Ivydene Gardens Home: Mission Statement |
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Chris Garnons-William's mission is to educate and inform as many people on how to garden successively using organic methods and companion planting. This involves design, construction and maintenance of private gardens. As a non-income-generating-for-me-or-Ivydene-Horticultural-Services hobby it also involves creating Photo Galleries to compare the flower, foliage, shape/habit, fruit/seeds and in flower beds of all cultivated and native to UK wildflowers either grown and/or sold in the UK to aid your choice of plants for mail-order directly from the supplier to you. |
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Tree Facts
If you can maintain your garden to produce as much oxygen as possible then you and the others on this planet can breathe. |
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From The Times of 15th March 2006 :- "Food transport now accounts for a quarter of all HGV miles in the UK and is responsible for almost 2 per cent of our annual carbon emissions. Air freight is the biggest culprit - the number of planes rushing us our Ugandan mange tout and Brazilian figs has doubled in 10 years".
If you could produce any of your own food on your own land, this would produce a reduction in pollution. |
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"From: Gabbie Joyce <gjoyce@gardenorganic.org.uk> Subject: Re: Master Gardener promotion Date: 14 February 2013 19:57:53 GMT To: Christopher Garnons-Williams <chris@ivydenegardens.co.uk>
Hello Chris
Many thanks for taking time to respond to our letter. I've just had a look at your website and it certainly is comprehensive. Well done on creating and maintinaing such a database of detailed information. I will certainly share it amoung my Master Gardener volunteers, who may find it of benefit.
Thank you for your kind offer to share images. Being a programme involving members of the public, we have to adhere to very strict guidelines regarding permissions and are unable to share them outside of our programme generated media.
Kind regards Gabbie
Gabbie Joyce Co-ordinator for Norfolk & Medway Master Gardener Programme Garden Organic Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse, Dereham, Norfolk. NR20 4DR Mobile: 07584 583803 Email: gjoyce@gardenorganic.org.uk Web: www.mastergardeners.org.uk Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NorfolkMasterGardeners - for the latest news
The joy of my role is that I'm often out and about meeting lovely people. I usually visit my emails daily, however if your enquiry is very urgent, you are welcome to contact Philip Turvil, Programme Manager, on pturvil@gardenorganic.org.uk
Master Gardener Programme - volunteer network supporting people and communities grow fruit and vegetables in their gardens and on local communal land. We are recruiting - Ask me about it.
----- Original Message ----- From: chris@ivydenegardens.co.uk To: gjoyce@gardenorganic.org.uk Sent: Wednesday, 13 February, 2013 12:52:24 PM Subject: Master Gardener promotion
Dear Ms Joyce,
Thank you for your letter of 12 February.
As an organic gardener, I have maintained , designed and constructed private gardens for the last 21 years, including 7 years of vegetable growing for a client.
In my spare time, I am creating a small non-income-generating-for-me website www.ivydenegardens.co.uk part of which aims to compare the flower, foliage, shape, fruit/seeds, in flower beds / landscape/ pond /stream of every wildflower and cultivated plant either grown and/or sold in the UK. The comments row in each Plant Description Page aims to have links to external mail-order suppliers or nurseries. The member of the public contacts and pays that supplier for direct delivery to their own home. No commission is paid by me to that supplier or that supplier to me for this free advertising service.
I do not have the time to help others in the field, but can promote the information through my hobby of a website. The Companion Planting Topic may be 1 of the useful topics for your volunteers.
If you would be prepared to share photos of the plants from seed to end of life with the copyright permissions as stated in http://www.ivydenegardens.co.uk/copyrightpermiss.html , I could then show them in one of the existing 150 topics or create a new one if necessary.
Yours faithfully,
Chris Garnons-Williams
-- Registered Charity No. 298104. Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered in Cardiff No. 2188402. Garden Organic is the new working name of the Henry Doubleday Research Association. Ryton Organic Gardens, Coventry, Warwickshire, United Kingdom. CV8 3LG"
What a shame that as a member of Garden Organic, The Royal Horticultural Society and The National Trust, it seems that information or help can only go 1 way. Still it gives me a little job to do in my spare time to provide this educational service free of charge by taking my own photos, then finding out the optimum growing condtions myself before inserting that information at my expense into my website so that the mail-order nurseries throughout the world can receive the orders from the public using the thumbnail, description and list choices in my website. Unfortunately most of those suppliers or organisations like Garden Organic, The Royal Horticultural Society and The National Trust will not provide the photos or growing conditions to this website free of charge . |
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Genetic Technology(Precision Breeding) Bill From https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3167 at 18:24 on Tuesday 8 November 2022, this bill has completed the 1st reading, second reading, committee stage, report stage and third reading in the House of Commons. It has completed its first reading and is in progress on the second reading in the House of Lords. It has not completed or started the committee stage, report stage or third reading in the House of Lords. The Consideration of Amendments and Royal Assent in the Final Stages have also not started. The following is a copy from the Autumn 2022 Issue 138 of the Star&Furrow - Journal of the Biodynamic Association:- "Genetic Technology(Precision Breeding) Bill by Lawrence Woodward The Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill (Note 1) is set to complete its passage through the House of Commons araound mid-October. The government aims to have it passed and given Royal Assent by the end of January at the latest. Although, in theory it applies only to England, because of the UK's internal market, it will impact in Scotland, Wales and in some ways in Northern Ireland. Natural GMOs? Where is the outrage? Lawrence Woodward is a director of Beyond GM (www.beyond-gm.org)
Note 1 https://bills.parliamnt.uk/bills/3167/publications Note 2 https://beyond-gm.org/gene-editing-jusy0label-it/ Note 3 https://gmwatch.org/en/106-news/latest-news/20092 Note 4 https://www.gov.uk/goverment/publications/the-genetic-technolgies-precision-breeding-techniques-bill-rpc-opinion Note 5 https://ofgorganic.org/news/letter-to-defra-the-genetic-technology-precision-breeding-bill-2022 " I wonder if when this bill is passed whether we will then sign a trade deal with the USA and have chlorine-washed chickens imported without anything on the label to tell us that is what has happenned? The EU banned the washing of chicken in chlorine in 1997.
