Heavy rain expected! Emergency number to call.

Flood warning – midnight tonight 5 July until mid-day tomorrow 6 July affecting all of Suffolk

Babergh and Mid Suffolk have been contacted by The Environment Agency and the Met Office. They have issued warnings for torrential rain overnight in the Mid Suffolk and Babergh districts, which is likely to cause some localised surface water flooding. The warning covers the whole of Suffolk and the wider East Anglia, but exact locations cannot be predicted.

It is thought likely that areas affected during the previous floods on May 3 could once more be affected. If this is the case, we should prepare for potential flooding in Needham Market, Rattlesden and possibly Onehouse. This event may see very localised flooding elsewhere, including places not previously flooded.

If you have problems in the next 24 hours the number to call is 01473 265321 (The Joint Emergency Planning Service for Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils)

Walking the old ways

I have been very much enjoying listening to readings on BBC Radio Four from Robert McFarlane's latest book, The Old Ways, about the ancient footpaths and routes around Britain.

In yesterday's extract,  which focussed on the Peddars and Icknield Ways, we heard about how in times gone by it was the habit in Suffolk to leave small sythes along the route of paths.  This was so that travellers could clear them themselves during the growing season.

This year the paths are particularly hard to traverse, in part due to the weather, and in part due to the fact that the County Council, understandably, I suppose, due to financial cuts,  seems to have finally  given up on their statutory duty to keep all rights of way open.

As McFarlane writes in his book paths need walkers, but walkers are unlikely these days to wish to spend their time cutting their way throught the undergrowth.  Every year Nick or I take our secateurs down to a little overgrown footbridge between here and Long Melford and cut back the brambles to make our walk a little easier.  Unfortunately the sides of the fields on either side of the bridge are now also currently virtually impassable, and there is no little sythe available!

Thank goodness the Parish Councils do take time to keep the most frequently used footpaths clear, which is, I suppose, something.

The readings from The Old Ways are at 9.45 a.m. every morning until Friday, and can be heard again through the BBC website here! for the next seven days.

Planning - a slow process on sensitive sites.

I see in the Suffolk Free Press that Robert Audley, the CEO and owner of Prolog, is blaming the loss of 60 jobs at the company on delays in granting planning permission on land in Chilton.

I am very sorry to read that jobs have been lost, particularly given the current economic climate.  However,  I think that if Mr Audley wanted to build his monster warehouses at speed and with ease he should have chosen a site further from valuable heritage assets and residential properties.

The decision to designate land for employment use in that particular place has been controversial for years. It has always been recognised as a sensitive plot.  In fact, under the first Local Plan in which it was included, a height restriction of 9 metres was placed on any buildings to be built there.  Sadly, whether by accident or design, this restriction was subsequently lost in translation from one plan to the next.

It is worth pointing out in this connection, that the planning process proved to be very speedy indeed for the Suffolk Primary Care Trust when it sought permission to build the proposed Health Centre on the site immediately next to the Prolog site.   The process only took a few months from start to finish. This might of course have been because the planned building is of a high quality of design and, following representations from local people, was reduced in height by one storey at the planning stage, while its footprint was enlarged.   The PCT was careful to undertake a constructive process of public exhibition and consultation prior to submission of the planning application.

There may be one or two lessons here for Prolog.

Bee orchids

Lots of stonecrop on the airfield.

I was struck this morning out on Chilton airfield how wonderful the wild flowers look at present.  The current weather conditions are not particularly great for barbecues and the like, but the sun and showers are clearly good for our flora.

Many thanks to Peter Clifford for these pictures of bee orchids and stonecrop. 

In common with other orchids, bee orchids have been in decline right across England in recent years. One reason is that people can’t resist their lovely flowers.  These have a brown centre which looks like the body of a female bee, smells good, and is irresistible to male bees!  The problem is that its single flower is the result of up to 8 years growth, and if it is picked the plant is unlikely to flower again.

 

 

Pay per view! Art from Oxford by Frances Reed.

I was very pleased to receive these pictures from Frances Reed, who is my god-daughter, and who has just completed her degree at The Ruskin School of Fine Art at Oxford.

As part of the college's graduation show Frances created these slot machines, which in more than one sense can be said to be the antithesis of the art for art sake aesthetic!

Frances writes:

I made three coin operated machines, which were designed so that the examiners would have to pay to mark my work whilst kneeling in undignified/compromising positions. Each machine showed a different film which was triggered using a different mechanism. For instance to work the 'mouth' machine, the viewer would insert 20 pence and turn the handle in either direction, triggering a film of a cows tongue to play inside the mouth, the faster the handle was turned the faster the footage would play. For the 'eye machine' the viewer placed they're hands on the palmistry design which triggered off heat sensors to play a film showing earth worms edited to dance to a sound track by Divine. The machine cases are made from plywood which I then glossed, I hollowed out all of the light bulb fittings in the machines and replaced them with LED's. The machines didn't go down too well with the examiners, perhaps unsurprisingly, but I had a lot of fun making them and learnt a great deal as well.

I am sure that Frances will go far!  How marvellous to be able to discomfort one's examiners in this way!

 

Jubilee Celebrations in Great Waldingfield.

(From our own correspondent (on the spot throughout!)

(Photographs at the end.)

