Adrian Hollister

Not sure there is too much behind this site, and I'm not endorsing it, but for a bit of fun go and check out this web site and see which political party you should be affiliated with...

Not so long ago I was blogging about our local MP Richard Benyon having only his beloved weapons export agency as his only discussion point in the commons. It's true, it just about the only thing he has spoken about - how to export weapons, increasing the size of the team exporting weapons, how weapons are good, etc. In fact it always amazed me that FoE praised him in a letter or two in the Newbury Weekly News - his love of weapons and their ability to kill things whilst making a profit is just legendary.

Evidently the Tory spin doctors realised how bad this was looking and have now come up with something else for him to talk about - it fits into the environmental category by asking Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs some questions. Of course the Tory old boys club don't often think about things in detail and I have to wonder, why our local MP has been made tory old boy shadow minister for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; and why his only interest is deep sea and borders.

Is it because we are on the coast and have border problems in our area or do we have problems with deep sea fishing? I don't know but I'm sure I can't see the coast from anywhere in West Berkshire; and what I am very sure about is that his questions are neither strategic for the country (they are mostly inane get your name in Hansard type questions); nor do they cover the very pressing issues that we find in our region. Where is he standing up in Parliament and asking questions about our short fall in schools funding? our swine flu provisions in West Berkshire? our local businesses? and while he is there why not talk about sustainability and our welfare? making homes carbon neutral; social housing an exemplar to the rest of the industry; a fair minimum wage; free school meals; safer streets and 20mph zones in urban areas.... the list goes on. And of course he failed to support the Animal Welfare labelling early day motion (EDM 581) which would have put the UK at a competitive advantage to the rest of Europe (as our animal welfare standards are on the whole better than on the continent).

So congratulations to the landed gentry, the tory old boy's, the toff's, and the sheep and cows who in West Berkshire always vote tory (at least they always put signs up in their fields)... in West Berkshire Richard Benyon represents the exporting of weapons for profit and the monitoring of our coasts. What a legacy.

It's that time of year when the grass is full of tick's and your pets are going to catch them. So please check your dogs and cats once a week and remove them the best way you can. Check they come out whole, if not it's a trip to the vets to check the wound. I've gone over our cats and dogs today and only found one tick. They are seriously ugly things and difficult to kill (often they are difficult to crush for example) so my suggestion is take them out by pinching as low as you can to the skin with paper towel around them, check they are whole and wrap the paper up tight around it, set it in the middle of the bbq and ...

Also of note, you can now buy non plastic bio degradeable dog poo bags - they are Skooperbox Dog Poop Scoop's. I've just tried a pack out and they work well. I was worried that on very wet days the whole thing would go soggy before I found a bin, but so far they seem quite resilient. Search on the web for them or try the Ethical Superstore.

Something strange and rather interesting happened today. Some where around lunch time kids you could hear kids playing over the noise of the birds, bikes were spun up and you could hear people talking over fences and gates.

Our electricity supply is always slightly dodgy up here on the downs, ever time we get a serious thunderstorm or similar event our power goes out. We are high up here and I'm guessing that the electricity cables and poles around here are often the highest point and highly likely to take a lighting strike or two. Well we had one serious thunderstorm Friday here - lasting for several hours with lots of strikes taking out the power with spikes and brown outs. Since then the power has been on and off every few hours throughout the day and night.

A call to SSE Power Distribution (if you've and your neighbours have lost power call SSE on 0800 0727282 or 0845 7708090) confirmed to us that the power would be out for a good chunk of the day - lunchtime until 7pm.

How interesting it was to see people with a slight look of panic on their faces - there is no gas up here so the key source of energy is electricity. Life carried on as usual here, internet and computer powered by battery; cooking and kettle powered by camping gas; and the kids powered by sugar and cakes. It's amazing how we take energy security as a given and not something we need to strive for.

The latest batch of veggie oil has been filtered and is now ready. My method is simple - first run through a coffee filter. This catches the big bits though it can take some time (other people seem to use several layers of tights for example). Then run through a 50 and 10 micron filter bought from ebay. If you just go straight to the 10 micron it will get full up and you will be endlessly cleaning the filter and wasting a lot of oil. My recommendation before adding to a diesel tank is that you add cetaine boosters (there are loads on the market) as this will make your engine as quiet as a mouse (well as good as your gonna get on a diesel) and add a bit more power too.

I ran an event this evening at Brightwalton Youth Club - the idea is to raise awareness of farming standard with kids in association with the Compassion in World Farming 'good egg' campaign. We cooked cup cakes using our own local free range eggs for the event*, local flour milled in Wantage and butter from Newbury farmers market. Over 20 children attended the club and made over 120 cakes to take home to family and friends. Every child took part making the cakes and parents were seen enjoying their children's warm cakes as soon as they came to pick them up. It was a great evening and just shows how strong the community spirit is in West Berkshire.

