“A woman’s place is in the home”, so the saying goes – and even in the 1960’s it was in the traditional family roles where women “knew their place” and fulfilled their expected duties for homes and families. Although many women went to work they were not thought of as breadwinners, and it was generally assumed that the money they earned was for “pin money”- in other words money for non-essential items that were small treats for the low-paid. This, however, was often not the case, as many families depended on two pay packets each week to make ends meet.

Based on a true story, “Made in Dagenham” explores the movement that caused a significant law reform. Rita O’Grady (a fictional character) leads the 1968 Ford sewing machinists strike at the Ford Dagenham plant, where female workers walk out in protest against sexual discrimination, demanding equal pay for equal work. This strike caused a lot of public attention around the world and was seen as out of the ordinary to many because it was not in a woman’s nature to do anything else other than the traditional family roles. The strike was successful and led to the Equal Pay Act 1970.

The show at the Wolsey was originally a film which was turned into a musical, and from the outset it proved a lively, gritty and at times moving piece, with the cast of multi-skilled actor-musicians giving powerful and memorable performances.

Our party of Capel Ladies members all thoroughly enjoyed this excellent production – the only tragedy being that even today women still do not have complete equality of pay with men.

The Suffolk energy-from-waste facility won the Civil Engineering Project of the Year award at the 2015 British Construction Industry Awards. Judges described the project as providing ‘an elegant solution’ to waste management.

On Thursday 15th September, 8 of us went on a visit to SUEZ – Suffolk’s energy-from-waste facility at Great Blakenham. At the Visitor Centre we met Emma, our guide for the afternoon, who gave us some background information.

Planning permission was only granted in July 2011 and the facility was up and running in a relatively short time, with the first waste deliveries begun in June 2014. The plant has a capacity to treat 269,000 metric tonnes of residual waste per year, which is enough to power around 30,000 households. Previously, waste had gone to a landfill site nearby.

We were each provided with a diagram of the energy-producing process, which Emma explained. Waste collection vehicles tip their waste into the bunker, where it is mixed by a HUGE grab crane to ensure even distribution of materials. The crane eventually loads the waste into a hopper, which feeds into the furnace, this heats to over 850 degrees. At this temperature most of the gas produced by burning materials, is also burnt off, resulting in almost zero emissions.

Water in the boiler above the furnace is heated to produce steam, which drives a turbine to generate electricity. Ash left after burning the waste is processed on site, metals being extracted for recycling, and residue ash used as a construction material. The flue gas is filtered to capture any remaining particles (known as air pollution control residue) before it is released through the chimney. Emissions are continuously monitored and are regulated by the Environment Agency.

The facility operates 24 hours a day and is computer controlled. Only 4 people are needed to run the plant, and there is a total staff of 47, including one female engineer, the gate man and office staff.

Emma checked that we had been listening with a brief Question and Answer session, which was followed by a short Health & Safety briefing. After this we donned very fetching hard hats, hi-vis yellow jackets, goggles and gloves, for a tour of the plant.

Our first port of call was the control room which overlooked the 13 metre deep pit, (about 40 feet), where waste is deposited. We watched the controller’s monitor which showed a truck arriving. It was driven to the first of three bays adjacent to the pit, and deposited its cargo. Fortunately, thick glass separated us from dust and various aromas.

Emma led us through the site, up and down gantries and over the conveyor belt taking residue ash to the sorting shed. We passed piles of burnt, twisted metals, recognisable as old bicycle frames and motors like those from washing machines.

We were able to lift a hatch and peer into the furnace, glad that, as it was a very hot day (around 28 degrees), we had unanimously declined the full tour. This would have taken us into the area controlling the furnace where temperatures reach around 40 degrees.

The tour ended back at the Visitor Centre where two static bicycles were set up with an interactive screen showing a graph of daily energy requirements. Of course, energy use fluctuates over the course of a day, peaking in the morning around 7am when the kettle goes on for the morning cuppa, and again around 10pm as the last hot drink of the day is prepared in many households.

Some members of our party gamely climbed aboard the cycles and on the whole, managed to pedal successfully enough to produce sufficient energy to more or less follow the line on the graph. The beginning, starting at around midnight on the chart, was hardly challenging at all, but by the time they reached 7 a.m. they were pedalling furiously!

We gained snippets of information on recycling to save energy and conserve the environment, such as:

· 1 recycled tin can would save enough energy to power a television for 3 hours.

· 1 recycled glass bottle would save enough energy to power a computer for 25 minutes.

· 1 recycled plastic bottle would save enough energy to power a 60-watt light bulb for 3 hours.

· 70% less energy is required to recycle paper compared with making it from raw materials.

