Neirs is not so far away...

It was in 2008 that we first flew from Stansted to Weeze (pronounced Vetzer) on one of Ryanair's one penny flights.

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After I wrote a story a story about it for the German news site The Local on the delightful the town of Kevelaer, which is a twin town of Bury St. Edmunds, and the nearby family theme park Irrland and the efficiency of the local public transport, I was contacted by Kevin Betts, the proprietor of Kevin's Pub, a guesthouse in Weeze saying if I ever came back, he'd like to show me his small hotel and bar/restaurant and have me try his canoes on the Niers river.

It was a tempting offer but unfortunately my efforts to promote Germany to British tourists must have worked too well as within a year the traffic to Niederrhein Airport, the former RAF Laarbruch (pron. Larbrook), had increased so much, the one penny fares were now like hens teeth as people discovered the airport was a cheap gateway to Europe.

Google hits on my newspaper story and blog entry brought me all sorts of enquiries on connections with the German and Dutch train network - which are very good - and Ryanair's rather deceptive advertising about its proximity to Düsseldorf.

One day we thought it would great family fun to go canoeing somewhere like the Lake District but after working out what that would cost in the UK, another visit to Germany seemed very attractive.

So in June 2010 we made our second visit to Weeze; planning on a sparrowfart departure from our home in Suffolk to catch the 7:20 AM from Stansted and returning on the 20:15 the same day as we had done before, costing us a very reasonable £15 per person each way, once we'd got ourselves a euro debit card. We also invited along a travel writer keen to practise her German because I had noted in our prior trip, British visitors to the area are so few (perhaps for reasons we mustn't mention!) there is very practically no tourism information provided in English yet everything is dutifully reproduced in French, Dutch and Belgian.

There's not much point in hating on Ryanair as everyone does it but even if Saile & Sabga coffee is Fairtrade, this instant coffee Ryanair serves is utterly vile and 3 euros too. I'd fire the expert who thought this would be a good way to promote their brand. Perhaps they know Ryanair passengers don't expect a pleasant experience, they just want the result they paid for. In this case a jolt of caffeine is all you should expect.

On arrival at Weeze we noticed things had really changed. No longer was the airport deader than a rural market town on a Tuesday night but the queue for the taxis snaked around the terminal. We had figured a taxi was cheaper than five bus fares and it would be faster so we passed up the hourly bus into town, at least the line was moving.

Wrong decision! It took nearly an hour to just to get within single figures of passengers ahead of us. The stream of taxis arriving at the airport became a trickle and then suddenly dried up and we waited for another half an hour while no more taxis arrived. I learned from an airport employee that taxi drivers come from far and wide to collect passengers at Weeze and many are going over the border to the university town of Nijmegen or Düsseldorf with their fares but there aren't that many local taxi companies. There was a big religious festival starting tomorrow so today was their busiest of the summer. With the clock counting down I rang Kevin to say we'd be late for our planned arrival. Kevin said "why didn't you say so..." and he jumped in his van and collected us.

Driving around the abandoned air base (its beautiful desolation captured here) Kevin told us that he was originally from Cornwall but stationed here as a young military policemen he'd married a German girl and never felt since he wanted to go back. The Royal Air Force Station Laarbruch was one of four 'Clutch' air bases of the British air forces in Germany during the Cold War. There's a museum with lots of memorabilia and a Bloodhound and Rapier missile, a ZPU2 AAA gun and Canberra and Buccaneer cockpits. The base motto was "Ein Feste Burg" or in English: A Party Town! British Forces News have a story about the base closure and redevelopment that either Youtube or Blogger won't let me embed.

We got to Kevin's place in under five minutes from the airport to be greeted with a warm welcome from his family and a full-on traditional German breakfast of fresh rolls, meats, jams and boiled eggs, all done to perfection and lots of good coffee. Kevin talked us through what sort of canoes we'd like to use - he has Canadian and kayaks - and how far we wanted to paddle and then suggested an itinerary for us.  After a tour of his place and their 'Hay Hotel', a big barn you can bed down in straw for a few euros, we set off for the Niers and a thorough briefing on river safety. He also provided water tight drums to stow our gear.

safety instructions

Launch point

Within five minutes we'd seen otters playing in the water.

We paddled downstream and the river was wide and placid and without motorboat traffic. All of us are good swimmers and the water was not very deep so we felt comfortable dispensing with life jackets and helmets, though I wouldn't do that on the Broads.  

