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Eco-Hints

There are many small things we can do to look after our  world and to help our neighbours both now and into the future. Look out for the things we can all do, in the Eco-hints which the Stanmore Society are publicising in the months to come.

Eco-hint A – Aluminium

Aluminium can be recycled easily – save your aluminium cans and foil containers, crush them underfoot to save space (if you prefer), and put them out for Harrow’s recycling collection. 

Eco-hint BL – Blackberries

Blackberries are in season, are local, and are free. Pick them from parks, open spaces, or many other places; and use them in pies, jam, or freeze or bottle them to use later on.

Eco-hint CH – Control Central heating

Your central heating has controls, time-clocks and thermostats. Use them so that you are only using and paying for the heat you need. This will benefit both your pocket and the wider world, which is at risk from our extravagant use of energy.

Eco-hint CS – Charity shops

We all have articles which may be in good condition but which we do not use and may not like. But we can reuse them (see Eco-hint RRR reduce, reuse, recycle) by donating them to a charity shop). 3 parties will benefit – the donor of the unwanted article, the charity, and the purchaser who wants it.

Eco-hint D – Durable Materials

Polythene and pvc have a very long life, and one of their uses is for gas and water supply, and drainage, where they can give 100 years of service.

Wonderfully durable materials. So why do we need to use them for such temporary uses as getting our shopping home from the shops?

And, still worse, why do we leave them around as litter in towns, when they stay around for a long time, or in the countryside or on the seashore, where they can harm farm animals or marine life?

Eco-hint E – Eggs

Instead of boiling eggs by waiting for the water to boil, then putting them in and boiling for 5 minutes, use Delia Smith’s method – put them into cold water, bring to the boil and then boil for 4 minutes. This saves you the cost of a minute’s heating, and saves the world the consequences of this minute’s energy use.

Eco-hint FM – Farmers’ Market and Food Miles

Much of our food from supermarkets has travelled miles to reach us. We can get fresher temperate foodstuffs, locally produced, at Farmers’ Markets.

Eco-hint FP – Flyposting

The flyers we see for concerts, auctions and bootsales on roadsigns and posts are posted without anyone’s authority, remain there long after the event, and look dreadfully ugly. Why do we put up with them? Why don’t we remove them, and the cable ties they are fixed with?

Eco-hint FT – Fair Trade

We try to avoid importing products from other continents if we can produce them locally. But we do value and enjoy many tropical products, and often the producer does not get a fair price for their efforts. To make sure they do, buy Fair Trade products from Fair Trade stalls or look for them at supermarkets.

Eco-hint GB – Green Belt

Green Belts were established after the Second World War around London (and elsewhere), to set a limit on suburban growth, and to provide an attractive open space for the benefit, recreation and general well-being of London’s population. Current policy seems to be losing sight of these intentions. Why not join a local amenity/heritage society to make your voice heard?

Eco-hint GG – Guerrilla Gardeners

Guerrilla Gardeners find a neglected piece of public land, and tidy it, dig it, plant it, generally care for it, and beautify it. They do this outside working hours, to avoid the attention of the officious, but those living nearby welcome the attention. Perhaps we could start with a neglected patch we know, or the planters in shopping centres which are often full of weeds?

Eco-hint GU – Gutters

Gutters have a fall (a gentle slope), so that they can channel rain away from the roof they serve, away from the building, into the downpipe and drain. During dry weather they can fill with bird droppings, wind-blown dust and leaves, and some plants can begin to grow. All this prevents them from doing what they are intended to do – to drain water away from the building. Look after your gutters and drains – keep them clear, so they can work properly (in the same way as you are looking after the rest of the world and keeping that in good order!)

Eco-hint HE – Hedges

Walking is the greenest form of transport there is. But it is often hard work for pedestrians to force their way past out of control hedges which intrude on the pavement. And what must it be like in a wheelchair? Keep your hedges clipped, and offer to do the same for a neighbour if they can’t do so.

Eco-hint HI – Hippos

Traditional toilet cisterns were designed when water was plentiful, and hold 2 gallons or 9 litres of water. Modern cisterns hold half this, or less. Fit a plastic hippo inside your traditional cistern to reduce the volume of water you use.

Eco-hint I – Insulation

Much of suburban London was built in the 1930s, with single glazing, and with no insulation in the walls and roof. People’s expectations of comfort then were low. To get a higher standard of comfort now, do we:

          turn up the heating (and damage both our pocket and the wider world), or

lag our roofs and hot water pipes, and install cavity insulation if we can?

