A Very Merry Christmas!

Last week we were all feeling very festive as we set off to our Christmas dinner at Jamie's Italian in Cambridge. It was a lovely setting to mark our festive 'do' and we all thoroughly enjoyed our meals, a few of us even went as far as to have a desert... Well it is Christmas after all!

Hannah could hardly contain her excitement as Friday also meant the unwrapping of Secret Santa presents, handing out the presents she was absolutely beaming with joy. Everyone did very well with choices for each other and we all went home happy with our gifts.

Not only did we enjoy a beautiful dinner and fantastic company but part of our surrounding were supplied by two of our lovely clients. With Thomas Crapper & Co. loos complete with a 'beer-engine' handle and a gorgeous selection of bespoke glazed tiles for H & E Smith we felt right at home!

As promised, Daisy made us her amazing iced spiced tree biscuits, although they haven't spent very long on the tree! We hope you enjoy whatever you have planned over the festive period be it spending time with family, jetting off on holiday or just enjoying a drink with friends.

So from all of us here at Atom we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Secret Santa

As the office gets ever-more sparkly and yuletide spirits increase, it was time to dust off the Christmas tree, get the tinsel out and start thinking ahead to our Secret Santa! 

A traditional part of Christmas festivities, Secret Santa is a fun, low cost way to kick off the merry season and show how well you know your colleagues and friends. As a massive fan of Christmas, Hannah was particularly excited about swopping gifts and set about putting our names into a hat (or more office-appropriate, an A4 file holder!) Everyone took turns picking out a little folded note from the box and while some suspected all might sneakily read ‘Hannah’ we got our thinking caps on for some fab gifts for each other.

 We’ve seen some great gift guides this season in some of our favourite home interiors magazines and also great tips on home-made tasty treats and beautiful DIY decorations, so there should be no abundance of ideas at the Atom office. (Daisy even promised to make some Atom themed tree-biscuits!)

Apparently it’s un-known when or where Secret Santa originated in its present form, but it’s thought the original Secret Santa was an American philanthropist, Larry Dean Stewart (1948 – 2007) who coined the name and spent 20 years doing random acts of kindness for people throughout the year. A moral that we are more than happy to get involved in, where we are all thoroughly looking forward to exchanging gifts and festive cheer at our Christmas meal.

Walking in the Air...

Atom was delighted to be one of the sponsors of ‘The Mayor’s Christmas Spectacular’ held on the 4^th of December in The Maltings theatre, located by Ely’s beautiful riverside. Along with various festive family games and activities including of course Santa’s grotto, the centrepiece of the show was a recital of Howard Blake’s uplifting score of The Snowman by Raymond Briggs performed by The Ely Sinfonia. The magical adventure unfolded to the music courtesy of narrator Jeremy Harmer and soprano Jenny Bingham who sang the signature solo ‘Walking in the Air’ beautifully. 

Held in association with ADeC - Arts Development in East Cambridgeshire, the monies raised from sponsorship and ticket sales went to The Mayor’s Charity which benefits numerous local children’s organisations. This was the first of what is hoped to become a regular annual event and judging by the rapturous applause and the smiling faces of little and not so little ones, we are sure it will continue to go from success to success.

'MO'st Grateful!

As MOvember draws to a close, here in the office we are assessing our ‘MO’gress this month. Roger has become slightly green with envy at the impressive attempts of his staff who are proudly representing the MO-sistas.

Roger would like to say a big thank you to everyone that has generously contributed to this years moustache which, as you know, is grown to raise funds for The Prostate Cancer Charity.To anyone who hasn't donated, he is only a ‘whisker’ away from beating the amount he raised last year so he is kindly requesting one last push in the final ‘MO’ments of MOvember, after all it is for a fantastic cause!

If you would like to make a last minute donation you can by clicking here.

Christmas is coming!

Daisy, Hannah and I had a lovely time at the Country Living Christmas Fair getting into the festive spirit. We managed to wrestle our way through the crowds to sneak a look at some of the gorgeous ranges on offer. Hannah couldn't resists buying some Christmas presents for family and friends! We also found some time to pull ourselves away for a moment to grab some lunch and were really impressed with the choice on offer. Let us know what you thought too! And of course we'd never miss a photo opportunity...

 

With Christmas in mind, we definitely recommend you have a look at Ingarden's a/w sale. With some lovely products at amazing prices you'll be hard pushed not to find your loved ones something for this Yuletide holiday! We've picked out a few that we'd love to receive as a gift!

 

The lovely terracotta birdfeeders are sure to promote some wildlife into your garden while the glass tealights transform your garden into a magical fairy land. Lastly, this arrow sign will certainly come in handy when showing Father Christmas where to deliver all your lovely presents!

11/11/11

At 11 o’clock today silence will fall over the United Kingdom in remembrance to those who gave their lives for our country. Prior to this, millions have proudly donned their poppies to mark this day. Here at Atom, we would like to give thanks to all those who have fought and to those who continue to represent our country.

Many of our clients are also keen supporters of various charities, the most recent example of this is The Playhouse Company who, in collaboration with Make-A-Wish, recently made one little boy’s wish come true. Thomas Goulsbra, of Grimsby, is one of 2,000 people worldwide who suffers from cystinosis, which damages organs such as the eyes and muscles. The Make-A-Wish foundation strives to make any suffering child’s dream a reality, no matter how big it may be. And this project was no different. When Make-A-Wish got in contact with The Playhouse Company to explain the cause, those at the workshop were more than obliging to provide them with a structure at a generously discounted price. They got to work creating the playhouse Thomas had designed.

Seeing the reaction on this little boy’s face was more than a reward enough. We hope he has many a happy play on his bespoke castle.

Movember

This week sees in the beginning of the penultimate month before the festivities begin and also Movember (@MovemberUK)! For the 3^rd year running our very own MD, Roger, will be growing his moustache to help raise vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men. Remember to keep an eye on our regular tweets @atommpr to see twitpics of the progress, which we must say, has already been surprisingly noticeable, comments have included:

Jason Lee

Super Ted's Texas Pete

Timothy Dalton

Here is a little snap shot of last years efforts.

Please visit Roger’s Mo profile and help towards an extremely worthy cause http://uk.movember.com/mospace/512917.

Also, while you’re perusing the net maybe have a read of the Shimu blog where you can see their newly sourced antiques at www.shimu.com/blog.

Enjoy the fireworks this weekend but please all keep yourselves safe!