Two major A list Hollywood actresses Angelina Jolie (top) and Jessica Alba have given a huge boost to the makers of the Belle Baby Carrier this week. Their photos appeared in two major weekly magazines: Jessica in W and Angelina being photographed by husband Brad Pitt in People Magazine. The Jellybean Group who distrubute the carrier in the Uk have identified Angelina's as the Organic Black Belle, which of course looks stunning on her.

The BPA report that the recent NEC event was a major success despite the uncertain economic climate. Many exhibitors at BPA Baby & Child 2008 experienced an excellent show with valuable contracts being secured with large multiple retailers. The show attracted 1,800 visitors, which was about the same as last year, with 50 percent attending on the Sunday, 30 percent on Monday and 20 percent on Tuesday.

The Baby Show has confirmed that Bounty will no longer sponsor its show that was recently held at Earl's Court, London. Organisers are now looking forward to The Baby Show Manchester from 14-16 November at Manchester Central.

Premium parenting product brand Maclaren has appointed Mediaman Communications to handle PR and launch the 2009 range. Ian Mullard and Sarah Treder who launched Graco in the UK in 1997 and managed the account until February 2007, are delighted.

Küster has announced the appointment of Steve Whitcombe as National Account Manager. Steve is well know in the industry and will be taking on a pivotal role in the UK, being responsible for all national accounts for the company.

Cheeky Rascals is delighted to announce the appointment of Yang Lu as Web Assistant. Yang joins the company with a Masters in Design for Digital Media, bringing with him strong design skills and technical expertise.  

Rob Pascoe, Managing Director, has just announced the arrival of Lisa Joyce, the new Head of Design and Development for Gro-group® International Ltd. Lisa is responsible for the development of products at Gro-group®, which includes research, design, development, and product presentation in stores and catalogues. She brings over eleven years' experience in design within the nursery industry. Lisa has moved to Devon from Manchester to take up this position at gro-group's headquarters based in Ashburton.

Hardenberg & Co, the official UK distributor of Angelcare Baby Monitors and Nappy Disposal Systems has moved to new offices in Stone, Staffordshire. Marc Hardenberg, MD of Hardenberg & Co is very pleased to finally have an office just for Hardenberg & Co. 'This gives us the space and opportunity to grow our business significantly over the next few years. Our office is part of the old Joules Brewery in Stone, which has been an active brewery from 1758 to 1974, when it was taken over by Bass Charrington. The buildings have recently been listed, so it is great to be part of a bit of local history!'

As  favourite patchwork elephant, Elmer  prepares to take centre stage in the theatre this December, it looks like he'll be number one on Christmas lists too thanks to Rainbow Designs. The story of Elmer, the classic patchwork elephant created by David McKee, has been brought to life for the first time ever by the Birmingham Stage Company and to complement the show, Rainbow Designs' soft toys will be available from the theatre gift shop. The toys will be on sale during the three-week run of the Elmer stage show at The Capitol Theatre in Horsham, West Sussex.

Magmatic Design - creators of the award winning Trunki - start 2009 with a host of new products for travelling tots on the go! Recent National Business Award winners, Trunki has become synonymous with innovative family travel.

The much acclaimed Practical Pre-School Awards have recognised the high quality and superb play value of Taggies in two popular products. Little Taggies won a Gold Award, and Taggies Play Pal Puppets were awarded a Bronze.

Plan Toys, distributed in the Uk by Marbel, has been recently acknowledged as 'an outstanding organisation, for developing the quality of life for persons with disabilities'.

Disney Consumer Products and Swedish toymaker Brio, have got together to produce a brand new wooden toy range based on the highly popular Playhouse Disney preschool TV shows.

Dorel has decided to bring many of the best known Bebe Confort products under the Maxi-Cosi brand name in the UK, and focus its marketing finances on supporting them.

GoochiCoo, the innovative, designer brand for babies and toddlers, has awarded a licence to KISS HK (Keep It Simple), the creator of high-quality wooden toys for children, to produce a range of GoochicCoo-branded wooden toys.

Over 75 local authorities across the UK now offer parents incentives to encourage the use of reusable nappies, making them an even better buy in these cash-strpped times. The incentives range from free trial packs to up to £70 cashback or vouchers towards reusable nappies or nappy laundry services. Schemes are available up and down the country, and new incentives are always emerging.

After many months of testing and analysing of results, the highly regarded 2008 Practical Pre-School Awards were announced to the book, toy and child care industry last month.

Specialists in free play, Edventure Ltd, have appointed a PR agency. Aspen PR will be tasked with promoting the launch of Edventure's new website and maximising publicity around links with various partners to raise the company's profile. Commenting on the move, Russell Booth, General Manager said, ‘Here at Edventure we add value to our products in so many ways we take it for granted. We were looking for a PR company to help us promote all the exciting work we do!'

John Crane Ltd has bolstered its team with the appointment of Terrie Feasey-Drage as Administration Assistant. Terrie has excellent organisational skills and background in administration, which she will use to assist with the smooth running of the office in Northampton. John Crane commented, ‘Terrie's appointment is part of continued growth here at John Crane Ltd, and she joins us at a key time of year.'

Two important new team members have joined the Cuddledry staff. Charlotte Campbell comes in as Marketing and Account Manager for the network of independent retailers across the UK, and Sarah Speake joins as International Account Manager to work with distributors globally.

Bucking recent downward trend forecasts, Frugi is celebrating their biggest ever sales month, in six figures for the first time, due to a record number of orders.

Over 70% of new mums would like more friends to share problems and experiences with but don't know where to go to meet them, according to a recent survey of over 350 parents polled by website www.whatson4littleones.co.uk.

