Everyone is invited to come and celebrate the exciting re-launch of local club!
Plenty of fun family activities are planned for the event, including; tug of war, bale rolling, egg and spoon race, craft stalls, cake stalls, trade stands, pedal tractor arena, bouncy castle, cow milking, wellie decorating, a delicious BBQ and much more...!
There will also be cooking, floral, vegetable and photography competitions (for children and adults). Make sure you enter by 11.15am on the day for a chance to win.
Peterborough is the heart of a important agricultural area, with lots of farmers producing tasty food on our flat, fertile land. Coming along to this event is a great way to learn more about where we live, support local food and also the local community!
Entry fee is by donations to the Kidney Research UK appeal.
Event Details
Date: Sunday 11th September
Time: 11am – 3pm
Venue: The Bull Pub, Guntons Road, Newborough, Peterborough, PE6 7QW.
Visit Van Hage Peterborough Garden Park from the 3rd August to the 30th August between 10 am and 4pm for some fossil fun!
The garden park store will be transformed into a prehistoric store of treasures and ready for some archaeological fun. There will displays on show from all over the world, there will be some unseen exhibits, take part in a fossil hunt around the garden park and dig for remains in a specially-built sand pit.
In the recent Miles Better Challenge run by Peterborough City Council’s Travelchoice team it was an opportunity for the PECT team to challenge organisations with 50 or less employees to get to work in the greenest way possible.
With an overall impressive 8,765 miles travelled using a sustainable mode of transport it was a great success. And an even better success was that PECT won the category of 50 or less employees, so PECT really are walking the talk!!!
With Peterborough being the UK’s Environment capital it’s another great step for the city, with creations such as the Green Wheel it was a great opportunity to use the cycle route.
A trip to the Greyhound Stadium is now on the calendar for the team as well as some locally sourced fruit from Riverford Organics.
Visit Riverford local organic veg box company at Sacrewell Farm and Country Centre on Sunday 12th June, from 12pm-5pm!
They are taking part in the national Open Farm Sunday, flinging open their barn doors and inviting local people to come and have a look round. It is a free, family friendly event, teaching about how an organic farm runs.
See the crops Riverford grow and taste them fresh from the fields! There’ll be children’s activities, games, tractor rides, and you can enjoy a Riverford style afternoon tea!
Open Farm Sunday is an annual event that gives everyone the chance to meet the farmers who grow food and care for the countryside. It is coordinated nationally by LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming).
Willowbrook Farm are also hosting an Open Farm Sunday on the 12th for the Green Festival grand finale, visit the website to find out more!
For more information and direction details visit the Riverford website.
Take part in a Ready Steady Cook style event at the Green Festival launch this Saturday from 12.30-1.30pm!
Delicious feasts will be made from typical leftover ingredients, supplied by Riverford Organics. There are brilliant prizes to be won! Judges include chef Paolo from Toscanini’s, the Mayor of Peterborough Penny Thacker and Heart FM’s Ros.
To enter look out for the famous Love Food Hate Waste giant tomato in Peterborough City Centre from 10am this Saturday.
Get tips and advice from the experts on:
How to save up to £50
Reducing food waste
Recipes for your leftovers
Menu planning
Food storage solutions
The event is part of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Waste Partnership ‘Love Food Hate Waste’ campaign to reduce the amount of food being thrown away.
For more information visit the Love Food Hate Waste campaign website.
Boxes to grow are helping people grow their own veg, herbs and flowers!
Riverford, based at Sacrewell Farm in Cambridgeshire, is best known for delivering veg boxes.However, the organic company also offers a range of other produce including free-range meat, dairy products, fruits, and kitchen pantry items. Now the company has added plants to the list of items they deliver with their new ‘boxes to grow’.
Designed for people who want to try growing their own veg, herbs and flowers in their garden, on their allotment, or even on a windowsill, there are different types of boxes on offer. Each contains seedlings and a guide with information on how to care for the plants. You can also sign up for regular hints and tips by email to help you make the most of your box.
Gordon Twigg who runs Riverford’s farm at Sacrewell says, “There is something special about growing your own but is can be hard to get started. That’s where our boxes to grow come in, making life a bit easier for gardeners and ensuring they can enjoy the fruits, or vegetables, of their labour.
“Along with the plants you’ll receive lots of information to get you started, we know that it's sometimes handy to have a reminder of how and when to get things ready in the garden, for example how to prepare the soil for planting.”
There are four different types of boxes to grow: a large veg box to grow, a small veg box to grow, a herb box to grow, and a flower box to grow. The large veg box contains over sixty items and nineteen different varieties from little gem lettuces and salad rocket, to sugar peas, beetroot and carrots. It needs a space of around 6m sq and can be planted in veg plots, raised beds and tubs. The small box to grow can be planted up in about 1.5m sq and is ideal for window boxes, pots, tubs and even old Riverford veg boxes! The flower box offers a wide selection of plants including Zinnia (dahlia flowered), Molucella Laevis (bells of Ireland), and helianthus 'pastiche' (sunflower). The herb box contains twelve potted herbs ready for planting such as fennel, coriander, thyme, dill, and spearmint.
