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Hamper Blog alex.walker on 31 Mar 2010
Thanks to changes that we’ve made to our systems, we are now able to extend our Next Day delivery cut off from midday to 1.30pm. Feel free to browse and buy in your lunch hour and we’ll deliver on the very next day!
Hamper Blog alex.walker on 31 Mar 2010
Sometimes known as ‘Spy Wednesday’, Holy Wednesday is noted as the day that Judas Iscariot first conspired with the Sanhedrin to betray Jesus for thirty silver coins.
Some striking customs have been established to mark Holy Wednesday:
At Virginia Hayward the customs on the Wednesday before Easter are much less striking, but important to recipients of our hampers! Due to the bank holiday on Good Friday, Thursday is the last day for deliveries prior to Easter. Consequently, the team will be working hard to get all the parcels ready for despatch on Wednesday night and delivery on Thursday.
Hamper Blog alex.walker on 30 Mar 2010
In the days prior to Easter, Holy Tuesday is observed by both Eastern and Western Christianity, but doesn’t appear to have any biblical event associated with it. As with Holy Monday, few protestant churches have special services for Holy Tuesday.
At Virginia Hayward it’s also business as usual. Aside from a few sleepy eyes on Monday morning, we’re very pleased that the clocks have now gone forward and that the evenings are that little bit lighter. We’re also very proud to say that we’re doing our bit for the environment as indigenous, deciduous hardwood trees are being planted across the site, which we’ll be posting pictures and more details of next week.
Hamper Blog alex.walker on 29 Mar 2010
With the shops full to bursting with Easter Eggs and online gifting companies (such as ourselves!) offering gifts and hampers as well, it can hardly have escaped anyone’s attention that Easter is almost here. It certainly won’t be news to our packing and despatch teams as they pack and label hampers ready for delivery before Easter!
However, what you’re less likely to be familiar with are the specific events in the week running up to Easter, so this week we’ll try and provide a little background into the events of each day.
Today is Holy Monday, also known as Great and Holy Monday. Holy Monday precedes the commemoration of the Death and resurrection of Jesus and in Western Christianity the Gospel lesson describes the anointing of Jesus at Bethany. Few Protestant churches have special services for Holy Monday, which may go some way to explaining why it’s often overlooked outside the Church.
Hamper Blog alex.walker on 26 Mar 2010
Contrary to the best efforts of the weather, it is apparently now Spring… We’re possibly more aware than most of the changes in season as we’ve just had Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day in quick succession and Easter is next weekend. As ever, we’ve got just the gift if you’re celebrating Easter, or need to send a gift hamper to a friend, colleague or relative.
Spring is always marked by the clocks going forward by an hour to British Summer Time. However, this hasn’t always been the case. After some digging around, we discovered that during the World War II years, GMT+1 was maintained throughout the winter and another extra hour was added for British Summer Time, putting us at GMT+2 during the summer months. There are various bodies, including RoSPA who argue that a permanent move to Double Summer Time would reduce the number of accidents significantly.
Equally, there are arguments for the abolition of British Summer Time entirely, favouring GMT all year round particularly in England and Wales, independent of Scotland and Ireland.
We did an extremely unscientific straw poll in the office this morning and discovered that the majority of people here would like an extra hour of light in the evenings as it would help us continue to pack our hampers and load the hampers onto lorries during the dark evenings running up to to Christmas!
Hamper Blog alex.walker on 24 Mar 2010
There are times when you need to give presents to your business colleagues, clients or customers. Sometimes it can be diffcult to choose a gift appropriate for the occasion. If you are in this situation, you may consider giving a hamper. Hampers can contain wines and liqueurs, baked goods, biscuits, sweets, chocolates and many similar luxury foods. These gift hampers can be the perfect presents for your special clients, business partners, and office colleagues.
Among the broad selection available from Virginia Hayward, you can choose different kinds of gift hampers with different contents to suit the occasion. From ‘New Baby’ and ‘Thank You’ gifts, thorugh to hampers, sweet hampers, gifts and Champagnes, you will find the ideal gift.
What better place to start than browsing our selection of hampers?
Hamper Blog alex.walker on 23 Mar 2010
We talked recently about what we’d be eating at Easter time and thanks to the feedback that we’ve received, we’ve learnt a little bit about what we had on the menu, as well as a few more unusual and international suggestions.
For example, we only had half the story of Hot Cross Buns which were eaten year round in pagan pre-Christian times. The bun represented the moon and the four quarters represented the four seasons. Christians took over this tradition and changed the meaning so that the cross represented the cross that Jesus died on.
Simnel cake is a rich fruit cake covered with a layer of marzipan, with 11 marzipan balls to represent the faithful disciples of Jesus. What we didn’t realise was that Simnel cakes were first made by servant girls and maids to take home to their mothers on Mothering Sunday.
As for international Easter cuisine, salty pretzels are traditionally eaten in Italy at Easter time. The Russians eat ‘blini’s', which are little pancakes topped with anchovies and a mixture of cream, soft cream, dried fruit and orange peel call ed ‘Paska’. The Greeks eat an Easter cake made with oranges, almonds and a spicy orange sauce poured over it.
Mouthwatering…
Hamper Blog alex.walker on 19 Mar 2010
As people who spend a large part of the working day looking for fine foods for our hampers, conversations quickly turn to food, regardless of the context. Easter is no exception as there are a range of traditional foods that we all associate with Easter. Easter eggs will of course be a staple for everyone next Sunday, but many will be indulging in a ham or roast lamb Sunday lunch.
Simnel cakes (fruit cakes with eleven marzipan balls representing the faithful apostles), hot cross buns and Easter biscuits will all be making an appearance too!
Hamper Blog alex.walker on 18 Mar 2010
We blogged recently about why Mothering Sunday is on a different day each year and judging by the conversations that we had in the office, it’s not something that’s widely understood. Hopefully the post made it a little clearer though. Easter is at the start of April this year, so with the help of Wikipedia and the very informative site at Woodlands Junior School, we thought we’d find out why.
As most people will be aware, Easter Sunday celebrates the resurrection of Christ on the third day after his crucifixion on Good Friday and also marks the end of Lent. Historians variously interpret that the resurrection happened between AD 26 and AD 36.
The First Council of Nicaea established the date of Easter Sunday as the first Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon, which follows the vernal equinox. Based on the timing of these events, which are not always astronomically correct as the Church reckons the date of the equinox to be the 21st of March, the date of Easter varies between the 22nd of March and the 25th of April. So although Easter feels very early this year – it could be as early as the 22nd of March!
Eastern Christianity refers to the Julian calendar, whose 21st of March corresponds to the 3rd of April in the Gregorian calendar, placing the celebration of Easter between the 4th of April and the 8th of May.
Celebrating Easter with treats such as Easter eggs, simnel cakes, gifts and hampers is part of the modern celebration and is enjoyed by both Christians and non-Christians alike.
Hamper Blog alex.walker on 16 Mar 2010
Thanks to Google’s recent expansion of their awe-inspiring street view facility, it’s now possible to see our offices at Virginia Hayward. Set in the Dorset countryside, we’re extremely lucky to work in such beautiful surroundings. Have a look at Virginia Hayward Ltd by clicking here.
You can also see our Little Down site early in its development by clicking here.
Judging by the weather and the cars that everyone has in this photo, we estimate that the Google car must have come by late one morning, probably on a Tuesday or a Thursday in the first few weeks of June 2009.
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