Sparks Yard Newsletter Winter 09

UNDETERRED by the gloom anddoom that has been this year, we areready to fill your homes with festivecheer! So don’t be down in the dumps,deck the halls with beautifuldecorations from our handpickedselection. We have lots in store frommany different suppliers, most ofwhich are definitely different from thenorm. Jazz up your tree with beautifulfigures and hangers from the likes ofGisella Graham and Sia. Loop some ofour traditional garlands around yourbanisters or over your mantel pieceand jolly up your front door with oneof our selection of great wreaths. Wehave twinkly Christmas lanterns,lights and candles to help make yourhome glow along with lots of stockingsto hang out for Father Christmas.Candy canes and chocolate treedecorations are also available ready totempt those nosey present peeperslurking around your tree. So why notcome and get lost in our mini winter

wonderland and getprepared for the

festive fun!

Here at Sparks Yard as of the 5thOctober we will be geared up and readyto help you with all of your Christmasquandaries. The ground floor will begroaning with children’s stocking fillers,even Father Christmas has booked aprivate shopping evening! We have lots ofnew jewellery, toiletries, generally usefuland mostly lovely things for the ladies inyour life and stacks of fun, indulgent andinnovative gifts for those hard to buy formen. The Cook and Home areas of theshop are stocked up and ready and to topit all off we have our usual abundance ofbeautiful and unusual seasonaldecorations for the home and tree.

Turn to our news page to read all aboutwhat has been going on here in 2009, ithas been a very exciting year for us!

We are launching our websitewww.sparksyard.com this winter butplease remember that we are alwayshappy to help you over the phone andthat we can send pretty much mostthings out to you in the post. Just give usa quick call on 01903 885588 and lovelyLou will be able to help you. If possible itis best to call during the week asweekends can be a little bit hectic!

Some of you may notice our bagschange this winter, we thought it wastime for a bit of a revamp! We will also be

To place an order visit our website www.sparksyard.com or call 01903 885588 to order over the phone or ask any questions – we can ship most things!

WINTER 2009

Christmas Preview Evening: Monday 5th October 6pm-9pmArundel Spirit of Christmas: Saturday 5th December 10am-6pmArundel By Candlelight: Saturday 12th December 10am – 8pm

19th-23rd December we will be open for an extra hour every afternoon

General Opening HoursMonday-Saturday 10am-5pmSundays 11am – 4pm

CHRISTMASIS COMING!

Winterwonderlandon TarrantStreet COOKING

UP ASTORM

FILLING THOSESTOCKINGS

HOT IDEAS FORHEAVENLYHOMES

LADIESLOVEPRESSIES

BIGBOYSTOYS

SHOPONLINE

DECKTHEHALLS

Contact UsSparks Yard, 18 Tarrant StreetArundel, West Sussex BN18 9DJ.

Tel: 01903 885588www.sparksyard.com

selling Sparks Yard’s own folding reusableshopping bags. We are making a donationto Sparks, the children’s medical researchcharity every time one is sold. This is anincredible charity and has been ourchosen charity this year. They have doneso much worthwhile work that it is hardto know where to start to tell you whatthey have done and what they areworking on. Their sole remit is to fundresearch across the whole spectrum ofpaediatric medicine. Their goal is for allbabies to be born healthy and stayhealthy. Please go to their website(www.sparks.org.uk) to find out moreabout their fantastic work and don’tforget to buy a bag when you come instore, we think they make a greatstocking filler!

This newsletter aims to give you a smalltaster of what we have in store for youthis winter, obviously we have tonnes ofnew lines and we would need this to bethe size of the Telegraph to get everythingin so make sure you pop in and see us soyou can see for yourself what great giftswe have. We hope that you have afantastic festive period and that you have awonderful new year. May 2010 be somuch more fun than 2009 has been!Best wishes

Holly & Andy

Special Events & Opening Hours

NEWS

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SY Newsletter Winter 09:Layout 1 23/9/09 17:05 Page 1

and now toTHE NEWS!2009 HAS been a lucky year for ushere at Sparks Yard. We are very proudto have won two prestigious businessawards. At one of the industry’sbiggest trade events, The Spring Fair2009, we were shortlisted and highlycommended in the national‘Independent Home & Gift Store ofThe Year’ category. We were chuffed tobits to have done so well on a nationallevel! We were then invited to takepart in the Observer Business Awards.The team headed to the Hilton for theevent where we were thrilled to bechosen as ‘Retailer of the Year’. Thecompetition was very high with somegreat local retailers in the running.

