More on Rubbish and Woods In November

Thank you everyone for comments about rubbish collection in various parts of this country and other countries. I just hope the council produce a handout with dates as it's going to get complicated with some weekly, some every other week and another collection just once in 3 weeks. 

I can imagine it all being far too complicated for some people to bother about and doubt very much that there will be a 58% drop in unrecyclable rubbish.

At the moment we only have two bins included in our council tax, collected in alternate weeks, for rubbish and recycling - but not glass - that has to be taken to a bottle bank in the village.

The waste food collection is probably the biggest change - but I'd rather use garden waste and food peelings in my compost bin. It would be quite good if we didn't have to pay the extra £62 a year for the garden waste bin which I use for stuff too big for my 'dalek' bin and most of the grass cuttings.

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 Most areas of woodland in Suffolk is private owned and inaccessible, but since the millennium we have a bit of public woodland in the village, it's not very big but I'd not walked round for ages.  

It was one of the grey days last week, very little colour and no birds singing at all - no dog walkers either.

The way in

Some trees are bare

But the Sweet Chestnut still has many of it's leaves

These walls once surrounded a walled garden belonging to the house in the middle of the woods which  is still lived in.

The way out

Very few berries on the Hollies in the wood - hope I can find some in my usual holly gathering place

The Horse Chestnut in the village on the way to the woods is hanging onto many of it's leaves, quite often they get a disease early on which turns the leaves brown although it doesn't damage the tree.

Back Soon

Sue

Rubbish

 There are big changes on the way in Mid Suffolk with regard to rubbish and recycling collections.

(Apologies, this appears a bit strange, it's OK in drafts )

Will it make any difference?

I think we need legislation to stop excess packaging- that would at least help a little. Especially after reading this..................

Back in April, The Big Plastic Count results revealed that a whopping 58% of all the plastic we throw away at home is incinerated here in the UK.

 A lot of rubbish in this part of Suffolk is incinerated to produce electric for the grid. But I heard recently that new studies have shown that waste incinerators pollute as much as coal fired power stations did- so councils are going to have to come up with a different plan.

This is what we've been told here in Mid Suffolk. It will be interesting to see how or if it works to reduce landfill.

From 2026, you’ll be able to recycle much more as we introduce additional collections – helping the environment, and cutting how much waste goes into your black bin

To meet new government legislation, we’ll be:

introducing new WEEKLY food waste collections for your unusable or expired:

leftovers

meat

fish

bones

tea bags and coffee grounds

bread

pasta and rice

eggshells and dairy products

fruit and veg peelings

accepting more items in recycling bins - including glass and cartons such as Tetra Pak (and plastic film from 2027)

providing a separate bin, box or bag for paper and cardboard, which will improve its recycling value and quality

With significantly less rubbish in black bins (an estimated 58% reduction), and no longer containing food items which are most likely to cause bins to smell, we will also move to three-weekly rubbish bin collections in the same year

However, our waste team would be sympathetic to those with exceptional needs on a case-by-case basis, such as those with larger families, with medical needs or without available space for the new bins

Working with other councils in Suffolk and Suffolk Recycles, these changes ensure we can meet new government legislation aimed at increasing the UK's plateauing recycling rates

Back Soon

Sue

All Saints, Chelsworth

To reach Chelsworth church you have to walk through the front garden of a lovely old house 

Very pleased to see some people at the door as it meant the church was open and there were two people inside doing a big clean before Remembrance Sunday service.

Chelsworth church is unusual in being cement rendered on the outside, inside was Victorianised but more recent changes moved the beautiful organ up so that a kitchen and toilet could be built underneath at the base of the tower.

Grade 1 listed All Saints Church in Chelsworth has just completed an amazing £330,000 project to make it a valuable community centre whilst retaining its important role as a place of worship. The Church lies in the heart of pretty Chelsworth (population 120) and is now providing a venue for meetings, film shows, concerts etc.

Note the flintwork structure on the north wall - it's the outside canopy of a huge tomb inside.

From this angle the two side aisles show how wide the church is

The man inside was very knowledgeable about everything, he said the font was much older than the church building and might have been in the previous church that is mentioned in the Doomsday Book or brought here from elsewhere.

The door to the vestry, which was the South porch,  is usually locked but I was lucky to go inside to see these very old pieces of stained glass. They  were found wrapped in a cloth and buried on neighbouring land and date from 1657. This was probably when the puritans came along smashing windows.

