Magazine

Shout it from the

Edition 85 Autumn 2015

Call us free on 0800 0421 800 or visit our website at www.rooftopgroup.org

Strictly stars waltz on bypage 10

New homes taking shape page 6

Garden Competition 2015 resultspage 4

Shout it from the RooftopIntroduction

2 Bell Tower appeal

3 Summer activities

4 Garden Competition

6 New housing

8 Better broadband

10 Yates Court celebration

11 Resident involvement

13 Gardening tips

14 Competitions

CONTENTS

Welcome...…to the autumn edition of your magazine. The issue is a little shorter than usual, but it’s still full of news and features but we hope you find it an interesting and enjoyable read.

Don’t forget, you can contact us about Rooftop-related issues by using the form on the back of this magazine. You can call us free on 0800 0421 800 or get in touch anytime through our website www.rooftopgroup.org.

Community Fund helps Bell Tower Appeal reach its target

The future of one of Evesham’s most iconic buildings has been secured thanks to a major fundraising effort by volunteers from across the town and beyond.

The Evesham Bell Tower, which dates back to 1530, is to undergo a much-needed restoration and repair having reached its appeal target of £500,000. Among the donations was a grant of £5,000 from the Rooftop Community Fund.

The Community Fund is the responsibility of Rooftop’s Customer Panel which is made up of residents of the Evesham based housing provider. Since the Fund was created in 2009, £175,000 has been donated to community

projects in Worcestershire and Gloucestershire.

The Fund has been able to support a wide range of projects and initiatives which benefit local residents and the Customer Panel are delighted to support the Bell Tower Appeal. In agreeing this particular grant, Customer Panel member, Colin Morris said: “We like to support projects which benefit our residents. There can’t be anyone in Evesham that doesn’t know the Bell Tower, set as it is in the historic part of the town, it really is the symbol of Evesham.”

Peter Ashworth, Rooftop’s Deputy Housing and Communities Director added: “It’s great for Rooftop to be able to contribute to such a successful local fund raising campaign to preserve such an important part of the town.”

In receiving the cheque, Sue Ablett said “once again this is a fantastic example of the people of Evesham getting behind the Appeal.”

We’ve been supporting lots of events and activities recently through our Community Fund. We hope you enjoy reading a snapshot of a few of the many projects that we’ve been getting behind. More updates can be found at www.rooftopgroup.org/residents/neighbourhood-and-community/the-community-fund. On the wesbite you can also find out how you and your local community can apply for funds.

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Issue 85 Autumn 2015

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Community fund

Families in the Woodlands area of Evesham enjoyed a seaside-themed fun day at Evesham Adventure Playground.

Staff, volunteers and children at the adventure playground built a giant pool and beach alongside the play equipment for children to enjoy splashing around in, and laid on traditional treats such as candy floss, ice-creams, pony rides, bouncy castle and giant lollipops to a background of barrel organ music, for an authentic end-of-the-pier atmosphere.

This popular annual event attracted over 150 families. It was supported by Rooftop, who helped fund the event and British Gas, who are currently working

to make residents’ homes warmer and more energy efficient through solid wall insulation. Evesham Children’s Centre, and Worcestershire libraries lent their support too, while Severn Trent Water once again helped fill the giant pool and ‘hot tub’.

Dave Boucker, Programme Manager at Evesham Adventure playground said: “It was a great day – lots of families don’t have a chance to get to the seaside, so we bring it to them. The cost of keeping children active during the long summer months is draining on many families – this event was free thanks to support from all the partners involved.”

Back in 2012, Rooftop and Wychavon District Council worked with people in Bengeworth to create a new park. The park, christened Jubilee Gardens, was built on a piece of unloved, empty land that had become a bit of an eyesore. Since then, the park has gone from strength to strength and we’re delighted that it continues to be a popular and well-used open space.

One of the initiatives that arose from the project was the formation of the ‘Friends of Jubilee Gardens’. The Friends now organise the annual Summer Fete and Community Games in July which turned out to be a great day of activities and festivities.