This means that next year, this Bill will have destroyed the organic food systems, bio-dynamic food systems and local farmers shops in England making it uneconomic to farm so the government's plan to replace fields with houses can further advance. Do you know that I can choose where to do my shopping for the next 6 months
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In 2020, over 400,000 discharges of untreated sewage into English rivers/ sea.
I went to CAMBER SANDS beach last week with my wife, her 2 brothers and 2 children of 1 of the brothers. I did not enter the sea not did I play with the sand, but the remainder of my party did. The Lifeguard requested people not to swim due to a dead sheep in the sea in the afternoon when the tide was coming in and there was brown scum on the tide mark. The brown foam that came onto the beach was not from 1 sheep, but more likely from sewage coming in on the incoming tide and being incorrectly stated as being from a sheep. Kids played with the foam and people swam in this sewage polluted sea without realising. Other raw sewage spills were reported at:
The River Trust’s advice is to avoid entering the water immediately downstream of these discharges, especially after it has been raining. The rivers Tillingham and Rother enter Rye Bay, after only a short distance, between the beaches of Camber Sands and Winchelsea Beach.
AS A TOURIST WOULD YOU LIKE TO DRINK SEWAGE WATER, EAT A FISH THAT ATE RAW SEWAGE, OR FOR YOU TO SWIM IN ITS SEWAGE CONTAMINATED RIVERS, LAKES OR SEA? IF SO, COME TO GREAT BRITAIN AND LIVE IN THIS UNHYGIENIC COUNTRY, WHERE WE DO NOT HAVE THE CLEAN UNCONTAMINATED WATER FOR OUR DAILY NEEDS, NOR THE DOCTORS TO TREAT US OR THE CLEAN AIR TO BREATHE. You might decide that dying from that activity caused by sewage that Members of Parliament have agreed should be released into those environments might make you rethink about coming to Great Britain. This article from Riverford Organic Farmers arrived on my doorstep today (2 November 2021):- "Flushing away our water quality. This week my attention was caught by a battle not in our usual fields (nor on land at all), but important none the less. As children in the '60s, we swam and fished in the River Dart, which runs past our farm, without worry. We took it for granted. But by the early '80s, few people would risk swimming; in quieter stretches, the riverbed became covered up in up to a foot (30 cms) of brown algal growth. Sitting with a notorious local poacher in the early hours while he plied his trade, the reason became obvious: the river changed colour and developed a horrendous stench as the local sewage plant opened its gates under cover of darkness. Soon the river was dead, and most of the fish gone. Then, in 1989, Thatcher privatised South West Water. Whether through better management, access to private capital, better regulation by the Environment Agency, or the threat of legal action from Europe, our river became cleaner. Water bills rose hugely, but it seemed to work; farmers built better storage for slurry, and sewage treatment became much more effective. Today, you can again see families picnicking by the river and swimming on sunny days. I find that I once more started to take this amenity for granted. But behind the scenes, things are changing. After decades of raking in billions in profit for shareholders, water companies have failed to invest in vital infrastructure - and across the UK, our sewage system is now unfit for purpose. We are told the investment needed to meet water standards is too high. But the truth is that more has been extracted in dividends than invested in improvements; one recent report found that South West Water had an average 26% profit margin over 10 years. In 2020, there were over 400,000 discharges of untreated sewage into English waters, and the UK ranks last in EU countries for bathing water quality."
"Thames21 opened last Monday’s BBC Panorama’s documentary - 12 April 2021, The River Pollution Scandal, by highlighting the impact of sewage discharges into the river Thames. London’s overloaded sewage system routinely discharges raw sewage into the Thames, on average once a week. The city’s combined sewer overflow (CSO) system was designed to be a safety valve for occasional use, to prevent sewage backing up into people’s homes when the sewage system is overloaded. But discharges have become regular and routine." from Thames21.org.uk.
Poll: Are you happy to drink recycled sewage water from the River Thames? Thames Water has proposed this as one way of ensuring it can provide an adequate water supply for Londoners in the future. But could you stomach it? Is any of this a good idea? "We could get 30% of it [river water] being from sewage, and it may end up being closer to 50% at times," says Dr Andrew Singer, a microbiologist at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. "If there is no further treatment of the sewage before they inject it into the rivers, that could have implications for things that live in the river. The drinking water facility would have to be aware that they are starting off with so much more sewage – the pharmaceuticals in sewage are quite resistant to breaking down, so they would have to work that much harder to make sure the drinking water doesn't have these chemicals in it. It's a problem that can be solved by throwing money at it. Whether the rivers are any better off for it, you can look at it two ways – the river will have more water in it, which is a good thing, but the water is going to be from sewage effluent and that's more of an unknown." from The Guardian, Friday 10 May 2013. Thames Water are testing public opinion. "The fact we're having this conversation a good 15 years before this would even happen is a good thing because people would get used to it," says Evans. "It's all about public perception, that's the main hurdle here." So it is likely to happen within the next 7 years. According to "Sewage dumped in rivers for months on end" article by The Times on Monday November 8 2021, there is already untreated sewage being dumped by the Water Companies in the Thames and other rivers as well as in the sea round our coast, so will we catch more diseases from the chemicals which have not been removed in converting this river water into drinking water for our taps, as they are worried about in that article?
Unbelievably, MPs recently voted to DROP a new amendment to the Environment Bill that would force water companies to stop raw sewage entering our waters. Thanks to campaigners led by Surfers Against Sewage, at the time of writing a huge tide of public pressure has ALMOST OVERTURNED THIS VOTE, in what would be one of the greatest wins for the protection of water quality ever. This (I hope) victory shows the power of public pressure, if we speak up for our natural world. You can learn more and find the latest news at sas.org.uk/EndSewagePollution-SewageBill." Monday 1st November 2021. riverford.co.uk.