Eco-hint J – Junk Mail

We can recycle our junk mail, but it makes more sense to avoid creating it in the first place. You can prevent junk mail addressed to you personally by using the Mail Preference Service (MPS), Freepost 29, LON 20771, London W1E 0ZT, tel 0845 7034599, and you can prevent door to door unaddressed deliveries from Royal Mail by registering at Opt-Outs, Royal Mail, Kingsmead House, Oxpens Road, Oxford, OX1 1RX .

Eco-hint MCP – Minet Country Park

A Rocha are an international  environmental organisation. Their offices, education centre and narrow-boat are in the Minet Country Park in Southall. A Rocha created this park, nature reserve and cycle track from derelict land, which was once owned by British Gas, and then neglected.

Well worth a visit.

Eco-hint MP – Montreal Protocol  

The treaty was signed in 1987 and restricts the production and use of chemicals which affect the ozone layer, which include propellants for aerosols. It has been adopted and implemented enthusiastically by all the nations who signed it. An example of international cooperation working well and successfully.

Eco-hint MSB – Millenium Seed Bank

This is a collection of seeds from plants from around the world (including threatened species), which are maintained at low temperatures but will be able to germinate at normal temperatures if required. The collection was created by the Royal Botanic Gardens at Wakehurst Place, a National Trust gardens in Sussex.

Both the gardens and the seed bank are worth a visit – they are a bus ride from Hayward’s Heath, which can be reached with one change of train from Harrow & Wealdstone.

Eco-hint NP – Newsprint

80% of the newspapers we read are produced from recycled newsprint, and some paper works can produce newsprint completely from recycled material.

Use your blue bin or the bins for used newspapers at your station to recycle them.

Eco-hint O – Office

We all try to use materials and services wisely, without waste or extravagance in our lives at home or here at church. Why negate all this good practice when we are at work, in our office? Stick up for green behaviour in the office – it could probably improve the firm’s finances and profitability, and will certainly benefit the wider world.

Eco-hint P – Pedestrians

Walking is the healthiest and least polluting form of travel, and is as quick, door-to-door, as the car for short journeys. And you can safely look round, at buildings, other people, and our natural surroundings.

Be a pedestrian!

Eco-hint PET – Polyethyleneterephthallate

PET is easier. It is a strong lightweight plastic or fibre which is used in plastic soft drink bottles, as polyester, Terylene or Crimplene in clothes, and for a number of other purposes.

Recycle your bottles – Harrow collects them – they could be recycled as bottles again, or could be converted into fibre and fabric for clothes. (Marks and Spencer pioneered this process.)

Eco-hint PH – Photocopying

Often an extravagant activity. Think whether you need all the copies you are planning to make, and photocopy double-sided whenever you can.

Eco-hint Q - Quorn

Meat production often involves feeding grain to livestock. The grain used would feed many more people than the meat produced from it does.

Quorn is a vegetarian product which resembles meat and has the same protein content - for some of the time, in dishes where you will not notice the difference, why not use Quorn to replace the meat?

Eco-hint R – Rats

Rats enjoy discarded fast food and flourish when it is available in large quantities. So, do not buy more food than you need (fast or slow), and do not leave any around for this part of creation that we would prefer not to share our surroundings with.

Eco-hint RD – Radstock

The Penguin Guide for Somerset for 1939 (yes, 1939!) describes work that was conducted then to landscape tips of colliery spoil with fir trees. Sound environmental practice then, before most of us were born. Caring for our environment is not new!

Eco-hint RRR – Reduce, reuse, recycle

A 3-fold hierarchy of strategies to prevent waste – and the order they are in is important!

Avoid waste by identifying what you do not need, so that you don’t use it or use less of it. Use it again, or allow someone else to do so. Failing those, recycle it.

Eco-hint S – Sustainability

Sustainable Development – development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Defined by the Brundtland Commission, set up by the UN in 1983.

Eco-hint SL – Security lighting

Sadly, many of us feel the need to fit security lighting to protect our homes. But why, if we are trying to prevent an intruder on our property, do we set the lighting so it comes on when a pedestrian passes along the street without setting foot on it?

And why do we light up the night sky when any intruder will be on the ground?

Eco-hint SQ – Sequoia

An attractive tree which grows naturally on Pacific coasts in the USA, and was introduced to England 150 years ago. It can grow 200-300’ high. We have sequoias in parks in Stanmore, Edgware and Hatch End. In America it is used commercially, here it is ornamental. A wonderful tree – both useful and attractive.

Eco-hint StP – St Pancras

A striking Victorian building which worked properly when it was built, still does, and has always been attractive. It is now the terminus for Eurostar, the least damaging way of travelling to Brussels and Paris (and connections for stations beyond are possible and easy).

