Issue One
Rural Coffee Caravan
Making a difference to rural communities throughout Suffolk
www.ruralcoffeecaravan.org.uk
Welcome to the first printed edition of
our newsletter…!! Knowing what’s going on in our own communities isn’t always easy. It is especially difficult if access to transport is limited, or the village shop or pub or post office has gone or you live in one of Suffolk’s very scattered parishes. Rural Coffee Caravan exists to help rurally isolated people in Suffolk access services and information to improve their lives, health and wellbeing, and to bring people together, empowering and strengthening rural communities. We work to alleviate loneliness and social isolation by providing occasions that engender conversations, leading to people feeling more a part of their community. Our service is free and accessible to everyone. A list of our forthcoming visits can be found on the back of this newsletter. We’d love to see you there. We’ll put the kettle on for you, and guarantee you a warm welcome and some friendly company! 2
Polstead Woods — Photo by Becky Whitefield Issue #1 Contents •
Cooking with Kindness Appeal Update
•
High Hopes for MeetUpMondays™
•
More Than A Shop News
•
Community Dates for the Diary
•
Free Community Concerts with Suffolk Philharmonic
•
Later Life Community
•
National Patient Participation Week
•
Scam Warnings
•
Message Cascaders Update
•
June and July Rural Coffee Caravan Visit dates
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Appeal Update
Our
Income deprivation, resulting in food and fuel poverty, has been on the rise even before the start of the pandemic. Many people have had to choose between heating their home or cooking a meal. Many using just a microwave or even just a kettle to rehydrate dried foods like pot noodles. So we started a campaign to raise money to buy as many slow cookers as we could, to help people cook warm nourishing CHEAP meals (slow cookers cost around the price of running a light bulb for the same amount of time) for themselves and their families.
initial
target
of
£1000 was reached in
under 48 hours and the office was also inundated with actual cookers! This obviously resonated with people so we raised the target to £2000 and then when that was reached two days later, we set it to £5000. In the end we raised £12,500 aided by offline donations from Adnams, Suffolk County Council, Sizewell Community Fund, Felixstowe Town Council. We have been able, with generous discounts from local suppliers Hughes TV and Audio, Coopers and Sight and Sound to buy 500 slow cookers to distribute across Suffolk. We’ve also just received a donation of another £5000 of funding from Suffolk Community Foundation through the Fonnereau Road Health Foundation Fund which will go on to provide a further 200 slow cookers. So far 4
Having to choose between heating or eating is just unacceptable... those distributed have been through the organisations whose logos are pictured overleaf. East of England Coop provided us with vouchers and One Life Suffolk printed recipe cards to go with each cooker. We were also able to purchase a quantity of the recipe book, ‘Tin Can Cook ‘by Jack Munroe and donate them to various food banks. The cookers were various sizes for different needs but I think its safe to say that at least 2000 people can eat better meals than they were previously able to.
We may all be in the same storm but we are in different boats so to have received the level of support we have for this campaign has been heartwarming and we extend our grateful thanks to everyone who supported us.
Ann ☺
We have, so far, also lent our campaign words to 4 different appeals and to date we know that 1000 more slow cookers have been purchased in other parts of the country as a result.
Kindness matters
and kindness is contagious 5
Our grateful thanks
to the organisations below for their generous
donations, helping us to surpass our appeal targets; to the local suppliers who provided us with slow cookers, for their generous discounts; to the organisations who helped us distribute slow cookers from our appeal to where they were most needed and thanks too to those providing vouchers, recipe cards and books to accompany the slow cookers.
Sight & Sound
Lowestoft
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The Rural Coffee Caravan is what it is because of our amazing volunteers and we are truly grateful! Volunteering is a really fulfilling way to give back to your community. Helping us also helps volunteers to build their skills, confidence and employability and has enabled many to become community champions within their own villages, acting as catalysts of change.
We
are
looking
for
We are looking for: •
volunteer drivers to tow the caravan to rural Suffolk villages between April and October. No regular commitment is required, just whatever you can offer. Full training is given and your expenses paid (and there’s delicious cake while you work!)
