Bingo, someone came up to me in the Market Place while I was chatting with Devizes Greens chief, Margaret Green about all random matters of climate change, to offer us both a free vegan chocolate tiffin, and that’s plenty to swing this blogger to pen a decent review in itself!
Though I didn’t need a tiffin to twist my arm, Sustainable Devizes set up an outstanding fair in the Market Place today. I believe it’s the second annual Devizes Sustainable Fair, an amalgamation of all the separate activities various groups of Sustainable Devizes and others engage in; sorry I missed last year’s. For if imagining a handful of environmental campaigners gathering in crocs and tie dye tees to draw some pretty pictures of the planet was your preconception, you’d be sorely wrong.
Many, of all walks of life, gathered to address concerns and present alternatives to make Devizes sustainable and environmentally friendly, under a festive feel, and it was a splendid occasion.
Children were encouraged by Keith Brindle and family of St James to draw pictures of ideas to create a better environment, on transport and the future of plastic usage, a clothes swap whereby you could donate or take whatever you needed, both encompassed the general idea that this was a community based interactive experience, an event free of commercialisation and profiteering. This extended to the general feel of the day; everyone focussed on the same goal in a polite and friendly way.
There was food, soup and so on, free knife-sharpening, a bicycle repair shop, and organisations were welcomed from the Meadow in my Garden community interest company, to Kennet Furniture Refurb, and it was also lovely to meet the community free for all social club Camerados Public Living Room, who aside regular meetings in the Cheese Room on Fridays, seem to set up a living room complete with sofas, coffee tables and lamps wherever they care to, and I love that the most, they even gave me a cup of orange squash the lovely lot!
But what places this firmly on the map, and diverts this from being any old climate change meeting, converting it into a festival feel is the area of benches in which to gather, and the live music too. I’m sorry to have been too late to witness an acoustic jam session, followed by resident musicians Tom Harris and Chrissy Chapman, but I did make a beeline for those boater’s royalty of euphemisms, Devil’s Doorbell. We reviewed the ingenious outpourings of this bonkers skiffle duo upon the launch of a live album recorded at Trowbridge’s Pump in February, and they delighted as much as suspected they would, with Nipper playing his tenor banjo and kazzumpet, while the colourful Jellylegs Johnson strummed her washtub bass, both with a jolly dedication to jazzy tunes of yore.
Had to inquire being Caen Hill Locks were closed and the Doorbell duo had to resort to bus journey here, how everyday folk reacted to taking a washtub and kazzumpet amoung their other gear on the bus! But that’s in a nutshell how this event played off, quirky, hospitable and welcoming, a true reflection on a community spirited goal to better ourselves when it comes to progressing with a greener, environmentally friendly manner, and for this alone you cannot fault it.
Brilliant job, Devizes, for together we are sustainable, least heading this way with gusto.
A dollop of Lewis Carroll, shards of C. S. Lewis and Roald Dahl, and perhaps even nicer elements of Tolkien, The World Under the Wood will put a smile on your face and bring out the inner child in you.…..
Being honest, it doesn’t take too much to bring out the inner child out in this grumpy old man, but more to cheer me up, and this did both, delightfully!
Running until Sunday, with matinees and evening performances at Devizes’ Wharf Theatre, this simply charming hour-long play, written and directed by Helen Langford is so whimsical, such a delight, you will be captivated by its magical cross-realms. Ideally you need a child aged six plus, but anyone into fairytales you can drag along, I suggest you do. Break out some glitter!
Yet while citing the obvious influences of classic children’s literature combines the settings and themes, it overlooks the subject, a contemporary feel of industry versus nature, the environmental angle on everyone’s lips, especially children. And it presents it in such an easy, fantastical way, without complication or ‘rubbing your face in it’ any age will be absorbed by the moral. Anymore synopsis and I’m verging on spoliers!
All homegrown talent, The World Under the Wood is an unmissable Wharf exclusive. The protagonist, Jodie, a kind of Dorothy-Dora hybrid is played confidently and spectacularly by Georgina Claridge, and her interactions with archetypal characters manage to retain the charm of those they pastiche, a talking tree, played gracefully by Chris Smith, pet dog by Carolynn Coomer, and Louise Peak as the queen-like Great Leader of an industrial underworld of robotic oompa loompa-like humans adds pantomime humour to the show.
Yet, it is not pantomime, in so much its zany or sing-along element is slight above the morals, but it is partially musical, with simple but effective original songs. If I’m honest, I huffed at the thought of going to see a “family” show, but I came out the other end chuffed, sprinkled with psychological fairy dust and mused with an emotion of sustainability on equal terms.
Your kids will love it, you might love it more! The World Under the Wood is running now, ending Sunday 26th June at The Wharf Theatre, Devizes. Tickets HERE.
Devizes Town Council announced the result of an assessment by the Environment Agency yesterday, following last week’s outbreak of pollution in Crammar, a spillage from a van fire on the road aside it. Their advise was simply that a sheen “on the surface of the water usually looks worse than it is and although unsightly is a good sign that the quantity of the contaminate is low.”
