Who you gonna call?…APL

The Association of Professional Landscapers (APL) are looking to promote the good name of landscape gardeners after a clean sweep at the recent Chelsea Flower Show.

Every single member of the APL who entered the prestigious and iconic show last week came away with coveted medals, including three golds and the Best in Show, Urban Garden award.

With some 76% of garden owners believing it’s important for their garden to look good, professional assistance is in demand, but a number of gardeners have learned the hard way that not all landscape gardeners are qualified to do the job.

APL say their exceptional record at Chelsea is testament to the extremely high standards required of and adhered to by all APL members and are urging those gardeners who lack green fingers to call a quality assured member of the APL to get their garden in perfect shape for summer.

For the first time, garden owners can view behind the scenes footage of the rigorous inspection process all APL members undergo each year to ensure APL Customer Charter criteria are being met. The ‘APL Inspection Video’, created by SweetPotatoPictures can be found on the APL website, www.landscaper.org.uk and shows independent inspector Neville Stein carrying out an assessment of a Holland Landscapes project in Essex.

Stein, along with other independent assessors visit members each year while they are working on a landscape project to evaluate everything from paperwork to technical processes – including assessing everything from the quality of hard and soft landscaping and technical competencies through to insurance policies and risk assessments. Over and above these stringent inspections, the APL is also the only landscaping scheme operator of TrustMark, a Government-endorsed initiative promoting professional trades people to consumers.

Stein said: “The whole process is extremely thorough. We scrutinise the fundamental elements of landscaping such as examining the health of plants, checking if trees have been planted correctly and even ensure that all correspondence between the landscaper and client is clear and detailed. I am confident that every customer who deals with an APL certified landscaper will receive the highest quality landscaping in Britain.”

Mark Gregory, Chairman of the APL and Gold Medal Winner at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show added: “ Rogue Traders get lots of publicity which proves a big problem for the landscape trade. Luckily, we’re able to reassure customers that as an APL member, we’ve been thoroughly vetted by independent inspectors.

“I would encourage anyone out there who has been freshly inspired by Chelsea, to get creative in their gardens and contact their local APL landscape contractor in the knowledge that they will be dealing with true professionals.”

How Well Do You Know Your Penis?

Most men would probably say they’re on pretty good terms with their ‘little fella’, but for National Men’s Health Week (13-19 June), NHS Choices are encouraging men to get to know their penis even better.

For example, did you know you could break your penis? Were you aware that a healthy man can have between three and five erections lasting up to 35 minutes while asleep? Did you know shorter penises increase more in length when they become erect than longer ones?

If some of these came as a shock to you, there’s more – and even if they didn’t, NHS Choices suggests men log on to learn more about their penis and how to keep it healthy at www.nhs.uk/livewell/penis-health.

The somewhat appropriately named Dr. Knut Schroeder, NHS Choices GP and author, said: “Many people find it embarrassing to ask questions about their manhood. As a result, there are many commonly held misconceptions about what’s considered ‘normal’ when it comes to the penis. NHS Choices therefore offers the perfect forum for men to get the facts, which may help them to alleviate any concerns they might have. Of course, if a man notices anything unusual about their penis and is genuinely worried, I would strongly advise them to visit their GP.”

TOWIE's Mark and Lauren Get Loved Up

The Only Way Is Essex stars Mark Wright and Lauren Goodger looked every bit the perfect pair as they visited Chigwell’s TopGolf centre today.

Mark’s BMW X6 is a regular sight at TopGolf as he insists on dropping by to practice his swing at least once a week.

An insider said: “Mark and Lauren looked very loved up. They were very smoochy-smoochy.”

Fresh from the lads’ holiday in Marbs, it looks like Mark only has eyes for one birdie.

Starr Man: Ringo Starr Announces European Tour

Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band return to the road for the 12th All Starr tour this summer. Joining Starr will be Rick Derringer on guitar, Richard Page on bass, Wally Palmar on guitar & harmonica, Edgar Winter on sax and keyboards, Gary Wright on keyboards and Gregg Bissonette on drums.

The twenty eight-date tour kicks off in Kiev, Ukraine on 4th June, stopping in Russia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Latvia, Poland, Britain, France, Czech Republic, Italy, Holland and Germany before concluding in Vienna, Austria on 17th July.

