On Saturday October 13th, shoppers in the George Street area of Hove were surprised to be offered home-made reusable shopping bags in return for a pledge to turn down at least ten plastic carrier bags over the following month.

It was part of a project called InTheBag which Rachel Papworth, from Bonchurch Road, has been running as part of a personal development course with Landmark Education (www.landmarkeducation.com). The course requires participants to run a project that inspires them and Rachel saw an opportunity to address the damage plastic carrier bags do to the environment. She says “Every year, hundreds of thousands of marine mammals, like sea turtles and whales, mistake plastic bags for food and die an agonising
death, from choking or blocked intestines. After their bodies have decomposed, the plastic is free to be ingested again. Plastic bags are a major source of litter and precious non-renewable resources are used in their manufacture, transport and disposal”.

InTheBag is designed to inspire local residents to make a commitment to reduce their use of plastic carrier bags and is a Brighton & Hove contribution to an international project. Morsbags (www.morsbags.com) was set up by Pol Morsman, from London, to get groups (or “pods”) of people around the world making reusable shopping bags from waste fabric.

Between July and October, Rachel has been getting together with groups of friends and family for sewing sessions while Pam Chapman, from Southampton Street, spotted one of Rachel’s requests for resources on freecycle and volunteered to produce about 20 bags with her friends. The groups have made over 120 bags so far, using resources (fabric, thread, loans of sewing machines, iron-on labels to put the morsbags URL on the bags) gathered mostly from freecycle (www.freecycle.org). The youngest bag-maker to date was eight and the oldest 66. Three generations of Rachel’s family sewed together. Rachel says “I was blown away by the response to the project both from my friends and family and from Brighton’s incredible freecycle community”.

You drank us dry!
20th Annual Hanover Beer Festival factfile:
- 800 people turned up — and a lot of them told us they can’t wait for the next time
- tickets for Friday night sold quickest — and out!
- The Greys sold more tickets than any other outlet
- there were no injuries, accidents or incidents
- the real ales and ciders all came from micro-breweries, and went down so well there wasn’t enough left for take-outs
- all the bar staff were unpaid volunteers
- Hanover Community Association knows local enterprises are the foundation of a thriving community, so we’re very pleased that so many choose to support the Hanover Centre and our events
- we’ve started a list of people who want to join in next year — as sponsors and/or staff. Contact us on hanover.association@ntlworld.com to add your name
- once all the sponsorship is in and the bills are paid, we expect to announce a profit of at least £4,000
And our 20th Anniversary Roll of Honour…
The design — many thanks to multi-talented Ric Blow for designing the logo that launched a thousand glasses and sold out the limited edition T shirts (well almost – we still have a couple of small purple skinnifits for sale)
The souvenir glasses — extremely generously sponsored by Barrie Alderton Estate Agents, supplied by The Ale House, and protected from mishap on the way home by carrier bags donated by Sam & co at the Lewes Road Co-op
The drinks – Matt & Karen from the Evening Star for choosing, ordering and looking after the beer; Henry Butler of Butler’s Wine Cellar for stocking the wine bar; and Infinity Foods for donating soft drinks
Barrel sponsors — thanks to our regular supporters, particularly those who added an extra donation: Bonett’s Estate Agents, Brightel Datanet (communications systems), Brighton Morris Men, Brighton Pavilion Labour Party, Church of the Annunciation, City Car Club, Dover Castle, Goa – Spice of Life, Hanover & Elm Grove Green Councillors, Infinity Foods, Inside & Out (building & decorating), Johnson McCabe (solicitors), Maslen Estate Agents, Radio Cabs, Sea Breeze Fish & Chips, Sir Charles Napier, The Greys, The Lord Nelson, J A Tuffin & Co (accountants), Unison, University of Brighton, Vic Gates (builder), Victorians Valued, Wheeler’s Estate Agents and Wilkinson’s Estate Agents – and welcome and thanks to the people who joined in for the first time this year: Buzz/ Relentless Software (developers of computer games), Fitzgerald’s Plumbing (Kevin Fitzgerald will go down in history as sponsor of the last barrel in the world of Dark Star’s “Falmer for Ale”), Harmony in the Community (event production), Ingrained (wood flooring), Nancy Platts (who moved to Hanover this year), Special Blue (Gary Moore), and Woodingdean Carpentry (carpenter and builder Nick Stanford)
T shirt sponsors — thanks to the Evening Star, The Greys, Lord Nelson Inn, Dover Castle, Napier, Southover Wines and Goa, Spice Of Life, our unpaid staff looked the part
Production — Alan, Graham & team from ACA Scaffolding; Danny & crew from Harmony in the Community for marquees, overnight security, serving food and all the rest
The food – Mohammed and staff from the Goa restaurant for catering on Friday; Jan, Julian and staff from In2night for catering on Saturday; and Fanny (Fanny’s of Hanover) for supplying pies and sausage rolls for Saturday evening
Printing and publicity – Brian at Positive Exposure for the T shirts; Blow Up for printing the posters and tokens; Kate & co at the Resource Centre for printing and delivering all the programmes; all the local residents and businesses who displayed posters and spread the word; and Eve for her work on the newsletter and website.
Ticket sales — all the staff at The Greys, Dover Castle, Napier and Evening Star, and Mary & Eve at the Hanover Centre.
Safety – thanks to Mark and the team at the local Red Cross for First Aid cover, and to HSS for the extra fire extinguishers. All the local people who came along were determined to enjoy themselves in a happy atmosphere so there was no call on their services.
and the stars….
an extra special thankyou to so many wonderful people (I hope I got all your names, and spelt them right) who lent us stuff and/or offered to work for free — everything from daytime beerwatch, checking glasses, refreshments for the workers, printing and laminating signs, and setting up the venue – to serving beers, ciders and wines, selling tokens, T shirts and memorabilia, stewarding, and clearing up. Thankyou Alan, Alan, Alex, Alexia, Anthony, Chas, Danny, Graham, Greg, Hazel, Herb, Jackie, Jamie, Jan, Jane, Jane, Jill, Joe, John, Kath, Lisa, Lizzie, Malika, Mark, Martin, Mary, Matt, Matt, Michael, Miriam, Nancy, Nicky, Pete, Rob, RPJ, Rupert, Simon, Simon, Steve, Stuart, Stuart, Sue, Theo, Val, Yu Jin.
It was fun wasn’t it — see you next time!

