07729965231 rebecca@purple-rain.co.uk

Category archive: Uncategorized

It’s up to you, New York, New York

It’s a city I haven’t been to yet. It’s been on my list for a while now. With a big birthday in June, it felt a good time to book flights to New York and visit the US of A and leave the continent of Europe for the first time in my life. Having watched…

Feeding Venice – Exploring the islands that supply Venice with food – part 2

After our delicious lunch on Saturday, we boarded a special open-air train for a guided tour among the ‘barenas’ (salt marshes) to Lio Piccolo, an ancient village reached through a thin strip of land between the waters. The prominent buildings – a dusky pink church and bell tower – were built between the 1600s and…

Feeding Venice – a food, farming & travel log from an Agri-press trip to Italy – part 1

The vaporetto pulls out of Piazzale de Roma into the Venetian lagoon and I can’t quite believe I am in Italy. This is my first overseas trip after the pandemic. I am here for the European Network of Agricultural Journalists AGM and a press trip to the Cavallino Treporti region to explore “Farming in the…

Purple Rain’s first podcast appearance

Thanks to the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Purple Rain had the opportunity to take part in their first podcast appearance. The episode aired on Wednesday 23rd September focusing on ‘Maximising social media’. Alongside Carnmoney Presbyterian’s Creative Associate Jamie Neish and Hill Street Presbyterian Church’s Assistant Minister John Graham, Purple Rain’s Rebecca McConnell joined host, PCI’s…

Lessons in lockdown

Today’s blog is a bit more personal than business related, but given the current circumstances, I just wanted to share some thoughts to help us through these ‘different days’. This plate was given to me when I was seconded to the Youth Justice Agency to help with their internal and external comms. It was made…

The journey so far…

Today, nine years ago, I set up Purple Rain as a PR consultancy. Thanks to my clients and the support of family and colleagues, I am still in business getting to promote companies and organisations and work on some wonderful campaigns. Here is a short video showing some of my work to date and some…

Remembering the fallen journalists

After a visit to St Bride’s Church in London for the 70th anniversary of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), Rebecca reflects on the need to remember journalists who have died in war zones bringing us the news. You’re watching the news with a cuppa and the pictures that you see on TV aren’t…

Food Matters at the Barn opens it’s doors

A cookery school offering classes in practical family cooking has been officially opened on the outskirts of Rathfriland, Co Down. Food Matters at the Barn on the Whitegate Road is the business dream of Heather Henning, a Food Science graduate from Queen’s University, Belfast. From her wealth of experience working in the food industry specialising…

Joyce McConnell, Rebecca McConnell, Vincenta Leyden and Lisa Stewart pictured at In the line of duty

To mark the seventh anniversary of Purple Rain, I held a photography exhibition in Rathfriland on the theme In the line of duty, in Rathfriland Young Farmers’ Hall. I was delighted with the turnout and response from family, friends and neighbours as well as the local community. Colleagues I had worked with in the past journeyed…

WPFG 2013: 2020 Cricket

My first day of volunteering action on the WPFG Social Media team, known in the Twitter trade as #wpfgsocialteam, took me to Shaw’s Bridge on the outskirts of Belfast, where the PSNI team where to face Sri Lanka Customs Veterans in their 2020 cricket match. An avid tennis fan, I confess to not watching or…

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