Norwich to get Connect2 pro-cycling funding for river crossing between city and Whitlingham Park

Sustrans, the UK sustainable transport charity, have been successful in the People's £50 Million Lottery Giveaway for their Connect2 project.


Sustrans will use the funding to invest in walking and cycling UK-wide as part of the 5-year Connect2 project in partnership with local authorities.


One of the Connect2 projects is up to £1 million to benefit Norwich by providing a river crossing from the City to Whitlingham Country Park.


The planned route would stretch from Whitlingham Country Park over the River Yare and River Wensum and behind Norwich City Football Club. Photos of the event to launch the Norwich bid can be found here.

The Tour Norfolk site has good information about Whitlingham Country Park and its facilities.

The former gravel quarry is now an excellent centre for water sports, and a great place for walking, cycling and wildlife. The official web site Whitlingham Outdoor Education Centre is here.

Sustrans are the charity behind the National Cycle Network, Safe Routes to Schools, Bike It and TravelSmart.

This might inspire me to pump up the tyres on my old bike and brave cycling again after more than 10 years!


I came across the excellent Norwich Cycling Campaign web site, which provides useful information to promote cycling and cyclists in Norwich.

NCC are also campaigning against the insane decision by Norwich City Council to pilot the use of our cycle lanes by HGV's, which I previously blogged about.

Happy Easter and good food from Horstead Farming Group

I hope you had a very happy Easter. It felt more like Christmas here with the snow. Been decorating today and the family sensibly left the house for a few days to avoid the dust, fumes and chaos.

I was left some lovely treats that my wife bought for me from a new farm shop that has opened at the Notcutts Garden Centre on Daniels Road in Norwich.

The farm shop is run by the Horstead Farming Group. HFG was established in 2005 and is a group of 5 family run farms based around Horstead in Norfolk working co-operatively.

If you live in Norfolk and want some lovely local traceable food, HFG have 3 farm shops at Blofield, Beeston St Andrew and Notcutts in Norwich, as well as two seasonal pick your own sites at Blofield and Sprowston.

If you do eat meat, I can certainly recommend their lamb.

Even if you don't, the veg was great and you can buy big sacks of locally produced spuds (25kg or 10kg) or onions (10kg or 5kg) and save on the shopping journeys you have to make.

Not something the supermarkets offer!

Plastic bag free day - 28th March 2008

The Norwich Carbon Reduction Trust, known also as CRed, is running a series of events over the year with a Plastic Bag Free Day in Norwich on 28th March.

On 28th March, if you are shopping in Norwich, or indeed wherever you are on that day, why not ask yourself, "Do I need another plastic bag?".

According to CRed, most plastic bags have on average a lifespan of 12 minutes and yet take over 400 years to degrade in landfill sites!

Each year in the UK, 13 billion plastic bags used in a year in the United Kingdom.

Norfolk is taking a lead on this issue. Already the market town of Aylsham is trying to become the first plastic bag free town in Norfolk.

So join the people of Norwich - both traders and shoppers – and support the Norwich Carbon Reduction Trust in saying no to plastic bags on Friday 28th March – make that the day you start to use a bag for life and prolong the life of the earth.

If you want to take this further and get better at managing the waste you produce at home and recycle more, why not get inspiration from Almost Mrs Average at The Rubbish Diet?

Calendar of Norfolk and UK Green and Ethical Events

I've decided to try to keep a calendar going of events in Norfolk and the UK that have an environmental or ethical living theme.

It's called NUKGEE for short, or Norfolk and UK Green and Ethical Events.

Over time it will improve and if you have any events that you think are relevant and of interest, please get in touch and I will add them to the calendar.

Although I put it together for my benefit so thay I didn't forget and miss out on things, I hope you find it useful too.

Save our Puppet Theatre - Norwich Puppet Theatre under threat

I read in The Independent about the Arts Council cutting funding for many organisations, including all of the fudning it gives to the Norwich Puppet Theatre. You can read the Atrs Council Chief Executive's comment on the reasons behind the cuts here.

There are only 2 of these puppet theatres in the country and we have been looking forward to taking our son there when he is a bit older and able to appreciate it. Here's a bit of background about this innovative use of the old church of St James Pockthorpe.

The cut is £60,000 and represents about 35% of the Theatre's funding. As this Evening News article says, not surprisingly, the staff are shocked.

What is the world coming to that we devalue such things so easily, not least in the run up to Christmas when they are most likely to be popular and visited by many families?

This isn't some rubbish outfit. The theatre is a part of the community, and is a custodian for an art form and profession for the whole of the country. It even runs courses and workshops via the Norfolk Adult Education programme.