Within five minutes we saw our first family of otters in the wild, scampering about on the bank and playing in the water, something that would be truly remarkable in the UK. They are just as cute in the wild as they are in the sanctuaries they need in Britain. I'm not much of a twitcher so I couldn't identify all the copious wildlife we saw apart from swans and ducks but there are grey herons which are huge when you get close to them.

http://www.kanoroutes.nl/e-niers.htm

Paddling a Canadian canoe is quite easy although it does take a lot of coordination between the front who has to be the 'engine' and the rear to be the 'driver'. Along the banks were herds of cattle - destined for bratwurst we think - and several impressive schloss and orderly plantations of oak trees lining the roads and willows creating shady banks. Happy families like ours cycled past on the path. According to a river guidebook, a little way down stream a sign says: "Dear paddler, you have reached a renewed river, please stop and drift a while for the best view."

Our stop was to be the town of Kevelaer. Here under a road bridge was a dock where we pulled up the boats and left them on the bank as Kevin had told us, he was confident the local NEETs wouldn't bother to take them for a joyride. I wondered if any towns like that existed in England. We then strolled around sightseeing, the first stop on the kid's itinerary was to hit the shops for chocolate. We found a legacy of a massive British presence here for last forty years was most of the local's speak perfect English. Once sated, and as we had visited the town before, we quickly ticked off the must-see sites like the museum and then headed to do what we'd unfortunately missed on our first visit, to have lunch in the Golden Swan. 

A stroll around the town and lunch

It was a lovely lunch and and their schnitzel we sampled for the sake of being a typical tourist was perfect and the sun was shining. As we sat in their pleasant garden the kids were amused by a playground and we started to feel the fact that we'd got up very early that morning. The restaurant staff were very attentive and so yes, we'll have another round of beers, thank you. The Golden Swan is what the English call a country coaching inn; it has rooms and it offer both formal and casual dining and it even has a traditional bowling alley.

Pilgrim statue

We reluctantly dragged ourselves away to get back to the boats and stowed coats which were just as we found them. When back on the water we found after a while we were making slower progress than we had the morning, a change of engine and driver still needed more time to work it out but, being siblings, neither going to concede control to the other. The uncertainty of getting back to Weeze and Ryanair's strict rules about check-in times began to concern me.

I rang Kevin to describe where we were, we had just passed a chain ferry, and he sounded doubtful we'd get to our planned meeting point at Geldern about two miles further but we would soon be coming up to another dock and if we stopped there, he'd collect us. It took another half an hour of paddling and by then the portaloos there were a welcome relief for the girls. Kevin quickly loaded us all up and took us back the pub to wash and settle up and he then took us to the airport bang on the latest check-in time. We said our goodbyes. By then he'd done more than enough to deserve a good write up on Tripadvisor.

Thanks Kevin!

Weeze airport's security, customs and immigration halls are akin to a country train station where a solitary stationmaster is the ticket clerk, porter and crossing guard so you can pass through in a minute but then you have nothing to do on air-side to wait for hours for the plane to arrive. Unless the airport is very busy, it's best to wait on the ground-side until you're absolutely certain your plane is incoming by checking with flightradar24.com. But whatever you do, don't be late for the check-in time on your ticket.

Our plane ended up being an hour late but the departure board just repeated the same lie of imminent arrival over and over. Not wanting to stop at Stansted airport or en-route for supper, we were mighty thankful for Kevin's wife pressing on us the leftover 'aufschnitt' and rolls and so had a picnic in the departure lounge.

The museum is well worth a look

For two airport transfers, portage to the launch and collection, hire of 2 three-seater canoes and a full breakfast - all done on his Tuesday day off - we had paid 120 euros including tip. For an utterly memorable day out for five people, that is unbeatable. I appreciate inflation may take its toll, your mileage may differ. All-in it was less outlay for us than a recent trip to Alton Towers.

Far be it for me to suggest this is the best itinerary but given the public transport links: seeing the RAF museum and a day at Irrland, overnight at Kevin's and a day on the river and sightseeing in Kevelaer would be a great two-day family break. I should book now for half-term. There are many other attractions nearby I would like to explore myself including Wunderland, a massive theme park-hotel complex inside an unfinished power station.

If you live in reach of Stansted, Leeds or Edinburgh and you're really canny, you can also use Weeze as stop-over as there are plenty of bargain flights from here to Portugal, Italy, Spain, Greece and other places that British, Dutch and German holidaymakers seeking sunshine go to.