Eco-hint T – Terracotta

A fired clay product with a long history, which the Victorians made extensive use of – a material which is both useful and attractive. It resists industrial pollution and can be used in a very creative and artistic way – and many Victorian churches, church buildings and civic buildings show how attractive it can be.

Our built heritage is part of our environment – it can be both long-lasting and attractive. Enjoy it when it is both!

Eco-hint U – Ugliness

English Heritage realise that our streets are made ugly by unnecessary street furniture, road signs and flyposting, and that they can be made attractive by decluttering them. Join their campaign, join a local amenity society to support it,

Eco-hint V – abandoned Vehicles

Abandoned vehicles take up parking space we could use, or obstruct our view of traffic whether we are a driver or pedestrian. Possibly the vehicle could have been stolen and dumped, and has an owner who would like it back.

All local authorities have arrangements which enable you to report abandoned vehicles, by phone, text, email or website.

Eco-hint W – Woking

Woking is a borough in Surrey, smaller than any London borough. Woking has a strong Sustainable Energy policy and Climate Change strategy, with large and small scale energy generation, and energy and water conservation. The policy has all-party support, attracts private finance, and has no effect on their Council Tax.

An example for other local authorities!

Eco-hint X – Christmas presents

Rather than give a present to someone who does not need it, why not give a hive, a flock of chickens or ducks, a cow or a goat to an African village on their behalf, through Send a Cow? www.sendacowgifts.org.uk

Or why not finance a forest in this country through the Woodland Trust? www.woodland-trust.org.uk

Eco-hint YB – Yellow buses

America is the most motorised society in the world, but does not experience our “school run”, which fills our rush-hour roads and creates unsafe conditions round our schools.

America makes substantial use of yellow buses to transport their children to and from school.

A transport policy we could introduce?

Eco-hint Z – zzzz

The creation stories tell us God rested on the seventh day. He didn’t do 24:7, neither should we. So there is new eco-hint for the final week of the series. But we can continue to follow the good practice we have learned from the earlier hints in the series – which was devised by St. John’s Church as part of their application to become an Eco-Church.

MSO

A meeting has been scheduled on November 14th  between 6 - 8pm  for anyone effected by promiscuis fining the CCTV unit opposite Stanmore Station - upward of 489 cases -at Kerry Avenue/Kerry Court.

The date for the French Market in Stanmore Broadway has finally been announced as Sunday 19th November 1017 from 8am.

Harrow Nature Conservation Forum (HNCF) have announced several workdays for many of the green spaces in the local area. To view the scheduled workdays, visit our Calendar page or visit the HNCF website http://www.harrowncf.org.

The venue for London Pro Arte's summer concert is very special! They will perform three of Handel’s Chandos Anthems in the church of St Lawrence Whitworth, Edgware, where Handel composed the anthems as court composer to the Duke of Chandos. Tom Winpenny will conduct the choir and the ensemble Sinfonia Britannica.

Please see the poster below to find out more. The choir looks forward to seeing you at this special concert.

The Harrow Nature Conservation Forum has released a Chairman's report specifically related to the Harrow area. Download the report by clicking on the link below:

Please contact VEENA LIDBETTER direct on 07771 833843

Find out more about our meeting by downloading the poster below:

On the morning of 7/2/2017, our chairman John Williams was invited by BBC Radio London to give a talk about Stanmore and what makes it special for him, along with other Stanmore residents. The programme item was called "Around my Manor" and was hosted by Robert Elms.

John Williams mentioned The Stanmore Society, the BP Museum, RNOH, Bernays Hall  and the Green Belt. He also mentioned the history of our two St Johns churches and some of the notable people that have lived in Stanmore and the fact that many are still with us in the church yard. As well as discussing the churches, John mentioned that Stanmore is a diverse community with all the churches, the Synagogue, Mosque and the Hindu Temple  all living side by side.

To listen to the podcast, click on the link below:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04qq7t2

Air Quality Monitors. The quality of London’s air at street level seems to be a topical subject at the moment. We have recently put up 10 air diffusion tubes, a small plastic tube that will be coated with any materials that are present in our air. We have put them mainly in areas with high traffic flows, with a few in what we think may be cleaner air space, so we have a comparison. The diffusion tubes have been supplied to us by the Green Party at the GLA and after one month of exposure will go back to a laboratory to be analysed.
Our next public meeting on 2nd March will be on the subject of local air quality, please see our website for details. We hope to have the results of our test back in time for the meeting.

