a KSA business to business publication phone: 0191 488 1947 e-mail: office@tradeandindustry.net published October . 2008

the cup is full!

Wear it Pink Day is October 31The Breast Cancer Campaign’s mission is to beatbreast cancer by funding innovative world-class research to helpunderstand how breast cancer develops, leading to improved diagno-

sis, treatment, prevention and cure. Their show the flag and wear it pinkday happens on October 31 - the biggest day of fundraising in Breast Cancer

Awareness Month. Supporters are asked to wear an item of pink and donate £2 tobreast cancer research - last year this raised an amazing £3.2m.

Filofax has raised over £350,000 since launching special edition pink products toraise money for the charity. The original Filofax pink leather-look pocket organiser,

retails for £22 with a £2.20 donation to Campaign. www.filofax.co.ukThe special edition pink lacquer organiser pen costs £20

with a £1 donation to the Campaign.

see moreinformation on

page 2

The colour pink is thought to be named after the pink Dianthusflower. The origin of the word ‘pink’ may come from the frilled

edge of the flower.

DO IT BY METRO!Fiera Milano, to the north-west of citycentre, is ringed by a network of roads.

Your green route route is by the Red Line ofthe Metro service. Go to Rho Fiera.

It’s reckoned to be the biggest tw-wheel show in the world - bringing togetherthe ptws and the pedal market, the accessories and the clothing, all with a touch of Italian flair.Electric bikes make their stand alongside the high-gloss and best spec machines from famed,global suppliers - yet the over-riding memory will not be so much the first heart-throbbing sight ofa star gizmo but the way the tifoso and tifosa alike, with theireyes and an often errant hand, caress a bicyclebeauty. Milan really brings out the beast in bike-lovers!

writes Trade & Industry editorPeter Lumley. Experience it! The International Motorcycleand Bicycle Show in Milan is anextravanza, giving ideas for thetwo-wheeling urban transport

solution - and it draws crowds like you couldn’timagine until you have been there. This is their clickety-click year, the 66th time for ashow that may no longer be the biggest bicycles onlyaffair, but this is where the bicycle heart beats strong.

Italy’s Paolo Bettini rides allweek paired with Juan Laneras, Points RaceWorld Champion. In the Sprinter Cup are the

fastest men in the world. Tuesday toThursday, Chris Hoy, three-times championat the Beijing Olympics, will race. Tickets to

the 6-Day Race, are available on line, atwww.eicma.it. more inside.

Show Week starts Tuesday, the Six Day event opensso expect it to be busy. Last year the visitor counttopped 500,000 visitors - a wonderfully happy crowd.This is where you see two-wheels being demonstrated with all the glory!

below: the 2007 Six Day in action . . .and who is the spectator looking the wrong way?

October 2008 page 2

distribuido mensualmente porcorreo a todos los interesadosen el mercado Britanico:fabricantes, agentes,

distribuidores y tienda

expédié mensuellement parcourrier à tous les intervenants dumarché britannique: fabriquants,agents, distributeurs, magasins.

distribuito ogni mese all'interomercato britannico.Ai fabbricanti. Ai distributori.Agli agenti.

Jeden Monat fuer den ganzenbritischen Markt erhaeltich. FürHersteller. Für Lieferanten. FürHaendler. Für Verkaeufer.

pubpubpubpubpublicalicalicalicalications sctions sctions sctions sctions scheduleheduleheduleheduleheduleTrade & Industry journals are

published each month. Editorialpages close on given days in the

month prior to issue date - and theearly bird is most likely to catch theworm. The comprehensive MediaPack offers full information to helpbusinesses generate Trade from

their coverage and the publisher willbe pleased to help you achieve the

best timing to develop a growingmarket awareness.

Trade & Industry is published in printand as a pdf version mailed direct to

personal e-mail Inboxes.Archived on the the internet.

to ensure you receive your copye-mail your name & company

address to:office@tradeandindustry.net

copyright for some material appearing in thisissue or on the company website may not be

vested in KSA. It is advisable to requestpermission to copy, broadcast or hold in any

form of retrieval system, any works fromthese journals. The infringement

of copyright is unlawful and prosecutionmay follow.

longest running trade journal for thesector, launched twenty nine years

ago as the first UK bicycles-only Trade magazine.