*egg's from Adrian Hollister's own chickens - hoorah!

BAKE WITH COMPASSION WEEK

6 - 12 July

To coincide with its Good Egg Awards*, Compassion in World Farming, the leading farm animal welfare charity is launching Bake with Compassion week from 6 – 12 July 2009 to raise awareness for its campaign against battery caged eggs.

Compassion in World Farming supporters Brightwalton 5-12 Youth Club are hosting a good egg cooking evening on Friday the 10th of July at 18:30-20:00. We are cooking cup cakes and using our own local free range eggs for the event*.

Supporters of Bake with Compassion week include Kate Ford (Coronation Street’s Tracy Barlow), Sophie Grigson, Jo Brand, Alison Steadman, Dave Spikey, David Suchet, Paul O’Grady, Brain Blessed.

Kate Ford says: “I would encourage anyone with an interest in animal welfare to get their aprons on and get baking. When you buy eggs, you can choose what sort of life you want the hen to enjoy or endure. If you buy half a dozen eggs a week just switching from caged to free-range could set a hen free.”

“Hosting your own Bake with Compassion event couldn’t be easier. Just invite some friends round for a coffee morning or run a cake sale in the office. I have to confess that I’ve got a real sweet tooth and can never resist a slice of banana and walnut bread. Here’s my own favourite recipe. Why not give it a go.” (see recipe below)

People all over the UK are refusing to eat eggs that have come from inhumane battery cages where each hen is confined to a space the size of an A4 sheet of paper and cannot even flap its wings.

Sales of free-range shell eggs accounted for 56 per cent of the market value in the UK (TNS data).
Free range eggs have seen an 8.4 per cent growth in the volume of sales compared with a 3.3 per cent decline in the sale of battery caged eggs (TNS data).
For the first time this year, The UK’s Office of National Statistics is including large free range eggs in its 2009 Basket of Goods and Services survey.
Yet, despite increased consumer demand for cage-free eggs, 58 per cent of UK hens are still kept in battery cages.

Compassion in World Farming has produced a pocket guide which clearly explains the difference between caged, barn, free-range and organic eggs and what to look for at restaurants and supermarkets: http://www.ciwf.org.uk/egg_guide

Bake with Compassion fundraising packs can be downloaded from http://www.ciwf.org.uk/help_us/fundraising/bake_with_compassion

For further information on Brightwalton Youth Club event please contact Adrian Hollister at adrian@westberksgreens.org.uk or call 01488 639641.

For further information or to arrange interviews with Compassion in World Farming contact Valentina Moressa on 01483 521952 or 07771 926005 (out of office hours) or email valentina@ciwf.org

Kate Ford’s Compassionate Banana and Walnut Loaf
Ingredients:
90 g (3 oz) organic butter
1/3 cup fair trade sugar
1 free-range egg
1 large fair trade banana
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 ¼ cups self raising flour
pinch salt
1/3 cup plain organic yoghurt
2 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts

Method:
Beat organic butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add lightly beaten free range egg, beat well. Stir in combined, mashed banana and lemon juice. Fold in sifted dry ingredients alternately with organic yoghurt. Stir in half the chopped walnuts, mix until smooth. Spoon mixture into greased and greased paper lined 25 cm x 8 cm (10in x 3 in) bar tin, sprinkle with remaining walnuts.
Bake in a moderate oven for 40 minutes or until cooked when tested. Allow cake to cool 5 minutes in tin, turn out and cool on wire rack. When cold, cut into slices, serve with organic butter.

Sophie Grison
Sophie Grigson’s Compassionate Coconut and Strawberry Cake

This is a favourite summer recipe in our family, though of course, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t make it in the middle of winter, replacing the strawberries with strawberry jam, or lemon curd.

175g (6 oz) self-raising flour
pinch of salt
115g (4 oz) unsalted butter, softened
250g (9 oz) caster sugar
3 free-range eggs, separated
160 ml (5 51/2 fl oz) o milk
85g (3 oz) dessicated coconut
pinch of cream of tartar

To fill:
150 ml whipping cream, lightly whipped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
150g (5 oz) strawberries, halved
icing sugar

Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Grease and flour two 20 cm (8”) sandwich tins.

Sift the flour with the salt. Beat the butter for a few minutes until very soft then add 150g (5 oz) of the sugar. Cream together until very light and fluffy. Beat in the free-range egg yolks one at a time. Next beat in about a third of the flour followed by half the milk, repeat and then finish with the last of the flour. Fold in the coconut.

Whisk the free-range egg whites and cream of tartar until they form soft peaks. Sprinkle over the remaining sugar and whisk again until the mixture is thick and glossy. Fold into the cake batter. Divide the batter between the two prepared tins and bake for around 30-35 minutes until just firm to the touch. Test by plunging a skewer into the centre – if it comes out clean then the cakes are done. Let them cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then turn out and finish cooling on a wire rack.

