Living in Suffolk Coastal - Issue 35

ISSUE ONE… SUMMER 2016

ISSUE 35 ... WINTER 22/23

LIVING IN SUFFOLK

New year tips ... from the experts

Local home owners… throw open their doors

Child free zones?… meet the couple with the Parent Pod!

Couple’s £3m gift ... to local wildlife

Home from home ... Dora Brown

Is grey just so last year?… Jojo Humes Brown on colours

YOUR BRAND NEW FREE HOMES & LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE

GET INVOLVED …

If you’ve got a heartwarming or topical story, an inspiring home or business to show off or an event you’re planning, get in touch! The copy deadline for our Early Spring issue, which hits the streets in mid-February, is 3 February 2023.

l For advertising information or if you’d like to submit any collaboration ideas, offers of a million pounds or stories for future issues, email us at: info@livinginsuffolk.com

ON OUR COVER …

We love this delightful wintry photo taken by wildlife photographer, John Richardson, depicting redwing birds feasting on berries. John, who lives in Woodbridge, tells us all about his hobby which has seen him capture some amazing wildlife shots in Suffolk over the years. Read all about his passion, plus other wildlife news, on page 24.

COMPETITION TIME EXCLUSIVELY FOR YOU!

Win a two-night winter stay at the wonderful Middlethorpe Hall near York including breakfast, dinner one evening, afternoon tea and use of the luxury spa. Read all about it on page 29! To enter, go to: www.livinginsuffolk.com

LIVING IN

Editor: Angela Hagan 07930 184773, info@livinginsuffolk.com

Designer: Lewis Webb

Writers: Charity Crewe, Ellie Rickard & Carl Stickley charity@livinginsuffolk.com, ellie@livinginsuffolk.com, carl@livinginsuffolk.com www.livinginsuffolk.com

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Disclaimer: Whilst every care has been taken to ensure that the data in this publication is accurate, neither the publisher nor the editor, nor its editorial contributors can accept, and hereby disclaim, any liability to any party for omissions resulting from negligence, accident or any other cause. All artwork is accepted on the strict condition that permission has been given for use in this publication. LivingIn…SuffolkCoastal does not officially endorse any advertising material included within this publication. All rights reserved. No parts of this publication may be reproduced, without prior permission of Due East Media Ltd.

LOCAL COUPLE LEAVE £3M

TO SUFFOLK WILDLIFE TRUST

George and Pam Ford’s legacy will benefit generations of nature lovers, starting with the newly acquired Martlesham Wilds

Abig-hearted couple has left their entire estate to the Suffolk Wildlife Trust including their home in Walberswick and life savings amounting to more than £3m.

It is the single biggest legacy gift left to the charity which is wholly dedicated to safe-guarding the county’s precious wildlife and countryside.

During their lifetime, George and Pam Ford from Walberswick, who had no children, had been active members of the Trust and devoted a lot of their time to many campaigns. Pam and George’s gift is also helping support a project to reintroduce osprey to the Blyth estuary, which the Trust feels they would have approved of being close to their home; this project hopefully comes to fruition this spring.

...

solicitors.

“We were absolutely gobsmacked at the generosity having not really had any conception it was going to be that much,” she says. “We know they didn’t have children. They’d lived in Walberswick for a long time, so the value of their home had increased a lot. They were naturalists and were both passionate about their local area and the wildlife around it and had great local knowledge. We are so very grateful to them.”

gradually ‘wild’ into an intricate mosaic of natural habitats, maintained by grazing. The emergence of this pastoral landscape will be thrilling to watch.”

“As thickets of hawthorn, blackthorn, gorse and wild rose establish on the dry sandy soils, they will support growing flocks of linnets and yellowhammers. Farmland bird species will move in and in time we hope turtle dove and nightingale will return. Small mammals will thrive in dense undergrowth and insects will abound.

“We were absolutely gobsmacked by their generosity” Amy Rushton, Head of Income Generation, Suffolk Wildlife Trust

Amy Rushton, Head of Income Generation, Suffolk Wildlife Trust, says: “They supported us as donors as well and contributed to many reserve purchases in their lifetime.”

She admits that, whilst the charity knew they would be receiving a legacy, they didn’t realise just how much it would be until they were notified by the couple’s

Their legacy meant that Suffolk Wildlife Trust was in a position to snap up the wonderful area now known as Martlesham Wilds when it came up for sale this year. Along with a loan they were able to make the purchase. Now the charity is campaigning to raise £1m to pay off the loan.

Amy says: “Reality is that the more we can raise then the further Pam and George’s gift can stretch so we can keep the funds for the next project and buy several sites of nature over the coming years. It’s a really wonderful thing. Without this kind of gift, we couldn’t act fast enough to secure some of these sites which come onto the market.”

Martlesham Wilds will make for a spectacular new reserve for Suffolk.

Charlie Zakss, Wild Learning Officer, explains: “Under our stewardship, the 289-acre patchwork of hedge-lined fields that roll gently down to the river, will

“Grass snakes, slow worms and common lizards will expand into the new areas of habitat and barn owls will become a regular sight as dusk. This ‘wilded’ land will become part of a connected landscape of ancient woodland, scrub, grassland and saltings, linked by the river Deben. ‘Wilds’ is an old Suffolk term for a rough, wildlife-rich landscape. It echoes our vision for the new nature reserve.”

Her colleague Amy says the Trust welcome legacy gifts - no matter how small or large - from those who are passionate about Suffolk’s unique countryside.

“Sometimes people are put off as they think their legacy gift has to be masses of money but even those little gifts, or a residual amount of the estate or even a cash sum, will make a real difference. All our legacy gifts are reserved for special projects like Martlesham Wilds. Every donation will help wildlife. Please give what you can.”

l Donate at www.suffolkwildlifetrust.org or by phone on: 01473 890089

Picture by Steve Aylward

ON THE MARKET

Your latest local property news from around the region …

BLAXHALL BEAUTY

We love this delightful 17th Century Grade II Listed property with vast grounds and multiple outbuildings which would bring joy to the heart of anyone bursting with imagination, ideas and scope!

Fenn Wright, who is marketing it, tell us that it offers exceptional accommodation which has been wonderfully maintained over the years, including a self-contained two bedroom attached annexe and grounds complemented by multiple outbuildings, stables, and a double garage. Located in the lovely quaint village of Blaxhall, around nine miles from Woodbridge, the five-bed property offers a tastefully decorated kitchen/breakfast room, a generously sized sitting room which boasts original character features such as the open fireplace with a wood burner, and exposed beams. With glorious grounds stretching to 7.3 acres, it also offers stables, barns and two garages, equestrian and caravan facilities and a range of outbuildings. On the market for £1250,000

l For full details, visit: www.fennwright.co.uk

BY TIM DANSIE, DIRECTOR OF JACKSON-STOPS, IPSWICH

It’s been a rollercoaster of a ride. The 23rd March 2020 is still a date still fixed in any estate agent’s mind. It was the first of the lockdowns and we were literally allowed to do nothing. Repairing to our homes and the extraordinary positives of having all our grown-up children back with us was one of our best memories of the crisis (equally May 12th as a return date is now as well remembered). The deserted town centre had a post-apocalyptic air about it. As natural optimists, even we were wondering what lay ahead. Nobody could have forecasted the activity that then ensued through the next 18 months. Properties across the board were going under offer in under a week. The green wave just kept coming out of London and indeed, still continues to do so.

The freneticism just couldn’t continue and as we left 2021 and started the new year the steam started to go out of the market. The political instability with rotating Prime Ministers created its own uncertainty. The key was pricing

accurately. The market was not necessarily rising, but neither was it falling. A false sense of what might have been going on was fuelled by some over enthusiastic valuing, with houses coming on at completely unrealistic guides. The only way these properties were ever going to sell was the price going back to where it originally should have been. The press, of course, pick up on these examples, and immediately claim that the market has dropped.

