Surf spectacular
National championship at Druridge Bay

A Dog's life
We have the best dog beaches - it's official!

Affordable housing
Dreaming of your own house?

Deer Ambler
Spring surprise

Everybody's talking
Community forum promotes our interests

Hedging bets
Doing what comes naturally

Saving wildlife
Making a river change its mind

RNLI station shop
Spend money and save lives

Amble slimmers
Get thin and save lives

Editorial
Supermarket snags and what's in this "life saving" issue.

Have your say
Letters and email, including photos

Improving Queen Street
Grants can give you an uplift

National 'Elf
Dress up as an elf and save lives

Veggie basket scheme
Disadvantaged people help community

Neighbourhood watch
Keeping an eye on your neighbours

Coquet High School Partnership
Expected drop in pupil numbers

Women's house building project
The house that Jill built

Artograffi
Easter fun

David's Diary
News from Amble Development Trust

Town council report
News update from the Town Council

Confessions of an addict
Harry gives up the weed

Age Concern Northumberland
...need people who are concerned

Chinese freeze affects Welfare
Snow stops take-away

Child Trust Fund
Invest in your child's future

Penny
New year Resolutions

Amble Churches Together
Thoughts for New Year

County Councillors report
Future developments

A tale of two thefts
You have been warned

The Peer Mentors
Students help each other

Residents get the hump over bumps
Calming the traffic?

Dirty wellies in a wine bar
Rural romance

Small skinny latte
Toddlers make their own coffee shop

Poetry corner
Safe to shore

Paddlers Paradise
New look play area

Snippets...
Local food, recycling, school numbers, welfare update

What's On
Including live music, Easter services, volunteering at Warkworth Castle and more.

Greetings from Aglaia
Message from a tall ship

Ray King column
Kevin Keegan takes over. "We all eagerly await"

Natural way to avoid blowouts

It has been great to see Michael Conway of Moor House Farm painstakingly laying his hedge recently on the A1068 just past the Hauxley turn as you go south from Amble.

At one time most field hedges were cut like this – allowed to grow tall then the excess growth cut out by hand, the base of the remaining stems cut part way through with a bill hook and the branch then bent horizontal and woven through upright stakes to form a tight, stock proof and living hedge. Then, apart from an annual trim, it didn’t need re-laying for seven years.

These days it’s quicker and therefore cheaper just to trim it with a tractor borne cutter. But the resulting hedge just grows upright, quickly becomes gappy and doesn’t keep the stock in. Then stakes and barbed wire have to be put in to reinforce it. So is it really cheaper in the long run?

Worse than that, Amble resident Peter Ridgers was out cycling on the A1068 cycle path between Amble and Alnmouth recently when his tyres suddenly went down and he had to walk his bike home. They had been flailing – cutting the adjoining hedge with a tractor borne cutter. This is a blackthorn hedge, which has very large, very sharp thorns and the process had left these thorns all over the cycle track (and the road).
Fair’s fair, Peter reported it to the authorities, who have swept the path, but doesn’t it raise questions about this way of doing things? Another local cyclist reported no fewer than five punctures on one recent trip. Apparently at least one local garage has also repaired tyres for local motorists punctured in this way.
It’s a road where people drive fast. Cutting the hedge like this could well cause an accident. They have built a very good cycle path. Why not lay the hedges properly too?

Tim Jones