June 2010

NEWS

It’s a sign!

After a wait of many months, Cllr Sue Doy unveiled the new Town Sign in her last official engagement as Town Mayor on Sunday, 16th May at 3 pm. She was delighted to be able to do it, commenting that: ‘It is a special and unique sign for our town, and I think I can say no other town or village will have one like it. A bit like the Scallop, I expect it will get plenty of discussion. I hope all our residents and visitors will like it, and that it will last for all the generations to enjoy for many, many years.’

Cllr Melanie Tucker, the prime mover of the project, speaking before the Town Mayor noted that ‘the thing that is special about this sign is that it is a combination of the vision of talents of a group of people who made it happen,’ and she made ‘some very serious thank yous’ to Brian Webb the designer, Ian Miller who did the engineering and structural specifications, and Steve Wolfenden taking the publicity photos. ‘The fact is that Brian, Ian and Steve have given their skills and their time without charge as their contribution to the town. It is a huge gesture of good will and we thank you most sincerely.’ Cllr Ann Betts was also thanked for funding the seagull that sits on top of the sign.

After its covering was removed by the Mayor, the spanking new sign was blessed by Rev Peter Trendall. All those present then repaired to the Stella Peskett, where they toasted the town’s latest addition in a suitably bubbly manner.

Congratulations to everyone involved!

(The photos were very kindly supplied by Steve Wolfenden.)

Sam May Prize 2010

The annual Sam May Prize is traditionally awarded to the pupil in Year 3 or Year 4 at Southwold Primary School who is judged to have written the best essay on a Southwold-related subject. This year, the format is slightly different, being a visual presentation on the theme of ‘My Favourite Building in Southwold’. The winner was Maisie Beevor, whose presentation is reproduced below. Well done, Maisie!

The Southwold and Reydon Corps of Drums wants your help

We need people of ALL ages to come and join the Southwold and Reydon Corps of Drums. Children are able to join us from the age of seven and we are in real need of some more adults to help build a strong foundation. We provide the instruments, tuition so you can play them and the environment to have fun and contribute to the community

All you have to do is come along to the Stella Peskett Millennium Hall, Southwold on Wednesdays 6.30 pm–7.30 pm and Sundays 10.00 am–11.30 am.

For further information, contact Matt Wade (Chairman) on 07780 975885.

Our plan to purchase replacement instruments

Since moving into the new Stella Peskett Millennium Hall, we have been able to take stock of equipment and sadly concluded much of it needs replacing. We have therefore set ourselves an ambitious target of raising £10,000 this year to purchase a full set of parade equipment ready for our first performance in 2011, which will be our 30th anniversary. We have already been helped on the way with generous donations from the Adnams Charity, SCC Councillor John Goldsmith and from the Sole Bay Lions, but still need more funds. We would therefore ask if you are able to make a donation to our efforts, you can either leave an envelope marked ‘Band’ containing cash or a cheque at the Millennium Hall, Southwold (C/O Joan Goldsmith) or at Southwold Town Hall (C/O Jenny Hursell), or make a contribution direct to our fund-raising account at Lloyds TSB: ‘Southwold & Reydon Corps of Drums’, Account Number 14346068, Sort Code 30-13-64.

For any further information regarding funding, how to book the band or a general enquiry, please contact our Secretary Lesley Dibley at 26 London Road, Frostenden NR34 7HT, tel: (01502) 675697.

Why not come along and see us at the Sole Bay Lions Fete on Southwold Common on Bank Holiday Monday, 31st May or when we lead the Civic Parade in Southwold on Sunday, 27th June.

The 1st Southwold Guides: 100 years of blazing a trail

In 1909, Robert Baden-Powell held his first rally for Boy Scouts at Crystal Palace, London. Several groups of girls turned up and asked him for ‘something for the girls’, to which his response was, ‘I’ll think about it’. Less than a year later, the Girl Guide movement was formed. So the actions of a few feisty girls were to lead to the establishment of the world’s largest organisation for girls and young women, a movement that was to transcend the barriers of background, race, nationality and faith.