Place orders for Riverford’s ‘boxes to grow’ this March for free home delivery in April. Visit www.riverford.co.uk/sacrewell or call 01780 789700.
I’m not going to get involved in politics in this blog. Partly because I’m not allowed; the very mention of one of Nyree’s infamous ear-bashings would make David Haye quake in his boots; and partly because I think most politicians are self-serving, self-aggrandising, self-obsessed prats and berks. I also know nothing about politics really, other than the fact that ‘Margaret Thatcher’ is an anagram of ‘That Great Charmer’. I smell ironnnyyy! Anyway, I digress...
I don’t know much about politics really, but I do know that those marginal parties that don’t have a realistic chance of gaining an outright majority for themselves can make fairly outlandish claims in their manifestos to try and entice gullible/extremist voters. The BNP promise to... well I don’t know, but it’s obviously madness. The Liberal Democrats make vague promises they actually meant to do the opposite of – they really should sack whoever edited their manifesto as they appear to have mistaken the word ‘eradicate’ with ‘triple’ in all the sentences relating to tuition fees. Easy mistake to make. Any WWE fans will remember one of the great wrestlers of the early 00’s – ‘Eradicate H’. Might be a bit of an obscure reference that actually... Where was I? Ah yes, and the Green’s, in line with their core policy, promised to create a sustainable society... by reducing a working week to just 27 hours...
The logic behind this is to eradicate (or is that triple?) economic growth, based on the idea that it is impossible to continue to accumulate wealth (often at the behest of nations we imprison in the chains poverty), whilst also reaching a state of absolute sustainability.
27 hours? It sounds like an innovative economic model, and a pirated copy of the new Danny Boyle film. Knocking off after lunch on Thursday? Friday night would be the new Saturday night, so you could go out on the new Saturday night and still watch The X Factor on old Saturday night, and then go out on old Saturday night as well, knowing that normal Sunday is there for eating eggs, ironing the curtains and making jokes about the “bloody squares what used to work thirty-eight hours an’ that!”
Everyone would be less stressed, so ailments like heart disease, high blood pressure, depression and the like would decrease (saving the NHS billions). People would have more time to exercise and stroll around, ridding the world of the super-obese (saving the NHS billions). And crucially, the majority would have more time to get green-fingered and start growing food in their gardens and on allotments, improving the general health of the nation (saving the NHS billions). At this point it is probably worth mentioning I don’t work as some kind of NHS fundraiser, just so you know.
The problem then? If everyone works 28% less hours, it’s only logical that everyone is paid 28% less. Less money basically means less ‘stuff’, and we in the West are obsessed with ‘stuff’. I’ve no doubt that whoever is reading this (well done for getting this far by the way – I know it’s useless ranting but I find it very cathartic) currently has a pile of ‘stuff’ in their house that they got for Christmas that they simply don’t want. Probably £10-£20s worth? I’d say a fair proportion (say 50% for argument’s sake) of the nation has a similar pile. That’s £350-£700m already wasted. Or 118,043,844 work hours at minimum wage. Or enough to supplement the wages of 1,809,655 people on minimum wage to the tune of 11 hours, reducing their working week from 38 to 27 hours...
Is this ever going to happen? No, it is not. Are we more likely to spend billions on a nuclear deterrent system that means we can at least contribute to Earth’s destruction when Kim Yong-Il decides he’s sick of being “wonewy” and presses the red button? Yes. Are the Green Party ever going to be in a position of power that enables them to make this a serious debate? No. But neither is Nick Clegg, so nerrrr...
Ooo, just got political. I can hear Nyree stomping down the doors looking for me. Better dash...
It’s that time of year again when the country comes to a stand still because of the cold. Generally when it comes to snow people either love it or hate it. Either way, the cold weather is ‘snow’ reason to forget about your environmental impact and carbon footprint (ho ho ho)!
We’ve compiled our top tips on being environmentally conscious in the snow!
If you have to drive then make sure you remove ALL the snow off your car before you set off. The blanket of snow means the engine takes longer to warm up and get up to maximum efficiency. Snow also weighs a deceptive amount and this weight also reduces efficiency.
Use a good old fashioned ice scraper rather than chemical de-icer to remove ice from your car. It’s pollution free! Even better, cover up your car with a sheet or blanket when it’s not in use!
Using salt/grit can be messy and contaminate the ground. So where possible just shovel snow instead.
When the weather outside is frightful, turning the heating up seems delightful! But it isn’t. Just one extra degree increases fuel consumption by 8%! Try snuggling up with a cosy blanket first. If a blanket is impractical then it’s ok to wear your hat and scarf inside too.
Invest in insulation. It has a relatively quick payback period and there are a number of schemes that offer discounts depending on where you live or your income.
If you can’t afford to take time off work but are going to struggle to get in, the snow gives you the perfect excuse to raise the idea of working from home with your boss!