The reality on the ground is that there are more buyers than sellers. But quality always sells and, at the moment, there is a lack of stock. We will all welcome a 2023 where supply and demand equate, and we can all settle down to the business that we know and understand and that our clients will be able to achieve what they ultimately want to do, and that is MOVE.

l To get a valuation on your property, call: 01473 218218 or email Tim and the team on: ipswich@jackson-stops.co.uk

THE PROPERTY MARKET OF 2023

“Quality always sells and there is a lack of stock.”

NEW YEAR, NEW BEGINNINGS?

Adjusting with the rhythm of the world by Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist, Sarah Gibbs

“As we transition into the new year with a covid weary exhale and collective bracing for continued waves of adversity and uncertainty of making ends meet, mental health self-care is as important as ever.

My threat/survival mode understandably switched on, whether that’s fight, flight, freeze or flop I will need to channel my animal instincts and harness my nervous system physiology.

Volatile markets?

Four reasons to have courage …

by Samuel Jackson, Director, Churchgates

“Markets rebound

Even during the toughest times - war, famine, financial crisis - markets have always rebounded. In 1987, the notorious ‘Black Monday’ crash collapsed markets by more than 30%. For those wise investors who kept their nerve, an investment in the FTSE 100 would have been worth about three times as much a decade later.

Do not crystallise your losses

The best response to a financial crisis is to ‘worry, not panic’. Worrying means ensuring that your portfolio is well managed and diversified, panicking means selling everything on the expectation that stocks will fall further.

Not all investments are doing poorly

There is always something to invest in, and for a carefully balanced portfolio, one factor will work even if the others fall.

Your retirement plans will not be ruined

Successful pension planning always builds in some contingency for wobbly markets, and it is possible to handle short-term issues well. Stock markets have always been vulnerable to periods of decline. These are challenging times, but the rules on investment have not been changed and there will be better days ahead”.

l For further advice from Churchgates, call: 01284 701271, or visit: www.churchgates.co.uk

A metaphorical death before the rebirth… by

“The last few years have been testing for us all, from an astrological point of view the square aspect between the planets Saturn and Uranus over the last two years that rarely occurs, but when it does historically, always bring disruption and chaos. In 2023 both Saturn and Pluto changes zodiac signs which indicates a more stable year; however, Uranus in Taurus causes havoc in the property markets, food prices and economic instability. However, these are all themes that we know already and are a collective hangover from the last couple of years. The general theme of 2023 is going to be governments trying to restore balance. Saturn, from March, enters Pisces, so expect new initiatives regarding migrants crossing oceans and social media restrictions coming into force with new policies. Society is changing at a rapid pace and at times it will feel like we are all playing catch up, however this is an astrological cycle of a metaphorical death before the rebirth, which happens in 2025. This year will feel like we are trying to pick up the broken pieces and fit them back together and realising that they don’t work”.

l For more details on Demian’s work, go to: www.demianallan.com

Support your mental health through nutrition

By Nutritional Therapist Catherine Arnold

Nutrition plays a big role in our mood and general wellbeing and now more than ever we need to support our mental health. Unfortunately, a healthy diet can be difficult to maintain if you aren’t feeling great, so it can be a vicious cycle. Eating badly exacerbates how you feel, so you eat things that taste nice to make you feel better, but that actually makes you feel even worse. It is possible to make a real improvement by making some very simple changes. What we eat and when we eat it, impacts your blood sugar balance which affects mood and energy levels. Research has linked high sugar intake to increased risk of depression and schizophrenia, it can also increase anxiety levels.

To keep blood sugar balanced, try to include protein and fat with your meals alongside carbohydrate. Eggs, fish (especially oily fish as high in omega 3 fats), beans, chicken, grassfed meat, tofu, tempeh, nuts and seeds are all great sources of protein and it’s a good idea to include one (or more if vegetarian protein) of these in a meal.

If you have problems with your gut health, this could also be impacting your mood and wellbeing. The bacteria in our gut communicates with the brain via the vagus nerve. An information superhighway which sends signals back and forth. As well as looking at your diet, it’s worth trying to reduce stress as much as possible to support your mental health. Stress can reduce your immune function and exacerbate gut problems. It can disrupt your gut bacteria and in some people, chronic stress increases the risk of depression and anxiety”.

l Visit: www.catherinearnoldnutrition.com or find her on Insta: @catherine_arnold_nutrition

Mental preparedness, stress tolerance and building resilience is a choice and is within my power and control. The most important thing moment to moment is to emotionally acknowledge, pause, reflect, and choose a response. Bottom up, this starts with a focus on my body and breath, a long purposeful exhale matters to expel and make space for the new. To increase movement and make room for validation, expression and release of emotions.

To acknowledge our shared vulnerability and suffering to harness compassion, empathy and patience to self and others all in survival

modes. To pause and ground myself to consider my expectations of self/others, my behaviours, my thoughts about myself, others, the world, and the future and challenge my hardwire responses. To consider my wants and needs, have a voice and problem solve stressors. To increase feeling states of safety, social engagement, collaboration, connection, belonging and community. To embrace creativity, resting and digesting, mindfulness, and acceptance of every moment to exercise my soothing muscle to tame my strive, drive and threat systems. I will set boundaries, talk to others to untangle the mind and channel thoughts and feelings in healthy ways. Nurturing our wellbeing and what works for us is as unique as we are. I can then adjust with the rhythm of the world and truly show up as my whole authentic self as an individual, a parent, daughter, partner and professional”.

l For more information on Sarah’s work, visit: www.smartcbt.co.uk or call: 07432 186428

It’s been a tough couple of years and as we approach 2023 LivingIn … asks the experts for their words of wisdom …

Professional Astrologer, Author and Lecturer, Demian Allan

“The most important thing moment to moment is to emotionally acknowledge, pause, reflect, and choose a response”.

a growing number built around the world by the late Maharishi’s educational charity devoted to rest, meditate, growth and learning), says that TM also helped his late mother, Millicent, in her final years.

“When I was halfway through TM teacher training, I got someone to teach her; it changed her life. She went on to do the advanced programme. She gave up the job she’d always hated and started up in business aged in her mid-fifties selling antiques - she was like a rocket! She had the best 15 years of her life - she’d finally found her vocation. It’s very satisfying to see your mum find happiness.”

This month (December) Barry publishes his second book, Healing Social Divisions: The Truth of Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness.

LETTING GO!

Author

Barry Spivack was just 17 years old when his mother made a suicide attempt.

“She was slightly depressive and down in the dumps at the time,” he recalls. “She was working as a secretary and absolutely hated it and had just split up from her partner. It was a bit of a shock, but she survived.”

Barry, who lives in Suffolk and has just published his second book, is quite frank about his childhood which was blighted by his parents own split.

“I had two very angry, impatient parents. My dad was always very warm and liked to help other people, he was just impatient and quick tempered. They divorced when I was five in the late 1950s; I remember being sad that no-one else’s parents were divorced, that made me quite anxious I think. My primary school reports all focussed on how anxious I was.

As a teen when I had to talk in public my legs would shake and I found it very difficult. It was hard to think that a few years later I was happily giving public speeches!”

This sea change came when he discovered Transcendental Meditation™a form of silent mantra meditation advocated by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who honed the technique in India in the mid-1950s.

“A friend had told me all about this different type of meditation” says Barry, who at the time was studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University. “It was 1973 and I read an article in The Guardian showing a picture of the Maharishi at NASA with astronaut, Rusty Schweickart, who was a meditator. Believe it or not, I was quite sceptical; I wasn’t into anything that involved belief or faith because otherwise you end up believing in fairies. I wanted to have my feet on the ground, not my head in the clouds. In America they call it all ‘woowoo!’”

So he forensically studied the scientific research which shows that practising TM can dramatically decrease levels of stress cortisol as well as lower blood pressure and stabilise the autonomic nervous system with far greater implications to

society in general, not just for the individual.

