I have just sent off the following email to Garden Organic:

Hi there,

 

I received a letter in the post this morning reminding me that my membership is expiring.

 

I became a member specifically because of the beautiful gardens at Yalding that I visited all to infrequently with my family. I was disappointed to learn, through the press, rather than through yourselves of the closure of this area. Whilst I understand your ever increasing costs, and the difficulty you must be faced with, I think the manner in which this was handled was totally unacceptable.

 

Again, reported in the local press have been stories that many people gave donations recently for projects in Yalding – what is happening to this money? Will these people be refunded?

 

I have made the decision that as someone that rarely travels outside of the area, there is no longer any justification for retaining my membership.

 

I wish you well with your enterprise and hope that you can resolve your financial difficulties.

 

Julia Batt

I fully support the work of Garden Organic - the national charity that encourages organic growing, but I seriously can’t justify £36 a year for what for me, really equates to four magazines a year. They do offer lots of other perks for members, but I just don’t use them. As I said in my letter, the real reason I was a member was purely for Yalding organic gardens - if you never had the oppurtunity to go, you’ve missed out on a really beautiful and calm place.

My favourite part (and the kids for that matter) was the ‘war garden’ which showed how people maximised the use of a small area to grow their own food, when rationing was such a huge difficulty. I wonder how we’d all cope if we were rationed these days? Not too well I suspect!

I have just had one of the best days out with the kids ever and it only cost £2. It was great for the following reasons:

1. It was cheap (meaning we can do this often);
2. The kids didn’t whinge once and had a great time;
3. It wore them out completely;
4. It was very educational;
5. It was an outdoor and healthy day;
6. I thoroughly enjoyed it myself too, rather than just enjoyed their pleasure in a childish activity (which is what I normally do).

So what did we do?

Well as the title probably suggests we went to Trosley Country Park, just by Trottiscliffe and Vigo. Parking for the day is £1 (half the budget gone!) and for a further £1 we invested in an orienteering course around the park. The £1 gets you a map, instructions, a plastic protector wallet and SEVEN different courses to try. Obviously we only did one today, so we’ve still got six trips left without any more expense (other than the car parking).

Trosley Country Park is run and maintained by Kent County Council (KCC) - much as I find myself normally slagging off KCC (think Highways department here), I have to congratulate them on a fantastic service. The park is accessible to all (including young Travis in his pushchair), puts on loads of events throughout the year, has lots of fun ‘trim trail’ equipment as you go round, and to top it all off is slap bang in the middle of some of the most beautiful countryside… all this and practically on my doorstep.

When you arrive there is a visitors centre with a log fire burning away to keep it heated (presumably this doesn’t run in the summer!) and some really friendly staff that run a cafe in the centre. Obviously you don’t have to spend any money at all to walk around the park and there are several maps and plans of different suggested walks of varying difficulty. Personally though, spending that additional £1 on the orienteering course meant that I could easily keep the kids occupied (in looking for our next marker) while I enjoyed the tranquility and beauty of the place.

For more information call 01732 823570, click on this link, or pop into the Tourist Information office in town and pick up a leaflet.

Following the sad deaths of so many, through Clostridium Difficile (C. Diff) Maidstone Hospital has been in the press for all the wrong reasons in the last few weeks. Because of this I really didn’t want to take baby Travis for his outpatient appointment (to have his squint checked) today.

Since my last visit (a couple of years ago) things have changed. The first thing you now see when you walk in through the big doors is a MASSIVE display asking you to clean your hands with the alcohol sprays provided there. There’s at least 8 bottles - all at different heights so everyone can use them. In addition, there are leaflets to be found on C. Diff and hand hygiene in many points around the hospital. The alcohol sprays are to be found all around the hospital and at the entrance to every ward.

I watched for a short while, (before going to Travis’ appointment) all the people entering the hospital. I was horrified to see less than 50% of people stopping to clean their hands. Whilst, I obviously believe it is imperative that Doctors and Nurses ensure that they keep their hands clean and use the sprays between each patient, illnesses and germs such as C. Diff will only go if EVERYONE gets on board and starts using these sprays.

