The Shrewsbury Biscuit Podcast

AL sits with Roo Nicholls who has a great story of a business that was started during the Covid-19 Pandemic and has snowballed into success. We are talking about The Little Shropshire Lass. Roo is very talented at making beautiful items out of textiles. Facemasks, hand-bag liners, hand warmers, jewellery and much more can be ordered. We discuss the why's, how's and where this all came from. How di...

AL and Jules speak to man of many talents, George Bilcliffe. Now George is a fantastic photographer so primarily the discussion is that of, photography. However! George is very unique in the fact that he refuses to put all of his eggs in one basket, whether it's colouring black and white photos, working hard trying to get his survival school up and running or being utterly brill guest on a podcast...

We....LOVE Shrewsbury Town in The Community (STITC) and the fine work they do for locals in need. We last spoke to Jamie Edwards from STITC at the beginning(ish) of the Pandemic. Challenges were faced with positivity and to great effect.  AL and Shane catch-up with Jamie now, in what seems like lockdown a billion! We talk about recent approaches made by STITC, how they are able to still be a posit...

Jules and AL speak with dog behaviourist Caroline Lewis. What is it that Caroline does? What has changed over the decades when it comes to the way we treat our K-9 friends? and what advice can Caroline give to dog owners during lockdown, a time that might offer added stress to their pets? With the rise of complaints of dogs being attacked while out walking, we had to cover the definitive rules whe...

AL and Shane speak with Lajina Leal about the family traditions when it comes to food. Whether it be preparing the food as a family, the ways we can keep things interesting during dinner time or even, more importantly learning to cook great food without having to rely on jars, we really dive in to this. Lajina Masala is a company that offers to make cooking easy, fun and tasty! Lajina offers so ma...

AL and Deedee speak to George Evans from The Shropshire Macaron Co. A drunk ordered book off Amazon was the spark of a new taste revolution in Shropshire. Having never tasted a macaron in his life, AL ordered some from George and they simply blew his mind. Growing quickly into a very popular product throughout the county we find out all about George's story, his favourite flavours to play with and...

The NFL has become increasingly popular in the UK. The Superbowl is the biggest event on the planet, attracting audiences from around the world. When it comes to getting people together to enjoy Superbowl with a bang, Hickory's really are experts. AL attended Superbowl 2020, a night where the atmosphere was electric. This was just before the world slammed shut with the Pandemic. How do we celebrat...

AL and DeeDee speak Matt Doyle AKA Ease The Artist. He is a rapper from Shrewsbury and his music is phenomenal! It's always amazing to talk about the ever growing hip-hop scene in Shrewsbury/Shropshire, it's such a raw and expressive art. What inspired Matt growing up? How has music changed through the years and how does this new generation of artists approach things like marketing and promotion?...

Instantly curing what was a bad start to the day, photographer James Warman joins AL on the Biscuit this week. What is a photo worth these days? Most of us have access to hundreds if not thousands of photos, has this changed how we think about them? How hard is it to get those shots that matter? Chess pieces on the ceiling, what is it like to almost obsess about an ability? Does a photographer hav...

The first Open Studio Session of the year is brought to you by half the Biscuit (hence the firmly implanted pun on the pod-art!) AL and Jules get this week long party started. We discuss the events of the past couple of months, including the current flood problems across the county. We also chat about some new ideas we've had as a show.

When you think of artists in Shrewsbury, the first name on the top of that list will almost certainly be Lyn Evans. AL speaks to Lyn about how her very distinctive style of art came to be. Beautiful, detailed landscapes or pictures of nature made entirely from torn pieces of paper. In a discussion about where her art has taken her, we discuss Lyn's trip to America and what it meant to take her wor...

The idea of the schools closing again and having to resort to remote learning, may have been a huge stress for many parents. We have put together a calm, healthy discussion about the situation, featuring AL, Samantha Preece who is a teacher from Bedstone College, local parent Sarah Dodd and our Shane.  We discuss the differences between this school closure and that last, what we have learned and s...

