Petit Fours

(26 September 2024)

Sep 26, 2024

🧢 This week’s ‘Top Pick’ @WeightmanPR: All Saint’s Church, Tudeley

Another one of those places which can genuinely be described as a “hidden gem”, All Saint’s Church in the Kent village of Tudeley is the only church in the world to have all its twelve windows decorated by Russian/French artist Marc Chagall. The main East Window was commissioned by Sir Henry and Lady D’Avigdor Goldsmid in memory of their daughter Sarah, who in 1963, aged just 21, tragically died in a sailing accident. When Marc Chagall visited the church for the dedication of the East Window he announced, “This is magnificent. I’ll do them all”. Chagall designed the remaining eleven windows which were installed between 1974 and 1985.

🧢 Welcome to The Strong Country

This intriguing advertising hoarding, near Alresford Station on The Mid Hants “Watercress Line” in Hampshire, is easily explained… Strong & Co of Romsey were brewers, and advertised their wares alongside the roads and railways of Hampshire. There were signs proclaiming “You are approaching…”, and “You are in…” The signs were quite crudely painted using a very limited palette. Founded in 1778, the brewery became Strong & Co in 1894, but was bought – along with 940 pubs – by Whitbread in 1969; and then closed it gates for the final time in 1981.

The Strong Country hoarding at Alresford station, Hampshire

🧢 Derby bakery goes from ‘gram, to Glam

The latest name in Derby’s High Street offering is Glamberry Café, which had its grand opening at the end of September. A now boutique-style café in an arcade which runs off Sadler Gate in the Cathedral Quarter, it now offers a range of artisan cakes, desserts, and a variety of hot and cold drinks. The owner is Anum Zafar who started her baking journey in her parents;’ kitchen, but who has found fame on social media and now boasts 87.5k followers on Instagram. They also plan to offer workshops teaching people how to decorate cakes – and to welcome people from all parts of the UK.

🧢 A sneaky peek at Derby’s transformed Market Hall

Likely to be one of the biggest ‘reveals’ of 2025, Derby’s Market Hall is currently undergoing a multi-million transformation that will see it reopen to the public in an entirely different guise next Spring. The traditional market stalls will still be there, but it will become much more than “just” an indoor market. It will be a venue, a destination, a community space, and a social hub. Most excitingly of all, Wayne Hemingway, best-known for his fashion brand Red or Dead - and a partner at Hemingway Design, who have developed the look, feel, and branding for the new Market Hall - says: “This is an opportunity for forward-thinking independent start-ups and existing businesses to be part of a project and creative community that will operate out of this magnificently restored, historic Derby building and play a role in re-energising this part of Derby’s city centre.”