Aspire Leisure Centre on Wood Lane has recently reopened after a refurbishment funded by generous donors. To find out more about the refurbishment, please visit the following article:

http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/news/west-london-news/stanmore-aspire-leisure-centre-re-12460850

CONCERT ORGANISED BY FRIENDS OF ST LAWRENCE ON 2ND OCTOBER 2016

On Sunday 2 October 2016 at 3.00 pm, St Lawrence's in Little Stanmore will be hosting an English Baroque concert where Hungarian harpsichordist and organist Zsombor Tóth-Vajna will give a recital of English organ pieces including works by Blow, Byrd, Handel, Purcell and Stanley.

The church building retains its eighteenth century interior where Handel’s Chandos Anthems were first performed and he will play a reconstruction of the organ that Handel would have known while composer in residence at nearby Cannons.

The recital forms part of the celebrations to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the rebuilding of the Church.

Refreshments will be available after the recital.

To find out more about the event, download the poster below:

Come and join us at the afternoon meeting on 14th September 2016 where we will hear a talk from the Metropolitan Fire Brigade who are celebrating their 150 year anniversary.

The afternoon meeting will be held from 2pm in:

Oakmead Court East Lounge, Valencia Road, Stanmore.

To find out more, download the poster below:

There will be a Garden Party on Sunday 4th September 2016 between 2 and 5pm, where entertainment will include several children's games and live singing. To find out more please visit the following website: www.lesleydemeza.com or download the poster below:

NEW VOLUNTEER WORKING DAYS ANNOUNCED FOR HARROW NATURE CONSERVATION FORUM

Several volunteer working days have been announced by Harrow Nature Conservation Forum for various sites in Stanmore.To find out more, visit our Calendar page or the Harrow Nature Conservation Forum website.

This year's AGM will be held on 28th June at 8pm in Stanmore Library. To find out more, download the poster below:

Wood Lane Farm is the latest addition to Harrow's public wild open spaces. To find out more about the opening event, download the poster below.

We've invited Sky News' breakfast presenter Gillian Joseph to host a BREXIT debate between local politicians Bob Blackman (Conservative MP for Harrow East) and Sachin Shah (future Labour leader of Harrow Council) so they can put forward their arguments for leaving or remaining in the EU. You can listen to the debate and will have the opportunity to ask questions in the Bernays Hall from 8pm.

An Exhibition of Painting and Photography
by
PETER WILLIAMS: Landscapes - oil on canvas
DICK BARNATT: Photography - portraits of rock and pop stars

SATURDAY 16 APRIL 2016   :   11 am till 5.30 pm

Old Harrovian Room, Harrow School
Located within the War Memorial Building
Harrow on the Hill
Middlesex

FREE EVENT - ALL WELCOME

Our next committee meeting will be in Sainsbury’s – meet upstairs in Committee room along corridor (please remember to sign in at downstairs rear info desk - request by Manager).

To find out more download the poster below.

Chief Executive, Rob Hurd will give the latest Development Update at our public open meeting on Tuesday 22nd March at 8pm in Bernays Memorial Hall, Stanmore Broadway.

Find out more by downloading the poster below:

Zac Goldsmith paid a compliment to Stanmore by opening  his election  campaign for  Mayor of London with his very first hustings meeting at the Bernays Hall on Tuesday 16th February.. The meeting was by invitation and limited by available space, around 130 people filled the hall to hear what he had to say and put their questions to him.

If you want to hear what Zac had to say, click on the link below:

https://www.facebook.com/ZacGoldsmith/videos/vb.311126315707480/611206412366134/?type=2&theatre
.

The Stanmore Society has learnt that the Moons in Stanmore is set to close down at the end of February, resulting in Stanmore losing its last pub, We were very surprised to hear the news as the pub always seemed busy.

Come and join us at this afternoon meeting where teacher Marilyn Raymond will host a talk on how children's education in hospitals has changed in recent years.

Join us on Wednesday 10 February at 2:00pm in Oakmead Court East Lounge, Valencia Road.

For more information see the poster below.

This is to advise you of the Thanksgiving Service for Rita Jourdan, who died peacefully early in the morning of 2^nd December.

The service will be held at Stanmore Baptist Church, HA7 2PH, at 3pm on Saturday, 19^th December.  The church is on the corner of Old Church Lane and Abercorn Road.  Parking is free on the roads around the church if you are coming by car.

Rita was never keen on people wearing black at funerals, so please feel free to dress in colour!