Southwold was in the vanguard of this movement. A few Southwold ladies met together in 1909 and decided to start a Company of Girl Guides. The Company was registered in June 1910 and the first enrolments took place in July 1910 in the Town Hall. It was the first Company in Suffolk and one of the first in the country, and is still going strong! We are fortunate to have inherited a wonderful archive of material telling the story of our first 100 years and this forms the basis for an exhibition in Southwold Museum running throughout this summer. It shows just how groundbreaking Guiding was in the early days – our challenge for the next century is to keep that spirit alive.

Camping was an integral part of Guiding from the earliest days – for example, we have a report from the Southwold Parish Magazine of a fortnight’s camp that took place at Benacre in 1912. The 1st Southwold Company carried on through the First World War, with the Guides carrying out a variety of war work. The first Brownie Pack, for younger girls, was set up in 1919 and in 1924, the first Ranger Unit was formed for older girls. Companies in Wangford, Walberswick and Reydon were formed as part of Southwold District. In the early days of the Second World War, meetings continued to be held in spite of the blackout. However, with the evacuation inland of all school children in 1940, the 1st Southwold Guide Company and Brownie Pack had to be suspended, though 1st Reydon Guides carried on with meetings on Saturday afternoons.

The 1st Southwold Guide Company was reopened in 1945 and the 1st Southwold Brownies in 1950, and numbers soon rose to their pre-war levels. Late in the 1960s, both the programme and the uniform of the Guides were changed to bring them up to date. In Southwold, major fundraising was embarked on to enable the old Guide Hut in Cautley Road to be replaced by a modern Guide Centre. This was opened in 1970, the Diamond Jubilee year of the Guide Association – and of the 1st Southwold – and this is where we still meet.

GirlGuiding UK, as the Guide Association is now called, continues to be the largest organisation in the country for girls and women. We are still a girl-only environment because that is what our members want – a place where they can be themselves without external pressure. They can learn about leadership and take up roles – and they can be daft if they want! – in a way they can’t in a mixed environment. The basics remain the same – we enjoy all sorts of outdoor activities, with camping still being the favourite, we serve the community and, above all, we have fun!

To celebrate our centenary, we shall be holding a ‘Then and Now’ camp on Southwold Common, near the Catholic Church, on Saturday, 19th June. Please drop in to see us any time between 11 am and 6 pm!

Jenny Allen, 1st Southwold Guides

Help save the bees

In the UK alone, a fifth of bees died last winter. Other countries, from America to Germany, are reporting declines in the bee population. No one can be 100% sure of the cause, but pesticides, modern agriculture, disease and selective breeding have all been implicated.

If bee numbers continue to decline, the cost of everyday food items could increase significantly. A third of the food we eat is reliant on pollination by bees, including apples, pears, raspberries, carrots and onions.

Anglia Co-operative are taking action and calling on our readers to help. Here are a few easy tips, so you can join in too:

• Let your lawn grow a little longer and cut it a little higher so the clover remains to feed the bees with nectar.

• Provide water for the bees to drink.

• Reduce the use of pesticides in your garden.

• Install a bee box in your garden – this helps bees to shelter from the rain or from a sudden drop in temperatures.

Anglia Co-operative have also linked in with the Peterborough Beekeeping Association. Three beehives will be located at their Headquarters in Peterborough, with a purpose-built observatory and a wildflower bee friendly garden. Local schools can visit the bee observation; to learn about the bees, how they work and why they are important to us. If you are interested in arranging an educational visit, please visit www.angliaplanbee.co.uk to register your interest.

Did you know?

• Bees have six legs, four wings and five eyes.

• There is only one queen per hive, and all she does is lay eggs. There may be 40,000 worker bees.