The event kicked off with an opening ceremony for the park’s new artificial

football pitch, before a five- a-side football match featuring Bengeworth Academy pupils. That particular competition took place as part of the national Community Games Programme, which provides the tools for communities to come together through sporting and cultural events.

Other attractions for the whole family included a bouncy castle/assault course, skittles, face painting, giant games, a ball pool, old penny arcade, multiple stalls including homemade cakes, sweets and crafts, and tombolas.

Sue Norledge, Chairman of the Friends of Jubilee Gardens, said: “We would very much like to thank Wychavon District Council and Rooftop for all their support and grants, and all the local Bengeworth businesses who have supported us.”

Supporting the local community

Shout it from the RooftopGarden competition

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Gardening Competition The 2015 results!

Best scheme or community garden

Best fruit or vegetable garden

1ST

1ST

2ND

2ND

3RD

3RD

1st The Court, Broadway2nd Communal garden, St Oswald’s Village, Gloucester3rd Reminiscence garden, St Oswald’s Village, Gloucester

1st Mr & Mrs Edwards, Pershore2nd Sue Harness, Beckford3rd Mr & Mrs Millington, Whittington

Residents were invited to submit their gardens and containers for consideration by a panel of judges made up of expert tenants and staff. The panel visited each entry, awarding points for design and layout as well as maintenance and the condition of the planting.

The judges were very impressed with the quality of the entries and found it very difficult to compare the huge variety of sizes and styles of gardens. However there were some clear winners.

The Garden Competition will run again next year, so watch this space!

Across all the areas we operate there are many beautifully kept gardens that deserve recognition. So we thought it was time to celebrate the hard work and dedication of our green-fingered residents.

Issue 85 Autumn 2015 Garden competition

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1st The Court, Broadway2nd Communal garden, St Oswald’s Village, Gloucester3rd Reminiscence garden, St Oswald’s Village, Gloucester

Best hanging baskets or containers

Most improved garden

1ST

1ST

2ND

2ND

3RD

3RD

1st Sue Harness, Beckford2nd Mr & Mrs Allen, Honeybourne3rd Bewdley Court, Evesham

1st Linda Mason, Church Lench2nd Sally James, Evesham3rd Mr & Mrs Allen, Honeybourne

Best overall garden

1ST

1st Linda Mason, Church Lench

Homebase, Evesham • Vale Gardens, Badsey • Hartwells Fencing & Timber, Weston-sub-Edge • Four Acres Nursery, Great Comberton • Tesco, Evesham • Golls Nurseries, Salford Priors • Countrywide Farmers Stores, Evesham • St Peters Garden Centre, Norton • County Building Supplies, Evesham • Midcounties Cooperative Society, Evesham • Midcounties Cooperative Travel, Evesham • Hayloft Nurseries, Pershore • The Wood Norton • The Pickled Plum, Pershore • The Crown, Peopleton

Big thanks to all the businesses who so generously donated prizes to this year’s competition!

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2015 is a big year for new development with 15 housing projects coming to fruition. We’ve written about some of the developments in previous issues and there’ll be more in subsequent editions of this magazine – and lots more information on our website at www.rooftopgroup.org.

Two of the recently-finished schemes demonstrate the range of projects that we get involved in. The scheme at Ridgeway Meadows, Cookhill (above) saw us provide ten new homes on a previously empty, underused

New homes take shape

site. Working with Cookhill Parish Council and Wychavon District Council, this ‘rural exception site’ development of ten homes represents a community led initiative in the true sense of the word. The concept, the drive and the commitment stems from an active Parish Council with a strong support for affordable housing.

This project was originally brought to Rooftop in 2013 by West Mercia Housing who had built a good relationship with the Parish Council and carried out some significant groundwork on this

project, including a village housing needs survey and several public consultation events.

Rooftop continued to maintain a successful working relationship with the Parish Council and in September 2013 we submitted our planning application for 10 homes comprising six homes for affordable rent and four for shared ownership. Planning permission was granted in February 2014 and within a month our contractors, Thomas Vale were making a start on site. Rooftop also received grant funding from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) of £171,000.

Rooftop took handover of the completed homes in March and the homes were let to households with a local connection to the village, many of which had been identified through the village housing needs survey.