Kevin's canoeing season starts on the 15th April and runs until the 15th October.

The Niers is a river in Germany and the Netherlands, right tributary to the river Meuse. Its source is near Erkelenz, south of Mönchengladbach, in North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany). The Niers flows through Mönchengladbach, Viersen, Wachtendonk, Geldern and Goch before flowing into the Meuse just across the border with the Netherlands, in Gennep. Its total length is 116 km - 108 km in Germany, 8 km in the Netherlands.

Design and Travel Ephemera 1968

It was said on the cover of LIFE magazine that 1968 was an "incredible year" filled with events of immense historic significance. I have a CBS record celebrating the same. In hindsight, Western history had reached a tipping point. 


I have been going through a suitcase of my fathers' papers lately. In it there is a file on a conference on Teamwork in Design sponsored by the Council on Industrial Design [now the Design Council] that he attended, held in Edinburgh on Friday June 28, 1968.


Design, the journal of the CoID, said back then: "the conference is aimed at management executives, designers and educationalists...  Speakers will include representatives from each of the six companies which have won this year's capital goods awards, who will talk about the design problems in their particular industry; and plenty of time is to be left for discussion. The chairman is A. R. Miller, who was also chairman of the ColD Awards capital goods panel."

In the file there are several rounds of correspondence between bureaucrats at County Hall and my father about his claim for travel expenses which had been initially agreed to be limited to £20 but when all overnight trains were cancelled because of a national railway work-to-rule, he was forced to fly to Edinburgh. The extra costs, including airport parking - which he could only claim reimbursement at the equivalent of the bus fare to Heathrow - had exceeded the stipulated budget by £4 which he was not willing to bear.


I wonder if there is any database of UK industrial action; of who and when and for how long particular companies or whole industries were on strike? 


The following weekend was my seventh birthday party where I got an 'Action Man' figure and discussion about the cost of it was the first inkling I had my parents were worried about money. Perhaps my dad was feeling rather short, being considerably out of pocket because some other working stiff felt they deserved more money for their labour too.


A topic of conversation my father was fond of then is still unresolved now: there is little point in innovation of the machinery of production unless we also innovate the role of 'man' in such production. I don't recall who said it but I heard on Radio 4 recently that there hasn't been a major step change in management since Taylorism.

What might be fascinating to the casual web-surfer landing here is the travel ephemera I also found in the file. There are certainly many people who collect this, the BEA timetable below is already on the web. 


Flicking through the 'Official Accommodation Register 1968' of Edinburgh gives an insight into the lost world of theatrical landladies and rooms for rent in private houses for working men and commercial travellers along with two establishments styling themselves with the novel Americanism of 'motel'. 


I imagine such things are invaluable to anyone writing historical fact - a thesis on the history of travel promotion? - or say crime fiction set in Edinburgh at this time. 


There was a landlady on Clarence Street called Mrs I. Love, I wonder if that caused a titter? The Misses M and K Canning of 94 Lothian Road sound like genteel respectability, were they middle-aged spinster sisters forced to take in lodgers?


Although much too tedious for me to do, plotting the location of every hotel and room with its prices in the city (and if other registers can be found; over several decades) might produce some interesting economic insight. 


I wonder at the cause of disparity of prices for bed and breakfast in private houses. In 1968 Mrs Fleming of 3 Grindlay Street officially offered the cheapest B+B in Edinburgh offering her two rooms for 12/- per night low season when only three other establishments went as low as 12/6.  At the other end, Mrs Maran of 24 Kingsburgh Road presumably got the 25/- she asked for one room B+B year-round when good hotels offered full amenities for 22/6. Was Mrs Fleming's neighbourhood at the foot of the castle a den of inequity? Mrs Maran's was presumably then a leafy well-to-do neighbourhood like it is today. Do travellers to Edinburgh have more beds to sleep in now? Are they cheaper and more conveniently located? What has happened to those houses since and where are these people now?

If you think your ancestors might be listed, you can get in touch with me to look them up or even better, suggest to your local media they follow this up as a feature. I don't know where else could you find any lists of Edinburgh's landlords and landladies. It seems you have to go to Australia to access another copy of this register and subsequent editions.

The 18-room Dunraven (proprietress Mrs Caldwell, high season rate 20/- per night) doesn't appear to be a guest house today and there is now a fence between number 5 and 7, the two halves of the semi-detached property.


The Forth Bridge Motel was part of the Watney brewing empire but apart from being a popular stop, no trace remains (or does it?)

