Diss Community Partnership

Author Archive

REPORT on January Waveney Litter-pick.
Luckily the first Saturday in January (7th) was a warm, sunny day – for January! – which may have encouraged so many people to turn up for the monthly litter-pick at the river Waveney. Meeting at the rear of Morrisons’ we were supplied with picking sticks, gloves, litter bags and hi-vi waistcoats, and given Health and Safety instructions. After some posing for the local paper, we split into 2 groups – one starting from the Lows footpath bridge and the other group to start from Denmark bridge – working toward each other.
The good company made work quick and easy and soon many black rubbish bags were filled and glass gathered into safely buckets, and luckily nothing more sinister was found!
As the first Saturday of the month clashes with volunteering at the Diss Woodland it was decided that future litter-picks would happen on the 2nd Saturday in the month from Feb 11th. Anyone wishing to help should meet at the rear of Morrisons at 10.00am. See you there…..

After a successful meeting in September, we have what looks like a good basis for celebrating the Diamond Jubilee. Oliver who runs the Park Pavilion is going to head up a committee to co-ordinate events; apart from our own Diss celebrations in the park we hope to join in with nationwide initiatives such as the ‘facebritain’ project for schools and the Eden Project’s Big Lunch.
Dates are 2nd-5th June 2012 and you can get in contact via this website if you’d like to join in.

See also www.facebritain.org and www.biglunch.org

We have offered to coordinate celebrations in Diss for the Diamond Jubilee on the first weekend of June 2012. If you or your group are interested in holding an event, please come along to St Mary’s Church hall on Tuesday 27th September at 7.30 for a general planning/ideas meeting

Following last year’s success, we are going to be in the park on Saturday September 17th offering free food!
The message is to make good use of friuts and vegetables that are in surplus this time of year, including the free fruits available in our hedgerows.
We will be demonstrating apple pressing for juice as well as giving away apple pies, blackberry muffins, and other good things.

Update September 20th: We gave out 74 cups of fresh-pressed apple juice and roughly 50 portions of pies, muffins, and flapjack made using free apples, damsons, blackberries and plums. It was great to talk to everyone, and we had a good view of the cyclists!

DISS COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP

Diss Community Partnership has been keeping a fairly low profile recently, but we have a number of new projects coming up.

First off is a repeat of last year’s successful Apple Event, this time on Saturday September 17th when we will be at the Mere Pavilion again demonstrating apple pressing and giving away tasters and samples of the wonderful things that can be made using free food from the hedgerows! Come along and meet the partnership and try apple and blackberry pie or apple juice at the same time!

On Tuesday 27th September at 7.30pm, venue to be arranged, we are holding a public meeting to start planning for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in June 2012. We are hoping to co-ordinate the different events around town as well as hold our own Big Lunch on 3rd June 2012. If you or your organisation would like to find out more about holding an event for the jubilee, or already have plans and would like them promoted in our joint publicity, do come along. Details will be on our website www.disscommunity,net

DCP is also taking a close interest in our river and the limited public access to this stretch of the Waveney that runs through our town. If you haven’t already taken a walk along the part of the river that is accessible (enter through Morrisons car park), then use the good weather to enjoy this lovely, tranquil, but short walk. We are hoping to organise a river clean-up and a craft and arts event related to the river.

ENDS

Collectively, the people of Diss seem almost unaware of the River Waveney, wending its way behind the big stores and the main through road. Look at the way some other towns and cities have made a feature out of their rivers and you will see how we are missing out. In the 1980s, The Gipping was one of the seven most polluted freshwater rivers in England and Ipswich Docks a redundant wasteland. Now it’s a different story…
Obviously Diss isn’t looking for this sort of development, but how lovely it would be to walk along the river to Fair Green!

Dance classes start again at Diss Methodist Church Hall on Tuesday October 19th at 7pm, and then on the 3rd and 4th Tuesdays of the month – with a break for Christmas. Come along to try out a variety of dance styles in a friendly atmosphere. You don’t need previous experience or a partner, just come along ready to have fun!

Classes cost £4 per person, contact dissdancing@yahoo.co.uk if you want to know more, or just turn up to one of our classes.

We all enjoyed the Cittaslow Sunday event and had suggestions for other events that would draw attention to local food. A pancake race maybe? Or something messy like cheese-making?

Sunday 26th September is Cittaslow Sunday, when all Cittaslow member towns  celebrate the cittaslow values of “slow living”.

DCP was at the Mere Pavilion from 10am – 12noon demonstrating ways of using up the autumnal glut of fruit from gardens, allotments and hedgerows. Delicious fruit pies,chutneys and crumbles  were available to sample and take away and we were also pressing apples to make juice.

We talked to loads of people and gave away 24 apple pies as well as apple and blackberry turnovers, damson chutney, plum flapjacks and blackberry muffins

Diss Honourables

Gathering Peascods

We have been organising dance classes in Diss since February, and entered a walking procession and demonstration of Playford Dance at the carnival. Under the name ” The Diss Honourable Company of Dancers”, we performed several Jane Austen-style dances. The dance group has really been having fun, but we felt this was quite an achievement as well for a group that has been dancing together for such a short while.