My 2 suggestions:-
The following is from Combined Sewer Systems article by Thames21:- The overflow pollution Diagram on this Action on sewage in rivers from South East Rivers Trust, shows how the excess waste sewage and rainwater is automatically overflowing the control device and allowing the combined excess rainwater and sewage to go onto the open drain, which probably ends up in the river or the sea and nobody has to to worry about this automatic process. So keep on building and do not bother to increase the sewage hangling facility because all the extra can go into the river or sea. Because the poulation is now converting their front gardens into drives, then either the water goes out of their property straight to the storm drain in the road or is led to their rainwater downpipe to go into the same storm drain. If that storm drain and the sewage drain becomes a combined sewer, then it will overflow its control device and cause the UK to become a cesspit. If Suds in School ideas were used instead for all drives and some of the rainwater from the roof, then we could reduce this automatic dumping of sewage into our rivers and round our coastline. |
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Within PAGE/INDEX TABLE 3
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School children are being poisoned by nitrous dioxide from their parent's cars, where the UK Government Department of Education has approved the building of their school Over 1100 school children will be poisoned by nitrous dioxide from their parent's cars, 4 new school buses and 4 new bus routes ending at the proposed new school; which will transport them in Medway. Running vehicle engines whilst stuck in a 300 yard radius queue from that traffic lights still produces air pollution. See Medway Proposed New School Page for how government is going to kill its population using the same method as used in German Concentration Camps against the Jews, together with Medway and its adjacent councils are going to build an extra 5000 houses requiring another 2,773,500 litres of water PER DAY, which require a new doctor for every 2100 people (2 adults + 2.2 children per house = 20,000 patients = 10 doctors. "In February 2020, to combat the stasis in GP workforce numbers, the Government announced a drive to recruit an additional 6,000 GPs by 2024. That’s 1200-1500 extra doctors in general practice per financial year by the end of 2024. But the British Medical Association says the number of fully qualified full-time equivalent GPs has only increased by 111 in the last year.). Unfortunately with the increase in number of patients for each GP, currently 2100, each year is causing the GP's to leave, putting further stress on the remainder, who are also likely to leave, so that the whole system collapses. Having a Tory Government, then means that we will have to turn to private medicine and many of the population will not be able to pay for it, so the population will crash).
My email to Leigh Academy who are going to build a school in the field opposite my house was sent on 28 July 2019 - no reply within 10 days. A 200 house development was to be built, but its proposal was defeated; and now Medway Council chose Leigh Academy to build it in 2018 (without telling the residents) and the rubber-stamping exercise with the local residents is occuring in September by them attending a meeting with Leigh Academy, before the school will be built and operate in September 2020:-
P.S. Further comments in Medway Proposed New School Comments in September 2019, including email to Medway Hospital who are holding an Asthma Workshop on 26 September 2019 between 10:00 - 12:00.
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Lack of drinking water from Southern Water by 2030.
Drinking Water deprivation in Medway, England Southern Water Authority is responsible for water undertakings in Medway from 1973. Medway has a population of 274,015 in 2014. Southern Water are allowing for 15% population growth and therefore any extra growth in Medway area over that will not have water. Southern water did overabstract water from aquifers for Medway towns in a few months during 2017. Medway gets all its water from aquifers. If you continue to overabstract then you run out of water. There is less water going into the chalk from the rain since more and more households in Medway pave over their front gardens and use them as car parks, so there is going to be less rain in the chalk aquifers as more of the open land is built on to hold these houses. The rain from the house drives gets into the storm drain. Most storm drains have a single large exit at their point of discharge (often covered by a grating) into a canal, river, lake, reservoir, sea or ocean. Souther Water is building a Havant Reservoir in Hampshire which is many miles from Medway, so will they then pipe that water at least 100 miles to Medway? Medway is not the only area in Kent, Surrey, Sussex or Hampshire where the UK goverment is requesting that many more houses be built. "Peak Water": how to invest in a world that's drying up by MoneyWeek, shows that the world is running out of water. A solution to this is required by 2019 before more than another billon people lack access to water, with residents of Medway joining them. Medway regeneration includes the following objective:
The Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs produced the following Water Conservation Report. Action taken and planned by government to encourage the conservation of water. December 2018:- On leakage, the government has fully supported Ofwat's challenge to water companies to reduce leakage by at least 15% by 2025. Water cmpanies are proposing an average leakage reduction of 16% by 2025. The water industry has also committed to reducing leakage by 50% by 2050 at the latest. This would reduce overall leakage to 10% of supply. Southern Water leaked 88 Million Litres per day in 2017-18 and aims to reduce leakage by 15% by 2025. Southern Water has committed to a target of 100 litres per person per day by 2040. Companies in an area designated as an area of serious water stress must consider universal metering, whereby they are able to charge all customers by metered volume, as part of their planning process" (so presumably if a property uses more 100 litres per person per day by 2040, then the extra water will cost more; to persuade them to use less). "The building regulations for water efficiency are instrinsically linked to reducing per capita consumption." This means that you allow less water per person, you can then supply more people with water, so you can build more houses and keep up the cycle by further reducing the amount of water each person in the drought ridden area can use per day. "2018- National policy statement for water resources infrastructure. The national policy statement presents the evidence base and identifies how new strategic infrastructure contributes towards meeting government objectives. New water resources will also be needed meaning that new large infrastructure such as reservoirs or water transfers will be part of the solution. Southern Water are building a new reservoir in Havant - will that supply the extra water required for all the new houses being built in the South East? |
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A land warfare conference heard that at Russian rates of fire the UK MILTARY WOULD RUN OUT OF ARTILLERY SHELLS IN JUST 2 DAYS. London close to running out of water, singer says. If Russia waits a little while, then the native population of 25 million will have left parts of the south and south east of England when it runs out water within the next 20 years (Since Southern Water published a graph showing for 2 months during 2017, that they had over-abstracted water from the aquifers in Medway's chalk hills, Medway has continued to build thousands of flats and houses. Is this why Southern Water has not published another graph indicating that it is now over-abstracting from those chalk aquifers every month. The percentage of rain that falls on Medway that goes into the ground and then the chalk hills, is reducing due to the new buildings and the paving over of front gardens of new and old homes in Medway. This means that we are likely to run out of any water from any aquifers very soon.). |
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Independent of climate, forest cover in southern Amazon may fall to 20% by 2016 (03/09/2008). THE AMAZON RAINFOREST PROVIDES OXYGEN FOR THE WORLD - IF THIS DECLINE CONTINUES US HUMANS WILL HAVE NO OXYGEN TO BREATHE. |
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Destruction of Habitat for Wildlife so that children can ride around a large park on bycycles. Cobtree Manor Park is where I and my friend used to take her dog for a 2 hour walk every week. See Map Cobtree Manor Park and Cobtree Manor 18 hole Public Golf Course (1golf.eu picture shows the golf course with its fairways to the left of the point 2/3rds across the picture from the left, with 2 grassed areas dotted with trees behind a hedge of trees above that golf course - that area is where people walk their dogs) occupy 50 acres of parkland displaying a diverse and maturing collection of trees and shrubs. I would be surprised if Cobtree Manor Park grassed area occupied more than 6 of those 50 acres. The Park Ranger and Maidstone Borough Council have decided that every dog will be put on a lead at this public place with no method of allowing that dog any exercise unless the owners can run with the dog under their byelaws of 1998.