Outdoor Trade & Industry derivesfrom the original outdoor business magazine

Camping & Outdoor Leisure Trader

dedicated to urban transport topicsand to developing awareness of lightweight

powered two wheelers & trikes

proven successful business builder for boththe Supplier and the Retailer. Is usedto exploit existing synergiesthat are

recognised across the sectors

office: Trade & Industry,97 Front Street, WHICKHAM,

Tyne & Wear NE16 4JLoffice phone: 0191 488 1947

e.mail: office@tradeandindustry.netinternet: www.tradeandindustry.netpublisher & editor: Peter Lumley

e.mail: peter@tradeandindustry.netadvertisements: Kate Spencer

e.mail: kate@tradeandindustry.net

the message: what goes around comes arounda new brand on the block is aiming to be a little bit different - and that’s a promise

The brains behind this new venture is a pretty familiar figure alongside counters and in shops all over the place. That man is Julian Peppit,who has graced a thousand and more tv monitors with his deft handiwork and the amusing out-takes when he gets the script cross-

threaded during a product display session. But that’s not so often, and the $ue Me marque looks, already, to have that serious buthappy with it, laid back but intense and deeply thought out, feel.

That’s the nature of the beast, a clean, green thinking mind that knows how important is is to look after the others around you- and in the case of $ueMe you need to read the message on their first tee product. (as shown left)

the wide & green distribution: paper, yes - but also a pdf and the Internet

think green! act green: does your Trade & Industry pdf really need to be printed out!

readers viewing this Trade & Industry in the pdf version are helping reduceour carbon footprint - so we hope you’ll not think it necessary to press

the “print” button on your computer.

BUT WE CAN ALSO SUPPLY THE PRINT. Just ask!

Trade & Industry works to keep people in the picture, to put you in danger of doing business.The printed journal is mailed free to UK operators, those abroad pay towards postage costs.

To become a qualifying reader please e-mail us and we’ll action:office@tradeandindustry.net. It’s that easy!

“We are $ueMe, we research, design andproduce ethically and responsibly sourced

sportswear. We will always endeavour tominimise our environmental impact. Everylittle effort when combined with everyone

else’s little effort will make a difference. Welove life and sport, we live it to the full, and

we enjoy our planet. We’d like it to bearound for generations to come. Don’t

forget, what goes around comes around.”

the Breast CancerCampaign have a ‘wear it pink’day on Friday, October 31 to

help build continuedawareness of the campaign:www.wearitpink.co.uk

get involved!

The trade journal for yoursector may have used up a lotof trees over the years - but

the pdf version is costingplanet earth barely a twig!

www.sueme.com

eye-catchingcounter-top

merchandiser

© KSA 2008

Women ‘more clued up about celebritiesthan their own health,’ warns charity

The cult of the celebrity may be putting women’s health at risk as they seeminglypay more attention to gossip about the rich and famous than health news. That fact came to light in asurvey carried out for Breast Cancer Campaign by ICM and published this month. Nearly four out of five women quizzed (that’s 78%) could name Coleen McLoughlin as footballerWayne Rooney’s new wife, yet information about breast cancer was seen to fail to be translated intopotentially life-saving health knowledge. Whilst over half (55%) of those questioned said theychecked their breast for changes once a month or more, over 28% admitted they did that only a fewtimes a year. One in seven women (15% of those interviewed) said they never checked their breasts.The reasons for this lack of action are varied, says the charity, with an alarming lack of awareness

about the risk of breast cancer, particularly in older women. Despite being in oneof the age groups most at risk, more than 40 per cent of women aged over 65

don’t believe they are at risk from breast cancer. The reality is that 80 percent of breast cancers are diagnosed in women over 50 years old. When it comes to knowing which celebrities have had breast cancer, the

majority of women were relatively clued up. Almost 60 per cent knew thatKylie had had breast cancer; the Australian pop princess was the celebritynamed by the highest number of respondents. TV presenter TrishaGoddard, singers Anastacia and Olivia Newton-John were among theother celebrities named. ‘While women are clued up about the latest gossip from celeb-land, itappears they are dismissing serious information that could save theirlives, says the charity.“More than 45,500 women in the UK are diagnosed with breast cancerevery year and we know that early diagnosis gives the best possiblechance of survival”.

With a £1 donation for each sale of special Victorinox, SIGG and Mag-Liteproducts, since 2004 Burton McCall’s support of the Breast Cancer

Campaign has raised £129,865 for the charity.

