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The history of the skip – How did it get its name?

The origins of the word ‘skip’ is something of an enigma; no one really seems certain about how the modern day skip got its name.

In countries like the US and Canada it’s referred to as a dumpster, which seems logical given the nature of its use. However, in the UK we call them skips (or skip bins in Australia).

The most widely accepted explanation originates with the ancient art of beekeeping. Nowadays, most people tend to visualise the modern version of a beehive as a box-like structure made from overlapping wooden slats.

Before wooden framed hives came into widespread use, beekeepers in the UK and Europe tended to use either inverted straw or wicker baskets (or hollow logs in some cases) as homes for their honeybee colonies.

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If you’re looking for a fireworks display to attend in the Sussex area this coming Saturday, here are 5 events to choose from.

A brief history of November 5th

Virtually everyone in the UK has heard of Guy Fawkes but few know he actually adopted the name Guido Fawkes whilst fighting on behalf of the Spanish.

He gained infamy by being found guilty (with a group of others led by Robert Catesby) for attempting to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605.

This event became known as The Gunpowder Plot.

According to history, after an anonymous tip off, Fawkes was found in a rented cellar and arrested whilst guarding explosives under The House of Lords.

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A new concept in food shopping has touched down on the Grangefield Industrial Estate in a town called Pudsey, near Leeds.

‘The Real Junk Food Project’ is the first of its kind to offer food on the basis of paying what you can afford, rather than items having their own specific price (scroll down for cafes in Brighton).

If you don’t have cash available, you can also pay with your time or labour to contribute towards the project.

The shop is called ‘The Warehouse’ and its new customers are presented with a range of foods that have been discarded or donated from local businesses, allotments, food banks, restaurants, supermarkets, cafes, food photographers, events and functions. 

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After years of experience in the waste management industry, we’ve seen all sorts of strange things dumped in our skips. Fortunately, we’ve never come across any live animals just yet.

This wasn’t the case for one company in Luton where they found five kittens when sorting through the contents of the skip after it arrived back at their depot last month.

The rescued tabby coloured litter consisting of four girls and one boy have been named Charlotte, Pippa, Maggie, Lulu and Biffa by staff at the RSPCA, who are now caring for them.

They were found in a box by a member of staff who’s job was to sort through the waste in order to seperate its contents for recycling. They were estimated to be around four weeks old when they were discovered in September.

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Feeling thirsty? Fancy a pint and a bite to eat?

Well, you’re in luck as a local pub in East Sussex has just won the much coveted “Great British Pub of the Year” award for 2016

If you head on over to Ditchling, make sure you pop into The Bull as they were named as the top pub in the UK at last night’s award ceremony which was held in London.

The Bull also picked up the award for the best freehouse in the country, so it was a pretty successful night all in all.

The award ceremony was organised by The Morning Advertiser and its editor, Ed Beddington was quoted as saying:

“The Bull is the kind of place that everyone wishes was their local, and we’d like to congratulate Dom and his team on running such a superb site, offering great beers, great atmosphere and great food”.

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New scientific evidence has shown that ocean dwelling creatures living at depths of up to 6,000ft have for the first time been found to have eaten micro-plastics.

Dr Michelle Taylor, of Oxford University, the lead author of the study is quoted as saying:

“The main purpose of this research expedition was to collect micro-plastics from sediments in the deep ocean – and we found lots of them. Given that animals interact with this sediment, such as living on it or eating it, we decided to look inside them to see if there was any evidence of ingestion – What’s particularly alarming is that these micro-plastics weren’t found in coastal areas but in the deep ocean, thousands of miles away from land-based sources of pollution”.

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The Heritage Lottery Fund has agreed to provide a grant of £61,200 to Lewes Town Council for a project which has been called “Our Pictures”.

The aim of the project is to make pictures that are in the Town Hall more accessible to the general public and will also deal with the cleaning and restoration of three works of art.

“The Visit of William IV”, “The Protestant Reformers” and “The Battle of Lewes” have been selected for restoration because of their poor condition and because they represent some of the history and cultural heritage of Lewes. The repairs and ongoing conservation will be undertaken by the Hamilton-Kerr Institute at Cambridge University.

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Angry parents are furious that their local council are planning to make them show their children’s birth certificates if they want the council to continue to collect dirty nappies.

The row has erupted in Anglesey, where those responsible for the council’s waste management team have said that they have “evidence that most children are potty trained between ages of two and three”.

They claim that parents should be able to prove the age of their child by presenting evidence in the form of a birth certificate if they want to continue throwing away disposable nappies.

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Several thousand Manchester residents are livid that the size of their grey household wheelie bins have been reduced by the local council from the original 240 litre capacity down to just 140 litres; a reduction of around 40%.

Despite the changeover costing around £1 million, the council hope that it will save an estimated £2.4 million on landfill costs each year and will also encourage users of the smaller bins to recycle more of their waste.

There are concerns that the reduction in size will bring about a spike in fly-tipping as residents will have less room in the new wheelie bins to dump their unwanted trash. This has led to thousands of householders demanding that the council do a U turn and reinstate the original 240 litre grey household wheelie bins.

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Please note: This is an old article. For the lastest traffic information on M23 or A27 road closures and other traffic news, please visit the Highways Agency Information page.

As we’re out on the roads delivering and collecting skips throughout Sussex 6 days a week, we thought we’d let our local community know that there are a couple of very busy roads that will be getting a facelift this week.

Firstly, Highways England has announced that the M23 between junctions 9 and 11 around the Crawley area will be undergoing resurfacing work during the night.

It’ll only affect traffic on the northbound carriageway of the M23 heading towards London and will be closed between the hours of 9pm and 6am until Sunday night.

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