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6. Your garden in March
Cineworld Yate Aaron Potter Pro Wrestling Chaos
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Your garden in March
Spring is finally here! The warmer and sunnier days during March provide the oppurtunity for an increasing range of gardening tasks. It’s a great time of the year as new life bursts forth and the garden begins to transform. Preparation of seed beds and borders should be well under the way this month as well as cutting back winter shrubs and generally tidying up the mess that the winter has left behind. Whether you’re preparing for shrubs and bedding plants or sowing seed for vegtables. Once all the tidying is done you’ll be in a better postion to plan the seasons planting. Plant of the Month Pansy/Viola
The essential gardening jobs for March
Sow seeds and plant onion sets, shallots and potatoes As the soil begins to warm you can start to sow broad beans, salads and sweet peas. If bad weather is forecast, be sure to cover seedlings with clothes to protect them. March is also the time to plant out onion and shallot sets – cover with fleece or netting to protect from birds. Early varieties of potato such as ‘Rocket’ and ‘swift’ , can be planted. If they have been kept in a light and frost-free environments, they should be ‘chitting’ (a slight sprouting from seed potato). Chitting before planting can encourage earlier and heavier cropping.
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Feed As the warmer weather promotes fresh growth, a general garden fertiliser should be applied to help boost roots, green foliage and encourage more fruits and flowers from your plants. It can be applied around the base of plants by scattering straight from the box and left to be watered in the rain. Unfortunately, the warm weather will also see weeds start to grow as well. Weeding isn’t the most popular of jobs but its best to pull any that start to appear while they are young to prevent spreading. Scarify the lawn Do some lawn preparations before the growing season gets well under way. Choose a dry day and give the lawn a rake to remove the remnants of winter before cutting with the mower blades set at the highest position. Then aerate with a garden fork or aeration machine. This helps drainage and gets oxygen to the roots. Finally, apply a top dressing of spring lawn feed to add nutrients.
Why Should you plant them? One of the most popular bedding plants, pansies and violas are hardy annuals that have a stunning array of colours to choose from. Bringing the joy of spring to your garden during the colder months, they grow happily in borders or containers as well as providing great ground cover. How should you plant them? Plant them in moist, well-drained soil in a spot with good sunlight to encourage flowering. tough little plants that are extremly hardy, they prefer cooler temperatures and need watering regularly. They are also very versatile - plant them in beds, borders, containers and hanging baskets
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The top 3 movies For March Take a trip down to Cineworld this March and it’s highly likely you’ll be greeted by all out action. Every blockbuster release covered this month relates in some way to gaming, meaning there’s never been a better time to ‘level up’ your movie-going experience, with virtual worlds, archaeological adventures, giant robots hitting the big screen. Kicking us off midway through the month on March 16th, gaming icon Lara Croft makes her long-awaited movie return. This time played by Academy Award winner Alicia Vikander, this slightly grittier take on the titular Tomb Raider sees Lara journey to the lost kingdom of Yamatai to finish what her father started. Fast-forward one week later and it’s mechs and monsters galore as we step back into the world of Guillermo Del Toro’s Pacific Rim. Subtitled ‘Uprising’, this super-charged sequel follows John Boyega leading a new generation of jaeger pilots against the alien menace in the hope of protecting Earth once and for all. Rounding off the month on March 29th is the highly-anticipated movie adaptation of Ernest Cline’s best-selling novel: Spielberg’s Ready Player One. Set in a world where the virtual one is the only escape, unlimited riches await those who embark on the journey to win the ultimate Easter egg hunt. Just be sure to bring your 80s references with you! Cineworld Yate and Direct Local Magazine once again team up to give cinema audiences a chance to win 2 free cinema tickets. Just fill out the next page word search. Game on everybody. There’s plenty of reasons to strap into your cinema seat this March.
Aaron Potter is a professional writer for Cineworld Bristol and places these articles in Direct Local each month to give you the public a choice of great movies to view at your local cinema.
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This Months Prize 2 Tickets To The Movies Welcome to our word search competition
Cineworld Yate are giving away 2 tickets to any movie of your choice All you need to do is complete the word search above and either scan, take a photo on your smart phone and email it to us at :
The Draw will take place on the 25th March
The lucky winner will be pulled randomly from a hat and contacted by a member of staff at Cineworld. Children entering must have parents written consent to enter, people over the age of 16 yrs need no consent to enter..
info@directlocalonline.com or send it in the post to via snail mail to the address below. 7 Hopewell Gardens Shirehampton Bristol BS11 0JS
February’s winner Debbie Squire
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The Changing Face Of Referral Marketing Traditionally and for good reason, business owners cherish people referred from their existing customers as they are already pre-disposed towards them. In fact, research has shown that around 92% will trust a business that has been referred to them. Indeed, savvy business would ask for referrals from happy customers as they knew that his would help when making contact for the first time. And that still works today. However, the internet has brought a shift in the way that prospective customers find out about businesses before they make a purchase. No longer is the “power” with businesses to tell prospects about themselves and the good things others say about them. The internet has transferred that “power” to consumers. Hence, word-of-internet has become almost as powerful as word-of-mouth. Research shows that around 85% of consumers trust online reviews as much as word-of-mouth. But the real change is what consumers do after being referred a business. We wondered about this, so had our own independent survey carried out. The results really surprised us. Amazingly, nearly 90% went online to find out more about the business they had been referred, but only a third were just looking for the website and contact information. The vast majority went online to find reviews.
