Postponed Great Swim launch goes ahead anyway.

Last year's Great Swim

While the hardy souls in Great Waldingfield continued with the Summer Fayre, other events did less well.   Sadly the Great East Swim scheduled to take place at Alton Water yesterday was cancelled due to the prospect of high winds.   It is probable that the event will be rescheduled for later in the year.

On Friday I was lucky enough to be invited to the launch of this year’s event, which, despite the cancellation, went ahead in the calm and weather free environment of Endeavour House.

David Davies, who won medals for swimming at the Athens and Beijing Games, gave an inspirational talk about his career.  In addition to sponsors from the business community, also present were a number of young swimmers from Farlingaye School in Woodbridge, at least one of whom is already getting up at 4 a.m. to train.  He does not yet drive so his mother has to get up too and drive him to Ipswich every morning.

I spent some time talking to Olympic handball player, Louise Jukes, who comes from Ipswich. Handball is not a game that is much played in the UK, but is very popular in Europe where it is the second most popular sport after soccer.   Unfortunately without much supporting infrastructure here,  Team GB did not do too well in the 2012 Olympics, and now funding has become a problem.

This is a pity because I learned from Louise that handball is a high scoring, fast and exciting game for both sexes and for all ages.  It sounds a lot more fun than netball and is relatively cheap to set up a place to play.  Louise is hoping to organise a small tournament for local schools near Ipswich.  If it is a success perhaps we could invite her to do the same in the West of the county?

!

Pictures from today's event in Great Waldingfield

Despite a rather breezy and showery day the Summer Event in Great Waldingfield is going strong as I write.  There is a fantasic range of stalls and amusements, and a full programme of entertainment.

Music etc. will continue until late and there will be a church service in the marquee tomorrow.

Pictures from earlier today:-

Waiting for  'Great Waldingfield's Got Talent'

The two Andy's...two of the organisers of the event

County Councillor, Colin Spence winning a coconut.

Suffolk Care Homes going the extra mile

Event organiser Nichola Burley with Oscar!

Yesterday I attended the first award ceremony for the Suffolk GEM (going the extra mile) Awards at Trinity Park outside Ipswich.

These awards were created to recognise and reward best practice in Suffolk’s care homes.  So often we only read about care homes when something goes wrong and this does nothing to give us confidence if we, or those we love, find ourselves needing care.

Recognising this, in 2011 the Suffolk Safeguarding Board took a number of measures to ensure not only that that those in care homes in Suffolk are looked after properly, but also that the residents of the county as a whole are reassured about standards.   The GEM awards were created as part of this programme.

Homes were judged in six different classes reflecting good practice in areas such as provision of a homely and inclusive environment, innovative and imaginative catering options and responding to residents’ individual choices.

There must have been around 20 homes shortlisted, and they assembled in Ipswich yesterday for a spectacular cream tea plus an Oscar type prize winners’ ceremony complete with appropriate Hollywood style music, glittering fairy lights etc.

I was very proud to be asked to give the prize in the ‘Inside and Out’ Category, which looked for best practice in the various activities that are offered to residents.  The winner was Oakwood House in Kesgrave where the manager's enthusiasm has meant that the home has lead the way in offering holidays and trips for their residents, including those with special needs. 

 Representatives from the Home, along with residents, were kind enough to let me take their photograph.

Great Waldingfield Summer Fayre....next weekend!

Billed as the most spectacular event to be seen in the village since last summer's Jubilee Celebrations, the Great Waldingfield Mid-Summer Fayre and Musical Festival will be held on the playing fields next weekend.

Proceedings start at 11 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday, and attractions will include competitions for children and for dogs, a beer tent, live music, Fun Dancing,  Punch and Judy, a Great Waldingfield Has Talent competition, and much more.

On Sunday there will be achurch service in the Marqee followed by a family picnic.

We will be going along on Saturday, and hope to see you there.

Incredible but true

Watching the rain lash the window and pulling on another woolly jumper, I have just looked at the BBC Weather site to see if there is any comfort in the weather outlook for the next few days.

I was astonished to find that Wattisham is currently the hottest spot in the UK!  Sudbury it seems is not far behind.

The evidence is below, cut and pasted directly from here a few minutes ago.

I must get the suncream out, and light up the barbecue!

