For the sake of Auld Lang Syne

It's almost New Year's Eve and if you're anything like us you'll be looking forward to a good old knees up to celebrate the coming of the New Year.  The team at What On Earth will all be celebrating in different ways and I in particular will be dressing up in a fancy dress costume to see in 2012.  I haven't decided what I'm going as yet...perhaps an organic pizza?!

Now, I've been celebrating New Year's Eve since I was small and every year the classic New Year song, Auld Lang Syne, is always sung out with pride.  I try to join in but to be honest I never know the words.  I can join in with the chorus but that literally is about it.  I thought I would take it upon myself to learn the words this year so my friends don't have to listen to me singing the same line over and over again.  If you're like me and you don't know the words either take a look at this.  It could help you...

Should auld acquaitance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaitance be forgot
And auld lang syne!

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup of kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!

Well, that's pretty much it!  I can't believe I didn't know those few lines.  I believe the old Scottish version has many other verses but to be honest, at the parties I've been to anyway, the song never seems to get that far.  I think revellers are more interested in kissing each other and getting on with the party than singing Auld Lang Syne! 

So, there we have it; the lyrics of Auld Lang Syne so you can all sing your hearts out tomorrow night.  I hope to hear your voices wherever you are in the world.

Have a fabulous New Year's Eve everybody and a happy and healthy 2012.

Courtesy of Simon Howden / freedigitalphotos.net

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Peace, love and New Year pizza.

What On Earth

What a waste

Before Christmas Day hits us, we wanted to write a quick message about food waste over the festive period.  It’s something we feel strongly about and an issue that needs addressing.

Food waste is an ongoing problem but it isn’t just food companies to blame.  Consumers are also culprits of wasting food.  Households across the country throw out tonnes of unused food on a daily basis.  Britons still waste around one-fifth of all food purchased and almost half the total wasted food in the UK still comes from the home.  We have read different reports recently, both related to food waste, and they were equally shocking.

Photo taken from www.ecofoodrecycling.co.uk

The food waste disposal maker, InSinkErator, has estimated that this means 66 per cent of the nation will use between two and four extra bin bags to get rid of their waste.  With plastic bag usage forever on the increase, this figure is not a good addition.

Courtesy of m_bartosch / freedigitalphotos.net

As well as this report, the Guardian website stated that although food waste from households has fallen by 13 per cent in the past three years due to the economic downturn, it is still costing us Brits the same amount of money because of inflation.  This has come from government data that was published in November 2011.  The data shows that the amount of edible household food waste is worth around  £12 billion, or around £680 a year for the average family with children.

According to this research, which was carried out by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (Wrap), around 7.2 million tonnes of food is thrown away annually.  This food could have been eaten – just think of all those people around the world who need this food.  Think of the homeless people or the starving.  They need food and we are throwing it all in the bin.

Now you have read these shocking statistics, we plead with you to watch your food waste this Christmas.  Also, make a New Year’s resolution to reduce the amount of food you buy and then throw away.  If you have lots of leftovers this Christmas do what we suggested before…make pizzas from it :-)  If that doesn’t take your fancy, how about a pie or a quiche, a curry or a burrito.  The options are endless.  Just put the food anywhere than in the bin.  If you don’t want it, perhaps give it to somebody who does.  A great charity that can help with this is FoodCycle.  FoodCycle is an organisation that utilises surplus food, kitchen space and volunteers to create nutritious meals for the 4 million people affected by food poverty in the UK.  To find out more click here:  http://www.foodcycle.org.uk/

Right, enough of the doom and gloom….HAVE A VERY MERRY (and non food wasting!) CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY.

Peace, love and unwasted pizza.

What On Earth

*References:

http://www.organic-business.com/news.htm#04

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/15/food-waste-uk-homes

When Christmas comes to town - in Poland

The staff members at What On Earth are a real mix of nationalities.  We have people from every corner of the globe working here and this is something we are extremely proud of.  We believe in equal rights and we follow this by employing a wide variety of personalities.  All across the company – from drivers to chefs, from accountants to buyers – there are people from different countries working together.  We have staff from England, Ireland, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Italy, Brazil, Thailand… the list could go on.