Three-quarters of consumers think that reviews older than 3 months are not really relevant. On average consumers need to see 7 positive reviews to start to trust a business There’s no doubt about it. The internet really has changed the face of referral marketing. Business today need to ensure that they are not having their referrals legally stolen by businesses that have built up a significant online reputation.
I suppose we shouldn’t have been surprised, but it did really drive home how much impact the internet now has on referral marketing campaigns because, when people go online to research a business, review sites will alert them to competitors. What surprised us even more was that it wasn’t the businesses coming high in the search engines that were gaining customers, or even those with the cheapest price. It was the most reputable businesses that were profiting.
The key to building up a great online reputation? UK research company Bright Local carries out an Just ask your happiest customers. Not everybody annual survey in consumer research habits. Here’s will leave a review, but over time you will build up a what they had to say. valuable asset.
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Easter Cream Egg cake
1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Line the base of a 23cm springform tin with baking parchment. Place the bourbon biscuits in a food processor and blitz until reduced to fine crumbs. Mix the melted butter and biscuit crumbs together, then press firmly onto the base of the tin with the back of a spoon. Bake in the oven for 10 mins then leave to cool while you make the filling.
Ingredients For the base
250g chocolate bourbon biscuits 100g butter, melted plus extra for greasing
For the filling
3x 280g packs full-fat cream cheese at room temperature (we used Philadelphia) 200g golden caster sugar 4 tbsp cocoa powder 1 vanilla pod, seeds only 3 tbsp strong black coffee 3 large eggs 300ml pot sour cream 25g milk chocolate, melted
For the decoration 200ml double cream 100g passion fruit curd 8 creame eggs
(4 halved, 4 left whole)
2. Turn oven temperature up to 240C/220C fan/gas 9. In a large bowl beat the cream cheese and sugar with an electric whisk until creamy, then add in the cocoa, vanilla, coffee, eggs, soured cream and the melted chocolate and whisk again until smooth. 3. Brush the sides of a cake tin with a little more melted butter then pour in the cheesecake mixture and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake for 10 mins, then turn the heat down to 110C/90C fan/gas 1/4 for 25-30 mins. When ready the filling should be set, but with a little wobble in the middle. Turn off the oven, but leave the oven door open and allow it to cool in there for 2 hrs. Chill until ready to serve. 4. To decorate the cheesecake, carefully remove it from the tin and removed the lining paper from the base. Lightly whip the double cream and place or pipe 4 large dollops of it on top of the cheesecake in a ring with 4 smaller dollops in between. Top each mound of cream with a smaller splodge of passion fruit curd and then top with the cream egg halves then place the whole ones in between. Serve immediately.
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Business Networking at St Swithins– How To Connect With Relevant People? Business networking is all about connecting individuals so that they can become advertisers of each other, based on trust and strong relationships.
Ask Open Ended Questions
While participating in networking conversations, it is very important to consider the kind of questions that you ask. Your aim should be to stimulate a discussion and prompt other users to participate. Therefore, avoid asking objective questions that can be answered with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Instead, put forward questions that ask who, what, where, when, why and how. These questions throw open a discussion and encourage others to participate.
Become a Powerful Resource for Others
Through your content on the web and your activities Here are some tips to connect with other on forums and communities, including B2B individuals in a way that will help you extract the full marketplaces, focus on becoming a powerful benefits of business networking. resource relevant in your niche industry. When you establish yourself as an expert, people will turn to you for advice, suggestions and ideas. This will give Be Genuine you an opportunity to connect with relevant people Business networking is all about making connections with people. Accordingly, you need to of your industry and strengthen your network. be genuine and authentic. Putting on a ‘fake’ face and trying to be someone you cannot be will serve Get Referrals from People no good. Rather, be who you are and try to build Have a clear understanding about what you want trust with other people based on what you have to to do, and streamline your networking endeavors offer. By building strong relationships, you can not accordingly. In order to get referrals, you must first only strengthen your outreach in the market but have a clear understanding of what you do that you also enhance your brand value. can easily articulate to others.
Define Clear Goals and Objectives
Before you start your business networking endeavors, make sure you define clear goals and objectives for the same. Ask yourself “Why do I need to participate in networking meetings and what do I want to establish by forming a strong network?”. Based on this, you can choose potential groups and networks that will help you get what you are looking for. Apart from making business connections, these networking groups also help you learn, build contacts and participate in fruitful debates and discussions.
Look & Learn
We hope you make good use of these useful tips.
Browse through several forums and online communities belonging to your niche industry, especially those that are part of B2B marketplaces. So do you think you can network with You will get to interact with several businesses and the types of business in BNI representatives who are members of those forums St Swittins? and B2B marketplaces. Take special note of the tone and attitude of the group and take part in the discussions there. This will allow you to showcase We have a very diverse mix of businesses in St your knowledge and expertise in your particular Swithins if you want a more in-depth knowledge of industry and establish your reputation as an expert. the businesses oposite please visit website at www.stswithins.associatesco.uk.
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