4th June, Kiev, Ukraine, Palace Of Ukraine

6th June, Moscow, Russia, Crocus City Hall

7th June, St Petersburg, Russia, Big Concert Hall

10th June, Gothenburg, Sweden, Liseberg

11th June, Oslo, Norway, Norwegian Wood Festival

12th June, Randers, Denmark, Vaerket

14th June, Riga, Latvia, Arena Riga

15th June, Warsaw, Poland, Sala Kongresowa

17th June, London, England, Hampton Court

18th June, Liverpool, England, Empire

20th June, Birmingham, England, Symphony Hall

22nd JuneManchester, England, Opera House

23rd June, Glasgow, Scotland, Clyde Auditorium

24th June, Bournemouth, England, BIC

26th June, Paris, France, Palais des Sports

28th June, Budapest, Hungary, Sport Arena

29th June, Prague, Czech Republic, KCP Congress Centre

2nd July, Lyon, France, Centre de Congres

3rd July, Milan, Italy, Civic Arena

4th July, Rome, Italy, Auditorium Cavea

7th July, Hamburg, Germany, Stadtpark

9th July, Weert, Holland, Bospop Festival

10th July, Dusseldorf, Germany, Philipshalle

12th July, Berlin, Germany, Tempodrom

13th July, Munich, Germany, Circus Krone

14th July, Salzburg, Austria, Halle 1

16th July, Frankfurt, Germany, Jahrhunderthalle

17th July, Vienna, Austria, Open Air Arena

Ringo Starr is one of the world’s brightest musical luminaries. He has enjoyed a successful and dynamic solo career as a singer, songwriter and drummer, an active musical collaborator and as an actor. Drawing inspiration from classic blues, soul, country, honky-tonk and rock ‘n’ roll, Ringo continues to play an important role in modern music with his solo recording and touring.

Ringo Starr’s music, as a solo artist and as a Beatle, is permeated with his personality. His warmth and humour, and his exceptional musicianship have given us songs we all know and love, including ‘It Don’t Come Easy’, ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’, ‘Yellow Submarine, ‘Don’t Pass Me By’, ‘Octopus’ Garden’, ‘Photograph’, ‘Back Off Boogaloo’, ‘You’re Sixteen (You’re Beautiful And You’re Mine)’, ‘Don’t Go Where the Road Don’t Go’, ‘The No No Song’ and ‘Never Without You’.

The All Starr Band has toured consistently since its inception in 1989. Based on the concept “everybody on stage is a star in their own right”, each concert sees Ringo performing songs from his solo and Beatles’ career and each Starr performing hits from their own careers. Over the years the revolving line up has included such stellar artists as Joe Walsh, Dr. John, Todd Rundgren, Timothy B. Schmidt, John Entwhistle, Peter Frampton, Sheila E., Rod Argent and Paul Carrack.

Returning to the stage for the 2011 tour are the six All Starr band members who toured with Ringo in 2010:

Rick Derringer is a noted rock guitarist, vocalist and entertainer who was just 17 when his band The McCoys recorded the No.1 hit ‘Hang On Sloopy’ in the summer of 1965, knocking ‘Yesterday’ by The Beatles from the top spot. He later played with both Edgar Winter and Johnny Winter and found further success with his hit single ‘Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo’ and with his eponymous band Derringer. Throughout the 70’s and 80’s he appeared on numerous albums with artists Alice Cooper, Richie Havens, Todd Rundgren, Cyndi Lauper, Barbra Streisand, Kiss and Steely Dan. In the mid-80’s, Derringer discovered Weird Al Yankovic, producing music for Grammy-winning albums and videos and the 2006 Grammy Awards brought Rick his third Grammy with his participation on the Les Paul 90th birthday tribute CD.

Born in the USA in 1953, Richard Page is best known as the singer/bassist for the multi-platinum, Grammy nominated group Mr. Mister. In the late 70’s and early 80’s Richard recorded three albums under the moniker of Pages with Steve George. Page has retained a cult following in many areas of the world. The pair formed Mr Mister in the mid 80s. The band released three albums and had several world-wide hits, including ‘Broken Wings’ and ‘Kyrie’. They split in 1990 and a fourth Mr Mister album, ‘PULL’ remained unreleased for 20 years. It has been remastered and is currently available on Richard’s own record label, Little Dume Records. Page has recorded two solo albums, ‘Shelter Me’ and ‘Peculiar Life’, as well as providing backing vocals for artists such as Elton John, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Barbara Streisand and Elvis Costello among many more. As a songwriter Page has had songs recorded by Madonna, Leona Lewis, Josh Groban, Celine Dion and Hall & Oates to name just a few.

