I am British, I love inventions, therefore I love ‘Wallace and Gromit’, so as you can imagine I am absolutely thrilled that my favourite inventive duo are kicking off their ‘World of Inventions’ series tonight on BBC at 7.30pm.

With Wallace and Gromit presenting the show, it is all about wonderful inventions that have been inspired by nature. Examples include a clock that runs off dead insects, a Manta-Ray inspired robot and how scientists are studying termite mounds to create self-cooling houses. This episode is one of 6. So gather the kids around, enjoy and be inspired – I know we will be.

More great news, to accompany this series Wallace and Gromit also are kicking off their UK wide ‘World of Invention’ roadshow this weekend at Bristol. At the roadshows older children will get the chance to experience a fun Wallace & Gromit invention session and see the original animation sets, plus younger children will be able to get hands-on at the clay station. After Bristol, the roadshow will visit shopping centres in Kent, Milton Keynes, Manchester and finish in Derby on 11- 12th December. The roadshow is FREE to everyone , however, places are limited and will be available on a first come first served basis. The minimum age for the invention sessions is 7 years and for the clay station it’s 3 years. For more details, visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone/wallaceandgromit/live-events.shtml

And finally, if that is not enough Wallace and Gromit action for you, you can now add a bit of inventiveness to your Christmas post. Yesterday the Royal Mail launched it’s Christmas with Wallace and Gromit stamp collection and they are fab – check them out here:

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/stamps/content1?catId=32200669&mediaId=130000787

Oh, and finally just a reminder that Wallace and Gromit have a fabulous competition for budding inventors of all ages. They want you to invent and build a clever contraption, anything goes, as long as it meets the judges’ criteria. For more information and to find out how your winning invention could appear in the next Wallace and Gromit production, visit here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone/wallaceandgromit/competition/

For up to date news, Wallace and Gromit’s website has had a revamp and the news page will keep you up to date on everything that’s happening.

http://www.wallaceandgromit.com/news/

And that’s it, for now, so I’ll end with a classic Wallace saying “That went as well as could be expected, didn’t it?”

Lyndsey

Lunch box waste

Half term is nearly over and soon your little chaps and chapesses will be tootling off to school with their hearty lunchboxes in hand. Making sure they eat a healthy lunch is a subject close to all parent’s hearts and fortunately there is lots of great advice out there to give us a helping hand. But how many of us are aware of how much an average school throws away in packaging waste, leftover drinks cartons, bottles, crisp packets, yoghurt pots etc, which then gets sent to landfill?

Many schools, thankfully, are introducing Waste-free lunch days with the support of WRAP’s Recycle Now campaign, their message, that it can be very easy to reduce waste, just by making a few simple changes.

Here are some ideas they recommend:

• Try using a reusable flask or bottle for school drinks instead of a carton or plastic bottle;
• Avoid using foil, cling film or storage bags to wrap sandwiches and use a re-usable lunchbox instead;
• Swap individually wrapped biscuits and crisps for packaging-free fruit and vegetables;
• If you do put fruit in lunchboxes remember any fruit peelings or cores can be composted at home;
• Use metal spoons instead of disposable plastic cutlery.

The good news is there are already products out there that can help us reduce our waste, reusable bottles (BPA-free is best), food storage containers, metal spoons and cloth napkins, but is this enough?

On Twitter the other day I asked the question ‘What is your biggest lunch box waste nuisance’ – the answers that came back included yoghurt pots and mini jaffa cake packaging, and now I’d like to know what are your child’s lunchbox worst offender? I’d also like to find out what you use to combat this waste issue, also does your school run a ‘waste-free’ scheme and do you think it’s a good idea?

I personally think ‘waste-free’ lunches are a great idea, however although there are a lot of reusable products out there on the market, I am not convinced that they fully address all of the issues we have AND that they really appeal to children.

This is where I am hoping to fill this gap, we are currently working on two products that we believe both parents and children alike will love using. Not only will they create a waste-free lunch, they are fun to use, free of any chemical nasties and are convenient. They are currently in the development stage and we can’t wait to show you when they will be launched.

