Media interest in auction clocks and model trains

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Sometimes I’m sometimes pleasantly surprised by the response to the stories I distribute for a client.

This year I’ve produced a number of press releases for Chilcotts Auctioneers, one about Moorcroft pottery, one about an extensive model train collection, the other about another collection, this time of clocks and barometers.

  • As well as receiving local coverage, the Moorcroft pottery story was picked up by the Stoke Sentinel – the pottery coming from that region originally.
  • The BBC ran the clocks and barometers story, online in the Devon section of the news site, as well as a broadcast mention in the Sunday Spotlight programme.
  • The model railway collection garnered the interest of online specialist title, Rail Advent (which has over 2 million page views per month).

Best performer in the Moorcroft auction lots was the giant ginger jar seen in the photo, which fetched £2,000. Amongst the clocks and barometers, the antique railway clocks from South West train stations mentioned in the press release performed well. The model railway items all met or exceeded their estimates.

For me, it is always a pleasure to research the history behind the items that Chilcotts are auctioning – and even more of a pleasure to know that my work helps the auctions to be successful!

 

 

Luxurious ‘potting shed’ for primary school

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Supporting the local school

Another lovely gesture by Otter Garden Centres in Ottery St Mary, with the donation of a ‘potting shed’ to local school, Ottery Primary.

The idea grew from discussions held during Otter’s 60 Good Deeds campaign, celebrating the company’s 60th anniversary in 2024. Otter first helped the school by replacing the wood on raised beds, providing a new pond liner, and installing a roof for the forest school firepit area, making outdoor learning possible all year round.

Otter MD Jacqui Taylor, a former pupil of the school, then offered something rather special – a dedicated indoor space – a rather grand potting shed. It’s a high-quality Malvern building, with large windows to let in plenty of light and double doors leading to a veranda. It’s also heated, meaning children can sow seeds and pot up vegetables on cold days, and have a chance to warm up between gardening sessions.

Jacqui is genuinely passionate about helping young people to enjoy activities that involve planting, growing and getting muddy!

I went along to take some PR photos of the ‘handover’ and chat to Assistant Headteacher Dan Western about what the donation meant to the school. “We’re so grateful to Otter Garden Centres and Jacqui for their generous support. The potting shed and the other improvements will help us weave nature, planting and growing into the curriculum, giving our young students a real appreciation of the world around them.”

The photography session reminded me (once again) of the old adage, never work with animals or children, as one young lad was looking everywhere except at the camera. Classic.

Primary School students enjoy new gardening adventures thanks to Otter Garden Centres | The Exeter Daily

Ottery pupils dig into learning thanks to generous gift from garden centre | Devon Live

Well done to Jacqui and the team for your continuing generosity to the local community.

New entrance

I also created some PR around the new entrance and layout to the Ottery Garden Centre, which now has a much more appealing and logical layout for customers.

Otter Garden Centres, Ottery St Mary, new building opened | Sidmouth Herald

Fresh look and feel inside legendary Devon garden centre | Devon Live

Cutting the ribbon for a new look in Otter shopping | The Exeter Daily

Turf It Forward!

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Earlier in the year I started working with HCT Turf, a turf specialist based in Topsham. The work involves keeping social media ticking along, e-newsletters, writing fresh content for the website, and creating PR opportunities.

For a couple of years, HCT ran a lovely campaign, Love Your Garden, which asked locals to send in photos of their gardens in all their glory. For each photo received, HCT made a donation to Living Options Devon. I decided to mix things up a bit and use their specialism – turf – as the driver for a new campaign, Turf It Forward.

The premise of the campaign was the chance for community groups, sports clubs, schools, charities to win up to 150 sqm of turf. This included the installation of the turf, a major job in itself. Step up campaign partner, County Grounds Maintenance, who offered to support the installation of the turf.

Nominations could be made by the public or the organisations themselves. Word spread via social media, press coverage, e-newsletters and a targeted email campaign.

The campaign kicked off in July and, in October, the winner was chosen by Richard Hockley from HCT with input from other members of staff and Sam Burdick from Country Grounds. Everyone was delighted with the choice of Hospiscare, our local hospice charity, who provide an incredible service for end-of-life-care.

