HARVEST FESTIVAL: A warm welcome awaits everyone at the Harvest Festival service at St Andrew's Church on October 7, commencing at 10am. Guest speaker Tony Buejega will be bringing his entertaining style to the proceedings in what promises to be a heart-lifting celebration of this traditional family service.

Refreshments will be served in the church hall immediately following the service.

THE FUTURE IS IN GOOD HANDS: Things have moved on considerably since the days when the only time newspapers were recycled was in the smallest room in the house.

Fortunately, our youngsters have a better understanding of environmental issues than we do. They are the generation that will make a difference.

Take a group of young children. Get some fantastic teachers to inspire them, fire their imagination and give them a pile of recyclable material to play with. What do your get? Fantastic, bright-coloured artwork that would bring sunshine and smiles to any school hall or play yard. (It will also reduce the amount of waste that we throw on the tip unnecessarily.). Children from our very own St Andrew's Junior School (pictured above) were among the group of award- winners who put their fantastic artwork on display in the main entrance hall of the Civic Centre. Along with their teachers, they loved every minute of it. Their parents would have been proud of how these young ambassadors to recycling conducted themselves.

Using old newspapers and other discarded materials, the children had constructed a fantastic tree that looked like it had come direct from a set of Lord Of The Rings. The tree contained many messages reminding everyone of the need to reuse and recycle, but none of these messages will be anywhere near as powerful as the enthusiasm of the youngsters themselves.

Talking to the children was, as always, a sheer joy. Despite their young age they fully understood and appreciated that the materials they had used would normally have just been wasted. They also fully appreciated the effect this waste is having on their environment.