In the meantime, I’d love to know what waste packaging you would like to see the end of in your child’s lunchbox – crisp packets, biscuit wrappers, yoghurt pots? Also, I’d love to hear what your child’s current favourite lunch box accessory is, my boys love their reusable ‘Power Ranger’ lunch boxes – but I have certain issues with those (more on that at a later date).

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Lyndsey

The next generation of green savers

A couple of weeks ago, Asda ran a competition to win tickets for the Prince of Wales, ‘A Garden Party to Make A Difference’ and asked the question ‘What are you doing to live a more sustainable life’. Obviously I responded by telling them that I’d invented Count On It labels to help myself and families like me reduce unnecessary food waste. Since launching Count On It labels, my business has now evolved and we have two more products in the early stages of development, both which make being green in the home easy.

Anyway, a couple of days later Asda got back in touch and confirmed that I’d won the tickets for myself and my family to attend the event and on Sunday 19th September off we went to London.

The event, which is part of the Start campaign, took place in the private garden of Clarence House and of it’s neighbours Lancaster House and Marlborough House. It aimed to give people of all ages a fun day out, whilst showing how even by making small changes we can all live a more sustainable life. First of all it was such a great privilege to be able to walk around these historic gardens and see at first hand Prince Charles’ very own vegetable garden and the beautiful herb garden. The houses were stunning and we were also fortunate enough to be able to see a glimpse of Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall themselves, as they left Clarence House to attend the Battle of Britain service at Westminster Abbey.

Throughout the garden party there were some fantastic exhibitions, a favourite of ours was the incredible ’sign-writing’ shower exhibit from B&Q. The huge ’shower head’ spelt out how by using a shower UK households could reduce their water consumption. The shower ’sign-wrote’ this message with a computer-controlled jets pumping out individual water droplets at pre-determined intervals. What a stunningly effective way to get the message across, now all it would need for my home is an attachment which told my boys to use soap!

Another display purposely low tech, but equally as effective, was the recycled milk bottle planter irrigation system as part of the ‘The Future Cities Garden, created by www.PetherickUrquhartandHunt.com. The planter as shown in the photo, used recycled milk cartons as plant pots with a hose feeding each pot, creating a space-saving, multi-use planting system – growing salad leaves, herbs, flowers – perfect for gardens with limited space or homes without gardens, just balconies – the only cost – time to construct and plant. What a fabulous idea to use in schools to teach children about recycling, engineering, design and of course, self-sufficiency.

Recycled self-feeding milk carton planter

They’re were also some fantastic ‘freebies’ too, packets of wildlife attracting plant seeds, Dianthus (Russian Skies) and Wild flower, Sweet Rocket from the Royal Horticultural Society. Plus packets of Mixed Salad Leaves aimed at children from the RHS Campaign for School Gardening. www.rhs.org.uk/schoolgardening and of course, not forgetting the obligatory ‘bag for life’ – and I can now confirm, yes, I have now got enough bags for my life, my children and most probably their children’s. Joking a side, this is an issue that I believe will soon be coming back to bite us, with a glut of reusable bags soon seeing themselves heading for our bins and landfill – unless they could be taken in by charities in their clothes collection bags.

Adam Fellows cooking at the Asda 'Eat Seasonably' exhibit

Down the enclosed part of the Mall, we then enjoyed the cooking skills of Adam Fellows at Asda’s Eat Seasonably cooking demonstration tent. Using only seasonal vegetables, the chefs showed the audience how to cook up fresh, tasty meals from British fruit and vegetables.

Another supermarket, Waitrose, had a great exhibition which focussed on ways we can all reduce, reuse and recycle. On display was their latest waste reduction initiative which is being launched in October, a new style of meat packaging which will help their customers remove 90 tonnes of plastic from their bins each year. This flexible style of packaging will remove the need for rigid meat trays, as the photo shows the pile of flexible packaging on the right in contrast to the same amount of rigid packaging in the supermarket trolley to the left.

