Viewing all items in Resource Category: Looking at You

A flower used by Victorians when they wanted to send a ‘hidden message’ of love is making a big comeback. It is the aster. It’s popularity in bouquets has quadrupled in two years. Sales at Tesco alone have soared by nearly 350 per cent. And no wonder: asters are vivid, fast-growing British flowers with a...

Have you flown recently? How was your seat? It seems that some seats are rather weird. Like the Jet2.com passenger who discovered that his seat came with an armrest that was literally 1.5 inches long. The reason? It was an emergency exit row seat and needed to be kept clear. Or those planes (like some...

Drivers aged 17 to 24 are twice as likely to be killed or seriously injured as those aged over 70. So says recent data from the Department for Transport. But there has also been a rise in the likelihood of serious accidents involving drivers aged 86 or over. Police data reveals that older drivers are...

Gardens are preparing to go to sleep, but next Spring will soon be here.  So why not consider some changes now: ~ Install a water butt now, to store up the winter rain for the Spring. ~ Reduce the hard standing in your garden. Instead, let rain soak into the soil, rather than go down...

This year marks ten years since England introduced the 5p charge for single-use plastic carrier bags. The charge has had a dramatic effect – with a reduction of 98% in sales. In 2014, 7.6 billion single-use plastic bags were sold in the UK. By 2023, 133 million single-use bags had been sold in the major...

Do you have children wanting a Halloween party this autumn?  Why not offer instead a Light Party on the same night?  They can still dress up in costumes, but the emphasis of the party will be far more positive. For resources, visit the Eden website at: https://www.eden.co.uk/halloween-light-party-resources .  It offers light party resources, Christian gifts,...

Why not become a councillor? Was the children’s summer holiday too long for you? Schools to teach children that being worried is not a mental health condition Dog walkers warned of deadly risk Learner drivers must wait months for driving test Which milk is best? What time you should stop drinking the night before How...

This morning, I alerted the Hastings parks and gardens team to a giant hogweed in a patch of waste ground: it’s an invasive species and can cause serious skin damage. A communal bin on one of the streets in my ward was missing its lid. Two days ago, I asked the waste services folk to...

As our children go back to school this month, what do parents really think about the past six weeks? More than half of all parents found the summer break too long, and a ‘challenge’ to cope with. So says the national charity, Parentkind. Its recent poll found that more than half of parents feel that...

More children and young people are in danger of confusing the normal anxieties of life with a genuine mental health condition. So says the government, and it has issued new guidance to schools to try and correct the trend. The guidance states that pupils should be taught “that worrying and feeling down are normal, can...

It has not been a good summer to let your dog go swimming. The hot and dry weather this spring sparked a rise in toxic blue-green algal blooms which have affected lakes and rivers across the UK. Blue-green algal blooms are triggered when colonies of bacteria use warmth and sunlight to reproduce rapidly. The colourful...

If someone in your family wants their driving licence this autumn, they may have to wait months before even getting a driving test. For the average waiting time across all test centres has recently increased to 22 weeks, up from 14 weeks back in February 2024, according to the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA)....