Entries from September 2009 ↓

I had an absolutely fantastic heritage day yesterday.  Some of these will be open today.

First to Christchurch in Tackett Street, which is an incredible version of early Victorian Gothic mixed with iron pillars that could fit in a railway station.  Because it is next to Saint Pancras I pass this church every Sunday, but I’ve been inside about three times.  The congregation (or congregations as they have at least two, both baptist and congretationalist) ran an interesting tour of the church.

Then it was St. Peter’s, which had some people from the Ipswich Hospital band manning the exhibits, and playing live music.  They’ve got the fantastic local history display, which I’ve been told is only partly as a result of the efforts of the Over Stoke history group – not as I’d previously reported all of the exhibition.

Then there was St Mary Stoke, near home.  The Over Stoke history group had a brilliant display, as well as an exhibition from one of the church members about the architect, William Butterfield.

Then to the Custom House, where the Ipswich Maritime Trust had a really interesting exhibition about sailing ships (they have a window exhibition opening today as well) and rope making.

One thing that I thought of was that these were all manned by volunteer groups.  The government seems to have a desire to belittle these groups (for example the desire to charge all adult volunteers £64 if they may ever work with children).  The little battallions are not just more efficient but they actually do what is wanted and not what is dictated by the latest bureaucratic fad.

Tomorrow the Ipswich Maritime Trust will be opening a window museum at 6.30.  Here’s what they say:

Window Museum Opens 13^th September. The first and largest of the five Window Museum displays is nearing completion and will be officially opened on 13^th September with displays on the twin themes of ‘Thames Sailing Barges’ and ‘Sailmaking’. The opening will very appropriately be performed by Jim Lawrence of ‘James Lawrence Sailmakers, Brightlingsea’, and known to many of the IMT members through his fascinating talks on his early days on Thames Sailing Barges.

It will be near the Pizza Express on the waterfront (cross Stoke Bridge, turn right on the waterfront and walk for about three minutes).

I’ve already seen the window and it looks great.

The Ipswich Society is organising some local building openings on Saturday.  The timetable is here:

http://www.ipswichsociety.org.uk/events/

The only one I can see in Bridge is Saint Mary’s at Stoke church, which is two minutes away from me in Rectory Road.

Some nearby attractions that are open are:

• The Willis Building
• The Old Custom House
• Unitarian Meeting House
• St Mary At The Quay
• St Peter’s Church
• The Mansion, Wherstead

I definately want to see the Old Custom House.

The details of the opening times are in the following PDF leaflet:

http://www.ipswichsociety.org.uk/events/HeritageDay2009.pdf

I’ve started a Facebook group for the Southern Cement noise (which I heard in Gorsehayes and Briarhayes as well).

You can join it here:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=128037552644&ref=mf

Many in Bridge are commuters, and this will be familliar:

(Thanks to Stephen Ion for the photo)

That was standing room only from Ipswich to London yesterday morning.  And now we have a week long strike down the rails.

Trains going to pot.  Stikes.   If you’re nostalgic for the seventies you’ve got the right government.

Commuters pay a fortune for this.

B

It’s easy to say that politics has changed in the last two years, but the reason why we have truisms is that they are true.  One of these areas where there has been a dramatic change has been immigration.

Immigration has always been an issue in Bridge, but it has now shot to the top of the agenda. When I was canvassing in the Hayes a couple of weeks ago immigration had gone to the top in a place where I can’t remember it being mentioned once in the last General Election.  Part of this may have been due to the BNP raising the issue by standing in the last council election, but there seems to have been something else going on.

Even when I’m delivering leaflets I usually have at least one conversation with a voter about immigration and how it affects their area.  This is not the case when I’m on the other side of the river (although it’s still an issue).

Why is Bridge talking about immigration in particular?

The high level of buy to let activity in the Old Stoke area may be one reason why immigration’s so talked about which will probably explain why there are so many more European Union immigrants live around here.  I’ve heard very few complaints about crime and immigration (although anti-social behaviour certainly is an issue). Job insecurity may also be increasing people’s perception of immigration – but it wouldn’t explain why Bridge is so worried about immigration.

However the main parties in Bridge, both Labour and Conservative are going to have to find out why people are worried about immigration here and actually address those concerns.  Sadly this may be a bit too much to hope for when a Labour agent (who is not paid for by the taxpayer, honest) goes around a count accusing a Tory councillor of being friends with fascists due to the fact that he beat a Labour candidate.

This needs to stop.  We need to up the maturity on this debate and address the voter’s legitimate concerns on this issue, because if we don’t then there is a darker force waiting in the wings who will.

We need leaflet distributors for the noise abatement campaign.  We’ve got a few thousand and we need them distributed.  Please email the noise abatement group on noise@bridgeward.org.uk

They are professionally produced, non party political leaflets – and as we always seem to find there are an awful lot of people who don’t yet know about the noise.

Probably one of the more off beat dates for your diary, and not really starting in Bridge, the Meryemana pilgrimage walk starts in St Peters church (just accross Stoke Bridge) and ends in St Mary Elms.  It’s on on the 6th September (tomorrow) from St. Peter’s church, just across Stoke Bridge.

From the bulletin of St. Pancras’ parish:

Ipswich’s Own Madonna: OUR ANNUAL PILGRIMAGE WALK is taking place the Sunday 6 Sept at 3.00pm, from St Peter’s Church to the Shrine of our Lady of Grace via Lady Lane. Come and support this ecumenical event that honours Our Lady of Ipswich. Tea afterwards.

http://www.stmaryattheelms.org.uk/OurLadyOfGrace/shrine.htm

There will be a TV drama on the Ipswich murders soon.  This is an important area and it needs to be investigated, however it is too soon.

Anyone who remembers the terror that women around Ipswich went through when this was going on knows that they don’t want this resurrected.  This is especially the case as Steve Wright used to live in Bridge and when he was arrested some of us remember the media scrum around Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Wright’s old local.

How to complain to the BBC

To make a complaint you need to go here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/forms/process/television?id=RIIEGB02FIO1A5EFFBEHL0MHEU

The name of the proposed program is “Five Daughters” and you will need to leave the transmission date blank.  Click Next.

The best complaint area is probably “Offence”.  You will need to put the complaint in your own words (the BBC tend to ignore mass answers).  It would be good to request a reply, as we can then keep track as to whether they simply give us a stock response.

There be a page for contact details – if you’ve asked to be contacted.  Remember to enter No as to whether you are under 13.  Emails will be compulsory if you’ve asked to be contacted, and will have to be entered twice.

Then just click to submit.

Peter Evans from the Noise Action Group will be on Radio Suffolk tomorrow (Friday) at 8 am.  The frequencies are 103.9 FM and 104.6 FM.

If you’ve come to this site because of the interview then the mailing list can be joined on:

noise@bridgeward.org.uk

(The address is monitored so you can email details to us).

You can also go to the noise abatement site and enter details here:

http://bridgeward.org.uk/group/noise/home.html

Edit:  I originally got the day and time wrong.  Sorry about the confusion.