Cobtree Manor Park To reduce dating in the woods of Cobtree Manor Park (seen as the top right section of the 1golf.eu picture below the Industrial Estates) and to improve the amenities, The Cobtree Officer of Maidstone Borough Council, King Street, Maidstone, Kent. ME15 6JQ has produced a Draft Master Plan and is requesting comments to be forwarded to that Cobtree Officer by noon on Friday 16 April 2010. A copy of the plan is available at Cobtree Manor Cafe for inspection and from this link. As of 9 April the local dog walking area has been moved to the furthest point away from the car park at the end of the woods and notices have been put up showing dogs on leads instead of roaming free. "The Master Plan sets out a number of improvements which should increase the number of visitors to the park whilst maintaining its heritage and many of its delightful rural features. Cobtree Manor Park was bequeethed to the people of Maidstone by the late Sir Garrard Tyrewhitt-Drake. Maidstone Borough Council maintains the park as public open space and may, with the consent of the Cobtree Charity and Kent County Council, provide additional facilities for the benefit of the people of Maidstone and other members of the general public. The master plan proposes a number of new facilities and the council would like to hear your views on each, as well as your views on the overall scheme. Please complete the table overleaf and return it as indicated by noon on Friday 16 April 2010. Your comments and contributions will be considered carefully by the council, and will help us develop the park in a way which reflects your wishes." from the Cobtree Manor Park - Questionnaire. Written comments on paper should be sent to the Cobtree Officer Brian Latimer or emailed to him at brianlatimer@maidstone.gov.uk and must be in by Friday 16th April 2010.
Comments It is noted that notices in the park have been requesting members of the untrained public to assist in pruning and clearing in the park. This they have done under the supervision of the staff; to the extent that most of the undergrowth under the trees has been cleared allowing the wind to blow straight through and the loud noise of the motorway to reach the other end of the park. We can now see the Industrial Estate of Aylesford, which we could not before. In doing this clearing, we did point out to the staff a large area of Tuberous Comfrey which was in a thicket by the Old Iron Gates leading to the hill with the Elephant House on it. The thicket has now been pruned, the Tuberous Comfrey been trampled on and is no longer visible. From Derby City Council Flora of Derbyshire "Tuberous Comfrey is a very rare casual perennial of waysides and rough ground. In recent times, only four locations have been reported, all in lowland, southern and eastern parts of the county (Allen Wood SK3175; Scarcliffe SK4968; Brook Farm SK3027, near Caldwell SK2618). While certainly indigenous to northern Britain, an older record from Crich (SK35) for 1913 has been taken to suggest the plant was once also native to Derbyshire (Clapham 1969)." The proposed rerouting of the Bridle Path to behind the existing pond at the top of the hill with the Elephant House on it would destroy another area of Tuberous Comfrey and trample over a small cemetery of little animals. "It grows wild in European woodlands in damp, dappled shade, & along riverbanks. In the garden it requires persistent moisture & falls flat on a hot dry day, though it won't be as sickly as it momentarily appears & a good ground-soaking perks it right up. So long as it does not experience drought, it will adapt to a wide range of soil conditions from loamy to sandy to clayey, with pH ranging from a bit acidic to a bit alkaline." from paghat.com. Drought will now occur where it was by the Old Iron Gates since the thicket has been "pruned". The proposed rerouting of the Bridle Path would also disturb the declining numbers of Great Crested Newts who use that pond. The proposed Local Dog Walking Area has been placed furthest from the Park Car Park on a 45 degree sloped part of the wood where either badgers or foxes have had their set or lair, with a muddy horizontal path through it, and trampling on the orchids if one strays from that 30 yard length path to use the full area of slope. This Local Dog Walking Area is located in the 3rd Thick line of trees from the right hand side of the bottom of the 1golf.eu picture and you may have the added benefit of being hit by straying golf balls. Since 80% of the people who walk in the area from those Iron Gates up to the Pond and through the grassed areas are walking their dogs, it is assumed that implementing the proposed Master Plan will involve having to either carry their dogs to the Local Dog Walking Area or have them on short leads to that area. At 61 and my friend being 27 years older than me, we would not be strong enough to carry the dog, and we would be sorry to lose the facility to have the bitch unleashed as we can at the moment in all of the Cobtree Manor Park. As of April 9ht this Local Dog walking Area has been moved to the furthest point away from the Golf Club house but still within range of stray golf balls. Lizzie is a P.A.T. Dog (Pets as Therapy Dog), who looks forward to the exercise in the Park on the days either side of when she visits and comforts the sick in Rochester. "Pets As Therapy is a national charity founded in 1983. It is unique in that it provides therapeutic visits to hospitals, hospices, nursing and care homes, special needs schools and a variety of other venues by volunteers with their own friendly, temperament tested and vaccinated dogs and cats. Since its beginning over 23,000 P.A.T. dogs have been registered into the Pets As Therapy scheme. Every year some of these retire and new dogs, having first been examined and passed on health, temperament, suitability and stability grounds, join Pets As Therapy." It would be a shame to stop this beneficial exercise for a working 14 year old Border Collie. It is interesting that a lake is proposed that close to the Cafe, with the likelihood of flies pestering the eaters. Presumably the water in it would come from the public mains supply. Why not have