Christmas Greetings and Best Wishes for the New Year!
You will find the SCA Ceddesfeld Hall pamphlet for 2025 included with your
newsletter. Outlined are the annual community events and regular activities for
the various interest and hobby groups which take place at Ceddesfeld
throughout the year. SCA are keen to hear from anyone who may wish to start a
new group and/or regular activity. The room hire rates are very competitive, and
the rooms are spacious and comfortable, with free Wi-Fi. The SCA website has
been updated, in readiness for the new year.
Burns Supper 2024 - 25 January
SCA is delighted to host the annual
Burns Supper. The evening starts with
a drink’s reception at 7pm followed by
a traditional meal of scotch broth,
haggis, neeps and tatties, or roast
beef, (vegetarian option provided on
request), then sweets, cheese board,
coffee and mints, whisky or port.
There will, of course, be a traditional
address to the Haggis, and a Toast to
Immortal Memory and Verses, with
poetry and music too - all for £30! To
book your table, please contact any of
the numbers below.
Mediaeval Fayre, Saturday 17 May
The ‘Mediaeval Mayhem’ theme last
year was very well received and
provided scope for family fun and
enjoyment. Preparations for 2025 are
well underway, with plans to develop
interactive, ‘have a go’ activities for
families and children. SCA will soon
be writing to its sections, groups, and
members as well as to local
businesses and organisations who
will be asked to support the event by
volunteering to help, provide financial
community sponsorship or donate
gifts and prizes for the special SCA
tombola.
We had a super selection of
new craft stalls last year and we plan
to grow this for 2025. The organising
committee remains quite small, and if you’re keen to get involved, contact
Sarah, on the number below, or through the SCA email address. Look out for
regular posts on Facebook!
Sections and Groups – Subscribe to the SCA!
SCA would like to take this opportunity to thank the various sections, health and
hobby groups who continue to plan and organise a very varied timetable of
special interest and social activities in service of the community. There really is
something for everyone!
In January, SCA will begin to collect the annual subscription fees, which have
remained static for several years. The fees are £8 for over 60s, £9 for adults
and £4.50 for young people and students. SCA is a wholly volunteer-led
organisation and member subscription is crucial to the legal governance and
running of the association - without it, SCA could not run as it does.
Membership fees also provide part of the essential income, allowing for
smooth running and maintenance of the hall.
Members can benefit from
reduced cost for room hire as well as insurance liability protection for any
group activities and events. Because the SCA is a registered charity, any SCA
sections may also use this charitable status, when applying for grant funding.
Anyone can become a member, as an individual or as part of a group – just ask
at the bar or contact any of the numbers below.
As I write this much of the UK is recovering from Storm Darragh. In Sedgefield,
we didn't come off too badly but pictures of peoples' homes and businesses
flooded is heart breaking. How we manage our countryside can have effects
beyond the expected and nature can help to provide a solution to some
environmental problems.
The Wildlife Trusts are working in partnership with
others, aiming to restore natural ecosystems and demonstrate what is
possible, so that natural habitats can store and sequester carbon, help prevent
flooding, reduce soil erosion, improve soil fertility, provide pollination services,
allow nature’s recovery at sea, and support improvements to people’s physical
and mental wellbeing. One of the solutions considered, linked to flooding, may
result in the reintroduction of a native species that has been extinct for around
400 years - the beaver. The reason for their extinction was of course man.
Beaver fur was highly sought after for making fashionable clothing and
accessories and scent gland excretions formed the basis of many perfumes.
Changing European fashions at the end of the19th century made hunting
uneconomical but it was too late to save the British beaver. The beaver
wetlands and ditches collapsed and the species that relied on them gradually
declined.
In Europe, the beaver has
made a comeback and there
are now over 1.6 million
spread around the mainland
resulting from
reintroductions, natural
colonisations and strict
protection. Scotland has
licensed several beaver
releases and now has many
sites with active beaver
populations.
There have
been various trials around
Britain, results are not
problem free, but issues are
not unsurmountable helping
beavers and humans to live and work alongside each other.
Beavers do not
flood their territory rather they elevate water levels gently so they can move
around more easily. They "beaver" away, constantly adjusting water levels to
ensure their lodges are not exposed or flooded. These ecosystem engineers
create dams and ponds of various sizes. This allows may invertebrates and
fish to lay their eggs in the resulting calmer and sometimes warmer water.
In
turn, this increases food, shelter and breeding opportunities for an abundance
of wildlife. Beavers are herbivores, so offer no significant threat to humans,
livestock or pets and can happily live in cities or the countryside. They also
give people an opportunity to see big wildlife up close. Moreover, beaver
wetlands slow the flow from upstream rain to downstream flood and improve
water quality - hydrological engineering at no cost to taxpayers! So, can you
imagine walking around the Bishop Middleham or Hardwick wetlands seeing
beavers, what an experience it would be? Let's bring beavers back!
See wildlifetrusts.org/news/free-beaver-new-vision-beavers-england-andwales for more information.