As we have such a mix we find that we are rich in cultures and traditions.  This makes special times of the year, Christmas especially, extremely interesting.  We get to learn a lot about how different countries celebrate festive occasions.  It’s amazing what we find out too.  We therefore want to share our knowledge with you guys.  We’ve had a little chat with Marta our HR Administrator and she has given us an insight into Christmas in Poland.

Credit: www.mcm-amb.com

The festive fun starts with Advent, which is traditionally an important season in the Polish year.  Special church services, known as Roraty were held at 6am every morning and the four Sundays of Advent are said to represent the 4,000 years of waiting for Christ.

During Advent some people pour bees wax or plain wax on water so fortunes can be told from the shapes that emerge.  Special tasks are also carried out, such as baking Christmas piernik (gingerbread) and making decorations.  Advent also sees the “gwiazdory", or star carriers, wandering through the towns and villages, sometimes singing carols, reciting verses or putting on puppet shows and nativity scenes.  This would continue until Epiphany.  Unfortunately, according to Marta, these traditions are fading and are only really retained in small villages nowadays.  

Credit: Thatwife.wordpress.com

Christmas Trees are decorated and lit in homes on the day of Christmas Eve and beautifully decorated trees are placed in public areas.  Traditionally they were decorated with shiny apples, gift walnuts, wrapped up chocolate shapes and homemade decorations and candles.  A star or other glittery feature sits on the top of the tree. In many homes, sparklers are hung on the branches of the trees and sometimes the trees are left standing until 2 February, which is the feast day of St Mary of the Candle of Lightning.

Credit: Polandculinaryvacations.com

Christmas Eve, Wigilia, is the most significant part of the Polish Christmas as important rituals are celebrated on this day.  Polish people fast throughout the day and then sit down to a large feast in the evening.  Children watch the sky for the first star to appear and when it does the Wiglia feast can begin.  The meal, which can last for hours, normally consists of fish (usually carp) and other traditional Polish dishes.  No red meat is served.  The feast begins with the breaking of an opłatek – a thin wafer into which a holy picture is pressed.  Everyone at the table breaks off a piece and eats it as a symbol of their unity with Christ. They then share a piece with each family member.  It is said that as each individual shares a piece of wafer, they are supposed to forgive family members for any previous wrongdoings and wish them happiness in the coming year.

Polish families partake in different traditions at meal time.  Some spread hay beneath the tablecloth as a reminder that Christ was born in a manger, while others place money under the tablecloth for each guest as a wish for prosperity in the coming year.  Some families practice the superstition that an even number of people must be seated around the table and others set up a place at the table that is left empty.  This empty space can symbolise different things.  It can be for Baby Jesus, a lonely wanderer who may be in need of food or a deceased relative who may want to share the meal.

Credit: boze-narodzenie.dlamnie.com

Once the meal is over there is an exchange of gifts and the evening is then full of stories and songs around the Christmas tree.  Christmas Eve ends with Pasterka, the midnight mass at the local church.

Credit: 1000rad.pl

Christmas Day is often spent visiting friends and family and although gifts are given, more emphasis is put on making special food and decorations.

So, there we have it.  A quick round up of how Christmas is celebrated in Poland.  Marta is going home for the festive period so perhaps if I ask her nicely she may bring back some photographs for us.  Come on now Marta, don’t be a spoil sport :-)

We hope you learnt a little something from this post…see education can be fun!  I’ll have to try and chat with some of the other guys to see how they celebrate Christmas in their countries as well.  Until then, have a lovely few days and of course have a very merry Christmas.  Hoooray!

Peace, love and Christmas cheer pizza.

What On Earth

The Story of our Christmas party

We’re getting in the Christmas spirit here at What On Earth.  We’re not putting decorations up or anything like that, not just yet anyway.  That would be a bit too keen – especially in the eyes of certain office Scrooges!  Instead we’re discussing all the fun we had at the Christmas do on Friday night.  Listening to all the stories going around the office it seemed we all partied our pants off….well not literally, unless of course I haven’t heard that story yet. 

