Culture and nature watching listed under top 10 happiness activities

Researchers in the UK used a smartphone app to gather data on activities that
make people happy or not. The team from the London School of Economics was
headed by George MacKerron, an environmental economist.

While studying for his PhD at the LSE a decade ago, he devised and developed Mappiness, an iPhone app-based research project designed to measure wellbeing against environmental factors in a new way, and on a much larger scale than previously attempted. At that stage most work had been done on the negative side of wellbeing and the effects of the environment on mental and physical ill-health.

Couple overwhelmed by care received after accident

On 9 May at approximately 09h00 my wife and I had an accident on the bridge leading to the Amber Valley Administration Centre. This started a run of events that we would like to share with you.

Within five minutes Niki from the Admin Centre arrived and a short time after that, Matron Jade and Sister Tracy from the Care Centre with first aid equipment to assess our vitals and injuries.

Gardens transform the landscape

The Amber Lee Garden Committee was formed in May 2017 with the mission to develop gardens in the common areas of our, then newly established,  grassland estate. We formulated a garden development plan which was presented to the Body Corporate in 2018.

Over the years we have tirelessly worked towards implementing the plan. Working with a very modest budget, we relied heavily on generous donations of plant material from residents all around the Greater Ambers and we established a nursery for the propagation of plants for use in the gardens, with the result that very few plants in the various beds have been purchased.

Barn Swallows visit the Ambers again on their migration north

During the past few weeks many people have commented on the Barn
Swallows which have been observed in large numbers over the Ambers. They were seen flying overhead twittering constantly, perched on rooftops or on overhead power lines; sometimes in their hundreds. I thought it may be a good idea to provide some information about this
interesting species of swallow.