Hey America! Hi there. I’m a friend of yours from way back. In fact, I come from the same place as Myles Standish so I guess I may even be related to a whole lotta you guys. Anyways, I just wanted to say something to you, you know, ‘As A Friend’… We in the rest of the …
Posted on www.csg.co.uk/blog on November 8th 2016 http://www.csg.co.uk/blog/itea-and-biscuits/ As you’ll know if you’re reading this blog, waste matters but at CSG, we also know that so do a few other things, such as being a good neighbour – which has led to yet another example of our commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility. We were delighted to be …
Are you looking to create compelling communications that invite the reader to go much further than simply consuming information? With a degree in Marketing and over 20 years’ experience in the field, here’s how I can add resonation to your company’s communications: Analysis – Understanding your customers’ behaviour types by interrogating the data you hold on …
Posted on www.csg.co.uk/blog on November 2nd 2016 http://www.csg.co.uk/blog/waste-matters-more/ In 2002, CSG did something rather amazing and we’re about to do it again! Fourteen years ago, we commissioned Nigel Watson, a respected corporate historian, to write a definitive ‘History of Cleansing Service Group’. In 2016, we’re about to launch the updated version! The original book was (and …
Posted on http://www.csg.co.uk/blog on October 17th 2016 http://www.csg.co.uk/blog/csg-attend-high-tide-foundation-ball/ In September, CSG were proud to attend the prestigious High Tide Foundation Fundraising Ball in the opulent surroundings of Wynyard Hall near Middlesbrough. Created to improve learning and employment opportunities for the young people of Teesside, the High Tide Foundation hold this annual event as an opportunity …
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (Mark Haddon) This tale of a boy with Asberger’s Syndrome and his daily struggle to understand the world around him was a truly ground-breaking novel and came highly-recommended to me. The eponymous dog is found stabbed to death in the opening paragraphs and despite (or actually, because of) his …
Continue reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Shakespeare: The World as a Stage (Bill Bryson) I love reading Bill Bryson’s work. There, I said it. Some works of his I have loved more than others but I can’t say I’ve ever read anything he’s written that I haven’t enjoyed. Enjoyment is therefore a minimum expectation when it comes to Bryson. The real question I …
The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History (Boris Johnson) Perhaps the biggest problem that can befall any tome with a ‘celebrity’ author is that it’s difficult for the reader ever to get beyond the context of the writer’s identity in all that is written, when the subject matter is (or should be) the main reason …
Continue reading The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History
For once in English football’s long and undignified history of ‘hitting rock bottom’ has come a scandal that I’ve actually welcomed. Proving that sometimes, two wrongs actually do make a right, Sam Allardyce has come to the rescue of all those who thought him woefully under-qualified and over-rated to lead the national team – by …
I’ve always loved to read. At times, my interest in reading has lapsed and at others, I’ve wished I had more time to read more often. Whenever I’ve found myself with enough time, like on holidays, I found I always rediscovered the simple pleasure of reading. People talk about ‘binge-watching’ of entire TV series as …
First, thanks for all your expressions of sympathy after we lost Sam, last month. He really was a once-in-a-lifetime dog and it amazed us how many others thought so too. We were therefore thrust into the state of being a one-dog family for the first time in 8½ years – something which saw the household considerably, …
– Oh, he’s not going off one one about the BBC again, is he? Well, yes I am, I’m afraid. Normally, I’m motivated to assault my keyboard (and your attention) by the need to defend dear old ‘Auntie’ in the face of some current slight or attack on her being. This time, it’s slightly different. My …
We never knew Sam’s real birthdate but as he joined our family on March 31st 2005 at the age of “10 months”, as far as we were concerned, he was born on May 31st 2004. He died on August 31st 2016, aged 12 years and three months. Sam came into our lives in March 2005. At the …
To Mr Colothan, Mrs Kneale and all the staff and PTFA at St. Wilfrid’s, Today was Charlie’s last day with you and I want to thank you all for everything you’ve done for him and the rest of the Class of 2016. In 2008 (two minutes ago), I remember visiting the school’s open day to …
Continue reading An Open Letter to St. Wilfrid’s Primary Academy
