The Village Green Teams would like to thank everyone who has supported our CAMPAIGN TO SAVE LOCAL POST OFFICES. We are glad to say that well over 300 households and businesses have signed the petition and many have written direct to Mr. Alistair Darling and Mr. Crozier - the men at the top who have their hands on the axe. Our local MP Mr. Tim Yeo will be meeting Minister for Employment Jim Fitzpatrick early in June. We are providing him with a summary of your reasons why we need to keep the Post Offices in Polstead and Stoke by Nayland.

It is not too late to sign the petition or write letters to give your views about why the post offices are a life line in villages with few other facillities and minimal public transport.. Petition forms and addresses for your letters are in both post offices.

VISIT TO THE BEAUMONT ‘ECO’ SCHOOL IN HADLEIGH. On 26.4.07, the Green Teams took a group to see this ecologically designed school in the new housing area near to Buyright, easily identified from the road by its wind turbine. Thank you to Stella Burton, Headteacher, for an inspiring visit.

The school was built in 2003 and has many environmental and energy-saving features: walls are made of untreated red cedar; walls and roof are insulated with recycled newspaper; photo voltaic cells on the roof provide enough power to light two of the classrooms while sloping roofs and arrangement of windows make maximum use of natural light; solar panels help with under floor heating and hot water and the wind turbine makes enough electricity to run the computer suite; rainwater from the roof is stored underground, filtered and used for toilet flushing while another large, flat roof is covered in a sedum blanket, a mixture of alpine plants which retain water to prevent flash flooding, provide insulation and attract insect life.

Everyone in our group was impressed by seeing these technologies in action. But perhaps best of all was to hear how the building has become a big part of the children’s education; it is maths, science, design and economics all in one and the efficiency of the systems is not simply the concern of the people who pay for and maintain them. The children at Beaumont school are learning about alternative technology, energy consumption, reducing, reusing and recycling all the time as an integral part of their school life and they are doing it in a building which is light, airy, and cheerful and a pleasure to be inside.

I hope there will be more schools, and public buildings, like this. On a global scale it may not be much, but it is a good beginning and the visit gave me a lot of optimism for the future.

WORMERY UPDATE FROM PENNY: The worm family is thriving and venturing into its second wormery layer. No more escapees as far as I can tell. I now have 500ml of liquid plant food but as for usable compost, we might have to wait a while. Watch this space!