UK Cold Spots

1. 1 Braemar 6°C
2. 2 Rugby 10°C
3. 3 Builth Wells 10°C
4. 4 Skipton 10°C
5. 5 Aberporth 10°C

UK Hot Spots

1. 1 Wattisham 18°C
2. 2 Bedford 16°C
3. 3 Sheffield 16°C
4. 4 Sudbury 15°C
5. 5 Montrose 14°C

Braithwaite Trust going strong.

Great Waldinfield allotments

After the horrors of the Babergh Planning Committee it was a relief to drive to Great Waldingfield to attend the bi-annual meeting of the Braithwaite Trust. 

Newer readers of the website may not know that this is the organisation that looks after the allotments in the village.  The Trust was set up after the First World War by the Braithwaite Family in memory of family members that were lost during the conflict.  According to the Trust Deed the Trustees must include the Rector as Chairman and the Headmistress or Headmaster of the School who acts as Secretary.  The Chairman of the Parish Council, and a District Councillor is also included and it has been a great pleasure and privilege to sit on the Trustee Board over the past 6 years.

Due to the need to come from Hadleigh I was a little late, and so only arrived at the end of the annual allotment inspection.  I am told that all is looking neat and tidy, but that unsurprisingly everything is very late this year.  An increase in interest in vegetable growing from village residents means that there is at present a waiting list for plots.

The Trust has some limited funds that are surplus to requirements.  A year or so ago, having consulted the Trust Deed,  we started to make small community grants to village organisations.  The most recent grant was to Great Waldingfield First Friends Pre School for equipment for their wildlife area.  An application from the Great Waldingfield PCC for maintenance to the church clock was considered and the Trustees are now waiting for a formal application for this.  Other requests that are known to be in the pipeline were discussed.

We said farewell and thanks to Mrs Angie Jones, Headmistress of the School, who is retiring in the summer and who will therefore be relinquishing her role as Secretary.  We hope that she has warned her successor about this additional responsibility!

The best way to plan the future?

On Wednesday I appeared at the newly named Planning Committee (formerly Development) in order to speak against the proposed plans at the Armorex site in Lavenham.  I am afraid that I do not think that the change of name has done much to improve the quality of the committee’s decision making.

It is just my opinion of course, but I do not think that one of the rulings made by the committee on the first three applications before them was correct. I left in despair before the fourth and final, decision was made, but I do hope that members found their form and came to the right conclusion.

In the first case, the Committee threw out plans for a solar panel plant in Tattingstone.  I have no idea about the merits of this case, and, like many others, I am dubious about such development where it damages the landscape or biodiversity.  However, I understand that the reasons for going against the officer’s recommendation were pretty flimsy.

The Committee went on to reject plans for housing on the former Fleetwood Caravan site in Long Melford.  We arrived at the point when members were struggling with officers to find a good reason for their rejection of the scheme.  This is generally a sign that a decision will be overturned on appeal, and indeed, I predict that this will be the fate of both this application and the one that went before it.

As far as the Armorex site in Lavenham is concerned, the committee voted to allow the application by a majority of  7 votes to 6.   I do feel that had the whole committee listened carefully to the arguments, and taken a little more time to debate them, a different conclusion would have been reached.  ( I have added a temporary page above on which I have included my contribution to the debate labelled ‘Armorex’ so that those amongst you who are interested in such matters can judge for yourselves.)

So what went wrong?   Were members too swayed by sentiment, the input of celebrity, or the presence in the chamber of angry residents?  In the case of the third application were the committee simply too tired to actually address the issues presented to them properly?  Or having already gone against the officer’s recommendation twice, were they nervous about doing so for a third time?   

Who knows?  I must however question the wisdom of asking the committee to resolve three controversial and complex applications in one day.  By the time they reached the Lavenham application we were well into the post prandial ‘graveyard slot’, and with the best will in the world concentration and enthusiasm levels of all but the most seasoned committee men must have been quite low.

All this begs the question as to whether this is a sensible way to resolve planning issues in the present day.  As things stand neither central government nor local residents are satisfied by the outcomes.  The former would like to see more growth and more development, the latter feel, often quite rightly, that their voices are not heard.

I look forward to seeing the outcome of the appeals, deplore the cost of these to the council taxpayer and very much regret the outcome of the Lavenham application.