Hospiscare’s Estates Manager Sharon Ewart applied for turf to reinstate part of the garden lawn within the hospice garden at Searle House in Exeter, which was damaged when an old pergola was removed. In addition, there’s a second area to be turfed by the front entrance, a section of lawn that became very patchy during the dry summer months and hasn’t recovered.

I visited Searle House with Steff Dennis from HCT to see the areas and take photos for the winner announcement. I’ve been to Searle House before but never seen the garden. It’s absolutely lovely, a beautiful, peaceful spot for patients and their visitors to enjoy. And it will look even lovelier when the new turf is in place.


We missed out on media coverage as there were rumblings about the commercial aspect of the campaign. However, promoting HCT was never an aim – what made this campaign just a bit special was Richard’s genuine philanthropy. At the beginning of the campaign he said: “With so much negativity in the world at the moment, we really want to do something positive to bring a bit of joy.”

 

Vision Excels at FMB Awards

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Great news recently for ad hoc client Vision, who I provided support for with their entry into the Federation of Master Builders’ (FMB) Awards 2025.

Founder Ross Pollard messaged me with a video of him and Site Manager Christian Dally going up to collect the award for Large-Scale Renovation Project!

The (now) award-winning project is a luxury upgrade to a 1930s family home overlooking the Exe Estuary. Works included updating an indoor swimming pool and adding a steam room; creating a bespoke cinema room; converting an attic space to guest accommodation; designing a new bathroom; updating bedrooms; and landscaping the extensive gardens. New technologies and solutions have been utilised including a system controlling lighting, heating and blinds for the entire home via an app, custom-made bedroom storage and an innovative irrigation system for the flower beds utilising rainwater harvesting.

The judges said that the transformation delivers “comfort, style, and cutting-edge automation, redefining modern family living in a timeless setting”.

I’ve been to the project in question a couple of times, most recently to look at the landscaping which wasn’t complete when I last visited. I am in awe of the work that’s been carried out, the innovative approaches and beautiful finishing. In all, this is a truly stunning project, with so much care taken in all aspects of the renovation.

The client’s testimonial referred to Vision as a “group of passionate professionals dedicated to bringing our vision to life. Their decades of industry experience shone through in every detail, from innovative design to meticulous execution” and described the finish project as “nothing short of spectacular – a beautifully renovated space, both inside and out, that has exceeded our expectations”

This event was the FMB Awards South – other regional events are taking place, and all winners from the local ceremonies, including Vision, will go on to compete as finalists for a national award in their category.

Congratulations to Ross and the team and good luck at the nationals!

Local PR

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I’ve had a bit of a lull on the local news stories recently, to the extent that when I sent out a press release the journalist immediately emailed back that he’d thought I was either dead or had left the country. Thanks Lewis!

So I’ve enjoyed having two fresh topics to write about, one for Otter Garden Centres, the other for Chilcott Auctioneers.

Otter’s was about a lovely gesture they made to revitalise the flower beds at the local community hospital in Ottery St Mary, in a response to a request from nursing staff. Brothers Kevin and Neil from OGC (centre in the pic) went along to do the work – I’ve known them both for many years, they are always happy to help out! They removed dead plants and brambles, replacing them with cottage garden plants chosen to make the borders a riot of colour and life, such as lavenders, verbenas, dahlias, salvias and gaillardia.

Interesting from my pov I had my first ever appointment at the hospital a month or so ago. It was all very impressive, and I’m so glad the hospital wasn’t closed – which it was under threat of not so long ago.

Read more HERE.

The other was for Chilcotts Auctioneers, another long-term client. I love writing for them, as there is always something interesting to research. For this, I looked into the life of Captain John Campbell OBE, a naval hero who had gathered a really fascinating collection of artwork together over many decades (his first purchase in 1962). Works by artists such as Edward Seago and Marcel Dyf plus bronze sculptures of African wildlife and vintage/contemporary glass. Besides the artwork, Campbell himself was a fascinating individual to look into; he became a specialist hydrographic surveyor, travelling to places like Antarctica. In the Falklands war he oversaw the conversion of a survey vessel into a hospital ship to take injured soldiers to Ecuador.

