The World Record was broken twice  as the Stretton Duck Races outshone the Olympics on 5th May.  In the first race All Quacked Up (No 25) streaked home in 2 minutes 17.6 seconds, but his world record stood for less than half an hour; in the second race of the day, Jazz-loving New Orleans-born Duck Ellington (No 53) steered a faultless line through a course officially described as ‘Slick’ to record an amazing 2 minutes 9.0 seconds.  The effort clearly exhausted him as he failed to show in any of the remaining eight races, and as the water levels dropped during the day, winning times fell back to around 2 minutes 30 seconds.

Our grateful thanks go to all our wonderful volunteers who took money, prodded ducks and helped the day go so well; and to our generous Sponsors:

The Acorn Cafe

Stretton Outdoors and Camping Supplies

Kate Johnson (in memory of Brenda Ponsford)

Jemima’s Kitchen at Victoria House

Kaboodle

Entertaining Elephants

Chocolate Haven (most heavily oversubscribed race of all!)

Acton Scott Historic Working Farm

The Buck’s Head

The Devil's Drop in calmer years

After the wettest April on record the scene is set for world record performances at Carding Mill Valley on Saturday – but without the foreign competition.  Water levels are high and the going is likely to be described as “slick”.  However, the Italian and Egyptian teams have pulled out, claiming the course is too dangerous.

“We wannata hava good time, not holda da breath alla da day” said italian team captain Luigi Quackamole, “Dat Devil’s Drop – Ees terrifying!”

“What a load of wimps!” quacked British entry Artful Ducker (number 56). “I’m hoping to beak the world record this Saturday and you’ve got to be able to quack it in tough conditions if you want to get to the top.  Saturday should fit the bill – I think it will be very eggsciting”

Last year’s races were strategic rather than fast,  with the leaders sometimes becalmed in the final yards.  This year the emphasis will be on speed and balance, with the Devil’s Drop a significant factor.

The first race starts at 11.00 and is expected to end seconds later. Last race is at 4.00,  to enable everyone to get back home in time for the Cup Final..

Ducks from Rome and Cairo practising on the ice!

Church Stretton’s Annual Duck race is on Saturday May 5th in Carding Mill Valley from 11.00am to 4.00pm.  We were going to call them the Duck Olympics but its against the law (honest!) so please note they are NOT the Duck Olympics, they are just the biggest, best, most exciting, most fun duck races ever.

And despite the fact that it’s NOT the Olympics the field has been widened to allow foreign competitors and already entries are flooding in.  As usual, the National Trust course starts just outside the Carding Mill Valley pavilion and ends…further downstream; and as usual, you can inspect the course from 10.30am onwards.

To add to the celebrations, the RPI looks like coming in at 4.85% for FITs, so from April domestic installations (up to 4kW) can look forward to 45.4p per kWh generated, with an extra 3.23p for the half of it you are deemed to export to the Grid.

We warned the government that it was acting outside the law when it decided to cut FITs before it had even finished consulting about its actions, but we’re nobody; luckily some bigger players took up the issue and the government lost, lost and lost again in ever more senior courts.  Nevertheless, the damage was done to the industry anyway as people got cold feet and cancelled contracts in droves.  We’re pleased to be proved right, but ‘Told You So’ is an empty award when it’s fairly clear that this coalition has abandoned all pretence of being ‘the greenest government ever’ in the face of  severe economic difficulties and fierce lobbying by all the usual heavyweight suspects.

But to happier things.   Church Stretton  Town Council offices will be shrouded in scaffolding next week as the installation of their solid wall insulation gets under way.  If you have solid walls – we sympathise with you over your whopping energy bills, but you can visit the Council and see for yourself how external wall insulation is applied, and how it works.  The expectation is a drop in heating bills of about 30%, which is not to be sniffed at!

WARM AND HAPPY NIGHT - 20th MARCH

Many people in Stretton and the surrounding area have homes with no cavity walls and can’t insulate them.  The good news is that when the Green Deal comes in it will be possible to get assistance to insulate houses with solid walls; and to start the ball rolling The Town Council is insulating its offices to show people with how it’s done and what the benefits will be.

PLUS the ground breaking film “THE ECONOMICS OF HAPPINESS” – for those who think there must be more to life than just making money
Start Time: 19:00
Date: 2012-03-20

The DECC have published an interactive map enabling everyone to check their own Authority’s performance against the average.  What it seems to show is that whilst Shropshire people are really making an effort to improve their energy efficiency and reduce their heating bills in particular, the lack of mains gas and large number of  houses without cavity walls – and possibly the large number of people with cavity walls but still without insulation – means that we are right up there towards the top of the Fuel Poverty league.

So Shropshire, there’s still a long way to go…and given that the CERT funding for low-cost insulation will be ending soon, it looks like many Shropshire lads and ladies will be missing the boat. Still, things could be worse;  we could be living in Herefordshire, which has an even higher proportion of households in Fuel Poverty…

At the moment both forms of insulation are subsidised under the government’s Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) scheme.  If you’re over 70 or on some benefits, and sometimes even if you’re neither of these, you can get the insulation done free, and it will reduce your energy costs dramatically.  Even if you have to pay, the subsidised cost to insulate an average three-bedroomed semi is about £300, and you’ll usually recoup that within two years according to the Energy Saving Trust’s calculations.

Over the years, the ‘proper’ amount of loft insulation has gone up quite a lot.  First it was 2 inches, then 4, then 6, and now it’s nearer 12; but we all know, the thicker your duvet, the warmer you are underneath it.  So , if you haven’t got 270mm (11inches) of loft insulation already, that’s what you should be aiming for; and if you have a cavity wall it’s well worth having that done too. But do it now, while it’s still simple. And cheap.

CERT is going to end when the government’s Green Deal comes in.  Details of the Green Deal are sketchy to non-existent, but the idea appears to be that you can borrow the cost of improving the energy efficiency of your home and pay it off from the savings you make as a result of those efficiencies.  The good news is that this will apply to a much wider range of energy saving measures than currently available under CERT; so some of those solid wall houses in and around Stretton will benefit.  The bad news is that it’s basically a loan – and we don’t know what the interest rate will be, nor do we really know exactly what savings individual homes will make – it’s not an exact science, and things like the weather and thoughtless teenagers need to be factored in.

We at Stretton Climate Care can help you decide what to do, if you want.  We’re a charity, we’re unbiased and we don’t sell anything.  We can put you in touch with other people who’ve already reduced their energy bills, or we can put you in touch with reliable firms who can do the work for you.  Phone us or email and ask for a free home energy check from one of our trained volunteers.

So a lot of taxpayers’ money continues to go out in lawyers’ fees rather than in support for the renewable energy industry, and we can expect a lot of government propaganda about how those of us who have already got PV panels are impoverishing those who haven’t (you heard it here first).

So what does it mean? Assuming they don’t appeal to the Supreme Court, or that they lose again, we’ll get the fall-back provision. And that is – if you install PV panels by MARCH 3rd, you’ll get 44.3p for every unit (kWh) you generate, index-linked to the Retail Prices Index, tax-free, for 25 years.  If your installation is AFTER March 3rd, you’ll get 21p, index-linked, tax free, for 25 years.

At the same time, prices of panels are falling rapidly as the industry tries to respond to the halving of the FITs from 43.3p to 21p for a 4Kwp array.  At the moment the internet is full of offers appearing to involve a return on investment of over 10%, and with some electricity companies now charging 20p a unit for bought electricity it’s still an attractive proposition even at the lower rate.

We still urge you to be careful; there are some cowboys out there, and if an offer looks too good to be true, it probably is!

Watch this space for further updates!