If I’ve learned anything over the last few weeks of pitiful so-called ‘debate’ leading upto today’s EU Referendum, it’s that politics is even more of a sham than I had previously dared imagine. Whichever way the vote goes, the most depressing conclusion is that due to the forces that have led to this conclusion, such …
Since Muhammad Ali’s death was announced yesterday, there’s been a flurry soundbites, platitudes and #RIPMuhammadAli hashtags floating about on social media – and I confess, I’m responsible for a number of them. What can this blogpost possibly add to such a weight of collective emotion? Well, this, I hope: It’s an understandable reaction to the loss of an icon of our …
You may or may not know that I have a wonderful god-daughter called Amelia. Amelia is seven and has a rare combination of learning difficulties and spectrum conditions which mean that she doesn’t speak and has a mental age well below her actual age. You may think this defines her but it doesn’t. She loves swimming, …
Earlier this year, we weren’t happy with Marley‘s health. He was becoming less active, drinking more water than before and just looked less happy with life. He’s always been a ridiculously active dog and, with his 9th birthday not far off, we knew he’d have to slow down at some time but this… …this seemed …
Not Just a Pretty Face
11. JULY 2011
paul.bentham@robinsons-uk.com Behind the Scenes (0)
First published on 17th October 2012 on http://www.robinsonsequestrian.com …or ‘Who on Earth are Feefo and Why are they Emailing Me?’ If you’ve placed an order from Robinsons this year, it’s likely you’ll have received an email from a company called Feefo in the days and weeks that followed to ask you to rate the items and …
First published on 15th December 2008 on http://www.robinsonsequestrian.com If you’ve received your Sale Catalogue and you’ve found something you like, I invite you to go to bed early tonight, just like I’ll be doing. As you’ll no doubt already know, our Winter Sale starts online tomorrow morning at the less-than-Godly hour of 3am and we all …
First published on 9th November 2012 on http://www.robinsonsequestrian.com Sometimes, the success of something is all about being in the right place at the right time. We could never have predicted the success of such a silly product as the Horse Head Antler which first appeared in a Robinsons catalogue in 1992. This ‘silly’ product has since stood …
Continue reading Archive: How ‘Antlers for Horses’ Became Popular
First published on 11th December 2012 on http://www.robinsonsequestrian.com Robinsons, the UK’s number one equestrian provider is pleased to announce the launch of a new customer points programme to help riders get the most from their horsey purchases – and we’re calling it ‘Rider Rewards’. We’re all familiar with the idea of so-called ‘loyalty schemes’, many of …
First published on 15th October 2009 on http://www.robinsonsequestrian.com As you may have seen on the news, the country is about to face a period of strikes by postal workers. Naturally, you’ll be concerned that all mail order will therefore become totally unreliable and to be honest, who could blame you? If you’re still reading at this point, …
Continue reading Archive: Robinsons and the Royal Mail – What You Need to Know…
First published on 23rd April 2008 on http://www.robinsonsequestrian.com As seasoned readers of this blog may attest, much of my information from the outside world comes from the BBC website. On one of my many forays there recently, I came across a story which made me grimace. The story was (believe it or not) ‘Riot Fears Absent Ahead …
First published on 13th March 2010 on http://www.robinsonsequestrian.com Before I talk about our forthcoming store at Basingstoke and our reasons behind the way we do store openings, let me apologise for neglecting to write an entry on here for about three months. Yes, it’s been a busy three months but I like to post something on here …
First published on 4th March 2011 on http://www.robinsonsequestrian.com It’s a Friday afternoon and I’m very conscious that I haven’t blogged yet about our forthcoming new website, in the way that I have about our forthcoming new Cardiff store. There’s so much I’d like to say about our new website, what’s going to be better about it and …
First published on 23rd March 2011 on http://www.robinsonsequestrian.com What an incredibly mad couple of months it’s been! We don’t seem to like doing things by halves and here we are about to open a new store in Cardiff and launch a brand new website in almost the same week! I’ve been promising a blog on our new …
First published on 15th December 2014 on http://www.robinsonsequestrian.com Since we announced an intention to open our fifth store in Hunslet, Leeds, we’ve been inundated with questions about when it’ll open. I guess that’s not surprising but it’s still great to see how warmly we’re being welcomed by the local equestrian community. While we’ve needed a few weeks …
Continue reading Archive: Our Leeds Store Will Open… …As Soon As We Announce It!
