All of us have some sort of vision for the way we want to live in our Village. Now, with the Management Committee about to initiate new inputs to whole-of-village planning, it’s a very good time to share some of those thoughts, so that we can get to know and appreciate both our commonality and our diversity.

A new webpage has been set up to present these ideas. Bridget O’Donnell and Adrian Oakey have kindly made the first contributions. See “Vision for AAEV” in the main menu at right.

If you would like to open up some of your own ideas to fellow villagers, send them in by email for posting on this new page.

Elizabeth H - Communications Group on behalf of MC

Congratulations to villager Anthony Steel, whose new book “Painful in Daily Doses” is hot off the press this December. See the Wakefield Press release flyer ATTACHED.

“If anyone can be said to be the father of festivals in Australia, it is Anthony Steel. He changed the way we experienced the arts, and set new standards for us to aspire to, both as audiences and artists.” – Robyn Archer

In this engaging memoir Anthony Steel tells his story, from growing up in a wealthy steel manufacturing family – the Steels of Sheffield – where music was a fundamental part of daily life, to his triumphant staging of Adelaide’s 1986 Festival ... ...
Painful in Daily Doses flyer 2

Too often the elderly in our society are treated as peripheral, as nuisances, like children, or even as though they have somehow become invisible as real people. The ATTACHED poem, currently in general circulation through the internet, strikes a blow for better visibility and appreciation for elders in our society. [Thanks to Anne W for sending it in.]
Grumpy Old Mans gift

Use of Rainbank Controller for water pumps:

It has come to my attention that people have either installed a Daveys Rainbank Controller or are being advised to buy one by the pump dealer to allow swap over between mains and tank water. The Rainbank controller requires mains pressure to operate and actually uses mains until the flow is more than 1.5 litres per minute. This means that if the village pump is not working then neither will your own pump which is not a good idea

Make sure that you get an independent pressure controller for your pump. I would advise manual change over if you need it. Please refer to the Water Document on the AAEV web site for information on the ways to configure your water systems. See:

http://www.aaev.net/management/bdc/bdc_documents/files/Water%20Systems%200704.pdf

Adrian Oakey - BDC Co-ordinator

From today's ‘Indaily’ of the The Independent Weekly (Thanks to Jane O’C):

Rainwater declared safe for daily drinking 
A major study of Australian households with a water tank has found drinking rainwater had no impact on their health.

The study was based in Adelaide, the nation's tank capital, and took in 300 homes that used rainwater as their primary drinking source. All of the homes were given a benchtop filter and told it would remove any potential gastroenteritis-causing bugs from their water, but half of the devices intentionally did not work. The rate of gastro cases recorded across the households over 12 months was found to match that seen across the broader community, who drank treated tap water. "There were just under 770 episodes of gastroenteritis reported during the study or 0.77 episodes of gastro per person," said Associate Professor Karin Leder, head of the infectious diseases unit at Monash University's department of epidemiology. "Interestingly, this rate is very similar to the rate of gastro reported in other studies both in Australia, and in ! other industrialised countries, amongst non-rainwater drinkers." Gastroenteritis rates were the same for families who used the working filters and those who had the dummy devices. The research contrasts with official advice from state health departments that discourages rainwater drinking where treated water is available. (AAP)