The Sixties were called a 'sexual revolution' where the role of women in society was redefined (somewhat) towards equality. Then the gender semiotics of the BEA timetable invites discourse; here the female is placed in a subservient position to the male, who has a surfeit of authority and status symbols, while she is symbolically loaded for both nurturing and protection? 


Old time-tables are a great resource for transport historians/enthusiasts looking to say when a particular service or aircraft was introduced. Real price inflation data is hard to come by so these can be a resource for this too. I know that in 1968 my mother was a very junior draughtsman earning £14 per week, so a round-trip flight on a standby ticket exceeded a week's wages. I don't think a draughtsman in an architect's office would need to spend a week's wages on a flight to Edinburgh today however, if a room in a decent B+B was 20 shillings (that's £1 in new money), then I reckon at £60 today, they are more expensive now than they were then.














Just for the sake of posterity, my father's expenses claim was:


Conference fee                                                  £  8  8s 
Fare from NW1 to Victoria: West London Air Terminal                   1s 6d
WLAT to Heathrow                                                      7s 6d
Heathrow to Edinburgh - standby fare                            £  7 10s
Edinburgh airport to Edinburgh AT                                     2s 6d
Edinburgh AT to Edinburgh airport                                     2s 6d
Edinburgh to Heathrow - standby fare                            £  7 10s
Heathrow to WLAT                                                      7s 6d
WLAT to NW1                                                           1s 6d
Dinner at Edinburgh Airport                                           8s 6d
Total                                                                                          £ 24 19s 

http://www.yellins.com/transporthistory/Bus/airport.htm

I remember seeing these BEA airport buses towing their luggage trailers passing our house so on this evidence their fare was 7s 6d. When BEA and BOAC later merged to form British Airways, they reasonably had no need for two London terminals (BOAC's was opposite Victoria Coach Station) for passengers to check-in. The debate that followed when BA then tried to close BOTH terminals occupies reams of Hansard. It seems road congestion would delay the buses and so the aircraft departure because its passengers were already checked-in. BA moved to have everyone check-in at Heathrow. The opposition cited the already congested facilities at Heathrow and the common sense behind being able to conveniently check-in luggage in central London when there was no rail link to Heathrow then. The terminal on the Cromwell Road is listed and has been converted into Sainsbury's supermarket.

This BUA timetable invites comparison to the BEA one. While the fares were exactly the same, BUA was at an interesting time in its history, being thought of as the second tier after the flag-carrying BEA and BOAC. By 1968 its original MD, Freddie Laker, had moved on to form his own airline and BUA was in financial trouble after investing too much since his departure in improving service, reliability and promotion which had improved their share of the market but not improved their profitability.

A cycle ride between the art, history and local services of Halesworth and Darsham.

This was written for the benefit of the High Tide Theatre Company



From: The Cut, New Cut, Halesworth, IP19 8BY
To: Haw Wood Farm, Darsham IP17 3QT

Distance: 5.4 miles, 9.18 km
Although the majority of this route is along a main road which HGVs travel between Ipswich and Norwich, the upside is that the road is smooth and wide with gentle climbs and descents. It should take a moderately fit person less than half an hour to travel by bicycle between the site of the High Tide festival at The Cut, Halesworth and the festival's campsite at Darsham.

On leaving the entrance to The Cut, head north (uphill) on New Cut and turn left at the A144/Norwich Rd, going downhill towards the roundabout.

But if your tyres need some air, turn right to Hammonds petrol station instead as this is the only local petrol station with a free air line.

Go straight ahead (second exit) over the roundabout onto Saxons Way. (The third exit Bridge Street leads to The Thoroughfare, a pedestrian shopping area.) A shopfront on Bridge Street belongs to the World Land Trust, an international conservation organisation that takes direct action to save rainforest and other wildlife habitats by buying it. The public library is almost opposite it.

On the roundabout on your left is Hooker House, once the home of the botanist Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker which is now a dental surgery. Behind it the park on your left was given to the town by Lady Rugby, the grandmother of disgraced MP Jonathan Aitken who spent his childhood in Halesworth. This is the site of the annual ‘Gig in the Park’ every August.

The river running through the park was once navigable until embankments built downstream caused it to silt up and there was a busy quayside where grain from the many maltings in Halesworth (of which The Cut was one) was taken by boat to Southwold and from there by ship to London. At one time all of Halesworth's malt went exclusively to the Truman brewery in London's Brick Lane.

