There are some brilliant companies who won the other awards. Click here to see who they were.

It is strongly believed that there are several scenes missing from Macbeth that were either deleted or lost in the 17 year gap after Shakespeare wrote it and the time it was published in 1623. The talk will discuss these possibilities and Wolfson will be accompanied by two actors.

The talk takes place on Wednesday 8th of September, tickets are £8.

Sometimes though, we do have to betray our Handpicked loyalties and look to a couple of our favourite, well established British brands for a little lust worthy shopping. Top of every single one of our lists at the moment is Mulberry’s Neely Bag. Move over Alexa, the Neely is the perfect work bag, incorporating the trend of satchel that has impounded the high street for the last few months with lashings of briefcase turning this from festival follower to working business woman. Jump on the bandwagon sharpish though, judging by the apparent 9000 strong waiting list that the Alexa had only a few weeks ago, this ones sure to be a corker. The nude colour has already sold out on Mulberry’s website.

Mulberry Neely Bag £650, images from Mulberry Shop Online.

We recently had a tub of marbles make its way over to the Handpicked Office and I was first to put up my hand to test them out – for our customers benefit of course. Opening the lid I was taken back to my childhood days when collecting the prettiest or biggest marbles was high up there with being the coolest kid in the playground. All the different colours, patterns and sizes, I was amazed that not much has changed in the marble world, yet I am still just as excited as I was 20 years ago to start bagging the best marbles.

Needless to say I took them straight home to show my ever-excitable housemates who joined me for a few games while waiting for the dinner to cook. After getting the hang of a few of our old favourites we got well into the spirit of the game. It wasn’t until an hour or so later that we realized we had completely forgotten about dinner and our nightly glass of wine over Britain’s Got Talent. Who knew a small tub or marbles could provide a whole evening of old school entertainment – I should think it would work a treat on kids as well – just make sure they don’t go missing up children’s noses.

Tub of Marbles - £6.95 - Handpicked Collection

To celebrate 50 years of Carnaby Street in London, they have created these pretty ribbon watches. These babies are limited edition so they’ll be snapped up fast.

Remind you of anything?

The V&A (Handpicked’s culture fix of choice) has its most pre-booked ticket exhibition to date, the much acclaimed Quilts 1700-2010. I’ve been meaning to go and see it for weeks and I think it’s really about time I did. It’s the perfect moment for it to be around as I am sure the exhibitors thought of when they put it together. Everything thrifty, second-hand (other people like to use the term ‘vintage’ if they wish to disassociate themselves with other people’s cast offs) and generally cheap has all been hugely popular and fashionable since this damned credit crunch. Quilts are the epitome of all of this – made of anything and everything; they can brighten up a room, take a lot of time to build up rescuing you from other more expensive hobbies and are completely personal allowing people to show off creativity and haberdashery skills. Click here for tickets and info.

Yesterday, the V&A also opened another exhibition to the public a few doors down at Blythe House near Olympia (click here for a map). The Concise Dictionary of Dress, I don’t really think one can easily explained; as they say, seeing is believing. From what I gather it’s a walk through of a huge collection put together by the V&A and Artangel aimed to portray a wealth of emotion and metaphors to the visitor. An interesting aspect of this is that it has been put together by a psychoanalyst (Adam Phillips) and a Fashion Curator (Judith Clark). The experience is made of beautiful objects and glimpses of the inner workings of fashion and psychoanalysis and what can be defined in this media. Click here for tickets and info.

The next is a bit of a cheat on the Bank Holiday but there’s only so much culture one person can take. The Elephant Parade in London starts on the 3^rd of May and involves a huge cast of artists and designers. Each paint/sculpt/populate an elephant and their works of art are strewn all over the city for the enjoyment of the normal folk. The whole point of the exercise is to draw attention to the endangered Asian elephant (the one with the small ears as Time Out so aptly put it). Artists range from Alice Temperley and Cartier to De Beauvoir Primary School in Hackney. Other names in the menagerie are: Diane von Furstenberg, Kids Company, Lulu Guinness, Matthew Williamson, Nina Campbell, Sir Paul Smith, Tommy Hilfiger and Sir Terrence Conran. The exhibition runs from the 3^rd of May until the beginning of July when the elephants will all club together in the grounds of the Royal Hospital of Chelsea from June 23^rd until July 2^nd and after this they are lent to the greedy hands of Sotheby’s where they will be auctioned off to the rest of the rich and famous. Click here for info.

