Improvements to the Knockout Pages

If you've looked at the Knockout Draw pages on the website in the last couple of days, you'll notice some cosmetic and navigation changes which we hope will make those pages look and feel better. As always, if you disagree or have any suggestions then leave a comment or email me.

One addition which I especially want to highlight is the introduction of an RSS feed. If you look at the top of the right-hand menu you'll see an orange icon.



This is a link to an RSS feed containing all the knockout draws. If you open this in your feed reader (see this blog if you don't know what I'm talking about) you'll initially have over a hundred draws appear, but in future you'll receive prompt updates whenever we make a new one. Doing this means you won't have to check back continually for any new draws; you can instead sit back and wait to be notified automatically!

As this is a relatively new feature, there may be some teething problems so I'd be interested to hear if anybody has any difficulties getting it to work.

EBU tree planting

On 27 November, on behalf of the EBU, I was invited to take part in some tree planting near Bedford. This initiative was set up by our paper recycling company - Paper Planet to represent our successful year in recycling paper at EBU HQ. The company has pledged to plant a tree for every 50 bags of waste paper that is recycled by their customers and this tree planting took place at the Forest of Marston Vale, near Bedford.

The Forest of Marston Vale is an evolving community forest in Marston Vale, which runs south west towards the M1 motorway from the towns of Bedford and Kempston. It is operated by a registered charity called the Marston Vale Trust.

The vale is traditionally a brick making area, but the brick making industry has been running down since the 1970s. It has left a large amount of spoiled countryside containing several large empty pits some of which have now been converted into lakes. The Forest of Marston Vale is one of twelve community forest projects in the United Kingdom. The total area covered is 61 square miles (158 km²), but most of this land is in private ownership. Since 1990, they have planted around 1 million trees and by 2030 they will have planted 5 million more, working with local communities, government and businesses, to create new woods and other wild places for everyone to enjoy.

Last Thursday over 100 Paper Planet customers came along to help the charity, by planting trees in one of the many new forest areas. November is a very good time to plant trees, as the cold forces them to grow and develop their roots. Like everyone else, I was provided with a shovel and some Oak and Elm trees and asked to plant as many trees as I could! The ground was very icy, plus it was very clammy and clay based, so it did prove very difficult to plant these trees. However, together with a co-worker, we did manage to plant 29 trees on behalf of the EBU. Have a look at some of the photos below.

We can feel justifiably proud that there are charities trying to help the UK’s environment with this initiative. For more information please have a look at: http://www.marstonvale.org/index.html