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April 3, 2012

Penny’s the Pick of the Sunday Times

Posted by newshugofox under HugoFox.com, HugoFox.com team news, Lollipop and Grandpa, Penelope Harper | Tags: , , |
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There’s been an early confidence boost for HugoFox.com team member Penelope Harper as she prepares to officially launch her first children’s book this weekend.

Lollipop and Grandpa’s Back Garden Safari was last week’s Sunday Times Children’s Book of the Week. Penelope told HugoFox News:

Author Penelope and her much-loved Grandpa

“I couldn’t believe it. My Dad sent me an early morning text and I assumed it was to remind me the clocks had gone forward and to chivvy me out of bed! Instead he was telling me my book was the toast of The Times. I don’t think I’ve ever been to the newsagent that early in the morning!”

Last weekend also saw Penelope appearing at The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival. Before that, there was a celebration with friends and family at the Thame Players’ theatre in Thame, just outside Oxford where Penelope used to live. It was an opportunity to mingle and a chance for folk to have their copy officially autographed at a book signing. Members of the local media also attended. When we caught up with the star of the show, she told us she was looking forward to finally raising a glass to her beloved Grandpa, who inspired the series. He died when Penelope was 18 but greatly influenced her childhood:

“I know this would have given Grandpa a real thrill. He’d have probably moaned that his knees aren’t that knobbly though, or his hair isn’t that wild! It’s all been a bit of a rollercoaster really. It’s taken two years to get to this point and I can’t believe it’s finally here. I’m trying not to let nerves get the better of me.”

Lollipop and Grandpa's Back Garden Safari

The Oxford event was held at Christchurch after a week full of preparation, and featured Penelope doing a storytelling of her first book before helping children build a gigantic garden safari.

Lollipop and Grandpa’s Back Garden Safari was published on the 15thMarch and had been in bookshops and available online some time before that. Last weekend,Waterstones stores nationwide began stocking copies of the first book in the series – it’s a remarkable achievement for the publicity and sales team at Phoenix Yard Books and a major coup for a new author and relatively unknown illustrator.

For Penelope, who trained as a broadcast journalist, it could be the beginning of a whole new career. The second in the series Lollipop and Grandpa Go Swimming is coming out in June and Lollipop and Grandpa and the Wobbly Tooth will follow in September:

“I got a sneak peak of the front cover for Wobbly Tooth this week and I am so excited to see the rest of the book. Cate James has done such a brilliant job with the illustrations. I’m sure she’ll soon be a household name.” And from all the team at HugoFox.com, we wouldn’t be too surprised if ‘our Pen’ made it into the bookshelves of homes across the UK before long. Good luck, Penny!

To buy your copy online, click here

 

 

April 2, 2012

HugoFox.com team member crosses Olympic finishing line

Posted by newshugofox under Charity Events, HugoFox.com, London Olympics, Lucy Griffiths | Tags: , , , , |
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With the whole country limbering up for this summer’s Olympics, HugoFox.com’s own Lucy Griffiths worked up a sweat on Saturday when she took part in the National Lottery’s historic Olympic Park Run.

Forget Kelly Holmes – HugoFox.com’s Lucy Griffiths is looking good on the stadium’s final stretch!

Congratulations are in order for Lucy, who on Saturday 31st March became one of the first people to cross the finishing line at the new Olympic Stadium. One of 5000 lucky runners selected at random from a ballot of 43,000, Lucy took part in a five-mile run around the Olympic Park before finishing the race by pounding the track of the shiny new stadium.

The event, held to celebrate the National Lottery’s £2.2 billion contribution to the funding of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, provided a thrilling opportunity for runners of all ages and abilities to enjoy an unforgettable experience in this iconic setting. Participants were joined by a number of former Olympians and Paralympians, as well as some celebrities. Even HRH Princess Beatrice took part, after acting as the starter of the race.

Attention, humans! This is your final call to board the spaceship. We will have lift-off in five minutes’ time… Ahem, I mean: please enter the stadium. The race is about to begin.

“The atmosphere was electric,” Lucy enthuses, “and everyone was so excited to be there. It was a real taster of how much people are looking forward to this summer’s Games. They’re going to be great!”

Lucy certainly threw herself into the race. With a time of only 38 minutes and 51 seconds, she finished in the impressive position of 1324th out of 5000 – an excellent result! Nevertheless, the occasion was more important to Lucy than her finishing time. “Being able to run around the track and cross the Olympic finish line was an amazing experience,” she told HugoFox News. “It’s amazing to think that I just ran on the same track the athletes will be competing on in a few months’ time.”

Did anyone else know that the helter-skelter was an Olympic sport?

What’s more, the race allowed the runners to admire the Olympic Park from close range – indeed, the participants started their route a mere 300m from London’s newest landmark, the 115m-high ‘red orbit’ tower designed by Anish Kapoor.

But it wasn’t just the runners who got the chance to marvel at the Olympic site. “We were allowed two spectator tickets each,” Lucy says, “so it was brilliant to be able to share the day with friends and family.” Around 12,000 spectators were present to cheer on the runners, and with entertainment ranging from dance act Flawless to opera star Sean Ruane, it was a memorable day for all involved.

Inspired by Lucy’s run, we at HugoFox News are settling ourselves in the starting blocks, getting ready for the London Olympics to begin – and we’d love to hear about your Olympic preparations, too. Are you involved in any races, parties, or other events to usher in the London 2012 Games? If so, let HugoFox News know!

And once more, a hearty well done to Lucy!

 

January 30, 2012

Inkpen Calendar a sell out!