More on this story HERE. As well as local press, the story has featured in Antiques Trade Gazette, and I hope will be picked up elsewhere, watch this space!

Three people with a mound of chocolate Easter eggs donated to Exeter Foodbank

‘Fresh’ eggs for Foodbank

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With Easter just around the corner, an idea popped into my mind for a nice bit of PR for my Straight Marketing client, The Fresh Accountancy Company.

The word Fresh married nicely with the word egg – leading to Easter eggs. How about donating Easter eggs?

I’ve donated to Exeter Foodbank via networking groups before, so they seemed a good charity to approach. I wasn’t sure if they’d jump at the idea of an Easter egg donation, as they tend to supply practical foods like pasta and tinned products. But I was wrong. Operations Manager Teresa Pollard was delighted with the idea. Fresh founder, Tom Baker, generously offered to buy 100 eggs.

These were duly ordered and arrived at Fresh’s offices in Clyst St Mary. Teresa asked if we could deliver them nearer to Easter – meaning the Fresh team had to fight off any chocolate cravings! On April 9, I met Dave and Ben from Fresh just across the road from the Foodbank in Cowick Street, Exeter. We piled the eggs into two Foodbank trollies and negotiated a hairy road crossing, not losing any eggs on the way.

Teresa was so pleased with the donation and told us about the way the Foodbank operates; for example that people can’t just walk in, they have to have vouchers from organisations like Citizens Advice and children’s centres.

She said: “The truth is foodbanks shouldn’t be needed, but while they are, it’s important to make sure that the people we serve are treated with dignity and supported beyond the provision of food. The Exeter community is so supportive of our Foodbank and we are always amazed by the generosity of donations from individuals, schools and colleges, stores, and the local business community, including Fresh.”

Thanks to Dave and Ben for helping with the delivery, and Tom for agreeing to the donation.

 

Malta fundraiser 2025

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On February 23rd I took part in the Malta Half Marathon (walkathon) for the third time, raising funds for client Diespeker’s chosen charity, stem4, as part of the Terra Ferma Media team with agency boss David and photographer Nina.

Last year (when I didn’t take part due to illness), it lashed down and everyone was soaked! This year, the sun came out and the temperature was perfect for a high speed walk of 13 miles from Mdina down to Sliema. I was delighted to achieve a PB of 3 hours 24 mins 32 secs, aided by some great tunes – ELO and 70s disco! I was even more delighted with the fundraiser total we raised between us. With an initial target of£1000 we reached just under £1700. Just brilliant.

We were also fortunate to have time for some sightseeing, taking the client to visit the island of Gozo which meant taking the ferry, great fun! After the Diespeker team left, we stayed on for a few days for a mix of business chats and more sightseeing. All in all a fantastic experience, and there was talk of a return visit next year and a possible excursion to Scicily.

From temperatures of 16 to 18 degrees C, we returned to the UK and a bit of a freeze! However the sun soon came out, and although not as warm as Malta, there’s definitely a sense of Spring in the air. Long may it continue!

Two impressive client award wins – times two!

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More fantastic awards success for clients this year. Many congratulations to Coldharbour Field Kitchen and The Family Law Company. Even more impressively, they both won awards in two different categories. Read on!

Devon Tourism Awards

Coldharbour Field Kitchen collected its very first award back in 2022 – Casual Dining in the Devon Tourism Awards. Fast forward to 2024 and they were keen to enter the Ethical, Responsible and Sustainable Tourism Award. But I also felt they should go for Casual Dining again. So we did both. And they were announced as finalists in both.