“The research was carried out in more than 250 independent universities and research institutes in more than 30 countries and published in more than 100 peer reviewed journals”, he says. For him personally, he claims TM left him feeling much calmer, more at peace. “I felt like a better version of myself. All I can say is I seem to have been blessed. There are more good days than bad. Transcending is a process of letting go. About seven years ago I had a bit of financial disaster - through fraud - and I lost about two thirds of my income. It was all quite dramatic. A friend remarked on how I’d handled it all really well. I just feel more equipped to cope with things.”

Dad-of-two Barry, who lives in Rendlesham near the Peace Palace (one of

At a time when societies are stricken by hate and division, Barry’s well-researched book claims to offer hope of healing; providing a radically new, non-ideological and effective consciousness-based approach for transforming our societies. In it, he uses peer-reviewed research which challenges the conventional wisdom that consciousness is only a by-product of brain functioning. He says it frees us from the “biases of reductionism” which impede the development of morality in our public life.

“We all know that governments lie,” he says. “And ignoring the concerns of a nation’s citizens leads to a distrust of

elites. In a way a way it’s good that people are challenging things but on the other hand there has to be a way of coming together. There has been a huge shift in consciousness. Most people think of meditation for personal development and not really something which can transform society. But consciousness is more fundamental than we realise. It is the glue that holds society together.

“Most people cannot accept this and it’s fine, as only 1% have to accept TM - that

means one in 100 people could bring about change. It’s like when you drop a pebble into a pond the waves spread out, when you transcend in meditation you are creating a wave beyond the individual and it affects those around you. If you drop a larger stone or rock you get bigger waves, then it’s enough to create change in society. You will see that in public datawith crime and car accidents going down, when you have a sufficient number doing it. The consciousness spreads out.”

Barry firmly believes that the division and hatred which has broken society, can still be resolved.

“But it depends on us really - in a way, it’s up to us,” he adds.

l Healing Social Divisions: The Truth of Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness, £15.10, is available from Amazon and other book shops.

For a signed copy, email Barry on: barryspivack@yahoo.co.uk

Opp page, top: Barry’s book is published this month (December)

Opp page, middle: Barry has lived in Rendlesham for 16 years

Opp page, bottom: Barry and his late mother, Millicent Sherman

This page: A montage of photos of the Maharishi Peace Palace in Rendlesham which offers courses in Transcendental Meditation

Rendlesham author Barry Spivack’s fascinating new book on how to heal the huge rift in society … by Angela Hagan

“I felt like a better version of myself”

SILVER SUN JEWELLERY

A family run business based in the beautiful market town of Woodbridge, we are retailers of quality Sterling Silver, precious & semi precious gem stone Jewellery

MOVERS SHAKERS&

Rebecca May and Sacha Naylor are the founders of Dora Brown, a social enterprise transforming the homes and lives of families in need in Suffolk …

We also worked with an insomniac single dad in a bad way sleeping on a broken sofa in a fug of smoke. He started getting seven hours straight on his new bed and smoking outdoors only: that was a great turnaround.

And your toughest?

53A

The Thoroughfare, Woodbridge

Telephone: 01394 382114

Email: Silversunjewellery@gmail.com

Open: Monday - Saturday: 10:00am (ish) – 5:00pm (ish)

Sundays: Please phone in advance

Picture by: Julia Bostock

Dora Brown - what inspired you to set it up?

Rebecca (pictured left): That’s easy, the fact that families were living in shocking states in our neighbourhoods and that we could do something about it. It’s never their fault, certainly not the kids with no beds; poverty and mental health factors, and sometimes poor health, contribute and when it starts to build up it gains momentum and becomes a mountain that our families cannot climb alone. Plus Sacha and I love a good scrub, tidy up and rearrange.

What were your careers before this?

Sacha: I worked in TV and Rebecca in contemporary art, so Dora’s a turn for the grottier to be sure. I also volunteered for HomeStart in Peckham and working with postnatal women just looking at their homes, thinking that I could help them so much by organising and cleaning their homes.

Why is Dora Brown so successful?

Rebecca: Is it? That’s kind. Erm… we’re just plugging a gap, no-one does quite what we do, looking at the whole home as the centre of wellbeing. We have been told that we’re one of the fastest growing volunteer recruiters in the area; people must really love scrubbing crap? No, we are a big group who go in and help people in a super grassroots, tangible way; our impact is immediate and our volunteers love that. We also have a laugh together, which matters.

Tell us about your proudest moment …

Sacha: Every finished home we wear with pride, but the best bits are when the kids come in and see their homes; their bedrooms; their new dining tables and chairs that they can eat and craft and homework at (where they had been eating on their laps in the lounge before). We always leave a filled fruit bowl and one kid came home and asked if it was real fruit.

Rebecca: There’s a lot of tough. A lot. The homes without enough beds for kids are our priorities. The homes with no toys nor books are sad. The homes where we have to focus on training the children to look after the homes because their parents can’t, are really tough, but each and every one of those kids wants to muck in and help us and are proud of what they have maintained week to week.

What are your ambitions for the future?

Rebecca: Ooof, good question. We’re currently applying for charitable status to open up funding possibilities and we’ve gathered an excellent group of trustees. We’re honing our processes and have just recruited two new project managers so that Sacha and I can withdraw a couple of days a week to running Dora well rather than current headless chicken statuses. We’re seeing this Ipswich Hub (covering Woodbridge, Felixstowe and surrounds) as our pilot hub and when that’s tight as can be and our funds are raised we’ll strategically move to open a Lowestoft hub and see where that takes us. We also have ambitions to go for a celebratory lunch together, but for the last two years that’s looked like shouting to-do lists across the playground at school pick up. No rest for the wicked and other idioms… we’re pigs in muck though, we love it.

Tell us a secret about yourselves?

Sacha: Rebecca worked in a strip club to pay for her MA and Jude Law proposed to me when he was 11. They good enough? We can go way dingier but let’s leave it there? Also we have no shame, so everyone, hop on our website to donate, volunteer and other ways to help?

l To volunteer or donate, go to: www.dorabrown.com

WOODBRIDGE ANTIQUES … LivingIn…meets Natalie Bell of

TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND?

My love of antiques and dreams of owning my own shop started from a very early age. My father was, and remains, a keen collector of antiques and collectables. We would spend weekends and school holidays visiting antique shops, fairs, car boot sales and auctions hunting for interesting items. During my A-levels and university years I worked in a large traditional jeweller’s shop which further fuelled my interest and then went on to work in jewellers in Hatton Garden and Italy which gave me valuable experience. My career in antiques truly started when I began selling at antiques fairs which progressed to taking rented space in a cabinet at an antiques centre.

HOW DID IT ALL START WITH WOODBRIDGE ANTIQUES?

In 2007 I was ready to take the next step and open my own shop - it is nicely sized, not too large and conveniently situated between the bustling Thoroughfare and

the train station and river side. The size helped my decision to sell quality cabinet items, specialising in antique silver and jewellery, rather than larger pieces and furniture.

HOW DID THE PANDEMIC AFFECT BUSINESS?

We had to focus our attention on developing our online presence and I went about creating a new and improved website with more products online to reach more people. Alongside free delivery to mainland UK addresses and our active social media presence, we have now got a much greater reach to our customers.

BUSINESS BULLETIN

All the latest from around the Suffolk region …

A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE

WHAT IS YOUR PROUDEST MOMENT?

Opening the shop in 2007 was a really proud moment for me as well as recently celebrating our 15th anniversary with customers, friends and family.

WHAT IS YOUR MOST MEMORABLE ANTIQUE SALE?

