Sunday 6 January 2013
After the deluge
It cannot have escaped anyone’s notice that it has rained pretty much solidly since last June.
We’re a hardy lot in the West Country, and it was initially treated as a mild irritation, and then a bit of a pain.
But it hasn’t stopped. And we’re in a situation now where the land is ruined – and not just until it drains away but for months to come.
Even if the rain stopped tomorrow, acids are eating into the soil, pollution has been spread over a wide area and farmers face a year at least with next to no income.
In the villages and towns of this county, people’s homes are at risk, they’ve been flooded out, water has cascaded through leaking roofs they just can’t afford to repair.
Cars have been wrecked by floodwater – and when public transport is as bad as it is round here, that can cost you your job.
Now you can’t really blame anyone for this. Sure it could be climate change or the Environment Agency policy on drainage, but that’s not really important.
What is important is that real people are really suffering, right now.
Of course it’s not as dramatic as an earthquake, or a tornado. But it is an environmental disaster, and nobody outside the south west seems to give a damn.
So we have to do what we always do. Sort it out ourselves.
There are two charities out there that can help people in real, meaningful ways. The Somerset Community Foundation hands out small emergency grants to people in need.
And the Farm Crisis Network helps provide support for farmers and their families in distress.
This group is the page for Flood Relief - When The Levee Breaks project
We are planning the recording of a charity single available for download of the Led Zeppelin classic followed by a gig (or gigs) somewhere in Somerset.
There will a series of rehearsal sessions the Cheddar Experiment weekly acoustic workshop in Cheddar at the White Hart.
All profits from this project will be donated to the Farm Crisis Network and the Somerset Community Foundation.
Let’s remind everyone we are here. Even if we are in it up to our knees.
We’re a hardy lot in the West Country, and it was initially treated as a mild irritation, and then a bit of a pain.
But it hasn’t stopped. And we’re in a situation now where the land is ruined – and not just until it drains away but for months to come.
Even if the rain stopped tomorrow, acids are eating into the soil, pollution has been spread over a wide area and farmers face a year at least with next to no income.
In the villages and towns of this county, people’s homes are at risk, they’ve been flooded out, water has cascaded through leaking roofs they just can’t afford to repair.
Cars have been wrecked by floodwater – and when public transport is as bad as it is round here, that can cost you your job.
Now you can’t really blame anyone for this. Sure it could be climate change or the Environment Agency policy on drainage, but that’s not really important.
What is important is that real people are really suffering, right now.
Of course it’s not as dramatic as an earthquake, or a tornado. But it is an environmental disaster, and nobody outside the south west seems to give a damn.
So we have to do what we always do. Sort it out ourselves.
There are two charities out there that can help people in real, meaningful ways. The Somerset Community Foundation hands out small emergency grants to people in need.
And the Farm Crisis Network helps provide support for farmers and their families in distress.
This group is the page for Flood Relief - When The Levee Breaks project
We are planning the recording of a charity single available for download of the Led Zeppelin classic followed by a gig (or gigs) somewhere in Somerset.
There will a series of rehearsal sessions the Cheddar Experiment weekly acoustic workshop in Cheddar at the White Hart.
All profits from this project will be donated to the Farm Crisis Network and the Somerset Community Foundation.
Let’s remind everyone we are here. Even if we are in it up to our knees.
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