Our night started at our favourite organic pizzeria, Story Deli, in the east end of London. Here they do some of the tastiest pizzas we’ve eaten, using all the very best organic ingredients (a lot of which come from us….what a coincidence, huh?!) Mmmm, it’s making me hungry just thinking of the Story Deli pizzas, despite having eaten my own body weight in them last week. With the thin and crispy bases, the mounds of rocket and the rest of the delectable toppings, those pizzas definitely went down well with the team – especially Rolf. I think he got through 3 in the end, most of which ended up round his chops. You should check out Story Deli for yourself and see what you think. They’re very friendly in there so pop along and say hello. Tell them we sent you too :-)
 

Jeremy and I got to the restaurant early to decorate the tables and if I’m honest I think we did a blooming good job. We used tinsel, crackers and candles to give the table a Christmassy feel. We then wrapped up some chocolates and put them in everybody’s place. What more could they ask for?! Unfortunately there were no excited gasps or cheers of approval when everybody turned up to see our work of art but sadly we can’t have anything I suppose. We were proud of our hard work.

We spent the next few hours (about 5 to be exact!) talking, laughing, eating, drinking and generally indulging ourselves in true merriment….as well as mountains of tasty pizza. We pulled crackers (actual crackers…that isn’t a metaphor), we told jokes and we took photos. We really did see in Christmas in style, despite the big day still being a few weeks away. Ah well, that’s just a tiny matter in my eyes.

 

Another great aspect of the party is that everybody got to socialise together. Due to the nature of the What On Earth business, there are a lot of staff members who work through the night. The day workers therefore don’t get to see the night workers very often so the party gave us all a chance to be together for a few hours. It made us feel like one big happy family and the more wine we drank, the more happy we became!

Sometime after 11pm we got chucked out of Story Deli (not that we’d outstayed our welcome of course…!) and moved on to some more bars, leaving a mound of plates, bottles, glasses, crumbs, party hats, empty crackers and decorations in our wake. It’s ok though…the guys who run Story Deli are our friends so of course they didn’t mind….we hope.

The night ended a little later and everybody proceeded to make their way home across London in the early hours of Saturday morning. It appears that everybody made it into the office in one piece today so it seems we all survived the night, and the impending headaches the morning after. With the office party done and dusted we now know it isn’t long until Christmas Day is upon us and yet more parties are due to be attended. Boy, I love this festive time of year.

Peace, love and Christmas party pizza (from Story Deli).

What On Earth

Cranberries are for life, not just for Christmas

We forgot to mention before that not only was our Chocolate Yule Log rated in the newspaper but so were our Frozen Organic Cranberries. Oh yes, it’s true. Our products are being loved at the moment and, if you don’t mind us saying, quite rightly so.

Our Organic Frozen Cranberries were talked up by the one and only Gizzi Erskine. She told the Sunday Times’ Style Magazine that she thought they were “delicious”. Gizzi also said: “they are frozen so taste fresher and are easier to store, and they make the most wonderful cranberry sauce.” She even suggested ideas for what to do with the cranberries, such as adding them to orange juice and champagne for a new type of Buck’s Fizz. Excellent suggestions Gizzi, we couldn’t agree more. Thank you ever so much.

We’ve been putting our thinking caps on in the office and we’ve also come up with some excellent ideas of our own – not to blow our own trumpets of course. We thought we’d offer some inspiration on how best to use the cranberries, both over the Christmas period and at any other time of year. Cranberries are for life, not just for Christmas after all! They are also very good for your body and general health. Wow, these little cranberries are miracle workers.

So, what can you do with them? You can take Gizzi’s advice of course but you can also try our ideas:
         - Enjoy them on their own as a snack
         - Blend them up in a fruit smoothie
         - Put them in a naughty cocktail
         - Add them to cereal for a fruity treat
         - Drop them on top of one of our award winning lemon curd cheesecakes
         - Use them in a pea shooter, instead of peas of course

Here's one we made earlier

Now get out there, buy some of our Organic Frozen Cranberries and then let us know what you decided to do with them. Photographic evidence would be nice too :-)

Peace, love, cranberries and pizza.