We sell antique silver stamp cases which a gentleman would have kept his stamps in usually - attached to his pocket watch chain. There are many designs and some of them are a novelty envelope shape which opens and closes like an envelope. One customer was looking for one so that he could write a tiny note for his daughter and she could keep and wear as a locket; you could also have little photographs in them too. I love that pieces from the past can still be relevant or even have new uses today.

l Woodbridge Antiques, 7 Quay St, Woodbridge IP12 1BX. Call: 01394 387210 Visit: www.woodbridgeantiques.co.uk Find them on Facebook or Insta: @woodbridgeantiques

With Veganuary almost upon us, WildGinger Health and Beauty, based in Rushmere St Andrew, is offering some wonderful eco-treatments of its own. “We believe that there should be no compromise on quality to use eco conscious products that are vegan and cruelty-free”, says co-owner owner,

Katherine Vince, pictured. “Some of the award-winning brands we use in the Salon include SKN-RG, Kaeso, the Gel Bottle, London Ink and the Manicure company”. Their holistic therapies include reflexology, shiatsu, reiki, osteopathy and lymphatic massage as well as pregnancy massage. They also offer Hopi ear candles, Himalayan salt stone massage, gel nails, eyelash extensions and Mina Henna eyebrows to name but a few. Their legendary facials are designed to melt away the signs of ageing and tension. And they offer fabulous treatments for men too including facials, bacials (for back acne) and neck and shoulder massages.

“Whatever your personal challenges may be, from relaxing after a stressful day to a more concentrated programme of recovery, holistic healing may be essential to your health”, adds co-owner Avril Miller.

l WildGinger offers gift vouchers too - they make a perfect Christmas gift. To book an appointment, call: 01473 723713 / 07727 857181. Or visit: www.wildginger.ltd

KINGSLEY HEALTHCARE’S WARM SPACES …

want them to feel at home so we will be offering them papers to read and inviting them to take part in any activities going on.

“We would just ask people to ring our homes beforehand and let them know they are coming.”

Luke Bedingfield, manager of Woodbridge Lodge in Burkitt Road, says: “As well as supporting Warm Spaces we have launched a community coffee morning from 10.30am to noon on the last Friday of every month.”

Warm Spaces is being supported by local authorities across the UK and organisations taking part are registered on the website: www.warmspaces.org/ register

Care provider Kingsley Healthcare has opened up its care homes as “Warm Spaces” to help older people struggling to heat their homes.

Woodbridge Lodge, in Woodbridge and Allonsfield House in Campsea Ashe are among Kingsley’s elderly care services which have agreed to support the national Warm Spaces initiative launched to mitigate the impact of soaring energy costs.

Throughout the winter, older people will be welcomed at any Kingsley home to keep warm in a comfortable place between 10.30am and 4pm. They will be offered unlimited hot drinks and soup and a roll if they attend around lunchtime.

Georgina Johnston, regional operations director at Kingsley, says: “Our staff are really looking forward to giving a warm welcome to anyone who comes along. We

The national scheme was launched this year after Money Savings Expert, Martin Lewis, tweeted in the summer: “Can’t believe I’m writing this, but I wonder if this winter we will need ‘warm banks’, the equivalent of ‘food banks’, where people who can’t afford heating are invited to spend their days at no cost with heating.”

Organisations taking part include museums, leisure centres, libraries and schools.

THE WIND OF CHANGE …

Saxtead Green Post Mill has been in the same family for 150 years. Meet the 5th generation residents of the Mill House …

Saxtead Green Post Mill is situated just a couple of miles north west of Framlingham and has been in the same family ownership for the last 150 years.

trestle have been raised three times. On one of these occasions it was because the mill was destroyed in a storm, on the last occasion it was ‘tail winded’. This is when the wind picks up from the back of mill and the fan, although very efficient at turning the mill into the wind, cannot turn the mill 180o

Each time the mill was raised, ‘new technology’ was embraced which included longer sails, cast iron gears and windshaft and finally, a steam engine driving millstones in the roundhouse.

grind with wind power’ “. Looking inside the round house, the top floor is where the story of the grinding starts with the hoppers and the steam-powered winch. “The miller would never carry the sacks up these steep ladders or the outside staircase,” Nathan explains, “these could weigh 120lbs. There are four hatchways in the first and second floors of the round house. This is because the buck can rotate 360o and if you are working wind power, and need to get the sacks up all six floors, you drop the wind-powered winch rope through all three floors of the buck and then choose the closest hatchway in the round house depending on the position of the buck. The mill stones and dresser are on the floor below but what comes out of the stones is not suitable for making anything with. It goes through a second process; the dresser. This is a spinning cylinder that separates the chaff and passes the flour through an extremely fine mesh. The ground floor is where the sacking up is done.”

stepdaughters and three daughters of his own and, though my great aunt Dorothy assisted in the mill, none of them wanted to be chief miller when he died. When Fanny, my great grandmother died in 1949 it was my grandmother, Rosalind ‘Babs’ Sullivan nee Aldred, the youngest of the daughters, who inherited. The family also had three more houses on the green and a mill house in Worlingworth. In the past, they had also operated two more windmills, a farm in Monk Soham and Wetheringsett mill belonged to Alfred’s brother Fred … quite an empire!

“During WW2 the Ministry of Defence actively encouraged millers to tear down their redundant windmills as they were a great big landmark. It was my grandfather, Stephen C Sullivan, who approached the Ministry of Works (MOW) about preservation. He signed a contract in 1951; they had the guardianship, we retain ownership … it currently lies with my father, Stephen Aldred Sullivan, and uncle, Jonathan R Sullivan. The MOW, which is now known as English Heritage, oversaw a major restoration from 1957 to 1960. Saxtead Green Post Mill is one of the finest examples in the county and one of just two windmills in their portfolio.”

The latest major restoration work was carried out by Tim Whiting and his team at Suffolk Millwrights.

Nathan says: “We are so very grateful as a family for English Heritage’s care of the mill and for the excellent skilled work by Tim and the team.

“My great grandfather could see 30 other windmills, after WW2 there were two … now there are none”

“You know … my great grandfather could stand on the top of the mill, no safety gear, and count 30 other windmills. After WW2 you could only count two, now there are none visible. There are three signals that you can send from a windmill; If you brake the sails upright, in the 12 o clock position, it’s a sign of distress, it means that you need help. Everyone else’s mill is turning but you may need a millwright. If you brake the sails just after 12 it’s a sign of celebration; maybe a baby has been born into the family. If you brake the sails just before 12 it’s a sign of mourning. Tim turned up early on the Friday morning after the death of our Queen. He asked if we could put the brake on, I didn’t know anything about the signals, I’m learning all the time”.

Above; Saxtead Green Post Mill as it stands today. Top right; Nathan’s great, great grandfather, Alfred Aldred, standing in the doorway as various family members look on.

Believed to be dated around 1887. Below that; Believed to mill workers, taken in the early 1900s

“There has been a windmill on Saxtead Green for over 730 years”, Nathan Sullivan tells us. “1287 is the earliest date we know of and there is some comprehensive information. We know the cost of a new mill which was built, the price for ground work, the post and its trestle, how much the carpenter was paid to build the buck, a Suffolk term for the top of a post mill, we even know the cost of the bushels of wheat for the test grinding and the total was… £10. I used an inflation calculator and that’s £9,600 today, cheap for your first windmill!”

Nathan says the earliest date recorded for the mill is 1796. “But that’s not when it was built,” he says, “that is the earliest date recorded in a ‘day book’ showing what was ground on that particular day in 1796. I do say to people the mill is like grandfather’s, or Trigger’s, broom; it has had six heads and four handles. It was originally a lot closer to the ground, it was said that ‘the sweep of the sails could kill a pig’. But it wasn’t like Windy Miller, you did not step out of the door between the sails. There is a window on the opposite wall that used to be another exit. The post and its

Nathan says that in the first 77 years that they know of, there were eight millers. “That’s a lot of millers in a short space of time.”

His wife, Evelyn, is a volunteer researcher with English Heritage and is currently documenting the mill’s social history. Nathan says: “It was built for the second of those millers, Robert Holmes, and he was followed by two close relatives but many of these millers got into financial difficulty and eventually the mill was sold at auction as a liquidation sale and purchased in 1873 by Alfred Aldred, my great great grandfather.”