Awards!Yippee!

We know many of you have grown tolook forward to seeing Ted the WonderDog feature in our newsletters, well thisyear Ted got a new pal! Ernie joined theoffice team in January and keeps us allvery busy! His main interests include longwalks on Climping Beach, sorting through

The Sparks Yard CanineTeam has grown!

We were very proud to be sponsors ofthis year’s street theatre along with someother businesses in the town. Thefeedback from the visitors wasthat this year’s festivities had agreat buzz to them. Wewould like to take thisopportunity to thank theteam of organisers whowork so tirelessly to puttogether such a fun festivalfor us lucky people who liveand work in the town and forall of the visitors that it draws tothe town. Sparks Yard had a

ArundelFestival ‘09

This year we are expecting a particularlyspecial delivery for Christmas! Andy and Iare due to have our first baby at thebeginning of November. Currently thebaby is known as ‘The Cheese’ due to mycraving for the stuff and its excited

The Heggadon’sare multiplying!

Sparksyard.com is live!

As you can probably imagine, wewere then completely shocked to thenbe shortlisted for a ‘Retail Great’, theleading awards for the independentretail sector. At a very exciting awardsceremony at The Royal LancasterHotel on Hyde Park, we wereannounced as winners of the awardfor ‘Independent Gift Retailer of theYear’ – London, South & South East.Andy and I were so shocked that wewere shaking too much to hold theaward still! It was a marvellousevening and lovely to be able to shareit with both sets of our parents whohave been so incredibly supportive tous over the past six and half years. Wewould like to take this opportunity tothank our wonderful team here atSparks Yard, all of whom are trueassets to our business.

A few of you may have noticed that ouronline shop is now open for business. Weare really pleased with how it is lookingalthough we are still working hard to addmore and more products. As you canimagine, it is a big job with the huge varietyof stock that we carry in store. It is alwaysworth remembering that if you can’t find iton our website we are always happy tohelp over the telephone and can sendpretty much most things out in the post.Please go online and have a look or dosome shopping and please keep poppingback as it is still a work in progress!

movements every time the word ismentioned! His or hers arrival in the runup to Christmas is not exactly ideal for uswhat with it being our busiest period ofthe year in the shop but we are obviouslythrilled and extremely excited. So if yousee us looking totally sleep deprived overthe Christmas period, you will know why!We have also had lots of exciting presscoverage this year as a family. Amongother things our lovely home has featuredin several magazines including HouseBeautiful and is due to be included in anew BBC television programme thisautumn called Property Detectives. Theypromised us that we wouldn’t have to beinterviewed…..they lied! Andy and I werehighly embarrassed to have to appear infront of the camera, I think we will haveto watch that one from behind a pillow!!

Ernies first day at work!

Greg, Tim, Andy, Louisa, Holly & Janeaccepting their award.

A very shocked Holly & Andy receivingtheir ‘Great’ Award!

Ernie and Ted.

great festival with record numbers ofsales and lots of new customers whopromised they would be back.We were also involved in the Gallery Trailthis year which was great fun! Inside theshop we had lots of butterflies, bees andladybugs that had been made by localchildren with the help of the wonderfulDena & Dan from Krafty Kids. Dena runs

fantastic workshops and activities in thearea throughout the year, you can

find out more about these on herwebsite www.kraftykids.info .At home we had the talentedsculptor Vincent Grey fromChichester

www.vincentgray.co.ukexhibiting some of his collection.

We really loved having his work inour garden, and Ernie was really keen

on the particular work shown!


the office bins, chewing Ted’s ears,escaping to the pub and having bigcuddles while we really should beworking! He is a rather scruffy butgorgeous little Wire Haired Fox Terrierand a true Arundel boy having been bornand bred in the town.



WE are pleased to be stocking WilliesWorld class Cacao, as featured on hisvery entertaining Channel 4programme ‘Willies wonky chocolatefactory’. His Supreme 100% Cacaoblocks are perfect for grating into allsorts of culinary feasts. It addsdelicious richness to stews, casserolesand of course desserts. It is also greatfor making homemade truffles andunbelievable hot chocolate. We havetwo varieties, Caranero SuperiorCacao (with notes of nut & spice) andRio Caribe Superior Cacao (withnotes of zesty citrus) both of whichhail from single cocoa estates inVenezuela. The Delectable Cacao isfor eating straight out of the box andcomes in two deliciousvarieties,Venezuelan 72with smoothfruity notesand Peruvian70 with tropicalfruit notes. Eachbox contains two40g bars, one fornow and one forlater!

