Life after digital

Things you learn: I hosted the Preen collection at the village hall this morning as their normal staff member had a health emergency. People would turn up with old style TVs with big fat backsides (the TVs that is) and say: "Do they take analogue?"

Well as a matter of fact they do but I wasn't sure why. Anyway, I spoke to Dan the Man from the Van about this and he pointed out that if there is scart socket capable of taking a digi box an old analogue TV is quite capable of chugging on in the digital age.

Does the electronics industry tell us this? Like hell they do - analogue is over they say, get a new telly quick. But it means that perfectly good kit goes to landfill or the crusher.


Good haul for Preen this morning both from home pick ups and in the village hall. Electronics and furnitiure. A big thank you once again to the VH management committee for making the hall available. A review of some of the items is below. Visit Preen on the web

Old furniture and other bits and bobs

I'm hoping we will be discussing this on Wednesday  - subject to members' agreement.  How many times have you disposed of a household good that is serviceable but no longer needed and yet unsellable. The Preen challenge may be a local answer to that. It might even save a trip to a (ssssh) civic amenity site not in this local authority area...

The Preen Community Challenge was launched at Central Bedfordshire Council on Monday 12 March.  For those Parishes that did not have the opportunity to register,  they are extending the registration process until the end of April.  

The Preen Community Challenge –  generates community funding, reduces waste and helps local people in need.  Each town and parish will compete for a share of over £27,500 worth of prizes which can be used to support good causes or community ventures where you live.  Every town or parish that signs up will win something and there are big prizes for the best efforts.  Every community, however large or small, has an equal chance of winning the cash awards.  All you have to do is encourage your residents to take part. 

To join the Preen Community Challenge, please return your Parish/Town registration form, along with your feedback questionnaire and order form.  For further information, please contact Kathy Lewis on 07971 317757 email Kathy.lewis@preencic.org or visit www.reusematters.com.

Regards,

Jo Watts

Executive Assistant

Preen CIC

(ddi) 01767 319504

(t) 0844 99 343 99 (Head Office)

(m) 07791 293814

www.preencic.org

jo.watts@preencic.org

www.facebook.com/preencic

       

Update

American founding father Benjamin Franklin said there were only two certainties in life – death and taxes.

For the parish council, this translates as maintaining the village cemetery, tucked away in Rectory Lane and setting the budget every year.

The two are linked, like all parish council services, but there are ambitious plans for the cemetery in the future. That will require money (or ‘resources’ as they say in government) and that means careful budgeting.

With the village set to grow by say, 20 per cent, with the Home Farm – and who knows what other – development, parish councillors have been thinking about capacity in the existing cemetery, opened in the early 1990s. Interment of full remains (as opposed to interment of ashes) on the north side will soon be moving into an earlier extension which is due to be tilled and reseeded. An extension road was also constructed several years ago to allow access for hearses and mourners.

To ensure there is enough space, in the long-term, the Parish Council is hoping to buy some adjoining glebe (Church of England) land to the north of the cemetery. At time of writing we are still waiting to hear if the Diocese of St Albans has accepted our offer. If we are successful, however, the land could mean a chance to meet another need in the village – at least for a few years.

There has been a big interest in allotments in Cranfield and the council has had enquiries from quite a number of people. The new land, if a sale is agreed, would offer a medium-term location for allotments. This, in my view, would be only the start for a search for suitable allotments sites. The interest in freshly grown food from an identifiable place is now starting to link in with concerns about the economy, world food prices and massive damage to the global environment by, for instance, green beans flown in from Kenya.

Apart from that, gardening is a great way to stay active without busting a gut in a sweaty gym. So it looks like a win-win-win situation.

We are inviting an allotment expert to a forthcoming meeting to check out the practicalities (maximum permitted size of sheds, are dogs allowed? etc). For more information email me on broadgreen68@btinternet.com or tel 01234 757689.

If all goes according to plan – big ‘if’ – parish council land could both feed parishioners and then bury their well-nourished bodies, eventually. Now that sounds like recycling.