•
volunteers to listen to, and chat with, visitors (training given);
•
people to bake cakes for us (your expenses paid);
•
volunteers to help us make doorstep deliveries – these might be flyers to advertise
new
volunteers! If you are looking for interesting ways of helping people and improving your skills, or maybe you’ve always dreamed of towing a caravan, then a rewarding and enjoyable volunteering opportunity is waiting for you, so please get in touch!
Call Rural Coffee Caravan HQ on 01379 855 338 or our Volunteers Coordinator, Diana, on 07494 572 153 or email her at
diana@ruralcoffeecaravan.org.uk
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Hospitality businesses offer rare opportunities
MeetUpMondays™
via MeetUpMondays™ for folk on their own to have regular company they might not otherwise have access to, whilst being able to safely follow social distancing regulations, because they already operate under government Covid-19 secure guidelines.
help folk on their own have weekly access to a warm welcome, friendly company and chat over a free cuppa, in an everyday environment. Rural Coffee Caravan, with the help of Suffolk Good Neighbour Scheme, has developed a network of around 100 pubs and cafés who help to address loneliness in their own villages and towns. Whilst many groups have been on hold due to Covid lockdown restrictions, as pubs and cafés start to welcome back their customers both outdoors, and from May 17th, indoors, more MeetUpMondays™ are resuming. We’re also delighted to be welcoming new venues on board every week!
Is there a pub or café in your neighbouurhood who looks out for its locals? Why not ask them if they would be interested in becoming a host? Hosting regular MeetUpMondays™ can help rebuild the confidence and social connections of folk who might have resigned themselves to being alone because of isolation and lockdowns. 8
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...in and around Suffolk which have resumed or joined since lockdown restrictions eased Barleycorn
Kesgrave Kitchen
30 Marketplace, Mildenhall IP28 7EF
77 Main Rd, Kesgrave, Ipswich IP5 1AF
Tel: 01638 712877 Tuesdays 9.30am -11am
Mondays 9 am - 10am
Brewers Arms The Garden House
18-20 Orford Street, Ipswich IP1 3NS
1 Pembroke Road, Norwich NR2 3HD
Tel: 01473 790862 Wednesdays 11am - 1pm
Tel: 01473 624038 Mondays 12pm - 1pm
The Golden Key 2 Priory Road, Snape IP17 1SA Tel: 01728 688510 Mondays 10am - 11.30am
The Greyhound 9 Henley Road, Ipswich IP1 3SE
Tel: 01473 252862 Tuesdays or Wednesdays 10am - 12 Noon (Please call to check which day for now. This group will eventually return to their regular Monday slot).
The Kingfisher 301 Hawthorn Drive, Ipswich IP2 0QG
Pura Vida
Tel: 01473 680300
Tel: 01379 766200
Mondays 9.30am - 11.30am
Wednesdays 9.30am - 11.30am
The Norman Warrior
The Pennoyer Centre
Fir Lane, Lowestoft NR32 2RB
Station Road, Pulham St Mary IP21 4QT
Tel: 01502 561982
Tel: 01379 676660
Mondays 10am - 12 Noon
Mondays 10am - 11.30 am
High Road, Wortwell, Norfolk IP20 0EN
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If you’d rather we approached your local pub or café on your behalf, just let us know their details and we’ll be happy to! Rural Coffee Caravan is funded to support pubs and cafes to host MeetUpMondays™ and they don’t even have to take place on a Monday! It’s free to join the network, we provide free promotional materials and we guide the hosts through the set up.
Call us on 01379 855338 or email meetupmondays@ruralcoffeecaravan.org.uk if you’d like some more information, or go to www.meetupmondays.org.uk
MeetUpMondays™ is for hospitality businesses but if your local community group or village hall club would like to organise something similar to help address loneliness and isolation in your village, then our c-a-f-e (coffee and friends events) network might be ideal for you. More on this in next month’s issue, or get in touch to ask us about how c-a-f-e can support your group, via the phone number above.