Willieswonkychocolate

HOT on the success and popularity ofthe Marmite ceramics we had in storelast Christmas, we now have moreMarmite products to tempt you!

Alongside the mugs,egg cups, plates andespresso cups wenow have aprons, teatowels, giant money

jars and even aspecial box to putyour Marmitesandwich in!

Love it orhate it?!

We carry a good selection of pictureframes from a range of good qualitytrusted suppliers. They range from tinyclassic frames to huge wall frames thatcan hold up to 28 photographs.

Get in thepicture

Loads’a money!As always the shop is groaning withChristmas confectionary including giantchocolate coins, chocolate gamblingchips, nougat, biscuits, gingerbreads andTurkish Delight to name a few. There issomething for everyone’s Christmasstocking so make sure you come andhave a really good rummage so that youdon’t have to disappoint someone specialwith a lump of coal and a Satsuma!

GuardDogs!Do you need a bit ofprotection…..from slamming doors?!Then these little chaps could be theanswer. Weighing in at nearly 2kg theyare weighty enough for the job inhand. They are both british designedand made usingthe highestquality fabricsand leathersand arequintessentiallyquirky. Available inlots of differentfabricincludingunion jacks,hessian, waxed jacket, candy striped(pictured) and leather.

Let’s get thisparty started!AS always we have some great partyaccessories in store but as it is thefestive season the collection has grownenormously!! We have everything thatyou need to get your party plans off toa bang and jolly up your Christmastable. From lanterns, masks, poppers,pea shooters and trivia to paperchains, sparklers, ice fountains andgames. We have beautiful crackersfrom Penny Kennedy in EmmaBridgewater, Nina Campbell and V&Adesigns all filled with gifts thatyou would actually want!

We have stocked up on CulinaryConcepts ranges of barware, cheeseaccessories and generally lovely things forthe home. Lots of these items make greatgifts for couples as well as entertainingkings & queens!

Culinarydelights

In our well stocked cook store we aimto have all of your Christmas culinaryessentials such as roasting pans, turkeybasters, cookie cutters, pudding basinsand mince pie trays. So don’t get caughtshort and be prepared for the arrival ofthe masses this year!Also don’t forget that kitchengadgets make great stocking fillersfor keen cooks!

Feeding the 5000?

Those creative geniuses’ at Alessihave come up with some beautiful newlines for winter 2009. This includes anew range of Michel Graves productssuch as the whistling bird kettle nowbeing available in black. There are alsostunning new cheese knives, a new stylesleek electric kettle, witty ‘Lula’ dogbowls (which Ernie and Ted have pickedas their top buy for this Christmas!) andeven quirky ‘Apostrophe’ orange peelersthat make brilliant stocking fillers fordedicated Alessi followers, or orangelovers at only £13 each!

Alessi New Lines

After a few years of absence Sagaformis back in store. There are somefantastic lines such as mulled winewarming pots, barware and kitchengoodies. We have always loved thework of Sagaforms designers and theirslightly quirky retro styling.

Scandi-chic is back

These beautiful marble cheeseboards make great presents for hard tobuy for men. These weighty slabs ofmarble are printed with favourite winelabels making them the perfect gift forany bon viver! We have a range ofdesigns and sizes in store.

Written in stone

&great gifts forCREATIVE COOKSHEAVENLY HOMES

www.sparksyard.com



presents?THEY’RE IN THEBAG...

Jewels, jewels, jewels!

Well maybe not the really expensiveones that require us to have bodyguardsbut we have a great selection of sparkle,fun and indulgence! As always we have thelovely Lovelinks charm bracelets whichmake a fantastic present that you can keepadding to at Christmases and birthdays tocome. We have a selection of bracelets,necklaces, Murrano glass charms and silvercharms to choose from. We also have a

For all of those domestic goddesses andoffice angels out there we have a greatrange of stationary from EmmaBridgewater and some new designs fromgreetings card favourite, Caroline Gardener.These make great accessories for home orthe office and include great ideas like

weekly to do pads and home journalsfor all those important bits ofinformation that you can nevernormally find!

We also have a big range ofMoleskine and Paperblanks diaries,lovely calendars and gorgeousnotebooks, notelets and simplestationary. There really is somethingfor everyone and they allmake for lovely gifts

and stocking fillers.

