True grit....a message from the County Council

Here is a message from Sue Herne, the gritting supremo at Suffolk County Council:-

If you need more grit you can contact CSD on the number given below.

Sue writes:-

'The snow & cold weather is being predicted to continue over the weekend and into next week.  Those of you that have reported being out of grit I hope that those supplies have now been topped up by Highways, as I know that they have been responding to requests I’ve forwarded.  It would be worthwhile checking your stocks as the cold weather could continue beyond the middle of next week, so if you are running low then you should request additional stocks through CSD by calling 0845 606 6067.  There will be no deliveries over the weekend as the focus will be on keeping the priority 1 & 2 routes gritted.

In addition if you are aware of any vulnerable people in your communities, it’s worth just checking that they are all OK as this period of cold weather persists.  The advice over the weekend is not to travel unless you need to & if you do need drive, then to make sure that you are prepared, and try not to abandon vehicles as this means that gritters can’t get through to grit roads properly. 

Suffolk County Council website has a lot of helpful information on it in relation to the current weather conditions the link is shown below

http://www.suffolk.gov.uk/emergency-and-safety/civil-emergencies/winter-are-you-prepared/

Events that celebrate the Stour Valley

Thomas Gainsborough, River Landscape, 1768, Oil on Canvas

Given Thomas Gainsborough’s enthusiasm for landscape (he far preferred painting landscape to portraits!) it is not surprising that Gainsborough’s House in Sudbury has been involved in a number of different ways with the Managing a Masterpiece project.

Managing a Masterpiece is a Heritage Lottery funded programme which aims to help people to understand, conserve and celebrate the landscape of the Stour Valley.

Gainsborough’s House put in a couple of bids to undertake particular projects.   We were successful in our bid to create a ‘pod’ (a static computer) which will showcase the work of  Gainsborough and Constable, and also lesser known local landscape artists.  The pod will be available for the public to view in due course, initially at Gainsborough’s House and later at different venues around the area.  It is currently in course of construction, and happily we have been able to use one of our volunteers to both put the content together and to obtain some valuable experience for his CV. Sadly, and I feel rather unaccountably, our other proposal, to ask the project to fund a young intern at our print workshop to record aspects of the Stour Valley in various print formats and get work experience and skills along the way, was not deemed a suitable use of funds.

The Managing a Masterpiece programme reaches its climax in February and March when a number of events will be held in Sudbury and beyond to mark the area’s rich artistic and natural heritage.

I will write more about these nearer the time, but I have listed them in Forthcoming Events to the right.  There is to be an exhibition in St Peter’s Church of artworks by local people from 1^st to 13^th March.  Submissions are very welcome and need to be made by 18^th February.  An entry form is available from www.managingamasterpiece.org.

The event that looks very intriguing is the Sudbury Light Night on 8^th March….a celebration of light through the heart of Sudbury and into the countryside.

Watch this space for further information in due course or go to the Managing a Masterpiece site here

Have your say about Suffolk Police Plan

 Tim with me in Sudbury

New Police Commissioner Tim Passmore has wasted no time in preparing his Police and Crime Plan for Suffolk.

A draft of the Plan can be found by going to the Police Commissioner's Website (Click here). The Commissioner is asking for comments, particularly if you have been a victim of crime, so here is a chance to have your say.

The point of the Police Commissioner is that he is supposed to represent the public's interest when it comes to setting the direction for policing in the County so we do need to respond in order to give him the ammunition to represent our views.

Having scanned the Plan briefly, one area that does not seem to get much attention is the fast growing crime of telephone and computer based scams.  Despite publicity people still fall for the e mail that tells them that someone they know is stuck in Timbuktoo or similar without a penny, and they just need a few hundred pounds for their air fare, or, alternatively, that they have won millions in a lottery but just need to send an administration fee to unlock the prize.  People still fall for these tales and need to be constantly warned about them.

I am pleased to see that continuing commitment to Community Safety initiatives features in the plan, with some potential funding attached!  On Tuesday I attended the West Suffolk Community Safety Partnership where we resolved to start work on preparing bids. This should ensure that we can continue to fund schemes that support our priorities of fighting anti social behaviour, protecting vulnerable people from abuse and maintainig a safe night time economy in our market towns.

