Saltburn, Redcar & Cleveland Philatelic Society

Catch Of The Day

The plight of our fishermen and their industry over the last recent years has not been a good one. Many of you, like myself, will remember the ‗good old days‘ in Whitby when a day out visiting this beautiful harbour town would provide a quayside crowded with dozens of fishing trawlers, sometimes stacked seven vessels deep along the fish wharf where you could observe the unloading of trays of ice covered glistening fish into the auction hall. Alas, how times have changed and not for the better as the fishing industry has almost virtually completely gone from Whitby.

In 1981 Great Britain in recognition of the, at the time, thriving fishing industry issued a set of four stamps designed by B. Sanders. They were multi-coloured, printed on phosphor paper and issued on 23rd September1981.

The 14p depicts Cockle-dredging from ―Lindsey II‖, 18p Hauling a trawl net, 22p Lobster Potting and the 25p Hoisting a Seine Net.

Several attractive FDCs (first day covers) were also produced with special cancellation strikes. Note the R.N.M. to D.S.F cancel (Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen).

These attractive stamps and FDCs are very reasonably priced and are available on eBay and at Norton Stamp Fair held once month at Norton Methodist Church Hall 09.30-13.30 (details 07742 153669).

Many other countries around the world have issued sets of stamps depicting their fishing industries providing an enormous choice for a ‗thematic‘ collection. Just checking out eBay will provide you with an excellent choice.

We meet on the 1st & 3rd Wednesday of each month 19.00-21.00 at Redcar East Community Centre, Durham Road, Redcar TS10 3SB (first 2023 meet is 18th January).

Guests welcome FREE. Need help/advice with your stamp collection? Call MARTIN 01287 622504.

Martin Snowdon

Saltburn Allotments Association

Happy New Year! Make sure you are ready to start growing! January is the month for preparation although you can make a few early sowings of onions, broad beans, radish, peas and early carrots; ensure you protect them well if it gets frosty.

By preparing and clearing your ground and using this month to do any remaining jobs like mending fences, checking sheds, tools and paths you can be ready for spring and the rest of the year ahead.

If you get some good weather hoe weedy ground on a dry day to stop them getting a hold… keep harvesting the crops you have growing too. Decide on what you plan to grow this year, maybe try something new? Especially with the extremes of climate we are experiencing it may be worth doing things a little differently? Plant things a little earlier or later in the year to make the most of suitable weather. I planted my first early potatoes earlier last year and it helped them get started before the dry spell! Hopefully it won‘t happen again but we have no guarantees!

Check on your stored veg and fruit to make sure any rotten ones are removed to stop the spread!

I was watching Gardeners World recently and was reminded of the method of sheet composting, the gardener was creating a bed of compost up to a metre high by layering up green material with woodchips and allowing them to mature for 2 years before using the bed again! I thought this was inspired as you can be clear on rotating the beds in your garden to help with prevention of pests and diseases. I plan to use this method as it is a great no dig tool.

If you have an area with persistent weeds you can smother them out too! I will keep you informed on how well it goes. I often get to a point when my compost bins are so full and yet I have things still to compost, so watch this space.

Make your own compost in the usual way if this is not for you or you have limited space, recycle what comes out of your kitchen and garden, and reduce what you buy to condition the soil! Make a project to build a compost bin and start a little serious composting. Chop green and dry material and try to build layers up. If too dry add some moisture to help; you would be surprised at how simple this is to do and how good the resulting compost is for the crops you grow. Your soil will contain more organic matter and support the crops you grow and need less added fertilisers. You never know until you try, for ‗No dig‘ information look up Charles Dowding on the Internet and maybe have a go in one area to begin with.

It will soon be spring with new crops to enjoy! We just need to get ready. Hopefully the weather will be kind to us. I hope 2023 is kind to us all too!

Julia

Saltburn Community Response

Happy new year everyone. I hope you had a good Christmas with your loved ones. 2022 was a busy year for SCR as our community builders grant recipients were able to run a variety of projects from community meals to singing groups and crochet lessons. Well done to all our wonderful project leaders.

From 6pm to 8pm, on 17th January, at the community arts centre we‘ll be having a gathering with tea and cake to hear about all the projects from the people who ran them and make some plans for 2023. Everyone is invited and there will be a chance to have your say about what projects we should focus on for the year.

If you can‘t make it and have any ideas, please contact us via our Facebook page or email info@saltburnresponse.com – we really do want to hear from as many people as possible.

One of the projects started by a community builder‘s grant is the Library of Things Saltburn (LoTS). This is going to be an ongoing community resource. Anyone can join from just £5 per year and then a small fee to borrow each item for a week. For example, you could join up and then rent a jig-saw for just £7 which is about 1/10 of the amount you would need to pay to buy one. Then when your DIY is done it goes back to the library for more people to use AND you don‘t have it cluttering up your house. So many positives from just one project!

Email LoTSaltburn@gmail.com or check out their Facebook page for more details. LoTS is based at 2 Windsor Road, Saltburn and shares a room with the Teesside Socialist Clothing Bank where you can pick up free clothes for all ages (including school uniform) if you need anything.

Looking forward to working together with you all to make Saltburn the most wonderful place we all know it can be.

Rowan McLaughlin (on behalf of Saltburn Community Response)

PS The map of the Saltburn Warm Spaces is published again in this month‘s magazine. It is on page 20.