“He was the son of a shoe maker in Hoxne but went to work as an apprentice with the miller next door. He had also worked at Kettleburgh watermill and it was probably at this time when Saxtead came up for sale. He went on to mill, successfully, followed by my great grandfather Alfred ‘Stevie’ Aldred, for the next 74 years. My father, Stephen, remembers his grandfather working the mill. By then, the steam engine had been replaced by an oil-fired engine. He told us: ‘On a still day he would start it up in the morning, it would thump, thump, thump the ground. He could grind in one day on the engine what would take a week to

The steep climb to the buck is rewarded with views over the countryside, then three floors to the very top with the hatches getting smaller and space tighter.

“Grinding wind power was very unsociable, there is no clutch to disconnect the sails from the stones, so you would have the mill stones manually engaged, flour in the hopper, and day or night if the wind picked up you would have to start the grinding process. One time, my great grandfather, Stevie, went off to Framlingham leaving the mill grinding. The wind picked up, the mill was tearing round, but Framlingham is in a dip and Stevie was not aware. You cannot let your mill stones run dry, heat through friction and sparks along with explosive flour dust means that you are in danger of burning down your mill. His mother, Rachel, by now aged in her late seventies, had to operate the mill for several hours … she was not best pleased!”

Nathan says the family stopped producing flour just before WW1.

“We believe this was because of regulations. It could have been to do with flour quality or health and hygiene-related, although they did have 12 cats at one time! They carried on by producing animal feed but ceased grinding after WW2. Stevie had two

l Saxtead Green Post Mill is open to the public from the beginning of April to the end of September, Friday and Saturday afternoons only.

Top left; A view of the Mill from the Green, taken around the early 1900s. Bottom left; Nathan’s grandfather, Stephen C Sullivan, once a prominent figure in Framlingham and at the Electricity Board, his grandmother Rosalind knowns as ‘Babs,’ and her mother Fanny. Bottom right; Today: Evelyn and Nathan Sullivan

YOURS

Ellie Rickard on beating those winter blues…

NATURALLY!

SWITCH UP THAT DIET!

2022 has been full of surprises and I know that I can’t be the only one who’s mind, body and spirit has taken a bit of a bashing. End of year burnout is real! 2023 is upon us and a new year is the perfect time to commit to a reset - to make a promise to ourselves that we will do at least ONE lovely thing each day. This will help to decompress and remind us that we are human beings, not robots!

My top tips for a holistic reboot include…

TRY YOGA

You can’t underestimate the all-round benefits of yoga - from a spiritual and physical perspective, it can be life changing.

Vida Haus (pictured) in Pettistree, near Wickham Market, offers Yoga for All (£12.50), beginner friendly, and described as “a reset for your mind, body and soul”. It also offers Beginners Yoga (£9) which is ideal for meeting other newbies. You could even stop off at its superb plant-based cafe for lunch/snacks/coffee as a treat. Visit: www.vidahaus.bookwhen.com

For those on a budget or who are super timerestricted, you can also find yoga instructors on YouTube. I can recommend “Yoga with Adriene” - easyto-follow and fabulously free.

RETREAT INTO WELLNESS

If you are in desperate need of some soul-nourishing and a serious brain refresh, why not give a wellness retreat a go? Again, VidaHaus offers some lovely retreats. Or why not try luxurious Toad Hall in Wangford, near Walberswick? From breathwork to running retreats (see page 29), I can’t think of a better way to start a new chapter. Go to: www.toadhall.life

The Maharishi Peace Palace in Rendlesham also offers retreats all throughout December and into the New Year. You can choose between a two and three-day stay, to reconnect with yourself and restore balance as well as take part in well-being activities like Transcendental Meditation™.

Visit: www.peacepalace.org.uk

We now know we are what we eat; it’s so important to make sure you’re fuelling your body with nourishing foods. Why not try Veganuary in the new year? A plant-based diet isn’t for everyone, but it’s a way of pushing yourself outside of that curmudgeonly old comfort zone and trying something new. Some of my favourite vegan places to eat locally include: Hanks Dirty in Felixstowe (amazing, if you’re craving a drive-thru kinda meal after a long week) and Hullabaloo in Ipswich for the cosiest cafe vibes as well yummy, plant-based food. If veganism isn’t quite for you but you want to give your diet an MOT in the new year, why not book a free 15-minute consult with local Nutritional Therapist Catherine Arnold (see her piece on page 8)? Or try her website for amazing recipe ideas: www.catherinearnoldnutrition.com

A NEW HOBBY

These days it seems like our minds are always looking to jump to the next anxious thought and then the next and the next until we are all bouncing around like big balls of stress! Why don’t we try and unravel it by putting our focus into something mindful and productive? Like meditation; I believe it’s so important we learn to shut our minds off, even for as little as five minutes a day. If you’re in Bury St Edmunds, contact Steph at Featherlight Living who helps empower women to live in a cyclical rhythm.

Visit: www.featherlightliving.com

Or why not try an adult dancing course at Dance East in Ipswich? I like the sound of the Afternoon Ballet classes to help improve the posture and flexibility. Check them out at: www.danceeast.co.uk

To get that creativity flowing, EJaRt Creative Studio & Gallery in Hasketon, near Woodbridge, offers some amazing artistic workshops. Check them out at: www.ejartcreative.co.uk

The creative learning sessions at the Art Station in Saxmundham include artist-led activities for different age groups, and sound fun.

Visit: www.theartstation.uk

Hopefully this will have given you some inspiration to practise self-care just that little bit more often, because despite what you might think, we are each and every one of us worthy of love. And that starts with learning to love ourselves.

Happy Christmas and New Year lovely people.

Yours Naturally, Ellie xx

Photo courtesy of VidaHaus

FASHIONISTA!

Your latest fashion news from coastal Suffolk … by

Iswear that every time the season changes, I completely forget how to dress and it takes me months to find my style again by which time the season has yet again moved on and I’ve only just caught up to weatherappropriate dressing. But not this year, this time I have done my research and I’m here to tell you what is hot for these cold months …

KNITWEAR NIRVANA …

Knitwear is SO in right now and I, for one, couldn’t be happier. There are so many ways you can incorporate this trend into your outfits and adapt it to your style which is what fashion is all about! I’ve seen these super cropped jumpers all over Instagram and I think they are so cool! They are perfect for layering over a short-sleeved top, especially if the top has a design on it that you really want to show off. Leg warmers and arm warmers are such a good way of livening up a monochromatic outfit as well as keeping you warm! I love it when practicality and fashion merge together! The aptly-named Hug in Woodbridge and Ipswich stocks the most gorgeous, colourful, sustainable knitwear. Check them out @hug.lifestyle

New Street Market in Woodbridge is a mecca for baby-soft cashmere. Go to: @newstreetmarketwoodbridge

For those on a budget, this is also an excuse for you to dig out some of your old knitwear and see if you can re-style it and fall back in love with a forgotten piece. Another tip; fuschia pink is really in this season, according to Vogue, and who can argue with them?

SHEER IT OUT

We are seeing sheer clothing items left, right and centre during AW22 Fashion Week and again, sheer items are so easy to work into your wardrobe. Number 10 in Woodbridge stocks these STUNNING gowns by One Hundred Stars (pictured, top right). The Venice map gown (there is a choice of locations) was made famous by Nigella Lawson in her BBC series At My Table. These are floaty and lightweight, sheer without being see-through and perfect for throwing on over a Little Black Dress. They come in loads of colours and patterns too!

How about swapping the thick tights and layering some thinner ones with some leg warmers and combining two trends? Stick on a pair of chunky boots and you’d be runway ready!

Ellie Rickard

Silky sheer scarves are perfect for adding a pop of colour in your hair too, tied on a bag or you know, around your neck like they were intended! Again, we love the sheer simplicity of the colourful scarves on offer in Number 10, based on Woodbridge’s Market Hill. They’d make THE perfect present this Christmas too. (Hint, hint to any friends/relatives reading this!)

READY TEDDY …

It’s safe to say I am obsessed with the whole teddy bear fleece trend. I literally cannot get enough of the teddy bear material - Iet alone wear it, I could sleep in it every night and it wouldn’t be enough for me. It’s soft, it’s cosy and it’s CUTE. Teddy bear fleece or sherpa fleece (same thing) is a must have this winter. And Uniform Research in Market Hill, Woodbridge / Queen Street, Ipswich stocks Carhartt’s cosy Prentis Liner Jacket; it’s utter perfection!

