July is National Ice-Cream Month! As it’s coming to an end, we will look into some ice cream facts and explore some strange flavours from around the world.

• July was designated Ice Cream Month by President Ronald Reagan in 1984
• Vanilla makes up 29% of ice cream sales , with cookies and cream and mint choc chip increasing their market share in recent years
• The first Mr Whippy style ice cream was sold in 1959

• Ice cream sales are worth £1.1billion in the UK each year
• To relieve brain freeze, doctors recommend pressing your tongue against the roof of your mouth to warm the area
• A company specialising in ice cream for dogs went on Dragon’s Den in 2012, receiving a £60,000 investment for a 40% share
• Some strange flavours found around the world include Spaghetti Bolognese (Venezuela), Pineapple-Shrimp (Taiwan), jalapeno (Mexico), Cheese (Philippines), Mushroom-Pecan (USA) and Stilton (England)
• But it is the Japanese who are the kings of bizarre flavours; a game of Ice Cream Roulette involves a mixture of unappetising and more conventional flavours, with players taking turns to take a spoonful from the unlabelled tubs.
• Ice cream flavours found in Japanese convenience stores include octopus, salad, charcoal, squid ink, curry, raw horse, tulip, chicken wings and stout!

At The Lindley Group, we are extremely passionate about sustainability; we are signees of WRAP’s hospitality and Food Service Agreement; our Malvern Theatre was the first theatre in the UK to achieve the Soil Association’s Food for Life Silver award and we place huge emphasis on local and sustainable procurement across all of our sites, minimising our food miles and guaranteeing the best tasting food for our customers!

As proud as we are of our current environmental efforts and policies across our sites, you can always do more!

We recently worked together with the SRA in order to find new suppliers for two key items – bottled water and hot chocolate. Last year, across our UK venues, we sold almost 400,000 cups of hot chocolate and over 100,000 litres of bottled water!

As members of the SRA, we have access to details on all SRA Approved Suppliers and based on information from their directory we have selected two suppliers for these items; which means we are now serving more sustainable bottled water and hot chocolate across our venues.

Our hot chocolate is now supplied by Cafédirect, who were the first company to carry the Fairtrade label in the UK. Cafédirect pride themselves on dealing directly with the small holder growers and paying them what they deserve for quality produce, instead of paying middle men.

Our bottled water is now supplied by Belu. Belu use more recycled materials than any other UK company; they guarantee at least 50% recycled plastic in their screw cap bottles, offset any unavoidable emissions and donate all of their profits to WaterAid. Over the next three years they will make a guaranteed donation of £300,000, transforming the lives of over 20,000 people.

Today we are very excited to announce the release of The Lindley Group’s new iPad app, available to download here for FREE from the iTunes store!

The highly interactive app allows users to explore all of our conference and events venues across the country and by using the venue map, you can find venues close to you!

Each of our venues has a dedicated home page, where you can learn more about the venue facilities, upcoming events and special offers. The app contains a comprehensive guide to each of our venues, so that you can discover the perfect setting for your event.

Users can gain a true experience of each of our venues without leaving their homes, through a comprehensive photo gallery, full details on room capacities and 360 degree images of suites to find the space right for them.

The app is an extremely useful tool for those planning an event, providing you with all the information you need conveniently and quickly! It also enables you to find out what exciting events are coming to a venue near you!

Download the app for FREE here or via the QR code below!

Recent figures from the ICES indicate that North Sea cod stocks have risen for the seventh consecutive year and the stock is currently estimated to be three times the size it was in 2006.

These highly encouraging figures are the result of close collaboration between industry figures, scientists and governments. Policies such as the more selective fishing by fleets, improvements in management practices and a more thorough approach to environmental precautions have seen cod stocks rise to the largest size since 1996 and the ICES is hopeful that further improvements in industry policies and fishing techniques can see stock reach 150,000 for the first time since before 1983.

Sustainable sourcing is a topic we at The Lindley Group feel strongly about. We stringently adhere to the Marine Conservation Society’s ‘Fish to Avoid’ list, liaise closely with our suppliers to guarantee environmental standards are met and work hard to ensure produce at all of our sites is locally and ethically sourced to minimise our environmental impact and support local and UK wide produce.

Because of our commitment, we were one the of the very first contract caterers to become a full member of the Sustainable Restaurant Association, while our Malvern Theatre became the very first theatre to be awarded the Soil Association Silver Catering Mark award which amongst other criteria, measures the sustainability of restaurants’ sourcing of fish.

Monday saw the beginning of National Childhood Obesity Week, an event aiming to raise awareness of the dangers and long-term health issues resulting from being above a healthy weight during childhood.

The latest figures from the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) show that 19.2% of children in Year 6 (aged 10-11) and a further 14.7% were classed as overweight. The programme also found that 9.5% of children in reception (aged 4-5) were obese and a further 13.1% were overweight. This equates to approximately one third of Year 6 pupils and over a fifth of children in reception being either overweight or obese.

At The Lindley Group, we have introduced many schemes in order to promote healthy eating in children. Along with Tottenham Hotspur we launched the ‘Grow Your Own’ programme, where children were taught how to grow their own fruit and vegetables. Our chefs have also toured schools giving cooking demonstrations and our venues often introduce special healthy options aimed at children during family events. At a recent event, ACC Liverpool successfully launched a new salad and wrap bar and a healthy range including ‘fruit rainbow skewers’, aimed at encouraging children to opt for exciting, healthy food.

We are also working in partnership with Bristol City Community Trust in order to teach schoolchildren about healthy lifestyles and the importance of an active lifestyle. The scheme involves live theatre cooking from our chefs at the stadium and the development of a cookbook for children to take home and try with their families.