THEY'VE got the heatwave licked!
Ice cream manufacturers have predicted that the heatwave could result in record sales for the year.
And certainly staff at Dixons Milk Ices in Huddersfield have pulled out all the stops to met massive demand.
They have doubled production of their famous ice cream to 450 litres a day, and it's selling fast in the company's Lockwood shop and through its eight vans.
People in the UK eat about £1bn worth of ice cream a year, with about 54% bought from shops to take home and the remainder eaten on the move.
The Ice Cream Alliance, which represents more than 400 producers, says this year's good weather is likely to result in its best ever year.
Lisa Greene, chief executive of the Alliance, said: "The weather we are having now is different from a month or so ago. It was more humid then, which meant that people were buying drinks to cool down.
"Now the heat is dry and we are seeing ice cream taking over in a big way.
"This could well be a record year, which is great news not just for the big producers but also the hundreds of smaller firms around the country."
Charles Cartwright, of Dixons, said: "Things are going very well and we certainly can't complain about the weather.
"All our ice cream is made on site at Lockwood and we have stepped up production. I employ a few students and they are all in, working to make 450 litres a day.
"We make up the mix one day, freeze it the next and it's on sale in the shops within 24 hours.
"The only thing is we have to keep an eye on the weather; it's great now, but we all know it can change very quickly."
Supermarket chain Tesco said it expected to see ice cream sales double this week, with 15m ice lollies and four million litres of ice cream predicted to be snapped up.
The heatwave also meant a sales boom for salad and barbecue ingredients. Last weekend 500,000 punnets of British strawberries and 11m bags of ready washed salads were bought from Tesco.
Rival Asda is also preparing for bumper business over the coming week. It expects 40% more salad ingredients, 100% more burgers and rolls, 40% more melon and strawberries and 30% more fruit juice to be snapped up.
The company has also asked staff to conduct patrols in its car parks to look for any dogs which may have been left in parked vehicles in the hot weather.
An Asda spokeswoman said: "We've been hot off the mark to make sure our customers can keep chilled with the products they want when the temperature rises."
Sainsbury's reported a similar demand, with sales of ice cream up 60%, lager up 50% and 35,000 bottles of sun cream bought in the last two days alone.
Safeway said it had seen a similar picture during last weekend when it sold eight times as many burgers and salad, compared with the week before.
ALL ABOUT ICE CREAM
* Reports suggest Marco Polo encountered frozen desserts in China in the 13th century
* Ice-cream was first served in England at the court of Charles I, by a cook named DeMirco
* Commercial production began in the USA in 1857
* The USA produces the most - but proportionally and bizarrely people in New Zealand eat the most
* Vanilla accounts for more than half the daily production, with other top flavours being chocolate, neapolitan and nut.
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Hot tips to help keep your cool!
DON'T wilt in the heat!
Health experts have come up with good ideas as temperatures are expected to hit record-breaking highs this week.
The Department of Health has compiled ten tips to help people keep cool and avoid heat-related illnesses during this period.
Not only are daytime temperatures predicted to rise to 100ºF (38º C) but temperatures during the night are expected to remain as high as 75ºF (24ºC). These night-time highs prevent the body from cooling down and recovering from its exposure to daytime heat.
So what should you do?
* Stay in the shade or indoors.
* The sun is at its most dangerous between 11am and 3pm. Find shade under umbrellas, trees or canopies.
* Use sunscreen and cover up.
* If you can't avoid being out in the sun apply sunscreen (factor 15+) and wear a T-shirt, hat and sunglasses.
* Increase your fluid intake above the normal. The recommended daily intake of fluid is 2.5 litres or eight glasses per day.
* Ventilate your home.
* Keep windows open all day and all night and use fans.
* Look after the elderly. They are more prone to the effects of heat.
* Food can go off quickly in hot weather. Don't leave it in the sun - and take the usual precautions with barbecue food
* Protect children. Keep a close eye on young children, who need plenty of fluids. Babies and the very young must be kept out of the sun.
* Avoid excessive physical exertion
* Be sensible with drinking - hot weather speeds up the effects of alcohol.
* Keep cool at work.
These precautionary measures will help increase protection from heat exhaustion and sunstroke as well as food poisoning and skin cancer.
A Department of Health spokesperson said: "This week's temperatures are unusually high and people need to take extra care.
"The tips issued today are common sense precautions and will help people enjoy the weather while protecting themselves from the dangerous, and potentially fatal, effects of these temperatures."
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