Southwold Harbour. The vertical posts are used to anchor mooring platforms or pontoons. Various types of boats frequent this busy harbour, but most are concerned with fishing activities. December 2008. Attribution: Bob Jones
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Location Suffolk, East of England
  • News The English manor house that became a thriving commune, positive.news (Jun 07, 2023)
  • News The Suffolk manor house where 60 people live together, BBC News (Jan 09, 2023)

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Suffolk ( SUF-ək) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county town.

The county has an area of 3,798 km2 (1,466 sq mi) and a population of 758,556. After Ipswich (144,957), in the south, the largest towns are Lowestoft (73,800) in the north-east and Bury St Edmunds (40,664) in the west. Suffolk contains 4 local government districts, which are part of a two-tier non-metropolitan county also called Suffolk.

The Suffolk coastline is a complex habitat, formed by London clay and crag underlain by chalk and therefore susceptible to erosion. It contains several deep estuaries, including those of the rivers Byth, Deben, Orwell, Stour, and Alde/Ore; the latter is 25.5 km (15.8 mi) long and separated from the North Sea by Orford Ness, a large spit. Large parts of the coast are backed by heath and wetland habitats, such as Sandlings. The north-east of the county contains part of the Broads, a network of rivers and lakes. Inland, the landscape is flat and gently undulating, and contains part of Thetford Forest on the Norfolk border and Dedham Vale on the Essex border.

It is also known for its extensive farming and has largely arable land. Newmarket is known for horse racing, and Felixstowe is one of the largest container ports in Europe.

Networks and sustainability initiatives[edit | edit source]

Biodiversity[edit | edit source]

Felixstowe's Community Nature Reserve, & on facebook

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Suffolk Wildlife Trust (SWT) describes itself as the county's "nature charity – the only organisation dedicated wholly to safeguarding Suffolk's wildlife and countryside." It is a registered charity, and its headquarters is at Brooke House in Ashbocking, near Ipswich. It was founded in 1961, and is one of 46 wildlife trusts covering the Great Britain and Northern Ireland. As of March 2017, it has 13,200 members, and it manages 3,120 hectares (7,700 acres) of land in 60 nature reserves, most of which are open to the public. It had an income of £3.9 million in the year to 31 March 2017.

Suffolk Wildlife Trust

Trees, woodland and forest[edit | edit source]

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The Green Light Trust is an environmental and educational charity whose mission is to bring communities and landscapes to life through 'hands-on' learning and the growing of woodlands.

Overview

The Green Light Trust has been working in environmental and social change for 20 years. They have a long-term relationship with remote rainforest dwellers in Papua New Guinea.

The mission of the Trust is to bring communities and landscapes to life through 'hands-on' learning and the growing of woodlands. With independence and self-sufficiency as the goal, they work with both urban and rural communities to find land, design, plant, manage and own their woodland projects.

The Trust also provide education for sustainable development through local action and global citizenship. Their work in schools involves pupils from early years to the sixth form; from gathering seeds to caring for woods in order to help them develop as wise caretakers of the earth’s resources.

They are based in their headquarters in Lawshall at the Foundry, a carbon neutral building. The Trust have nearl 60 rural and urban community-owned woodland projects in 8 counties throughout the East of England Region with others in Yorkshire, Kent and London. Around 70 hectares of land are now under community management and they have over 1000 volunteers with over 3000 children engaged in continual school programmes.

The organisation began in 1993. Their overall goal now is to build a unique patchwork of rejuvenated landscapes and communities, to initiate 200 projects and impact on 100,000 children.

Forest for Our Children

Forest for Our Children was the Trust's first Community-owned WildSpace project.Based near the Trust's headquarters in Lawshall, Forest for Our Children is 9 hectares of land made up of 2 woods in the parish. Crooked Wood was planted in 1993 and Golden Wood between 1994 and 2010.

Community-owned WildSpace Scheme

Green Light Trust's Community-owned WildSpace Scheme was started in 2001 with a unique funding partnership from B&Q, Forestry Commission and Suffolk County Council. Working in partnership with local communities, Green Light has helped to establish nearly 60 rural and urban projects in 8 counties (including 2 business WildSpaces in Oxford and Cambridge.

Children and education

The Trust run a number of school programmes for children and courses for adults working in education.

