SLOE Motion

Those of you who were coming to see us at the CLA Game Fair this year might remember one of our sponsors was Yorkshire-based sloe gin company, SLOEmotion. Since we were in the area, we thought it would be nice to pop in and say hello to Jonathon Curtoys, the owner, and have a quick look round.

This close to Silly Season, they are obviously extremely busy (75-80% of their sales are done in the run-up to Christmas) so we could have timed our visit a little better, but they were all very friendly anyway! Actually, they've had a busy year: they've moved offices, everyone is talking about them and they have just been awarded gold in the Taste of Britain Awardsbest drink category.



With a degree in agriculture and a background in farm business advice and environmental campaigning, Jonathan saw the possibility of creating an ethical but profitable business by harvesting a crop that is essentially free. He had grown up drinking his dad's homemade sloe gin and decided to team up with a friend near Malton and start making the tipple just like his dad's but on a much larger scale.

They started off by using all their own sloes, but have grown so much that they now have to buy a lot in. However, nearly 80% are from North Yorkshire and since the blackthorn bushes must be left to grow in order to harvest the sloes, as Jonathan points out, he is effectively paying farmers to manage their hedgerows in a way that is good for wildlife.

The harvested sloes are frozen to split the skins; traditionally each sloe had to be pricked twelve times with a thorn from the bush, but this new method is a little more practical for large quantities! They are defrosted as and when they are needed and put into large metal tanks.

The gin that is added is sourced from London's last traditional distiller and is added to the tank (two parts sloes to three parts gin) with some sugar. The mixture is then left in the tanks for six to eight weeks (any longer and it gets too sweet and you begin to lose the alcohol) and stirred occasionally with paddles. Jonathan said that it's quite a happy time when they're filling the tanks as it is very easy to get tipsy off the fumes!


Jonathan checking one of the tanks

The liquid is then filtered three times through a piece of muslin (if you do it any more, it starts to lose its taste) before being gravity fed into the bottling area, where it is bottled by hand. The labels are produced by a local printer, but the labelling and packaging process is done by hand on site.


Bottling up

The gin-infused sloes that are left in the tanks are then put through a machine that brushes the flesh from the stones. Said flesh is then used as the centre for their SLOEmotion truffles, or cooked up with onions, apples, raisins and tomatoes to make a delicious chutney. As well as the truffles and chutney, they also make sloe whisky and vodka.

They make around 20,000 litres of sloe gin a year, 5,000 litres of sloe whisky, 3,000 litres of sloe vodka and about 6,000 jars of chutney (we forgot to ask about the chocolates!) and sell their products at shows, online and through a network of around 200 retailers. On average, half their sales are made at shows, a quarter on the internet and a quarter through retailers. The company seems to be going from strength to strength and, having recently bought out his partner, Jonathan has loads of ideas about how to take the business forward.

Even if you make your own sloe gin and baulk at the idea of paying someone else for it, the truffles are absolutely delicious and well worth a try.

If you fancy trying one of Jonathan's sloe gin cocktails - a Sloegasm - come and visit the Muddy Matches stand at next year's CLA Game Fair!

Sloe Motion, Green Farm, Barton-le-Willows, York YO60 7PD
0844 800 1911
info@sloemotion.com
www.sloemotion.com

Training with SARDA: the Search and Rescue Dogs Association

Keen to find out a bit more about the Lake District's Search and Rescue Dogs Association (SARDA Lakes), we arranged to meet Les Telford, one of the handlers, in a car park in Keswick and follow him to Buttermere, where their weekend training was taking place.

A nail-biting journey then ensued as we tried to negotiate a narrow, slippery mountain pass in the dark before managing to wedge the van between two walls in the narrow entrance and, with the stench of burning clutch burning our nostrils, having to reverse back up the steep drive to find an easier entrance. Eventually we made it in one piece - phew!

Les then introduced us to Mary and Terry, two other volunteers who had already arrived, and we all headed down to the local pub for a bite to eat and a much-needed drink. Chatting to the three of them, we managed to learn a lot about SARDA in preparation for the following day's training.

A voluntary organisation, SARDA trains and works mountain rescue search dogs to help search for and rescue missing persons, or 'mispers'. Les is a handler and, having graded (completed the training) in 2003, he and his collie Kess are frequently called out to help in searches. He is also an assessor and would be reviewing how some of the trainees were getting on the following morning. Mary and Terry help out by being 'bodies' for the training days, meaning they pretend to be a missing person by coming out onto the hill, lying in a bivvy bag and waiting for the dog and handler to find them.