Lovely hats, scarves, gloves and wristwarmers make great gifts for the girls, stockup on sets for friends and familyand why not treat yourself to anew set for this winter? We also have a great range ofmen’s hats and scarves so be sureto remember the boys this winter,we don’t want lots of cases of‘man flu’!

Alongside the fantastic Dr Haushukabrand of skincare, we have some otherdelectable toiletries from Bath Houseand Compagnie de Provence. The BathHouse Serenity range has already provento be very popular with its delicatescents of white tea and rose, over subtlehints of crushed thyme andmusk. The rangeincludes handwrappedsoaps, bathsalts and foam,fragranced rosebuds andperfume. TheFrench, Extra PurMarseille soapsfrom Compagniede Provence, are allmade by traditional standards in acauldron with natural glycerin, the soapscontain neither colouring agents, animalfats, nor surface-active agents. Availablein four amazing fragrances Rose, OrangeBlossom, Fresh Verbena and Figs ofProvence, these hand soaps, creams,Foam baths and body lotions are stockedin both travel and full sizes.

LADIES LOVELOVELY THINGS!

Sparks Yard is stocking fillerheaven!

Father Christmas, elves, mums & dads,grannies & granddads get yourselvesdown to Sparks Yard! We have a greatselection of toys and stocking fillers to suitevery budget. There are far too many forus to tell you about but you can be surethat the ground floor will be bursting atthe seams with goodies to fill those sacks.

How many times have you heard that? Ifthe answer is not very many then youdefinitely need to come and see us! Wehave lots andlots of gorgeousgift wrap, tissue,boxes, ribbonsand tags for youto choose from.Get creative andgive yourpresents withstyle!

We have brilliant Christmas cards instore, ranging from packsof charity cards toindividually handmadecards for your nearest

and dearest. Withdesigns fromWoodmansterne,Five Dollar Shake

and CarolineGardnerthere is

somethingfor everyoneon your list.

Santa Clausis comingto town!

Every man wants to be Bond

Although men’s fascination withgadgets is by and large still a mystery towomankind we all know how happy itmakes them to find a couple in theirChristmas stocking! We always tryto get a good selection ofgadgets and games for the boysand this year we have somegreat ones such as theWaboba Ball a ball thatliterally bounces on water,great for skimming andgenerally mucking aboutwith. Another gem is theAstroStar which features arotating base with compass-pointalignments that make it possible toproject a map of the clear night’s sky allaround you. Fantastic for astrology fansor just for people with their head in theclouds! Other handy gadgets includeemergency mobile phone or MP3 playerchargers that can give your gizmo apower boost with the use of a single AAbattery, very handy while out and abouton missions! These are just a fewexamples of the lines that can be found inour men’s stocking filler area, come andhave a good look for yourselves and seewhat you can find!

We have some accessories that everydapper chap needs! Simon Carter hascome up trumps yet again with a verysmart and classic range of cufflinks, collarstiffeners, silk handkerchiefs and beautifulwatches. They are so smart that quitefrankly the girls are jealous that they arefor the boys!

And of course, no gentleman worth hissalt would be seen un-groomed, step inGeo.F.Trumper of Mayfair. We have beenstocking this range since we first openedand there is a reason why we still have itin store today, it is the best! Their shavingcreams, aftershaves, soaps, badgerbrushes and razors are not only classicallystyled and stylish but developed by a longrunning team of barbers thathave worked in theindustry for centuriesmaking and refiningtheir products. Theirrazors and brushes makefantastic special presentswhile their toiletries are alsocovetable gifts. We have also stockedup on the very popular and reasonablypriced Spanish Fig & Nutmeg men’stoiletry range which includes lovelyshaving and showering essentials.

Toys for Big Boys

lovely new range of silver and glassjewellery from our fantastic Venetian GlassSupplier, Antica Murrina. This is moremodern in style and beautifully delicate,very sophisticated stuff!

Set off your winter woollies with boldand funky acrylic jewellery and hairaccessories. And for the party season topoff that perfect little black dress with longstrands of ‘pearls’ and great fun sparklycocktail rings and earrings, so Audreydahhling!

This publication is printed on100% recycled paper.

Put Pen to Paper Run us a nicehot bath

But baby itsoutside

Sent with love

‘It’s too beautifulto open!’ For the well

groomed gentleman


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Sparks Yard Newsletter Winter 09