Last month at Kind + Jugend 2008 six companies were presented with a special Innovation Award to commend the design and development of their unique products based on their innovative character, safety, user-friendliness, creativity as well as the finished quality. So take note now as we present the winners...

Emmay Ltd, the UK distrubutor of DreamBaby products has just announced its acquisition of Toddle Time.

Aprica has announced the appointment of Gary Whittaker as UK Sales Manager.

Joseph Clough, who hails as a ‘Celebrity Mind Coach' with expertise in hypnotherapy and NLP, recently commissioned a survey of1500 Brits about how happy they are. Despite the economic situation it seems over two thirds of the public are optimistic about their financial situation, with 53% of people claiming to be 'happy with life'.

The BPA says that it is experiencing an increase in visitor registrations for the BPA Baby & Child show in October.

TP Toys, the UK's leading manufacturer of children's outdoor play equipment, has just started to run competitions exclusively to those who connect with the TP Toys' group on the social networking site, Facebook.

Working with ebay, a new web-based sales system called ‘Auction People' has been launched to help make it easier to money out of surplus stock, returns, or refurbished items.

Lollipop Children's Products, known for their washable nappies has reached the last  12 in the 2008 Barclays Commercial Bank Green Leaders in Business Awards.

Celebrity parents, including a host of footballers, are clamouring for Concord's prestigious new travel system, the Neo Carbon.

According to market research by the British Chiropractic Association, back pain in the UK has risen by a staggering 5% since last year and in another poll, the BCA revealed that nearly half (44%) of 16 - 24 year olds suffer from back pain.

Modern mums are taking a leaf out of their grandmother's books and are relying on strict 1960's routines to raise their children, according to a new survey.

Rob Holmes, Chairman of gro-group®, is delighted to announce the arrival of their new Sales and Marketing Manager, Ian Fitzpatrick.

Tippitoes is once again delighted to be exhibiting at Kind und Jugend and much has changed since last years event. Visitors will see how Tippitoes has continued to expand its choice of products as well as offering exceptional quality at affordable prices.

BPA Retail members will make huge savings at BPA Baby & Child this year, as numerous exhibitors are offering exclusive discounts of up to 15 percent to members placing orders at the show.

Specialists in free play, Edventure Ltd, have appointed a PR agency.  Aspen PR will be tasked with promoting the launch of Edventure's new website and maximising publicity around links with various partners to raise the company's profile.

A panel of industry experts including executives at Habitat, Lakeland, John Lewis and Debenhams, as well as independent retailers and journalists, have chosen many eco-friendly products to win Gift of the Year 2008 across 16 key categories.

Enesco, one of the largest manufacturers and distributors giftware in Europe has bought the worldwide assets of Gund, a company known for its high quality plush toys and gifts. Gund will operate as an independent division of Enesco, hence there will be no change to the UK operation. 

One of this year's new benefits of exhibiting at BPA Baby & Child show is proving to be very popular both with exhibitors and journalists alike; the Pre-show Press Day.

Hollywood actress  Halle Berry heaped praise on her new Kuster highchair last week by describing it as ‘amazing'. She said ‘The Kuster highchair is amazing and I love mine.  Highchairs sure have changed since I was a kid. This chair is more like a sleek piece of art that functions at the highest level and it doesn't take up a lot of space in your kitchen like other chairs.'

Nursery distributor Cheeky Rascals, has hit success again, not once but eight times in just three months with many of its newest products from around the world.

Wilkinet's Fair-trade Organic Baby Carrier has been come out on top as Best Baby Carrier by eco-review website SmartPlanet.com

Christmas Gift Fair
8th - 9th November
The Hop Farm, Kentish Oast Village

The Christmas Gift Fair for the public is being held for the seventh year running at The Hop Farm in Paddock Wood on 8th & 9th November and there's still space to exihibit.

Janet Sethi has joined of of the UK's leading nursery industry manufacturer, Britax, as National Account Manager.

John Crane Ltd bid adieu last month to Anthony King. Anthony was instrumental in the company and a loyal partner to John for over 24 years.  The office held a week of celebrations to show thier appreciation of his time working with them. Commenting on his retirement, John Crane summed up everyone's feelings by simply saying,     ‘I could not have wished for a better partner.'

Sally Meredith, who for many years headed up East Coast's PR activities including many of their American toy ranges such as Sassy, has recently put her many year's experience in the nursery industry to wider use and been newly appointed PR and Marketing Consultant for iCandy and Little Shield. She'll be working with both both the consumer and trade press. ‘It‘s an exciting time to be working with these two brands, building their profiles, and launching great new products'.

JCB and Halsall International have agreed a new 3 year deal which not only grants global rights to significant toy categories, it is also marks the ten year anniversary of their successful partnership.

The latest addition to the iCandy range is the 'Apple Special Edition'. Combining stunning looks with the ultimate in function, the new UK designed Apple Special Edition comes as a complete package, including lightweight chrome chassis, reversible seat unit, carrycot, luxury changing bag, all-over raincover, extra large shopping basket, parasol and footmuff, in a choice of two stylish colours, Black Magic or Coco. Tel: 01462 484858 or http://www.icandyuk.com/

Petite Star were so blown away with the response to their best-selling and multi-award winning! Zia stroller, they felt the only way forward was to improve it even more, but how? With a little bit of clever engineering the new Zia4 now takes a lightweight Group 0+ car seat. 

Close Baby Carrier, the product designed and promoted by baby carrying mentor Claire Scott , has just goneon sale in John Lewis.