First published on 25th March 2008 on http://www.robinsonsequestrian.com One of the pitfalls of being involved in any sort of publishing is that you often forget what the time of year is. The relentless need for monthly magazines to produce next month’s issue (often with the following month shown on the cover) by the end of this month …
First published on 7th February 2013 on http://www.robinsonsequestrian.com As HMV, Blockbusters, Jessops and many others have found recently, if something can be downloaded these days, there’s far less demand for the physical version of it. While we’ve certainly noticed that we don’t sell the same proportion of books and DVDs that we used to, thankfully, most of …
Continue reading Archive: The World of the Smaller Catalogues
First published on 28th June 2011 on http://www.robinsonsequestrian.com Last week, we were concerned to read a thread of comments on the Horse & Hound Forum in which we were the subject of some criticism. Our new website was the topic and it received most of the comments but other points were made which were not …
Continue reading Archive: For Those About To Complain – We Salute You
First published on 22nd January 2008 on http://www.robinsonsequestrian.com Joining the Blogosphere One of our New Year’s resolutions for 2008 was to continue to present a more human face to Robinsons, and I hope you find that to be the case. One way to do this is for us to write a blog. If you’re new to the …
Today, I worked my last day at Robinsons. As a family, we’ve chosen to sell our remaining stake in the business. I’d like to say more about why that is but, legally, I can’t. Robinsons is a name I’ve been involved with for as long as I can remember; as long as it’s even possible …
Today, I decided to clear out the garage in order that it serves its primary function as a storage area for my car – something I’m habitually keener to do in Winter than in Summer. As I picked my way through the year’s accumulation, strewn about the floorspace, my first act was to flick on the …
We may all know why we vote, we may have decided for whom we’ll vote but have you given much though to how you vote – that is to say what your role as a voter entails? It’s a right viewed as so important that countries have gone to war to protect it, and yet …
Here we go again… It’s General Election time and once again, a bunch of people I’d normally cross the street to avoid are all suddenly intent on ‘engaging’ with me and ‘gaining’ my vote. To be honest, I’d rather they all leave me alone and let me find out for myself what I do and …
Continue reading 2015 Election Pt I: Suffering for Suffrage’s Sake
Picture the scene. It’s Sunday evening, just before eight, around the time when, for the last decade or more, upto seven million people start to think about gaining tactical possession of the remote control. For many, the highlight of their televisual week is about to start. Over recent Sundays, these time-honoured manoeuvres have been unnecessary. Why? Because the …
Continue reading Why It’s Still Okay to Admit Liking ‘Top Gear’
Originally published as a FB Note, on 5 May 2010 at 21:45 Winston Churchill once said “democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried”. Considering it was the very system that he so famously fought to defend, it seems odd to see that he would damn it with …
Continue reading Archived: Why our future should keep you up all night
Originally published as a FB Note, on 17 July 2008 at 00:06 Inflation, oil price rises and public sector strikes. Turn on the news and you’d be forgiven for wondering if you’d suffered the same fate as Sam Tyler in ‘Life on Mars’ and woken up in the 1970’s. Even the England football team are joining …
Continue reading Archived: Life on Mars or Dark Side of the Moon?
