Monthly Archives: October 2017

It’s never too (choco)late!

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National Chocolate Week may have come and gone for another year (it ended on Sunday 9 October) but that’s not going to stop June, Tina and Sue re-visiting their all-time favourite subject next weekend…

On the show back in April to talk about the Melton Mowbray Cheese Festival, Matthew O’Callaghan dropped a few hints about another event already in the pipeline. It’s been in the Girls Around Town‘s diaries ever since and on Sunday he’ll be on the phone again with all the details…

Some of the UK’s top chocolatiers will be joining forces on Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 November for ChocFest, a national celebration of all things chocolate. And with puddings to pancakes, biscuits to beer and cakes to kebabs just a few of the things to try and buy over the weekend, there’s no doubt that chocoholics from far and wide will be making their way to Melton next month!

The chocolate theme continues in the second hour of the show, when Lisa Holloway drops into the studio to share one of her favourite recipes.

She’ll be talking too about her decision to relinquish her role as the owner of Compton House and the plans she has for the future now she’s no longer busy providing a warm welcome – and delicious breakfasts! – for visitors to Newark’s much-loved B&B…

Tune in or listen online from 10am to 12 noon to find out what’s in store for visitors to Melton Mowbray in four weeks’ time and for Lisa in the weeks and months to come.

And watch this space for Lisa’s recipe which will be online shortly after the show!

Helping to End Plastic Soup

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Did you know that every time you use your washing machine, thousands of microplastic fibres too small to be caught by its filters flow into the sewage system and eventually into the ocean?

Or that these tiny particles, shed from synthetic clothes when laundered, are readily ingested by aquatic life, filling up their stomachs which can eventually lead to death?

With fish, crab, shrimp and birds all having been recorded as ingesting microfibres, it’s also known that they’re ending up in the food we eat, although the long-term effects of this are yet to be made clear…

According to the End Plastic Soup campaign action pack published by the National Federation of Women’s Institutes, over 36 billion loads of clothes are washed across Europe every year. And, depending on the type of fabric those clothes are made from, the numbers of microplastic fibres released from a single load of washing are nothing short of mind-boggling :

  • 137,951 fibres released from polyester-cotton blend
  • 496,030 fibres released from polyester fabric
  • 728,789 fibres released from acrylic fabric

The End Plastic Soup campaign isn’t asking for synthetic clothing to be banned but calls on the government and industry to research and develop innovative solutions to the problem. It also offers a list of simple ways in which everyone can help make a difference by taking action at home, based on the EU Mermaids Ocean Clean Wash research project…

  • Wash less: Only wash clothes when they need it. Items that are not worn close to the skin often do not need washing after just one wear – this will also prolong the life of your clothes.
  • Fill up your washing machine to the max: Washing a full load results in less friction between the clothes and so less fibres are released.
  • Use liquid detergent rather than powder: The ‘scrub’ action of the powder grains loosens fibres more than liquid.
  • Wash at low temperature; When clothes are washed at high temperature some fabrics are damaged, resulting in the release of fibres.
  • Cleaning the dryer: Do not flush the lint down the drain, throw it in the bin.
  • Avoid long washing cycles: Long periods of washing cause more friction between fabrics, which can result in more tearing of the fibres
  • Detergent: Avoid using detergents with a high pH level and oxidising agents

Find out more about the scale of ocean plastic waste and how it’s entering the food chain in this Sky documentary…

Much more than just jam and Jerusalem

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The first Nottinghamshire WI was formed in Southwell on Thursday 14 June 1917, when 45 ladies met to hear a talk on wartime cookery…

Now, as the Nottinghamshire Federation celebrates its centenary, there are 118 WI groups across the county, with over 4000 members. And, although baking and other traditional skills are still popular topics at their meetings, things have changed a lot over the last 100 years. Even Jerusalem – the WI’s anthem – is available as an iTunes download these days!

On this week’s show, Federation chairman Jane Jefferson joins the Girls Around Town to talk about some of those changes. There’ll be details of how the WI is making a real difference through its involvement in major national campaigns, helping to raise awareness of key issues such as low staffing levels on labour wards, the gender pay gap and the health and social implications of loneliness.

She’ll have news too of some of the ways members have celebrated the centenary so far, what’s planned for the next few months and, with any luck, she might be persuaded to share a recipe or two from the Federation’s brand new cookery book, which was published at the end of September…

If you thought the WI was just jam and Jerusalem, think again! Tune in or listen online between 10am and 12 noon on Sunday, when June and Tina find out more about what the WI gets up to both locally and nationally – and how you can get involved by joining a group near you.