Fleece gloveswith Amarareinforced thumband forefinger formild winterdays.Anti-slippalm areafor added grip.Extra longknitted cuffsfor comfort

distributors of new cycles from

Pell & Parker LtdWHOLESALERS TOTHE CYCLE TRADE

TRIKES - UNICYCLES - TAG-A-LONGSWheels - Rims - Tyres - Tubes - Locks - Saddles - Mudguards - Lights - Chains

Chainsets - Pumps - Lubcricants - Helmets - Pedals and much more

MANGO CRUD PYRAMID WELDTITE SHIMANO

phone us on 01733 810 553 or 01733 810 554

fax 01733 810 540

Thorney Road, Milking Nook, Newborough, Peterborough, PE6 7PJ

where else but to Italy!Travelling to Italy has kept Sandra Corcoran happythese past few weeks. The Pennine Cycles director has just returnedfrom Milan after attending an International Business NetworkingEvent in the centre of Milan hosted by the Mayor of Milan. He had welcomed both business representatives from the UKand Italy to the function where Ambassador Chaplin representedthe British Government along with the Consulate General inMilan for an event that was seen on Italian tv. Sandra Corcoran was there as a member of the InternationalChamber delegation representing manufacturing - her businessPennine Cycles continues to handbuild bicycle framesets atits premises in Bradford. Sandra was able to meet up withStefano Alberti of Stella Azzurra, who are based north ofMilan. She says “This was a wonderful opportunity forPennine Cycles to have a presence at this prestigiousinternational business event in Milan, and in the eveningOpera North and Northern Ballet were performing live.

photo left showsSandra Corcoran with the BritishAmbassador Chaplin and and StefanoAlberti of Stella Azzurra.above: Varese and the front page storythat has done so much for Britishcycling - Nicole Cooke in top winningstyle at the World Championships.

wrong platers escape the law: “DVLA running scared”The Government’s licensing and driving authority the DVLA is challenged as running scared in notacting over what are illegal registration plates on some vehicles being used on Britain’s roads. “The DVLA is scared to actaganst wrong-doers, in these cases, because it makes so much profit from the sale of number plates that must be madeillegal to have any real value.” claims Andrew McGavin, who runs BetterDrivingPlease.com Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveal the DVLA has only withdrawn 22 illegal number plates in thepast nine years. The agency has actually written to 15,784 people warning them about misrepresenting numbers and charac-ters on their number plates. And 693 of those people were reported to the agency more than once. The figures are shown on the

UK’s biggest public roadsafety website

BetterDrivingPlease.com.You can see the request and

DVLA replies at http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/

request/information_on_the_numbers_withd. BetterDrivingPlease.com hasamassed 17,300 reports of baddriving on British roads. “So whathappened to the other 15,762people who were reported forhaving an illegal number plate?While I’m sure some of themmade their plates legal again, I’mcertain not all did. 3,221 reportsof ambiguous number plates areon their register. It is an impor-tant problem to solve”. Andrew added: “If the DVLAwas serious about solving theproblem of illegal number platesin this country it would give eve-ryone reported to it 30 days tomake their plates legal again,then withdraw them, so makingtheir cars illegal to be used onthe roads”. The law states lettersand numbers on plates must notbe altered, rearranged or misrep-resented, or with moved spacingaround the plate. Potential pun-ishments include a fine of up to£1,000, the registration mark be-ing withdrawn and the vehiclefailing the MOT test.

October 2008 page 4

three of a kind that tick the right boxes . . . linking businesses to help grow your market

Whitby & Co’s management team have used their extensive knowledge, gleaned fromdistributing quality flashlight brands such as Inova and Princeton Tec, to developtheir own Whitby Wildcat Torches. The key promise is that they are HighQuality - High Performance Torches, available at a Low Price.

THELEADING

LIGHTS WILDCAT RANGE OF LED TORCHESThis is another quality range now added to Whitby’s widening portfolio.The Whitby Wildcat Torches have been exclusively developed and arepositioned by Whitby to complement the existing collection of brands withintheir distribution. Two from the collection are illustrated.

The Whitby Wildcat collection comprises 5 LED torchesCA100, CA101, CA103, CA104 each with a powerful 1 Watt Light

Beam. The CA102 for example has a beam of 40-50 Lumens and isjust over 4 inches long holding three AAA batteries.

All have a 1 Watt Nichia LED - which are amongst some of the bestquality LED’s available. 40 to 50 Lumens depending on specific model.

