Galleon Storage & Mooring at Puddingmoor Beccles, has invested £500,000 in transforming a run down yard into one of the most state of the art and environmentally friendly yards on the Norfolk Broads.

Among its eco-friendly features is a unique decontamination facility, which removes toxic chemicals from hull wash water and bilge water. After the boats are washed down in a specially built bay the wash water is stored in a decontamination tank. It is then run though a WashTek filtration system and 98% of the pollutants are absorbed by cartridges before the clean water is returned to the river.

The American WashTek system is considered to be the most efficient equipment of its kind in the world and it can be mobilised to deal with oil and diesel spills.

The Broads Authority's Sustainable Development Fund has contributed £12,500 to the project.

Conservation Officer, Andrea Kelly, who has worked closely with the yard, said: "This is an innovative boatyard development which has adopted very good practice in protecting the Broads from pollutants, and we hope other boatyards will be inspired by it."


The yard is also the first on the Broads to offer a 'dry stack' system of boat storage which does away with the need to antifoul boats. The yard is able to store boats up to 33 ft long out of the water, launching them when owners wish to use them, saving the cost of antifouling and the cost to the environment.

The yard also offers three EZdock pontoons for storing small boats out of the water.

To add to the yard's environmental credentials the navigation lights marking the entrance from the River Waveney are solar powered.

Work to the yard has included dredging out and piling a yacht basin, building a slipway for the launch and recovery of 'trailer sailers' and secure facilities for storage of cars and trailers. There are also ten berths for boats either awaiting their owners or left ready for returning to the shore after use.

The man behind the venture, Mr William Bent, said: "We were concerned about a lot of antifouled boats being in a basin where there were no tides to sweep the pollutants away. Although I'm not obsessive about being green I think everyone should do their best to protect the environment.

I adopted the dry stack system because of the limited bankside moorings and slipways in the area. I wanted to provide a specialist facility which would enable people to bring their own boats to the Broads."

Getting away from it all doesn’t have to mean saying goodbye to friends and family… the traditional house party gets a modern twist with our fantastic selection of large holiday cottages.

A big cottage holiday is perfect for large family gatherings and old-friends reunions, whether you’re planning a special celebration, summer holiday or seasonal break. Special-interest groups are catered for too… spend the day enjoying your favourite sport or hobby, then swap stories and advice all evening in the company of like-minded enthusiasts.

Going away in a group is a fantastic way to share the costs and chores of a self-catering holiday. And when the planning and fun are shared too, it all adds up to a wonderful holiday experience and a wealth of happy memories.

Our selection of properties will show you just how great your big cottage holiday could be. These properties all come highly recommended by the specialists who work in our network of local holiday cottage companies – these are people with unrivalled knowledge of the areas and the properties showcased here, and you will deal direct with them once you’ve chosen your big cottage holiday location.

We believe there’s no substitute for knowledge and experience, which is why we’ve chosen to think big but keep our offices small and local. It’s the attention to detail and personal touch which keeps customers coming back to us year after year… we look forward to helping you choose your big cottage holiday in the near future!

Local Tom

www.bigcottageholidays.co.uk

Getting away from it all doesn't have to mean saying goodbye to friends and family... go on holiday with a group and give the traditional house party a modern twist!

With its wide open spaces, beautiful beaches and fun attractions for all, Suffolk is the perfect setting for a self-catering holiday – and the county has a wealth of large cottages to accommodate groups of every size. Whether you're planning a family gathering, an old-friends reunion, a special celebration or a short seasonal break, Suffolk is big on choice where big cottages are concerned.

As the credit crunch continues to bite, sharing a large holiday cottage with a group of other people is a great way to keep costs down. It's also a fantastic way to reduce some of the workload usually associated with a self-catering break – shopping, cooking and even childcare are less of a chore when there are other people to help.

Ask everyone to bring along a favourite recipe that they'll cook one evening, let the children take charge of breakfast, or choose a theme for a special 'last night' supper – fun is never far away when there's a house full of people!