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High Hopes for 2021 We sent out some little packets of ‘High Hopes’ variety sunflower seeds to the members of our MeetUpMondays™ network at Christmas, and invited them to take part in a friendly sunflower growing challenge with us.
Watch this space for updates!! Why not plant your own sunflower seeds and join in the competition? Let’s all plant a little sunshine and hope across the county! Thompson and Morgan have kindly donated more ’High Hopes’ seeds to us after hearing what we were up to, to share on some of our Village Visits, so do ask the Rural Coffee Caravan Community Engagement team member on your nearest visit about them if you’d like to take part. 12
From little seedlings of hope…
The Rural Coffee Caravan/MeetUpMondays™ team are taking part too! When we shared out the seedlings Tina had planted up for us, we all spontaneously burst into song: “We’ve got...Hi-i-igh Hopes, we’ve got Hi-i-igh Hopes…!!” Some went home and were planted in with the tomatoes. Some are still perched on our windowsills (because those frosts in May kept catching us off guard!) ...
...and Hattie (CEO Ann’s new addition to the family) had other ideas… She must have heard us talking about how tasty the sunflower seed recipes were!
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More Than A Shop is a Rural Coffee Caravan initiative which acknowledges the vital role Suffolk’s rural shops play in helping to address loneliness and isolation across the county. We celebrate them for going above and beyond for their local communities, awarding them a certificate and a window sticker to display. More Than A Shop aims to inspire local shops to be more than just provisions stores, encouraging them to be places of friendship, welcome and connection.
The Lightwave Café Food Bank –Red Lodge Pictured right to left Maxine, Angela and Sue.
We are delighted to welcome the Lightwave Café in Red Lodge to our More Than A Shop network. This lovely café has been running approximately 2 years and has the community at the heart of what it does. Run by Angela and the team the café is a place of friendship and connection for the community, where everyone is welcome.
Whilst the café was closed the team were nominated for going above and beyond delivering food packages and prescriptions to the local community during lockdowns, and kept busy by setting up a food bank to help local families in need. The food bank is open every Monday & Thursday from 10 am – 3pm. 14
The Tuck Shop — Walberswick Not only has this shop been awarded our More Than A Shop certificate , it has also received the Walberswick ‘Local Heroes Award’: the village's own way of saying thank you. The village shop in Walberswick is affectionately called 'The Tuck Shop' by the locals. This dates back to a time before it was taken over by the Co-op, so you may see it referred to as both the Co-op or the Tuck Shop.
Has your village shop been a lifeline to you? Is it a place of friendship and welcome? If you would like them to receive a certificate to thank them for being More Than A Shop, then simply tell us why you’d like to nominate them and we’ll take care of the rest!
Local resident Sheila Parry says: “... the Tuck Shop really is the heart of our village, is extremely well used and we are so lucky to have it.. It is almost impossible to visit the shop without bumping into a fellow resident, which particularly helps those living alone. The staff are absolutely fantastic and, as you know, during lockdown were delivering to vulnerable residents in their own free time. They are a mine of information on “who’s who” in the village and are the first stop for delivery vans trying to find an address (we have house names not street numbers, which makes it tricky)!”
Call Elaine on 07494 570 905 or email her at
elaine@ruralcoffeecaravan.org.uk
To help out, volunteers regularly collect the prescriptions from the surgery in Southwold and leave them at the shop for collection. The shop has also sold programmes for the village fete and managed the sale of tickets to amateur dramatic and other events happening in the village. Tuck Shop staff receiving their More Than A Shop award
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If you’re looking for ways to get your community back together after the past year or you’re itching to meet new people... The Big Lunch is your chance to celebrate community connections and get to know one another a little better. The big date for this year is 5-6 June 2021. Getting together and sharing a bite to eat over a natter is fun, it’s as simple as that! Online, on your doorstep, over the fence, sign up for a free starter pack! Phone: 0800 022 3357 Email: communities@edenproject.com www.edenprojectcommunities.com/the-big-lunch Over 18-20 June, join the UK-wide movement of the Great Get Together, bringing people together to celebrate new connections. Events include: A Virtual School Assembly for specific issues young people face regarding loneliness and social isolation to be heard and addressed by those in power to influence real change. The Great Britain Talks Together encourages people to have conversations with someone they might not normally meet and explore what they might have in common. Join a UK-wide walk to bring people together to celebrate the Great Get Together’s #MoreInCommon message, and simultaneously take part in Refugee Week. Website: www.greatgettogether.org Email : hello@greatgettogether.org 16
…why not try bringing your neighbourhood together for a ‘Big Lunch’, a ‘Great Get Together’ or make a plan to celebrate Suffolk Day?