What On Earth

Our winning taste of Christmas is in high demand - and it's not even available yet!

Everyone loves indulging in a traditional dessert at Christmas time but it seems that one treat in particular is already in high demand – even though it isn’t even on the shelves until 12 December.  What is that product exactly?  Oh yes, it’s our popular Chocolate Yule Log which, as you know, was given four stars by the Guardian and came in joint first position in the paper’s Yule log taste test.

We have just started producing our chocolate Yule log for the festive period and word has already got around.  More than 300 orders were placed before production even started and this demand is expected to rocket, especially as the cake has become famous – in its own right of course!

The popular cake, which we make exclusively for Abel & Cole, is made with organic ingredients and each one is individually handmade at our Somerset based patisserie.  The popularity of the Yule logs has grown year on year and Christmas 2010 saw demand outweigh supply, even though more than 500 cakes were produced.  Abel & Cole customers are now putting their orders in early and queuing up for the dessert so as not to miss out.  And who can blame them?

Along with the Chocolate Yule Log, What On Earth has also recently launched seven other Christmas desserts for Abel & Cole, some of which are available now.  These tempting festive desserts are:

-          Chocolate and Raspberry Roulade

-          Sherry Trifle

-          Raspberry and White Chocolate Macaroon

-          Fudge Brownie cheesecake

-          Orange /Vodka cheesecake

-          Large Chocolate pudding

-          Brandy Custard

Our White Chocolate and Raspberry Macaroon

Our creamy Sherry Trifle

This means we now sell almost 20 different desserts through Abel & Cole.  To see the new products please visit: http://www.abelandcole.co.uk/christmas/puddings-desserts. 

What On Earth and Barclays Bank go Back to Business

Last week we at What On Earth were very privileged to have two of the biggest names at Barclays Bank working with us for the day. Not only did it give us an excuse to dress up all smart, the day also gave us the opportunity to show the gentlemen around our premises, give them an insight into the daily goings on at What On Earth and also pick their business focused brains.  We tried to get them to give us some pocket money for penny sweets too but sadly we couldn't get any money out of them ;-)

We were joined by Chris Head and Peter Simon – two of Barclays’ big bosses. They spent the day working with us in aid of the bank’s ‘Back to Business’ scheme, which gives bankers the opportunity to spend time working for their customers. This experience allows Barclays to gain insight into their customers’ worlds and gives them a clearer understanding of how they can support their customers. The scheme followed the creation of Barclays Business, which launched in early 2010. The bank had a vision to become the ‘Go-To’ business bank by collectively and continuously making its customers’ lives easier. They decided that this meant they needed to get into the minds and lives of the customers; they needed to think boldly and be unique so that their customers wouldn’t want to go elsewhere, hence the invention of Back to Business.

What On Earth was chosen as a business to work with because it offers a completely different environment to what both Chris and Peter are used to. We’d also like to think that they chose us because we are prize customers!  What On Earth were able to provide Chris and Peter with a whole new working experience – the complete opposite of their usual day to day office based roles. One of their most exciting tasks was to get into the kitchen and make some of our renowned organic pizzas. Sadly we didn’t get to taste the fruits of their labour but they seemed to be doing a pretty good job and they certainly looked the part…they were set up with hair nets, white coats and everything!

Chris and Peter hard at work

Chris, Peter and our head chef, Sergei

Not only could they see what it’s like to be a What On Earth chef they also got to check out our products, they joined us in the board room for various meetings and they even got treated to lunch at Villandry – one of our biggest customers. In return they offered us some sound advice and opinions.  We just need to put it all into action now!

We want to take this opportunity to thank Chris, Peter and of course Barclays as a whole for giving us a very useful, insightful and enjoyable day. THANKS GUYS.

