Tuesday, January 10 – Charity Concert

I ATTENDED as a guest at Maidenhill School at their Charitable Midwinter Concert for Scoo-B-Doo neonatal care.

It was organised by the pupils and was a cracking night!

The event was led by Oli King who is also leader of Stroud District Youth Council.

I was blown away by the quality, and standard of all the performers – an excellent tribute to the young people, their parents and staff at the school.

Monday, January 16 – Blue Monday

The third Monday of January has in recent years been given the gloomy title of ‘Blue Monday.’

It won’t surprise you that this is basically due to a combination of cold, dark nights, post-Christmas blues and the day that credit card bills land on door mats after the expensive festive season.

It’s good to see mental health being taken more seriously on the national stage.

Depression, stress and anxiety affect many of us, and our friends and families, so it’s worth being aware of the excellent ‘Let’s Talk’ service provided by our partners at the 2gether NHS Foundation Trust.

Roughly 10,000 people use the service each year in Gloucestershire and many of them are from our district – and living in a rural area can often exacerbate illness as loneliness and isolation become contributory factors.

Let’s Talk offers a range of services including courses, one to one support over the telephone or in person, and workbooks to help people overcome their problem.

You can contact them directly or ask your doctor to refer you. As well as stress and anxiety they can help with issues like low self esteem and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

Just call 0800 073 2200 or visit www.talk2gether.nhs.uk

Monday, January 30 – Garden Waste Collections begin

Last year we introduced a fortnightly garden waste collection service.

6,500 households signed up to the scheme and the second year of the service starts today, allowing the district’s households to have their garden waste collected and recycled.

This is an optional service, with a one-off £20 charge for the wheelie-bin and an annual subscription fee of £36, although anyone renewing from last year will of course not have to pay for the cost of the bin again.

Their brown wheelie-bins are collected fortnightly over the 10-month ‘gardening year’ from February to November.

The annual fee equates to about £1.64 per collection. If you’re interested you can find out more and sign up at www.stroud.gov.uk/gardenwaste or calling 01453 754424.

With the introduction of food waste recycling last November and these garden waste collections it will be good to see the district’s recycling rate shoot up, I’m looking forward to seeing the figures.

Finally, local charity Cotswold Boatmobility are offering canal trips for people with mobility difficulties, is fundraising for a new boat.

Shoppers at Waitrose this month can use green tokens to vote for it to receive store funds.