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From the 9th November Citizens Advice Winchester District will have a new free local Adviceline number. The new number will be 0808 278 7861 and will be staffed Monday to Friday by a team of trained local volunteer advisers. This new number will replace all the existing local Citizens Advice Winchester District numbers.
Lesley Rose, Advice Services Manager at Citizens Advice Winchester District says: “Our telephone advice service has always been an important part of our advice delivery but none more so than during the current Coronavirus pandemic.
“As we enter another lockdown, I’m really pleased that we can offer a free local Adviceline to anyone in Winchester
I contributed an article on the above subject in the Forum Magazine March 2016, when the serious pollution of the upper waters of the Itchen by the salad washing plant in the Nythe had become apparent to me and others with a close concern in the matter. It is therefore with great interest that I read the article by Garry Honey on Page 4 of October’s issue of Forum, entitled “River Itchen Revisited”.
The storm of protest against the continued pollution of the river by Bakkavor’s salad washing activities from local residents, wildlife District that needs our help. If you have a query relating to your employment, housing, financial situation, a benefits application or anything else that’s causing you concern then please do get in touch.”
Citizens Advice Winchester District is a local independent charity and a member of the national Citizens Advice network of England and Wales.
To speak to adviser, call for free on 0808 278 7861 (if our advisers are busy you can leave a message and they will call you back) or email advice@cawinchesterdistrict.org.uk
Online Art Sales For Charity
Artists from across Hampshire are selling pictures and paintings to support vulnerable families in lockdown. Artists from Winchester, Andover, Alresford, Alton and Basingstoke art clubs are supporting charity fundraisers who are looking for innovative ways of raising funds during the pandemic. Local artists have been invited to exhibit their work on a new website in order to help raise funds for family support charity Home-Start Winchester*, while at the same time being able to sell their artwork now that so many exhibitions have been cancelled.
The brainchild of Winchester photographer Michelle Quinton, she has joined forces with former Home-Start Trustee Sue Gentry, who is also Chairman of the Alresford Art Society. “Michelle came up with the idea of selling art online when she saw the charity’s plea for help in the local press during the first lockdown and it seemed an excellent solution,” said Sue. “We have recruited artists from across Hampshire who are selling paintings in every medium as well as prints and even mosaics. With Christmas fast approaching, people are shopping online more than ever and this is a brilliant way not just to support artists who no longer have exhibitions but to also raise funds for struggling families.”
A commission of 25% is deducted from all sales, with 10% going to the online portal Etsy and 15% to the charity. If more artists would like to get involved, contact Sue Gentry at sue.gentry@gentrypublicity.co.uk and the art gallery can be found online at https://www. etsy.com/uk/shop/ArtStartWinchester
Pollution of the River Itchen – Revisited
and environmental charities and activists, and publicity in local and national papers and TV have obviously had their effect , resulting in the closure of the plant at the end of this year. The other environmental improvement that will result from this closure is the major reduction in heavy vehicles using the Great Weir and Alresford’s historic streets, which were unsuitable for such traffic. Obviously the adverse publicity was more effective than action by the Environmental Agency, which has consistently underperformed in protecting water quality in the Itchen, compared with its predecessor in this function, the River Authority, partly due to lower resources as a result of government pressure on funding. However, it is evident that those of us concerned with river water quality should not relax their efforts to hold the Environment Agency to account, as they are clearly keen to use our departure from the EU to make their own job easier by lowering the standards by which they are measured. Boris Johnson and Michael Gove have tried to make political capital by insisting the U.k. will not lower its environmental standards in order to make new trade deals after Brexit with e.g. the U.S.A. But clearly the Water Framework Directive is an important part of such standards; and a reduction that puts the U.K. up from 14% compliance to 79% in one stroke would be a derogation far too great, exposing our rare and valuable chalk streams to worse degradation than the salad washing.
Even if Alresford is about to escape from one threat, the pressure on government and the E.A. must be maintained, wherever and by whatever means are available.
We have several local members of Parliament, both Commons and Lords, who may be willing and able to put pressure where it will be effective; and the media is evidently influential.
I have recently seen a couple of young otters on two occasions in the Itchen near Alresford – let’s hope we can keep the river fit for them to stay!
