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December 2nd 2010

At-last!!!!!!! our FIRST order from Wm Morrisons came through today after almost 12 months of hard work, both physical and mental.

Our Plain Calderdale will be stocked in the following Stores by next week:

Halifax

Huddersfield

Skipton

Harrogate

Idle Bradford

These are to start with and all being well hope to include more stores in the future.

If you don't see it in a store near you please ask for it and we will aim to supply the store.

Yet another milestone for Calderdale Cheese.....

October..

We have just been featured in the prestigious Yorkshire Life Magazine as "Food Find Of The Month", follow the link to read the article.http://yorkshire.greatbritishlife.co.uk/article/food-find-of-the-month-bad-boy-cheese-calderdale-25240/

September 7th 2010

Just had our visit by Dan Clee Cheese buyer for Morrisons and its full steam ahead with just a little bit more paperwork to be completed before we can finally get our Calderdale Cheese onto the Deli Counter of selected Morrisons stores.

August 2010

Once again Calderdale Cheese has been victorious at the Bakewell Show, with awards as follows:

Silver....Liquid Milk

Silver....Plain Calderdale Cheese

Bronze....Smokey Joe Cheese

We also attended the show this year as a day visitor and i must say an enjoyable day it was too.

July 2010

BRC Accreditation at last!!!

July also brought us the BRC (British Retail Consortium) Accreditation we have been working towards since Christmas, its been really hard work trying to continue with the day to day running of the creamery and deal with the structural improvements and paperwork associated with the Audit.

We had our final audit on the 20th-21st of July and are very pleased to say we passed with flying colours with a grade A, its been hard work and i would just like to say a BIG thankyou to my Technical Advisor Rob Freeman of GAP Food Technical Services, to-whom none of this would have been possible....Thanks Rob!!, anyone looking for a excellent technical advisor look no further, contact details:

GAP Food Technical Services, BRC/SALSA/HACCP/ORGANIC

Rob Freeman (senior advisor),0845 4723026/07779593958/ rob@gapfts.co.uk www.gapfoodtechnical.webs.com

This accreditation opens the way to contracts with major retailors which up-until now have been out of our reach.

Yet another big step forward for Calderdale Cheese Company Ltd.

July 2010

Cheesemaker Scratter Calved at the beginning of the month, a lovely Heifer, just in time to supply her milk for the entries to the show.

We have again been successful at the GY Show winning several categories listed as follows:

Supreme Champion for Milk From Individual Cow

1st for Milk From Individual Cow

Supreme Champion for Pasteurised Milk

1st Pasteurised Milk

1st Unpasteurised Milk

3rd Calderdale Smokey Joe Cheese

The Cheese & Dairy Show this year has been bigger than ever with 952 entries, so to beat these to the top spot is quite an achievement.

June 2010

Work is still ongoing in relation to our BRC Audit in the form of paperwork and last minute structural alterations, trying to keep on top of this and still carrying on with the day to day running of the Creamery is proving difficult but hope it will all be worth while in the end.

Also we are just completing the finishing touches to our Great Yorkshire Show entries, this year we have entered a record 15 categories with our Milk, Cheese & Butter, lets hope lady luck is shining on us this year

May 2010

Work is going on apace to get the Creamery up to specification to meet the rigorous demands of the BRC Certification, we have now completed our upgrade of the entrance to the Cheese production rooms which includes a new and improved clean room from where we can clean up and change into protective clothing to reduce the possibility of contamination prior to entering the production area's, where a new key-pad door security system as been installed.

The actual cheese making & storage area's needed little improvements but a further upgrade of the Dairy area where Raw Milk is Pasteurised before entering the cheese room was decided upon as it was the oldest past of the operation and would benefit from an upgrade of the structure, this part is almost completed.

On top of all the construction work is all the paper work.... we have had a consultant in to help us with all that ...this has not been cheap but is worth every penny if you were to see all the work he has put in over the last few months, our Audit date as been confirmed for 20- 21st July a two day audit were we are hoping for the highest grade 'A'.

We have also just completed our entry form for this years Great Yorkshire Show, we will be entering many more class's this year than previous years to take account of the many more cheese's we are now producing.

February 2010 BRC Audit

BRC stands for the "British Retail Consortium" its a industry standard assurance scheme which you have to have if you wish to get your produce into supermarkets. Our pre -audit is taking place early this month and hopefully we will be accredited in the next few months, paving the way for our cheese to be stocked by supermarkets and other large organisations that have been out of reach for us up until now.

January 2010 Heavy Snow

January saw heavy snow fall for all the country not just here in Calderdale, but never the less it brought with it significant problems while trying to get day to day jobs done on and off the farm. Markets were canceled due to snow and ice not being cleared, we were still able to supply our other outlets though, so our cheese was never too far away if you wanted it.