Wally Palmar, lead vocalist, harmonica, rhythm guitar player, and founding member of The Romantics, is amongst one of the most recognized voices of the 80’s. The group’s self-titled debut album yielded the hit ‘What I Like About You’, which carries on throughout the decades. Other singles include, ‘When I Look In Your Eyes’, ‘One in a Million’, and the international hit ‘Talking In Your Sleep’. The Romantics are continuously being re-introduced to new generations today via the extensive airplay on contemporary, rock and satellite radio, commercials and movie soundtracks. Never content to simply rest on his red-leathered laurels, Palmar continues to write, record and tour around the world with The Romantics.

Edgar Winter is an accomplished jazz, rock and blues keyboard player and saxophonist as well as a vocalist who found success in the early 70s and has continued to record throughout the 80s, 90s and 00s. Edgar has worked with noted guitarists Rick Derringer and Ronnie Montrose as well as his older brother Johnny Winter (a noted blues / rock guitarist). In 1972 Edgar had a #1 hit with the instrumental ‘Frankenstein’, taken from his acclaimed album ‘They Only Come Out At Night’. Edgar also enjoyed great success with the hit ‘Free Ride’ as well as ‘Dying To Live’ which Eminem produced for the hit movie ‘Tupac’. Edgar Winter’s songs have appeared on the soundtracks to over 20 films.

Over the course of his 40-year career which began in the UK with the rock band Spooky Tooth, Gary Wright has played before millions of fans and his music has appeared in blockbuster movies & TV shows as well as being played on radio every day. A pioneer of using synthesizers in pop music as heard on his worldwide hits ‘Dream Weaver’ and ‘Love Is Alive,’ Gary has inspired generations of mainstream artists including Eminem, Mya, Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes, Anastacia and DJ Armand Van Helden all of whom have either sampled or covered his songs. Gary’s world-unifying vision and musical prowess were recently displayed on ‘Connected’ his first pop-rock album for 20 years. Gary joined the All Starr Band in 2008.

Drummer and vocalist Gregg Bissonette comes from a musical family, where his father was also a drummer, his mother a pianist, brother a bass player and sister a violinist. Gregg played on three albums by former Van Halen vocalist David Lee Roth, with the first ‘Eat ‘Em And Smile’ one of the most acclaimed rock albums of the mid 80s. Since then Gregg has recorded and toured with a number of artists, including Toto, ELO, Santana, Andrea Bocelli, The Maynard Ferguson Big Band, Spinal Tap and James Taylor. Having first worked and toured with Ringo Starr in 2003 (alongside his brother Matt on bass and vocals), Gregg has been an All Starr member since 2008 and this is his third tour as an All Starr.

www.ringostarr.com

First Lady Michelle Obama Gives Voice to Women

Democratic political consultant Lena Kennedy announced today that First Lady Michelle Obama is attending a fundraising luncheon at the private home of Ann and Robert Hamilton in Pasadena on Monday, June 13. The fundraiser is being organized by Southern California Women For Obama, a local grassroots initiative headed by Kennedy to help women get engaged in the political process and ensure their voice is heard.

“We expect about 500 attendees, a turnout similar to earlier Obama fundraisers we’ve hosted in Pasadena during the presidential campaign,” adds Kennedy.

“We are honored to be one of only two fundraisers the First Lady will attend during her visit to Southern California,” explains Los Angeles business executive and Presidential Partner Teena Hostovich, who is co-chairing the event with Kennedy. “Attendees at our luncheon will be a good cross-section of President Obama’s constituents in Los Angeles, one that is diverse culturally, socially, and economically.”

More than 450 women attended a reception rally hosted at the home of Lesley and Rob Levy on May 15 to kick off President Obama’s re-election campaign and offer women meaning ways to get involved in the political process. Hostovich, who served as the evening’s emcee, introduced various speakers including Congresswoman Judy Chu, John Emerson & Ken Solomon, California Co-Chairs, President Obama National Finance Committee, Eric Bauman, Vice Chair California Democratic Party, Honorable Wendy Greuel, Los Angeles City Controller, and Los Angeles Councilwoman Jan Perry.

The luncheon will begin at 11 a.m. Individual tickets are $1,000. Special $10,000-a-couple tickets are also available, allowing a photo opportunity and private time with the First Lady. For more information, contact Lena Kennedy at 626-765-6206 or email at Lkennedy@LLKAssociates.com.

Fresh Meat: Channel 4 Announces New Comedy Drama

From the award-winning creators of Peep Show, Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong, and with a brilliant young cast, Fresh Meat is Channel 4’s latest comedy drama series, currently filming on location in Manchester.