Brighton Books Publishing will launch the 2nd edition of “Hilly Laine to Hanover” upstairs at the Hanover Community Centre on Saturday 1st December 6.00 – 8.00 pm

Many thanks to Joe Wheeler for sponsoring the event – look out for your invitation, delivered with copies of the Herald or pick one up from the Community Centre.

There will be a pay bar to raise money for the Hanover Centre Kitchen Fund, so bring your friends and neighbours!

“Hilly Laine to Hanover — a Brighton Neighbourhood” by Lavender Jones and Jacqueline Pollard was first printed in 1999. It was so popular it soon sold out and Brighton Books Publishing have decided to publish it again.
This reprint has several unseen photographs and has a smart up to date format and some new text.
The book covers a geographic area from Carlton Hill to Elm Grove and Queens Park Road to the Lewes Road. It includes the history of Hanover from its earliest beginnings to the modern day. Many of the people interviewed were born and lived in Hanover all their lives and their stories are told in their own words. A whole generation is recorded here describing their memories of a very different place than the one it is today.
The book covers many historical features such as the Phoenix Brewery, the local pubs, shops and schools. The Home for Penitent Females, churches, the two world wars and the every day street life of the area, and much more. There is something for everyone.
The book will be for sale at the Community Centre Book Launch. Copies will also be available at Barrie Alderton Estate Agent’s office on the corner of Montreal Road/Southover Street, and Wheeler’s Estate Agents and Brian Archer Organic Butcher’s shop on Islingword Road.
Cost: £9.99

Autumn – Season of Orb Spiders

Many of us will have plump 10-12mm female Garden Spiders (Araneus
diedematus) hanging head-down in the centre of enormous orb webs in our gardens at this time of the year. This spider can be identified easily by its size (although the males are only half as big) and the white blotches arranged roughly in a cross on the abdomen. It is one of our largest spiders and entirely harmless.

Nest Boxes

As our house was being repainted we decided to put up a nest box while there were ladders about. The ideal place seemed to be under the protection of the eaves on the front of the house. The back wall is less protected from rain and is in the sun most of the day. Maybe it would be a good place for a bat box?

We decided on a sparrow terrace from the RSPB. After a bit of thought we screwed two wedge-shaped pieces of wood above the sloping roof of the box so that the top of the wedges was horizontal. We drilled a hole through each wedge about half way along. Then we drilled holes through the underside of the eaves about the same distance out from the wall (the painter did this from his ladder). From inside the roof I threaded thin nylon ropes down through the holes to the pavement. This was the only difficult part of the job – it was cramped, hot and dusty down in the corner of the loft. The ends of the ropes were threaded through the holes in the wedges and securely knotted. Then it was a simple matter to pull the nest box tightly up into the angle between wall and eaves and tie the ropes off to cleats screwed to the rafters.

In the photo you can see the wide ends of the two wedges that hold the nest box square to the eaves and the wall. I think it looks pretty good, and after the nesting season it will be easy to lower the box, clean it out and sterilise it with boiling water.

‘Caring for a relative with a failing memory leading to dementia can be very difficult but you need not struggle on alone. You can get help and advice locally from the Alzheimer’s Society which provides wide-ranging support for carers and their families across Brighton and Hove.
Known as the Brighton Area Branch, it offers information, a drop-in centre, a relief care scheme, a telephone helpline, carers’ support groups, outings and socials, as well as a quarterly newsletter. It also runs a day centre called the Towner Day Club for under 65s with dementia.
To get in touch, call 01273 726266 from 9am to 11pm seven days a week. You can also email or see the website on www.alzheimers.org.uk/Brighton. The branch office is at 206 Church Road, Hove BN3 2DJ, where there is a drop in centre from 9.30am to 1pm Tuesday to Friday only.’

Monthly Group for any kind of Dad

Wednesday October 3rd, 7:30pm to 9:30pm
at Tarner Children’s Centre,
Ivory Place, Brighton.
Information: Alan 07738040452
Meets first Wednesday of every month.

Alan Seabrook
Hove YMCA
Young Fathers and Young Mens Worker
65 Blatchington Road
Hove BN3 3YJ
01273 828844 or 07738040452
or click here to email

P Save the environment – think before you print.

Hove YMCA is a registered charity offering a range of services for children, young people and families in Sussex. Our main areas of expertise include: housing, youth and family support, sport, counselling and advice. Visit www.hoveymca.org.uk for more information.