December 2009 Record Christmas output

From September on-wards we have been run off our feet to try and fill the orders that came flooding in for the festive period, and the last week running up to Christmas was our busiest yet, we delivered half a tonne of plain and flavoured cheese's in the week before Christmas mostly in 200g packs.

We were able to shut production down for a week over Christmas and New Year to give ourselves a well deserved break, January is always a quiet month for output and this gives us time to catch up on those jobs that keep getting put off...Like updating the website!!

September 2009 Parfetts Cash n Carry Ambition realised

Following further meetings with Parfetts we have now secured our produce in ALL of there 6 Cash n Carry outletts, with the 4 remaining stores now online we have achieved our ambition of being in all of there outletts by Christmas, Parfetts is a well run family business, they are keen to promote local healthy food with good hygiene standards.

August 2009 Feature in the 'Independent' newspaper, Heap's Farm House Butter,Link: www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/feature/yellow-fever-you-cant-beat-a-bit-of-butter-and-the-purer-the-better-1771101.html

Awards 2009

Bakewell Show

This year as seen us enter a show we have not entered before, 'The Bakewell Show', and stright off we have been rewarded with the following awards;

2nd Any variety of cows milk cheese with additives - Savoury, Calderdale 'Bad Boy'

2nd Heap's Farm House Salted Butter.

3rd Liquid Milk from any animal.

The Great Yorkshire Show

This year as yet again brought rewards from the 151st Great Yorkshire Show held in Harrogate 14th-16th July, rewarding us with our first ever win for our Cheese at the Great Yorkshire, the awards are as follows;

Top Honors for our Calderdale Cheese beating off Stiff Competition to the number 1 spot for the category of,

1st Modern Traditionals from a single farm Origin (UK & Eire)

2nd Milk from Individual Cow (Cheesemaker "Scratter") 3rd year running!! after winning Supreme Champion in 2007

3rd Unpasteurised Whole Milk

June 2009 Became Members of YIGA

YIGA is 'Your Independent Grocers Association' Embodying Grocers, Off Licence, Delicatessen and Convenience Stores for over 100 year ( www.yiga.org.uk) this gives us a preferencial trading agreement with hundreds of stores around Yorkshire.

June 2009 Stock Now In Second Parfetts Cash n Carry at Sheffield

Following a successful meeting on the 26th June we have now secured a further contract with Parfetts to supply their Sheffield Store with our Cheese products.

June 2009 Stock Now In New Farm Shop Harrogate

Our Cheese and Butter is now being stocked by a new farm shop, FODDER, is a new concept food and cafe set up by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society (YAS), a registered charity which runs the Great Yorkshire Show and Countryside Live.

The aim of the venture, which opened on the 3rd June, is to inject new life into the rural economy and support the region's farmers and producers, while offering consumers the best food and drink from the region.

Fodder is part of the Regional Agricultural Center and is located on the edge of the Great Yorkshire Show Ground in Harrogate and will provide a focus for agriculture in the North of England.

May 2009 Stock now in Birkhill Farm Shop, Birkenshaw

This is a small family run Farm Shop in Birkenshaw run by Lindsey & Stuart Lazenby who specialise in grow your own fruit & veg, also fabulous Free Rang Chickens.

May 2009 Full Member of (FARMA)

The Calderdale Farmers Co-operative, of which we are a founder member, has just been granted full membership (270410 4515) to the National Farmers Retail And Markets Association (FARMA), the first co-operative to become a member in the country, it's a not-for-profit co-operative, working for businesses selling their produce direct in local markets it represents farm shops, pick-your-own farms, farmers markets and the stallholders selling at them, box and home-delivery schemes including internet sales, its aims are:

- to set standards for farmers markets and farm retailing as a whole

- to help develop local food economies through farm retailing activities

- to encourage sustainable, environmentally friendly farming practices

- to provide information about the environmental, economic and community benefits of buying direct from the farm

April 2009 Heap's Farm House Butter at local Cash n Carry

We have now added to our range of products on sale at Parfetts Cash n Carry (Halifax) with the introduction of our Heap's Farm House Butter, made here on the farm.

17th July 2008 Royal Visit to our Farm by HRH Princess Royal

We received a phone call one day from a soft spoken man calling himself Kevin Sharp, secretary to the Lord Lieutenants Office asking us if we would be so gracious as to allow a visit to our farm and Creamery by HRH Princess Royal.

Well as you can imagine we just thought it was a wind up, so immediately we went onto the Internet to search for Kevin Sharp, to our astonishment he was who he said he was, Robyn rang him back and apologised for being abit blunt with him, he just chuckled and said i fully understand, its not every day you get a request from a member of the Royal Family to visit you.

While Princess Anne had been staying at a friends estate in Wakefield she had been reading the Yorkshire Post, just at that time we were featured in the paper as Farm Of The Week , she read the article and was so impressed with what we were doing that she asked the Lieutenants office to contact us to request a visit. We accepted the request and they said they would be in touch when a date could be arranged, this was in December 2007.