The Trust promote forest schools, a Scandinavian education programme promoting woodland-based classrooms which give children the opportunity to learn outdoors and explore the environment.

The Foundry

The Foundry is the Green Light Trust's headquarters and training centre which is set in 2.5 acres of meadowland at Bury Road, Lawshall. In 2006, The Foundry was awarded an RIBA Sustainability Award. Built using "deep green" construction methods, it is a carbon neutral building that is as autonomous as possible.

The Foundry was originally an 1840s threshing barn that was transformed into a traction engine maintenance shed in the 1880s. It later became a forge and foundry between 1920 and 1950. Abandoned for 50 years, Green Light Trust decided to make The Foundry their headquarters as well as an example of sustainable building in East Anglia. The project started on 27 May 2005 and a year later the self-sufficient and carbon-neutral building was completed.

See also

  • Teach the Future

References

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Forest for Our Children was the Trust's first Community-owned WildSpace project.Based near the Trust's headquarters in Lawshall, Forest for Our Children is 9 hectares of land made up of 2 woods in the parish. Crooked Wood was planted in 1993 and Golden Wood between 1994 and 2010.

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Green Light Trust's Community-owned WildSpace Scheme was started in 2001 with a unique funding partnership from B&Q, Forestry Commission and Suffolk County Council. Working in partnership with local communities, Green Light has helped to establish nearly 60 rural and urban projects in 8 counties (including 2 business WildSpaces in Oxford and Cambridge.

Community and voluntary action[edit | edit source]

Community Action Suffolk, support organisation for Voluntary, Community & Social Enterprise organisations in Suffolk. added 08:32, 3 February 2022 (UTC)

Food activism[edit | edit source]

  • Wakelyns, Suffolk organic agrofestry, food, horticulture hub, added 14:01, 20 November 2021 (UTC)
  • Oak Tree Low Carbon Farm, in the parish of Rushmere St Andrew to the East of Ipswich.

Sustainable transport activism[edit | edit source]

Walking[edit | edit source]

Wikipedia: Footpaths in Suffolk (category)

Waterways[edit | edit source]

The Broads, a well known network of rivers and lakes, is located towards Norfolk's east coast, extending south into Suffolk. The area has the status of a National Park and is protected by the Broads Authority.[1] - The Broads Society - Broads Authority

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The River Stour Trust is a registered charity and waterway restoration group. It was founded in 1968 to protect and enhance the right of the public to navigate the River Stour, Suffolk, England. It is led by volunteers who are dedicated to its aims and objectives of restoring the navigation from Sudbury to the Sea (a distance of approximately 24.5 miles/37 km).

Since its formation, the Trust has restored Flatford and Dedham Locks, Flatford Barge Dock (in association with the National Trust), rescued an original River Stour lighter, and restored the Quay Basin, Gasworks Cut and 19th century Granary Building, which has become the headquarters for the Trust. In 1997, the Trust opened the new Millennium Lock at Great Cornard (creating through navigation from Sudbury to Great Henny) and in 2007, opened its new Visitor & Education Centre (adjacent to Cornard Lock) to offer facilities for visiting schools, other groups and the local community.

Since 2007, Griff Rhys Jones, the well-known actor, director, writer and producer, has been a Vice President of the River Stour Trust. He says, "I am a strong supporter of the River Stour Trust and everything to do with it. The riverway is so beautiful and unspoilt, especially with the wildlife and water-lilies and bullrushes, it is just terrific. It is a great example of why rivers should be open to people...I salute the River Stour Trust for opening the locks...it is supposed to be a river that traffic travels on.”

News and comment[edit | edit source]

2016

The Nature Reserve Built Through Facebook, Jul/Aug[2]

2009

Suffolk coastal sites to be assessed for possible release of white-tailed eagles,[3] September 24

Campaigns[edit | edit source]

shutdown sizewell campaign

External links[edit | edit source]

Wikipedia: Suffolk

References[edit | edit source]

FA info icon.svg Angle down icon.svg Page data
Keywords english county
Authors Phil Green
License CC-BY-SA-3.0
Language English (en)
Related 0 subpages, 2 pages link here
Aliases Suffolk
Impact 534 page views
Created February 15, 2014 by Phil Green
Modified January 14, 2024 by Phil Green
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