It is never good business to accuse your clients of having gone doolally but in this instance I feel the comment might well be justified.

What is this client doing to justify such slanderous accusations?

Well Vinny O'Neil is cycling from Lands End to John O'Groats over 8 days from 4^th June. 'No celebrity style relays', Vinny states in a recent e-mail promoting the trip, just 100 miles a day from one end to the other. And all of this in aid of Help For Heroes.

Help for Heroes raises money to support members of the Armed Forces who have been wounded in the service of their country. Not only does the charity do some truly spectacular work in the field of rehabilitation but they can also boast that every penny raised goes towards the projects being supported. On their website they even boast that for every £1 raised they donate £1.10 to the worthy causes.

'Help For Heroes is the charity that does exactly what it says on the tin.

As far as we know, Help For Heroes is the only charity that can say it is 110% effective - we can guarantee that for every £1 donated, £1.10 will go directly to helping wounded service men and women. So, we do exactly what we say on the tin – your donations go directly to supporting the wounded boys and girls.

How we do this?

We do of course have running costs but these are kept as low as possible, and the costs we do have? Well those are covered by the sale of our fantastic Help For Heroes merchandise, every T-shirt, mug, wrist band and calendar sold ensures that the money you donate goes to the men and women who need it, not office bills!

In fact, thanks to the range of challenges we hold through the year and our H4H shop last year we actually made more than we needed to run the charity. So, of course, the rest goes to the wounded - making your one pound stretch an extra ten pence'.

An impressive feat both so far as the charity is concerned for the money it utilises and for those who are attempting this mammoth bike ride.

To support Vinny in this challenge please visit:

http://www.justgiving.com/vinny-end-to-end

The One Stop Baby Guides

One of our clients, the idea behind "The One Stop Baby Guides", has entered this business start up into a competition to win £50,000 to help the business and needs some support.

We at CL&Co are fully behind this idea and as a result have agreed to post the following on to our blog:

It costs nothing and will take only about a minute of your time - so I really hope you won't mind me asking.

You can look at the link below which will give you the general idea -

https://www.takeonesmallstep.co.uk/Entry/View/3890

You then "Back the Idea" by following the instruction on the link.

The number of people you get backing the idea influences the judges' choices.

If we are lucky enough to be shortlisted, the voting from that shortlist begins on June 7th, so if we make it - we will post another request for support after then.

The business, in summary, is as follows:

A set of three DVDs - titled "The One Stop Baby Guides"

newborn babies (0-1 year);
toddlers (1-3 years);
pre-schoolers (3-5 years).

Each will be divided into four chapters:

1 - Emergency First Aid (presented by St John ambulance);
2 - Everyday Care (presented by midwives and paediatricians);
3 - Breastfeeding, formula feeding and weaning (presented by midwives and nutritionists);
4 - Playing and Learning (presented by teachers and psychologists).

Each DVD will be in English but with an extensive language menu, including many UK minority languages - such as Punjabi, Hindi, Arabic, Polish and French. This will enable new Mums who might have trouble communicating with their Midwife or GP, to get practical and basic help.

We are also making a first aid DVD and kit for infants and toddlers, in partnership with St John ambulance.

The idea has been taken up very enthusiastically by John Lewis, and we are currently in negotiations with them - so this is very exciting.

If we won the competition from Barclay's, it would put us in a fantastic position with respect to our approaches to other potential investors.

So - thank you for reading - please "Back our Idea" by following the link above - and we will post here again on June 7th if we reach the next round. Fingers crossed!

A Sad Farewell

It was a great amount of sadness that greeted the news of Kristian's death from amongst all of us who had known him here in the office.

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He was totally charming and had the ability to put all those around him at ease. Our thoughts at this time are with his family and friends and he will be sorely missed.

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London Marathon 2010

Dom Farrell, client and freelance cameraman, has decided to raise money for Alzheimer’s Concern, a charity which helps thousands of sufferers of Dementia/Alzheimer’s. To do this he will be running in the London Marathon - a grueling 26miles/42kms of athletic madness!

