twestival local - Tweet.Meet.Give. - March 24, 2011

We’ve been raising a few Tamworth Pigs on @RoseryFarm in Great Bealings and when I discovered Mike Keen (@theIpswichTap) was suggesting a Hog Roast for food at the Suffolk Twestival party, our donation became obvious.

I thought I’d share the story of Mr Pig’s upbringing just so you know. We originally purchased 6 ‘girl piglets’ in autumn last year from Karon and Simon Sanders a friendly and helpful couple who own Stackyard Nursery (@stackyard) (you must visit them- it’s a fine example of a Suffolk owner managed business). I wanted 6 little girls to avoid the trouble of separating them when the boys wanted to get “active”. As it turned out, a little piglet in the pack hid his bits pretty well and was mistaken to be a girl, but turned out to a rather hefty boar! He’s the hog on the roast, I’m afraid. So if anyone asks, that’s the process I followed to select the Suffolk Twestival hog!

I was responsible for feeding the pigs twice a day during the harsh winter and defrosting their water supply every morning – one morning I was forced to drive down to the pigs’ field in the Land Rover as it was just too cold to walk or take the quad bike – the temperature gauge registered minus 10 degrees C!

A number of people have been confused by my recent decision to convert to a vegan way of life.This decision was purely motivated by health considerations although I have always held animal welfare very high as a personal value. Raising the pigs is an experimental business for us. At no stage, was I under the false pretenses that they were ever to be pets although I had a natural fondness for them. As a pig farmer (yes, who would have believed it) – I am vehemently opposed to drugs and feel that there is no other option but to give an animal a free-range existence.

Our pigs were born in the sunshine (or as much as we have in the UK) and lived on open land with plenty of space – should anyone wish to come and visit – I’d be happy to show them around. Yesterday at the abattoir I led Mr Pig past a pen of sickly, anaemic looking pigs that have clearly never seen the light of day. They had calloused feet being raised on concrete and they looked very unhappy.  That is not right or fair and I would never knowingly support a business that derived profit out of such derision.

Our Mr Pig had a very happy life. No two ways about it - the decision to end its life was mine. It rests heavy on my heart but I do not regret it, I am proud that your Hog Roast is brought to you from a very ethical farm, just round the corner, and in support of such a wonderful charitable cause.

Suffolk has a reputation for top notch Pork and I learnt a lot from my Pork in a Day Food Safari last year. Polly Robinson (@foodsafariuk), the founder of Food Safari has kindly donated to the Suffolk Twestival Raffle/Auction this year– a very generous ticket to her Lamb Butchery Course on the May 5. It’s so important for all of us to understand the “From Field to Fork” process. In my opinion, we should all have a responsibility to understand where our food comes from and the implications of our buying choices and personal tastes. Suffolk also has a growing reputation as a self-sufficient food county and I do hope everyone continues to support our wonderful farmers and producers. We have much to be proud of.

My parting words, the hog on the roast is enough to feed 150 and it would be a travesty of justice if we didn’t sell-out! Please bring your friends and make sure Mr Pig doesn’t go to waste. Thank you.

Written by @AdrianMelrose and dualposted on Fatideas.com With thanks to @Spudballoo for the photo and for more from Spudballoo please read "This little piggy went to market."

We will be holding a raffle on Thursday and some very kind local businesses have donated some pretty amazing prizes. Make sure you get your tickets for Thursdays big party at The Brewery Tap where you'll be able to join in the raffle and your chance to win some Twestival Treasures.

Private Dinner Party for Four from The Main Ingredient includes: Food, Cutlery, Service, Three Courses, Chef and Waitress @Location of your choice.

Table for 2 at The Truffle Pig Restuarant  donated by @trufflepigpopup

Lamb Butchery Workshop at Food Safari donated by @foodsafariuk

Apple TV (inc. cable) donated by @dgiffin 

Tickets for a show at The New Wolsey donated by @thenewwolsey

£50 Voucher for A Suit That Fits donated by @asuitthatfits

Remote Controlled Helicopter donated by @thevirtualzone

1 Month Gym Pass for LA Fitness donated by @lafitness

Half a day consultancy on MS Sharepoint donated by @thevirtualzone

Bicycle Service (Full Monty) at Suffolk Cycle Surgery donated by @suffolkcycles

Round of Golf for 2 at Fynn Valley Golf Club donated by @fynnvalley

Mid Week Cookery Session at Crafty Cooks donated by @ccsufolk

£50 Voucher for Marianna Boutique donated by @mariannaipswich

Personalized Towel by Jane Hamerton donated by @janehamerton

FitFlops from Scarlet Shoes donated by @myscarletshoes

Trio Of Jelly Moulds from Serendipity St. donated by @serendipityst

IT Training Of Your Choice (1hr via webinar) donated by @elenemarsden

Beaded Dog Collar from Melrose Mutt donated by @melrosemutt

Framed Illustration Of Ipswich donated by @e_m_portraits

An Outdoor Doorstep donated by @oilyragfabrics

Trio Of Chutneys And Jams donated by @simplysugo

As with the rest of the day all proceeds go to a fantastic charity The Suffolk Disability Care Fund at The Suffolk Foundation.

A case study from a recent twitter convert

I came to Twitter over a year ago, using it to help spread the word about the theatre company I work for. I know now, that I didn’t understand it, using it only to post a notice about a new play “Come to our next show, tickets £5. It will be great!”,  and I only tweeted about once or twice a week.  I struggled with composing tweets within the 140 character limit and understanding what it was people would be interested in, whilst getting hung up about crossing the boundary between what is private and what is public knowledge. Most followers will not have seen my tweets, and certainly none would have bought a ticket on the strength of it.   Did I really think Twitter could work for us, given how little time I gave to it?

