Entries from June 2009 ↓

The People’s Community Garden (or the Maidenhall Allotments) will be having a free Art in the Garden event on 4th June 10am to 3.30 pm as part of the IP Art program.

See here for details:

http://www.ip-art.com/event_listing_details.php?id=62

If you’re not from the area, then here’s a map:

http://www.ip-art.com/event_listing_details.php?id=62

Should prove useful for our councillors.

So the cement ship is now back in and the loud unremitting noise continues to disturb people’s sleep.  If you are getting this problem then please phone 01473 433115 or email environmentalprotection@ipswich.gov.uk

As a Rectory Road resident I’ve always heard about the day that Del and Rodney Trotter where down my street.  So I thought I’d do some detective work.

The episode of Only Fools and Horses that got to Ipswich was a Christmas special known as The Frog’s Legacy when Rodney is conned by Del into becoming a chief mourner.  Instead of Peckham the BBC filmed on the corner of Rectory and Seymour roads, setting up market stalls on Seymour Road with the funeral courtege coming from Belstead Road (you can see Stoke Hall Road at the beginning of the clip if you look carefully enough).

You will also see some unfamilliar one way signs on the corner of Rectory Road and Phillip Road, luckily the Ipswich one way system does not reach here usually.

My house can be seen if you look carefully enough (I had to go through the clip about three times) and look for the bicycle.

http://www.ofah.net/images/frogs2.jpg

Although in my opinion not the best episode of Only Fools and Horses- apart from the wise choice of location – it’s still funny.

The funeral scene starts 7 minutes into this clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tuknqqMyrA

And it continues into this part (which actually starts in Seymour Road) :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vumW3-Fy74k

If you want to see the whole episode it’s in six parts here:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=682827B6C8532ED4&search_query=the+frog%27s+legacy

So our MP is put in charge of the roads and railways and within days Ipswich station is struck by lightening and the A14 is flooded and blocked by a crash.  Next we’ll be having plagues of frogs and locusts. Either the Almighty is displeased or Chris Mole is cursed with terrible luck.

Like many people who live in Bridge I was held up in the drama today.  For once I’m not going to moan about the railway company, who did the best they could under extraordinary circumstances – and if a chimney being struck by lightening is not extraordinary then I don’t what is.  In the end we were held up for one and a half hours – although the flow of information was constant and reassuring, and the staff pulled together. 

Ipswich station was also well run considering that it had been evacuated just twenty minutes before we got there, with even delay-repay forms being handed to us as we got out of the station.  It is a stark contrast to the times when much smaller incidents seem to have given the railway a nervous breakdown.

Anyway here are the stories from the BBC and the Evening Star.

Any way here are a couple of photos that have appeared on the BBC and in the Evening Star, if anyones got other pictures, particularly in Bridge, let me know on james@bridgeward.org.uk

For the first time in years we actually had some (albeit minor) flooding in our house although my wife was at home and had the presence of mind to get some newspapers to soak it up so no damage was done.  It seems that it was a problem with the drains which soon sorted itself out, but it does show that the idea floated by Phillip Smart, one of our non-resident Labour councillors that the existing flood barrier should be lowered to be “more pleasing” to the eye is madness. 

There is a fantastic piece about the history of the Old Stoke area on, of all things, the BBC website.  It features the Over Stoke history group which has been run by Jill Freeman, who has also co-ordinated a fantastic display in St Peter’s church of the history of the area.  If you haven’t seen it, I would really recommend it.

“Nice idea, not enough pictures” has been a comment I’ve heard about Bridge Ward News.  Fair comment.  Until I get my digital camera working with this computer I’m going to have to show a few stock photos from around the area.

I quite like this one, which is the Three Angels, a sculpture which is on the Wherstead Road river bank.  I’m usually a fan of art produced before my Dad was born, but this fits in well with the docks.

(If you have any photos of the area that you would like to share please email them to james@bridgeward.org.uk

The evening star forums have a set of posts about what I think could be the noise from Southern Cement.  How many more people are suffering and thinking it’s just them?

If you are suffering then please contact me on james@bridgeward.org.uk and I will put you in touch with campaigners who need to find out just what the extent of this problem is.

Saint Mark’s parish, to which all Roman Catholics in Bridge Ward belong to (even if many of us go to Saint Pancras over the river which for many of us is a shorter walk) has celebrated it’s 50th year with a Mass on 30th May celebrated by Bishop Michael Evans.  There were some pictures on their website.

If you would like to promote your church events that are local to Bridge on this site, then email james@bridgeward.org.uk

If you live near Wherstead Road, or even further away, then you will be aware that Ipswich docks have become noisier recently.  Some people have compared it to living next to a nightclub while others have said it’s like having the washing machine on, all night.

The culprit is a cement ship used by Southern Cement, and this noise, which people have likened to a continuous howl, has been going on continuously.

This is pollution, as certainly as if cement dust was blown over Stoke Park.  While no-one denies that Ipswich needs a thriving port, we need to ask a few questions:

1)  Why does this work need to be carried on at night? 

2)  Why aren’t sufficient measures being taken to lower the noise?

3)  Why is the noise reaching people in places like the Hayes and even Pinewood?

If you have had any issues with this then you are not alone.  A noise abatement group has been set up to deal with this issue.  They need reports from people who have suffered and they will also need help with leafletting and other elements of the campaign to bring this noise down to a tolerable level.

If you have had problems with night time noise that you think may be from the port then please email me on james@bridgeward.org.uk and I will pass on any emails I get to the organisers of the noise abatement group.