Great Waldingfield's Jubilee Celebration  was a unique opportunity for neighbour  to meet with neighbour and indulge in some friendly chat. There was plenty of it going on in an atmosphere of joy and happiness and plenty of laughs. And  phew! what a turn-out - the Jubilee Celebration was a huge success if you were to judge it on the number of visitors that attended. A conservative estimate put the figures at between 800 and 1000 attending the events during the day on Saturday with another 400 attending the evening entertainment held in the marquee.

It did look as though all the hours of planning and organising would count for nothing. With just 30 minutes to go before the commencement of the celebrations the electrical power failed in the pavilion! However, we had the solution close at hand; some skilled analysis of the problem by our resident electrician Mike followed by a quick visit to the local DIY store and we were up and running  in time for the festivities to commence at 11.00am Phew!!

The weather was very kind to us too, whilst it wasn't hot and sunny it didn't rain so that was a blessing. The hardy souls of Great Waldingfield and surrounding areas did us proud and supported the event to an extent that could only have dreamed  of a few weeks before.

All of the events that were programmed in for the display ring drew large numbers so much so that communication between the judges in the ring and the MC had to be done in a round-a-bout fashion with a go-between running through the ringside crowd to shout out the results to the MC. Next time, if there is a next time, perhaps we might invest in two way radios for the organisers and make life easier.

With plenty of ice cream for the kids and tea and cakes for the adults courtesy of the ladies of Great Waldingfield Church and the bar which dispensed drinks from 11.00am until 11.00pm, everyone was catered for and this helped sustain those contemplating a whole day of celebration.

Entertainment and fun in equal measure was all around. Paul Pleasants entertainer with his  Punch and Judy Show which was a great hit with the kids. There really is nothing to beat kids laughter to cheer you up and there was laughter in bucketfuls from this source.

Events kicked off Waldingfield Primary School Choir who sang there little socks of then ran through Janet Drake's Fun Dancers and a succession of dogs and their proud owners (not sure who was on display here owners or dogs) then to the hat parade's followed by the impressive display by the karate team.   

It was remarkable to see how much entertaining talent really exists in Great Waldingfield whether  singing or playing musical instruments. The GW got talent was a great hit, some ten acts gave it their all and entertained a goodly number of visitors  for well over an hour and consequently over-ran its allotted time.

 

The event that had everyone enthralled and laughing in equal measure were the Belchamp Morris Dancers. They managed to lift everyone's spirits and whilst Mike Williams their dancing spokesperson tried to explain the origins of the dances and the history of morris dancing it was the infectious nature of the dancers and their unique outfits that kept everyone's amused attention, not to mention the dancing . Some of the morris men stayed on and gave Janet Drake's Fun Dancers some ad-hoc support which some of the crowd saw as highly amusing as well as an opportunity to also join in. It seemed to do the trick in terms of recruitment  to Janet Drakes classes anyway with a goodly number of ladies committing themselves to attending regular fun dancing classes  at the Village Hall.

The evening's entertainment  was well attended with some good bands entertaining from 5.00pm until 11.00pm. A local band, The Story Boys kicked off proceeding and entertained for an hour - now this is a band to look out for - they are destined to go far. They are to appear at the O2 Arena later this year having recently won an area competition to qualify for this prestigious event. They are original, with a pleasing clean cut image that should take them far - they can sing too.

The Victory Jazz band followed the Story Boys with their brand of traditional jazz which clearly appealed to the older generation of jazz aficionado's.

The evening was nicely rounded off with the excellent rock band, Boontang Southern Rock. All were accomplished musicians with a string of rock numbers to equal many such bands of world repute.

What an end to a day that went just about as well as anyone could expect.

And then to Sunday  which started with a very pleasant church service in the marquee conducted by the Reverend Caroline Hallett. Despite the rain, there was a full house for what was a very different and absorbing service a bit different to that normally expected of a Christian service. Well done to the Rev Hallet for competing so well with the weather. And  Mrs Faith Marsden kept everyone singing in key with her very professional musical accompaniment.

The post service musical entertainment was curtailed due to the effects of the rain on the numbers of people, so the two day event was concluded  at around 2.30pm.

It's just a pity that we do not have an occasion like this every year to bring the hardy folks of Great Waldingfields together in such friendship.            

Acton joins nationwide walking bus event

Siobhan Hemmett and County Councillor, Colin Spence

One of the thorniest issues that councillors have to deal with is the problem of traffic at local schools.

This is of concern to residents both in Great Waldingfield and in Acton, so any initiative that can be taken to try to reduce the number of cars dropping off and picking up children is very welcome.

Yesterday Acton, supported by PCSO Siobham Hemmett, literally took some steps towards what might be at least a partial solution of Acton's problems by participating in the Giant Walking Bus Event.

Organised by Brake, the road safety charity, 100,000 children joined in by creating a walking bus in their own communities.  Schools from as far away as the Hebrides participated. Messages were being sent to both motorists and children; the former were reminded to slow down near children, and the latter were being persuaded that 'it is cool to walk'.

The walking bus lines up in the playground at Acton School

Wearing a variety of stylish sunhats and high visibility clothing, the children, accompanied by our PCSO, parents and teachers, County Councillor Colin Spence and an officer from the County Council Highways Department,  perambulated around the village.

 It is hoped to start a walking bus for real when the new school year starts in September.