Suffolk Day—21st June 2021 For several years, the good folk of Suffolk have celebrated all that makes this county great on the longest day of the year. The sun shines first on Suffolk, so make a plan to enjoy the wonderful landscape, heritage, community groups, venues and organisations across Suffolk.
Images of artworks and Front Garden Galleries sent to us by: Carol Mayston, and by Alison of Craft Loft
In 2020 we encouraged Suffolk residents to create ‘Front Garden Galleries’ for Suffolk Day, to brighten up their neighbourhoods.
What will you be getting up to celebrate Suffolk Day? We’d love to hear about it! Get in touch and share your plans (see back cover). There’s something for everyone to enjoy and get involved with, from guided walks & treasure hunts to live broadcasts and competitions. More at www.suffolkday.co.uk. Why not make your neighbourhood’s BIG LUNCH part of Suffolk Day? 17
Free Community Concerts with the Suffolk Philharmonic Orchestra We are teaming up with The Suffolk Philharmonic Orchestra to put on another concert, or more than one if possible. We would like to work with four rural communities to deliver free musical events. These would be uplifting, shared experiences that would be good for connection, community spirit and mental wellbeing. We will need musical get togethers again, and they will be beautiful uplifting occasions! The last concert we hosted for the community at Somersham Village Hall in February 2020, before the first lockdown, was a magical afternoon! (Pictured below).
This is especially so after the loneliness of recent months. We work with each community to publicise the event and, together, we offer a warm, welcoming experience of beautiful music followed by afternoon tea. This gives an opportunity for a chat and, for us, to see how else we can support each community.
From doing this previously, we know it is a great way to bring folk together.
More info at
So we are delighted to be selected by the Co-op Local Community Fund to be a 'cause', in order to help fund these concerts, and we are asking all members to please consider selecting us at checkout? Or maybe even become a member so that you can!
membership.coop.co.uk/causes/50192.
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Great British Pea Week 5th to 11th July 2021 An annual celebration of peas! It’s aim is to increase awareness and understanding of the provenance and heritage of peas. Great British Pea Week was launched by the Yes Peas! campaign to recognise the industry-wide effort made by experts across the pea vining sector, which produces 2 billion portions of peas for the UK market and beyond each year. The harvesting process, which lasts an average eight weeks, is a huge operation which takes place between June through to August, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. (Image, content and recipe shared from the ‘Yes Peas!’ campaign at www.peas.org).
Why not try one of ‘Yes Peas!’ unusual pea recipes such as:
Peaculiar Crumble
Wash and trim rhubarb, cut into chunks approx 5cm. Place rhubarb in a baking tray and add FILLING INGREDIENTS: the water and caster sugar, bake for 10 -12 mins. • 3 stalks rhubarb Cook the peas and mash until smooth. • 50g peas Mix the rhubarb, peas and ginger in a • 1tbsp water bowl and taste. • 2tbsp caster sugar Place the butter, demerara sugar, flour 1 1/2 tbsp preserved stem ginger in and oats in a bowl and rub together to syrup make a crumble mix. Spoon the rhubarb mixture into 4 FOR THE CRUMBLE TOPPING: ramekins so they are 3/4 full. Spoon the crumble topping on the • 50g butter rhubarb and sprinkle with sugar and • 50g demerara sugar place in the middle of the oven for 10• 80g plain flour 15 mins until brown on top. • 20g oats • A little demerara sugar to sprinkle Serve with ice cream on the side Ice cream to serve on the side METHOD:
Recipe created by Year 6 Primary School Student: Jack Simms
Preheat oven to 180-200°C 19
It’s all about strengthening communities and encouraging engagement Guest Article Contribution from Jo Reeder of BSEVC At a time when we are all talking about the prolonged isolation we have experienced over the last twelve months, and starting to think about moving forward – opening our front doors and facing the world. How do we feel about this? Local charity, BSEVC are here to help and have been working closely with many local charities and community organisations, including Rural Coffee Caravan to come up with suggestions for how “we” as community focused groups, can really make a difference.