To make the filling, whip the cream lightly with a tablespoon of icing sugar and the vanilla extract until it just holds its shape. Hull and halve or quarter the strawberries depending on size. When the cakes are quite cool, spread the upper side of one thickly with cream, then cover with strawberries. Settle the second cake comfortably on top. Dust with a little icing sugar and keep the whole lot cool until tea-time.

Jo Brand
“I'm pleased to get the opportunity to offer my support to Compassion in World Farming’s Good Egg Awards and would like to encourage everyone to support their work by joining in with their Bake With Compassion fundraising week. I think it's really important to back the production of higher welfare eggs, so please get your aprons out and bake a cake with free-range eggs.”

Alison Steadman
"I first witnessed battery hens in 1974 and the image has never left me. I couldn't believe the cruelty to these helpless trapped creatures. Since then I have never knowingly eaten battery eggs. We must continue to fight for cruelty free farming. I am delighted to support Compassion in World Farming’s Good Egg Awards and would encourage anyone with a mixing bowl and a pinny to get baking in order to help raise funds for this worthwhile cause. "

Dave Spikey
My wife and I have adopted many ex-battery hens through the years and it is one of my greatest joys to see them transform from the battered and traumatized birds that arrive, into these beautiful, inquisitive creatures scratching around my garden and bathing in the sun. I am delighted to support CIWF’s work and would encourage anyone with an interest in animal welfare to join their Bake with Compassion fundraising campaign.

David Suchet
"I hope with all my heart we can eventually provide eggs to the nation from chickens who have been given 'quality life' in return for the eggs they give us. That's a FAIR deal - isn't it?"

Paul O'Grady
"My gang of chickens will be very pleased to hear that millions of hens will live cage free thanks to the Good Egg Awards and the work of Compassion in World Farming. I love a good free range egg when I’m baking and I believe that being a nation of animal lovers – we need to remember that our farmyard friends are animals too!”

Brian Blessed
"Battery hens lead miserable lives confined in cages so small they do not even have room to spread their wings, let alone express their natural behaviours. I fully support any campaign which sets out to end their suffering and applaud those companies being celebrated by Compassion in World Farming’s Good Egg Awards. We have a duty to make sure that the animals we farm enjoy happy, healthy, productive lives. The commitment shown by these organisations is a significant move in the right direction. Please support Compassion in World Farming’s important work by getting baking this July"

Notes to the editor
High res photos of our celebrity supporters are available upon request.
High res logos for Compassion in World Farming and Bake with Compassion are available upon request.
The Good Egg Awards have been developed by Compassion in World Farming to celebrate companies that have committed to source only cage-free (barn, free-range or organic) eggs. Winners include Little Chef, Fox’s Biscuits, Starbucks Coffee Company UK, Virgin Trains and Walkers Shortbread.
The list of 2009 Good Egg Award winners in 17 other European countries is available at www.goodeggawards.com

For further information or to arrange interviews contact Valentina Moressa on 01483 521952 or 07771 926005 (out of office hours) or email valentina@ciwf.org

*egg's are provided by Adrian Hollister from 16 Nodmore, Chaddleworth from his own free range chickens

Spent most of the day in Newbury today, first off was our monthly Green Party meeting at the Farmers Market. It's great to see so many friends and discuss issues over coffee with them. This week Pam started to take down a few more signatures for our More Renewables in West Berkshire campaign - something initiated by the barmy rejection of any wind, solar, hydro or any other renewable energy system in Berkshire and specifically in the towns of Newbury, Hungerford and Thatcham. After an hour we had a good few pages of additional signatures and promoted the Green Party to all those that were interested. It's amazing the number of normally Liberal Democrat voters who told us that they had voted Green in the last elections and it's great to see the number of people who now recognise the faces Pam Cooper and Adrian Hollister. No wonder the Lib Dems are in a bit of a panic around here.

From 14:00 the Carnival went through the Newbury Town and the whole family got around to watch. It's great to see a real town carnival again, something that I can't remember seeing since my childhood. Apart from the odd very commercially orientated float and a bizarre small open topped car with what appeared to be the carnival queen in (??), most were just brilliant. Wouldn't it be great if all the schools attended in different floats (or shared floats). As a parent it looked to me that there are some great schools out there who went all our with effort and great skill - I've got to commend the head teachers who entered their schools - what a great way to show your school off to prospective parents and other jealous heads.

My pick of Newbury's farmer's market this month has to be Stark House Farms bacon. I know they have been recommended by me many times in the past, but my bacon sarnies tonight with a bit of UK sourced brown sauce were/are just wonderful wonderful wonderful.