Lighthouse in urgent need of help to avoid fall into sea

The Orfordness lighthouse in Suffolk is in danger of falling into the sea, and is in need of donations to help save the iconic building which was built in 1792.
The lighthouse is now only around ten metres from the sea, since coastal erosion has contributed to the gap halving within the last four years.
The Orfordness Lighthouse Trust has set up a £10,000 appeal in a bid to fund crucial repairs and sea defences which could save the lighthouse. Without any action, the historic Grade II listed building would likely be gone within months.
Placing temporary 'Soft Defences' - bags of shingle wrapped in 'sausages' of high performance geo textile bonding - in front of the lighthouse has already extended its life.
A group of able volunteers are ready to start work to enhance the temporary defences, putting another two layers of wrapped shingle to shore up the beach below the lighthouse, but cannot do so without funding.
To allow this reassuring feature of the Suffolk coastline to remain open to visitors the support of the public is important and any donations greatly appreciated by the Orfordness Lighthouse Trust.
Nicholas Gold set up the Orfordness Lighthouse Trust having bought the building from Trinity House, the country's general lighthouse authority, after it was decommissioned as a working lighthouse in June 2013.
Mr Gold said: "If the work is not carried out in the next few weeks, the lighthouse will, in all likelihood, not be standing in a year's time."

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Lord Sugar Trusts Our Trader

You know you can trust a trader when he receives almost perfect reviews and is picked by none other than Lord Alan Sugar.
This year's winner of the BBC series, The Apprentice, is TrustATrader registered Joseph Valente. 25 year old Joseph's plumbing business, Impra-Gas Plumbing and Heating, has been registered on TrustATrader since 2013; those who saw his impressive pipe-work in episode 6 will not be surprised that Impra's services have gained 16 reviews in the past year, and an overall rating of 4.97 out of 5 stars.
Joseph's outstanding levels of service and ambitions for the future of his plumbing business drove him into entering this year's competition, in which renowned entrepreneur Lord Alan Sugar puts candidates through rigorous challenges in order to select a winner. Joseph's performance throughout the challenges and his robust business plan to franchise out his plumbing business resulted in his overall victory despite stiff competition. As well as the accolade of being named Apprentice 2015, Joseph has won Lord Sugar's partnership and a £250,000 investment.
Lord Sugar said of Joseph’s victory: "Joseph is a great example of what's possible. He turned his life around and decided he was going to go to work and here he is today, a well-deserved winner of The Apprentice and I look forward to him being my business partner. I hope it inspires a lot of people to see what is possible in this world."
Since a young age, Joseph has always worked hard to strive for excellence. He gained a plumbing apprenticeship, which led to him establishing his own business. It is his intention to give others like him the opportunity to succeed by making apprenticeships an integral element of his new business model: "Apprenticeships are going to be the backbone of this country, and off the back of this journey I'm going to make sure I go out and promote as much as possible how effective apprenticeships are."
You can take a look at a few of Joseph's reviews here.
At TrustATrader, we are, of course, delighted that another one of our local traders has received the public recognition that they deserve. We offer Joseph our huge congratulations and are proud that our reviewers' opinions of his business have been echoed by Lord Sugar and his team.

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Council give special Christmas gift to young lighting enthusiast

Wigan Council have given a special Christmas gift to a local boy, Ben McKenna, who has been collecting lights and lamps for years - a brand new LED street light.
The grandmother of 15 year old Ben had called the Council to ask where she could buy one of the LED lights that had been recently installed across the region.
Instead, the kind folks at the street lighting team decided to wrap up one of the lights to present to the boy, who was reported to be 'speechless' at the gift.
Ben has loved lights since a very young age, always wanting to go the lighting section of any supermarket they visited, grandmother Carol said.
"Most kids wanted sweets, but he was happy with a light bulb."
He had wanted one of the new street lights since he had seen them being fitted.
The light was given free of charge by the Council's suppliers.
Ben has been signed up as the youngest member of the Institute of Lighting Professionals, and is looking into a career in street lighting.
Wigan Council's Technical and Design Officer for street lighting, Chris Pennington, commented: "He is very knowledgeable and was asking us about what qualifications he needs to progress. We are delighted to encourage it in any way."

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Homes able to be built on Green Belt in planning shake up

Following a new Government consultation, laws related to building on Green Belt land are due to be relaxed to allow the development of new 'starter homes' for young families.
The proposals are the biggest changes to planning protection for thirty years, affecting the laws related to greenfield land around towns and cities which were introduced in 1955 to prevent urban sprawl.
The changes were published on Monday, and are likely to be welcomed by developers which have always wanted to be able to build on Green Belt land.
The changes to the National Planning Policy Framework which was introduced in 2012 no longer require land lost to building to be replaced, instead this will be an option for the local council.
According to the consultation: "We consider that the current policy can hinder locally-led development and propose to amend national planning policy so that neighbourhood plans can allocate appropriate small-scale sites in the Green Belt specifically for starter homes."
Paul Miner from the Campaign to Protect Rural England commented: "We will probably see thousands more houses come through in the Green Belt as a result of these changes every year.
"The current policy isn’t working, but these proposals will make things worse. It could see a lot more planning battles in the countryside over coming years."
Starter homes are for first time buyers under the age of 40, which are sold at a 20 percent discount from the market rate. They are properties worth no more than £250,000 outside of London, or £450,000 in the capital.


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