LED / Bulb life is 10,000 to 50,000 hours. High quality aluminiumtubular construction. Push Button Switches. Vari-Focus Beams.

Supplied with AA or AAA Batteries (model dependant) and lanyardRRP’s range from £14.95 to £19.95

“We needed to be able to offer our customers a range of LED torches thatprovided a unique combination of high quality together with low pricing -and we believe that is what we have achieved with this collection” saysGarry Woodhouse, Sales and Marketing Director for Whitby & Co.

www.whitbyandco.co.uk

also from Whitby: Dog Biscuit (above)and IQ Switch, to upgrade Mini Maglite

working to bond your products and exploit existing synergies across three market sectors

here’s a lot of Goldin circulation

Olympians parade in MilanTop Sporting attractions at the Milan In-ternational Bicycle and MotorcycleShow in Milan will include the two-wheel racing ofboth motocross and cycling track stars. Leading World Champions and Olympic heroeswill be performing in front of what are expected tobe sell-out crowds. There has been big interestamong Britons that Olympian Chris Hoy will be onthe boards of the specially built indoor Six Day trackthat is now becoming a regular feature of two-wheelshows at the Fiera Milano. Road ace and track star Paolo Bettini will closehis World Championship winnning ways with theMilan “6-Day Race”. Saying adieu to racing he willpair with Juan Laneras, the points race world cham-pion. For the first three days of the show - November4, 5 and 6 - the Sprinter Cup will be a challengebetween tChris Hoy, three-times champion at theBeijing Olympics, Arnaud Tournant, the cyclist withthe richest medals cache of all times, Teun Mulder,a star on the rise, standing start kilometre worldchampion, and Roberto Chiappa, the best Italiantrack rider of the last 20 years.

for tickets go on line: www.eicma.it

and just as youthought it was safe-along comes a Range Rover

Range Rover drivers are at the top of the pileof nasty people using Britain’s roads. Once it was white van drivers who scared otherroad users witless. Now the delivery guy has slippeda slot and comes just ahead of the smug andinconsiderate BMW drivers. Despite cleaning uptheir act a bit, a whopping 49 per cent of cyclists saythey have witnessed white van drivers tailgatingother drivers. Range Rover drivers have developed this terriblereputation for tailgating the car in front and showingroad rage and unnecessary aggression..Iinterestingly, all 4x4 drivers are placed at numberfive for suffering from road rage. They were eclipsed in the poll by elderly people -with a 21% count against them for driving too slowly.Around 47% even reckoned elderly people didn’t payany attention to what is going on around them. All this bad apple behaviour became evident fromcyclists polled by www.50cycles.com, where busdrivers appeared at number nine for unnervingcyclists and driving too close to the kerb. But howese would they pick up passengers? Lorry driversdon’t escape criticism either, they complete the top10 list for failing to look in their mirrors.

PL ACES TO VISIT in MILAN

seeing yoursport pictured

on canvasThe hundred years old footballclub in Milan is the Neroazzurro- Inter Milan. There’s a celebration ofthe centenary at an art gallery quite nearthe Moscova stop, on the Metro Red Line.Displayed are around 60 paintings thatshare a black and blue colour scheme. We’ve picked just two of the creations,the first with Franco Dugo’s NellaLeggenda (of 1993) pulling the heartstringsof people who admire the Coppi - Bartaliera, when bicycle racing was for men. The1952 Tour de France image here recallsone of the most famous happenings in theepic struggles between the two Italian ped-alling giants. Fausto Coppi has two emptybottle cages, with a full and splashing bidonin the left hand gripping the ‘bars. It’s aglass bottle passing baton style from thelead rider, whilst Gino Bartali’s front cagecarries a bidon with the cork cap flapping. The other picture from GalleriaBellinzona is of the gifted Jose Mourinho.The Inter Milan boss is in the process oftaking an already brilliant outfit to the nextlevel in international football, say the sup-porters. Nicola Villa has captured the poseof the man with his jaw typically set, youcan sense the eyes and his brain absorb-ing the play on the pitch. In his early daysJose Mourinho was enrolled in a businessschool by his Mother, but left on the veryfirst day. His focus on sport saw him at-tending a five year course studying sportsscience at the Instituto Superior deEducação Física. Years later he is rede-fining the role of the coach in football, mix-ing psychological and motivational tech-niques . . . the media have dubbed him“The Special One”.