• We need bees to pollinate our food.

• Bees cannot see the colour red.

• Bees only sting if they think they or their hive is in danger.

Family holiday headache? – not anymore with ‘Just Pack the Kids’

Picture this : Mum, Dad and three kids, clothes for all weathers are packed neatly in suitcases, but that’s not all that needs to fit in the car! Now you just need the travel cot, ready beds, high chair, steriliser, bottle warmer and baby bath, toys, books, football, beach games and picnic bits, the list is neverending. .  . but wouldn’t it be nice if all of that was at your holiday cottage waiting for you on your arrival?

Well, now it can be with the help of ‘Just Pack the Kids’, a new Southwold-based company making packing for a family holiday a little less stressful. ‘Just Pack the Kids’ has been designed so that you don’t have to pack up your entire house in order to spend a relaxing week away with the family.

Thanks to the innovative service of ‘Just Pack the Kids’, you can be prepared and have a high chair and travel cot waiting. Don’t forget the toys – children love playing with new toys that they haven’t seen before. ‘Just Pack the Kids’ will be able to provide you with a box of age- and gender-specific toys especially for your young travellers.

It’s also a great solution for those with young family members coming to visit, so you can have everything already for them when they arrive to make the most of your time together.

Other items you can hire from ‘Just Pack the Kids’ will include Rainy Day Boxes – activities for older children for those inevitable slightly damp days – and Beach Boxes – packed full of the essentials, including plastic picnic wear to eat your cheese-and-chutney sandwiches from.

Lynn and Jo – creators of ‘Just Pack the Kids’ – are both local residents with young families themselves. They know what it is like to travel with young children, and the easier it is, the more we can enjoy the time together as a family, have a rest from daily life and explore new things.

‘We have even made reserving equipment and boxes stress free, too, by creating a fabulous website where you will be able to browse a product catalogue and create your order online. If you are not used to using the Internet, then just give us a call on 0797 736 9961 and we will be happy to help,’ says founder and mum to three, Jo.

Larraine, mum of two from London, says, ‘What a life saver! “Just Pack the Kids” sorted out all the extra stuff that we needed for our holiday and it was there waiting for us when we arrived. The kids were over the moon with their toy boxes, which meant I could start my holiday relaxed and stress free. I couldn’t recommend it more highly, thank you.’

The local talent appearing at this year’s Latitude Festival

Successful Suffolk-born musician Cevanne has this week been picked as one of three local acts to perform on the BBC Introducing Stage at Latitude Festival this summer.

Along with local bands The Cads and These Ghosts, Cevanne will perform on Lake Stage at Henham Park in front of thousands of Festival goers.

When asked if she would like to perform at the festival yesterday on BBC Radio Suffolk, Cevanne’s reaction was one of shock, excitement and nerves: ‘Wow! That would be amazing. That’s a big yes! I’ve been eyeing up Latitude for a while now – I’ll probably be absolutely terrified. It will mean a lot to me because it’s local, but BBC Suffolk Introducing has done so much for me in recent months. No one has got my music so well.’

A grandchild of Armenian refugees and Lancashire coal workers, Cevanne’s diverse musical tastes certainly reflect her eclectic background. With influences from a young age that span from Paris to Scotland and from India to Cuba, Cevanne has used her experiences to combine beautiful sounds from across the world.

With this in mind, her energetic ‘experimental pop’ debut album Big Ears, funded by the Arts Council and featuring Zoe Rahman and Kuljit Bhamra MBE, encourages people to open up to the sounds and cultures that exist around them.

The local artist, whose talents lie in her singing, instrumentals, composing and dancing, spent her childhood years in Leiston, Aldeburgh and Thorpeness, and was educated at local state schools.

When asked what visitors to Latitude can expect from her set, Cevanne said: ‘Fun! A coconut solo, heavy tunes and a reason to listen. Songs and dances as atomic as Sizewell B.’