We get the new year of to a great start with this fantastic episode. AL speaks to Lindsay Kelly from the Viv Kelly Dance school and enthusiastic dance student Lucy Poole. 2020 was awful for the arts industry and telling a dancer not to perform is like asking a fish not to swim. This situation did not stop Lindsay from doing her thing though. Determined to keep going, classes were put onto Zoom and...

AL is joined by Michelle from the Vegan Hub to talk about "Veganuary" what it is, how you do it and what they are planning in her store to help people in the process. We talk to Michelle about how things have been since we spoke to her last, as that was her opening day. It has been an odd year for sure but it is something that has helped The Vegan Hub evolve. Find out how on this episode and pleas...

AL sits with Kerry Mitchell, a Mental Health First Aid Trainer who works for Paycare - Wellbeing. First we ask what is a Mental Health First Aider, what added pressures are there now so many people are having to work at home and what do we do when we spot the signs of someone who is not feeling great? There are so many aspects to mental health awareness that we need to discuss more, how to approac...

The final Open Studio Session is brought to you by the best podcast team in Shrewsbury, the Biscuiteers. A rough around the edges look back at 2020, some discussion about our thoughts on "The Vaccine" and the guys talk about what they are looking forward to in 2021. What does it feel like to have to adapt the way The Biscuiteers had to, and what have they learned in the process? "I love these litt...

AL and Deedee speak with Amy Yeomans who, during the pandemic created her own little business, Masks By Amy. It all started with Amy making masks for friends and family, then when things started to escalate, Masks by Amy was born. With profits going to charity, a real passion for her trade and the great public service of giving us an option other than those horrible blue surgical masks, Amy has an...

The kindness shown to locals, by locals throughout the pandemic has been astounding. There have been people that have gone above and beyond, when it comes to keeping their community safe and well. AL speaks to Sophie, Ruth and Sasha from "Little Bags Of Kindness" who are the perfect example of how banding together and being helpful can not only help a community, but snowball into a much bigger thi...

The first person to ever feature on the Biscuit, Simon Bell drops in to chat to AL and Shane. Simon is writing a new book about how the Allied Forces colluded with the Nazi's. We talk about whether research into things like genocide and war can weigh on a guy, how Simon does his research and what inspires him to write about certain subjects. We also talk about how PTSD can affect Holocaust survivo...

AL is joined by Stephanie Henson from Six Ticks. This situation caught Alex's eye because Steph works at Six Ticks which is a cool tech company that makes websites, apps etc However Steph is pushing for something called Tech Time Out to be rolled out nationally. We all (mostly) spend too much time attached to technology which is not healthy and that is a fact. Tech Time Out encourages people to ac...

We spoke to Liam Tinsley just before he was about to open his takeaway food experience "Feast" a while ago. We said we'd bring him back on to find out how things went, and this is it. AL and Shane catch up with Liam to find out how things have gone since the launch. What lessons has he learned, what has the feedback been like and what is like being his own boss now? Liam likes to experiment with f...

Today's show takes us to Whitchurch and the amazing business that is Landfill Angels. A business ran by Mother and Daughter Sharon and Chloe, that offers a new lease of life to furniture that may have ended up in the skip otherwise. We talk about how the business became what it is today, how Sharon and Chloe manage to work together, the importance of inter-generational working relationships and ho...

AL speaks to a guy that has been voted UK's top Barber, the one, the only Dale Hince. We have been trying for AGES to try and get Dale on the show but his salon (in The Parade Shops) is that busy, its hard to get him to stand still for longer than 2 minutes. It only took a worldwide pandemic to get him to sit with us but boy do we make the most of it. Dale has an amazing story. From Electrician to...

AL sits with Pippa Lobban from Shrewsbury Food Hub. We discuss what is the difference between a Food bank and a food hub and what do they offer to the community. What is Christmas like at the food hub, how long does it take for things to get back to normal afterwards and how long does it take to loose the smell of parsnips? The pandemic has brought along some interesting situations. How did the pa...

AL and Jules speak to Bev Armitt. This was the last show of the Open Studio sessions, all had cracked open a cold one and was even donning the sunglasses. Jules introduces us to Bev who is the owner of Bevy's Fur Babies. A business that provides many, many services for your pet. You need your dog walking? no problem. You need to buy something from the online pet store? sure! You need a pet taxi se...