Merry Christmas from Browick Road Community Orchard, where Greening Wymondham will be celebrating a great year with Christmas goodies on December 7’s working day. More orchard, more veg, more composting – and more awards.
Our new South Norfolk MP, Ben Goldsborough, has told us he would like to visit the orchard – and we warmly welcome the chance to spread the word about the importance of community green spaces to local people.

Which brings us on to the not so merry and hugely depressing news, covered elsewhere in Wymondham magazine, that Anglian Water has ended the town’s lease on the allotments a year early.
We know the mental, physical and emotional benefits of looking after the land and growing things – and the sense of community it brings. May the council find a timely, suitable and convenient replacement - we will offer what help we can give.

Ironically this comes just at a time when our district council is looking at a plan for green infrastructure along the A11 corridor – compensating for increased building by expanding public open spaces, establishing footpaths and planting more trees. We’re using our knowledge of the town and previous work on footpaths to ensure we can contribute useful suggestions.
And another irony for our river testing: the new works at Anglian Water’s treatment centre in Chapel Lane won’t solve pollution problems upstream, though it should reduce the amount of untreated water released from the pumping stations. So we’re delighted to say we have two new river testers, Paul Barrett and Vivien Burch, bringing us to six, and that Professor Michael McArthur will be taking our samples to further isolate coliforms and intestinal pathogens at his lab at UEA.