Waitrose new meat packaging - 90 tonnes less plastic waste

We then had the inventive exhibition from Marks and Spencer’s – which showed how their Plan A was making a difference to the environment, their customers,employees and the people who work to supply all the products we sell. The exhibition, which was incredibly reminiscent of the Wallace and Gromit ‘Cracking Idea’ exhibition at the Science Museum a year ago, showed how their coat hangers where recycled, their donate your clothing scheme with Oxfam and how artificial colourings and flavourings have been removed from their food and soft drinks.

Of particular interest to me was their fridge display which showed how households could get the most from their food through proper storage, labelling, yes, that’s were www.countonit.co.uk labels would be perfect, menu planning and the use of leftovers. As expected, this was a great way of giving people tips and ideas to make their food and money go further, but what saddens me is that on standing near the display for a little while (studying it of course) I heard over a dozen people state ‘I never throw any food away’.

Aaaargh, how many times have I heard this – it is so frustrating. We are ALL responsible for throwing some edible food away, the leftovers on a child’s plate, the yoghurt that got forgotten about in the back of the fridge, the over-catered party food, it happens, even to those who do their best to keep their waste to a minimum. But with so many people in denial, how are we every going to get people to face up to this problem as a nation and do something about it. Unless products are designed in such a way that people become green without radically changing their existing habits or even realising it – an area which really interests me and which I plan to tackle through my own design business.

Finally, there was the Farmers market, eco-car display and eco-school and not forgetting a fabulous dance show by Strictly Come Dancing’s Darren Bennett and Lilia Kopylova, who incidentally walked past us when I was stuffing an organic sausage in my mouth, so I couldn’t smile or say ‘hi’ – I’m sure they got over that, quicker than I did!

All in all, it was a fantastic event which highlighted how simple changes can make a huge difference. The creativity of some of the exhibitions showed how easy, low cost and even stunning it can be to use more envirionmentally sound products and ideas, which will in turn save us money and reduce the impact on our world.

We don’t have to overhaul our lives to be more environmentally-friendly, we don’t have to drastically change our shopping habits, we don’t even have to stop eating the foods we enjoy – we just need to use a little common sense, seek out products that give more than they take from our environment, be more aware of our own personal impact on our world (and our pockets) and be a little eco-creative with what we use.
Thank you Asda for giving us the opportunity to join Prince Charles at his home at this brilliant event, it was fantastic.

After watching Great British Waste Menu on the BBC a couple of weeks ago (and blogging about it), a few of us got together on Twitter (where else) and have decided that something has to be done to help everybody make a positive impact on this country’s wastage.

We’ve come up with a campaign called ‘More for my money’ #m4mm and the aim is to bring all existing waste reduction schemes, campaigns, businesses under one roof. So if anyone, wherever they are in the fresh food/produce supply chain, wants to find out where and how they can reduce waste, all the info is in one place.

Instead of searching in one direction for recycling tips and advice, then in another for composting info, then in another for products that help you reduce food waste like Count On It labels, all of this information will be in one place – a one stop ’shop’.

This is the vision:

• a one touch resource ‘centre’
• helping the individual (wherever they sit in the supply chain)
• to bring together all existing campaigns
• practical and useful advice
• one step at a time attitude (not preaching)

So, if you like this idea and would like to join us, it’d be great to have your support.

Lots of things are happening already, we’ve got volunteers to do our website, interviews lined up with local BBC and a diverse range of people who want to be part of the campaign and support it where they can.

If you want to know more, please drop us an line and we’ll put you on our circulation list so you get to find out how you can join in and hear what’s happening next.

Thanks again for your interest and hopefully we’ll speak again very soon.

Lyndsey

p.s. keep you eye out for the #m4mm on Twitter – and join in the conversation :0)

A couple of weeks ago the BBC aired the programme, Great British Waste Menu in which it addressed the issue of food waste. If you didn’t see the programme, it’s aim was to challenge 4 chefs, Simon Rimmer, Angela Harnett, Richard Corrigan and Matt Tebbutt ‘to prepare a lavish banquet designed to prove that saving scraps is good’, under the intense scrutiny of four of the nation’s toughest food critics Prue Leith, Oliver Peyton, Jay Rayner and Matthew Fort. Here’s the second part of my thoughts about the programme.

