Village Forum

Hi fellow diggers! Myself and Tina (42 Little Sammons) have just got our paperwork through making us the proud keepers of plot 5. We were hoping to get in there this last weekend alas I was struck down with hay fever and we didn’t get the chance. Can I just say a massive thank you to whoever strimmed a big chunk of the plot for us! We will be there to clear the plot and make ready for the winter planting soon and we really appreciate the help! thanks And we look forward to seeing you all over a fork or wheelbarrow soon x

At this time we will be restarting our Parish Council meetings, however they will be held online via the Zoom Web Conference platform. Due to the complexity of running the session via this it's important to contact the Clerk in advance of the meeting should you wish to raise any comments. These will be raised on your behalf during the meeting as there will be no live public interaction with the meeting whilst it is in progress. Meeting recordings will be published afterwards should you not be able to attend the session. ​ Please contact Emma Meecham, Parish Council Clerk via the Contact Form on the Parish Council page should you wish to join the meeting online, and you will be sent the details to the email address you provide. Your details will not be shared with any other organisations and will only be used for the purpose of sending you the meeting details for this particular session.

I've had a few people asking about the rainwater harvester on my allotment in the village, and specifically how it was put together. Like many others I'm sure, I couldn't really bring myself to spend £35-£60 on a water butt that could only hold 210L. Similarly, whilst I'm only about 5 minutes walk from home it didn't seem right to be walking to and fro to water my plants with tap water. This is where I came up with the idea of using an IBC container. These are 1000L containers, many of which transport food-based contents such as food extract and once they have been used once, they're surplus to requirement. You need to make sure that the containers are food-safe because there are some of course which are used to transport oil and fuel-based liquids. There are companies which sell second-hand containers online, but personally I used Facebook Marketplace ( https://www.facebook.com/search/marketplace/?q=ibc%20container ) and found a container locally which cost me £40. They come in 600L and 1000L varieties, and usually with a pallet on the base. Many suppliers sell tap and hozelock adaptors to fit on the front also which is just what I was looking for. My plan was to use gravity-fed pressure to drip feed my plot on a timer. The frame was quite simple to build, with the appropriate slant for the roof, and sufficient width to support 3 full size corrugated plastic roof sheets. The posts and support were all purchased from Mole Valley, and pressure treated to provide some longevity. Whilst it wasn't necessary I decided to concrete in the posts for extra support as I didn't really want the frame collapsing in the winter weather. Here's the finished product with the guttering and roof fitted. Total build cost was around £85, however holding 5-10 times the amount of a standard off-the-shelf water butt it was certainly worth it. With 3 full-size sheets, I managed to collect around 250L with 3 days of showers, so I'm certainly happy with the final product. There's enough room for another 600L IBC should there be a need to expand, then they can simply be linked together. I hope that was a helpful tip for those of you thinking about how you can harvest some of the free water that we get from the elements. Happy to provide any contact details of where I sourced some of the materials from if needed.