If the accident has done one good thing, it’s opened a Pandora’s box concerning the overall suitability for wildlife on and around the Crammar, and questions I believe need addressing with a whole heap more clarity than this rather vague Environmental Report.
As much as I respect their professional experience and want this to be actual, they did not heartbreakingly witness Swan Support trudge through the pond to rescue swans drenched in thick black oil, because no environmental officer or town councillor took the opportunity to attend the rescue, no matter what social media groups might suggest. It has left me pondering if “usually looks worse than it is” is adequate, usually being the operative word.
It’s been a week since we reported the contamination, a week for it to have dispensed more evenly across the Crammar. On their Facebook post, the Council continued to inform the Environmental Agency stated, “it is difficult to clean as it is a thin film and using an oil spill boom won’t be effective. If the weather conditions mean that the wind blows the contamination to the edge of the Crammer then a boom might be more effective to absorb it, but it is more likely to degrade and disperse.”
Okay, I can buy most of this, but again there’s ambiguity with word usage, such as more likely, well, I find myself asking how likely? The weather has been clement and wind has reduced to a gentle breeze of recent. It is unclear when this assessment was made. As it is the oil has dispersed fairly well, though few ducks have returned to the Crammar.
The bigger issue is, though, it has been raised that the last time the pond was dredged it was discovered the drains taking rainwater off the road flow directly into the Crammar. Clearly pollution has been a gradual process over many decades, as the rain water mixes with spilt oils from vehicles from the road; the fire was the poo flavoured icing on the cake.
The statement from the Council continues to question the fire crew too, stating “the Environment Agency have reviewed the Fire Service report and advised that most of the fuel should’ve been burnt off.” Is it just me here, reading too much into this; most of the fuel SHOULD’VE been burnt off? But was it, how can we be so sure? Because the grand finale is: “having reviewed this information it was deemed unnecessary for a site visit to be made.” It almost connotes the fire service was at fault here, when surely it is their priority to put the fire out, ensure safety, and the fact is Devizes Fire crew went above and beyond, by doing the best they could to protect the wildlife, while the Environmental Agency rolled up days later and the Council deemed it not worthy of their attention!
This is the Crammar we’re talking about, a much love facility, a historic tourist attraction, and it seems to me to be treated like a giant puddle, no more worthy than a pothole. Swan Support suggested the area as wholly unsuitable for wildlife, particularly for the swans, as there was no natural food source; they relied on handouts. On one social media thread someone even suggested mouldy bread and leftover takeaways were their staple diet, speculation this maybe, but it was evident those rescued were malnourished, in such poor condition they couldn’t fly away.
Good folk are now asking us as to the welfare of the rescued swans and if they’ll be returning, like we’re experts, when we’re not, just concerned residents. Thankfully we have heard back that the swans are doing well. But surely, we have to accept to return them to the Crammar may not be the best option for them, swans are territorial and new cygnets will find their own natural way to the pond by May, and the cycle continues.
I implore Devizes Town Council to reassess this issue. I accept there is no overnight solution, but with no natural food source for wildfowl the Crammer is unsuitable and potentially harmful to wildlife. I’m no expert but would hope for Council to seek further specialised advise.
I believe issues which need to be looked into is creating a wild area aside the pond, adequate for a natural food source. I believe the overflow pipes, if flowing into the pond need redirecting into a drain, so the water is less polluted in general, and not just in event of an incident such as the recent fire. And I would seriously consider the safety issues of having the roadside of the Crammar as the concrete slope leading directly onto the road, as it currently is; if ducks and swans don’t wander onto the road, what if a swan scared a child who did?
Let’s look to a better future for this landmark, cleaner, safer, conservational and obliging to supporting wildlife. Who’s with me?
Can we get some feedback from Devizes Town Council this will be discussed as soon as feasible, or what, do I gotta sort out a petition?! Thank you!
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Some way to a happy ending to the story we broke yesterday about oil pollution in the Crammar pond after a van fire nearby, that thanks to Swan Support of Windsor and the RSPCA, all of the swans have been rescued from the contamination and taken to safety.
Tipped off by Wiltshire Wildlife Hospital, who I messaged our article, Swan Support arrived before lunchtime. I will get myself into these situations, but rather than press “live on the scene,” a few volunteers and I dared the rain to help hold off traffic on the road, should the swans have attempted an escape across it.
After inspecting the pond myself this morning and seeing those swans drenched in oil, I became intricately involved, and it was hearbreaking to see how filthy the swans were underneath, when the team finally fished them from the water.
A fascinating operation to observe, first involving waders then a canoe, to corner the distressed birds. But after halfhour of chasing around the pond, the Swan Support team and one member of the RSPCA successfully rescused them.
A massive thanks to them, but only in part is the problem solved. Up till 1:30pm there was absolutely no sign of the Environmental Agency Devizes Town Council has promised will turn up to inspect the pond, unless we missed them. By lunchtime the slick had spread across three quarters of the pond, and with precipitation from the rain, you could smell the oil in the water.
Pressure is on to get this process moving for the sake of the ducks and other pond life still affected by the pollution.
Suspicion that someone tampered with the boom which failed to block off the oil has proved non-conclusive, as CCTV found no evidence. I’m of the opinion it collapsed through natural causes.
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