Archive for May, 2009

May
30

Volunteers’ Week 1st - 7th June

Posted by Jill, on May 30, 2009 at 11:40 pm.
Categories: Volunteering Opportunities

Volunteers’ Week is a national celebration of all the people that offer their time to become volunteers. It is always 1st to 7th June - and this year is the 25th anniversary of the week. 
There are hundreds of celebrations throughout the county including a Volunteers Fair at the Kursaal in Southend-on-Sea on 5th June from [...]

May
30

Gardasil - 32 girls have already been killed - so do you think it is safe?

Posted by Jill, on May 30, 2009 at 3:25 pm.
Categories: Health and wellbeing

The following report has been received from MaryEllen Tribby, the CEO & Publisher of Early to Rise. The information and video is provided by Jenny Thompson of the Health Sciences Institute. These are American companies and the figures are based on studies in the US.
But our young girls in the UK are also being offered [...]

May
29

Change Your World

Posted by Jill, on May 29, 2009 at 2:20 pm.
Categories: Eco News

Would you like to Change Your World? Then why not start by making a pledge to swap one of your normal car trips and walk, cycle, take public transport or car-share instead?
Change Your World week is 29th June to 4th July and from 1st June you can make your pledge at www.changeyourworld.org.uk. If everybody did [...]

May
27

Make Your Nature Count

Posted by Jill, on May 27, 2009 at 7:39 am.
Categories: Countryside / Wildlife News

Did you join in the Big Garden Birdwatch? Over half a million people took part in the survey in January - and now the RSPB are launching a similar campaign to monitor ALL the wildlife in our gardens.
All you need to do is spend one hour somewhere between the 8th and 14th June and count [...]

May
26

Improving the health of Honey Bees

Posted by Mike, on May 26, 2009 at 11:04 am.
Categories: Countryside / Wildlife News, Eco News

With honey bee numbers falling by 10-15% over the past two years, Defra and the Welsh Assembly have joined forces with the bee keeping industry to draft a 10 year plan to reverse the trend by helping beekeepers adopt effective bio-security.
Publication of the ‘healthy bees’ plan follows the investment of an additional £4.3m to gather [...]

May
26

Are you eating a ‘healthy’ breakfast?

Posted by Jill, on May 26, 2009 at 9:30 am.
Categories: Health and wellbeing

Breakfast cereals containing huge amounts of sugar, particularly those targeted at children, have always been one of our pet hates. We are delighted that the consumer magazine Which? has now named and shamed 100 big brand cereals, all available in supermarkets throughout the country.
Bearing in mind that the following relates to refined sugar (not natural fruit [...]

May
22

40% recycling in Southend

Posted by admin, on May 22, 2009 at 10:19 pm.
Categories: Eco News

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council is delighted to announce that recycling in the town has now reached 40%. A large part of this is due to the new food waste collection which has diverted 1,800 tonnes of food away from landfill since the scheme started in October 2008.
And just to make sure you can continue recycling, extra [...]

May
22

Can bacteria be used to produce cheap, environmentally friendly bio-fuels?

Posted by admin, on May 22, 2009 at 1:40 pm.
Categories: Eco News

According to US scientists, certain bacteria can be used to break down plant-based (cellulosic) biomass into sugars and ferment it into ethanol without the need for specifically grown feedstock.
Ethanol provides the bulk of biomass fuels, but certain lobbies are concerned that the amount of land being converted to growing corn for the purpose of producing [...]

May
20

Studies show homeopathy is more effective than conventional medicine for chronic disease

Posted by admin, on May 20, 2009 at 3:40 pm.
Categories: Health and wellbeing

More research evidence has emerged that demonstrates homeopathy is more effective than conventional medicine in the treatment of chronic disease. 
The study found that patients with chronic diseases, ranging from headache, low back pain, depression, sleeping disorders, sinusitis, atopic dermitis, allergic rhinitis and asthma, benefited more from homeopathy than conventional medicine. The German researchers studied 315 [...]

May
19

Should regular mammography screening continue?

Posted by Jill, on May 19, 2009 at 4:51 pm.
Categories: Health and wellbeing

Many of you will know that we do not support the regular mammography screening program, although we fully recognise diagnostic mammography as the ‘gold standard’ for evaluating and clarifying pre-existing cancer suspicions.  Our concerns are further fuelled by the current publicity in Essex to increase the breast screening programme. Why we wonder is the NHS not looking at the safer, [...]