Further to the article in the October church magazine, we are asking everyone in the church to keep a record of all their travel on church business or undertaking church activities throughout October and then to record the results on the following form and return the form to Ian Hardie.

Here is the form

WORD format https://withamurc.org.uk//210816%20Witham%20URC%20Church%20Travel%20Survey.docx

PDF format https://withamurc.org.uk/210816%20Witham%20URC%20Church%20Travel%20Survey.pdf

• You’ll come across lots of edible wild plants in season in August.
• Blackberry (Rubus fruticosus)
• Blackberrying is probably the one traditional foraging activity that’s still widely enjoyed today. Picking blackberries, the fruit of bramble, is a pastime that’s deeply embedded in our history and folklore and it goes back thousands of years.
• How to use it: blackberries have a high vitamin C content and can be eaten raw or cooked. There are hundreds of micro species with subtly different flavours. Gather them for pies, crumbles, wines, jams, jellies and vinegar.
• What to look for: this unmistakable, prickly shrub grows in woods, hedges, heathland and wasteland almost everywhere. Pick the berries when they’re a deep purple-black from late July and throughout autumn.

TAKE A LOOK AT THIS!

Summer holidays are here. Do you want to track the effects of weather and climate change on wildlife near you?

The Woodland Trust need you!

Join thousands of other people and let The Woodland Trust know what’s happening to wildlife near you. You can take part in the Woodland Trust’s project –  Nature’s Calendar and help scientists discover answers to these questions.

TAKE A LOOK NOW!

https://naturescalendar.woodlandtrust.org.uk

Have you visted the local REco Store at Tower Business Park, Kelvedon Road, Tiptree, CO5 0LX ?
(Just about 500yds from Perrywoods on the same side of the road.)

REco Store brings you affordable, well researched, earth friendly produce. They buy locally wherever possible and are always working with suppliers to improve their packaging or to initiate closed loop supply systems.

They stock a huge range of dried food, from pulses, rice and pasta to fruit, nuts, seeds, baking essentials and even loose tea and coffee beans. They also have a wide range of sweet and savoury treats as well as rapeseed and cooking oil.  All the food products are sold loose so you can avoid piles of un-recyclable packaging after every shop.  By bringing your containers to refill you are saving hundreds of plastic produce bags and bottles from landfill every year.  Small changes collectively make a huge impact.

HOW IT WORKS:

The Tiptree store is small, because of this we serve our customers.  Simply bring along your empty containers we will do the rest for you.  You don’t have to fill every container to the top, you can half fill or even mix different products together (like a healthy trail mix).

Open Tuesday to Saturday 9am – 5pm

Muriel has downloaded an electronic copy of their product range, which is vast, just email Muriel for a copy or log onto their website at https://recostore.co.uk/tiptree/

We hear so much about the impact of plastic on our planet, particularly on the oceans but plastic comes in many forms and some can be easily recycled and others are much more difficult.  To be honest, a plastic free shop is almost impossible, especially for cooked food and raw meat and fish.  But some plastic is easy to recycle so here is a very simplified guide:

PET
(Polyethylene Terephthlate)
This is the clear plastic of soft drinks bottles, fruit & veg trays.  This is easy to recycle into more of the same, so as long as you put it in the right bin, it is fine.

HDPE
(High density polyethylene)
This is from milk cartons, some yoghurt pots and cleaning products
Again, easy to recycle.

Polypropylene
(PP)
From margarine tubs and microwave meal trays
Easy to recycle, provided clean

Most other plastic is difficult or impossible to recycle, this includes salad bags, shopping bags, crisp packet and sauce bottles.  This is mainly because they are composite plastics, designed to keep the contents safe and fit to eat for as long as possible.

A company called Terracycle collects and recycles crisp packets, this is separate from the local council kerbside recycling.  We hope to set up a recycling centre for these when the Centre reopens, they are collected and passed on to Howbridge School who then send them to Terracycle.

To do our bit for the environment we can ensure where possible we buy loose veg and fruit and find out which shops allow you to bring containers to refill.