I only met Rose Gibb once - during a council scrutiny meeting. She is an incredibly articulate woman who spoke clearly on her vision for the hospital, however I did find the meeting rather like being spoken to by a brick wall. She spoke and then ignored every question and suggestion made. Her mind was clearly made up on the changes that were proposed with a real ’stuff local worries’ attitude about herself. Now I don’t know if these ‘clean your hands’ stations were placed in the entrance and all around the hospital while Rose Gibb was in post. If they were, having seen people ignore the oppurtunity to clean their hands today, I actually feel that the blame cannot lie with her and the trust alone. We as patients, visitors, volunteers, in fact anyone entering the hospital MUST take our part in hospital hygiene seriously.

All we are being asked to do is clean our hands and we must do this.

It takes seconds, isn’t sticky, doesn’t smell and helps ourselves, our loved ones we’re visiting and indeed the hospital itself….

… rant over - and if you’re interested, the lovely orthoptic doctor has given young Travis the all clear with the squint!

Today marked day one of six weeks of ‘clean sweeps’ in and around Maidstone. These are for those of us fed up with fly tipping and litter around the town. All equipment is provided - litter pickers, high vis jackets, gloves and bin bags and you set off to pick up what you can.

The photo shows just some of us that were litter picking today. Travis looks exceptionally bored, but the rest of us look pretty happy. It was a nice day for it though! One passer-by asked us if we were doing community service and couldn’t believe that anyone would willingly pick up other peoples litter without a big reward. A nicer area to live in is reward enough for me though!

Groups and individuals are invited to come along to one of these arranged events, or indeed arrange their own. For further information please contact Annika Fraser at Maidstone Borough Council on 01622 602559.

Today saw the start of Brunswick House Primary School joining the ”Walk On Wednesday” scheme. At it’s simplest, the idea is that pupils walk to and from school on Wednesdays. My kids couldn’t wait, as you get a sticker every time you walk. After so many stickers, you get a certificate.

It’s a well known fact that kids will do ANYTHING for a sticker, so this morning saw the kids up, dressed, washed and teeth cleaned with hardly any nagging. Even Mr. Mouse (Ryan’s imaginary friend) got ready without putting up a fight which makes a big change. Putting on our wet weather over clothes took more time than anything else, so we didn’t leave until 8:20am. Thankfully though we made it to school just in time (the walk took about 30 minutes) although we did have to walk at a very brisk pace.

As we walked into the school gates, I shouted for Rachael to run on ahead (her class starts 5 minutes earlier than Ryan’s) and encouraged Ryan to go with her. However, he pointed out that his running legs were worn out and he only had walking ones left!

Anyway - we did it - and the kids will be getting their first sticker added to their booklet. I have also requested a sticker, but it appears parents don’t qualify!

What a fantastic idea this is. We’ve (the kids and I) been toying with the idea of setting up a walking bus but in all honesty I just can’t face the walk there and back, twice every day - especially with all the car and bus fumes that we have to pass. However, once a week is certainly achievable and Rachael and Ryan really did enjoy it - I think even Travis (in sling) did too. On the back of this initiative, I’ve already hooked up with another mum, that lives around the corner, and agreed with her that we will set up a walking bus just for Wednesdays. We’re all going to walk to school, grab a cake (we’ll have earnt it) from Dunelm Mill, then walk home.

I’m sure other mums and dads will be doing exactly the same - well done whoever it was that thought up this idea!

Have just been sent a link about Hebden Bridge, a town that’s just made become free from plastic bags.

More information can be found here: http://www.hebdenbridge.co.uk/news/news07/59.html

One of the initiatives I particularly liked, was a session organised in the town with material and sewing machines, which gave people the chance to make their own reusable canvas bag.

Cllr. Tony Harwood (Cabinet Member for Environment - Maidstone Borough) is keen to see the practise of shops giving out carrier bags stopped, and instead replaced with a reuseable “Maidstone bag”. Following some publicity in the papers with this, Pat Fyfe contacted all Borough Councillors to bring to our attention the “Mors bag” concept and to encourage us to advertise it widely.

The idea is that people arrange social events where everyone turns up, drinks a few glasses of wine (that’s what got me interested!) and makes reuseable bags out of leftover material, charity shop finds, old duvet covers etc. The bags are then given out to people with a little information about the idea. The estimate is that each one of these bags, reduces the need for around 500 plastic carrier bags.