Peace, love and Barclays Bank pizza.

What On Earth.

One month until Christmas - let the festivities begin

25^th November – one month until Christmas.  What is the best way to start the countdown and celebrate this date? By bringing Christmas forward of course, so that’s what we did.

On 25 November we thought we would get (and also give…because we all know Christmas is about giving as well as receiving!) an early taste of Christmas by making an appearance at Abel & Cole’s Festive Foodie Do.  We took along all our brand new Christmas desserts, which have been made especially for Abel Cole, set up camp on one of their tables and waited for the public to come through the doors and pounce on our tantalising treats.

The Festive Foodie Do is an annual event run by Abel & Cole that allows customers and the general public to mingle with the marvels that make Christmas food so tasty.  From cheese farmers and chocolate makers to salmon smokers and mince pie bakers, they all made an appearance at the show.  

We were also there – the delicious dessert crafters that we are.  Plus, it was a chance to show off our guardian.co.uk recommended Chocolate Yule Log, which received four stars by the well known food writer, Marina McLoughlin (see the blog post below for more information on this little baby).  It went down extremely well with the party dwellers, as did the rest of our festive cakes.  Well, with the likes of Raspberry and White Chocolate Macaroon, Fudge Brownie Cheesecake and Sherry Trifle on our table, why wouldn’t they be snapped up within seconds?

The whole evening was a great success and the more mulled wine that was swigged, the louder the laughter and the greater the hunger/enthusiasm for the food.  Not only that, there was also live cooking demonstrations and even a treasure hunt to amuse the punters.

The Foodie Do was held in the Grand Hall at Battersea Arts Centre, which is a great venue.  The festive decorations helped make the event and the jolly atmosphere was contagious.  A thoroughly enjoyable evening was had by all and we cannot wait for another fabulously foodie event to attend.  Come on Abel & Cole – get on to it now please.

Peace, love and festive pizza.

What On Earth

Yule not believe it...or maybe you will

Our Chocolate Yule Log is a joint winner of a yule log Christmas taste test carried out by The Guardian.  HURRAH!

Our delicious festive treat got awarded four stars by the well known food writer Marina McLoughlin.  She used lines such as “This looks great”, “It tastes like real cake!” and “the icing is gorgeously thick and buttery” to describe it.  The word excellent was also used so we are ecstatic.  Not only are we greatly appreciative and proud of this accolade, we are also extremely flattered.  We’re so happy that our cakes our being recognised and enjoyed.  I think we should say a great big THANK YOU to Marina for loving our product.

Our winning yule log in all its glory

The Chocolate Yule Log, which is being sold through Abel & Cole, beat other yule logs from the likes of Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury’s and Asda.  We are therefore thrilled to be able to compete against the big dogs...and ultimately win, on this occasion.  We came joint first with Waitrose too - another big dog in the food industry.

Our winning dessert can be purchased from www.abelandcole.co.uk  and is available from 12 December 2011.  Be quick though, these babies fly off the shelf every year so get your order in pronto. 

Peace, love and pizza (and four star desserts).

What On Earth

Quality Food Awards were, well, quality

Last night Jeremy wore a suit.

That content alone is enough for a single blog post I reckon! But I won’t just write that…I’ll give you a little more to chuckle at on this grey Friday – I’ll provide you with a photo too. Here is the evidence to prove that Jeremy Jaffe does in fact own (and can pull off) a suit. Fair enough, there was no bow tie but we can’t have everything, right?

You may be wondering why Jeremy was wearing this suit. Despite what you may think, it wasn’t just for fun. He put it on for a reason. We got all glammed up so we could attend the Quality Food Awards. This exciting event is seen as the most prestigious awards ceremony for the food and drink products on sale in UK grocery outlets. It was therefore a big deal and it seemed a good night was had by all.

There were lots of shortlisted products/companies in the awards (we didn’t enter – just so you know) but a lot of the winners were the main supermarkets. It was a constant battle between shops such as Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda and Lidl, therefore making the evening reminiscent of a ceremony such as the Soap Awards. The outfits were similar too – lots of elegant cocktail dresses mixed with some that left less to the imagination. I will say no more on that.

