No 30: August 2012
Published by Rothay House, Mayfield Road, Eastrea.
Eastrea Village News TESCO LOSES! AGAINST THE ODDS, Sainsbury’s have won the right to build a new supermarket on the A605. Our report (issue 28) gave details of the rival bids. The Tesco organisation had already been granted planning permission to build on a site at Station Road in Whittlesey, and the officers at Fenland recommended that Tesco should win this battle — but the vote on Wednesday unexpectedly went against them. Sainsbury’s plan a 54-acre country park extending towards Eastrea. The new store will be half a mile from the Nag’s Head, and so would be within easy walking distance of Eastrea.
Late applications for
Student Grants
TOP CONSULTANT VISITS AFTER THE LORD-LIEUTENANT visited the site of the new Eastrea Centre last month, the Village Hall Trust spent a day with Mr Alan Soer (above) who has been responsible for the success of the Arbury Community Centre in Cambridge. Alan is now in much demand as a consultant and offers many important insights into the running of a successful community centre like ours. On this occasion, however, he came as a friend of the village and devoted himself to our project for no fee. “It takes several years to get going,” were his final words. “There’s no rush—let the building develop naturally.”
EASTREA RESIDENTS (both young and old!) who will go to college this year can still apply for a grant from The Storers. The trustees have agreed to relax the deadline. Applicants must provide their examination grades, financial statement, a c.v. with their spare-time or community activities, and contact details of their tutor and a referee whom the Trustees’ advisers can contact. Phone 350888 now for more details. Applications have to be received by Saturday 22 September. If you are eligible, make sure you apply. Below is our Bursary winner from 2011 — young Gareth Prentice, who is in charge of a spotlight for the Olympic Games.
BRICK FINISH FOR OUR VILLAGE HALL
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THIS ARCHITECT’S IMPRESSION of the new Eastrea Centre (above, which featured in issue no. 25) showed the inspiring profile of this building, but there was one aspect that needed to be changed. The walls (arrowed) weren’t much liked, and some villagers thought the panels made it look too much like a sports centre. As a result, we have been able to change the walls to traditional local brick. The buff bricks shown in the main picture are made locally and will give the village hall a suitably regional appearance.
Naming Eastrea’s New Road
OUR LOCAL AUTHORITY will need to choose a name for the road around which the new housing is now being built. Let us know if you have an idea—it is best to mark some local person, or something of historical interest. The ancient Romans farmed on Eastrea, and (as was reported in Eastrea Village News no. 22) Roman remains have recently been found on the site, so ‘Roman Way’ is one current proposal.
COMPUTER CONNECTIONS OPTICAL FIBRE runs close to the Eastrea Centre site. For us to change its position during construction work was going to entail a substantial payment, and the Trust — who always seek ways to keep our costs to a minimum — asked BT for an on-site consultation. Mr Colin Hill came to discuss the project and gave us detailed plans of the full installation that lies buried below ground. As a result the Trust found a way to cut the invoice from BT by fifty per cent. The Trust is trying to obtain agreement for the provision of a very high-speed connection for users of the Centre. Since the optical cable runs across our land, we hope to take full advantage of this with an access point for the hall. Contact by telephone: 350888
BT official Mr Colin Hill came over to Eastrea for an on-site consultation about the optical cable on the village hall site. Email: mail@eastrea.net