This winter is all about accessorising, ways to add OOMPH to your fave outfits. I am all over the Beige Bear Bag, £45 from Lazy Oaf, it is so cute and a perfect Christmas gift for anyone who is also loving this trend as much as I am. Go to: www.lazyoaf.com

l For fashion tips or FREE product placement, (yes, we did say FREE!) email Ellie on: ellie@livinginsuffolk.com

WE ALL JUST NEED TO …

HUG!

You are from two warring countries. How does that feel?

Maria: We just really clicked on a personal level. When the war started it was a huge shock to both of us, but I never felt like it would affect our friendship. Plus, we’re a great team at HUG.

Katya: We have many things in common, have a similar sense of humour and generally get on really well.

Do customers comment when they find out where you’re both from?

One Hundred Stars gowns

Friends: Katya and Maria

Shop owner Maria Zurkan, from Ukraine, and her colleague Ekaterina Bagdasariants (known as Katya), from Russia, work together in the fabulously sustainable and uber chic HUG Lifestyle shops based in Woodbridge and Ipswich.

Tell us about yourselves?

Maria: I was born in Odesa in Ukraine, but my family moved to Berlin when I was 10. I’ve lived in the UK for two years now.

Katya: I was born in Russia and came to the UK eleven years ago.

What brought you here?

Maria: My husband is from the UK. I met him through mutual friends 17 years ago, we lived abroad for a while and moved back to Suffolk two years ago.

Katya: I moved here to be with my thenpartner.

How did you both meet?

Maria: Katya came into my shop in Ipswich about a year ago. She was with her daughter and I overheard them speaking Russian, so we got chatting.

Katya: I just really liked the way the shop looked from the outside, so I decided to check it out. It was lovely to talk and we decided to stay in touch.

Maria: People do ask occasionally and some of them are surprised, or just curious. They read the news, but they are also interested in hearing about personal experiences and relationships.

Katya: I feel people are mostly pleasantly surprised; they like hearing our story.

What do you both wish for?

Maria: More stability, more hope and positivity, more businesses that can support themselves without exploiting others and damaging the environment.

Katya: I wish for more connection on a local, personal level. People in communities supporting each other, listening to each other and working together. I also wish more people could see the beauty in the everyday life, in the little things that surround us, even in difficult times.

As shop owner Maria, what are your plans for HUG?

Maria: We opened the store in Woodbridge last April. At the moment we’re running both stores, but the plan is to focus on Woodbridge in the near future.

We LOVE the ethos of HUG! How’s it going?

Maria: Thank you! It’s going well - we’ve started during a very tricky time, our Ipswich store opened just before the last lockdown. But we’ve been able to grow gradually and we are looking forward to what the new year will bring!

l Find them on Insta: @styled_by_katya_crosby and @hug.lifestyle Or visit: www.huglifestyle.com

Carhartt Prentis Liner Jacket

Beige Bear Bag

Number 10 scarves

Ellie Rickard

One is from Ukraine, the other from Russia and, contrary to what the headlines might have us believe, they are the furthest thing from enemies …

“When the war started it was a huge shock, but I never felt it would affect our friendship”

Maria Zurkan

Christmas traditions at Snape Maltings

snapemaltings.co.uk

LIVES

Homely inspiration from around the coastal region

A HEARTFELT GIFT SET

The Merchant’s Table have put together a heartfelt gift set which brings together Suffolk willow worker and artist, Jo Hammond’s handwoven willow heart, with Eleanor Torbati’s stoneware candle holder and a pair of British beeswax standard candles. A perfect present!

l Check them out at The Merchant’s Table, 10 Church Street, Woodbridge, IP12 1DH. Find them on Insta @the_merchants_table

With its restorative woody scent inspired by the ancient Chinese ritual performed by families to honour their ancestors, we love this elegant candle available from Vanil. Bittersweet blood orange gives way to a smoky firewood blend of Chinese cedar, sandalwood, cade, clovebud and patchouli. Handmade in small batches they offer a burn time of approximately 45 hours.*

l Available from Vanil, also open on Mondays throughout December, 17 Church Street, Woodbridge, IP12 1DS. Call: 07702 877081 or visit: www.vanil.co.uk

HOMEWORK BAI SAN CANDLE

WILD AT HEART!

Celebrating all that is magical about the unique Suffolk countryside …

MY FAVOURITE PHOTO

by wildlife photographer John Richardson John, whose image graces our front cover, says an enlarged canvas print of this spectacular owl shot is the first and last thing he sees every day.

“I can trace my family in this area back to the 1600s”, says John, who took early retirement 12 years ago. “I’m Suffolk born and bred and have never moved very far. I think we are very lucky to have this countryside on our doorstep. When I first retired, I had Fridays free so decided to join RSPB Minsmere, got a camera and was hooked. The buzz I get when I get a nice photo can make my day. My wife would say I’m obsessive!”

He will never forget the moment he captured this dramatic shot of a shorteared owl mid-flight.

“I was sitting in the car having lunch near East Lane near Shingle Street,” he recalls, “when I saw spotted bird near the sea wall. I had my big lens that day and got out and the owl started flying towards me and went over my head, it looked straight at me! That was the best photo I’ve ever taken”.

John, who writes a lovely blog called Old Man Of Minsmere, says he enlarged the photo now takes pride of place in his bedroom at his Woodbridge home. l To see more of John’s incredible work and read his blogs, visit: www.oldmanminsmere.blogspot.com/

DOGS ABOUT TOWN!

My name is Forest, here I am below taking a selfie with my auntie’s dog, Patsy, a very old, but bouncy, Springer Spaniel and my bestest friend. I’m a nine-year-old Daxiedoodle or Doxiepoo to some. My mum, Puzzel, was a long-haired black and tan Dachshund and my dad, Reggie, was a red Toy Poodle. Humans think I’m a puppy; it must be my boyish good looks. I only moved to Woodbridge in September from Surrey, but I’m loving it. Everyone is so friendly, including the humans. I’m just loving life in my new forever home”.

My name is Thor, I am a one-year-old Staffrador (Staffy/ Labrador) and I only moved to Woodbridge a month ago! I have had so much fun since moving here, and some of the time I get to see my friend Rosie! Our favourite spots are Bawdsey, Sutton Heath and the River Deben. Rosie has recently moved away from Woodbridge and I’m looking to find some more fun-loving friends to spend time with. I like digging, swimming and running through woodland. If you think we could be a match, message me on Insta: @imthorthestaffie”

l Have you got a dog and would like to give him or her their 15 minutes of fame? Email us at info@livinginsuffolk.com including your best photos of them.

SEAL OF APPROVAL

by naturalist Nick Nicholson

“I’m standing on the jetty, raising my binoculars to view a distant redshank, when suddenly, not 10ft away, two twin faces pop up out of the creek, sporting identical whiskered expressions, reminding me of Scooby-Doo in shockwithout the ascending yelp!

These inquisitive seals were the climax to my glorious late November walk to Butley Ferry which had already been spectacular.

A lonely chestnut leaf left its parent branch, floating like a dancer in its last fling and I looked up to the vastness of the Suffolk sky. I love the wistful poetry of autumn and the changing of the British seasons, reminding us all that life is in constant flux!

I headed for an imposing grassy hill set in low-lying farmland snaked about with reed-lined streams to see what views it had to offer.

A flock of 30 lapwings crossed a gaping hole in the racing, indigo clouds, through which a pale sun was filtering; their lilting, irregular, rounded wingbeats a perfect visual counterpoint to lovely liquid “peewit” calls. Back in the 70s their flocks were so much larger.

Reaching the brow of the hill revealed a bird’s eye view, surely unrivalled in Suffolk, of the distant sea, suddenly flecked with silver as the sun broke through scudding clouds, beyond an intriguing wetland

landscape intersected by creeks and rivers, with a handsome sky-blue boat called Jolene, moored by the Ferry. I couldn’t get that Dolly Parton song out of my head for the rest of the day.

