Here's the launch of my new project!!
Project Malton, I don't have an official title for you yet, but eventually I will...
This project has been 100% inspired by one special and inspiring lady that has sadly departed from our world at the end of 2019, my Nanna. Nanna worked hard, once the owner of a ‘corner’ shop, she used to run it whilst caring for Mum and my Aunt, this she did with pride. I believe from, what she told me, they received a payout for the shop when they were notified that the street and the shop were being demolished. A common thing around the pit-mines up north at the time. She then used her head and the other skills she already had, setting up as a seamstress. She even made a gown for a lady attending the royal garden party, one of her proudest moments. Later in life Nanna went to care for children with learning difficulties, whilst helping my Aunt look after her daughters, my beautiful cousins, Claire and Anna. Despite being a busy lady she always found time for God, being a devoted Christian lady.
A very resourceful woman, who loved to share her passion and belief in God with everyone near and dear to her, she often preached at her local church too. She was so full of energy and always made time for us when we visited, she’d fill our tummies with fig rolls and heads with tales of Jesus and her devotion to the church. These are such fond memories.
After her passing, at the funeral, a photo I’d never seen before was being passed around everyone there. It was Nanna, before children (as far as I can tell) at the shop; she stood proudly behind the counter-a black and white iconic image of that era. It got me thinking, will we have the iconic image of our era in 60 years time? I’m really not sure, maybe we will maybe we won’t, but there’s no harm in trying is there?
So here, because of this I’m launching this project, I’m hoping to contact 52 small business’ in and around Malton, I’d like to document them in a particular way, that will, fingers crossed, show many similarities. I’m going to take a series of images and post 6 each week with a little about the business and the owner/s. I’ve done a couple already and a have a few in the pipe-line too.
Malton is gem of a location for local produce, crafts and small business’ so I’m hoping I’ll be successful in capturing the 52!
Week 1: I ventured out to The Gallery ran by Christine Hughes...
Is in Malton market place, Christine used to be based up the Shambles, AKA as The Paperspoon, but she had a dream. A dream to run a gallery, hosting exhibitions and bringing other artists together to form a creative community. Already, not even a year after the opening of her new gallery, she’s doing just that. Christine regularly organises creative workshops from jewellery making and silversmithing to Lino-printing and lampshade making. She has many more ideas up her sleeve for this year, if you’re interested either pop in and see her or visit her website www.paperspoon.co.uk to find out more.
Christine is always busy creating something, her latest accomplishment, a series of fabrics which are all available to view in the gallery. She uses other local crafters to help her create products too using her fabric range, so if you fancy some new cushions, a bespoke lampshade or other handmade furbishments I recommend you call by to have a look.
Week 2 was spent at Yorkshire Wolds Way Apple Juice,
This is one of the yummiest little business’ local to Malton, based just half a mile out of Norton off Welham Road, it’s a hidden gem. Jane and Jon took on the business around a couple of years ago now, purchasing it from friends. As husband and wife they pride themselves on being a family run business, running it pretty much on their own with help from time-to-time off their son Toby (age 7, correct me if I’m wrong Jane). They do it all: Marketing, sourcing the apples-all from the UK, pressing and bottling of the apples too.
I found the process fascinating to watch, as the apples were transformed in to the sweet nectar. It’s so lovely to see and know that traditional methods are still being used! When I visited Jane and Jon to see the process, I saw it all. The apples were first washed and then crushed in the mill, from here the mushy pulp was hand-scooped into the cheese cloths, then the fruity parcels were carefully stacked between the pressing boards and squished under high pressure (from a rather impressive machine) making the juice flood from the cloths where it was collected in a tank ready to be bottled. The process is referred to as the ‘cold press’ method. The juice then has a tiny bit of vitamin C added (ascorbic acid) this stops the juice discolouring. From here the sealed bottles go in to a huge bath of hot water, where it’s heated to a certain temperature-pasteurised, allowing the juice to be safely store for the next 18 months.
Jane a Jon offer a variety of flavours such as: Apple and Pear, Apple and Raspberry, Bramley Apple, Sweet Apple and Spiced Apple juice (this one is delicious served warm) their juice is award winning and they are proud to say they supply both local business’ and well know ones too such as Betty’s tea-rooms.
If you’d like to try some of their juice check out their website: https://yorkshirewoldsapplejuice.co.uk/our-products/ and I also believe it’s sold in The Patisserie in Malton too.
Week 3 The Topiary Tree, Floristry Shop.