The car park on the right has a rank of bottle banks and beside them is Huggy's, a cycle shop and motor mechanic.

At the next roundabout continue on ahead. (The right turn is signed Angel Link and leads to The Thoroughfare and the town Marketplace.)

The road now sweeps in a curve to the right. Lansbury Road on the left is named after the founder of the Labour Party George Lansbury (see Mells). Archaeological evidence suggests the derelict land on the right was occupied in medieval times with lead-working, spinning, weaving and brewing carried out in several tenements. It is now the contested site of a development for a Tesco supermarket.

At the next roundabout take the first left A144/London Rd. On the right is a Co-operative supermarket and a petrol station with a coin-operated pressure washer. Facing the roundabout is the Rifle Hall, originally built in 1792 as a theatre and was used from 1812 - 1844 by the theatre manager David Fisher. He owned an itinerant theatre group which travelled a circuit of theatres in East Anglia (including the Fisher Theatre in Bungay). It would take the company two years to complete the circuit travelling with their costumes, props and sets and publicising their plays as they went. They were highly successful with strong links with the London stage and the acting circle and the Rifle Hall once provided Halesworth what The Cut does today. The Rifle Hall has regretfully been neglected by Waveney District Council ever since they took it over in 1974 and its future looks uncertain.

Continue up the incline, mindful of the T-junction with the B1123 Chediston St causing traffic to stop or pull out in front of cyclists, passing Kerridges car dealership, and after that, turn left (heading south) at the A144/Bramfield Rd (at Highfield Residential Home). The road then sweeps downhill passing Blyth industrial estate. A cottage that once stood at the crossroads for Mells and Walpole was the birthplace of the founder of the Labour Party George Lansbury. His grand-daughter is the actress Angela. The Mells road continues onto Wenhaston and this is a good route if you want a quiet back road to see the Wenhaston Doom. In the distance to the east along the valley you can also see the Holton Windmill.

At the 2 km mark, the road climbs again as you pass the Halesworth Golf Club, crossing over the East Suffolk Railway, until it reaches a plateau. The trees at the right bend in the road have seen two fatal car accidents here in the last two years. A memorable road safety poster said "you see a lot of flowers in the country" and the remnants of wreaths were still there at the time of writing. To give a sense of distance if contemplating a side trip; to the east on the far horizon can be seen the Hinton Lodge water tower and next to it is Blythburgh Church, one of the finest churches in East Anglia.

The road then begins to descend towards the village of Bramfield and with enough initial speed it is possible to coast to the centre of the village.

After the village sign, a short way up the first left turning is K W Clarkes, a quality butchers who produce local ham smoked on the premises as well as stocking locally sourced groceries.

After that turning, the North Manor Equestrian Centre stock the surrounding fields with horses and beyond that, The Bell, a 17th century pub, sells firewood and serves real ale but not food. It is one of the last places in the world where the traditional pub game ‘Ringing the Bull’ can be played.

Further on the Bramfield Garage services and sells secondhand cars and motorcycles. Opposite the garage is the Queens Head, a long established award winning gastro-pub. Even though it is now only 5 kms since you left The Cut, you may want to slake your thirst from passing the half-way mark with a pint of locally brewed Adnams there. Nearby an overgrown dovecote made from a barrel raised on a post is a charming oddity.

At the village crossroads a choice of diversions awaits: The Walpole road to the right passes a crinkle-crankle wall and leads to the fine St Andrews Church.

In the opposite direction; a short way down the Thorington road, a path following the ancient Dunwich road leads to circle of felled elm trees at TM 403 736 which often holds outdoor performances. The landowner is the managing director of a display pyrotechnics company who has evidently done extensive and sensitive natural landscaping.

The Thorington road also leads to Wenhaston and a ride to there and back to Holton and Halesworth via the Mells road is a pleasant circular route.

Continuing out of the village, an ancient defensive earthworks, the ‘Bramfield Castle’, becomes apparent on the left side. The road now divides two separate estates. On the right; the Georgian façade of Bramfield Hall can be glimpsed. This Tudor pile is the weekend home of the chairman of the Royal Opera House.

The road begins to climb again and here the surface has deteriorated in some places. A cast iron milestone is at TM 401 727 and near here a large colony of rooks makes an audible landmark that car drivers would miss.

Then on the right, Brights Farm raises organic meat and is a special area of conservation. From the farm you can access twelve miles of grass walks passing a variety of different habitats including old meadows, ancient woods and ponds. Polocrosse is sometimes played in the fields too.