used the water from the springs on the hill with the Elephant House on it and the water draining past the old Iron Gates into the ditch beyond? Line the end of the ditch with a pond liner and have the water being used by the rapidly disappearing rabbits and squirrels. The Island beds of Trees and Shrubs with nettles and brambles used to provide shelter from the dogs and people, but these are now being "pruned" to leave no shelter, but it does make it easier to use a tractor mower near them. This lake would be the other side of the Car Park, thus distracting the flies from crossing to the Cafe or Exhibition Areas. The staff did point out to us on the 9th of April an improvement for the wildlife by weaving the cut down branches through the 2 rails and post fence between the park and the golf course with the intention of allowing the bramble to grow through it. I am grateful for the superior knowledge of these staff who consider that rotting timber will not rot the rails of a wooden fence and nor will the bramble - entwined in those rotting branches stopping the wind from going through the space between those rails - not cause those rails to be broken, but we must be grateful for the short time within the life cycle of the butterfly that they will be able to use this facility before the cycle is ended in the autumn/winter clearout and them being shredded. The Raised Cycle Path in the bottom woods does not seem to have a large enough width to allow ambulances to come and take away the cyclists who have fallen off it. This Cycle Path is at the other end of the woods, so how are you going to stop the cyclists from cycling in the wood, round all the proposed new pathways or on the grass between the car park and the woods, which they have done during the week from the 9th to the 16th April? Shame about the wild flora that might be growing there with its wildlife isn't it? Is Mote Park in Maidstone not big enough for the cyclists? The new paths up the hill to the rest of the grassed areas may exceed the maximum gradient required for wheelchairs, perhaps those people could be catered for? One of the walkers we met did say that "Kent County Council now has a policy of banning dogs from public places" and that this might be the policy here? Since a majority of Cobtree Manor Park has been allocated to the Golf Course in the 1960's, could we not still have a larger area than 30 yards of muddy track to walk the dog who is assisting us? Leave the area beyond the old Iron Gates to the walkers and people in wheelchairs to have restful walks, and put the children in the remaining area with its woods below it instead of them being allowed to cycle round the entire park. Fence that area off to prevent 4x4s from driving in circles on the grass for their fun, which they did last year, from the Old Iron Gates to the Road by the Entrance, and up from the gates through the cleared woods to stop the access there with metal security fencing or concrete anti-tank bollards. Lock those gates, so that only the staff can get through in vehicles to mow the grass, collect the litter or maintain the trees/shrubbery. Kent Wildlife Trust is across the road from the Golf Course and could assist in plants/wildflower meadows/ponds to create a more friendly place for wildlife and for us to study it with their information about the flora and wildlife - badgers, squirrels, butterflies, great crested newt, tuberous comfrey in the Llama Barn. The current policy of "pruning" everything kills off any overwintering wildlife (caterpillars etc) when put through the shredder - if only 1/3 of the area was tackled each year by getting rid of dead, damaged or diseased material, and then the crossing branches, the wildlife like the badgers might survive by migrating to another part of the park every 2 years. The pruned branches could be put in heaps by the boundary shrubbery to provide material for wildlife like Staghorn beetles. This would also leave the undergowth alone for 2 years, which would reduce the noise from the motorway, the wind howling through and provide shelter for the wildlife from the humans passing by or through that area. The flora could be noted and notices put up to show it to the public, rather than them trampling all over it in the woods, boundary shrubbery or island beds for at least half of the remaining part of the Cobtree Manor Park, when you consider how much has been given of the estate to the few who play golf.
Since there have only been 2 visitors to this site who have emailed me in the last 2 years, the above comments may be a waste of time, since written comments on paper to the Cobtree Officer Brian Latimer or emailed to him at brianlatimer@maidstone.gov.uk must be in by Friday 16th April 2010 and not emailed to me. . |
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Site design and content copyright ©April 2007. Page structure amended October 2012 and July 2022. Chris Garnons-Williams. DISCLAIMER: Links to external sites are provided as a courtesy to visitors. Ivydene Horticultural Services are not responsible for the content and/or quality of external web sites linked from this site. |
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Problems with trees in pavements in Funchal, Madeira in January/February 2018
PROBLEMS WITH TREES IN PAVEMENTS IN FUNCHAL, MADEIRA IN JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019
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Death of tree trunks/branches caused by people.
Solution to problems for trees caused by people using irrigation -
Growth of Pollarded Tree in Hotel Garden in 1 year provides a water solution to this destruction.
Damage to Tree Trunks 1, 2, 3, 4 caused by people,
Damage to Tree Roots caused by people,
Area of Open Ground round trees,
New Trees in pavements 1, 2,
Irrigation of current trees,
Watersprouts on trees,
Crossing Branches in trees,
Utility Equipment with tree Foliage,
Lights on trees,
Bycycle Lane in Pavement,
Public Gardens alongside pavements,
Hotel/Private Gardens alongside pavements,
Current Permeable Pavement Surface round trees and
Irrigation and Fertilising of trees.
Camera Photo Galleries:-
Pavements of Funchal, Madeira
Damage to Trees
1, 2, 3, 4.
