Beat the Christmas Postal Rush This Year With ParcelsPlease

With Christmas just round the corner, the leading parcel delivery company ParcelsPlease advise customers of their collection dates, so they can have all their gifts delivered by the 25th of December.

The festive season is almost upon us, and with so much to do in time for Christmas day, the UK parcel delivery company, ParcelsPlease have released their collection dates for Christmas and New Year, so that consumers can be extra organised and most importantly, have more time to spare so that they can sit back, relax and finally, enjoy Christmas 2011.

A spokesperson for ParcelsPlease comments: “Christmas is a fantastic time of year, but it's also one of the busiest seasons for the postal service, and we know that if customers are kept up to date on the final posting dates before Christmas, it helps them be more organised with what gifts and cards they need to post. So on the ParcelsPlease website, we've made it so much easier for our customers to arrange their Christmas deliveries by allowing them to make bookings up to three weeks before the day of collection, which means that they can plan ahead and beat the horrible winter weather, simply by using ParcelsPlease.”

The collection dates for Christmas and new year can be accessed on the ParcelsPlease Christmas Parcel Deliveries page where customers can quickly and easily find the company's parcel collection dates for this period, depending on the date, and most importantly, the location of the customer. Which means that all their customers will be able to find out when their parcel can be collected, and most importantly, when it will arrive.

The spokesperson for ParcelsPlease continues: “With Christmas fast approaching, to a lot of people there is nothing more important than insuring that Christmas presents reach their loved ones in plenty of time for the 25th December. Instead of waiting in queues to post your parcel, we encourage customers to use use the ParcelsPlease website and benefit from our vast experience in shipping Christmas presents around the world. Whether it’s to send a present to an aunt in France or a friend in Australia, ParcelsPlease is a cost effective and reliable parcel delivery company to trust with Christmas deliveries.”

FACTFILE:

ParcelsPlease is the online trading name of Consolidated Carriers Ltd, known as CCL, which offers reliable mail delivery in the UK, Europe and worldwide. CCL – a complete logistics supermarket – has been operating in the logistics industry since 1999, and has moved over 10 million parcels to date.

Booking deliveries with ParcelsPlease and CCL means dealing with a company that knows the logistics industry inside out, and which shares contracts with the world's most reliable and competitive parcel carriers.

ParcelsPlease and CCL value everything from quality to responsibility, including the environment; ParcelsPlease not only has ISO 14001 (the internationally accepted standard outlining an effective Environmental Management System (EMS) Standard) but is also carbon neutral as well.

For more information about CCL, please visit our corporate website at http://www.ccl-logistics.com/

X Bingo Launches Christmas Themed Promotions for December

This month is set to be a busy one with online bingo brands across the market introducing their festive themed promotions. Mad About Bingo will be bringing its readers all the latest from the best in the industry, delivering comprehensive reviews and news. X Bingo has caught the attention of the bingo affiliate of late due to its launch of Christmassy themed games in the last week.

X Bingo launched its first Christmas theme promotion at the start of November much to the delight of the brigade of X Bingo fans. The game offered players £2,000 worth of gadgets in the form of games consoles and televisions. The doors opened on 30th November and katding walked away with the prize. With the start of yet another month comes the introduction of yet more festive games to excite players and attract new ones.

Tickle me Santa and Xmas Bingo are the latest promotions to be launched at X Bingo. Each offering festive gifts and unique game play. Bingo bonuses, TVs, games consoles and shopping vouchers are up for grabs amongst other prizes.

The monthly Out of this World promotion has been aptly named New Year Out of this World and will reward one loyal player with £2,500 in real cash to be spent on whatever is desired. The game will play on New Year’s Eve at 9.30pm and tickets will cost just 10p – the perfect start to a 2012.

To learn more about each of these promotions and the many more which will be launched over the month, simply visit Mad About Bingo where an abundance of information and reviews can be found.

‘Have-a-go’ Teenager Embodies the ‘Spirit of Christmas’

• “17 year old Piyush represents all that’s good about the youth of today” says store owner

17 year old Piyush Gohil chased a would-be criminal and retrieved £2,000 of children’s clothing following a dramatic shop theft and chase through Gerrards Cross, Bucks.