Some mixed metaphors

I heard a wonderful mixed metaphor on the Today Programme today.

The sports presenter said that a comment 'hit the needle on the head' which means I suppose that we will all now have to go and look for a nail in a haystack.

A very nice person that I worked with many years ago was the master of the mixed metaphor.  He was forever biting the nettle and grasping the bullet!

Government's financial settlement - 'The rural voice has been silent for too long'

There is news this morning from the invaluable Rural Services Network(for more on RSN click here) that Members of Parliament from the three major parties have combined to fight for a better settlement for rural councils.

It has been calculated that people in rural areas pay on average some £75 more in council taxes but that Government grants for urban areas are some 50% higher than for rural areas.  The recently announced settlement for 2014/15 did nothing to alter this situation.

The Chairman of the Campaign, Graham Stuart, who is the Conservative MP for Beverley and Holderness was reported as saying ‘The rural voice has been silent for too long.

The group, which is called The Rural Fair Share campaign, is calling on Eric Pickles to reduce the differential such that grants for urban areas exceed those in rural areas by no more than 40%.

Babergh has not been idle in this area. In common with other rural councils since the settlement was announced, Members and officers have also lobbied government, to try to obtain a more equitable settlement and so ensure that services to our residents are preserved as far as possible.

The outcome for Babergh of recent Government announcements have now been calculated, and it seems that, as things stand at present,our grant from Government will fall by 6% in 2013/14 and by almost 13% in 2014/15…a drop of some 44% from levels three years ago.

Babergh’s Strategy Committee will start the process of setting next year’s budget at a meeting on Thursday of this week.

Savings made due to the merger of our officer structure with that of Mid Suffolk District Council will certainly help.  This activity will save us £2m by 2015/16.  Making ends meet remains tricky however, and  must be very difficult indeed for those councils that have not taken such radical steps.

Charlie Haylock to appear in Long Melford

Charlie Haylock

On 1^st March the Hunter Gallery in Long Melford is sponsoring an evening of Suffolk ‘Hoomer’ in aid of Breast Cancer Care at Long Melford Village Hall.  The event starts at 7 p.m.

There will be a three course dinner of Suffolk Fayre, and entertainment from the one and only Suffolk comedian and writer Charlie Haylock.  Anyone who has seen Charlie perform will, I am sure, be keen to do so again, and if you haven’t done so you really should!  He is simply brilliant.

Tickets are £30.00 each, and are available from the Hunter Gallery.

Information about the evening and tickets can be obtained by contacting the Hunter Gallery on  info@thehuntergallery.com, telephone 01787 466117

 Breast Cancer Care  is a national charity founded in 1973.  The organisation works for everyone diagnosed with Breast Cancer, by helping them to get the best treatment, information and support.

Two left shoes...for six months

The Cock Inn, Brent Eleigh

I had reason to step into the Cock Inn in Brent Eleigh this morning and was pleased to meet a congenial group of gentlemen in the bar, one of whom was known to me, and who were kind enough to buy me a drink,

We were discussing the vexed quesion of local transport....or the lack of it.  There is, apparently, now a bus to Bury St Edmunds on a Wednesday that stops close to the village giving residents two hours in the town on market day.  That, however is the extent of it.

One of our number told the following story:-

When he arrived in the village thirty years ago he knew an elderly woman who had lived there all her life.  She claimed that in the past her family had only gone to Sudbury twice a year to buy clothes and that was all.  On one occasion she had been given two left footed shoes, and had been obliged to walk around in them until, six months later, the twice yearly trip to the bright lights of Sudbury came around once again.

In those days of course much of the food that would have been on her table would have been home grown, available locally, or brought round by various merchants door to door.  This has changed over the years, although growing your own, and sourcing locally is making a comeback.  In addition the increase in home delivery services from the supermarkets, most or all of which I am sure deliver to Brent Eleigh, means that perhaps a more settled and way of life is coming round again,

This is not just because of the paucity of public transport for those who, for whatever reason do not have a car, and cannot, or have no wish to, ride a bike.  Even if you do have a car, the cost of petrol and sometimes environmental concerns,  mean that, increasingly, you think twice about using it.