Woodland Fayre

Our Woodland Fayre went well. After a week of sunshine and heavy showers, Saturday stayed dry, so visitors were able to enjoy all the various outside activities and wander around Buckle's Wood. The general feeling was that all the planning and hard work had been well worth the effort and the visitors had had an enjoyable time.

Everything happened more or less as planned, although a couple of exhibitors were unable to attend at the last moment. However, we were pleasantly surprised by two unexpected events.

Martin Myerscough, who invented the Greenbottle, an eco- friendly alternative to plastic milk bottles, came with his children and planted our first Yew tree. This was a lovely surprise, as he has been extremely busy since his product was launched earlier this year.

Another surprise was a phone call, informing us that our summer fair had been selected to receive a Powergen Eco Fete Award and to expect a £500 cheque, 500 energy saving light bulbs and two energy saving boxes, worth £8O each, as raffle prizes. Two representatives from Powergen distributed the light bulbs and a photographer arrived to take photos, which might be used by Powergen at a later date.

The Steering Group would like to thank all the stall holders and volunteers, who gave their time and energy to make the day go with a swing and the companies and organisations listed below for their generous support.

Audi Ipswich, Babergh District Council and CRed, Barefoot Books, Bartrum's Brewery, Blacks., Brinkley Woods, British Eco. James Buckle and Charles Course, Build Base(Hadleigh), Burgon and Ball, Chilli's Galore, Grenville and Elizabeth Clarke, Donnachadh McCarthy, East of England Co-op, Eco-Hamster, Ecover. Elmsett Village Shop. Fruitina. Hadleigh Maid Chocolates. Halfords. Hollow Tree Farm. Ipswich Town Football Club, James White Ltd., Jenny Steel, Jules and Sharpie, Jump Start, Kallo Foods, KETTLE Crisps, Kingfisher Books., Kew Gardens., Marybelle Milk, Meridian Foods, Millets, Natracare , Neal's Yard Remedies, Organix, Paddy and Scott's, Pakenham Water Mill, Plum Baby, Purely Pesto, Recycle2Shop, Reelight, Revolve, St. Jude's Brewery, Safety Systems , Sainsbury's , Solar Technologies, Stonham Hedgrow , Suma, Sustrans , Suffolk County Council's Recycling Bus, Suffolk Woodland Honey, Taylor Made Joinery, Tesco, The Body Shop, The Ecologist, Thompson and Morgan , Usbourne Books, Waitrose , Wayland Publishers, Wyndi Wyndi.