Category Archives: On The Show

Soap with a conscience

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You probably think long and hard about what’s in all the skin care and beauty products you use, right?

But how much thought do you give to something as simple as that bar of soap sitting in the bathroom or by the kitchen sink?

Not a lot, at a guess – after all, it’s no sooner on your hands or body than you’re rinsing it off again…

But not all soaps are created equal and if you want to find out why, you need to tune in or listen online this weekend, when June and Rachel take a look behind the scenes of Soapology with their guest Louise Grosse.

Based in Farndon, Louise creates handcrafted, artisan soaps using only 100 per cent natural ingredients. Made in small, quality-controlled batches, each bar is unique, with essential oils chosen and blended carefully for their therapeutic benefits.

With natural colourants in swirls, layers or solid colours, the soaps she makes aren’t just great for your skin – they look like little works of art when not in use too. And who could resist soaps with names such as Mojito, Perfect Gentleman, Sudweiser, Hello Yellow and Sham-Pooch (yes, there’s even one especially for your four-legged friends!)?

What’s more, these ‘soaps with a conscience’ are eco-friendly as well. “None of our soaps contain palm oil, a decision we made because we are uncomfortable with contributing to deforestation of the natural habitat of orangutans and other wildlife who call the forests of Indonesia their home,” says Louise. “After a lot of hard work and many trial batches, we believe we have created a recipe that is superior to others that do contain palm oil.”

Join the Girls Around Town between 10am and 12 noon on Sunday to hear Louise explain how she taught herself the traditional cold process method of soap making known as saponification and how you can even try your hand at making your own soap on one of her Soapology Studio workshops.

Challenging perceptions of beauty

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After more than ten years working in marketing, global brand management and trends prediction for a multinational health and beauty company, Sindy Kaur realised that, despite her love of the industry, she wasn’t always comfortable with the messages coming out through various media around what beauty is…

“I found it too narrow, too ‘perfect’ and not always something people could relate to,” says Sindy, the founder of Challenging Perceptions of Beauty and next week’s guest on Girls Around Town.

“So when I left the corporate world, I decided to diversify and deepen my understanding around how those perceptions of beauty and ‘success’ affect women on the other side of the industry.”

In 2005 she spent a year training as a life coach and since then has worked with people from different cultures and all walks of life, gaining valuable insights into the effects that trying to conform to other peoples’ expectations can have on self esteem and happiness.

Join Rosalyn and June on Sunday when Sindy will be describing some of the ways in which she has set out to challenge those perceptions and help to influence change.

“It’s not about attacking the beauty industry or the media and we’re not trying to dictate to people how they should or shouldn’t think or behave,” she adds. “Our aim is to open up conversations, to get people thinking and taking responsibility for the messages around beauty and success that we’re creating and passing onto the next generation.”

If you’re an outwardly successful woman who feels like a fraud on the inside or you want to get back on back on course after life has given you a knock or a wake-up call (think turning 50, divorce, redundancy or illness perhaps) you’ll want to hear about Sindy’s coaching programme Behind The Mask too.

Tune in or listen online between 10am and 12 noon to find out how she takes her clients through the steps to shedding the ‘mask’ – the ‘face’ they put on for the outside world when they’re not sure who they are.

And how in doing so they’re able to re-align with what’s really important to them, to reveal their true power and enjoy what they’ve achieved…

In bloom at Beloved

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It’s the Newark Half Marathon on Sunday 12 August so there’ll be no Girls Around Town  this week…

The girls aren’t taking part (why are you not surprised?!) but they’ll be having a bit of a break while Radio Newark broadcasts live from the race throughout the morning.

Fear not though, June and Rachel will be back the following weekend when they’ll be joined by old friend and former co-presenter of the show, Tina Bettison

Tina will be in the studio on Sunday 19 August to talk about all things arty, both in her own studio and gallery BELOVED@THEBARN and further afield in and around Southwell.

She’ll be looking back at some of the events of the last few weeks and there’ll be news too of what’s happening now and what’s to come – including the Southwell Music Festival, Ceramics in Southwell and, last but by no means least, The Barn’s very own Summer Party!

To find out more, tune in or listen online between 10am and 12 noon – in the meantime, if you’re reading this well before Sunday 19 August, there could still be time for you catch a couple of those upcoming events.

Local artist Jo Munks, whose exhibition Women InBloom runs throughout the month, will be giving an evening talk about her work on Thursday 16 August. The talk begins at 7pm and refreshments are included in the ticket price of £5 in advance or £8 on the door but places are limited – call Tina on 07519 826819 or visit The Barn at 79 King Street in Southwell to check availability…

On Saturday 18 August, there’s a opportunity for children over 8-years old (and their well-behaved parents!) to create their own collage masterpieces to take away. Tickets are £10 for adults, kids go free, all materials are included and there’s no need to book – just drop in any time between 1pm and 4pm.

And if you haven’t visited The Barn yet, how about a little virtual tour?