This is an excellent, high quality ‘rural exception’ development that is a credit to the work of Cookhill

Shout it from the Rooftop15 in 15

Issue 85 Autumn 2015 15 in 15

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Parish Council who persevered to deliver affordable homes in their village for several years.

As part of our commitment to the local area, Rooftop made contributions towards a Christmas celebration at Cookhill Village Hall in December 2013 and donated £1,432 to the provision of a defibrillator for the parish.

Another recently-finished project is at Winchcombe, Gloucestershire.

Works started on this site in March 2014 and Rooftop took handover of the completed homes in March this year. All properties have been let to households with a local connection.

This development of ten new homes is provided as the affordable housing element of the Knarsboro Homes, via a Section 106 (S106) agreement with Tewkesbury Borough Council. A S106 agreement relates to monies paid by developers to local planning authorities in order to offset the costs of the external effects of development.

In this case, the S106 agreement meant that, among 10 new affordable properties, we were able to provide a purpose built 4-bedroom home for the Duncan family (pictured above right with Rooftop staff) who had been forced to vacate their private rented property in Winchcombe.

The new house has been specifically designed to meet the needs of this family and their disabled son, Tom.

It is the first time that Rooftop has worked with Knarsboro Homes. We were impressed with both the finished quality of these new homes and the way that they have worked with us, the local Occupational Therapist and in particular with the Duncan family to ensure that Tom has a lovely new home that meets his needs.

We were delighted to receive a note from Angela Duncan, Tom’s mother: “Our sincerest thanks to everyone involved in the hand over ceremony. Everyone was so kind and we had an amazing time. I can’t thank you enough for making it so special for Tom and his brother Harry. It meant a lot to us all.”

In total, the affordable housing element comprises: two 1-bed flats, six 2-bed houses, one 3-bed house and one 4-bed house. The project forms another small step towards our aim of delivering an additional 1,750 new homes by 2023 on top of the 6,200 that we currently own and manage.

Residents in a historic Worcestershire village are being helped to become more internet savvy thanks to an innovative community project and the Superfast Worcestershire partnership.

Partners Worcestershire County Council and BT switched on the 200th road-side fibre cabinet as part of the ambitious roll-out, with Bretforton and Badsey among the latest communities to benefit.

The celebration of the arrival of faster fibre broadband took place at Bretforton Community Shop which opened at the end of 2014 with support of a £5,000 donation from the Rooftop Community Fund. The shop is also the setting for an internet-enabled kiosk and free wireless (wi-fi) service that was installed in June as part of Rooftop’s ongoing project to improve access to online services.

Now, local people are able to do their surfing, online research and shopping even quicker, following the upgrade to fibre broadband.Nigel Huddleston, MP for Mid-Worcestershire, welcomed the news as he joined local residents and representatives from Rooftop and the Superfast Worcestershire partnership at Bretforton to celebrate the latest milestone.

He said: “The installation of this kiosk will make a huge difference to residents and is a valuable local asset. Being able to get online is quickly becoming essential to daily life and thanks to the Bretforton Community Shop, Rooftop Housing and Superfast Worcestershire many more people will be able to access online services to shop, pay bills or communicate with friends and relatives. This is an excellent initiative and I was delighted to have been at the launch of what is an exciting new digital future for the village.”

Bretforton Community Shop, Bretforton’s one and only shop, opened at the end of last year after funds were raised by selling shares to people in the village and from donations. Central to the business plan was that it should be a focus

for village life. The shop has a small café and now has internet access thanks to the Rooftop donation which paid for the installation of an internet kiosk in the shop. This is the first of its kind installed away from Rooftop’s premises and is designed to encourage more people to get online and improve digital connectivity for the whole community in Bretforton.

More communities benefitting from superfast broadband

Internet access Shout it from the Rooftop

8

Nigel Huddleston MP and Juliana Crowe take a look at the new internet kiosk at Bretforton Community Shop

9

Internet access

Juliana Crowe, Housing and Communities Director at Rooftop said: “We want to encourage as many of our tenants as possible to access online services, so siting one of our kiosks in the heart of Bretforton is ideal. It makes it easier for tenants who don’t have online access at home or those who may be new to using online services. They can use the kiosk to do everything from paying their rent, to reporting a repair or contacting their housing officer. But anyone in the community can use the wi-fi and internet access at the shop.