The awards were held at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge and the room they took place in was laden with well dressed tables. Apparently there were around 750 guests at the event, which would mean there were around 75 tables. What table number were we?? Number one. Oh yes, we were at the head of the awards. We must be important after all.  At the table we were served four courses of delicious food (Jeremy had more because he ate the spare food that sat at the vacant seat at our table!) Shhh, don’t tell him I told you that though.

As well as enjoying delicious food and the buzzing atmosphere, Jeremy and I giggled at the special guests – Jay Rayner and Dominic Holland. Jay Rayner is a journalist, writer, food critic and broadcaster. Dominic is a comedian and author who you may have seen on shows such as Have I got News For You. Both of them livened the night and kept us amused…almost as much as Simon Wright’s white scarf did. Simon, if you’re reading this, sorry.

They weren’t the only famous people at the event though, oh no. I was the other. My name was in the Quality Food Awards Programme and Guest List because I was a judge on the panel a few months ago. I was pretty chuffed by that, especially as it said that the judges were experts. An expert, that’s me :-) You read it here.

Peace, love and awards ceremony pizza.

What On Earth

A slice of inspiration for your Christmas dinner leftovers

Cold turkey sandwiches, dry vegetable stew and tasteless Bubble and Squeak – the prospect of using the remnants of Christmas dinner in such predictable ways can provoke shudders and disapproving groans in everyone.  It did us anyway!  Year on year, bowlfuls of leftover food are either thrown away or turned into unappetising meals that go untouched. This not only adds to the high amount of food waste that occurs each year but also ups the seasonal expense and standard Christmas overspend that we all experience.

We are therefore declaring that this year can be different. Oh yes, we propose that you can keep food waste and overspend at a low by using up Christmas leftovers in a fun and innovative way – by making Christmas pizza of course!

Here's one our head chef, Sergei, made from other leftovers

You may turn your nose up at the idea but think about it – it’s not rare to see Christmas dinner leftovers stuffed between two slices of bread or added to a curry. If I remember rightly, this is the sort of food that used to be the basis of our Boxing Day lunch after all. But with so many more exciting Christmas food items around nowadays, people get bored of the leftovers and throw them away. We’ve therefore thought of a more ecological and economical way to enjoy the leftovers – why not bundle them on top of a pizza? The joy of pizza is that it’s a personal preference – you can opt for the toppings of your choice. You can now do the same with your favourite Christmas items. Rather than waste the food, you can use your leftover slices of turkey and sausage or the unfinished broccoli and salmon to create a homemade pizza of your choice.

Courtesy of piyato / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What’s more (yes, of course there is more!) you can use What On Earth’s Organic Pizza Bases and Organic Pizza Sauce, to make the process even easier. These products are available from a variety of outlets across the UK, including Whole Foods Market and online organic retailer, Abel & Cole.

So there you go then.  You know exactly what to do with all those leftovers now don't you?  If you do go ahead and make the Christmas leftover pizza (something we think you should do) please let us know how you got on.  We'd love to see some photos too.  Send them to laura@whatonearth.co.uk or even upload them on our Facebook page:
 
Peace, love and Christmas leftovers pizza.
 
What On Earth

Logistics Manager wanted at What On Earth

Do you want to join the friendly team here at What On Earth? Do you fancy getting involved in our fun and working in the organic food industry? Well, now you can. Why? Because we have a job vacancy and it could be perfect for you.

What On Earth is a fun-loving organic food manufacturer and supplier and we are currently seeking a confident and experienced Logistics Manager to come and work with us. We have two sites – one in London and one in Somerset – but this role will be based in London.