Posted by newshugofox under HugoFox.com, Penelope Harper | Tags: , , , |
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Inkpen School Calendar helped to raise funds for a new library

HugoFox.com is delighted to be a sponsor of the fantastic 2012 Inkpen Primary School Calendar, which was printed at the end of last month and helped to raise lots of lovely funds for a very worthwhile cause.

Alongside Howard’s Pet Care of Hungerford and Newbury’s Apple Print, local listings company HugoFox.com pledged money towards the colourful calendar, which was distributed amongst teachers, parents and friends of the school at the end of last year.

The funds raised from sales of the calendar are now being spent on refurbishing the school library, including purchasing new library stock, a separate infant library and junior library, story sacks as well as a host of other items which will encourage Inkpen littlies to get stuck into books.

HugoFox.com team member and local children’s author Penny Harper said:

“We were delighted to contribute towards the lovely calendar, it looks fantastic and we’re pleased to hear it has been such a success in raising money for the new school library.”

For more information visit www.inkpen.westberks.org

 

December 22, 2011

Merry Christmas from all at HugoFox.com!

Posted by newshugofox under HugoFox.com, HugoFox.com team news | Tags: , , , |
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Merry Christmas from all at HugoFox.com!

What a year it’s been! So much has happened in the HugoFox.com office over 2011 – we’ve run out of chairs on more than one occasion with the team having doubled, and then trebled, with several new additions coming on board. There’s now lots of us all working hard at HugoFox.com, on a quest to improve, update and help locals keep it… well, local!

And what a lot of improvements there have been, even if we say so ourselves. The site looks cracking, with a jazzed-up, stylish new look and increased functionality. We have more users signing up on a daily basis and visitor levels soaring continually – indeed, this year alone our traffic has increased by (drum role please) a whopping 103.35%. Great stuff indeed.

Along with all the other new developments, we introduced a news page to the site back in April and it has allowed us to champion worthwhile causes across the South, as well as letting you all know what we’re up to in your local area. This includes the sponsorship of a number of new sports teams, all of which we are very proud. It really is amazing how much talent we have in our youth teams, and we are truly delighted to be supporting each venture.

Speaking of which, our continued work with the DRT has reaped bountiful rewards, with fundraising and donations pouring in from all areas for an extremely worthwhile cause that’s close to all our hearts.

From the site’s founder, Michael Thompson, and all the team, we want to say a huge thank you to all those in our local communities for their unrelenting support, the local businesses who have helped us in the trial runs and to everybody else who has supported their local Fox over this last year – it is quite amazing how far we’ve come – long may it continue…

We wish you all a truly magical Christmas and our very best wishes for the coming New Year. Get ready – it’s going to be a busy one!

Haven’t registered yet? It’s free – simply log on and sign up for the latest local offers near you!

 

December 18, 2011

Penny’s all booked-up for 2012!

Posted by newshugofox under HugoFox.com, HugoFox.com team news, Penelope Harper | Tags: , , , , |
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For HugoFox.com team member Penny Harper, 2012 is set to be a very exciting year. Her first foray into the world of children’s fiction, Lollipop and Grandpa’s Back Garden Safari, inspired by her own childhood, will be published in March.

HugoFox.com's Penny Harper is all set to celebrate the launch of her first book in March

Penny says: “I’d been working in radio for more than a decade and although I had always enjoyed the challenges that the media environment could bring, I felt it was time to do something else. I quit my full-time post and took up a part-time job as a school librarian. I think my parents thought I’d lost my mind! I’d always wanted to write a series of books based on me and my Grandpa. We had tremendous make-believe adventures together when I was little and I was keen to transfer that relationship to paper.”

With the picture-book market being notoriously hard to crack, getting published was no mean feat, as Penny says:

“I’m under no illusions that a certain amount of luck has played a part in the process so far. A colleague at school mentioned that a member of my local drama group was a literary agent. I handed over my manuscript to Pat Shepherd of Orchard Publishing Consultancy. The next morning I received one of the best emails of my life; Pat loved it. All we had to do was convince a publisher to feel the same. We had a few rejections but having worked in media, I was very used to knock-backs!

“When I got the call that Phoenix Yard Books in London wanted to publish the first book, I was absolutely blown away. We had a meeting with them shortly afterwards and I was signed up to create the Lollipop and Grandpa series. I’ve spent a lot of this year writing the next two books Lollipop and Grandpa Go Swimming which is being published in June and Lollipop and Grandpa and the Loose Toothwhich is coming out in September, so to speak!”

Lollipop and Grandpa's Back Garden Safari

Finding the right illustrator proved to be another challenge for Penny, as Phoenix Yard were looking for an iconic style. They finally decided on Edinburgh-based illustrator and print-maker, Cate James.

“Seeing Cate’s interpretation of the characters and the stories was amazing. Everybody who was involved in the project up until this point had really taken Lollipop and Grandpa into their hearts. When I met up with Cate she told me she too had had a very close relationship with her own grandfather. I knew she was the best person for the job. Her illustrations are beyond anything I could have hoped for and I am eternally grateful to her.”

With a hectic schedule of book-signings and story-telling ahead of her, Penny’s already gearing up for the launch at The Times Oxford Literary Festival at the end of March. She says: “It’s going to be great. I’ll read the first book to the audience and then we’re going to create our own enormous garden safari with all the children. My Grandpa would be tickled pink to know his legacy lives on.”

Lollipop and Grandpa’s Back Garden Safari and Lollipop and Grandpa Go Swimming are currently available to pre-order online through Amazon and Waterstones. Click here to order your copy now!

 

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