Huddling together to keep warm

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Without a supply of mains gas the majority of the parish uses oil to fuel at least some of its heating. So why don’t we all band together and use our joint purchasing power to drive a really hard bargain with the oil suppliers? That way we could get the best price going and save quite a bit of money.

Well, like nearly all the best ideas, somebody has already thought of it and we’re lucky that it’s Johnny Denis living up in the frozen north of the parish. He’s set up The Fuel Co-op which allows people to band together to achieve all the above – except it’s Johnny who does all the doing.

They started up late last year and by February had 69 members but I should imagine the membership will grow quite a bit as more people hear about it. Membership is free for the first 6 months and then costs £20 a year after that. If you join before you next need to order oil you can try the process for free and you should be able to work out if you’ll save more than the £20 per year membership – what’s to lose?

They place an order every month except August and their website says they achieved a saving of 5.5p per litre (£27.50 off 500 litres) in February compared to the average price.

If the co-op grows as hoped there will inevitably be “core” costs that need funding but that should be offset to some extent by the increased bargaining power larger orders will bring. Best of all it’s a co-op – if you join you have a voice in how it’s run.

If you want to you can just sit back and enjoy the savings but you can also get involved in the decisions about what the co-op does and how it does it. At the moment Johnny does the haggling with the oil suppliers but other members could get involved as a way of keeping costs down. They’re looking for a treasurer at the moment…

If you want to know more Johnny is hoping to have an article in the next Parish News which will give more details. Otherwise you can have a look at their website, email them at fuelcoop@btinternet.com or phone Johnny on 07949 013 075.

glynde.info Updates 2

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Village > Maps > MAgiC > will take you to Defra’s fabulous Multi Agency Geographic Information for the Countryside.

It opens up showing some “topics” that interest me (Access Land, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Ancient Monuments, etc.) and is centred and zoomed to show the vast majority of the parish.

The map in the background is B&W to help the topics layered on top stand out better. It’s a “proper” Ordnance Survey map and is very detailed so it can still be quite hard to make out the layered topics properly. Fortunately there’s a button at the bottom of the map that allows you to “toggle” the background on and off – which gives you the best of both worlds.

The interface may seem a little different from most modern map websites but you get used to it quite quickly. If you hover your mouse pointer over any of the “controls” you should see a bit of an explanation pop-up – which helps make sense of it all.

Another reason it works differently is that it’s been around for a while now having been officially launched in 2002. It also does much more than most modern map websites so it’s worth persevering with.

There’s a bewildering choice of information you can display. To pick out examples doesn’t begin to illustrate the depth of the subject matter covered – but if you want to know where the nation’s Purple Moor Grass and Rush Pasture is then this is the website for you. Before looking at MAgiC I couldn’t have said for sure that there isn’t any in Glynde & Beddingham.

ROVERT – The return of The Trevor

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You may have noticed that there has been little blogging activity here since the middle of December which is when The Trevor Arms re-opened but that is a simple coincidence. It was Xmas that distracted me, honest.

It really is a great pleasure to have our local open once again and the general consensus seems to be that people like the changes so far and are looking forward to things settling down. The beer is still good and I’m not the only one who is curious to see what the new menu will be like once there’s been time to sort it out.

Good luck to Hayley, Richard & “all who sail in her”.

Meanwhile here’s some more fun for crossword puzzlers out there (or in The Trevor). If anyone can solve all of the following anagrams they can buy me a pint virtually any Thursday evening because “Thursday night is Trevor night”.

  • Rev’s Harem Trot
  • Vast Hem Terror
  • Hot Rams Revert
  • Ah! Serve Mr Trot
  • Shorter Ram Vet
  • Revert To Marsh
  • Rarer Vest Moth
  • Ham Tort Server
  • Retro Harm Vest
  • Her Vast Tremor

glynde.info Updates

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As you’re reading this I guess you’ve already noticed one change – a Blog option has been added to the main menu. In fact the menus have undergone a few changes and I expect there will be other changes with the passing of time.

There are several additions to the site in the Village section.

Under Maps you’ll find the addition of the Environment Agency. They publish some very detailed maps showing Flood Risks, River Basin Management, Landfill Sites, etc. Do you know if you live inside the Nitrate Vulnerable Zone? – About a third of the Glynde & Beddingham is.

Under Transport I’ve added Buses. This gives links directly into the bus company timetables for the two services that come to the village. Bus info has always been available via the link to the Transport Direct journey planner but that’s a little unweildy if you just want to quickly check a bus time.

There’s a whole new Statistics section where you can find facts and figures about G&B. Some of this is regularly updated from sources published on the internet (Weather, Tides, Crime, etc.) some of it doesn’t change (2001 Census, Location).

Suggestions for any more additions are always welcome…

Speed trap?

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I spotted an article in The Argus the other day (Wed 30th Nov) and thought it was relevant to the recent discussions about slowing down the traffic passing through the village.

Sussex drivers go faster when limit is lowered

Motorists travelled faster along a road after the speed limit was reduced, a traffic survey has found.

It went on to list not one but three cases where lower speed limits had been introduced to roads in Sussex (including the C7 Kingston – Newhaven road) and before & after traffic surveys had found that drivers had actually increased their speed rather than obeying the new speed limit!

The article mentions that

The situation emerged following an East Sussex County Council-organised traffic consultation

but doesn’t give any more detail about the report – I’m trying to track it down.

It also goes on to say that

The survey found that in areas where there were engineering measures notifying drivers of speed limits, motorists were more likely to stick to the designated speed.

and it turns out that engineering measures are the type of physical changes to the road layout that we’ve also discussed might help in Glynde – built out pavements, pinch points, sleeping policemen, chicanes, etc.

You can read the full article on The Argus website and I’ll try to get hold of the ESCC report in case that has more relevant detail.