On reaching a flat plateau again, passing two WWII pillboxes marks the last kilometre. The vista is marred or enlivened depending on your mood by the sight of the A12 road and the whiff of a poultry farm.

At the junction with the A12, to reach Haw Wood Farm turn left towards the Little Chef restaurant and then turn right (signed for Hinton) and continue on, passing the turning for High Lodge golf course and shooting school, to reach Haw Wood Farm.

Otherwise, to continue onto Saxmundham, turn right at the A12 and continue on the cycle path towards the train station and petrol station which will become visible 2 km further south.

Darsham has all the basic essentials for a bicycle visitor including a cycling centre and The Fox Inn is popular for Sunday lunches. A bicycle will ensure all its amenities are convenient as they are scattered over some distance.

Clustered around the train station 2 km further along the A12 from the A144 junction are two cafés, a Jet petrol station with a market, Monkey Drum; a shop selling multicultural musical instruments and fair-trade gifts, a paint and tile shop and a automotive tyre centre.

If you want to return to Halesworth by public transport, your choices are the train from Darsham which takes under ten minutes but only runs every two hours or the hourly 521 Anglian Bus which stops outside the station and The Fox Inn on which so far folding bikes have been tolerated.

Local Bike Shops

Halesworth

Coopers (an ironmongers selling tools but no bike spares)
53-54 The Thoroughfare
01986 872 110

Huggy's Bike Shop
Unit 5
18 The Thoroughfare
Tel: 01986 873932

Darsham

Byways Bicycle
Priory Farm
Tel: 01728 668764

Mountain Bike Hire for Snape and Rendlesham forests (delivery and collection to your door with 24 hours notice).

Avocet Sports

07706 479965

http://www.eastcoastmountainbiking.co.uk/

Another map link: http://www.mapmyrun.com/route/gb/halesworth/959027424273

Services in Halesworth

Besides The Cut, services in Halesworth cluster around the Thoroughfare and The Marketplace, both a short walk from the New Cut. Halesworth has a wide range of shops including specialist butchers, a fishmonger, a delicatessen, a organic shop, several greengrocers, a toyshop, several giftshops, an ironmongers, several cafes, a picture framer, a teddy bear emporium, several banks and building societies, a travel agent, a sports shop, a Spar, two newsagents, three hairdressers, a gun shop, a wine merchant, a copy shop, a stationers, chemists and several takeaways. There is also a Co-operative supermarket and several petrol stations and car dealerships locally.

For bike related items there is Huggy's and Anglia Sports has some clothing and Coopers is hardware shop with good tool department but it doesn’t stock bike bits.

Barclays and Lloyds cashpoints are in the marketplace (beyond the Thoroughfare, opposite the Angel Hotel) and HSBC has one at the north end of The Thoroughfare opposite Focus Organics.

PART TWO TO COME: DARSHAM to SNAPE via SAXMUNDHAM

Walking, Cycling and Greening of the Arts

One of the traditions of the long running Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts are the walks in the middle of the first and second week.

Benjamin Britten and his chums thought the festival audience should have the opportunity in the schedule to be rejuvenated in the landscape that provided his inspiration.

The 62nd Aldeburgh Festival 12-28 June 2009 will hold a walk along the River Orwell on 17 June and one in Bonny Wood near Needham Market on 25 June. Coach departures are from the Moot Hall, Aldeburgh at 9.30 AM. Subscribers can book now with theAldeburgh Music box office 01728 687110 and tickets will go on sale to the general public in March.

As the impact on of climate change from carbon emissions becomes ever more apparent, especially in the coastal areas of Suffolk, it becomes everyone's duty to reduce their environmental impact. It is obviously in Aldeburgh Music's interest to consider their environmental impact in order to protect the landscape that makes Aldeburgh such a special place to have a music festival. A component in the huge carbon footprint of music festivals and similar events is the travelling required, not just in bringing international artists and orchestras to perform, but that of the audiences travelling to hear them.

Although their transport is the audience's choice more than the producers, arts organisations must consider how their audiences travel and they must enable the use of more sustainable alternatives.

Transport options are very limited in rural places such as the Snape Maltings (the home of Aldeburgh Music) but the possibilities of travelling there from Ipswich or London by a combination of bicycle and train (with the cooperation of National Express) is in my experience quite feasible. The concert hall at Snape is 25 minutes (for this middle aged cyclist) from Saxmundham railway station and the last departure to Ipswich and London on Monday through Saturday is approximately 22.20 (and even later northbound); usually allowing enough time at an evening concert to hear the encore before pedalling back to catch the train.