The only extra thing you have to do when you’ve got one of these bags is get into the habit of taking it out with you. To quote the website, this is just like cleaning your teeth, only with less toothpaste…

What with Rachael being back at school full-time, but Ryan starting part-time this month (he’s now full time) and young baby, I haven’t had time to arrange anything. However, last night I had my first oppurtunity to sit down and make one of these bags. The bags are very strong. If you have even the most basic understanding of how a sewing machine works, they are also very easy to make.

At clothesmaking classes (started a fortnight ago) I’m making a beautiful (at least I hope it will be) denim skirt. All I’ve done so far is cut the material for my skirt, and because there was a fair bit left over, I’ve cut material for Rachael to have a dress too. Still there was some leftover and with this I made the bag.

From start to finish, it took me about an hour to iron, cut and sew the bag, but I’m sure can be done a lot faster. It took me a fair while to work out all the measurements and because I hadn’t done it before was a lot slower than necessary.

The link to the pattern and more information can be found here: www.morsbags.com. If you want to come round, drink wine and make these bags just let me know - The more the merrier….

While I was googling “Making bags” trying to find the morsbags wesite, I also discovered this from YouTube which is all about making bags out of old carriers. Next time I have some free time I might give this a go too…

No point carrying on sulking - it’s not like it’ll achieve anything.

I’m going to make a bag. Update tomorrow.

The highly contested, controversial, multi-million pound incinerator at Allington was shut down today following further problems. For some weeks local residents and those that drive near the area have been overwhelmed with a truely awful stench eminating from the incinerator. This has allegedly been caused by a backlog of waste to be burnt.

Thousands of tonnes of stinking rotting rubbish have piled up and are now an explosive risk due to methane build up. This rubbish will now have to go to landfill.

Due to what can only be described as major design faults (the lining of the furnaces are falling off), the incinerator will be closed for up to 6 months. As well as burning our waste, the incinerator is designed to generate electricity. However, this too has broken. Parts that needed to be, were not being oiled - this was missed due to an electrical fault on the system that should have warned them! Apparently this will not be fixed for up to 12 months.

As Cllr Malcolm Robertson (who represents Allington) said on Meridian news this evening, this time we’ve been lucky… it may cost in excess of £1 million to fix, but at least there has been no damage to human health.

According to Kent County Council, the millions of pounds it will cost to repair the incinerator will not be paid by tax payers. Well who will then? At the end of the day, whether it’s via higher running costs in the future, or in some other way, of course we’ll end up paying for it…

Further information can be gained by calling the incinerator’s “community line” on 0845 803 8845 or by emailing info@kentenviropower.co.uk

It was full council tonight. The main topic for debate was funding of the recycling strategy. If people voted against it (as many of the Conservatives did), it would have meant we would have had to continue with the previous administrations plans to switch to alternate weekly collections. Thankfully, the recommendation was carried, and in February additional recycling will take place along side our existing weekly refuse collections.

As usual, there were Councillors talking a load of rubbish at the meeting -  I guess trying to win some points from somewhere… However, there were one or two valid points raised by members of the opposition. Councillors Chris Garland, Paul Oldham and Eric Hotson (all Conservative) made some fair comments against the proposals. Paul in fact proposed that the suggestion to take profits from the museum to pay for increased recycling should be removed. This motion was seconded and I’m very pleased to say unanimously carried.

Rightly or wrongly, I feel that some Councillors (from all parties) do not listen to the comments made by members of the opposition, having already made up their mind which way their vote will go. When I arrived at the meeting last night, I was certain that I would be voting for the proposal - it was one of our key election promises that we would do whatever we could to retain full weekly refuse collections. However, when Councillor Oldham made his proposal, I felt he was spot on, and was left panicing as to what to do… Could we afford to drop this money from the budget and still have enough to fulfill the increased recycling?

Thankfully the leader of the Council, Councillor Fran Wilson, quickly pointed out that we could afford to drop this and so with a major weight lifted, I very happily voted “for” this proposal.

Final votes were:

24 for the proposal (all Lib Dem, Labour or Indepdant); 18 against the proposal (all Conservative) and 5 abstentions (2 Lab - Hull & Moriaty, 3 Con - Ash, Garland and Ring).