Well, what a feast for the binoculars! I watched an enormous Great Black-backed Gull, moodily patrolling the mudflats, scream at two crows daring to come too close.

Further along the river, a redshank probed in the mud whilst a curlew lunched on the shoreline, amongst scampering sandpipers, oystercatchers and an immaculate white egret.

Later, an avocet gracefully flew close by and thrillingly, I fleetingly glimpsed a sunlit, sandy-brown marsh harrier landing, which of course disappeared on focusing the binoculars!

All afternoon a lonesome buzzard had been soaring above the surrounding farmland and as I watched it retire to adjoining woodland, a hail of shotgun fire struck up a mile away and all manner of startled birds took to the sky in panic! That was the signal for time to go home, but what a great day. How blessed we are in Suffolk”.

l To see the exact moment that Nick spotted the seals, check out the video on our Insta page: @livinginsuffolk

l Are you wild at heart? Send in your stories/photos to us at: info@livinginsuffolk.com

Woodbridge's New Independent Vet Practice

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Registration is now open. To ensure a high quality service we are limiting the number of places available, so register now to avoid missing out.

Founded on ideals, not compromises.

Picture by John Richardson

VINYL Distraction

SLADE, ‘SLADEST’, 1973

By Carl Stickley

Bye bye 2022. Four chancellors, three PMs, one World Cup. Crimbo is upon us! Are you hanging up your stocking on your wall?

The Panto season cometh. Cinderella, Peter Pan, the usual suspects. This makes for slim pickings gig-wise between now and the big winter bills in the new year. Stowmarket’s John Peel Centre has China Crisis and Martyn Joseph, ‘the Welsh Springsteen’. The Apex in Bury St Edmunds hosts Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel. And The Baths in Ipswich features Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, described by The Times, as; “a gloriously horrible morass of pummelling drums, doom-laden riffs”. Gotta go!

IT’S CHRISTMASSSSSS!

My column, my picks of the year, sozz. Without sounding like a golden oldie, saying the old songs are the best, a lot of what I’ve seen and heard this year is solidly in the bass/guitar/drums idiom. And no Autotune. Shudder.

Kelly Stoltz at the Smokehouse was the highlight. Shimmering pop, laidback drums, jangly guitar, wry lyrics. Total package. I had a chat with him too. Lovely man. Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets at Ipswich’s Regent was sublime: old Pink Floyd tunes played with precision and panache. Hippy, moi? Field Music at The Baths were tight and tuneful. Woodbridge had its annual festival of music, arranged by local hero DJ Ben Osborne, and saw the likes of Les Spaine and Martyn Ware wow the crowds. Music

A greatest hit set released before THAT song came out. Cover photo by Gered Mankowitz who did Rolling Stones covers in the Sixties. Slade are much more than THAT song, fun though it is.

Slade were ‘discovered’ by Chas Chandler, who played bass with The Animals before moving into management. First client; Jimi Hendrix. This album has everything you need from the boys. In their time they had sixteen Top 10 hits (seven of them here) and six Number 1’s (five of them here).

Big, loud, brash, straight outta Wolverhampton. They were a regular staple on Top Of The Pops with outrageous outfits, big guitars, stomping drums and Noddy Holder’s humungous voice. A breath of fresh air in grim, grey Seventies Britain. No lie, things were bleak then. Slade were The People’s Band. T.Rex were for little girls, Bowie too Arty. Slade were bovver boys in glitter playing foot-stomping, hand-clapping, head-shaking, no-nonsense boogie and the occasional almost-ballad - ‘Coz I Luv You’, anyone?

THAT song released in December 1973 (recorded in summer of that year!) is justifiably played to death every Crimbo without fail. Fair enough. But this album captures their peak moments. In them days, bands had to sell about 50,000 singles a week to crack the Top 10. Slade shifted millions of units. Not streams or downloads. Physical vinyl 45s, bought with the nation’s pocket money. Play LOUD!

legend Jan Pulsford organised an Ambient Music Festival. Highlight there was tablas king Talvin Singh plus an ambient trio led by local pianist Tom Rogerson gently noodling in the beautiful setting of Woodbridge’s St Mary’s church; all introduced by the founder of this music genre himself; Brian Eno!

Latitude did its thing at Henham Park with Fontaines DC blistering, Foals average Indy, Little Simz majestic, Groove Armada a bit disappointing (OK, massively disappointing), Example having it large, Afghan Whigs solid chug. The highlight? Stumbling into the Sunrise tent at midnight and seeing a bizarre looking band playing rock fused with opera. It took three songs before realising it was Charlotte Church! Go girlfren’!

Film-wise in 2022, the biggies for me were ‘Elvis’ and ‘Moonage Daydream’. Both big and loud, with face-melting visuals and boss tunes. Subtle, not. Choon-wise, my kids have played the likes of Harry Stiles, Wet Leg and Loyle Carner at me, some of which I’ve tapped a toe to. Telly gave me Peter Jackson’s ‘Get Back’ (jaw dropping), Danny Boyle’s ‘Pistol’ (fun, if, possibly, inaccurate) and Macca at Glasto (his gig, his song choices: Amen).

In 2023 Sound City, renamed Brighten The Corners, returns to Ipswich and Pulp headline Latitude. Elsewhere the full effects of the current cost of living crisis might impact live music, not least ticket prices. Takes electricity and money to put on shows. Do what you can though. Support live music. Use it or lose it. We survived a pandemic. Look to the future now. It’s only just begun…

Talvin Singh tablas player Having it large at Latitude

Spa, built behind the façade of two listed Edwardian cottages, it’s home to three treatment rooms, an indoor swimming pool, spa bath, steam room, sauna and club room.

WIN

A LUXURIOUS BREAK FOR TWO IN HISTORIC YORK!

Exclusive competition for LivingIn…Suffolk

Coastal readers!

Fancy a luxurious break for two at Middlethorpe Hall, an impressive William III country house, part of the National Trust just two miles from the historic city of York?

Set within 20 glorious acres of awardwinning gardens and parkland, Middlethorpe Hall was built in 1699 and was once home to the famous diarist, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Today, this 29-bed hotel is renowned for its excellent food, luxurious accommodation and boutique Spa. York, with its beautifully preserved medieval City Walls, provides numerous interesting, sometimes hidden, sites that are easily reached and seen by walking; it’s the perfect destination for a short break.

DINING AT MIDDLETHORPE

Enjoy dinner in the atmospheric oak

panelled dining room which provides the perfect setting to enjoy a contemporary take on traditional British dishes expertly designed by Head Chef Ashley Binder.

ENGINEERING AT WOODBRIDGE SCHOOL

The introduction of engineering to Woodbridge School Prep curriculum was made with the hope that young girls and boys would foster the ability to use the knowledge and skills they have been taught and turn them to practical use. The bespoke curriculum aims to challenge and excite students whilst developing their innovation, creativity, analytical and team skills; these attributes will set them apart from others and contribute to their future success in secondary education, further education and beyond.

With a recognised shortage of engineers Europe-wide and government findings

that females are underrepresented in most STEM subject areas in the UK workplace, the school considers it our responsibility as educators to promote inclusivity and prepare our children to fill the skills gap.

Some benefits of studying engineering are more obvious, such as developing useful tool skills, practical health and safety, assessing risk, constructive collaboration and seeing a plan come to completion; but it is no exaggeration that it will be up to the engineers of the future to imagine the designs that benefit humanity or confront environmental issues with real and concrete solutions.

Put simply, engineering is important. Children from Year 1 through to Year 6 are taught engineering at Woodbridge School Prep with an optimal class size of ten. All lessons are delivered by a specialist engineering teacher, who has a degree in business and engineering, and experience as a project engineer in a multinational manufacturing company. The school’s engineering curriculum was designed from the ground up and, at its foundations, attempts to cover several branches of engineering ensuring students are exposed to as rich a variety of applications and skills as possible. This includes everything from mechanical, electrical, chemical and robotics engineering to structural, aeronautical, environmental and marine engineering.

l For more information about Woodbridge School Prep, visit: www.woodbridgeschool.org.uk or for a private tour please contact: prepheadpa@woodbridgeschool.co.uk.