Picking up from where I left off in Part One, one of the most shocking ‘revelations’ in the programme was how much fresh produce is thrown away even before it gets to our shops, markets and restaurants. One of the reasons given for this excess waste, was that the supermarkets require a ‘standard product’ because ‘households don’t like misshapen, over-sized, under-sized produce’, so rather than it heading to our stores, it was discarded.

I have two questions, first of all ‘who’ has dictated what the UK household likes and when, I can’t remember being surveyed about my tomato size preference or what size egg I like. Secondly, why isn’t this ‘imperfect’ produce being used by food manufacturers, e.g. those ‘unsuitable’ lettuces could surely be used in ready-to-buy salad boxes, restaurants, shop-bought sandwiches, etc. Instead, because of ‘our’ misconception of what a lettuce should look like, 30,000 lettuces from one farm in one day were ploughed back into the land. Similarly with the eggs, why weren’t those small eggs being sold to food manufacturers for use in mayonnaise, cakes, biscuits – surely this just common sense? Or do our growers and manufacturers already do this and we were misled on this issue?

We then had the well-travelled pineapple that had spent it’s formative years growing in tropical climates with dreams of flying half way across the world to bring a taste of sunshine into a UK household’s life – only to end in a market traders bin because it has gone a bit soft – what a sad tale. The energy that was used to grow, harvest, store, transport and bring to market that pineapple was phenomenal – but it was all a wasted, literally.

For me the main point highlighted by the programme was that as a country we have generally lost touch with our food, the growing, preparation, storage and the value of it. If people understood food and were more confident around it, many would soon realize that the size or shape of fresh produce does not adversely affect it’s flavour, in fact in a lot of cases, particularly the small tomatoes, it can be even tastier.

Food safety, food rotation and proper food storage knowledge would also be improved, not only saving unnecessary waste, but also saving avoidable illnesses contracted as a consequence of poor food hygiene practices in the home and at work.

Our throw away culture would also be challenged, we’d learn how to get more for our money from our groceries, using every last bit until it is gone. Like it was when I was young; Sunday roast chicken and vegetables, then chicken sandwiches for tea and finally cold chicken with bubble and squeak (leftover mash and veg) for Monday night tea – limited preparation – fantastic meals.

As one of the lucky ones who had ‘Home Economy’ classes at secondary school, not only did those classes stand me in good stead for having the confidence to cook, I learnt about food safety and food nutrition. I also learnt about which foods had carbohydrates, fibre, vitamins etc., and I believe this is why I have always had a good relationship with food and haven’t prescribed to fad diets.

If the Government would re-introduce home economy classes into our school, not only would children grow up with a greater appreciation for food, we would be healthier and less wasteful as a nation. Unfortunately at the moment our country has a growing edible food waste and obesity problem to match – the irony. It should be ‘Less waste, less waist™’

Reducing food waste is not going to be an easy problem to solve. As WRAP (CIWM 2007) highlights there are many reasons why so much food is wasted these reasons include food knowledge (how long food lasts), beliefs (attitude to waste), social context (affordability), retail context (more products to purchase), how we shop (ease of purchase), how we eat (expectation of food perfection), how we dispose (lack of disposal infrastructure).

But just because it’s going to be a challenge, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.

Since watching the programme and joining in with discussions with people via Twitter and individual blogs, there are a people out there who do want to do something positive and plans are underway. Maybe, if we get enough people together, we could make a difference. So, if you feel passionate about positively changing our country’s food waste problem and you want to be involved, please drop me a line.

Let’s make it our mission to help everyone in UK get ‘More for my money’ m4mm

Cheers, Lyndsey

www.countonit.co.uk

To see the programme, or to watch again here’s the link http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tkr88

For tips and advice on reducing food waste click here:-

www.lovefoodhatewaste.com

www.wasteawarescotland.org.uk

www.wasteawarenesswales.org.uk

www.thenewiceage.com

Last night saw the BBC’s Great British Waste Menu tackle the thorny issue of food waste, challenging 4 chefs, Simon Rimmer, Angela Harnett, Richard Corrigan and Matt Tebbutt ‘to prepare a lavish banquet designed to prove that saving scraps is good’, under the intense scrutiny of four of the nation’s toughest food critics Prue Leith, Oliver Peyton, Jay Rayner and Matthew Fort.