Please don’t bring flowers or gifts.  We would like all gifts in memory of Rita to go to the St Martin’s-in-the-Fields Christmas Appeal.  We are setting up a dedicated appeal on ‘Just Giving’ to support this charity in memory of Rita, where you will be able to leave messages and remember mum long into the future. The Christmas Appeal was not set up with Just Giving, but they are doing so specially for us, and it should be up and running early next week.  We’ll email around the details as soon as we have them.

We have also set up a web page to collect and share photos, tributes, recollections and stories about Rita.  This can be found at www.ritamemories.com.  If you would like to contribute anything to the site, please send it be email to ritamemories@gmail.com.  All contributions are much appreciated.  If you would prefer your contribution to remain anonymous, please just let us know in your email.

Paul Jourdan
48 Morningside Park
Edinburgh EH10 5HA

Bentley Priory Museum have just announced several events that will be taking place in the museum. The events include several talks relating to the Battle of Britain and a workshop relating to the glamourous hairstyles of the 1940s.

After entering the museum, you will need to pay an additional £3 to attend a talk. The workshop will cost £25. Find out more by downloading the poster below.

Taster session for new Stanmore based rock choir

A new rock choir is being set up by local resident Simon Reynolds and there will be a free taster session in St Anselms Church Hall on Wednesday 8th July .

Simon told us the following the new choir:

Hi all! Thought you might be interested to know that I will be starting a new Rock Choir in Stanmore! I will be running a free taster session at St Anslem's Church Hall Wednesday 8th July at 8pm if anyone wants to come along? To book a place visit the website
 www.rockchoir.com Would be great to see some of you there! Simon :)

Many thanks in advance,

Simon

This year's AGM has been booked in for the 16th June in Stanmore Library. The AGM will start at 8pm.

This year's guest speaker will be Rob Hurd, Chief Executive of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital who will update us with the latest news on the hospital's redevelopement.

The Stanmore Society gave local residents the opportunity to quiz aspiring MP’s at our election hustings event held on 20^th April in Stanmore College.

Residents of Harrow East can choose from a range of candidates from across the political spectrum. Representing the Conservative Party was our current MP Bob Blackman who has held the seat since 2010. Also in attendance was Uma Kumaran from the Labour Party, Ross Barlow from the Liberal Democrats.  They say when police officers look very young you are getting old, these two candidates, both locally educated, seemed  young indeed but none the less  gave very good accounts of themselves. Our former mayor and Harrow Councillor Nana Asante is representing the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition and teacher Emma Wallace represented the Green Party . Unfortunately the local UKIP candidate Aidan Powlesland was unable to attend.

Many questions seemed to be focussed around the NHS and it seems this could be an important factor for this election.  The pundits are predicting the election will be a close run event with no clear winner in sight. Your vote could make all the difference both locally and nationally.  

After several years of campagining, the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital has managed to secure a £20 million loan from the NHS Trust Development Authority to help with its rebuild.

The hospital received unconditional approval from the development authority on its business case for redevelopment.

To find out more about the loan, please visit the link below on the Harrow Times website:

http://www.harrowtimes.co.uk/news/12867696.Loan_for_spinal_injuries_hospital_hailed_a__great_victory_/

Join us in Stanmore College at 8pm on 20th April 2015 for the chance to put those all important questions to our local prospective candidates in the forthcoming General Election. We have invited all of those standing,  so far we have agreement from the Conservative and Labour candidates. We are waiting to hear back from the Lib Dems and the Green Party. To find out more, open the poster below:

People are being urged to vote to make Stanmore Marsh (a currently underused open space) to become an attractive park and wetland area.

Boris Johnson’s Big Green Fund has been set up to provide grants of up to £175,000 towards environmental projects across London.

You can vote for your preferred open space at: www.london.gov.uk/biggreenpoll

The Crazy Horse now has full planning permission for 13 flats and some retail space. A modern looking building, in our opinion out of keeping with the surroundings. A public house has stood on this site for over one hundred years.

We are also about to lose The Vine. The current owners have applied for demolition of the building.

The Abercorn Arms has ceased trading and is likely to be converted into flats.

Times in Stanmore are changing and it is sad to see all of these iconic landmark places disappearing.

We are planning to reorganise the website so that memorable news events are archived on a new page. We are currently reviewing how to handle this and will implement a solution soon.

Please note our membership form has been updated to reflect the name and address of our new membership secretary (Audrey Phillips). You can download a new version of the form from the Membership section of our About us page.

Anmer Lodge development  now also has full planning permission for over one hundred homes and an M &S Simply Food store. We are still waiting for confirmation on when the work will start. We will provide an update as soon as we have more news.