I signed up for a personal account about 6 months ago and only then did I really start to learn something about how it all works. Above all, I invested time and patience in Twitter, took part in conversations and I now follow around 200 people, most of whom are local people, arts and cultural organisations, venues, museums or local information sites. I have even made new friends through Twitter, meeting up with them for the first time at Dance East (@dance_east) to go and see a show, and I now prefer it as my main means of staying in touch with arts organisations and finding out about what’s on. My new motto is “If it’s not on Twitter, then it’s not on!”.

For me, the value of Twitter is in breaking down barriers and allowing the audience to get to know their local venues, warts and all. The shining example in doing this, is The New Wolsey Theatre (@NewWolsey), Ipswich. Never before have I been privileged to know so much about how the theatre works behind the scenes, what people think of the show and what’s on. The New Wolsey has over 2000 followers, including me, and it has without a doubt, increased my attendance and encouraged me to go to more events than I would have ever considered going to just by looking at the season brochure. 

I also followed with interest The Theatre Royal (@TheatreRoyalBSE), Bury St Edmunds experiment to encourage their audience to tweet live, whilst watching a dress rehearsal of “Dangerous Corner” by J B Priestly. I think they have been extremely quick to make a firm commitment to embrace social media and gain instant feedback, and I hope they do it again as I want to give it a go. I am also watching with interest that in the wake of the announcement of the line up at The Latitude Festival (@LatitudeFest) this Suffolk based festival is ‘trending’ in the UK.

In my opinion Twitter is not an optional extra or a nice thing for arts organisations to have. If you are an arts organisation, and you want to speak to your audience, I believe it’s worth prioritising Twitter and give your time to it on a regular basis. I'll be going to some workshops on Thursday to find out how I can do this well.

by @gaylemacgregor

We will be holding a Digital Strategy Pop-up Shop at The Theatre Royal (@TheatreRoyalBSE), Bury St Edmunds this Thursday 24th March as part of Twestival. A panel of Digital and Social media professionals will be their to discuss and advise the best ways for you to use the web to market your business to its full potential. No doubt there will be plenty of talk about Social Media in the Arts. Hope to see you their or at another one of our great events across Suffolk this Thursday.

10am -12pmDIGITAL STRATEGY POP-UP SHOP @Theatreroyalbse

Our panel of Digital Professionals will provide digital strategies, ideas, suitable tools, best practice and creative ideas of how to best use Social Media - Twitter, Facebook and more for your business, charity school or organisation. Whether you are an established user looking for top tips or just starting out on your social media exploration, we're sure this session will prove informative and fun! This will be an open debate with opportunities for one-to-one discussions and lashings of networking.

Stephanie Quilliam of Serendipity Street will be serving tea in her vintage china and we'll have cakes from Honor at Simply Sugo.

Hope you can join us!

Andrew Walker @killdozer Developer, designer, creative director, co-founder of Thin Martian, formerly CEO for MusicMetric, currently co-founder & CIO for Tweetminster... Andrew likes developing new social technology products. N.B. he spent a three year stint as a Stand Up comedian in Edinburgh.. and will be our Auctioneer at The Big Evening Event !

Jamie Riddell  @jamieriddell Founder Digital Tomorrow Today & well known Suffolk Digital pro formerly of Cheeze and "One of the most experienced and innovative digital media strategists in the UK"

Emma Jell  @emmajell Chief Organiser of Twestival Suffolk, Token female @mashupevent Digital Consultant at Ideas.org, Social Media bod who is more often to be found tweeting not as herself .. Enjoys fixing stuff & making things happen. Likes shoes, cycling, chocolate and supporting Charity :)

Steve Butterworth @the_tech_expert  Founder at talkback, Editor In Chief at The Technology Expert.  Experienced web applications developer who loves the process of innovating and creating.

Thanks to @theatreroyalbse for the use of their wonderful venue, @bseprinting for printing flyers and posters!

Jo Barnard, Gemma Thompson and Deborah Watson on Social Media @ Woodhall Manor, Woodbridge.

2pm Start

2.15pm -Jo Barnard from Woodhall Manor – What Twitter’s done for us!

2.25pm - Gemma Thompson from Social Media Illumination Using Twitter for your business

2.45pm - Deborah Watson Lexia Media – protecting your reputation online.

3pm - onwards Coffee and Networking
 

Gemma Thompson of Social Media Illumination is passionate about social media.  When she started Roundabout magazine she used Facebook and Twitter to create excellent brand awareness of a start-up business in less than a year (the combined social media audience for Roundabout magazine is over 3000 local people. It also led to a ROI of 40.29%. These phenomenal results led to her being regularly asked to share her knowledge as keynote speaker for various networking organizations. She is about to launch her training courses to help you achieve the same results.

Deborah Watson is MD at Lexia Media, an agency that truly cares about its clients, their objectives, and about raising the bar to achieve what's best in the most exciting and beneficial way possible. We deliver PR campaigns, one-hit marketing strategies, design concepts, social-networking PR, and any shape or context of profile-raising event management.

Set in the beautiful Suffolk countryside, close to Woodbridge and the Heritage Coast, Woodhall Manor is something special. A privately owned country house dating from 1566, Woodhall makes the perfect setting for an exclusive wedding, a business retreat, corporate or private events or a house party to remember.