I must admit, on tuning into the programme I wasn’t sure really what to expect, I thought they may chose to just pick on the supermarkets and households and repeat the usual message about best before/sell by date confusion and how this contributes to the UK’s food waste problem. However, I was surprised that they also looked at the farmers, bakers, restaurants, the incredulous wastage of ‘ugly, irregular sized produce’ and market stallholders, who seemed very quick to ditch perfectly edible fruit and vegetables rather than try to sell them.

As I have SO much to comment on, I have decided to split this blog into two parts, this is part one, I hope enjoy it:

The first point immediately acknowledged by those taking part in the programme was that today’s consumers are incredibly frivolous with food. Our food is too readily available, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, piled high and sold relatively cheaply (though as we all know this is starting to change) and there seems to be an endless supply (despite for the second year running wheat prices going up due to poor harvests and increased world demand).

Food is no longer a precious resource, the days of rations and being thrifty with food are long gone, our food is now there ready for the taking, in fact, take it and don’t worry if you don’t eat it, there’s plenty more where that came from! We treat food like, well, rubbish. But the convenience of our food, the sheer abundance of it comes at a price, not only does it affect our pocket (£680 a year for a family of four *WRAP), it is adversely affecting our environment, as tonnes of edible food waste are sent to landfill each year.

Fruit and vegetables are one of the largest food groups to be dumped, the reason why? Purely cosmetic. Unfortunately, similar to our obsession with the body beautiful, it would seem that the majority of people want perfect looking fruit and vegetables too. If they aren’t the ‘classic’ shape, size, colour, texture, firmness and aroma they’re on a one way ticket to the bin. But what about the taste you ask, well, they’re not given the chance – partly because we demand/expect a specific size, e.g. courgettes can’t be too long, or short, tomatoes can’t be too small and carrots, well let’s put it this way Esther Rantzen’s famous ‘legged’ carrots would definitely be told to ’stroll on’. I, and many more people like me on Twitter, was absolutely staggered to hear that 35,000 potatoes are thrown away per minute. Again because they’re cheap and always readily available, consumers don’t value them -but knowing how much effort chitting, planting, watering and cropping went into my small potato harvest, this feels like a crime.

Another area that surprised me was how much fish the guy at the fish and chip shop was throwing away – it had never occurred to me that they’d have off cuts. But why on earth couldn’t these small pieces be battered and made into fish ‘nuggets’ or gougons? I, for one, would prefer this portion size at my local fish shop, rather than the oversized ‘whale’ that hangs over my plate – duly shared with the kids. A bit of clever marketing and the fish and chip shops could sell these smaller portions as ‘diet-sized’ or ‘child-size’ – now there’s a thought!

Then we got onto my favourite subject, household edible food waste. As you will know if you’ve been to my blog before or visited my website www.countonit.co.uk, throwing away food that I’ve spent time, money and effort buying and preparing is a huge bug bear for me. So much so, that I came up with the idea of Count On It® labels, scratch off labels which you simply mark on the date when your food was first opened, stored or frozen. By knowing at a glance how long ago your food was opened, you can eat it in time, safe in the knowledge that you’re getting the most out of your food and wasting less of it. No worries, no waste – just Count On It®.

As the programme stated, the UK households are the largest contributor of food waste in our country and one of the main reasons we throw so much away is because we simply loose track of how long our food’s been opened or stored. There was a perfect example of this on the programme when the lady gingerly (no pun intended) handed over the jar of pickled ginger out from the back of her fridge. The quizzical look on her face summed up what we were all thinking, ‘hmm, how long has that been in there?’ But then, as our top chef showed, it was perfectly edible – another example of unnecessary food waste. If she’d known how long it’d be stored and it was okay to eat, there wouldn’t have been any confusion or indeed waste.

As the bulging, crammed fridge of another householder clearly showed, another problem is that we overbuy and then inadequately store our food. So when we finally get to that jar of opened sauce at the back of the fridge or pack of ham, rather than use it, we guiltlessly throw it in the bin and pull out something else, something new. As was pointed out, to minimise our country’s edible food waste problem we should only be buying what we need, menu planning, rotating and tracking our food and be eating and enjoying all of our food.