Gemma’s mother, believe it or not, started in the floristry business around 30 years ago, selling dried flowers on the end of a market stall she used to work on. This progressed and she opened her first shop on Saville Street in Malton, with Gemma’s growing interest in the floristry trade she went off to Askham Bryan College, to train as a florist. Following in her mother footsteps, not long after she qualified, they took on a shop in Helmsley where Gemma’s career began to flourish. At 18 years old she was running her own shop, pretty amazing really. After a successful time in Helmsley they recently, because of personal reasons, decided to drop back down to the one shop, together deciding on Malton as the best location.
The mother daughter team are non-the-less busier, they’ve built themselves an amazing reputation, so they’ve been busy with plenty of weddings along with the general day to day stuff too. Gemma and her mother have good relations with their customers, even when I went in for an hour to capture the idilic, little shop and Gemma at work, there were plenty of familiar faces popping in to say a friendly hello and ask after Gemma and her Mum. It’s lovely to see that that this type of community still is very much alive!
The pair enjoy involving and promoting other small local business’ too, with Gemma doing plentiful Christmas wreath workshops over the festive season, running them from various cafes and places in Malton. She’s also included Louise, from The Drunken Candle and Florian Poirot in her latest Valentines hampers. So fella’s and ladies if you you’re struggling to think of something for your other half this Friday, why no pop in to The Topiary Tree and see what Gemma has to offer…
Week 4 The Drunk Candle Co
With a love for the odd cocktail, candles, all thing bright and making things, The Drunk Candle Company was born…it made sense for Louise to combine all these elements to make the perfect product! When I say perfect, I mean PERFECT, Louise’s candles smell divine and just like the real deal, from Rhubarb and Ginger Gin to Espresso Martini they are fantastic. Louise works from her dining room table in Malton, she’s a one-manned-band and totally mad (in a good way of course) about candles, which helps.
Last week I joined Louise in one of her candle making sessions, where I got to watch her expertly mix and hand pour a batch of Clementine and Presecco scented burners. As she made the batch up, Louise passionately told me about the soy wax she chooses to use: she informed me of how her candles are as natural as they can be, being made with this wax, means they burn cleaner and for longer. Quids in, you can smell the scent almost twice as long as a normal candle of this size, plus you also don’t get any nasty chemicals being released in to the air whilst you’re doing so. Using the soy wax incredibly means that they are 100% vegan friendly too!
I had no idea of all the sciences behind making a candles before we started, naively, I assumed you heated the wax, added the scent and pored them into their moulds, this is not so: Louise holds the secrets behind the temperatures, measurements and timings to getting the perfect aroma and the most efficient burning candles. She has learnt this through her experimentation and passion for the procedure. Louise also is the brains behind the branding, she designs each label herself and she tells me that the tin container is 100% recyclable also, something else Louise believes in.
To get your hands on these heavenly, scented candles either check out her website https://thedrunkcandlecompany.co.uk alternately, visit @Plum or @the topiary tree in Malton. I know Louise is planning on expanding her radius in the near future to other local towns, but for now this is where she is. To say she started her company The Drunk Candle towards the end of 2019, I’d say she’s doing pretty well.
Week 5 The Patisserie, Malton
There’s no arguing that a bit of hard work and old-fashioned determination can’t get you to where you want to be in life. I’d say, “the proof is in the pudding,” with Andrew’s journey! He’s worked hard to get where he is today.
I believe it was around 15-16 years ago we actually used to work together at The Crown and Cushion in Welburn, myself as a waitress/barmaid and Andrew in the kitchen prepping and serving food along with the head chef. Even back then Andrew was a dab-hand with puddings and all things sweet. After completing college Andrew worked in various establishments to further his career and passion for sous-cheffing, it was in the job where he learnt some of his finest skills working along side others trading and swapping ideas. It wasn’t easy though, the hours were long and sometimes Andrew would be first there on a morning and last there at night!
Realising he wanted to stay in his chosen career and also enjoy a more sociable lifestyle with loved ones, he decided to take a chance and make a change, so he opened a sandwich shop on Malton high street. He was there for a few years with great success. He still had a love for the patisserie side of things though and he was missing it, so when he got chance to relocate to the former kitchenware shop, he jumped at the chance. Building on his sandwich business was obvious to Andrew, so he’s continuing with this on a more lavish level, offering: in house seating, local produce, afternoon teas and his famous homemade patisserie delicacies.