Entrance to Internazionale 1908-2008 atthe Galleria Bellinzona is free.

Not open Sunday or Monday, the Galleryhours are 4pm-7.30pm and until 9pm on

Thursday on other days.The gallery can be found at

10 Via Alessandro Volta

Nicola Villa hascaptured the poseof Jose Mourinho. With his jaw typically set,you can sense the eyes and brain absorbingthe play on the pitch.(above-right) Franco Dugo’s Nella Leggenda

IN BLUE & BLACK tips for newcomers to townThe canal network in Milan is three times longer than those inVenice. Building these navigations was overseen by Leonardo da Vinci, and joinedthe great city to the surrounding countryside. The canals once made landlockedMilan a top Mediterranean port. It’s now an area with canal-side cafes and resturants,with a weekend flea-market.for Tables with treasures try the website: www.ciaomilano.it/e/ristoro/italian.asp

Al’LessVia Broggi Giuseppe, 1320129 Milan+39 02 36533179

BaguttaVia Bagutta, 14, Milan, 20122Phone: +39 0276002767www.bagutta.it/english.html

right: thebike park

at Al’Less.Honest!

October 2008 page 6

from the largest distributor of cycles, scooters and accessories in the UK.

it’s all on the Moore Large B2B Website www.moorelarge.co.uk

With the launch of their greatly anticipated B2B website all of Moore Largecustomers are now able to check availability, view item images and descriptions and placeorders directly through our system, says the company. Our aim is to enable our customers toplace their own orders at a time and place that is most convenient for them. The Moore LargeB2B Website puts our customers in control by allowing them to access any of the required

information themselves be it product, marketing or sales related. The Website includes a News section that communicates any events or sponsorship

activities that Moore Large and its brands have been involved with, keeping you abreast ofour brand support exercises. All Product reviews that have been featured in bicycle consumerand trade magazines are also included in a Reviews section of the website. Other featuresof the website include a New Product section which will be used to announce new devel-opments in our ranges, a section will deal with with monthly offers and our seasonalpromotional lines. A Clearance section with end of line products all priced to clear anda Links page which will take you through to all of our brands websites are there, too. We hope that our new website will help our customers to operate in a way bestsuited to them. Moore Large customers will have received personal log in details - but

can still e-mail us - b2blogin@moorelarge.co.uk -giving your full trading title, contact name and accountnumber.

New customers wanting to open an account shouldplease contact our Sales team on 01332 274 252

or e-mail: sales@moorelarge.co.uk.

try IZIP after-careMoore Large are making sure that theirdealers can keep on the upside of technologicaladvances, along with the servicing and repair oftheir IZIP pedelec collection. They’ve joinedforces with the Weldtite training courses, whichare now delivered under license by the VelotechCycling operation out of their York base, or byarrangement on your own premises. The IZIP training sessions help mechanics toa better standard of work and reduce the prob-lems that come when handling pedelecs. It’s ascheme that also helps prepare shop staff forthe challenging technical questions coming fromcustomers today. The courses are government body ASET

backed, so awards in non-academic subjectscan bring full professional qualifications.

Covering everything you need to knowabout electric bikes, through basic

battery care, and fault diagnosticsto practice with Multi Meter, fuse lo-cation checks and replacement,wheel removals and tyre fittingalong with the fault finding and re-pair sessions.

further information: 01332 274 252e-mail: sales@moorelarge.co.uk.

IZIP Trekking LI - a Ladies model too

fixing feet for fixies- and a perfect product for all types of riding, too

Retailers are finding their customers talk a lot more about riding singlespeed bikes nowadays. The movement that is something of a revolution among Fixieand Singlespeed riders who want toe clip function without being trapped at the pedals,yet has been around for quite a time. People remembering the early BMX days of the80’s recall simple bikes that riders loved to customise and actually ride! Go backanother near twenty years and thestrap across the foot that gave moreor less the same features of a PowerGrip could be found in the bike shedat Youth Hostels, frequented bytouring cyclists.The Fixie and Singlespeed fraternityreally want to have a bike that reflectstheir personality and are veryconscious of style. Individuality isimportant and amongst the hardcorefixies and you will struggle to find anytwo bikes that look alike! A mix ofTrack, Road and BMX parts is thestaple diet for the Street Fixie rider.Ison have collected together the verypackage for these customers. The plethora of parts that fitperfectly with this movement includeHalo Track Hubs and Wheels. Theseaward winning (10/10 in Cycling Plus) wheels created a real buzz at the cycle showand have caught the eye among retailers at Eurobike and places like that. You canhave almost any colour - as long as it’s White, Black, Fluro Yellow or the newAnodised Purple! The rear hubs come Fixed/Fixed or Fixed/Free rear hubs on 32hrims and sell for around £150. Products from Dia Compe are also proving to be super-popular: Gran Compe Track

Hubs. Gran Compe SS Tyres in colours. GoldfingerLevers. Shot Levers. Customising has never beeneasier - so let’s encourage people to be daring!