As Simmer Rimmer pointed out, many households are confused over ‘use by’, ’sell by’ and ‘best before’ dates, so rather than risk eating anything that could make us ill, we throw it away. It was at this point where I believe the programme ventured into dangerous ground with their ‘Save our Scraps’ pledge stating we should all just trust our noses. As their Food Safety Expert, Dr Lisa Akerly, pointed out, people need to be aware of basic food safety procedures, harmful odourless and tasteless bacteria that grows on our food and the dangers of listeria.

According to the FSA the number of cases in the UK of listeria in people over 60 years of age has doubled in the past nine years. 95% of cases end up needing hospital treatment and one in three of the people getting food poisoning caused by listeria die as a result. Households with children, the infirm and elderly must take great care with food preparation and storage and for many foods the sniff test just isn’t satisfactory or safe enough, we must keep track.

Finally, for now, although I love the concept of the ‘Save our Scraps’ pledge, I don’t think this campaign will ever really get people fully behind it – and why do I think this, well because of the word ’scraps’.

Everyday of our lives we are bombarded with images of abundance, affluence, having it all, luxury and as we’ve seen with the plight of our ‘ugly’ fruit, we just want perfection. I believe that the words ’scraps’ and ‘leftovers’ all suggest scarcity, poverty, making do and poor quality. As Prue Leith further described these ’scraps’ as ‘discarded’ and ‘rejected’ these words do nothing to inspire people to get behind this campaign and try to get the most out of their food and reduce edible food waste.

What could be the answer, well funny you should ask. I’ve been having a thought and this is what I’ve come up with so far, let me know what you think:-

‘Laters’ or maybe ‘Love Laters’

‘More for my money’ or ‘mmm’ for short

‘The Other Half’ or ‘OH’

Anyway, that is it for now, as I mentioned at the start this was an immensely interesting programme for me and I have lots more to say, so I will be writing part two shortly. In it I’ll be musing on why the misshappened lettuces are not going into prepared salad bowls and who said ‘housewives only like big eggs’?

Just before I finally sign off, you will see from one of my previous blog posts that I am on my own mission to help households and supermarkets reduce food waste. By integrating Count On It® labels onto chilled food packaging, so it is already on it ready for you to track your food, Count On It® labels can help you get more for your money and waste less food. Have a look at my blog post ‘Can I count on you?’ please vote on my poll and if you get a chance make a comment, it’d be really appreciated.

So long for now,

Thanks, Lyndsey

To see the programme, or to watch again here’s the link

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tkr88

For tips and advice on reducing food waste click here:-

www.lovefoodhatewaste.com

www.wasteawarescotland.org.uk

www.wasteawarenesswales.org.uk

As some of you may know, I have entered a couple of awards recently The Mumpreneur Awards and Mum and Working Awards and one of the questions I have been asked is, ‘why did you set up your business?’ and ‘what would you say to others thinking of setting up their own business?’ Well, for those who I haven’t told my story and for those who’d like my perspective on why they should set up there own business, here it is, I’m not saying it’s your classic ‘how to successfully set up a business’ story, but it’s mine and it’s working for me. So here goes:

For my story to make sense, it’s important that first of all I give you a bit of an insight into my background.

The second of two girls, I was born into an entrepreneurial family, my dad had his own printing business and stationery shop were he and my mum worked together when we were young. Every holiday was spent working at ‘the premises’ (don’t know why we called it that!) filing, collating papers, numbering printed invoices, etc., you get the picture. So running your own business was something I grew up with – in fact, my sister and I sold ‘pom pom pets’ we’d made to our school friends, had a ’shop’ on our front lawn for passing mums and often used to make ‘fizzy apple juice’ *wink* in our shed, to exchange for sweets with our buddies.

On leaving school, I went to work at East Midlands Electricity for 10 years, where I had a great time, working simply to have money to go out at the weekends, not pressure, responsibilities, just fun – it was the Eighties!