Which is why I have proposed that Aldeburgh Music builds on the tradition of festival walks and hold a festival cycle ride or consider offering free admission to a concert to people who arrive on bicycles; a Bicycle Prom if you will.

It's not an entirely original idea nor that unusual for Aldeburgh Music. Over five days in 2003 the chairman Lord Stevenson and chief executive Jonathan Reekie cycled from Lands End to Lowestoft to raise money for the new 'creative campus' opening in May 2009.

In Suffolk the natural surroundings (a paucity of hills), the quiet traffic-free lanes and the infrastructure around Snape Maltings, with cafes, bars and accomodation and pubs and restaurants along the way could make a Bicycle Prom a very attractive proposition. New Cut Arts Centre in Halesworth is mere yards from Halesworth station on the same line as Saxmundham, this venue also should consider offering incentives to cyclists. Suffolk has many signed cycle routes and several firms already offer holidays for cyclists. If anyone ever takes up my suggestion for a cycle path along the old Southwold Railway line, this could make Suffolk a leader in green cultural tourism.

Some arts organisations have gone much furtheralready, even developing human powered lighting and amplification by 'human dynamo' is a regular feature of the Suffolk Greenpeace Fair.

In London on March 8th there will be an event Cycle East, where the audience can spend the afternoon visiting three venues and seeing three performances for only £10 if transport between each venue is by bicycle.

There is also talk of a cycle path from London to Paris, running along the old Dieppe to Paris railway line opening in time for the 2012 Olympiad. Can't wait to do it.

If you like the idea of this proposal (or don't), please comment.

Look what they done to my town Ma...

I am beginning to feel despair that my home town of Halesworth, and the county of Suffolk in general, has taken a turn for the worse. Until recently I was very positive about its potential. Things like The New Cut arts centre opening and the Latitude Festival and even the Prime Minister's holiday were seen by me as signs of an improvement in the quality of life locally and that the prospects for my children were getting brighter. Even though reports state that extreme rural poverty exists in north east Suffolk, evidence abounded that Halesworth's charms were being discovered by others attracting investment. I even cheered the thought that Waitrose would be coming to nearby Saxmundham since John Lewis has bought the Somerfield store there.

Now, after too many assaults on my sensibilities, with several issues needing urgent opposition all at once and competing with each other for public protest and vigilance, I am despondent that elected officials of every stripe appear to be letting me down. Waveney is an under performing council and I fear if this all comes to pass, Halesworth could soon become a prime contender for The Idler's 'Crap Towns'.

Not in any particular order:

Plans for 340,000 chickens to be intensively farmed at Thorington have been approved. Nobody can tell me these birds won't stink. My own chickens stink. Chicken farms account for 17% of environmental complaints resulting from agriculture. I regularly travel past several poultry farms and they all stink, even from miles away. The smell will probably reach me when the wind is from that direction. Then there's the threat to surface and ground water from chicken manure and litter. Of course precautions will be taken and systems put in place to manage and treat the effluent, blah de bloody blah, but, as we have seen many times, inspection and certification systems can fail. These risks can be managed by complex and expensive methods but not totally eradicated. With millions of Bernard Matthews birds nearby (see below) we only increase the chances of this area becoming a avian flu factory. I know indirectly the people behind this plan and although they are what you would call "good people"; the court proceedings from the very small proportion who have been prosecuted for agricultural pollution (rather more indicating lax enforcement than fewer perpetrators) shows that waste management compliance decreases as cost pressures increase.

The closure of Middle Schools. This is a complete upheaval of my children's education. The best teachers are already leaving the affected schools and the County Council is rather tight lipped about the fate of the Halesworth Middle School playing field. This concerns the town council but they are powerless on education matters. It's obvious to a blind bat that this open space will be sold off to a developer to pay for this wicked plan. The only acceptable use of that open space is one the County Council can't raise money with. It's idiotic to increase the hundreds of children travelling every day to Bungay High when there are more children in Halesworth than Bungay. If Suffolk wants to be green about transport, surely the smaller population of Bungay children should be coming to Halesworth.

Besides, I don't recall any parents ever complaining about the three-tier system either. Throughout the whole process the council have promised consultations yet those consultations haven't made a jot of difference. Those in the know that I know tell me it's a foregone conclusion. It has to be by now if its going to be implemented according to the promised schedule. Parents are fatigued enough and although there have been protests, this kind of protester is easy to divide and conquer and dis-courage. But fight on we will! If the credit crunch thwarts this it will be a blessing in disguise.

