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U.S. Army Spc. Vidrine presents flowers to the wife of Lt. Col. Eric Robles during a change of command ceremony for the 299th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, at Fort Riley, Kansas, June 16, 2026. During the ceremony, Lt. Col. Hannah Caldwell relinquished command of the battalion to Robles, signifying the transfer of authority and responsibility of the unit. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Malik Waddy-Fiffee)
SPROUTS launched their Butterfly & Food Terrace Garden as a part of their
10-10-10 Reducing Carbon Emissions Initiative at their Malad Office. Loads
of butterflies have started doing the rounds. We managed to speak to even
some local vegetable vendors and shop keepers about the advantages of
recycling and terrace farming.
Siguiendo con manos a la obra reforestamos el jardin de niños Ignacio Mejia de la congregacion de los Naranjos municipio de Tres Valles creando la cultura en los niños de la importancia que tiene sembrar un arbol y el cuidado que debemos darle asi como tambien a los padres de familia, que si todos trabajamos en conjunto podemos tener una mejor calidad de vida en el futuro.
Y seguimos con Manos a la Obra
"... change is always possible if you're willing to work for it, and fight for it, and above all, believe in it... the only way to truly bring about the future we seek is if we're willing to work together as one nation, and one people."
- Obama, Change We Can Believe In
St Mary, West Tofts, Norfolk
West Tofts church is one of the four churches of the Norfolk Battle Training Area and it can't generally be accessed by the public. But if that ever changed, it would receive plenty of visitors. This extraordinary building would be the focus of pilgrimages by church enthusiast, Pugin fans and casual visitors alike, who would all want to come and gawp in amazement. West Tofts was a typical small Breckland parish in a landscape of sandy heaths and pine woodlands. It's 14th Century church was augmented with a fine west tower in the 15th Century, and the donors had their names immortalised in flushwork around the base. You can see something similar a few miles off at Santon Downham in Suffolk. Not much happened after the Reformation until 1827, when Sir Richard Sutton purchased nearby Lynford Hall. A wealthy man, he expanded the estate by buying up the land in adjacent parishes, including Cranwich, Mundford, and this one, West Tofts. By the 1830s he owned all but four hundred acres of West Tofts parish. At this time, he paid for a restoration of West Tofts church, an early date, and intriguingly White's Norfolk Directory of 1844 tells us that it was beautified with stained glass about 15 years ago.
But the big changes were yet to come. In 1842, Sir Richard's wife Jane Mary died, and the family commissioned a mausoleum transept to be built on the south side of the nave. They engaged the services of the most notable architect of the day, Augustus Welby Pugin. This was completed in 1846. Then, in 1849, Richard Sutton's son Augustus was made rector of West Tofts, and embarked on a rebuilding on what Pevsner described as a remarkably ambitious scale. Pugin's brief was a complete transformation of West Tofts church, inside and out, including glass, furnishings and decoration, and no expense was to be spared. First, the ruinous north aisle and south porch were rebuilt. The following year, Pugin produced the design for the elaborate chancel, but before it could be completed he died in 1852. From this point onwards the work was overseen by his son, Edward Welby Pugin. The chancel is the most memorable feature of Pugin's church, for it is taller than the nave and has a western bellcote intended as a sanctus bell turret, giving the impression of a separate new church beside the old one. The roof extends a bay back into the nave, so that externally the south transept now comes off of the chancel, and the chancel appears longer than the nave. On the north side is a half-timbered extension which contains the internal stairway leading to the organ loft. It sits above a vestry.
The long church feels almost shoe-horned into its churchyard, an effect amplified by the tall wire fence protecting it from incursions. The churchyard is set back from the track that was once the village street, but the avenue of lime trees still leads up to it just as it did a century ago. There are many more headstones here than in the churchyards of the other Battle Training Area churches, and of all the churches, this is the one in the best condition, for it is effectively maintained as if it were a working church. You enter the nave through the south porch into a fairly dim and intimate space. The furnishings are to Pugin's design, and the tracery backs of the benches are based on a familiar late-medieval style found locally at a number of other churches. The south windows are filled with figure glass, most of it made by Hardman & Co to Pugin's design, but some of it is by Augustus Sutton's brother Frederick who was an enthusiastic glassmaker.
Turning east, the nave and aisle become a simple foil for Pugin's fireworks, for the south transept contains the memorial to Sir Richard Sutton's wife Jane Mary, a remarkable Gothic Revival piece, one of the grandest of its kind in England. It's in the Early English style with a highly decorated gabled canopy above what is effectively a shrine with a brass ledger. The roof above it is vaulted and painted. The memorial is contained within iron railings with the repeated Sutton rebus in copper of a barrel (or 'tun') with an S on it. Beyond the transept, Pugin's tall, elegant rood screen leads through into the long chancel with its tiled floor, stencilled walls and painted roof. On the north side, the organ loft projects dramatically from the upper wall. The organ itself, with its memorable painted panels, is now at South Pickenham. However, as that church is now no longer in use and appeared in a state of some decay when I visited in 2022, I wonder if it might be safer for it if it was moved back here.