Then in 1992, getting bored with the 9 to 5 and weekend ‘binges’ I had the opportunity to travel to Zimbabwe with Operation Raleigh for 3 months doing charitable work and having life-changing adventures.  These 3 months of exhilarating, scary, life-affirming experiences, were to be turning point in my life and opened my eyes to the possibilities than could be mine.

Fast forward to 1995, I moved to Nottingham to study BA Hons in Design Management, in 1998 I graduated with a First Class Degree and in 1999 I set up my first business, Lighthouse – a healthy option catering company. With no other business serving this market in my area, the business was an instant success, within a few months I had taken on staff and my client base was growing – then disaster. One day when preparing the orders my legs collapsed. To cut a short story, shorter I had got ’spondylolthesis’ grade 3, a degeneration spinal condition which my consultant bluntly advised me could mean paralysis and absolutely NO children, if I didn’t have it operated on. That was it, with only 2 weeks warning to my operation date, I had to give up my business and lay off my staff.

Three operations later (the first operation was unsuccessful and the third operation was to rectify a substantial mistake they’d made in the second – that IS really a long story) and 6 months prostate and later in a wheelchair I was without a business or a job.

However, by September 2000 I had got back into employment at Nottingham City Council as a marketing assistant. In 2001, I got married to my wonderful husband Jason, by 2002 had my first son and then later in 2004 I’d been promoted to Marketing Assistant for the NET (Nottingham Express Transit) team and in 2005 had my second son.

This is where the story gets really fun. Whilst on maternity leave, I was surfing for theatre tickets when I stumbled across a website which asked the question ‘Would you like to win £250,000 on a new daytime tv show?’ – well, who would say ‘no’. So without any expectation of being selected, I applied. A few months later I then got a call from Endemol asking would I like to come along to the auditions. This was then followed up with several calls letting me know that I’d been shortlisted and that if I was to be picked, I’d be one of the first contestants on a show they were calling ‘Deal or No Deal’ with Noel Edmunds (although Les Dennis was also rumoured to have been a possible host). ‘Noel Edmumds’ I thought, who’s going to watch this, he’s not been on the tv for years – little did I know? Anyway, cut to October 2005 and there I am in the studio with 20 others ready for the show that was going to add a new exciting chapter to my life.

A dozen shows later I was lucky enough to walk away with £15,500. It was then that I knew the time was right to start off my own business again, so that’s what I did.

In 2007 when my first son had just started school and my second son was about 18 months old I set up Open Design. Originally established as a design consultancy to cater for the housing market, I diversified into product design when the market started to slow down and after musing one day how long a jar of pasta sauce had been opened.

Sniffing, pondering, tasting and desperately trying to recall when I’d opened the jar, I asked myself ‘rather than trying to guess how long this has been opened, if only there was a way I could easily mark on when I first opened this?’ After unsuccessfully trying to use pens and labels, either one or both disappeared, or didn’t work, I decided to put my design skills to use and come up with a solution. I then had my ‘eureka’ moment, a label which you could simply mark with your fingernail which showed the exact date food was first opened or stored. Count On It® labels had been born, a scratch-off label which clear show at a glance the date and could be used in the fridge and freezer.

After researching, designing, surveying, sourcing manufacturers, prototyping, trialling, all undertaken myself, in April 2008 my first batch of Count On It® labels were ready for market and these went on sale on my website www.countonit.co.uk. Then, after I had speculatively sent a sample off to Lakeland Ltd, an order came in from them and Count On It® labels were to go on sale in the famous catalogue, in their online store and in all of their stores, nationwide in Janaury 2009 – just 12 months after I’d had the initial idea!

Since then I’ve had orders around the globe, from another major retailer, Betterware, have received glowing endorsements from celebrity mums, Amanda Holden, Angela Griffin, Janey Lee Grace and Love Food Hate Waste’s ambassador, Nell Nelson. Count On It® labels have also received national publicity in the Daily Express, Sunday Times, Essentials, BBC Easy Cook, That’s Life to name just a few. In addition, I have been invited to speak on BBC Local radio numerous times, been invited to be an ambassador for Enterprise UK, spoken at Business Link events, been invited to speak at my local ‘Meet the Entrepreneur’ events and Business Award event. Since establishing my business, the most exciting experience has undoubtedly been being invited to meet the Prime Minister at Downing Street earlier this year, to celebrate the success of small and medium sized businesses – what a night to remember.