The awards event was held in Plymouth in November, and Andrea and Beth had invited me to go with them. I was really looking forward to the evening, but the fates – and snow – interceded, and none of us made it! However, I watched the announcements as they were made and relayed the results via WhatsApp. Gold for Casual Dining, Bronze for Ethical, Responsible and Sustainable Tourism. Fantastic results and so very well deserved. There’s a chance they’ll go through to the South West Tourism Awards – watch this space.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Family Law Awards

Also in November, the finals of the Family Law Awards for The Family Law Company, this time in London. We’d entered three categories and were shortlisted in all of them. On the night, the fabulous new client team picked up the Legal Support Team of the Year. Marketing guru Kerry England pinged me over the result and I danced with joy. But then there was another ping, as the lovely Imran Khodabocus was named the Family Law Partner of the Year. It couldn’t happen to a nicer person! I love these awards, they are so authentic and the double win is a real testament to the brilliance of my amazing client.

Images Copyright www.tellingphotography.com

Auction PR – Fishley Pottery

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One of my long-term clients, Chilcotts Auctioneers is the source of a wealth of PR activity for me, with some incredible stories unearthed over the years just begging to be told.

I’ve managed PR for a number of special items over the years, from medals and paintings to chic 1960s clothes. This time it was the turn of pottery!

The Fishley Pottery Collection is a collection of beautiful ‘Devon folk art’ items ranging from harvest jugs, vases and chargers to quirky items like puzzle jugs. This style of pottery started being made in the early 1800s at Fremington in North Devon. The Fishley family spanned many generations, starting with George Fishley who set up the first kiln. Edwin Beer Fishley, who took over the kiln in the 1860s, is perhaps the best known of the family, his work heavily influenced the Studio Pottery movement of the twentieth century. The Fishley designs use slipware and sgraffito, which I know I’ve seen on The Great Pottery Throw Down. It was incredibly interesting to discover the roots of these decorative styles.

The collection was owned by Margaret Squance, the great, great, granddaughter of Edwin. I met her at Chilcotts, what a fascinating lady she is, and her passion for her family’s pottery really shone through. She was sad to sell her collection, but just felt it was time for the pieces to have new homes.

We were fortunate to have some months before the collection was due to go to auction – originally this was July but Chilcotts decided to hold off until October, a wise decision as I was able to approach magazines, having enough lead time to produce features for print. Devon Life took a DPS, which I wrote for them. Antique Collecting Magazine was also keen, and Mary Chilcott, who curated the collection, put this together. We had some superb images from photographer Andrew Butler, which certainly helped. Chilcotts talented marketing assistant Courtney Round added some further images, including a wonderful photo of Mary with the collection.

As well as magazines, I wrote a press release for regional titles, which was used in Western Morning News, Devon Live, North Devon Gazette, Breaktime News, Exeter Today and Devon Daily as well as the antique trade ‘bible’, ATG. I also approached BBC Spotlight who agreed to record a piece; reporter Johnny Rutherford and his cameraman Paul Moxham came along to the Saleroom in Honiton. I went along to see how they were doing, and was reminded of my days in video production when I found myself haring around Honiton trying to find some black cloth to use as a backdrop for some of the filming! Thanks to Peter Betteridge who lent me a roll of black drape and a mattress sign (which did the trick!).

This was a hugely successful PR project, and I’m really proud of how much coverage I secured for Chilcotts. The sale is on October 12th so I’ll add in the results after that!

25 years for Optix Solutions

25 years for Optix Solutions

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A huge congratulations to Optix Solutions for reaching your 25th anniversary on July 20th.

The Exeter-based marketing company has done brilliantly to reach this milestone, having weathered recessions and the impact of Covid.

As there are 25 members of staff, it seemed fitting to mark the 25th anniversary with a very special pledge, with each member of the team being given a day over the next 12 months to use for volunteering with a local charity or CIC. Having worked with Optix on PR and content for the last two years, I have become very aware of the business’s genuine commitment to social responsibility which helped them to win the top Boutique Agency in Campaign’s Best Places to Work awards last year. So I’m looking forward to hearing about some of the volunteering experiences.

I was also delighted to be invited to the company’s 25th celebrations at Winslade Park venue, The Forge on July 21st. It was a lovely sunny day, the food was amazing and it was great to hear founder Al Banks talk about the early days and the company’s journey. And to witness how co-founder James outclassed MD Rob in the battle of the loud shirts!

Optix founder Alastair BanksBattle of the shirts

 

Here’s to the next 25 years!

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