The east window contains a crucifixion with scenes of the Passion, made by Hardman & Co to Pugin's design. It was removed into store with the other glass in the 1980s, but it has all gradually been returned. That on the south side of the chancel is by Frederick Sutton and incorporates figures of saints in 14th Century continental panels which had been collected by the Suttons. They originally came from an abbey in Austria, The best of the glass is in the north-west chancel window (though west of the screen) opposite Jane Sutton's shrine memorial. In its two lights it depicts firstly Eve in the Garden of Eden being tempted by the serpent, two hares sitting at her feet, and then the Annunciation, the Angel Gabriel appearing to the Blessed Virgin. it was installed in memory of Jane Sutton. Other glass in the north aisle is decorative, and to Pugin's design. The font sits at the west end of the aisle, with large protruding figures of angels holding scrolls, who emerge from beneath the bowl. It appears to be 14th Century. Above it is a crocketted Jacobean font cover.
At the east end of the aisle is a screened chapel with a crocketted and cusped wall memorial in the style of a tomb recess, angels with scrolls flanking the opening. I'm told it was intended for Sir Richard Sutton, but in fact it was not used for him, for outside, low on the south wall of the transept, is another recess. Within it, Sir Richard lies close to his wife. He died in 1855, and the Suttons sold Lynford Hall to Stephens Lyne-Stephens and his wife Yolande. They had inherited a fortune made by a relative who had patented moving dolls eyes, and when her husband died in 1860 Mrs Stephens became one of the wealthiest women in England. Her stewardship of this part of the Breckland would be a new chapter.
As the church sits close to West Tofts army camp, it is the least secretive of the the Battle Training Area churches. It can be seen from a public road. It's used for an annual carol service for which members of the public can apply for tickets, and by the Norfolk Churches Trust for its annual service in the summer. It's also in use for some secular purposes such as lectures. It wouldn't take a great leap of the imagination to see it used more regularly for concerts and the like, and back at the end of the last century I recall ideas were being mooted that it might become generally accessible to the public again. But I am told that the changing security situation of the last twenty years or so has made that prospect unlikely.
Games for Change, American Express, and Gigantic Mechanic hosted a hands-on game jam at the NYC Park Exchange event on August 22 to celebrate the National Park Service’s Centennial.
Participants learned the basics of game design and rapidly prototyped games that encouraged people to interact with the park, showing how games can inspire environmental stewardship and civic engagement.
Meet the Green Change team. We invite you to go green and help fight climate change with us.
Our climate action network can help you reduce global warming in your own life, with the help of videos, local events, direct engagement and online tools. We inspire people to take climate action in creative ways: we make it feel good to go green, through helpful tips, positive feedback, and social connections.
Our growing team of activists, artists and environmentalists is led by multimedia innovator Fabrice Florin, with team leads Marilyn Price, Al Grumet and many friends and neighbors. We aim to support our partners in the North Bay climate action network.
Many thanks to all our contributos for your wonderful support of Green Change. We are honored to work with you and look forward to helping more people go green together.
Change is coming.
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A DECADE OF IMPACT: MULTICULTURAL APPRENTICESHIP AWARDS CELEBRATE 10 YEARS OF INSPIRING CHANGE AT LANDMARK LONDON EVENT
Friday 7th November 2025 at Hilton London Metropole
Over 700 guests gathered at the Hilton London Metropole for the 10th annual Multicultural Apprenticeship Awards, marking a decade of celebrating the nation’s most inspiring apprentices and the employers, learning providers, and institutions that champion them.
Founded by The Pathway Group, in partnership with Pearson, this year’s milestone event represented a powerful moment of reflection, growth, and renewed purpose. Since its inception in 2015, the Awards have engaged more than 3,000 apprentices, 500 employers, and 100 learning providers across every major sector, a remarkable journey of transformation, inclusion, and innovation.
Reflecting on the event, Safaraz Ali, Founder of the Multicultural Apprenticeship Awards and CEO of Pathway Group, said, “As we celebrate ten years of progress, we’re reminded that apprenticeships don’t just change careers, they change lives. Our mission remains to celebrate, elevate and connect talent from every community. Together, we’re building a stronger, fairer, and more inclusive future for all.”
Congratulations to this year’s winners!
Sponsored by Pearson, Kaplan, Mindful Education, City Century, NCFE, Royal Navy, Severn Trent, JTL, BT Group, Occupational Awards Limited, Lifetime, British Army, Skills & Education Group, Lloyds Banking Group, Amazing Apprenticeships, NOCN Group, AELP, AstraZeneca, and City & Guilds.
#MCAppAwards
Foreground building is part of Lancaster Park ( now know as AMI Stadium ) Christchurch was to host 7 of the World cup Rugby games here, but the stadium grounds have been badly affected by the Feb 22nd earthquake so not going to happen.
Background buildings - dome is the Catholic cathedral and its fate is still undecided. Tallest one is the Hotel Grand Chancellor - Leaning 1m to the east, demolition will start about mid June and is expected to take 10 months to complete at a cost of approx NZ$10m. It will be the biggest & tallest demolition project in New Zealand.