AFTERNOON TEA

Or why not try the dainty finger sandwiches, home-made scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam, a selection of seasonal pastries and assorted cakes served daily between 2.30pm and 5.30pm in the 18th century Drawing Room facing the south lawn?

MIDDLETHORPE SPA

If it’s relaxation you want - head for the

TOAD HALL LODGES

The perfect christmas gift? A stay at Toad Hall Lodges

Just a short drive from the beautiful sea and sandy beaches, Toad Hall Lodges is a wonderful escape, in the quaint village of Wangford, Suffolk. With five luxury lodges, overlooking the rolling fields, outdoor fires, a gym, yoga studio, sauna and wonderful outdoor cooking area, it’s the perfect gift (or treat to yourself).

RETREATS

If you’re looking for something a little different, why not book onto one of our 2023 retreats?

COMPETITION!

Win a fabulous break for two at Middlethorpe Hall for two nights to include dinner, one evening, afternoon tea one day, daily breakfast and use of the Spa facilities.

HOW TO ENTER:

QUESTION: How many acres of manicured gardens and parkland is Middlethorpe Hall set in?

To enter, scan this QR code or visit: www.livinginsuffolk.com

l For more details on Middlethorpe Hall, which usually costs from £245 per room per night for B&B, visit: www.middlethorpe.com

T&C’s: Entrants must be over 18. Competition closes on January 1 2023. One entry per reader. The winner will be drawn at random and announced via the LivingInSuffolk website and Insta: @livinginsuffolk on January 2 2023. This prize is not transferable and no cash alternative will be offered. The two-night stay has to be taken no later than end of May 2023 and excludes bank holidays and Easter period and valid Sunday-Thursdays. For full terms and conditions, visit: www.livinginsuffolk.com

n Breathwork and Cold Guide Workshop

n Yoga Retreat

n Wellness Retreat

n Flower Picking & Arranging

n Wine & Walk Weekend

n Foraging & Outdoor Cooking Workshop

n Bootcamp Fitness Retreat

n Running Retreat

As a family-run business, we’re happy to build the perfect retreat package for you, whether that’s cold water swimming, yoga, cycling, hiking or simply a relaxing weekend.

l To find out more or to book, contact gavin@toadhall.life

l @toadhalllodges www.toadhall.life

Robin Robin adventure trails at RSPB Minsmere, in conjunction with Aardman and Netflix

RSPB Minsmere, Sheepwash Lane, Saxmundham

Opens 9am-4pm, the trail is running until 8th January

Entice the kiddies outside to take part in the Great RSPB Sneak at the Minsmere nature reserve.

The RSPB has partnered with Aardman and Netflix again, to celebrate Aardman’s first animated musical, Robin Robin, a warm, fuzzy, 2021 film about a baby Robin raised by mice. Young adventurers will be armed with their own special activity pack as they follow the Robin Robin trail. Dan Ojari and Mikey Please, co-creators of Robin Robin, say: “We’re thrilled that Robin has been invited back for more adventures at RSPB Minsmere. That Robin might help our younger audience engage with wildlife, getting them away from screens and out into nature, is a fabulous result to come from years of moving tiny puppets bit by bit by bit!”

l No booking needed. For details,www.rspb.org.uk/ minsmere

Adults: £9; Children £5 (free entrance for first child), free for under 5s

AND ABOUT! OUT

Top tips for fun things to do in Suffolk … by Charity Crewe

Gainsborough’s House Reopens

Gainsborough’s House, 46 Gainsborough Street, Sudbury. The museum, cafe and shop are open from 10am until 5pm every day

After a £10 millionpound refurbishment and dramatic expansion, the childhood home of William Gainsborough, the renowned 18th-century artist, has just reopened. Gainsborough’s House is now the largest gallery in Suffolk, and has, for the first time, the space to show his grandest works. For the opening show there are several of Gainsborough’s works on loan from private and public collections, including Tate Britain and the National Portrait Gallery. Next year, ‘Mr and Mrs Andrews’ from one of Gainsborough’s most famous works, will be revisiting their old stomping ground.

l Details, www.gainsborough.org

Adult £17.50 / £15.90; Child (5-16 with under 5s free) £5.00 / £4.50

Christmas Events at Snape Britten Studio & Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Snape

Even the Grinchiest of Grinches couldn’t help but feel the Christmas spirit on visiting Snape Maltings this month. The line-up of festive events is truly sparkling. Among the highlights are: Upon A Winter’s Night, a concert of wintry songs and carols by the celebrated Irish folk singer, Cara Dillon, and The Nutcracker and I by Alexandra Dariescu, a ground-breaking, sixtyminute, multimedia version of Tchaikovsky’s ballet, which sees a pianist and a ballerina perform alongside state-of-the-art animation.

l The Nutcracker and I runs from Thursday 15th – Friday 16th December at 10.30am and 4.30pm each day. Tickets cost £15/£10, Under 30s half price.

l Cara Dillon is performing on Saturday 17 December at 7:30pm. Tickets cost: £28, £21, £18, £10, Under 30s half price.

Wingfield Barns, Church Road, Wingfield

There are two performances on Sunday, 18th December at 4pm and 7.30pm

Made2Measure Theatre Company is staging a Christmas whodunit at Wingfield Barns, and a high level of audience participation is expected! The arrival of a famous author in the village on Christmas day causes a stir, as fans vie for her attention. Jealousy, resentment and snobbery create a toxic mix, and the results aren’t pretty. There will be a get-together over mulled wine and mince pies for the audience to join forces to solve the mystery.

l Find out more at, www.wingfieldbarns.com; 01379-384505

Book,www.wegottickets.com/event/560828 4pm www.wegottickets.com/event/560830 7.30pm

Converge 6: Artists Designers Makers Pop Up  10 Church Street, Framlingham, Until 18th December

Open every day, from 9.30am - 5pm

@ConvergeFramlingham

This inspiring pop up is the ideal solution to Christmas shopping blues. It offers a selection of goodies from local artists, designers and makers. The event is organised by Sally and Jem Seeley, and this is its sixth outing at the former Con Club – the arts hub in Framlingham. “We invite different people each time to keep it fresh”, explains Sally. There will be exquisite jewellery, stunning photography, letterpress stationery and chopping boards, and as well as stylish and practical bags made by Sally, and striking prints of Suffolk by Jem.

Chapel Properties is a family-run business, with not only our family members working with us but our friends and their families too. This gives us an immense amount of pleasure watching them all develop and grow. With over 40 years’ experience in the construction industry, we have been so privileged for some of our team members to have worked alongside us for over 30 years.

We take pride in sourcing local materials and using local companies, we feel our clients are proud to do that too. We invest heavily in training for all of our staff and our ever-growing apprentice and trainee team which boasts 11 at the moment. We support local fund raising and are now one of Woodbridge Town Football Club sponsors; we enjoy investing in our community.

We are proud of our quality workmanship producing bespoke new builds and niche’ extensions to smaller more local kitchens and bathrooms. Some of our clients live overseas but we manage their projects with meetings and walkrounds via Zoom. We take a personal interest in all our clients and their vision to

make their experience a positive one - as we care.

From the initial taking of the enquiry, we can offer the design process along with the relevant planning to a detailed quotation, all depending on the clients’ requests. We have expanded to include our own team of experienced Plumbing and Heating Engineers and quality Painting and Decorators.

We love what we do, we have a real passion and vision which is shared with our team, we are so proud of them and will never stop listening and learning and investing in them. Our aim now is to encourage females onto our sites as tradespeople and/or apprentices, diluting the male dominance and opening up equal opportunity; this would be a real achievement.

PROVEN not PROMISED…

l Best residential and small commercial builder

l Finalists in the National Awards

www.chapelproperties.co.uk

Midwynter Murder – a Christmas Whodunit