Old Mill to showcase Zero Waste project

The Old Mill, Chew Magna

You can read the Chew Magna Zero Waste Project's latest newsletter here, or by returning to the Gazette home page and clicking the Old Mil icon.

Fairtrade Fortnight at Blagdon

Debbie Forge and Renee Bolton

Chew Valley Fairtrader, Debbie Forge and Blagdon distributor, Renee Bolton set up shop in the Village Club, Blagdon, on Saturday 5th March; with the enthusiastic help of the Baker Family from Burrington they tempted visitors to the Coffee and Bring & Buy Morning, to try their FairTrade products. The event was a joint celebration of Fairtrade fortnight with the local WI whose members brought their expertise to bear in the form of planning and organisation of a coffee morning and, of course, refreshments using fair-trade ingredients.

There were free tastings of biscuits,cakes,dried fruit, and lots to see and buy from the Traidcraft range. Debbie and Renee have compiled a local guide to finding fair-trade goods from farm shop to supermarket and gave out the Local Food Directory for North Somerset and the new Bristol fair-trade booklet. Central to their aim was to tell local people about the Chew Valley Box Scheme thus making it easier for shoppers to join in the Fairtrade wave effortlessly; several people have promised to sign up for the monthly delivery scheme. The box scheme makes a difference to communities around the world by helping them produce their crops and goods in a fair market at a fair price and in doing so, sustain their families without handouts. If you would like to know more about FairTrade and the local box scheme, contact Debbie Forge on 01275 472 391 or Renee Bolton 01761 462 363.

Words and photo by photo Judith Tranter

Disabled sailors on Chew Valley Lake

Sailing: CLADS (Chew Valley Association for Disabled Sailors)

No matter how many times you see it, the view of the Chew Valley from the top of Dundry Hill on a clear day can still take your breath away: it is a wonderful feeling to leave the city behind and see the valley beckoning. Central to that view is of course Chew Valley Lake.

On Saturdays from now until October some of the sails on the lake are likely to belong to craft owned by Chew Valley Association for Disabled Sailors (CLADS). CLADS was originally founded 14 years ago by two enthusiastic members of the main sailing club at Chew Lake and currently has six dinghies of three types, all adapted to suit different disabilities. These include Challenger class trimarans which are very stable and can be very fast given good conditions, and a Drascombe lugger capable of taking six or seven people making it suitable for use as a trainer or by disabled people less comfortable going solo.

Over the years CLADS has changed from just a few members to a thriving and successful club meeting every Saturday from mid-April to October. There are currently around 40 members coming from all over Bristol and Somerset, of whom around one third are able-bodied volunteers. These volunteers help other members, aged from 8 to 80 with a range of physical disabilities including cerebral palsy and MS, to enjoy sailing on Chew Valley Lake.

The Association received charitable status in 2000 and is totally dependent on fundraising and donations to keep going. As well as boats, a number of life-jackets and wet weather clothing have been purchased through the Association's fundraising efforts, although regular sailors normally purchase their own. They are now desperately looking for new volunteers able to help on Saturdays from April to October from 10am to 4pm on a rota basis. (Volunteers need to be at least 18 years old).

James Woods, Chairman of the Association, said: "We are looking for volunteer helpers to carry out a variety of tasks including rigging and launching the boats in the morning, helping members sail during the day and then packing everything away afterwards. Some of our helpers are experienced sailors themselves but non-sailors are welcome to join us as they can help members change into wetsuits and assist with other shorebound tasks."

Anybody who thinks they might be able to help and would like to know more can visit the website www.clads.co.uk or contact James on 07795 833383. CLADS are always looking to introduce new members to the club so if you have a disability or would like to come along, please do contact them. You can be assured of a warm welcome.

Anne Collier

Crufts winners

Pitcombe Teddy's Boy

Felicity Snook and her dogs from Chew Magna enjoyed a very successful trip to Crufts last month. Felicity who has bred, shown and judged all breeds of dogs for many years currently owns six Australian Terriers in partnership with her mother Mrs Dorothy Snook.

Their dogs range in age from four to sixteen and all qualified for the show. This year they took three terriers with them: Champion Pitcombe Teddy's Boy (aged 11) won first prize in Australian Terrier Vereran Dog (for dogs over 7 years old). Belyndi Stars 'n' Stripes won first prize in Australian Terrier Limit Dog (class excluding champions and for dogs not winning more than seven first prizes at championship shows that qualify for Crufts). Their dog Wyeafon Pentewyn of Pitcombe was second in Australian Terrier Limit Bitch. Felicity herself judged the Australian Terriers at Crufts last year and her mother judged the breed there in 1998.

Airport ' baffled' by leaflet mystery
Scepticism has greeted Bristol International Airport's claim to have distributed 25,000 consultation leaflets in the area around the airport, after reports that Wrington, Downside and Felton areas have not received leaflets.

Felton resident Beth Cornish said an airport officer had actually admitted that this was the case. She said: "I am amazed that the key places have not been distributed. I'm not against the airport as such, but we just cannot cope with 9 million visitors per year, and won't be able to with the present lack of infrastructure."

BIA's Head of Planning, Alan Davies, said: "We have heard these claims [that local households were not leafleted] and are baffled, but we are investigating. If necessary we will distribute again and extend the deadline for responses." He said all 25,000 copies of the leaflet "The Future Plans of Bristol International AIrport" had now gone: "The distribution has been handled by a private distribution company. The area to which leaflets should have been distributed was arrived at after consultation with local parish councils."

The areas included Winford, Felton, Dundry, Brockley, Cleeve, Yatton, Claverham, Wrington, North Wick, Butcombe, Nempnett Thrubwell, and Downside. The documents can be downloaded from www.bristolairport.co.uk

A number of residents in Chew Magna, which was not on the list of areas to be leafleted, have dismissed the exercise as public relations rather than genuine consultation, and cited the experience of the airport's consultation exercise of May 1988 titled 'The Way Ahead' as evidence for that view.

If readers within the areas listed above can confirm whether or not leaflets were received, please let the Gazette know at editorial@chewvalleygazette.co.uk

Road safety schemes get funding
Several major and minor road safety improvement schemes have been scheduled to go ahead, within Bath and North East Somerset Council's Transportation Capital Programme 2005/06.

A37 carriageway work is included (£440,000) and also a £250,000 repair bill for the old bridge at Publow. Next-costliest items on the list will be traffic lights at the White Cross junction on the A37 near Temple Cloud, earmarked for a £113,000 safety scheme, and works at the Two-headed man junction near Marksbury, expected to cost £108,000.

Among numerous smaller schemes that have been approved, partly in response to prioritisation requests by parish councils, are a safety scheme at Burnet (£25,000) and a 20mph zone around Bishop Sutton school under the 'safe routes to school' scheme (£6,000 in the 2006/07 allocation).

The total funding made available under the Local Transport Plan is £5,130 million, split into £2.392 million for Integrated Transport and £2.738 million for maintenance. The works are part of additional funding for transport and highways in the form of a further £1,050,000 of capital funding. The full list (which should be posted on B&NES's website, although only a small part of the data is available there) also shows indicative spending and schemes for the following four years 2006 to 2010. The overall forecast expenditure within the B&NES Transportation Capital Programme is put at about £6.7 million for 2005/06, and £6.2million for 2006/07. All council members and all parish and town councils were asked for a list of their top priority schemes, and B&NES says these have been included "where possible and practicable".