'I’m excited and privileged to be taking part' writes dom, who is hoping that we can help him raise some much needed money. In his recent e-mail to us he continues 'My Just Giving page is below, which is a very secure and easy way to donate!

http://www.justgiving.com/marathondom

I understand, in these difficult economic times and after the recent disaster in Haiti, but please please dig deep. I will be(have started) training extra hard through these winter months and will hopefully run a respectable time - somewhere just behind the Kenyans! Wish me luck!'.

Here at Lunn Towers we wish him all the best and have donated a few shillings to the fund, but deffinately not Kenyan ones!

Dave Morrissey - Meteor Music Awards 2010

Dave has been nominated in the Meteor Music Awards ‘Most Promising New Artist Category’, due to be announced on 19th February 2010.

The nomination follows the release of his debut single ‘Bring out the light’. The video for this single was shot in London by Clingfilms.tv and was directed by Greg Barnes.

If you like what you see please feel free to vote for him below:

http://meteormusicawards.meteor.ie/competitions/voting/21196/

Helping out on location.

Earlier on this year Christopher Lunn and Company staff were asked to make up crew numbers on a short film being shot, in the local area, by one of our clients. Amongst the volunteers we had Runners, Riggers, Camera Assistants, and Production Accountants to name but a few, all gaining valuable experience of what it is like working on set and location. The film is due to be shown at various festivals in 2010 and updates as to its reception will be posted here soon.

PRESS RELEASE: 'Ode on Innocence'

2^nd August 2009

An innovative short film designed to challenge generational preconceptions as well as entertain and delight.

'Ode on Innocence' is a Tunbridge Wells-based production, and the first step in a national campaign aimed at altering underappreciated perceptions of poetry and the literary world among young people. Within the same vein as the BBC's 'Let Poetry into Your Life', it seeks to revive the nation's interest. The film captures the spirit of Keats' writings through an ethereal journey into interaction and intimacy between two individuals seeking different ends.

"Attitudes need to change. This generation is losing touch with resources invaluable to our past and linked to us as a nation." says Producer Vivienne Errington-Barnes. Baz Lurman achieved huge international success amongst young people with his production of Romeo and Juliet, which questioned popular interpretation of Shakespearian literature. Accordingly, 'Ode on Innocence' encapsulates Keats' paradoxical attitude towards the sublime, fusing it with modern life and young love in order to stimulate and inspire today's youth.

Two polar opposites, one of transience, one of permanence.

Being drawn principally from John Keats' ballad, 'La Belle Dame sans Merci' (The Beautiful Lady without Mercy), it captures central Keatsian themes such as beauty, emotion and sensuality within an atmosphere of enchantment.

With a constant undercurrent of transience at odds with permanence, 'Ode on Innocence' tells the story of La Belle, an alluring and beguiling enigma who enraptures the heart of the young, idealistic and fervent Knight. From their first encounter, they are drawn to each other and engage in an exploration of the very concepts of life, love, time and ultimately happiness that leads them on a venture spanning bewildering sexual euphoria to crushing emotional rejection.

Having been shot in High Definition, using experimental technology in order to push the boundaries of the genre and add more to the contemporary finish, the short film was shot in a variety of locations in the town, including Doctor Who actor Tom Baker's former house in Church Road, as well as Dunorlan Park and Chilstone Sculpture Park. Locations designed to parallel Keats' emotional landscape.

With an international cast and crew of around 45, boasting filmmakers from the Czech Republic, Austria and America as well as all corners of the British Isles, the film takes inspiration from both contemporary cosmopolitan culture and romantic poetry.

Despite a challenging budget, young, enthusiastic filmmakers and a crew with an average age of 24, aptly close to Keats' dying age of 25, have created work that defies the classic themes for short films 'Ode on Innocence' challenges the norm in a cultivated attempt to confront a past literary glory that is slipping away. Writer and director Jamie Morton, recipient of a Guardian Media Award, has worked in the past with those such as George Shaw (composer for productions such as 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' (2005)), as well as the BBC.

Keats looked at death, love, change and the human condition; 'Ode on Innocence' embodies such notions, with what the Writer and Director has dubbed "an emphasis on Keats' voice, rather than the poet himself."

Produced by Kylarkin Productions and financed by Christopher Lunn & Co., only improving their already excellent knowledge of the industry, as well as individual contributors, 'Ode on Innocence' is currently being submitted to multiple festivals. (DVD DISTRIBUTION)