Ison are at Core Bike Show 2009 - January 25, 26 & 27. 2009Whittlebury Hall, Nr Silverstone www.corebike.co.uk

industryreportputs theleisurescene into focusThe long running Outdoor Industries Associationhas a key objective of engaging and uniting the outdoor industry on key issues that arerelevant to a modern, progressive sector. “Our common aim is to grow the market foreveryone” says Frank Bennett, chairman of OIA. The association has published a deepand thorough report that identifies where the players in the industry have been, how thebuying public reacts to the offer and what could - should - happen next. Shaping The Future, researched and written by Peter Luscombe at Profile OutdoorsLtd, says “.the outdoor market evolved over the years, growing from a small cottage in-dustry into a major market sector. We are now entering a new decade and despite currentmarket conditions I believe that our industry is well equipped to benefit from society’schanging attitudes towards health, fitness and well being - not to mention the environ-ment. Hopefully this report helps highlight those opportunities.” Peter Luscombe reports the view of Brian Cookson, President of British Cycling, whoreckons cycling is a sport whose time has come. “It is good for the environment, for sport,for health,for the drive against obesity and for the economy. As with walking, it is cyclingthat ticks all the boxes. The cycle represents a great green machine”. In “Shaping the Future” the OIA report links the increasing number of people usingbicycles, reported by Sustrans, and The National Cycle Network Route User MonitoringReport 2007, to show that - good for business, this - over 354 million trips were made onthe Network in 2007. The trips are equally split between walkers and cyclists. The 9% ofcyclists on the National Cycle Network who describe themselves as new or returning tocycling, were women. The UK Network runs pretty close to every well populated place. The Outdoor Industries Assocation aim with the report was to highlight future direction,as the title “Shaping the Future” shows. What becomes evident in the findings is that noman is an island, similarly no trader is confined - restricted even? - to only the speciality ofthe businesses involved at core level. How will you future shape up now? PRL

“. . as withwalking, cycling

ticks all the boxes . .”

Comment andexcerpts fromthe OIA reportappear in the

current issue ofOutdoor Trade & Industry

just what the Fixie rider odered!Powergrips rrp £19.99 Powergrips XL rrp £27.50

(the pedal is for illustration purposes only)

from the GREEN newsroom

GOLD in theWALL COUNTRY

Green Tourism lifts North East appealThere are big skies in this part of the world, losts of open vistas and the quietestroad network to let you go tour. Away from paths where powered transport rules, the North-umberland National Park Authority cares for more than 1,100 kilometres of Rights of Way togive the public better access to the countryside. This simply is where you find the greenestof green travel, these parts, with the two national trails and a number of long distance walk-ing, cycling and horse riding trails. Special places abound - there are 32 Sites of Special Scientific Interest covering over10,000 hectares, one Ramsar Site - these are wetlands of international importance - threeNational Nature Reserves and six Special Areas of Conservation. These all fall within theboundary of the National Park itself, whilst around the edges it’s hardly any busier, with thewinding and hill roads that help you escape the urban North East or move off the arterialhighways linking the top end of England to southern Border Country and Scotland. Northumberland National Park’s award-winning visitor centre at Once Brewed, right onHadrian’s Wall, is one of the mix of businesses that have just hit the gold standard on theGreen Tourism Business Scheme. The TiC is one of only nine in the UK who have met theexacting criteria laid down to qualify for the Scheme award, just two are in England. Theaccolade comes in the Green Tourism Business Scheme, the largest environmental accredi-tation body of tourism-related businesses in Europe. There are over 500 members in the UK,from where inspectors carry out an environmental audit of businesses to ensure that strictcriteria have been met before issuing a grading. To qualify, businesses have to undertake practical measures to reduce their impact on theenvironment, such as supporting the community and pur-chasing local and organic food. The way businesses man-age their property or services, communication, energy ef-

ficiency, water savings,waste management, greenpurchasing, transport andcare for wildlife - they areall factors taken seriouslyinto account.