For a while nothing seemed to be happening and we got abit worried that the visit wouldn't go ahead, but apparently they were doing the necessary security checks on us, as she is the Queens only Daughter and you can't be too careful. A date was finally arranged for the 17th July as she was in the area on official visits anyway, this gave us just a month to get the farm ship shape.

From then up to the visit we were frantic , running around like headless chickens sorting things out and getting prepared. We were then inundated with security personnel from the local police, MI5 and the Princess Royals personal protection team checking the farm out and going over the route the Princess would be taking through the farm and creamery.

On the day it's self the security was tight , only people we had invited could be here and the police needed a list of those people to check them out at the bottom of the farm lane where police motorbike riders were on duty, security had a final sweep of the farm and house with sniffer dogs 10 minuets before she was due to arrive, the stage was set.

The motorcade was coming, 2 motorbike outriders, 2 black armoured Range Rovers in which the Princess was in one, followed on by 2 more motorbike outriders with other police cars placed at points along the route, what a sight, looked like the US President was coming.

We were waiting to receive her in the yard, she emerged from one of the Range Rovers with her lady in waiting and the Queens representative, Colonel Roberts in full military dress, we greeted her and escorted her into the house where we had arranged to have coffee with her and a chat.

It was so unreal, the Queens Daughter chatting as if we were old friends in our dinning room over coffee and home made parkin, there had been about 10 minuets allocated to this part of the visit but we had been so engrossed in our conversation about what we were doing that we didn't emerge from the house for another 45 minuets.

We took her around the dairy and cheese making facilities before presenting her with an hamper full of our cheese's, she then went on to look at the baby calves where we introduced her to cheese-maker Scratter, one of our ladies that won best milk in class at the Great Yorkshire Show in 2007. She thanked us for allowing her to come and visit, saying she had really enjoyed it, she wished us good luck in our future endevours and then she was whisked off as quickly as she had arrived.

We both felt so proud to have been able to entertain the Princess, it will be a day we will never forget. We then had the usual interviews with the press and some photo's taken. After everyone had gone we sat down in the kitchen, had a brew, and just looked at each other in disbelief, what a day.

25th May 2008 Our Cheese Now Being Stocked By Parfetts Cash n Carry Halifax

Following a meeting today we have now secured a contract with Parfetts (Halifax) to supply them with our range of Plain & Flavoured cheese's

22nd May 2008 "WINNER" Yorkshire Rural Awards

We have been nominated, and to our genuine surprise won our category for the Yorkshire Rural Awards Food & Drink Producer of the year. We are not sure who nominated us but it was a real experience and a great honour to go to the awards evening being held at the Pavilions Of Harrogate.

The event was Black Tie with a champagne reception followed by a 4 course meal. After our meal the awards ceremony began. The host for the evening was none other than the best selling Author Gervaise Phinn, he was fantastic, a very funny man.

He began by reading some extract from his latest book, all about his time as a school inspector and the interaction he had with the children during that time. He then got down to business, working his way through the various categories until he got to ours. To say we were nervous would be an understatement considering we had never been to anything like this before, let alone being in the top three to win.

When he finally called our name out we just couldn't believe it, i had to almost drag Robyn from the chair such was her shock. Receiving our award on stage from Gervaise with Robyn made me feel the proudest man alive. After the awards were over all the winners had a group photo taken with Gervaise and also Sir Ken Morrison who had been honoured as Yorkshire Man Of The Year.

Later we were congratulated by Gervaise Phinn, the Lord Lieutenant of west Yorkshire Dr Ingrid Roscoe, Lord St Osworld of the Priory Wakefield and Sir Ken Morrison to mention but a few.

Driving home that evening i dint think we said much to each other, i think we were in shock, the lovely glass award takes center stage on our welsh dresser in our dinning room. A truly memorable occasion that we will never forget, and a big thank you to those who nominated us for the award.

14th September 2007 Nominated for BBC Food & Farming Awards

We have just been nominated for this years BBC Food & Farming Awards by our local environmental health , I'm not sure as to which category. We are thrilled to bits, not only to have all our hard work recognised, but to be put forward by our local Authority who have worked with us for the past 4 years and obviously recognise the effort we have put into our pies and cheese over this time. I would just like to take this opportunity to thank Heather Kendal, Amy Mcgarry and David Bacon (EHO Officers) for all their help and support.

10th September 2007 Cheesemaker Scratter wins top award for milk

We would like to let all our customers know that Cheesemaker Scratter won us the Championship for best milk from individual cow at this years Great Yorkshire Show. Our other cows won us second & third for whole milk and unpasteurised milk. Scratter is now in calf again to the bull "Ruffian" an Ayshire. Scratter is one of our tamest cows and loves treats such as our home baked bread and sweets.