Cllr Bill Randall, Mayor of Brighton & Hove paid a visit to the MindOut For Each Other Wellbeing Day event held at Community Base on Saturday, February 23.
The event was staged to mark MindOut broadening their activities outside of Brighton & Hove.
Organisations present with stalls included Lunch Positive, Allsorts, Sussex Beacon, THT, BLAGSS, the LGBT Liaison Police Team, Pathways to Heaven, Mindfulness Meditation, LGBT Switchboard, Rise, FTM, Time to Change, Brighton Bothways and the Norwich Dandies.
Lunch Positive provided hot soup and profiteroles for lunch.
Taster workshops included:
• Acupuncture, courtesy of Pathway to Health
• Mindfulness taster course delivered by Shelia Roche
• Painting and posing delivered by the Norwich Dandies
When I was young, every Spring I promised myself a trip to the Dutch flower fields, but never quite managed to find the time. Last May the opportunity came to visit the Flower Festival at Keukenhof in the south of Holland. It turned out to be one of the highlights my travels in 2012.
The Keukenhof Flower Festival is staged annually in a small town called Lisse, 21 miles South West of Amsterdam. If you arrive at Schiphol airport there is a regular bus connection (bus no 58) to the festival grounds. You can buy tickets for the bus in the airport complex.
Keukenhof is set in 32 hectares of beautiful parkland surrounding the Castle at Keukenhof. The Flower Festival was first organised in 1949, quickly becoming an annual event. Today it is one of Holland biggest tourist attractions.
Over the last six months, seven million, yes seven million bulbs have been planted ready to flower from late March to mid May. At different times over the next three months you will be able to see magnificent giant tulips, daffodils, amaryllis, hydranges and roses to mention just a few, flowering in the spectacular natural setting of the parklands that make up the Festival site.
Big Ben and Tower Bridge
/Each year the festival is themed. For the last decade a different country has been chosen each year to be the focus of the festival. In 2012 the theme was Poland, in 2013 the Theme is United Kingdom – Land of Great Gardens and the central attraction will be a bulb flower mosaic showing Big Ben and Tower Bridge.
Last October the last of the 60,000 bulbs creating the mosaic were planted by Paul Arkwright, H.M Ambassador to the Netherland. When the flowers bloom the mosaic will measure 13 x 33 metres. The Juliana Pavilion will house the My Great Garden exhibition, highlighting the best in British gardening and landscaping and produced in partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society. In 2012 more than 70,000 British visitors visited the festival.
The festival opens its gates on March 21 and runs till May 20. The bulb fields are open daily, Sunday and Bank Holidays included, from 8am – 7.30pm. The ticket office closes each day at 6pm.
The best times to visit to avoid the crowds and see the daffodils and hyacinths in bloom is late March to early April. You can see the giant tulips flower in late April and early May but beware, the queues during these prime weeks can be long and uncomfortable.
Entry to the park is 15 euros for adults and seniors and 7.50 euros for children (4-11 years old). There is an annual pass available for flower lovers who plan to visit at least three times in the same season, costings 45 euros for adults and seniors or 17.50 euros for children. This buys you unlimited access to the festival site for the entire season. To avoid ticket queues and get a discount, buy an e ticket in advance from the Kuekenhof website at: www.keukenhof.nl/en/
You can rent a bicycle to cycle round the site, take a boat round the flower fields or if you want to really treat yourself take a pleasure flight over the site to witness the flower fields. It is one of the most magnificent views you will ever see.. Mile and miles of beautiful flowers blooming in all their glory.
The Flower Parade
If you happen to be visiting Keukenhof on April 20 you will see the annual Flower Parade. On Saturday, April 20, at 9.30am the Flower Parade travels 40 kilometres along the main road from Noordwijk to Haarlem where it arrives at 9pm. The parade consists of 20 large flower floats and more than 30 decorated luxury cars. On the evening of Friday April 19 from 7.30pm, there is a parade of the floats in Noordwijkerhout which becomes illuminated from 9pm. When the parade arrives in Harlem on the evening of Saturday 20 it will be illuminated from 9pm and will remain on view there till 7pm on Sunday 21.
The flower parade is free to watch and visitors to the Keukenhof Festival are allowed to leave the site to see the parade and re-enter afterwards to finish their visit.
If you choose to spend a few days on your trip I would recommend the seaside resort of Noordwijk as an ideal base. It is just 15 minutes from the festival site. We stayed at the Hotel Zonne a small family run hotel a three minute walk from the beach which I can throughly recommend. www.hotelzonne.nl
We had a wonderful evening meal at the Zon & Zeebad restaurant on the sand dunes in Noordwijk. The food was tradition Dutch with spectacular local fish and herring dishes to choose from. www.zonenzeebad.nl
For more information about Keukenhof and how to get there, click here:
Brighton Unitarian Church is the first religious venue in Brighton & Hove to be able to conduct Civil Partnership Ceremonies.
Several Unitarian Churches around the country have been licensed for the registration of Civil Partnerships but this is a first for Brighton and Hove. Church Minister Jef Jones said:
“I’m chuffed that we’re the first religious venue in Brighton to be able to register civil partnerships.