This is the inside part of the tomb which might have been moved here from elsewhere in the church as it looks as if the windows have been altered. It's probably for Sir John Philbert and dates from 1334

Another very special thing in this church is the doom painting over the chancel arch. The Victorians decided to repaint it in the C19 which did it no good at all and the present church users are trying to raise more funds so it can be restored properly 

Traditional colourful stained glass but the last one photographed  is C20 and very pale

This is the organ up high above the new kitchen with new small wall paintings each side.

Back Soon

Sue

First Christmassy Event

 This is where I headed on Saturday morning. It sounded more interesting than the usual Christmas Fayres and  was being held at the place where I bought the corn dolly that I wrote about in September

when the one I had began to fall to pieces.

 I thought I'd see how much they are now and there were two churches close by that  I could visit too.

 There were lots of interesting stalls in the big barn, many had vintage Christmas decorations and all sorts of lovely things

I had a good look round and then spent £1.50 on 5 tickets from a charity tombola stall. Usually I win nothing but when I opened my tickets I discovered 3 were winners and the prizes weren't just one thing but some taped together and others in a gift bag.

When home I unpacked all these things. A cookery book, a candle holder, small bottle of wine, tiny Christmas crackers, some bath bombs, a small bag of sparkly glittered pine cones and three hanging gold bead Christmas tree decoration plus the mystery below.

I need some ideas about what this is, the main bit looks like an enamelled pendant but it's attached to something that looks as if it goes on a finger, with a ring at each end.

I'm not sure what I'll do with all those bits and bobs - probably pass some to a charity shop, add others to a Christmas present and keep the mini Christmas crackers, the red wine and the gold tree decorations.

I was very good on my morning there because of 'Low spend November' and £1.50 was my only spend. The Corncraft corn dollies are now very expensive - £8 upwards - so they were left and nothing jumped out at me from the stalls or the shop. I avoided the expensive coffee and scone in the cafe by having breakfast before I went out and even passed on the £2 coffee with free mince pie in the barn  ......................See my halo!! 😇

On my way through Needham Market when going home I stopped at the Sue Ryder charity shop and found these small Christmas tree decorations of 3 little corn dollies for £1, which seemed a coincidence not to be ignored.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

Gloomy First Week of November

 Grey, grey, grey and even greyer - that's what the sky has been every day this week in Mid Suffolk. It's not very inspiring. According to the Met Office website we might get a little sun on Monday and Wednesday if we're lucky................at least it's not cold - about the only good thing to say.

I even had to use the tumble dryer for 30 minutes one day as there wasn't any drying weather all week.

 

I got my scrapbooks and bits that I've been cutting out from various places, onto the table. The dull weather meant having the lights on a lot to see but I spent a while adding more themed pages.

Making scrapbooks all started in 2021 when I found these below at a boot sale and wanted to save some of the cuttings and postcards rather than them being chucked into landfill. I couldn't save everything as some were water damaged and foxed but kept the best bits including the postcards of Eric Ravilious - on the black pages.

 Someone asked what I do with them. Well there are only two so far and not yet full up but I'll keep them and perhaps pass them onto grandchildren or maybe they will be useful to someone. 

This isn't the scrapbooking that is done using bought bits and photos but recycling all sorts, including old tatty books, stamps, cuttings from various places, cards and I found a bundle of old nostalgia postcards in a charity shop a long while ago that have been good to use.

These are some of the pages I've done. (I've used a couple of art sketch books picked up at boot sales rather than buying special scrapbooks)

Chairs - with room for more

                                                           

Working horses and donkeys

Through doors or windows - with a bit of space left for more

Apples and blossom

Hats

WWII

It keeps me out of mischief!

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Thank goodness for the TV this week - I've not been far so it's been good company . There are new series of Antique Road Trip and QI and the second of a police drama called Ellis, and Shetland came back. I watched series 10 of The Brokenwood Mysteries on the U channel - it's the New Zealand version of Midsummer Murders!

No  LOW spend November to date..............

Brought Forward £ 242    Direct Debits (Council Tax, phones, broadband, charity)

                             £    8   Various donations re book fair etc

                             £  36.80  Food Aldi and Morrisons; Keep Moving Group; Gift and postage for new                                                   baby.

This weekend........................In my diary there is a Christmas Fayre or Sale somewhere every weekend from now to mid December. Sometimes even three on the same day, which will be difficult!

I didn't get to one last weekend but hope to this weekend and perhaps another church visit too and I really need to empty the compost bin that's been stood for a year.

Have a good weekend

I'll be back Monday 

Sue