right: Once Brewed - the award winning nformationcentre on Hadrian’s Wall.

photograph: A.Hayward

Situated between the cities of Newcastle-Gateshead, Carlisle and Edinburgh, theNorthumberland National Park is a key environmental, social and important economic asset forsurrounding areas of Northumberland, Cumbria and Southern Scotland. There are some sixmillion people living within an hour’s drive of its wide open and sparsely populated spaces. As part of the Authority’s action on climate change, it has invested with partners in a bigprogramme to restore the Border Mires - an important element in carbon sequestration andflood alleviation. The Authority has the aim to help sustain healthy soils and the landscape,working alongside farmers and landowners to maintain a positive balance. They also supportsustainable enterprises and transport and work to encourage domestic and community-scalerenewable energy. Northumberland National Park is firmly committed to reducing its carbon footprint by 2012.To this end it has developed an ethical procurement policy and is adapting its buildings andpractices to be increasingly sustainable. National Park Visitor Centre manager, Alison Blair, said: “As the main TiC in the central andmost-visited section of a World Heritage Site, we were keen to minimize our impact and that ofour visitors, and to raise awareness of the sensitivity of the environment. We’re thrilled to havemet the requirements for this latest award, and hope we will encourage many other tourismbusinesses to enter the scheme.” Tony Gates, Chief Executive of Northumberland National Park Authority said: “We’re veryproud of our visitor centre staff at Once Brewed. As the North East’s National Park, we feel it isimportant to champion environmental good practice and to lead by example. It will be a great

day when we can offer tourists to the National Park a verythoroughly green experience, and we are getting closer allthe time.” The Authority takes care of dry stone wall boundaries,signs and styles, car parks, picnic sites and visitor facilitiesand services. It protects the landscape from inappropriatedevelopment; restores and conserves natural and histori-cal heritage features that are tourist assets to the local andregional economy; provides expertise to communityprojects, runs full education and public events programmesand much more.

sow to grow to sew

they are facing up to climatechange in the National Parkchampioning environmental good practice

www.northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk

There was a time when bamboo took several years to mature forcropping, but that was before Jackie Heinricher figured out how to produce bamboo from

tissue culture. Yet that didn’t completely solve the problem, because like growing rosestock for the flower market, tiny cuttings that have been prepared for growing on don’t

always do as the horticulturist plans. Plants will as easily die as grow shoots or flower. Boo-Shoots, Jackie Heinricher’s company in Seattle, has grown with perseverance, abold approach and a company acquisition to focus solely on propagating bamboo from

tissue culture. Boo-Shoots now grows over forty different kinds of bamboo - and from thatvaried collection comes the raw material for bamboo socks that are due for shipping from

the Bridgedale’s factory in Newtonards, Northern Ireland, come half a year away. It’s a mark of what you can also do with bamboo, which means that - sockless if you

really wanted - you could actually wander around a garden where the lawn is closelymown bamboo. People, says Jackie Heinricher, are starting to use one species of bamboo

as an alternative to lawn.” There’s a book “Discovering Bamboo,” you can get fromwww.booshootgardens.com, that describes how it’s done.

Environmentalists see bamboo as a plant that can save the planet. A big workhorse of aplant, bamboo makes no bones about sequestering carbon dioxide and pumping outoxygen. With inbuilt anti-bacterial compounds it can thrive without pesticides. Then,

whoopee, its porous fibres can be made into cloth that breathes and is as soft as silk.For sure here is a plant that is beginning to take on dear old King Cotton.

Bridgedale boss Giles Polito, probably more an athlete than a gardener, is veryinterested in how bamboo will fit into the Bridgedale portfolio and at the OTS at Stoneleigh

explained some of his green-inclined thinking. “People can say they are using bamboo intheir product, and that’s green. And they add that it’s great for the environment. “But how

is the bamboo harvested? Will it be that so many people have bamboo as part of the fibrecontent in the product that the world is back to square one in the environmental stakes?

“That’s why I am so excited about the way we are linking with Boo-Shoots”.