He said: “Gerrards Cross is thought of as posh, but teenagers do get stopped by the police here, so it’s nice to do something to show there are good young people out there.”

"It made me feel good."

Piyush was going home on Tuesday 19th November when he spotted a woman running out of Boy Meets Girl, a baby and children’s clothing shop on Packhorse Road, Gerrards Cross at 2pm.

He said: "I’d just finished work at a care home in Harrow and I was walking along the street listening to some music on my headphones. I spotted the woman running out of the shop, which I thought was strange, so I passed my bag to the shop worker and chased after her."

He continued: "When I caught up with her near the train station I asked her what she was doing. She said she needed presents for her children at Christmas and I said it wasn’t alright to steal them, I managed to get the clothes off her before she ran away."

The teenager then returned the girls' dresses, baby clothes and a teddy bear to the grateful shop manager.

Boy Meets Girl shop-owner Clare King said: "He's a local hero. He’s a lovely young man and, to my mind, embodies the spirit of Christmas – he’s caring, considerate and selfless} I’ve two young boys myself and work hard to encourage that sort of attitude and behaviour."

Boy Meets Girl retails designer baby and childrens clothes and is available online at http://www.boymeetsgirlonline.co.uk

Chance to win £1600 of goodies every week until Christmas thanks to Shopcade on Facebook

Shopcade, a new social shopping application on Facebook, has announced the winners of its Christmas “Wish & Win” competition for the week 22 – 29 November. The Wish & Win campaign awards Christmas gift wishes to six lucky Shopcade users, as well as one grand prize winner that will win prizes up to the value of £600.

This week’s grand prize winner, Kobi Hensley, will win £600 ($1000) of wished products. The 10 Christmas gift wish winners will win a prize from one of the retail partners including:

• Two tickets for breakfast with Santa at Hamleys in London (value £100)
• £100 exclusive Style Bop voucher
• £100 gift voucher from Totally Funky
• An exclusive gift from Swarovski (value £100)

The Wish and Win campaign was launched on 22 November, users simply click the “Wish & Win” button on products they want on their Shopcade and each week the winners will be announced on a Tuesday via Shopcade’s blog.

Shopcade is free and open to the public. To find out more or to enter the "Wish & Win" competition join the Shopcade community on Facebook now at https://apps.facebook.com/shopcade.

“Hard to buy for” Gift Recipients? Not Any More, Courtesy of Nelson & Forbes

It’s one of life’s inevitabilities that as the shopping days left to Christmas quickly countdown, the most difficult people to buy for are still left on everyone’s lists.

Nelson & Forbes has the solution for those people that everyone struggles to buy for, particularly those who have a habit of seeing something they like and buying it for themselves – the week before Christmas.

Nelson & Forbes create exclusively designed bronze sculptures, in strictly limited editions, using British artisan craftsmanship techniques. These sculptures make a high quality, unusual and thoughtful gift for the person who has everything.

Most women are keen followers of fashion, which can make keeping up with their constantly evolving wish-lists an impossible challenge. Solve this problem with Sue Maclaurin’s Listening Hare £160.00; the timeless heritage trend echoed in this piece is one she is sure to never tire of.

For the man who has everything, Jonathan Sanders’ graceful Running Cheetah £210.00, in a worldwide limited edition of just 250 may be the perfect gift. Sleek, powerful, athletic and dangerous; many men may think they have much in common with this wild animal.

For cat-lovers who prefer the household variety, then present them with a beautifully intelligent Seated Cat £115.00. One of three cat sculptures by Sue Maclaurin in the 2011/12 collection, this one is sure to melt the heart of anyone who is fond of their feline friend.

Grandfathers are notoriously tricky to buy for, unless of course they really do love Cliff Richard or need new socks. If he is a bastion of good taste and loves the outdoor life, Sue MacLaurin’s Large Pig Head Left £115.00 could be the obvious choice.