Will visitors to Madeira worry about having branches or trees in public places fall on them? No; according to Engineer Francisco Pedro Freitas Andrade of Est. Marmeleiros, No 1, Jardins & Espaces Verdes who is Chef de Diviso Câmara Municipal do Funchal; Departamento de Ciência e de Recursos Naturais; Divisão de Jardins e Espaços Verdes Urbanos in charge of the trees within the pavements within the area controlled by Funchal Municipality - See Monitoring of Trees in pavements in Funchal, Madeira from September 2019 to February 2010 1, 2 pages by his department.
PROBLEMS WITH TREES IN PAVEMENTS IN ST. PETER PORT, GUERNSEY IN SEPTEMBER 2019
Demise of trees in pavements in St. Peter Port, Guernsey caused by people to their Roots
Medway Proposed New School Comments in September 2019
Problems with electrical re-wire in my home, with the knowledge after the event that the client can do nothing about it, since NAPIT requires you to re-use the same contractor to fix the problems. Would you after reading these pages?
We wrote the
concerns about the electrical work on 21.03.21;
Questions concerning electrics on 21.03.21 and
re-wire narrative on 19.04.2021
which had no effect on the credit card company or NAPIT. So we commisioned the following report to see if that will make any difference.
Pages 10, 11, 12, 13 contain information concerning the condition of the electrical installation of the complete rewiring of my home by Mr Manderson of Manderson Electrical Services Ltd, with the report by a qualified electrician and this statement about the work carried out:-
"The result of my observations and testing, I am recommending that all the fixed wiring be recovered and a complete new fixed wiring installation is installed. Unfortunately the work previously carried out is of such a poor standard I cannot re-use any of it."
Mr Manderson is a Part P Registered Electrician with Napit; Registered Competent Person Electrical; Approved Electrician from Napit; City & Guilds Qualified; Part P Electrical Safety; and Honest & Transparent. His firm was employed to replace all the wiring, power sockets, light switches and lights and make sure that rodents could not attack them to chew through the cables or cause an
electrical problem.
Pages 10 lists 18 electrical faults on the new wiring, re-use of the old wiring, and old wiring that was still either in use or had been cut at the old power socket, at the old light fitting, or old light switch (the plasterers filled an old power socket metal box and short-circuited the fuse - it will be fine in 30 minutes sir; 4 hours later it was still shorting, so presumably that would explain why they switched off one of the fuses in the old fuseboard - see photo on page 15 of the report. As clients; we do appreciate having the opportunity of electrocuting ourselves from their re-wire work) where
- fault 2 is a Code C1 'Danger Present' and immediate action is required from March 2021,
- Faults 4, 12, 14 and 18 are Code C2 and Urgent remedial action required,
- Faults 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, 17 are Code C3 where improvement is recommended
Gas explosion from incorrectly installed home boiler Gas boilers are being replaced in Kent, England with the return pipe being connected to the flow of the boiler instead of the return connection. This means that a single electrical circuit is checking for overheating of the boiler and switching it off until it cools down and then restarting it. Because of the incorrect flow the other sensors in the boiler cannot operate due to receiving the cooling return water than the just heated water from the boiler. My Gas Service Engineer informed me in June 2020 that he has found this in other client's homes and that they had refused to redress the situation. The following is from All Flowers per Month Site Map Page for details of it being done to my house and my Gas Servicing Engineers not finding it until 5 years after its replacement. Interesting that some British Gas Engineers cannot replace Gas Boilers correctly and are not concerned that it then explode. When I enquired before to the manufacturers, I was told that a switch had been installed that if the boiler was incorrectly piped, then it would not work - this does not seem to be the case. |
If you have a gas-fired boiler in your house there are 1 or 2 details you need to know:- 1. In October 2002 our boiler was replaced with a Gloworm 100FF. The householder is then supplied with an instruction manual for the boiler and its maintenance. |
Diagram 3.2 from supplied Instruction Manual You may need a Heating Engineer to verify the correct positioning of your pipework to the boiler. If you ask that person to switch on the boiler and when it is working to place one hand on each pipe that goes to the boiler. The one that gets hot first should be called the Flow pipe. Then, check that what that person calls the Flow pipe corresponds with the same position in the Manual supplied by the Boiler Manufacturer. Remember to employ the Heating Engineer to do this as that person is the expert! |
Photo taken on 10 April 2012. In March 2012, it was discovered by a heating engineer that the return pipe from the House Pipework was connected to the Flow side of the boiler. As can be seen above, the pipework has been changed to the correct way, so that now the hot water output by the boiler goes out and up the FLOW side of Diagram 3.2. A point to remember - both the Cut off Thermostat and the Output Water Thermostat are positioned close to the output of the boiler. This does of course mean that when that is where the water is coming in rather than going out of the boiler, then neither thermostat will function as intended. Thus kettling and boiling of the boiler can occur without the boiler switching itself off. Another point is that some of the more modern boilers have electronic systems that report a fault if the water-flow is incorrect and stop the boiler from operating. The boiler manufacturer is contacted by the installer about this problem for its solution, although the fault code may be included in the Instruction Manual (all new boilers should be supplied with reading glasses to aid the installer!) which is to be supplied to the homeowner by the installer. . |
The boiler has been serviced each year by different heating engineers. I have seen some engineers go as far as to remove the baffles as in Diagram 10.3 , clean the baffles and vacuum the front of the heat exchanger, before reassembling the baffles and putting the boiler front back on. Different heating engineers - including the ones who had installed the bolier in the first place - from October 2002 to March 2012 had not noticed that the cold or return water was entering the flow side of the boiler rather than the correct return side of the boiler, when they serviced that boiler. These are clever bomb-enhancing terrorists who enter our homes on a regular annual basis - what brilliant saps we are in the UK!! Almost as good as Bosch selling its Self-Cleaning Tumble-Drier to us idiots in Britain - the machine stopped working once it had found and removed the fluff from the condenser to the bottom water collection not-accessable tank. I must assume that it is unnecessary to remove the fan, pilot burner assembly or main burner, clean them and reassemble to complete the service. Boom, Boom!!! . |
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On my central heating and hot water system, I have a Grundfos water pump to pump the water round the system. . |
Just for information the pipe coming out of the boiler on its top left is the FLOW pipe from Diagram 3.2. This indicates that you pump the water heated by the boiler from the Flow side rather than the return water. . |
The FLOW pipe from the boiler comes in from the right to an isolating valve, Dark Red Grundfos pump, isolating valve, By-Pass with LOCKSHIELD VALVE, central heating to the bathroom radiator, before a T junction followed by a gate for heating the Horizontal Hot Water Cylinder (top right copper cylinder) on the left side and a gate for the Central Heating (Chromium plated steel above the pump). If the pump is fitted with fibre-board gaskets instead of black rubber gaskets between them and the isolating valves, then when the pump needs cleaning; those fibre-board gaskets having hardened will leak once the pump is refitted and the nuts are retightened. Note that the pump is suspended above the wood floor following Point 8 on Siting of Circulators on Page 5 of Grundfos literature- see below. Note the nearly horizontal position of the pump - Page 11 of the Literature supplied with the pump has the following Maintenance - "Selectric/Super Selectric circulators do not require any maintenance during service life, since pump bearings are water lubricated." . |
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In November 2011, my boiler was serviced and the pump replaced because it was noisy. The new pump failed in March 2012. In Fig.2 above there are 3 positions of the pump that have red crosses through them to indicate not to position them that way. Mine had been fitted in the position with the first Red Cross. As it states in point 2. The shaft must not fall below the horizontal plane, even by a few degrees, as this causes premature wear of the top bearing and shaft. Pumps should not be installed with the shaft in a vertical plane, as this may lead to dry running of the top bearing, noise and possible pump failure.
