Social Vision Awards - Regional Winner!

We were over the moon to be chosen as the East Midlands winner of the Social Vision Awards. The aim of the awards is to find images which best capture the work of Social Enterprises.

All regional winners were entered into a national online vote, which was won by Fordhall Community Land Initiative. We would like to say a massive thanks to everyone who voted for us and our lovely picture of a Walking Bus has been made into "January" for the Social Enterprise calendar.

Avoid the nasty cold weather and order those last minute Christmas presents from the comfort of your home. We've got some great new products which would be ideal stocking fillers. This trendy new neon neck warmer is fab for keeping warm in those freezing temperatures. Equally why not try out the reflective tag which attaches easily to bags and ensures you are seen day and night. Don't forget if you spend over £10 on our website you will receive a sheet of shiny feet stickers for free!!

Lights Camera Action

Lights Camera Action

Gosh with the clocks changing this weekend saw a rush of promotional activity for us all at Brightkidz. This year the validity and wisdom of changing the clocks has been revisited - should we move our clocks forward an extra hour in-line with Europe. With the debate for double summer time becoming a political issue and discussed by all the major parties, we were able to offer our view on this emotive subject on various media, local radio and television no less!

We shall watch with interest as the bill for Daylight Saving makes its way through Parliament.

New Reflective Items

With misty damp mornings becoming the norm, why not check out our latest flashing reflector and reflective tag, great ways to ensure that your children are seen on the way to school.

The reflective tag comes in four fluorescent colours and affixes to your bag or baggage enabling you to easily locate your items. Whilst the flashing light reflector has a choice of permanent, fast or flashing settings. As it is reflective it will show up in car headlights even when not switched on. Even looks good in a disco!!

For more new products why not go to our website Brightkidz.co.uk.

International Walk to School Day

Did you know that tomorrow is International Walk to School Day where the intention is to get everyone across the world to Walk to School on this one day. Who knows you may enjoy it so much that you then want to carry on indefinitely.

The whole walk to school month is a great way of highlighting the benefits of getting youngsters walking to school. Its a great social time for the children, catching up with their friends on the way to school and it has also been shown to increase concentration through the extra exercise. From an ecological perspective it is a step to reducing the carbon footprint.

So come on, pull on a high viz waistcoat and join this great international day!

Re-use rather than recycling is greenest IT strategy - 10/08/2010 - Computer Weekly

Re-use rather than recycling is greenest IT strategy - 10/08/2010 - Computer Weekly

Interested to see this report. Another good reason for delaying purchasing a new pc.

Social Enterprise Mark

BrightKidz received the social enterprise mark at a ceremony in Leicester.

Lance Holland, Director of BrightKidz said

“We’re really pleased to be awarded the Social Enterprise Mark because it shows BrightKidz isn’t just about selling ‘high vis’ products – it recognises all the work we do to promote safe, active, sustainable travel to school”.

The organisations were presented with certificates by Lucy Findlay of the Social Enterprise Mark Company at the SEEM organised event which looked at the future role of social enterprise in delivering public services. The government’s vision for the ‘Big Society’ places social enterprise at the heart of the reform of public services

• The Social Enterprise Mark is supported by the Office of the Civil Society, the National Lottery through the BIG Lottery Fund and Capacity Builders. Visit www.socialenterprisemark.org.ukto find out more

To cycle or not to cycle!

Much has been made in the press this week regarding a couple who could face being reported to social services for allowing their children to cycle to school. The family who live in South London, currently allow their two children aged 5 and 8 to cycle less than a mile to school, but they have been referred to the school's headmaster who believes that the children should be accompanied both ways.

This item has definitely split public opinion as on one hand you have the debate that there is insufficient activity for children and that we need to get them out and about on their bikes and then the other side declaring that the parents are being irresponsible. I suppose it all comes down to personal choice and making sure that the children are safe. I wonder if they have heard of high viz!!

Great New Book to enjoy the School Run

Have you ever thought how you can encourage your children to walk or cycle to school, then this excellent new book written by Ann Kenrick is the answer. "Let me Out! How to enjoy the school run " was published in 2009 and has plenty of practical advice on how to set up your own scheme, where funding can be secured and lots of other helpful tips.

For more information check out our website Brightkidz.co.uk

Fun new teaching aids

We have now received some great new teaching aids to get the message of safety on the roads across to the children in a fun and interactive way.

Why not take a look at the large puppet of a Lollipop man which is a great teaching resource or a fun soft toy. This puppet can be used in conjunction with the Teaching mitt of "People who help us". All these new products are located on our website Brightkidz.co.uk.

National Childhood Obesity Week 5-11 July

Next week sees the start of National Childhood Obesity Week which is being launched by the National Obesity forum and MEND (a social enterprise dedicated to reducing global overweight and obesity levels), which is calling for a strategy to tackle childhood obesity and launching a charter to bring all organisations working in this area.

With such super weather this is the ideal opportunity to get out and about with the children and the week is aimed at encouraging more children and families to get active together by showing them how much fun physical activity can be. Why not check out MEND's website www.mendcentral.org to see what events are in your area.

Greener Together

Following on from Kate's post why not join in yourself? We are looking for more people to take part in this initiative. All you have to do to get started is register, fill in a baseline survey to say what you are already doing and what else you could do (make a few pledges) and start being greener.

Full details of the project are at http://www.greenertogether.coop/

If you are interested, either contact BrightKidz with any questions, or register directly at http://www.greenertogether.coop/user/register .

When you register, please make sure to select "BrightKidz" as the participating organisation.

Its Poncho Time

Its festival time once more and whilst we are all praying for the good weather to continue its always better to be safe than sorry so why not have one of our super new Ponchos. We have either the Eco Poncho suitable for both adults and children which is made from clear biodegradable plastic. Or to ensure that you don't lose your child at one of these events, there is the child's high viz option which will definitely make you child stand out.

Greener Together

I am feeling very virtuous this morning as I have just completed a questionnaire by Greener Together an initiative run jointly by co-operatives UK, Confederation of Co-operative Housing CCH and the Plunkett foundation.

The aim of the scheme is to help people to live in a more sustainable way. Its very simple you register and then complete a short questionnaire and make various pledges to live in a greener way. I have pledged to make sure that I am recycling as much as possible and remembering to switch lights off and unplug electrical equipment whenever I can. So go ahead and see what you can do for the environment by joining the Greener together initiative now!