“The community shop is proving to be an ideal location and we plan to site more kiosks in other communities to enable even more people to take similar advantage of the benefits of faster fibre broadband.”

Chris Buckham, Chairman of Bretforton Community Shop, said: “Our new kiosk is playing a key role in positioning Bretforton Community Shop at the heart of village life. Whether we are helping the older generation get online for the first time or allowing our essential seasonal workers to communicate with families back home in Eastern Europe, our new facility is helping to make the digital future a reality in our village.

“The arrival of fibre broadband has not only benefited the Community Shop, but also residents who increasingly rely on high speed access to services for those who work from home as well as meeting the needs for faster broadband for leisure access to social media.”

Steve Edwards, BT’s Director of Next Generation Access, said: “As the project progresses we’re reaching further into the more rural parts of Worcestershire bringing the benefits of high speed broadband to more and more communities. Thanks to the forward thinking team who set up the Bretforton Community Shop and the generosity of Rooftop Housing Group, residents in the historic village of Bretforton can now experience the benefits of faster fibre broadband first hand in the shop.

“Whether a homeworker, a start-up business or a busy family, the benefits of high-speed broadband can be seen to impact on all aspects of modern day life.”

For more updates on the roll-out of superfast broadband visit www.superfastworcestershire.com.Superfast Worcestershire, which began connecting the first premises in May 2014, has now enabled more than 30,000 homes and businesses to access faster fibre broadband.

Issue 85 Autumn 2015

New website offers even more options for residents

The Rooftop website has been revamped, making it even easier to find information and to access a range of online services.

Residents are able to log onto the ‘my account’ and access their rent account and statements, pay their rent online, report and track repairs and amend contact details.

There’s a wealth of information on the new website, from finding out where our homes are to current job vacancies, choosing a care and support service or even buying your first home.

Visit www.rooftopgroup.org and let us know what you think!

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Shout it from the RooftopDevelopments

Work on the redevelopment of our Yates Court ExtraCare facility reached a happy conclusion in June when the two-year long project was successfully completed. And residents were thrilled when two of the biggest names from BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing, Anton du Beke and his dance partner Erin Boag, dropped in to help celebrate the event.

Built in 1998, Yates Court was our original flagship development. Constructed across from our own offices in Evesham town centre, the scheme was built with 47 individual homes including a hair salon, a fitness centre and a lounge room. Fast forward to 2015 and our exciting £7m extension to

Strictly stars waltz in to help celebrate opening of Yates Court

Yates Court is finished, and now provides an extra 48 one and two-bedroom apartments for sale and rent for people aged 60 and over, effectively doubling the size of our original development.

The extension works, which took around 18 months, presented a difficult challenge for contractors Willmott Dixon. The construction work took place while residents remained on-site, there were complex groundworks and the whole operation was in a constrained space in a town centre location. Even the space for storage of materials was severely restricted.

But the finished scheme looks fantastic and it was great to have the opening celebrated in style. The opening event was designed to help the existing and new residents

Residents, staff and invited guests were treated to an impromptu dance show from Anton and Erin. The dance partners also delighted everyone by spending a long time chatting and posing for photos.

get to know each other and with dance stars Anton and Erin coming along , the day certainly went with a swing. After a tour of the building and some light refreshments, the couple took centre stage, entertaining everyone.

Anton said: “It’s clearly a wonderful scheme to live in and so well put together. Everyone is bright and vibrant. This is a tremendous day!”

Margaret Monaghan (pictured above left in main photo) made the decision to move to Yates Court after it was recommended to her by her neighbour. After coming down for one day, she decided that this was where she wanted to be. “Everyone was so kind and nice to me, I had to come back. When they told me I was top of the waiting list for an apartment here, I said I’d move in tomorrow if

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Issue 85 Autumn 2015 Developments

they would let me. When I spent my first night here, I remember lying in bed and thinking that this place has been waiting for me.”

