Grannies are rural winners

Grandma Carroll and Grandma Valerie with their new book.

They are off to the House of Lords on Wednesday 7 February because Grandma's Stories Ltd is the winner of South Wales Region Best Rural Retailer - Best Diversification Class - a

competition is being run by The Countryside Alliance.

www.countryside-alliance.org , www.bestruralretailer.co.uk

Countryside Alliance South Wales Regional Director Adrian Simpson said-

"This is an original idea and a great story. Grandma Valerie's books, CD Roms and podcasts are all about encouraging grandparents to be actively involved with educating their grandchildren. The whole ethos of the business is centred around work being produced from home in a rural community, particularly for the older generation. Val aims to create employment, especially for mature people, in particular grandparents, who can visit schools and help set up after school clubs and activities. This is an inclusive business helping both older and younger generations and there are plans to publish Welsh language stories this year."

You can download images from www.4learningenglish.com/press

Asked what she thought about becoming a regional winner Valerie said:-

I am so thrilled to have won in South West Wales. I love living in Myddfai, being part of this farming community. Myddfai it is about as rural as you can get but, via the internet, we grannies can be in instant communication with people all over the world. I could not research the educational stories I write without the internet. One day last year I was in contact with a Slavic linguist in USA; a museum in The Ukraine; a professor in Cardiff and a teacher in Latvia. All the time I was here in a tiny Welsh hill village looking out of my window at my neighbour's sheep!

We hope the judges will think that Grandma's Stories are a good example of how, even in a very rural location, people can use modern technology to compete with city folk and create imaginative businesses. Today more grandparents than ever before care for their grandchildren on a regular basis, through Learn with Grandma (separate not for profit company), we aim to give them the resources they need and ideas for activities that are fun and educational.

For more information please contact Valerie:

Mrs Valerie Wood-Gaiger MBE. Grandma's Stories Ltd, Brynamlwg, Myddfai, Llandovery,

Carmarthenshire. Wales SA20 0NZ 0044 (0) 1550 720994. www.4learningenglish.com