If when looking down at the pump on a horizontal pipe this GRUNDFOS Type UPS Label is looking up at you, then your pump has been fitted entirely wrongly. What should be facing you is the black plastic on the left side of the pump in the photo above. . |
Annual checks of Fernox inhibitor should be carried out by the Heating Engineer and topped up accordingly. None of my Service Engineers have ever done this unless I requested it. That is why even after 7 hours of power-flushing in January 2012; one of the radiators would not get hot. When it was removed outside and emptied it was full of black gunge. When the power-Flush started, the water was pumped one way round the house for 10 minutes and then round the other for another 10 minutes. This ensured that plenty of bits collected in the boiler. When the system was restarted, the boiler kettled and boiled. I was informed that that would go away after a few days. The next Heating Engineer discovered that the pipework from the house was wrongly connected to the boiler as shown above. Apparently, it is recommended that your system is power-flushed before a new boiler replaces your old one!! "Fernox Protector MB-1 gives long term protection of domestic central heating systems against internal corrosion and limescale formation. It prevents corrosion of all metals found in these systems, i.e. ferrous metals, copper and copper alloys and aluminium. It is suitable for all types of boiler, radiator and pipework systems. Fernox Protector MB-1 is compatible with all metals and materials commonly used in central heating systems. For continued long-term protection we recommend Protector levels are checked regularly (annually). The concentration of the product can be easily measured on site using a Fernox Protector Test Kit." from Fernox. . |
I had found that with 7 single radiators, 2 towel radiators and 10 double radiators that the radiators in the ground floor did not get very hot. The Grundfos domestic Water Pump that was fitted in November 2011 by the same Heating Engineer as did the boiler service had a power of 5 metres head, so after my investigation through a local plumbing supplies shop who contacted Grundfos; I requested that the next size up with a 6 metre head was installed in March 2012. My system is probably twice the size of the normal household. Now all my radiators get hot. It is possible that the radiators have flow and return pipes on the upper floors of 28mm diameter with 15mm to and from each radiator, whereas the downstairs is 15mm diameter with 15mm diameter to and from each radiator. Water tends to flow in the easier path. It might be worthwhile to check that all flow and return pipework is the same diameter as it is being installed to make later balancing of the central heating system easier. 15mm diameter pipework is considerably cheaper than 28mm pipework to aid the profitability of the installer. . |
I had a Room Thermostat fitted in the Hallway to control the overall room temperature. The Thermostatic valve was left on the radiator in the Hall. In order not to get one fighting the other, you could suggest to the Heating Engineer to replace that Thermostatic Valve with an ordinary adjustment valve. . |
Each of my radiators has a Thermostatic valve which was fitted to it 25 years ago. At that time those valves had a one-way water flow. I have now discovered that some of them are the wrong way round for that water flow. The new ones are apparently Bi-Directional so it does not matter which way the water flows through them. So, currently my water circulator has to fight against some Thermostatic Valves as well. . |
When the central heating system is first installed, it is unlikely that every radiator with its non-thermostatic valve fully open will get hot. The radiators are not connected in series, they are in parallel between the Flow and Return pipes. In order to get the system balanced, then the non-thermostatic valves have to be adjusted accordingly starting with a half-turn on. You can do this yourself, but perhaps the Heating Engineer may be the expert - you are paying for that expert to install you a proper working central heating system after all. . |
The installer should give you the instruction manual from the boiler manufacturer and the pump installation instructions. It is suggested that you read it and check that each annual service fully complies with their boiler procedures including checking on inhibitor levels and that the pump is correctly installed together with being the right size. Since the engineers living in the UK and employed in the UK do not appear to carry out the correct installation or maintenance (even though all the installation and maintenance instructions are supplied in the packaging), you might get better service from the Chinese - so contact their embassy!!!! Otherwise, happy boom, boom and regular replacements of pump and boiler! I am not sure that damage caused by an exploding boiler is covered in house insurance. This does give you an inkling of the results of assuming that experts from Corgi Registered gas boiler installers/maintenance staff in the UK do their work in the best interests and safety for the homeowner, when the homeowner is responsible for the results of the actions by those experts. If the boiler is not correctly maintained; then the output of the burnt gas may trigger an unsafe reading and trigger a request from the maintenance man for your boiler to be replaced before it would have been neccessary if the correct maintenance had been carried out. Since more than 10% of the population in Britain is unable to read, do check that the boiler people entering your property in the UK can both read and understand what they are reading in the language that it is written in. . |
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Totally unsafe electrical work from NAPIT registered installer (NAPIT is a leading Government approved and United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) accredited membership scheme operator in the building services and fabric sector), with complaint form from homeowner being sent to perpetrator for them to solve instead of being sorted by NAPIT. We wrote the