She says: “I am so grateful to all the wonderful staff here. They’re all so fantastic and have been so supportive of me and all the other residents here. I don’t know what I’d do without them!”

She says that she enjoys how each day is different to the last at Yates Court. “My life has turned around since moving here. This is the best decision I have ever made.”

ExtraCare’s Chief Executive, Nick Abbey, added: “We have a great relationship between the residents and staff here, and it’s great that we have now provided the opportunity for so many more people to take advantage of the facilities that

ExtraCare has to offer.”

An important part of the project was that it included the refurbishment of town centre market buildings and the regeneration of a brownfield site.

As David Hannon, Development Director at Rooftop explained: “This is a really exciting project that delivers a huge investment in the local community and underpins our commitment to local people. It’s an extremely high quality building, designed to be energy efficient, functional but also warm, welcoming and aesthetically pleasing. The opening reflected everything that is great about Yates Court, the residents and our successful partnership with ExtraCare.”

The existing ground floor communal facilities at Yates

Court have been refurbished and remodelled, with the creation of a new main entrance and refurbishment of the dining room. The project also included keeping the existing building façade to the High Street and converting the former indoor market area into a community activity space.

Shout it from the Rooftop

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Get involved

Get tweeting and knitting for #HousingDay This year, 18 November is #HousingDay, the annual social media event that brings together the housing sector and its tenants to share their positive stories. The day is an internet-based annual celebration of tenant activity within social housing. The key message for 2015 is “Proud to be a tenant”. Rooftop is planning a competition for residents to produce knitted versions of our homes.

The results will be announced on 18 November at the Bengeworth Club where a new digital skills group will be meeting. Photos of homes will be tweeted out from the club so it should be a great day.

This year #HousingDay falls within Community Impact Week so there will be lots of effort going into promoting the work of housing associations tenants’ views to help counteract any negative portrayal of the social housing sector.

If you’re on Twitter, be sure to follow us @Rooftop_Housing and look out for #HousingDay. We’ll be ‘shouting out’ about great community work and we’d love it if you could join in so that your voice is heard. Last year #HousingDay had 30,000 tweets – together we can make it even bigger.

Would you like to help us improveRooftop services?

• Would you like to scrutinise our services?• Listen to the views of other residents?• Give an independent view?• Work alongside other residents?• Be trained to carry out the role?

If yes, then please contact Kate Gallant, Community Investment Manager, on 01386 420800 to find out more about what’s involved.

GETINVOLVED!

YOU CAN

Your Customer Panel It’s been a very busy time for your Customer Panel in recent months. Included in the Panel’s work has been consultation about a number of service areas, including:

• Recent changes to the appointments booking service for repairs to improve appointment booking and information on the repair requested.

• The impact of recent government announcements of welfare reforms.• How Rooftop works to both improve the energy efficiency of our

existing homes and our commitment to building new more efficient homes.

Scrutiny reviewThe Resident Excellence Panel reported on an enquiry into how Rooftop deals with resident enquiries in July. There were a number of recommendations from the review which included:

• Investigating options for a new computer system to manage information on our homes.

• Continuing to monitor how customer enquiries are received at Rooftop including online and to reception at our head office.

• Providing more services online for residents.• Developing a new customer service standard.

Issue 85 Autumn 2015 Andy’s column

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Autumn gardening with Andy

Meet Andy, our regular resident columnist. He’s gives us great gardening information and tips throughout the year. Here’s his autumn advice…

Andy

“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” Audrey Hepburn 1929 - 1993

The great British actress Audrey Hepburn was also a keen gardener in her limited spare time with real passion and love for her plants. She even made a television series called Gardens of the World which was aired around the time of her untimely passing. Nonetheless, I think this little quote from her tells us a lot about how she felt about her garden and life, I think many of us will identify with this quote!

This summer, although warm, has still been a bit mixed with some rain and many overcast days, but never the less a good growing season has given much pleasure with fruit, veg, and flowers all doing well. On a personal level, it was a great honour to be one of the judges for the Rooftop gardening competition (see page 4-5), but now it’s time to tidy up and put our gardens in order for the autumn.