Would I recommend to others that they should follow their dream and set up a business, well my answer is a resounding ‘yes’. I know have a business which is my passion, it fits around my family commitments, gives me a creative outlet, enables me to be able to interact with people who’s company I enjoy, opens up amazing opportunities where I can really make a difference, all whilst also being able to work when and where I like. I have a wonderful husband and two fantastic children with whom I can be there for whenever they need me, school plays, meal times, bed times and all those other ’special’ moments in-between.

So that’s my story on ‘why I set up my business’, I know it’s not conventional, but if it was, it wouldn’t be me. Like raising a family, having your own business is one of the most demanding and rewarding things you can do, though by choosing something you love it will never really feel like hard work, just pursuit of your passion.

Finally, I’d like to thank everyone who considers I should be shortlisted for these awards, I’m thrilled to be doing what I do and thank you also to those along the way that have supported me. There are so many of you, you’ve not only giving me moral support, you’ve given me practical advise, tips and a ‘pat on the back’ along the way.

To find out more about the awards I’m shortlisted for, here are their websites.

www.themumpreneurconference.co.uk

If you’d like to show your support for me for the Mum and Working Awards, just click ‘like’ next to Lyndsey Young, Open Design.

www.mumandworking.co.uk/awards/businessparent

Thanks,

Lyndsey xx

Wow, what a fantastic surprise I got this afternoon when I popped onto Twitter. I had just posted a link to my previous blog poll ‘Can I count on you, please?’ and was looking to see if I had got any responses, and there it was. A tweet from www.laterooms.com telling me that I was the winner of their Twitter iPad competition. I couldn’t believe it, I had only been contemplating getting one a few weeks ago and now I’d won one. So thank you @LateRooms, it is a fantastic prize and one I will definitely be putting to good use.

Here’s a photo they’ve posted on Twitpic with a note with my twitter name on it – how funny – love it!

I love good design, natural design, the kind of design that makes you think ‘wow – that’s so simple, but it works’. Well, I was in my vegetable garden picking peas, yes – I’m at that age, when I started to look at how nature simply and beautifully ‘packages’ it’s precious fruits. When it comes to ‘packaging’, in my opinion I think the  humble pea is one of the most perfect examples of simple, elegant design.

The first thing that I love about the pea Pisum sativum is that is has thin tendrils which shoot from its leaves and coil around any available support allowing the plant to climb up to 1–2 m high. These fine ‘fingers’ wrap firmly around the support, ensuring the flowers are kept high of the ground, allowing the future pea pod to be able to grow and hang from the flower bud, whilst also keeping it off the ground away from ‘pea -eating’ insects.

Then we have the perfect pod Pericarp, a ’shell-like incubator’ which encloses the seed, allowing it to grow, protecting it from predators until it is ready to be harvested.

Finally, when it is ready to be picked the pod has matured enough for the peas to be easily harvested, by applying a small amount of pressure the pea pod pops open and the sweet juicy peas can be gently brushed out.

Beautifully green, sweet and healthy they perfect. Then with one solitarity pea, the whole process can start again, nothing goes to waste, the roots and pods can be put in the soil to compost ready for next year and the pea plant starts its process again.

Anyway, all of this has inspired me to further delve into the whole subject of Biomimicry or biomimetics “the examination of nature, its models, systems, processes, and elements to emulate or take inspiration from in order to solve human problems’.

Rather than invent, for invention sake I aim to design simple ideas/innovations that just make life easier, saving you time, effort and as importantly saving money and food waste. I don’t want to come up with highly complicated, over-engineered designs, just simple, but highly effective products. So that’s it really, I just wanted to share with you my passion and give you a bit of insight into what makes me tick.

By the way, yes, I will be freezing some of my peas, so I can have the ready for when the nights draw in.

For more brilliant examples of biomimicry, check out this site

http://brainz.org/15-coolest-cases-biomimicry/

What are you favourite examples of good design?