THOSE clever people at LEADER+ have come up trumps for local food yet again a fabulous new poster campaign to help drive home the buy local message.

The project co-ordinated by Anna Gray, interpretation officer for the Penrith-based Cumbria Fells and Dales funding programme features a range of A3-sized visuals to identify what products are locally produced, where you can buy them from and, most importantly, why buy them. The remaining posters (illustrated right) highlight specific local food products and each identifies one particular reason why food should be bought locally.

Anna has sent the posters to all farm shops, food stores specialising in local products, butchers etc, and will be found on the LEADER+ website.

"We hope the posters will support the trend towards local sustainability issues and reinforce messages about the environmental, economic and social reasons of buying locally," explained Anna. "If more people could think about the way they purchase their food (where it comes from, the supply chain involved, the environmental costs of transporting food long distances, packaging issues, etc) and modify their food spending habits accordingly, the benefits for local producers and the local economy could be enormous. The more businesses that display the posters the better."

The posters can be supplied free of charge through LEADER+. Simply call 01768-869533 or visit www.fellsanddales.org.uk n BELLS of Lazonby, the Cumbrian family bakery business, has been awarded the prestigious Queen's Award for Enterprise - Innovation Award 2006 for its OK and Village Bakery Gluten Wheat and Dairy Free ranges.

The awards, announced by The Queen to mark her 80th birthday, are the UK's leading accolades for business success.

From turnover of literally nothing when Bells launched the range of products at the International Food Exhibition in April 2003, it now has annualised turnover of £2.5 million with products listed in all the major national supermarkets - Asda, Booths, Boots, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose.

Managing director Michael Bell said: "We are extremely proud of our achievement and recognise the crucial need for constant innovation and recipe balance to ensure that we remain at the forefront of this market."

n BOOTHS has been awarded the Foods from Spain Independent Retailer of the Year for the second year running, in the Refresh honours 2006. The awards are now in their third year and have very quickly become one of the leading fresh produce industry events of the year.

Chris Treble, Booths' fresh produce buyer, said: "It's great to see the independent retailer acknowledged and a great honour to win the award two years running. It's a reflection on all the hard work that everyone at Booths has put in over the last year."