Bernard Matthews' Wind Farm. I am all for wind power but 400 foot high wind turbines to power turkey sheds brings no benefit to the community. It's not power for the people but to warm a lot of intensively reared meat that I don't want to buy or eat. Bernie's PR machine is using green arguments to ensure he can continue with a totally unsustainable practise. I find it galling he brands his turkey fillets 'Big Green Tick'. There's nothing green about them unless you keep them past their sell by date.

As for the ongoing effluent problems and smells from intensive poultry farming and processing and the risks of another bird flu outbreak see above. Around here, lazy children get told that if they don't apply themselves to their lessons they'll end up at Bernies. People in Halesworth are very leery of openly criticizing Bernard Matthews as local jobs used to depend on him (and with a net worth somewhere around £300M his lawyer can beat up your lawyer) but if he shut up shop in Holton tomorrow, I doubt anyone would really care except Lowestoft's buy-to-let landlords, the pound shops and the Portuguese workers bussed in every day who now make up 30% of his 6000 person workforce. I'll miss their coffee shops and pasteis de nata but that's a small price I'll pay.

There have been long running complaints to the Holton Parish Council about smells from Bernies but I gather that if you complain to Environmental Health, you have to declare that or it becomes public record when you sell your house which has made sure a lot of people remain silent. Bernie can buy friends in one parish by letting a museum use a building and the only opposing voice in another parish was a councillor who believes a nuclear power station at Holton over a wind farm is a rational alternative!

Bernie recently ran an ad campaign claiming his staff were proud all his turkeys were 100% British born and bred, unlike his staff of course.I'll spare discourse on what that actually means in product marketing terms, not a lot really, and so what does he grow at his Hungarian and Brazilian farms then? His website has revolving banner ads of his employees saying "I'm proud to work at Bernard Matthews". None of the workers making that claim were named Joao or Costanca though and there were also many testimonials by African-Americans during the civil rights era that they were perfectly happy with Jim Crow too. Bernie's PR campaigns are style without substance and designed to diffuse, deflect and obfuscate.

My opposition is nothing personal or directed at Bernard Matthews in particular, it's just that intensive meat production and processing is not the way forward. Why don't they grow some tomatoes there instead and put them on trains instead of trucks, like when London's food markets were supplied by the East Suffolk line with fish from Lowestoft docks and milk from Halesworth dairy.

Nuclear Power: First there was Sizewell A, then B, now plans are afoot for C. Then D and....? Do we really have to sell out future generations for tens of thousands of years for the sake of five hundred jobs? I reluctantly agree there is some role for nuclear power but we must do everything we can to improve efficiency and exhaust every alternative first. And, if it's so safe as 'they' claim, nuclear power stations should be in the middle of cities so the population that depends on them lives with the consequences in a fair proportion of use and responsibility.

The flooding of Blythburgh. There's a lot of bad karma in the river and sea defences arising from the actions taken during their building centuries ago by selfish landowners - detailed in Rachel Lawrence's 'Southwold River' - which have been maintained by the public purse until recently. But there is very important infrastructure there now and letting the sea flood the marshland around Walberswick and Dunwich will also have a devastating impact further inland. Now we are being promised improvements to the A12 to prevent the flooding closing it but this money will probably come at the expense of something else. Several villages desperately need bypasses and there should be more cycle routes.

The Tesco Battle. If not Tesco, then ASDA or something worse like Budgens or Lidl will eventually arrive in Halesworth. Despite a recent makeover, the Co-operative store still needs to up its game. Its failure creates the demand its rivals are keen to fulfil. Locals want an alternative which is why I support the idea of a Waitrose nearby. At the top of my ethical supermarket scale (I realise it is an oxymoron) is the Co-operative Society, then John Lewis. Running in the middle of the pack is Sainsburys. At the bottom sits Tesco and ASDA aka Wal-Mart whose low prices come at high costs.

The Beccles Loop: Enabling more than one train every two hours in each direction between Saxmundham and Lowestoft. We had a dual track railway line until 1984 but to save money one track was torn up. Now it will take over £12M to reinstate just one mile at Beccles so trains can pass and double the line's capacity. It's long promised but I'll give four to one we soon hear it's a victim of the credit crunch.

Anyone with news of any positive signs is welcome to post here. I am looking for them, believe me.