Local Tom

www.bigcottageholidays.co.uk

Great Yarmouth Maritime Festival mascots, Horatio Herring and Lofty the Lighthouse, have pledged their support to run the Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Mile along Great Yarmouth’s Golden Mile on Sunday 25 March. They hope to encourage many more local people to show their support for Sport Relief by running, hopping, skipping, walking, jogging or jumping the mile course.


As demonstrated by Horatio Herring and Lofty the Lighthouse and Alan Carr, Head of Tourism for Great Yarmouth Borough Council, who is spending time in the local gym preparing for the event, entrants don’t have to be sporty to take part. Runners can choose from a one-mile, three-mile or a six-mile exploration of Great Yarmouth’s famous Golden Mile. It costs £6 adults, £3 children or £15 for a family of four to enter the mile. Entry fees cover the costs of staging the event.

With the start located between Merrivale Model Village and the Pleasure Beach Gardens on Marine Parade, participants will make their way up the slow lane, usually used by the Great Yarmouth landaus, towards the Marina Fitness and Leisure Centre. Passing between the sports hall and Pirates Cove Adventure Golf, runners will return down the wide, beachside esplanade finishing the one-mile course back at Merrivale Model Village. Runners participating in the three or six-mile course will complete their distance by doing three or six laps of the picturesque seafront course.

The event is being organised by Great Yarmouth Borough Council’s Tourism Division. Alan Carr, Head of Tourism said: "The Sport Relief Mile is a great opportunity to run your first ever race in a friendly, fun environment, and what better race for me than the very first Great Yarmouth seafront mile. I’m looking forward to beating Horatio and Lofty to the finish line at the very least! Please raise some sponsorship and help to change the lives of people living on our doorstep in Great Yarmouth, in Norfolk, across the rest of the UK and in some of the world’s poorest countries."

Sport Relief has a unique history of dedicated people doing extraordinary things to rise to the challenge. Last September, David Walliams started Sport Relief off with an epic splash when he completed The BT Sport Relief Challenge: Walliams vs The Thames. Despite battling a nasty bacterial bug and freezing cold water, David swam 140 miles and has so far raised over £1million for Sport Relief.

And that’s not all; there will be even more amazing celebrity challenges to get the whole nation geared up for the Sport Relief weekend which kicks off on Friday 23 March when everyone gets active, has fun and raises cash at home, at work or at school; before settling down to watch a night of top Sport Relief TV on BBC One. There will be even more BBC radio, online and TV coverage throughout the weekend to keep you entertained. By the end of the weekend everyone will be raring to go, when the whole nation comes together to take part in the Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Mile on Sunday 25 March 2012.

 

The message comes from health professionals at NHS Norfolk and Waveney in the run up to the festive period. They have encouraged people to enjoy alcohol sensibly and stick to the recommended limits while making sure they are aware of how many units their favourite tipple contains.

Dr Jenny Harries, Director of Public Health for NHS Norfolk and Waveney, said: “Although many of us enjoy a glass or two as part of the festive celebrations, there are inevitably still those who will drink too much this Christmas. We’re appealing to them to think before they drink – and consider the impact that too much, too often, can have on their health.

“In the short-term, excess alcohol can cause people to lose their inhibitions. As a result, they may put themselves in dangerous situations or do something they later regret. Coupled with that, they could fall and injure themselves while under the influence of alcohol.

“In the long term, regularly drinking more than the recommended guidelines can increase your chances of certain types of cancer, memory loss, brain damage, certain types of stroke and heart and liver disease.”

The Department of Health recommends that women should drink no more than two or three units of alcohol a day and 14 units per week. For men, the figure is three to four units a day and 21 a week.

One unit of alcohol is about equal to a half pint of 3-4% beer, a small pub measure (25ml) of spirits or a standard pub measure (50ml) of fortified wine such as sherry or port. A small glass of wine (125ml) is about one and a half units and a pint of beer could be three units, or more if it is stronger.

Dr Harries added: “No one wants to spoil the fun, but pace yourself, eat before you go out, don’t cram all of your units for the week into one evening and take a break or move to soft drinks between alcohol.”

Pregnant women or those trying to become pregnant should limit themselves and, if they do choose to drink, should take only drink one or two units once or twice a week and not get drunk.

For more information on the number of units in various alcoholic drinks, visit www.units.nhs.uk