This is a skill in itself, as the dog's acceptance that the best prize of all is to find a missing person, depends very much on how the body interacts with them in the early stages of their training. To begin with, it might take the dogs hours to find the body so, whilst in mid-summer bodying could just be a lovely excuse for a snooze on the hillside, looking out the window we didn't envy their job in December! Also, spare a thought for the bodies at snow-training time, when they are asked to bury themselves in a narrow gap up to two metres under the surface and wait till a dog comes and digs them out - rather disturbingly, these are called 'graves'!

There is a SARDA Lakes and a SARDA England; as the Lakes branch, they work predominantly in the Lake District's mountainous environment, but also in other areas where their skills might be of benefit (they were called out to help find the Morecambe Bay cocklers, for example). Located where they are, the majority of their callouts are from inexperienced walkers who have lost their way in bad weather. Being the highest peak in the area, Scarfell Pike is the most trouble as one-off climbers always want to bag the big one to say that they have done it.

In 2006 they had 49 callouts and, so far this year, they have had 55.

Training process
All SARDA handlers must first be a member of a Mountain Rescue Team so they have the mountain-environment first aid and survival skills to be able to help a casualty (they are usually first on the scene and generally just search with their dogs) and ensure they do not become a casualty themselves. They will also need a dog with which to start their training; most prefer Collies as they are intelligent, long-lived and nimble on uneven terrain, but Lurchers, Labradors and German Shepherds are also used.

It takes around two years to train the average dog/handler partnership, although some do it in less, and they train one weekend a month and mostly once or twice a week in the evening. The training weekends involve meeting up at different locations throughout the Lakes and taking part in three different stages, ranging from basic obedience training to assessment.



On the Saturday, we went along to watch the stage 1 obedience training, which checks that the dogs will sit when asked and come over when called without being distracted. They then work on the basic find sequence, which involves the dog finding the body using air-scent and barking at them, before returning to the handler and barking to show they have found them and returning to the body and barking again. At this stage, it is the body's job to get the dog really excited by fussing over them or using a squeaky toy so the dog recognises that finding a person is the ultimate prize. If you are serious about being a handler, this is the only game you should ever play with your dog.

Obedience training
In stage 2, the dogs are given larger areas to work and they must learn not to give up until they have found the body. They must also be taught not to be distracted by other things such as wildlife and water. In Stage 3, the dog team must pass a minimum of eight formal assessment days in order to be placed on the callout list.

Our aim that day was to watch all three stages in action, but we're afraid to say that the weather was so bad, and we were so cold, that when we saw snow settling in the distance, we thought it best to leave while we still could and so we only saw the Stage 1 training.



So next time you set off up a mountain in the Lake District, think about all the work that goes into being able to find you if you get lost! A bit like the coastguards, mountain rescue teams work on behalf of the police, so in an emergency, dial 999, ask for the police and say you want mountain rescue.

For information about becoming a handler or a body, get in touch with the SARDA training officer, Mick Guy.

SARDA Lakes is totally self-funded; they receive no government or lottery funding and therefore operate entirely due to the generosity of the public through corporate sponsorship, Gift Aid and cash donations. For more information about how you can help, click here.

Raygill Fisheries

Whilst in Yorkshire, we were invited down to Raygill Fisheries, in the heart of the Dales just outside Lothersdale, to take a look round and do a spot of fishing. Previously a lime quarry, Bernard Clement bought it in 1987, landscaped the site and began to stock trout. Twenty years later, they have four lakes (two fly and two coarse) and people come from all over the country to try and catch trout, pike, carp, roach, breem and many other kinds of fish.



It's very much a family-run operation with Bernard's children, and their other halves, running the fishery, as well as the clothing store and café they have built at the edge of one of the lakes. His son, Berb, was going to let us do some fishing and, having done a bit of fly fishing growing up, we expressed an interest in trying our hands at some coarse fishing. However, we looked out the window and thought that it was hardly the weather to be sitting still (and that most likely we would be put off for life), so we opted to help him feed the fish instead - much more exciting. We are, it seems, fair weather fisherwomen!


Emma feeding the fish

Much to our embarrassment/amusement, they also asked if we would model some items from their clothes range. Here we are striking one of our more embarrassing poses:



They have just started stocking a new range of shooting waistcoats, designed by lady shooters for lady shooters. Sarah Crookston, who set up Talon, the clothing company that makes them, came to deliver some new stock while we were pottering about wondering what to wear for our next pose and we had a good chat to her about what it was like setting up the business and how she came up with the idea. Like most good ideas, hers stemmed from not being able to find something she liked from what was then available on the market. Talking to other lady shooters, she discovered that she wasn?t the only one, so she decided to research what women really want from their shooting clothes and make them herself. She will be adding to her range in the near future. For more information, visit www.talonshoots.co.uk.



Raygill Fisheries and Country Clothing, Lothersdale, Nr Keighley, North Yorkshire BD20 8HH
01535 632500
Raygill Fisheries
Raygill Country Clothing