Spring cleaning feels like a natural reaction to the change in seasons but has become a tradition that allows us to freshen up our homes ready for the busy spring and summer months. In fact, I think spring should be the alternative New Year as the longer evenings and promise of warmth make it a far more positive time to start afresh.

Every year I have great intentions to thoroughly spring clean and always start BIG by donning my overalls and heading up to the loft to once and for all organise ‘who knows what’ that lives up there. It’s always the same though: two hours later I end up exhausted, unmotivated and bored and then simply repack the boxes and give up… and it happens again and again every year!

So this year, I am full of the best intentions and will follow these simple expert tips to the perfect Spring Clean:

1. START SMALL – rather than clearing out a whole garage or loft (in my case) it is best to chose something that will take minutes to organise – a kitchen pin board for example. It’s amazing how inspired you feel when you see the results of such a simple job. Then move onto small drawers such as the cutlery drawer or sock drawer. Before you know it, you will feel like superwoman and will have tackled that overflowing wardrobe or bursting toy box.

2. ONE ROOM AT A TIME – it is important to stay focused when spring cleaning especially when every room needs attention. So start at the top, in a bedroom maybe, and make sure you finish all the cleaning before moving onto the next room. This way, you will stay focused rather then madly dashing like a crazy multi-tasking female from one room to the next mop and duster in hand!

3. DECLUTTER – this is great for the mind as it’s impossible to feel or be organised when surrounded by lots of useless stuff and hard to properly clean if your surfaces and cupboards are full of unnecessary clutter. Donate any clothes that you haven’t worn in two years to charity (yes, even those you have promised to slim back into since 1996), recycle old invitations and those endless flyers you have never used, throw away any out-of-date herb and spice jars (they are tasteless anyway) and clean out those mouldy jam jars that are cluttering up the fridge – maybe you can use the jars for next year’s marmalade?! For items you need to keep such as takeaway menus and future invitations there are many fun storage options such as our Heart Shaped Card Holder or Take-away Menu Organiser. Once the clutter is cleared, cleaning is so much easier and quicker.

4. ECO-FRIENDLY TIPS – to stop your clean home smelling like a chemically-cleaned hospital here are some eco-friendly, chemical-free cleaning ideas. To get rid of window dirt, spray a mix of 1 teaspoon of washing up liquid, ½ teacup of white vinegar and 2 teacups of warm water onto the glass and wipe off. Bicarbonate of soda mixed to a paste with water is also a magic ingredient for cleaning ovens. A few drops of vanilla essence on a cotton cloth placed in the fridge can get rid of musty old cheese smells while baking soda is fabulous for cleaning stainless steel sinks.

5. DON’T FORGET THE GARDEN – Spring cleaning shouldn’t stop at the back door so if your garden is still looking bedraggled after months of Jack Frost, dig out any dead foliage and replant ready-bloomed seedlings for some early spring colour, give garden furniture a new coat of varnish and scrub up the patio to uncover the original stone colour.

6. GET SOME HELP – we all live busy lives and us modern-day women have limited time (or inclination) to clean, so I will be sending my duvets and curtains to the dry cleaners and will hire a professional carpet cleaner to zap all my floors – it is amazing how carpets are transformed and will look as good as new.

Finally, spring clean your favourite vase (a few frozen peas mixed with water and swished around the base works magic), pop in a big bunch of daffodils and relax.

Joanna McGivern is Managing Director of The Handpicked Collection www.handpickedcollection.com – the ultimate online resource for inspired and unusual gift ideas chosen by a panel of lifestyle experts, journalists and trendsetters.

 The book itself is a summer must-have – full of easy, healthy and utterly mouthwatering authentic Mexican dishes and drinks.  We’ve got SIGNED COPIES on their way to us….if you want to reserve one please email Victoria @ handpickedcollection.com and we’ll put one aside for you.  Well done Tommi, you’re the coolest chilli loving chick in town and we love ya’!

*p.s. you can get the recipe for the magic margueritas on the Wahaca Blog