BSEVC has been around for years …but not in its current guise. Formerly Bury St Edmunds Voluntary Centre, the charity has adopted BSEVC as its working name for some years and been concentrating on rural transport solutions in a safe, affordable and accessible way. With the closure of Age UK Suffolk last Summer and changes in the way that family carers support can be accessed across the county, the charity has taken the opportunity to really connect their transport service with communities, with an additional focus on two new services – Suffolk Carers Matter and Later Life Community.
Suffolk Carers Matter is a support service for family carers, working in complement to Suffolk Family Carers to help with information, advice, counselling support, regular social activities, information sessions online and more. If you, or someone you know is a family carer (of any age) and living in Suffolk, you can call the friendly team at Suffolk Carers Matter, Monday to Friday for a chat on 01284 335035 or email enquiries@suffolkcarersmatter.org 20
Later Life Community is a brand new service Later Life Community started in February 2021, and dedicated in totality to older people. Co-ordinated by a dedicated team of former Age UK Suffolk staff, the Connect line was set up with a single point of access telephone number for anything and everything to do with later life – open 7 days a week, 10am – 2pm. And yes, a ‘real person’ will answer the phone between those times! You can call for a natter, ask for information or advice, but what you will get is a friendly voice and the opportunity to access a whole raft of support across Suffolk, just by calling that one number – no more multiple calls to multiple organisations – just give Later Life Community Connect a call on 01284 334516 and they will do the rest. With great relationships across the county, their aim is always to help to find a solution or support as locally to you as possible – whether that be a gardener, a social group, information about benefits, concern about memory issues, or how to benefit from a befriender – you can call this number, sit back and wait for the magic to happen! Regular welfare calls, support with getting to grips with modern day technology, and much more – are all part of the service – with the ethos of “community at heart”. And of course, underpinning all of this is
BSEVC’s community transport service – part of the Connecting Communities scheme, as we start to come out of lockdown, they are planning business as usual from June 21st, but are available right now for medical, school or work commitments. Watch this space for a great schedule of day trips and outings from September! To book your transport needs call 01449 614271 between 9am – 4pm. Transport services are available Monday – Saturday, 7am – 7pm. 21
National Patient
Participation Week
National Patient Participation Week is a national event held each June and aims to raise the profile of Patient Participation Groups (PPGs) who work with the NHS, especially in GP surgeries, to help steer NHS treatment by using the experiences and evaluations of NHS patients.
Healthwatch Suffolk is here to listen to your experiences of health and social care services in Suffolk so that they can use your views to make services better. They also provide information and signposting to help you navigate the health and social care system and understand what to do when things go wrong.
National Patient Participation Week, this year between 31 May—6 June, is a great way of highlighting how vital your feedback is to help improve services and care for everyone, but Healthwatch Suffolk would love you to share your feedback with them throughout the year, each time you experience care. You can do this is a variety of ways: •
Via online feedback forms at www.healthwatchsuffolk.co.uk
•
Emailing them at info@healthwatchsuffolk.co.uk
•
Calling Healthwatch Suffolk on 01449 703 949
•
Or by writing to them at
Healthwatch Suffolk, Office Poonsook, Main Road, Little Blakenham, Ipswich, IP8 4NF
For other Healthwatch Suffolk Information and Signposting Service: 0800 44 88 234 22
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Suffolk Trading Standards is the enforcement service that is responsible for protecting consumers and legitimate traders from scams and unfair trading.