“We’ve been offering same-sex partnership blessings for years, and I’m glad that we’ve taken the next step because it’s very important to many people in this city.”
Cllr Geoffrey Bowden
Cllr Geoffrey Bowden, Chair of Economic Development & Culture Committee said:
“This is fantastic news and definitely a step in the right direction. I look forward to the first civil partnership being held at the church”
If you are interested in holding a civil partnership at Brighton Unitarian Church:
Following repeated calls from constituents about the state of Hove’s streets, Mike Weatherley, the Conservative MP for Hove and Portslade, has written to Penny Thompson, Chief Executive of Brighton & Hove City Council, about the appalling state of streets in his constituency and called for a new approach to tackling litter.
In his letter, Mike wrote:
“Residents regularly contact me about the state of our streets, but I have certainly had an increased number of complaints about dog fouling in recent months. I appreciate that catching owners in the act is difficult, yet a new approach is clearly required. Similarly, when it comes to littering, I know that a number of local authorities have contracted private firms to enforce an on-the-spot fine policy. This is an obvious deterrent and excellent way of raising revenue. Only those who offend will face a fine.”
Mike commented:
“One of the most basic duties that people expect of their council is for their streets to be clean and tidy, unfortunately Cityclean, the council’s cleaning service, is a misnomer. Sadly the problem appears to be getting worse, particularly amongst irresponsible dog owners. Offenders might think twice about not picking up after their dogs if the punishment was to clean up Hove’s streets for a day.”
Brighton & Hove Council are contacting around 17,000 residents affected by the government’s council tax benefit reform to help people adjust.
From April 1, 2013 the government is abolishing Council Tax Benefit and Councils have been asked to introduce local schemes to replace it. At the same time the government is reducing the grant it gives to local authorities to help those on a low income pay for their council tax by 10%. This means a reduction of £2.5 million for Brighton & Hove.
Following a consultation process last year, the Council is introducing the Council Tax Reduction Scheme from April 2013 and has committed to absorbing £1.1 million of the £2.5 million reduction. Entitlement to the scheme will be assessed by a means test so that people with the least money will receive the most help.
While pensioners are protected from paying any more as a result of the changes, it does mean that all households of working age will need to pay something towards their Council Tax.
The scheme includes several measures to help protect the least well-off residents including a limit of £3 per week extra on how much existing claimants will pay in the first year of the new scheme. There will also be a discretionary fund of £300,000 in the first year to help people in exceptional circumstances.
To keep the changes as simple as possible, all current claimants will have their eligibility for the new scheme worked out without having to reapply. Bills telling everyone how much they need to pay will go out in March.
Cllr Jason Kitcat
Brighton & Hove City Council Leader Jason Kitcat, said:
“Thousands of our residents will be affected by this government change and we’re doing everything we can to support them. This month we’ll be writing to all 17,000 affected residents to remind them about the changes and help them prepare.
“In real terms the money available to help working-age people on benefit in the city has been cut by 16%. However, because we are putting an extra £1.1 million towards replacing the government reduction residents will pay no more than £3 a week extra, and many far less. “Despite our very tight budget situation, we have found £300,000 to help those least able to afford these changes. We are doing everything we can to soften the blow as government further restricts welfare payments.”
Exeter Pride are staging a fundraising event this Thursday, February 28 to raise money to help stage this years Exeter Pride.
A Ceilidh, is a Gaelic gathering and The Exeter Pride Ceilidh will be held at The Lemongrove, Cornwall House, University of Exeter on Thursday, February 28 from 8pm to 11.30pm, with the band Going Steady and the caller, Martin Hodge.
Everyone is invited and no previous experience is necessary.
It is just £3 to get in, there is a bar and all profits from the event go to Exeter Pride.
Event: Exeter Pride Celidh
Where: The Lemongrove, Cornwall House, University of Exeter
When: Thursday, February 28
Time: 8pm
Cost: £3
For more information about Exeter Pride, click here:
The Martlets Hospice Mobile Phone Recycling Scheme operates in each of the Martlets shops and this year is also being rolled out to local schools and businesses.
The Hospice is working at the moment with sixteen local primary schools to help developing countries that have no telephone landline infrastructure.
This project will mean a significant saving for UK landfill and may be used as a study topic for school sustainability programmes.
So far the following schools have signed up for this Scheme:
• Benfield Primary School
• Bevendean Primary School
• Elm Grove Primary School
• Middle Street Primary School
• Queen’s Park Primary School
• St Andrew’s CE Primary School
• St Bernadette’s RC Primary School
• St Margaret’s CE Primary School
• St Mark’s CE Primary School
• St Mary’s RC Primary School
• St Paul’s CE Primary School
• Westdene Primary School
• Whitehawk Primary School
• St Bartholomew’s CE Primary School
• St John The Baptist’s RC Primary School
• Woodingdean Primary School
Brighton & Hove Council are contacting around 17,000 residents affected by the government’s council tax benefit reform to help people adjust.
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