As far as we can we like to support the fundraising events on Stonehouse High Street on a Saturday morning. It’s good to support the charities and also catch up on the local news.
We often buy plants and cakes. Generally the cakes are great to eat and the slugs in our garden appreciate the plants!
Back in June, Stonehouse Partnership had a plant stall. We bought two plants, not sure ourselves what they were, it was thought they might be butternut squashes. They were duly planted in the garden and started to grow.
Grow being the understatement – they have turned out to be courgettes, or they may be marrows – one or two grew to an enormous size but now we are harvesting them whilst they are still small! The plants have practically taken over our garden and I am completely stressed about not being able to mow the lawn properly – but the crop his incredible! I am sure that the numbers of bees, butterflies and now caterpillars that we’ve had this year are down to these plants.
Thank you Stonehouse Partnership for helping me do a little bit to help our local environment.
In the past 12 months I have become increasingly aware of the value that the wildlife plays in our gardens. My visit recently to the Butterfly Conservation Trust made me understand the importance of butterflies in pollinating our plants.
I have since noticed that we have a huge number of butterflies fluttering around in our garden. Today, in our rocket we spotted almost a colony of hungry caterpillars! I shall be watching their progress in spinning their cocoons and the birth of a new generation of caterpillars in our garden.
I had an excellent visit with the Wildlife Trust this week. We travelled by canal from Gloucester Docks to Cambridge. It was very interesting to travel along the canal and find out about the work that the Wildlife Trust is doing to improve the habitats of our local and migrating birdlife and other species.
If you get an opportunity to walk or ride along the canal towpath or take a trip in a boat it is a really brilliant excursion.
The project that the Wildlife Trust is particularly pleased about is the one that has been completed by The Severn Vale Living Landscape team – they have completed their first two ‘scrapes’.
A scrape is a man-made shallow with gently sloping edges and becomes filled with seasonal rain water. They then create easily visible wetland areas that are attractive to wildlife – who can stop off and have a break whilst migrating.
Apart from drinking water birds can also feed on the midge larvae (I was assured they were non-biting midges) and other aquatic insects which form an important food source for birds such as lapwings.
One of the main reasons for developing these ‘scrapes’ is that due to increased development there have been fewer natural stopping places that provide the same service.
As we journeyed passed the scrape it was wonderful to see that they do work and I believe that it was a lapwing that we saw resting and resuscitating.
If you want to find out more about the work of the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust www.gloucestershirewildlifetrust.co.uk .
By now many of you will have had my ‘Up for Debate’ Survey. Thank you to those of you who have returned them. It is brilliant to see the responses and I hope that we really will be able to have a good debate!
Some of you will have received your surveys delivered by volunteers, I’d like to thank all of the volunteers who have delivered surveys and also my thanks go to volunteers who have stuffed the envelopes and stuck on the labels. This is a big venture to undertake and it is very important that everyone has equal access to fill in the survey.
I would also like to thank Stroud College for the use of their franking machine. I am sure you can appreciate the enormity of the task and it was very good of them to allow us to use their facilities. Can I please state that the cost of the postage is being funded via my office and we are incredibly grateful for the support Stroud College has given us in the use of their franking machine.
I look forward to receiving your replies and the next stage of the process.
You may have read in the local papers about a major consultation programme that I am carrying out over the summer and I hope to involve as many people in the constituency as I can. Initially I am sending out a questionnaire to every household, seeking opinions on a range of topics including the role of the Head of State, the nature of the House of Lords, the age of voting and proportional representation. The next stage will be a series of public meetings around the constituency where these issues can be discussed. I am also planning to take the discussions into local schools.
Once all of the results have been collated and the discussions analysed, I intend to take the results to the new Parliamentary Reform Committee, a new Select Committee that will be sitting until November when it will present its findings to Parliament. I was privileged to be elected to the Committee shortly before the Summer Recess. Up For Debate gives this constituency a real chance to have its voice heard.
Watch this space! And please join me in the campaign to revitalise our democracy.
If you want to find out more then check out the link to the Gazette below.
http://www.gazetteseries.co.uk/news/4527615.Your_chance_to_have_a_say_on_how_politics_is_run/