Spanning eight episodes, the series follows a group of six students about to embark on the most exciting period of their lives thus far – University! Away from home for the first time, on the brink of adult life, they are about to discover who they really are. From the moment they ship up as freshers at their shared house, their lives are destined to collide, overlap and run the whole gamut of appalling behaviour and terrible errors of judgment.

They are: JP (Jack Whitehall), public school boy with good teeth and an inflated sense of entitlement; Kingsley (Joe Thomas), charming, loveable and crushingly insecure; Josie (Kimberley Nixon), overly enthusiastic, determined to experience ‘new things’, however bad they are for you. Then there’s socially awkward and know-it-all Howard (Greg McHugh); straight talking, hard-living Vod (Zawe Ashton); and finally Oregon (Charlotte Ritchie), desperate to be cool and terrified of being boring.

C4 Head of Drama, Camilla Campbell, says: ‘I am delighted to be able to announce our exciting cast of the best of today’s talent for a brand-new comedy drama series for Channel 4.

“Sam and Jesse are bringing their customary incisive comedy to the drama output, and the result is a hilarious and painfully truthful series about being a student.”

Fresh Meat will be made by Objective Productions and Lime Pictures, and produced by Rhonda Smith.The series is executive produced by Judy Counihan and Phil Clarke for Objective Productions, and Tony Wood for Lime.

Cheryl Cole Told: 'Lose Two Stone' For X Factor.

In the ongoing saga of Cheryl Cole’s firing from the US X Factor, it emerged yesterday that she was told by an unnamed executive at Fox network to lose up to two stone before her debut. The 27-year-old singer quickly enlisted Gwyneth Paltrow’s personal trainer, Tracey Anderson, to get back into shape after a battle with malaria left her with a curvier figure, but found herself out of time, out of favour and heading back to the UK.

To soften the blow of her failed trip, a return to the UK’s show was offered to the troubled star as an olive branch. But it has now been announced that she will not return to the UK X Factor after she became ‘uncontactable’.

X Factor judge, Amanda Holden, said that Cheryl will regret it if she doesn’t return. She told Radio 2: ‘There is dark talk of Cheryl snubbing a return to British X Factor. Please do not do this. You will regret it for a long time.”

Kate Middleton & William Sidelined by Posh & Becks

After all the Royal Wedding fever has died down and with the patter of a little baby Posh on the way, it would seem that the royal couple have been sidelined…

A new survey by House Exchange, the mutual exchange website for social housing tenants, reveals that nearly twice as many Brits said they would rather swap homes and lives with David and Victoria Beckham (13%) than with Kate Middleton and Prince William (7%). The poll shows that it is in fact the glamorous jet-setting lifestyle of the Beckhams that us Brits really hanker after rather than the down to earth, low-key approach favoured by Kate and Wills.

The British public, however, were quite happy to move into some rather Royal properties with Buckingham Palace (12%) and Warwick Castle (10%) coming top of the list of famous House Exchanges, closely followed by Monica’s flat in friends (9%) and Mum and Dad’s House (5%).

The survey results also show that many people are happy in their current homes, especially the over 55s, of which more than half (55%) said they wouldn’t want to swap homes. This is in direct contrast to the 16-24 age group, where only 19% were happy to stay were they were.

Kim Doran, House Exchange Manager, said: “Young people often struggle to find their ideal home due to high rents and difficult lending conditions. However, the situation is much bleaker for social housing tenants who are not on the property ladder. We estimate nearly 500,000 of the UK’s 3.9 million social housing tenants would like to move home but can’t.

“They end up stuck on transfer lists for years and this is why we have developed House Exchange, a mutual house exchange database for social housing tenants anywhere in the UK.”

The House Exchange website currently has around 70,000 properties listed around the UK and makes around 1,000 successful swaps per month. Over half the social housing tenants that sign up have been trying to move for more than two years, yet 80% of tenants using House Exchange find their perfect match within six months, and many move within only six weeks.

House Exchange boasts two exciting features to make it easier for tenants to find their perfect match.

Three way swap

If tenants can’t find a direct swap, they can find a third property to complete the house exchange. A three way home swap is a good way of completing more house exchanges. It also helps more people move into homes that are appropriate for their needs.

Real-time matching

House Exchange matches all properties instantly. This means that when a perfect property match is found, tenants are notified immediately by email.

Visit House Exchange at www.houseexchange.org.uk