About Melbourn Magazine

The humble beginnings date back to January 1995, when an 8 page A4 leaflet was first produced, filled with information on the work carried out by the Parish Council and printed on the Council’s copier. The following April, Issue 2 came out, with the inclusion of advertising and contributions from clubs and residents. It had also increased in size to 22 pages. About 500 copies were printed and placed in the library, Post Office and Co-op for people to pick up.

Issue 3 (now called Summer Issue) was printed by Hales Printers of Royston. With a print run of 1800 copies, it was printed in black & white with a blue paper cover and delivered to every household and business in the village. At the time, the magazine was sponsored by the Parish Council and TTP at the Science Park.

The magazine became financially independent of the Parish Council in 1998 and has remained so ever since, although it still carries Parish Council information when available. Production costs from this point became totally financed by advertising and the continued generous support of TTP.

Hales continued to print the magazine until autumn 2000, when The Burlington Press in Foxton (later known as Langham Press) took over.

The year 2000 also saw the launch of the Millennium book, a photographic record of the village, put together by the magazine team. The book was delivered free to every household in the village.

In 2005, to help publicise the launch of the magazine’s history book “A Glimpse into Melbourn’s Past”, full colour was used on the front cover and a few pages inside. The following year adverts appeared in colour, proving very popular. Today the magazine is in full colour throughout, with a print run of 2350.

The magazine is produced and delivered entirely by a great team of volunteers, some of whom have been with us since 1995, and of course TTP, who have remained a generous supporter of the magazine since the very beginning.

What has really made the magazine a great success, however, are the interesting and varied contributions from residents and active local groups, and helpful advice and news from many important institutions throughout the county.

Without any of the above-mentioned volunteers, groups, clubs, individuals and sponsors there would be no Melbourn Magazine. Thank you all for your support.

Issue 1 January 1995 Issue 43 Summer 2000 Issue 100 Winter 2019

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Melbourn & Meldreth Women’s Group

We are a small friendly group and we meet on the 4th Tuesday of the month except in December. We have been using Zoom for meetings, but in September we had our first face to face meeting. Carol Read talked to us about the “stand-by-me” bereavement support group, which helps children where one of their parents have died. It really was an excellent talk, Sue Toule gave a vote of thanks and a donation for the charity.

In October we met to make Christmas decorations for The Christmas Tree Festival which was being held in Holy Trinity Church at the beginning of Advent.

November we will have met to hear Revd. Caroline Brownlie lead us on an Advent talk.

We do not meet in December and our AGM is due to take place on 25th January 2022 in All Saints Church Community Hall. We will conduct our formal business of electing the committee, receiving the accounts, choosing a charity to support during the coming year and getting our new programme. Then hopefully we will have a bring and share supper. 22nd February will see us meeting at Melbourn for a talk or reflection ready for Lent. Our meetings will be subject to review with regard to Covid developments.

We begin our meetings, which start at 7.45pm, with notices and The Women’s Group Prayer and then we either have a speaker or some in-house entertainment. Afterwards we have tea/coffee and biscuits with time for a chat. We vary our venue between All Saints Community Hall in Melbourn and Holy Trinity Meeting Room in Meldreth. There is no membership fee, we charge £1 on the night to cover our costs with an option to donate to whichever charity we are supporting. If you are new to the village or would like to find out more please contact one of the committee members: Pat Smith (262575) Sue Toule (260955) Angela Leach (262793) Pat Ames (261130) Kimmi Crosby (07976228377) Mary Bailey (220171) Diane Blundell (221415)

Melbourn Community Library

After having to be closed for 18 months we were delighted to reopen the library in late August. Throughout the autumn people from Melbourn and the surrounding villages obviously took pleasure in reconnecting with their local library. We had a surge in new registrations (free to all residents in Cambridgeshire), even running out of new library cards at one point! We also welcomed four new recruits to the library team, all of whom have settled in quickly.

In September two of our original volunteers retired. Peter and Mike had stepped forward 18 years ago when the old Melbourn library was threatened with closure and, together with other like-minded volunteers, had set up the voluntarily run library. Their considerable talents helped establish the library and their contribution to it has been immense.

Although run by volunteers the library is supported by the Cambridgeshire Library Service (CLS) so members can order books from the Cambridgeshire catalogue and collect them from the library at the Hub. Also, any book borrowed from any library in Cambridgeshire can be returned at the Melbourn library. Although we receive some new books from the CLS the vast majority are owned by the Melbourn library – either bought new or donated. We constantly update our stock of books and to date have nearly 5,000 either on the shelves or borrowed.

Most of our books are fiction, though there is a small collection of books on local history and a variety of biographies. We have a good selection of large print

Your care home experiences wanted!

Do you, a loved one, family member or friend live in a Cambridgeshire or Peterborough care home?

Health and social care champion Healthwatch

Cambridgeshire is calling out to Melbourn area families to share their experiences of care homes over the last 12–18 months.

From communications and visiting restrictions to

Covid testing and end of life care – they want to hear what it’s been like for you.

What you tell Healthwatch will help local health and care services prepare better for the future. If you’re not online, get in touch and they can send you a paper questionnaire and a pre-paid envelope. Call 0330 355 1285. Share your views at: www. healthwatchcambridgeshire.co.uk/care-home-survey