ORNAMENTAL TREESPlant container grown trees and bare root trees mid to late autumn in prepared ground. Don’t forget

to add bone meal and fertiliser and stake if necessary. Also time for pruning shaping and thinning.

ROSE GARDENIn late autumn plant roses and rootstocks, remember to add some good quality fertilizer. Prune back excessive growth and generally shape up, not too severe as main pruning will be done early spring. Check ties and stakes.

PERENNIALSPlant hardy, container-grown, and bare root plants in well-prepared ground and mulch well, cut hardy plants back to near base. Begin transplanting established plants, and divide fibrous rooted plants.

BULBS AND CORMSPlant spring flowering bulbs in prepared ground and containers. Lift and store dahlias after first frost, lift and store summer flowering bulbs.

LAWNSSow seed in prepared ground, and lay turf when weather conditions allow. Control moss, aerate, and top dress.

Well that’s all for now but watch out for early autumn frosts they can catch you out!!!

If you’ve got any questions about gardening you’d like me answer, please use the form on the back page and send it into Rooftop.

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Competitions

Look at the two images on the right. There are 10 differences between the two. Can you spot them all?

Spot the difference!

If you get a moment, make yourself a cuppa, sit down and try your hand at our puzzles.

You can use the form on the back of your magazine to enter your answers and you may even win a £10 Tesco voucher!

Just for fun!

Puzzle Pages

Send us your photosHave you taken a professional looking shot that you’d like to show off? Found a really old photo of the local area? Send them in to us! We’ll print the best one in the magazine – perhaps even on the cover! And all entries will appear on our Resident Online Gallery at www.rooftopgroup.org

Please send your photos to: communications@rooftopgroup.org

Looking south from the town centre across the River Avon.

Evesham and beyond

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Puzzle Pages

Well done to last issue’s winners!

Spring wordsearchThe answer was: DECKCHAIRThe winner was: Sandra Rouse from Pinvin.

Spring mystery objectsThe answers were: TREE BARK and CABBAGEThe winners were: Mrs D Upton, Church Lench and Mrs H Hall from Bretforton.

Competition terms:Please note that winners will be picked at random from the correct entries, by the Communications Panel, and their decision is final.

Closing date for entries is Friday 30 October 2015

A B

S W S N S W I N D Y

Q O K E S E L P P A

U H R E R C N R Y S

I A O W A C I D H C

R R W O C O K R C L

R V E L O N P A N E

E E R L R K M H U A

L S I A N E U C R V

S T F H S R P R C E

S T O R M S E O A S

Try to name the

mystery objects!

Enter for achance to win a

£10Tesco

voucher!

Find all the clues in our word search to discover a secret word. They can be up, down, diagonal or even backwards. The letters that are not used spell out the answer.

Clue: They frighten the birds

Can you

discover the

secret word?

Enter for achance to win a

£10Tesco

voucher!

Study the two photos on the left and see if you can work out what they are?

ACORNSAPPLESCONKERSCRUNCHYFIREWORKSHALLOWEENHARVEST

LEAVESORCHARDPUMPKINSQUIRRELSSTORMWINDY

Use our back page to send in your entries for our competitions and to ask Ian, our Group Chief Executive, a question. Just fill in the sections you want to, including the ‘Your details’ section. Cut this back page out and send it to our address on the right of this page.

You can also email your competition entries or questions for theGroup Chief Executive, to communications@rooftopgroup.org

www.rooftopgroup.org

enquiries@rooftopgroup.org

0800 0421 800

Rooftop Housing Group70 High StreetEveshamWR11 4YD

Our head office is open from 9.00am to 5.00pm, Monday to Friday (except on Wednesday when we open at 9.30am).

If you would like the information in this magazine translated into another language, audio, or larger print please contact one of our customer advisors.

If you would like to make a complaint, please phone your housing officer and ask for our complaints form.

@Rooftop_Housing

Rooftop Housing Group

Responses

Name

Address

Telephone

Email

The closing date for all competitions is Friday 30 October

Summer word search answer:

‘What are our mystery objects?’ answers:

AB

Dear Ian...