Overall the tour was very informative. I am now much happier about putting plastic non-recyclable items into the black bin, as I know they will be burnt and will not end up in landfill to cause digestive problems to our birds and wildlife. However, it is still better to recycle where possible. As well as paper, cardboard and plastic bottles, pots & food trays; empty aerosols, tetra-pak cartons, metal cans, pans, trays and foil, can all go into your blue recycling bin.

We thanked Emma for our interesting tour and before leaving, many of us said that we thought our husbands would enjoy a visit. So ladies, ask your partners and maybe we can get the men in our lives to help us recycle more after a trip to the energy-from-waste facility at Great Blakenham.

More information is available at the websites letsrecycle.com and www.suffolkrecycle.today, as well as many other sites.

Report by Irene Carder.

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Our Summer Barbecue was held at Liz & Tony Gulliver’s again this year, and was another enjoyable evening for Capel Ladies. We began with a glass of Pimms each, to get the party going. The meats were expertly cooked by Liz and Tony, and served with delicious salads, and there was a range of desserts too. Audrey Broadbent organised a quiz about puddings – some of which sounded amazing – and there was a raffle to end with. It was a good way to end our batch of meetings for the summer!

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We look forward to the autumn when we will hear about One-Pot Cooking, a set of Strange Tales and a talk and slideshow about St Petersburg and Moscow. Outings  include a trip to the re-cycling centre, a theatre visit and a day at Romford for Shopping and Greyhound racing. Join us!

Our second activity this month was an evening at the Orchard Players’ Show – “Jukebox Summertime” – in Capel Village Hall. It was everything it promised to be, full of songs from summers gone by, performed in a lively and authentic manner by an enthusiastic troupe of seasoned entertainers, accompanied by a brilliant live band! Many of us in the audience sang all the way through, and there was plenty of hand-clapping both during the performance and after each song!

One of the highlights for me was to watch two of the younger members of the company, award-winning dancers Hayden and Ella, jiving to the music on the set of the coffee bar, and then on the beach scene in the second half. They gave stunning performances and well deserved their applause at the end! A great, feel-good show that left us all singing and humming on the way home!

All week the weather had been diabolical. Sunny and warm one minute, thundering and raining stair-rods the next. And cold!!!! We’d had the heating on some evenings! And this was June! I was seriously concerned about the current climate for good reason. Our planned Capel Ladies Club river trip was booked in for Thursday evening and there had been no let-up in the weather pattern for 6 or 7 days – every evening between the hours of five and eight the rain had been beating down, drumming on the wheelie bins and making huge lakes across the roads.

I had become paranoid about watching the weather forecasts – and every evening the same old map of Britain had appeared on the TV screen, covered in a mottled blue pattern of probable rain showers for the next day. Of course there was nothing I could do about it, but that didn’t stop me from worrying. I couldn’t imagine anything worse than sitting on a damp seat wearing a clammy plastic mac and trying to peer out of windows awash with rivulets and waterfalls at some soggy landmark being described by a less-than-enthusiastic wet commentator who wished he’d gone home for tea an hour before.

How wrong I was! How different from this was the real thing!

Thursday morning arrived. Blue sky, fluffy white cloudlets, golden sunshine streaming through the windows – and a warm breeze gently stirring the curtains. YIPPEE!

I turned on the forecast – a drier and more settled day for the south-east – chance of a shower 20% around 6.00 p.m. Best forecast we’d heard for a while, bit of a blow about the six o’clock shower, though……. oh well, it might not last…..

Not only did the shower not last – it never arrived!

We had wall-to-wall sunshine ALL DAY and (better still) ALL EVENING!

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Our river cruise from Waldringfield Quay down to Bawdsey and back was just like a dream – an interlude of peace and tranquillity between the blue lapping waters of the river, the lush greens of the banks and pastures and leafy trees and the golden rays of the evening sun, which made pathways and sparkles on the surface of the water and warmed us as we sailed homewards.

Thank you to the staff at Deben Cruises and our boat the M.V. Jahan.

A perfect evening which ended with a delicious meal at the Newbourne Fox Inn.

Needless to say the following day was a re-run of the mottled blue map with its thunder, showers and chilly breezes! Weren’t we lucky???

The next event in June was our stall at Capel Fun Day. After a rainy  week, the weather suddenly improved on the Saturday and there was lots happening on Capel Playing Field. Our stall was decked out in red, white and blue and was a LUCKY 90 TOMBOLA stall, with a Children’s Tombola as well as one for the grown-ups. Magdeleine Hunt had also made a rag doll for “Name the Doll”, so it was a busy afternoon! The doll’s name was “Mimi” and the winner was Jessica Wiggins. We raised over £150 by the end of the afternoon, and a lot of this will go to one of our soon-to-be-chosen charities. Future activities include a boat trip on the Deben, a charity evening, a visit to the Orchard Players’ summer show, and a Summer Barbecue.