Proof of the regard in which this theatre is held at a local level can be seen by the support received by Norwich and Norfolk Councils. Why is the national importance going to be ignored?

The Arts Council is looking to support excellence, and yet they do not recognise the clear importance of Norwich Puppet Theatre.

The theatre acts as an Ambasador for the UK both abroad in touring in countries like Finland, Spain, Mexico and Canada, and as a host to touring companies from overseas.

Through the art of puppetry, the young can have their minds and imaginations opened to different ideas and cultures from around the world.

At a time when anti-social behaviour is seemingly on the increase and we are told that government is spending tax-payers money on preventative schemes to provide more effective, long term solutions, why are we trying to kill off Norwich Puppet Theatre when it has the potential to educate children and their families about the world beyond East Anglia and the UK, and perhaps foster greater understanding and tolerance?

Shame on the Arts Council.

No doubt their big favourite theatres in London that receive support won't suffer.

Norwich Puppet Theatre has a Friends scheme, which I will try to find out about and will post the details.

You can find out more about becoming a Friend of Norwich Pupprt Theatre here.

Even if you do not leave locally, you can still, like me, feel strongly about the need to keep places like this going for the benefit of UK culture, and could still become a Friend.

Norfolk Wildlife Trust - Don't miss the kiss this Christmas!

The Norfolk Wildlife Trust is asking people to help and look in trees in the county and try to map the location of mistletoe as part of its Citizen Science Mistletoe Survey.

NWT is interested not only in mapping where mistletoe can be found but also to find out which trees it is growing on.

NWT needs to know when and where you saw it, and what type of tree it was growing on. The survey can be completed online click here or via a survey card. To receive a free card you can send a SAE to Mistletoe Survey, NWT, 22 Thorpe Road, Norwich, NR1 1RY.

The survey runs until the end of January 2008.

For more info on mistletoe have a look at this page on NWT's site.

Happy hunting.

Volunteering - Friends of Eaton Park

I have been thinking about whether there is something I can do in my local area to help the community.

I don't have much time and I am lucky that my employer has a very progressive and supportive policy on paid leave for volunteering.

We got a flyer from some political party and what caught my eye was a group called the "Friends of Eaton Park".

My family visits this regularly as it is our nearest one and it is fantastic with its football pitches, skate park, basketball court band stand, model boatiung lake, miniature steam railway and children's play area.

You can visit the Friends of Eaton Park web site and find out about the history of this the largest park in Norwich, and how to get involved to keep this park special.

For example, the Annual General Meeting is at Eaton Park Community Centre on Thursday 29th November from 7 p.m. At 8 p.m. there is a guest speaker: Terry Baine from Norwich in Bloom.

I hope to be able to do some voluntary work in the Park, starting on Wednesday 5th December, 10 to 3 pm.

The volunteering opportunity is as follows:

Wednesday 5th December, 10 to 3 pm: 'work-in' with Norwich Fringe Project to help thin out and coppice a small piece of woodland in the park. All welcome - training, tools and refreshments will be provided. The Friends hope as many people as possible will come along and help with this practical work. Meet in the top car park (near Colman Road). For further information contact Judith Lubbock on 01603 504126.

Why not get involved with this or some other volunteering opportunity in your area?

If you visit the Do-It.org.uk web site and type in your postcode, there will be lots of volunteering ideas and options for you.

Norwich's largest "No Cold Calling Zone" to be launched in Eaton

After inviting Eaton residents to vote on the issue, on Wednesday the 7th November, Norwich is going to launch its largest "No Cold Calling Zone".

At 11 a.m. on the 7th November on the corner of Norvic Drive and Leng Crescent, residents are invited to the launch and to show their support for the scheme, which will be attended by a Trading Standards Officer.

This scheme means that this area of Eaton is a specified zone where the residents, supported by Norfolk Trading Standards, declare they are not willing to accept uninvited callers.

A "No Cold Calling Zone" is a designated area where the resident community declare they no longer wish to accept traders calling at their homes without an appointment.

The zone is designated via the installation of signs at the entrance and exit to the zone and residents are supplied with educational and advice information and door stickers.

Nationally there are 427 "No Cold Calling Zones" with many more planned.

This deterrent to unwanted callers has its benefits, particularly crime prevention.

In Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire have recently evaluated the success of their established zones. Cambridgeshire report an 11% drop in distraction burglary rates and Bedfordshire a drop of 23%.

Previously, the first scheme in Norwich was set up in George Carver Close in Northfields and was reported on the BBC News web site.

If you want to set up a similar scheme in your part of Norfolk you need to download this form and send it to Norfolk Trading Standards.

More information on "No Cold Calling Zones" can be found on the Norfolk County Council web site.