It’s a sacred plant, andpieces of bamboo weresaid to have been found

around Buddha’s remains.

regreening first, bamboo sur-vived closer to ground zerothan any other living thing atthe Hroshima blast

China has the world’s biggest cotton production, in America it is the greatestrevenue crop. Growing cotton uses more chemicals than any other crop. In Americanagriculture, over a quarter of their total usage is with cotton - something like one pound ofchemicals for every three pounds of cotton. Bamboo creates its own antibacterial agent, and there are no disease or insect issues withbamboo, meaning no pesticides are needed. Bamboo is really farmer-friendly, needing to beplanted just once, so fewer tractor hours are needed than with cotton - so less diesel. Cottonneeds replanting, bamboo can go growing on for ever, and be rotationally cropped. Bamboo has a net-like root system, giving an effective mechanism to protect watersheds,stitching together the soil on riverbanks and areas of deforestation. It is reckoned to helpkeep up to twice as much water in the watershed. Bamboo is a pioneering plant, quite easilygrown in damaged soil, and brings an opportunity to avoid the destruction of native forests. China and India are using bamboo for the production of paper. With the USA using 90million tons of paper each year that means pulp mills will have consumed 12,430 squaremiles of forest from around the world in that production. USA paper mills are the largestproducers of pulp and paper in the world, and despite the computer age the demand forpaper is increasing. The sustainable supply of wood fibre is decreasing. It is reckoned that already, world-wide there are 600 million peop who rely on income frombamboo - Booshoot have a world’s need in their hands.

www.booshoot.com www.bridgedale.com

October 2008 page 7

October 2008 page 8 people having fun with two wheelsPeople thought this man was astreet performer in London’s Covent

Garden. Truth is he had got a puncture andhad beome really fed up with wheeling

the bike along the street.

Tight vehicle emissionlaws in America has seenpeople looking for an urbantransport solution thatdoesn’t involve an engine.Spotted at the ChatanoogoAmerivespa by Norrie Kerr isthis prime example ofingenuity by Vic Flechall.The Budweiser in the bottlecage is an optional extra - isdrink & drive ok?

Commuters wear quite fashionablegear, it seems. David Presly, a Bayswaterresident (seen right with Jane Harsham) managed tokeep his coat tails from the wheel, all the way tothe finish. Roberto Heras (below) tried hard to win,but didn’t. They were all at Brompton’s 3rd worldchampionship, held on the hallowed ground ofBlenheim Palace.

They’ve had someknock-out partiesrecently. Those there got tobeing able to spend timewith Grease Monkey and matesJackass and Toxic. Small characters these, but thenJumping around wereGroundhog, the Weaseland some Vermin.It got better . . .as the nightwore on- along cameHard Ass - oh,dear, someone can’tspell! - with the Teaseand Crankster. Beingfriends with theHustlers, they were alldoing their best to avoidan Aftershock brought onby the Assassin.And the next happening?To find out ring DirtyBikes, on 0121 748 8050.Expect to see £169 to £300on the bill.www.dirty-bikes.com

You willl maybe reckon it’s stretching it a bit tosuggest people - other than the visitors - are going to haveany real fun at a motorhome exhibition. But that hasn’t deterredPowacycle who have again taken the message to the masses atthe International Caravan & Motorhome exhibition this month. They go because electric bikes and folding electric bikesattract a lot of attention in that particular field of leisure and fun.PowaCycle - the first UK electric bike brand to launch a LithiumPolymer battery powered bike - continue to push their affordableinnovations where the brand can benefit. Getting a tow - or a toe,even - in the caravan market to demonstrate how the LithiumPolymer LPX batteries bring the advantage of a high power toweight ratio, that is falling on receptive ears, as caravan andmotorhome regulars know all about electricity and its uses. “Our commitment to Lithium Polymer powered electric bikes isproving popular with customers, who have strong preferences forlightweight models. They like to be confident of not running out ofpower” says Wazz Mughal, the managing director of Powacycle.

for more information on all thePowaCycle electric bike models see: www.PowaCycle.co.uk

e-mail: info@PowaCycle.co.uk phone 01279 821243

PowaCycle pictured is the Puma LPX. Upgraded with LithiumPolymer batteries has increased its travel distance range toaround 25-33miles. The PowaCycle Puma is characteristicallylight, weighing 18kg with the ultra light LPX battery, aluminiumframe, luggage rack and kick stand. Puma LPX folds-up fortransit in a car, caravan, boat or on a train. Specification includesShimano 6 ratio gears, 180W brushless motor, and 24V 10Ah(240 Watt hours) LPX Lithium Polymer battery.