About the role:

We are looking for someone with plenty of experience driving in London and an excellent grasp of the highway code. The role involves:

• Overseeing the supply chain cycle and organising deliveries
• Overseeing stock takes, stock checks and internal stock audit
• Line managing 11 members of staff across a double shift operation

You will be in charge of:

• Monitoring and maintaining all logistics related KPIs
• Creating and monitoring department staff rotas; task lists; logs
• Department training and setting of benchmarks and standards for staff
• Departmental cost management
• Departmental waste management
• Management of Sage stock aspect

The role attracts a salary of £23K annually, negotiable after completing a three month probation period. It is offered on a full-time basis (40 hours a week) with two days off a week.

To be considered for this role ideally you will have a track record of working within leading warehouse operations. Other essential qualifications & knowledge we are looking for include:

• UK/EU driver’s licence and have the right to work in the UK
• Have at least 12 months' experience as logistics supervisor or similar or suitable experience
• Forklift licence – essential
• Experience in Sage50 will be an advantage
• Good leadership and problem solving skills

If you are interested in this role, please send your CV and covering letter to the HR Administrator, Marta on marta@whatonearth.co.uk.

What on Earth is an equal opportunity employer and we welcome applications from everyone (as long as you hold the minimum experience/requirements).

This is where we have to apologise…. basically, due to the high volume of interest generated, we cannot reply to every application. If you have not heard from us within two weeks please consider your application as unsuccessful – SORRY!

Oh also – we do not deal with agencies so if you are from an agency, please do not contact us.

We look forward to hearing from you job seekers.

Thanks,

What On Earth

Terrifying tales to make your hair stand on end this Halloween

As it’s Halloween, we thought we’d get those spines tingling a little bit more by telling you some spooky stories.  These are only things we’ve heard so we can’t say for sure if they’re definitely true. BUT, people in the office know of these stories so there must be some truth in them, right??  Even those who aren’t English have heard of some of these scary tidbits so perhaps the stories are known around the world.  Wooooo, spooky (yes, that was our impression of a ghost!)

Courtesy of digitalart / freedigitalphotos.net

We’re London based so that’s where the following chilling chronicles are based.  If you’re in London, you may get more scared.  If you’re not in London - why not take a visit and see if they are true.

So, the first story is about the infamous Jack the Ripper.  Known across the world, Jack the Ripper is one of London’s most notorious, mysterious and wicked criminals.  However, it is also known that the identity of Jack the Ripper was never discovered.  History can point its finger at many people but unfortunately nobody will ever know who Jack the Ripper actually was.  This could be because he was imprisoned, left the country or even died.

One of the Jack the Ripper suspects actually killed himself by plunging into the River Thames on New Year’s Eve, 1888.  The ghost of this suspect can allegedly be seen even now.  Apparently, if people stand on Westminster Bridge on 31 December and look eastwards as midnight approaches, they may catch sight of the ghost of this suicide victim.  As Big Ben rings at midnight, the ghostly figure appears and leaps into the water below.

Courtesy of Laura Collins

Another chilling tale we have heard is about a phantom bus near Cambridge Gardens in North Kensington.  This bus is a number 7 double decker and is sometimes spotted in the early hours of the morning.  The story first came about in 1934 as it was written about in a book by J.A.Brooks called ‘Ghosts of London’.  Back then, a motorist swerved when driving along Cambridge Gardens – apparently for no reason.  Sadly the said motorist died when his car hit a wall and caught on fire.  When they carried out an inquest into the death, witnesses told of the so called phantom bus – many of whom claimed to have seen it around the area that the accident happened.  Apparently many of the witnesses said that it normally appeared around 1.15am, which is the time the accident occurred.  The driver of the phantom bus was never visible and there were no lights on the bus, but witnesses told how they were terrified when it raced along the centre of the road towards them.
 

Courtesy of Stuart Miles / freedigitalphotos.net

The witnesses that came forward had experienced the phantom bus, explaining that they were convinced it was going to collide with them.  They swerved out of the way of it when driving, only to find out that the bus had vanished out of sight straight afterwards.

Arrrggghh!!  Scary huh??  Who knows if these stories are true but if we find ourselves near Westminster Bridge on New Year’s Eve we may well be able to tell you! 

Enjoy your Halloween evening.

Peace, love and spooky Halloween pizza.

What On Earth