Majestic rolls out UK’s first cork recycling initiative

 

UK specialist wine retailer Majestic is launching a cork recycling scheme across its store estate – which it claims is a first for the UK – as well as its own Wine Club. 

The retailer is working with the Portuguese Cork Association (APCOR) in a bid to recycle over 1 million corks per year, which it says amounts to more than 309 tonnes of CO2. The retailer is placing collection hubs in each of its store and will encourage customers to return natural corks, in order that these can be recycled. The corks are being trialled by the Eden Project in Cornwall,  who will use them as a mulch for its Mediterranean plants.

www.thedrinksbusiness.com

Donline sponsors the 23rd Wickham Charity Beer Festival Saturday 9th October 2021

After a break in the program last year due to COVID(!) - the Wickham Charity Beer Festival is back on again this year! Click here to download the flyer with full details for this brilliant event. Hope to see you there - Cheers!

Hi everyone. I have left my following message generally as written for the April 2020 Festival. It has been a long time coming but we are back and we hope to continue as before.

A quick thanks to all of you who attended our last Charity Beer Festival (it seems so long ago now) and to our Sponsors and Suppliers. Also a big thank you for your generosity at the event investing your hard earned cash in the raffles; altogether the Beer Festival has been able to give in excess of £5,000 to charity from the last event. This means that since we started, back in 2008, we have, with your help, raised over £135,000 for both local and national charities. This excludes the additional income for charity made by the Wickham Community Centre and by Meon Valley Lions. 

Our next event is early October and, as normal, is a one-day event on Saturday 9th October starting with the morning session from 11:00 to 16:00 followed by the evening session from 18:00 to 23:00; we look forward to seeing you all there. Mike, Gary and the Wickham Beer Festival Team

www.wickhambeerfestival.co.uk

Don & Kim ride out to Bury Hill, Arundel

 

The good folks at Honda Motorcycles UK had a brainwave & sponsored several photoshoots with BikerPics - up & down the land (see below for details). Kim & I had a great ride out to Bury Hill, Arundel on Monday 30th Aug 2021 - for our local site. We stayed off the A27 dual carriageway for as much of the journey as possible but joined it around Chichester. Kim even had her first experience of filtering on her Grom - and really enjoyed it! Here are the photos - not only are they fab, but they were also FREE!

This Bank Holiday weekend, Honda Motorcycles and BikerPics are giving you a chance to get a picture of you on your Honda Motorcycle for free!

The locations, dates and times are as follows:

Saturday 28th

9am – 3pm A537 Cat and fiddle (Macclesfield)

9am – 4pm A686 Hartside Pass (Penrith)

2pm – 5pm A702 Dalveen Pass (Durisdeer Mill)

Sunday 29th

9am – 3pm A44 Worcester

9am – 4pm B6255 Hawes (Yorkshire Dales)

10am – 3pm A82 Tyndrum North

10am – 2pm B184 Fyfield, (Great Easton, Essex)

10am – 4pm A470 Brecon Beacons

Monday 30th

9am – 3pm A452 Horseshoe Pass (Llangollen)

9am – 4pm Snake Pass (Glossop)

10am – 2pm Bury Hill (Arundel)

10am – 4pm A470 Brecon Beacons

Please share and tag your Honda riding friends, so they don’t miss out.

Happy and safe riding from everyone at Honda Motorcycles UK!

photos.google.com

UK VoIP providers under attack from Ruskie cyber crooks

Two UK VoIP operators have had their services disrupted over the last couple of days by ongoing, aggressive distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.

South Coast-based Voip Unlimited has confirmed it has been slapped with a "colossal ransom demand" after being hit by a sustained and large-scale DDoS attack it believes originated from the Russian cybercriminal gang REvil. This morning, it confirmed that "services are operational ... however the attacks are still ongoing."

Separately, London-based Voipfone (see status page here) said it is still suffering outages on voice, inbound and outbound calls, and SMS services. It told customers on Tuesday in a status update that it had been hit by "a further DDoS attack" after the initial attack, revealed to customers via email as having taken place over the Monday bank holiday.

At this stage it's not clear if any other UK Internet Telephony Service Providers (ITSP) have been affected. However, UK Comms Council – the industry body that represents ITSPs – has informed members of the industry group about the attacks and issued a reminder to adopt "appropriate DDoS mitigation strategies."

www.theregister.com

A prayer for today. Request a free Bible or HOPE magazine

 Almighty God,

who called your Church to bear witness

that you were in Christ reconciling the world to yourself:

help us to proclaim the good news of your love,

that all who hear it may be drawn to you;

through Him who was lifted up on the cross,

and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.

Amen.

Although the Bible is the World's best selling book - there is no need for you to buy a copy. Request a FREE Bible: if  you would like a free Bible for yourself or someone you know, please fill out the form on this link. 

The HOPE Gospel Magazine is an excellent means of sharing the Word of God. Since the launch in March 2020 well over 110,000 copies have been distributed. They contain the entire Gospel of John and many extracts from the Psalms and are presented in an attractive easy to read A4 magazine format with many photos of scenes from around the country. If you would like to receive a free copy of this wonderful introduction to Jesus's Good News, please follow this link.

www.churchofengland.org

What is E10 fuel and how will it affect you?

Plans for E10 fuel to become the standard grade at forecourts across the country are well underway. But what exactly is E10 fuel and what do you need to know about its launch in the UK?

Current petrol grades in the UK contain up to 5% bioethanol, known as E5. The proposed E10 fuel increases the share of the renewable energy produced using crops, to 10%.

It’s estimated that the greener fuel could reduce CO2 emissions by 750,000 tonnes per year, the equivalent of taking up to 350,000 cars off the road.

Estimates fail to mention, however, that there could be as many as 600,000 vehicles on our roads that aren’t compatible with the fuel.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration states: "In general, vehicle fuel economy may decrease by about 3% when using E10 relative to gasoline that does not contain fuel ethanol".

Here is a look at the pros and cons of using this new fuel as a genuine answer to increasing emission issues.

Here is another excellent article: Everything You Need To Know: E10 Petrol by Martynn Randall, Haynes Technical Editor.

www.rac.co.uk

www.haynes.com

Microsoft will release Windows 11 on 5th October 2021

Microsoft is announcing that Windows 11 will be released on October 5th. The new operating system will be available as a free upgrade for eligible Windows 10 PCs, or on new hardware that ships with Windows 11 pre-loaded.

The free upgrade to Windows 11 will start rolling out on October 5th, but like many Windows upgrades in the past, it will be available in phases. New eligible devices will be offered the upgrade first, and then Windows 11 will become available for more in-market devices in the weeks and months following October 5th.

“Following the tremendous learnings from Windows 10, we want to make sure we’re providing you with the best possible experience,” explains Aaron Woodman, general manager of Windows marketing at Microsoft. “We expect all eligible devices to be offered the free upgrade to Windows 11 by mid-2022.”

www.theverge.com