Andrew’s cafe is now a firm favourite for locals, opening daily at 7.30am he has regular customers for both breakfast and coffee before work and then a steady stream throughout the day. Everything in the patisserie counter looked tempting from the custard slice to the lemon possets, even better, you can order them to take out too. I took home two Creme Egg Cheesecakes and two Jammie Dodger cupcakes, all I can say is I had two happy children and a jolly husband that evening :)
The Patisserie is offering a great Mother Day deal too working with Sloe Motion Gin to offer a Gin Afternoon Tea experience, the afternoon tea looks incredible and is very reasonable (Mother’s Day offer is pre book only). It’s also worth knowing that although he likes people to pre book the afternoon tea before arriving it isn’t impossible just to walk in and get it, this is a real bonus. Andrew offers vouchers for any occasion as well, so if you have a birthday or your struggling for Mother’s Day ideas, why not pop into The Patisserie and treat someone special to a lovely afternoon out?
Week 6: Skincare by Seda
This week’s business is a little bit of a wild card, in the sense of that the business isn’t actually based in Malton itself… Seda, founder of Gum On (sports therapy products) was telling me about her new skin care business on an evening out with old work colleagues. When I listened to Seda talk about her latest qualification in Sculptural Face Lifting and Buccal massages, she totally had my undivided attention; Seda’s so passionate about the new procedure that she’s been recently learning down in London.
The massage is chemical free and said to beat Botox hands down when undertaken on a regular basis; the massage works on facial muscles it strengthens them, whilst improving skin elasticity and dullness-caused through circulatory improvements. Effectively, it’s like giving you facial musicals a gym workout, hence it needs to be undertaken regularly. Not only is the massage a chemical and injection free alternative to a youthful appearance, it actually can help correct facial spasms and return the actual sculptural appearance of the face back to it’s youthful days- preventing saggy, double chins along with reducing them age telling crow’s feet and drooping corners of the mouth. If all of this wasn’t good enough, the treatment also encourages lymphatic drainage: Lymphatic drainage is linked to your immune system, so actually helps your body fight infections.
Seda received expert training from Yakov Gershkovich himself to be able to offer and carry out this procedure, Yakov is the author, creator and master trainer in this facial sculpting treatment with over 16 years experience of experimentation, training and practice in 4 countries. She told me, “There were people there from all over Europe, and they’d flown in for the training due to their country’s slot being fully booked.” She is one of the only practitioners in the North of England, an extremely niche in her field; hence, the reason why she’s my wild card! Seda has been a resident in Malton for over 15 years, but feels her new found specialisation may be better recognised and easier to get to, for more people in the city of York.
To contact Seda at the Salon, which is proudly ran by Luiza another local girl from the Malton area, please see the website:
https://www.skintechclinic.co.uk
or email her directly: skincarbyseda@gmail.com
Week 7: The Cosy Cottage Soap Company
Born literally, in a cosy, 350-year-old, cottage near York, Clara’s natural skincare company, is a recent organic ‘additive’ to Malton’s ever-growing array of small, independent business’.
The Cosy Cottage Soap Company was set up by Clara after she realised just how many harmful, additives commercial cosmetics contained, her aim was to design and make a natural product that contained nothing nasty such as: SLS. paraben, SLES and palm oil. Clara is passionate about her products being ‘clean’ and good for the planet as well as free of these products. She doesn’t stop at the product itself either; Clara’s methods during both the production and packaging of the products are equally as environmentally friendly too.
Not only can you rest easy when using The Cosy Cottage Soap Company’s products knowing they have been made with such attention to detail for our planets well being, you can also be 100% confident in Clara’s knowledge of the ingredients used to make each product too: Rather conveniently, Clara is also a qualify Chemist who is an associate of The Royal College of Science.
Since moving to Malton Clara has been able to open her shop to the public and has in turn taken on more employees, one of which is her husband Philip, Philip helps Clara run the productions and operations line. Clara also has a great team behind her, helping her with marketing, design and sales. She’s recently started offering soap making workshops which have been a raging success, enticing people from as far as the south of England along with hen parties and local groups of people. If you ever find yourself wondering what to get for someone as a little gift, you should definitely call in and see Clara and her team, they will eagerly welcome you in the shop where you can browse at your leisure of ask for expert advice, they offer a gift box building service with lots of inspiration for you, making your conundrum, no more…
The shop is based at 11B Market Street, Malton just to the rear or side of Talbot Yard and if you can’t wait to check in on Clara, why not look at her website: https://www.cosycottagesoap.co.uk
I've loved where my project has taken me so far, it's been great to meet other local business owners and chat to them about their journey so far along with their plans for the future! Already, I've been surprised by the invisible "web" these people seem to have created between them, so many of them linking together organically. It's inspiring to think that our community cares so much about each other, they are passionate about using local suppliers and promoting each other along the way. Together we are stronger!
Where will I end up next, hmm...