by reducing the electricity used to 220v instead of our standard 240v. The idea being that your TV, fridge, freezer, washing machine etc… that are being used on a regular basis will operate just as well using 220v as 240v hence reducing your electricity bill.

Well, we bought 5 and have been trying to sell them, but our main thrust of our sales programme was to have them installed in our own houses where we could show people how they worked. To do that we needed an electrician.

On the VPhase website there were 3 recommended electricians – two never returned our call, the third turned up, gave us a quote, promised to come the following week to install, and guess what – six months later we are still waiting!

We even sent a mailshot out to electricians asking them if they would like to become an installer of our product in the North Devon area. We had one reply – they came out, promised to come back to me with a series of quotes and an outline of how we could work together – nothing!

As a business trying to market this product I feel let down by the electricians in North Devon as I thought that what with people wanting to save money and to become greener there was a niche in the local market to get out there and fill that gap!

Nothing!

Know a good electrician who might be interested – get them to contact me! Thanks!

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The Atlantic Water Sports a “miserable failure”!

October 23, 2011   Kevin Woodward   1 Comment

Another story to have caught my eye in this weeks North Devon Journal was the one on page 16 about the the fact that some local councillor had called the event a miserable failure – the story can be found online HERE!

Now, I’m not a great watersports fan, can just about swim 50 yards, but that doesn’t mean that watersports are a no no! In fact in my holiday cottage we regularly get surfers who come to North Devon because of the waves.

I tend to side with North Devon + on this where they say that “Hosting an event of this scale in North Devon, is about delivering long term sustainable benefits to the local economy, rather than than simply boosting trade for a day or two – raising the profile of North Devon in general will boost tourism and economy in years to come”

If you look at the costings the amount spent out of the public purse was quite small in comparison to some of the money spent by the council, and although the audience for this was quite small, it will generate income in the future, in the watersports world people like North Devon for what it has to offer!

Whether you are a watersports fan or not, are you happy with the way ND+ took on this event at the last minute and promoted this event?

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