WARNINGS Automated Telephone Message Scam
Suffolk Trading Standards are advising everyone to be aware of the latest automated telephone message scam. Criminals claiming to be from the National Crime Agency and Inland Revenue have created the automated message which states that your National Insurance Number has been used in criminal activity and failure to contact them will result in the suspension of the number. They say they will provide a number to call to ‘resolve’ the issue or ask you to press 1 to speak directly to an adviser. THIS IS A SCAM! They are attempting to obtain your personal and financial information. Please hang up on them. If you receive a call like this contact Suffolk Trading Standards on 0808 223 1133 or email: report@phishing.gov.uk Fake Supermarket Texts Scam
Another warning from Suffolk Trading Standards regarding fake text messages being circulated by criminals stating that your supermarket order is being delivered and to click on the link provided to track the delivery. DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK. It goes to a fake but genuine-looking website asking you for personal and financial information. If you receive a suspicious text, forward the message to Suffolk Trading Standards on 7726 and include the phone number/company name so your phone provider can investigate.
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TV Licence Email Scam A warning from Suffolk Trading Standards for everyone to beware - if you receive an email which states that your TV Licence is about to expire. The email will advise you to click on the link that they will provide. DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK. This is a scam designed to steal your personal information and bank details. Tips on how to spot the fake ‘TV Licence’ email: •
Real emails will only come from this email address: donotreply@tvlicensing.co.uk
•
Check the grammar and spelling
•
TV Licensing will address you by your name and scammers will use a general term like ‘customer’.
The real website for TV Licensing is tvlicensing.co.uk. Scammers will create their fake website to look as genuine-looking as possible by using similar branding & fonts and will replicate the link with something missing or with a small addition designed to make you think it is real. If you receive this email or one similar contact Suffolk Trading Standards on 0808 223 1133 or report@phishing.gov.uk
email:
www.suffolk.gov.uk/tradingstandards tel: 0808 223 1133 25
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IP21 5TU
If you’ve something Suffolk related you would like to submit to share with readers of our newsletter then we’d love to hear from you! Our copy deadline is 14th of the month for the following month’s issue. Email us or post your ideas to us.
tel: 01379 855 338
info@ruralcoffeecaravan.org.uk
Rural Coffee Caravan The Old Shop Harleston Road Weybread Diss
Our ‘Virtual Leaflet Rack, ‘Noticeboard’ and more news and info can be found at
www.ruralcoffeecaravan.org.uk
It's really great to be getting together in person again but we do not yet know by how much the vaccine stops COVID-19 from spreading. Even if you have been vaccinated, you could still spread COVID-19 to others so let’s all keep following the guidance to keep each other safe.
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VILLAGE
TIME
JUNE dates
JULY dates
Finningham Village Green Freckenham East View
10-12 Noon
1st June
6th July
2-4pm
1st June
6th July
Fornham All Saints
10-12 Noon
2nd June (Village Hall)
7th July (Thingoe Lodge)
Redlingfield Doorstep Green Pettaugh
10-12 Noon
2nd June
7th July
2-4 pm
2nd June
7th July
Sotterley Chapel
10-12 Noon
3rd June
n/a
Aldringham
2-4pm
8th June
13th July
Huntingfield
10-12 Noon
9th June
n/a
Lidgate
10-12 Noon
11th June
9th July
Cavendish Village Hall
10.30am -12.30pm
14th June
12th July
Wingfield
10-12 Noon
15th June
20th July
Chattisham
10-12 noon
15th June
20th July
Hintlesham
2-4pm
15th June
20th July
Combs Green
10-12 Noon
16th June
21st July
Polstead
10-12 Noon
18th June
16th June
Somersham
2-4pm
23rd June
28th July
Marshmoor Park
10-12 Noon
24th June
22nd July
Wixfield Park
2-4pm
24th June
22nd July
Claydon
10-12 Noon
25th June
23rd July
Buxhall Village Hall
2-4pm
28th June
26th July
Westthorpe
2-4pm
30th June
28th July
Visit locations, dates and times are correct at time of going to press but may be subject to change due to unforeseen circumstances or changes in government Covid-19 guidelines. If you’d like to confirm any visit details before travelling, give us a call or get in touch with us using any of the methods overleaf.
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