Originally published as a FB Note, on 7 July 2008 at 22:27 Rampantly rising oil prices, a swathe of unchecked knife murders, the credit crunch, falling house prices, rising inflation, international terrorism, overflowing prisons – the list of the UK’s current woes goes on and on. Yes, it’s no fun being Prime Minister right now but …
Originally published as a FB Note, on 8 June 2008 at 13:05 http://en.euro2008.uefa.com/index.html Back in November last year, England lost to Croatia at Wembley and we failed to qualify for Euro 2008. The hapless Steve MacLaren was duly fired (although that may have been a smarter move much sooner) and we realised we would be facing …
Originally published as a FB Note, on 20 May 2008 at 22:19 So, the local elections have come and gone, Labour has taken a proverbial kicking and Our Glorious Leader, Mr. Brown, has faced calls from all quarters about his suitability for the role and, once again, even his mandate from the electorate. Instead of providing …
Originally published as a FB Note, on 28 May 2008 at 00:19 Two weeks ago, I was very close to writing a post on the disgraceful trashing of Manchester by Rangers ‘fans’ during and after their appearance in the UEFA Cup Final. Exasperated in equal measure as I was by all concerned, I saw no real injustice, so I …
Originally published as a FB Note, on 20 May 2008 at 22:16 It’s the usual friend-of-a-friend story: We got him after Easter from a couple in Crosby, Liverpool. He was giving the lady allergic reactions and, much as they loved him, they decided to give him up. Having seen him and decided that he was just …
Originally published as a FB Note, on 20 May 2008 at 22:12 Every so often, a story arises that supports my own adage that ‘common sense isn’t that common’. Here’s this week’s new entry: As you may know, last Saturday was a wall-to-wall Six Nations day on BBC1. Having expensively acquired the rights to cover …
Continue reading Archived: If You Must Complain, Do The Math(s) First!
Originally published as a FB Note, on 20 May 2008 at 22:09 So, it’s Friday night, Johnathan Ross is back on and his big guest is one time skin-beater Richard Starkey. As you’d expect, he’s got an album out so it’s hardly like he’s on there because he wants to be anyway and boy did it …
Continue reading Archived: Ringo Starr, Man of the People Or What?
Well, the decorations are down and the spare bed is about to be folded away for the last time in this Christmas and New Year break. The house has been full of fun and laughter more times than I can remember over the last two weeks or so and it’s been wonderful to see. If …
Continue reading What a Great Christmas – Let’s do it Again!
There’s a lot of crap written and spoken about football, and more particularly the England team whenever a major tournament comes around so with the assurance that there is safety in numbers, it’s probably the safest time to venture my own opinions on the matter. The problem, I believe, is that for a few weeks …
Continue reading England Should Expect Less and Understand More
Just looking back at my photostream on FB, it did tend to crop up a lot, like a catchphrase on ‘The Fast Show’. You know what? I don’t care. It’s worth the potential ridicule to get pictures like this: Charlie picking stuff up off the bottom of the pool Me swimming underneath Max Charlie emulating …
Welcome to my site – what’s been keeping you since your last visit? Well hasn’t it been a crap year? I hope you’re healthy and keeping well – and perhaps thinking of ways to make 2021 a decent year after the write-off that is this year. Here’s hoping for a swift return to normality; to …
In addition to extending you a frankly lame welcome to yet another blog space, I’m really putting up some trial content to help me format the page. Sneaky, eh? You are of course very welcome, though. Just to clear up any confusion. Oh yes. 100%. I’ll, er, get me coat then…
Things I’ve endeavoured to learn over the years – on the guitars I’ve collected in that time. ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ (arr. Kiss) A friendly message to our friends over the pond as you vote to decide your next President. It’s ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ on a Fender Stratocaster by someone in a Gap sweater and …
My favourite photograph of every month. To view my full online portfolio of images, please visit my Flickr page.
“All those who remember the war; They don’t forget what they’ve seen” Okay, perhaps a little inappropriate to segue from Vietnam veterans’ PTSD to football, but then I am quoting a pop song, hardly the most solemn of matter. My point being that I spent almost the whole of the 1980’s (from the point I …