Buying for these difficult to choose for people can be a recurring problem year after year. However, many collectors of bronze sculpture start their hobby after receiving their first piece as a gift, so a Nelson & Forbes piece for Christmas could signal the end of this struggle.

Nelson & Forbes bronzes are designed exclusively for the company by sought-after British sculptors Jonathan Sanders and Sue Maclaurin. Every piece is hand cast in a limited edition in the UK and comes in a sumptuous gift box, handmade in the Midlands, complete with a certificate of authenticity, hand printed from a copper engraving plate and signed by the artist.

Every piece made by Nelson & Forbes is created in bronze using the ancient art of lost wax casting, which can be traced back over 6000 years and remains largely unchanged from its original form. It is the same process that was used to create famous sculptures across the globe including the Trafalgar Square Lions and the doors of the Bank of England. This process allows every intricate detail of a sculptor’s original but often fragile work to be perfectly recreated in a beautiful material and ensures that their sculpture will last a lifetime.

These sculptures are just a small selection of 37 exclusive pieces in the Nelson & Forbes 2011/12 collection. Available in galleries nationwide, they can also be bought from www.nelsonandforbes.co.uk. The final order date for Christmas 2011 is Monday 19th December. Prices range from £60 - £2,000. For stockist information please call 01442 256290.

The Florin Street Band to support ITV’s Text Santa appeal

Music Video Filmed at Blists Hill Victorian Town

The spectacular Victorian-themed Christmas song; My Favourite Time of Year by The Florin Street Band, whose music video was filmed at Blists Hill Victorian Town in the Ironbridge Gorge, is set to benefit numerous charities this Christmas as it becomes the theme to ITV’s Text Santa appeal.


The YouTube hit recently caused a stir across the pond when the United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own” requested permission to perform it at their high profile concerts in Washington D.C. – an honour rarely bestowed upon modern-day Christmas songs.


Originally released in 2010, My Favourite Time of Year, written and performed by British composer Leigh Haggerwood, has become an internet sensation gaining legions of passionate supporters and celebrity fans including Jamie Oliver and Ryan Seacrest. The project was created without record company backing and funded entirely with Leigh Haggerwood’s life savings.


The traditional-style Christmas song was recorded at Trevor Horn’s Sarm studios, and features performances by 36 musicians including The English Chamber Choir. The acclaimed Victorian music video, shot at Blists Hill Victorian Town at Ironbridge in Shropshire, was directed by Nick Bartleet and Hollywood Cinematographer John Perez – known for his work on Coldplay’s Viva La Vida and video’s by Beyoncé and Rihanna amongst others. Leigh Haggerwood was approached by producers of the new ITV Text Santa appeal earlier this year, he said; “The ITV producers really liked the song and felt it would be a great match for Text Santa, so they asked if I’d consider letting them use it as the theme music for the appeal.

"When they explained the project I was really impressed by the idea and the nine fantastic charities it’s supporting, so of course I said yes! Since the song will undoubtedly become synonymous with Text Santa, and they’re such great causes, I think it’s only fair that the charities benefit from the success of the song too, so I have decided to donate all of this year’s UK download recording profits to the Text Santa charities along with Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust – an amazing educational charity whose Victorian town was the location for our beautiful music video.”

Leigh Haggerwood is now writing a Florin Street album for release in 2012, and is currently discussing the possibility of turning Florin Street into a musical animation. The Text Santa launch show hosted by Philip Schofield and Christine Bleakley will be broadcast on ITV1 on Sunday 11th December with its live finale hosted by Ant and Dec and later Holly Willoughby taking place on Christmas Eve. My Favourite Time of Year is released on December 5th 2011 and will be available at iTunes, Amazon and most other online stores. All UK download recording profits will be shared between the following charities:

6/7 to go to the Text Santa Charities: Carers UK, Crisis, Help the Hospices, Samaritans, WRVS, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Noah’s Ark Appeal, Helping Hand, Yorkhill Children’s Foundation.

And 1/7 to: Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust

To view the music video visit www.florinstreet.com

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