Snow day at school/work? Staying inside all day with the lights on and playing video games or watching TV consumes a lot of electricity. Why not go outside and enjoy the snow! It’s free! But if it’s Free and not Freezing you want, try a board game inside instead.
If you really don’t fancy going outside, use this time for a good clear out. Old clothes? Bag them up for a charity shop! Last years unwanted Christmas presents still in their box? Donate them to a raffle! Tins in the cupboard that you don’t really fancy? Donate them to Age UK’s charity appeal!
Soy or beeswax candles are the most environmentally friendly candles to have hanging around in case there are power cuts.
And once you've done all that make a nice Fair Trade Hot Chocolate and put your feet up!
Age Concern, having teamed up with Help the Aged in 2009, are a leading force when it comes to putting the needs of our wonderful aged population first.
At present, they are launching a Christmas fundraiser, in the form of Christmas parcel collection. This doesn’t mean stealing your Christmas presents from under the tree or standing in every local hotspot asking for huge donations, but through a much more hands on scheme.
An Age Concern representative said,
‘We are working again this year with Marshfields School, which is a local special needs school, and they would be looking to drop off boxes for the collection of goods during mid-November and for the boxes to be picked up during the first week of December.’
From baked beans to soup or noodles... this is a fantastic attempt to help provide the elderly with a healthy variety of accessible food throughout the winter months; not to mention a much valued visit through the delivery process.
‘We need people to donate everyday food items and special treats to make up Christmas food parcels for older people in need’
Similarly to the shoe box appeal, yet with much less effort, you can donate as much or as little as you wish, with any items from this list:
Tinned Soups
Tinned Vegetables (peas, carrots, potatoes, etc.)
Desserts (rice pudding, custard, sponge pudding, tinned fruit etc)
Tinned Meat (corned beef, ham, etc.)
Tinned Fish (tuna, salmon, pilchards, etc.)
Tea bags
Instant coffee
Mince pies (6 maximum in packet)
Christmas puddings (single size)
Biscuits (chocolate, sweet, savoury)
Chocolates and sweets
To find out more Contact Reception on:
Tel: 01733 564185 or Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or www.acpeterborough.org.uk For more general information on how to donate, support and gain a better appreciation for the situation of the elderly, please visit www.ageuk.org.uk and get involved.
Up until recently, supermarket giant ASDA held the record (UK, but maybe not world) for the biggest Naan bread ever made. I don't know the specifics about whether it was garlic, peshwari or just plain, but it's some feat nontheless. However, the Walmart-owned grocer has recently lost it's crown to a Brewer's Fayre establishment in Lincolnshire. More commonly known for their all-you-can-eat carvery's than their curries, the staff at the North Hykeham branch pulled out all the stops in creating the 10ft x 4ft side order. And I for one am proud of them.
"Naan bread? I know this guy spouts some rubbish but why is he telling me about naan bread?"
I'll tell you for why... naan bread is the dipper/scooper of choice for one of the most environmentally sound food stuffs going - curry. Officially the nation's favourite cuisine - move over sausage rolls and cod and chips - an impromptu curry is a wonderfully green dish (not literally, obviously).
Curry is such an adaptable dish you see - there's hardly anything that can't be curried up. okay, you've got your classic meat-leading options, with your chicken, lamb or prawns. Beef can be used, as can pork, mince makes a cracking keema, and white fish can be made with tikka principles to provide a mouthwatering dish. And I haven't even started on vegetables and pulses...
Chickpea and potato for a vegetarian delight? Pepper and tomato and you're talking rogan josh? Bang some peas with your mince to add a bit of coulour to your keema? Use a lentil base for your classic daal? Something to do with spinach or cauliflower for a derivative of aloo gobi? And any combination of the aforementioned can be wrapped in some filo pastry and labelled a samosa...
these are things people always have left in the cupboard. A tin of chickpeas bought during the latest health fad or left over from student days where that spare pound was better spent on 3 litres of Diamond White; Bird's Eye petit pois that have been at the back of the freezer since Thatcher was in power; potatoes because... well, everyone has potatoes in the cupboard don't they; and on and on and on. Bang these left-overs in a pan, add a bit of garlic and few herbs and spices and you've whipped a meal out of nothing. Granted, you could probably make the same things into soup as well - but let's face it, homemade curry sounds loads more impressive the next day when you're trying to impress that attractive receptionist/postman/waiter [delete as applicable].
"Oh... so you can cook?..." they'll say as they twirl that loose strand of hair, "...you'll have to make something for me sometime..."
So you've turned an onion, a sell-by-date bag of spinach and a cauliflower left over from Sunday lunch into a hot date with that certain someone. You've saved the ten quid you would've spent on a Lamb Bhuna from the corner takeaway. You won't have eaten as much so those jeans will fit nicely tomorrow, and you've refrained from throwing good food in the bin - so done something good for the environment as well.
And if you're lucky enough to live in North Hykeham, there'll be plenty of naan to go around to wipe that plate clean, so no need to do the washing up either.
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