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The following information (5 December 2021) comes from Wikipedia about Southern Water Services Ltd, which had a revenue of £0.829 billion in 2017-18. Area served by Southern Water is Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Sussex and Kent. "Legal issues[edit] 2005-2007[edit] In 2007, Ofwat announced its intention to fine Southern Water £20.3 million for 'deliberate misreporting' and failing to meet guaranteed standards of service to customers. The misreporting resulted in Southern Water being able to raise its prices by more than it should have done.[11] Southern Water Chief Executive Les Dawson said: "Today's announcement draws a line under a shameful period in the company's history" and "we accept this fine - we have no arguments with it".[12] 2009-2011[edit] Crawley Magistrates' Court heard that the Environment Agency received calls from members of the public after dead fish were seen in the Sunnyside Stream in East Grinstead on 30 August 2009. The court also heard that a similar incident occurred along the same sewer line some 4 years earlier in September 2005.[13] Following an investigation, in June 2010 Southern Water was fined £3,000 after it admitted polluting 2 km of the Sussex stream with raw sewage, killing up to a hundred brown trout and devastating the fish population for the second time in five years. In 2011 Southern Water Ltd was fined £25,000 when sewage flooded into Southampton water. The company was ordered to pay £10,000 in fines and costs after sewage seeped into a stream at Beltinge in Kent. A leak of sewage from Southern Water's plant at Hurstpierpoint pumping station, West Sussex, lead to fines and costs of £7,200 in 2011.[14] Southern Water was fined £50,000 in April 2011 for two offences relating to unscreened discharges into Langstone Harbour, Hampshire, between November 2009 and April 2010. 2014-2016[edit] In November 2014 Southern Water were fined £500,000 and agreed to pay costs of £19,224 at Canterbury Crown Court after an Environment Agency investigation found that untreated sewage was discharged into the Swalecliffe Brook, polluting a 1.2 km stretch of the watercourse and killing local wildlife.[15] Although sewage directly polluted a 1.2 km stretch, the Swalecliffe Brook flows through the Thanet Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) before it joins the north Kent coast to the east of Whitstable. In December 2016 Southern Water was fined a record £2,000,000 for flooding beaches in Kent with raw sewage. As a result of a series of failures at a wastewater pumping station, raw sewage flooded on to beaches, forcing Thanet district council to close the beaches to the public for nine days including during the Queen's Diamond Jubilee bank holiday weekend.[16] The Environment Agency called the event “catastrophic”, with tampons, condoms and other debris costing more than £400,000 to clean up. The Environment Agency said that the discharge along a considerable length of coastline, resulted in a risk to public health and negative impact in an area heavily reliant on the tourism industry. A judge at Maidstone crown court said that Southern Water’s repeat offending was “wholly unacceptable”. Following the investigation, Southern Water director Simon Oates apologised unreservedly for the failure of the wastewater plant.[17] 2019[edit] In June 2019, the Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat) announced its intentions to issue Southern Water with a financial penalty of £37.7 million reduced exceptionally to £3 million for significant breaches of its licence conditions and statutory duties.[18] Following a lengthy investigation, Ofwat concluded that Southern Water deliberately misreported data about the performance of its wastewater treatment works. The investigation concluded that Southern Water had failed: to have adequate systems of planning, governance and internal controls in place to manage its wastewater treatment works; to accurately report information about the performance of these works; and to properly carry out its statutory duties as a sewerage undertaker, to make provision for effectually dealing with and treating wastewater. Ofwat found that Southern Water's failure to operate its wastewater treatment works properly resulted in unpermitted and premature spills of wastewater from its treatment works, with wastewater being released into the environment before going through the required processes. Following the investigation, Southern Water agreed to pay customers approximately £123 million by 2024, partly a payment of price review underperformance penalties the company avoided paying in the period 2010 to 2017 and some of which is a payment to customers for the failures found in Ofwat's investigation. In response to Ofwat's findings, Southern Water announced that following its own internal review, which highlighted multiple failures between 2010 and 2017, it was 'profoundly sorry' and 'working very hard to understand past failings and implement the changes required' to ensure it meets the standards its customers deserve.[19] 2021[edit] In 2020, Southern Water pleaded guilty to 51 offences related to polluting the water on the coasts of Kent and Sussex with untreated sewage between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2015.[20] It was described as "the worst case brought by the Environment Agency in its history." Over the period, the company made 8,400 illegal discharges of raw sewage into coastal waters. It also allowed storm tanks to be kept full and turn septic, instead of putting their contents through the required treatment process. In one plant alone, 746m litres were released into Southampton Water. Southern Water failed to report its illegal discharges to the regulator, but as the quality of shellfish on the Kent cost failed to meet quality standards due to the high levels of faecal contamination the Environment Agency began to investigate.[21][5] The company was fined £90m for deliberately dumping billions of litres of raw sewage into the sea and the judge stated that the offences had been committed deliberately by Southern Water's directors.[6" |
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Copy of Analysis article on Page 9 of The Times on Saturday November 12 2022:- "How does the government's £58 billion black hole break down?
My Comment:-
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My Comment -
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This shows how local authorities can fulfill the UK Government requirement to build more houses and then mislead the buyer who buys the house. Then, the new house might get flooded - Oh dear! Further problems for Houseowners and Builders when the new home is surrounded by clay and how to solve them is detailed in the next area below, in this wet background. |
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Other items in the Home Section - further expanded in Mission Statement Page - which have nothing to do with gardening, but reading them might deter you from visiting Great Britain; or employing its workforce; or trusting its local or main government:-
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If the idea of saving trees does not appeal, perhaps you could aid damsels in distress:-
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