Feature Melbourn’s celebrations

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Melbourn’s celebrations for the 1977 Silver Jubilee

I became a South Cambs District Councillor and a Parish Councillor in May 1976, and the first job I was given was to form a committee to organise the Silver Jubilee celebrations in Melbourn for the following year. That is called being thrown in at the deep end! There was no funding, so we had to swiftly think of some fundraising activities and the programme we came up with was quite impressive.

I have a copy in front of me. I think now that the range of activities was awesome: a Treasure Hunt, Combined School Concert, Jubilee Entertainment (admission 50p), Disco to choose the Carnival Queen, Pet Show and Baby Show (never again, do not go down that road!), Under 5’s Fun Day, Whist Drive, Scouts Camp Fire, Bowls Drive, Single Wicket Competition, Sports Day with Tug of War, Best Kept Garden, Flower Festival, Over 60’s party and of course the Jubilee Ball, music by Tom Collins, the Carnival Procession and much more.

We also held an Elizabethan Fayre. This was a great success and we raised a lot of money – everyone threw themselves into dressing up with great gusto; I wonder how many people remember it? We had stocks in the churchyard with wet sponges to throw and lots of stalls. Barry Russell (husband of Carol the hairdresser) made a series of shields spelling out ELIZABETHAN FAYRE and two Beefeaters – these were placed around the edge of the green round The Cross and were used in various ways for many years afterwards. We also had Melbourn Jubilee Mugs and teapot stands for sale – who still has one?

At the Under-five’s Fun Day we provided clowns, balloons,

donkey rides and a magician, and I presented a crown to each of the children. I went to all the schools and presented crowns and many months later Robert Childs at the Post Office told me that for days afterwards lots of children were coming in and spending them on sweets! Is there anyone in Melbourn today who has one of the Jubilee Crowns I gave them? Ray Ellis gave a slide show of his Old Melbourn slides, with various village artefacts, and of course we had a Jubilee service in church.

On 3rd June, we held a tea party for 400 at the Primary School, and I read in my diary that my allocation was to make 100 jam tarts, 100 scones, two trays of chocolate crunch and 160 fairy cakes. My younger daughter Sarah, who at that time was intent on becoming a chef, had offered to oversee the tea party and although she was only 15 she did an excellent job. For days before, every surface in the house was covered in 400 jellies and chipolatas, cakes etc.

On Monday 6th June, the weather finally let us down for the Sports Day and it rained all the morning, although it did dry up for a couple of hours so we could run most of the races in the afternoon. There was a Whist Drive that evening. On the 7th we had the big Carnival Procession starting in the Neve car park at the Royston end of the village. The procession wound its way through the streets finally coming down Norgetts Lane and The Moor to the recreation ground, led by a police escort and youngsters carrying Barry’s Elizabethan shields.

There were decorated prams and bicycles, floats with Brownies, Guides, playschools etc (flatbed lorries – what Health and Safety?), everyone in fancy dress, and of course there was a prize for the best in each category. In the evening, we had music and a firework display.

At the end of the jollifications we still had about £400 left over – quite a lot of money in 1977. We decided to erect a village sign and George and I went to see the famous Harry Carter, the Suffolk Sign Maker (and incidentally cousin of the Harry Carter who discovered the tomb of Tutankhamen – there were lots of Egyptian objects on display in the house!) with subjects for the sign and he liked the idea of portraying John Bunyan preaching under the Old Elm on The Cross.

I collected all the photographs which had been taken over the months of the Jubilee events and had them bound in a book, which went the rounds of all the schools and organisations in the village so that everyone could have a look at it. The library did not want to have the responsibility of looking after it, so after some discussion it went to the Cambridge Collection. We have had it out on several occasions where it has been on show in the village – I believe the launch of the Melbourn History Book was one such time and the Millennium was another.

After we had been discussing at the Parish Council what we would do with the scrapbook, the clerk to the Parish Council, Sid Waldock (affectionately known as Tadpole) came up to me and said: “Mrs. H, I have a big old book under my bed.” “Have you”, I said, “what is it?” “I don’t know – I was given it in 1934 when I took over as Clerk and it has been under my bed ever since. It has some maps and pictures and big brass clasps.” “I had better see it”, I said – and the following day he came up the drive to Lordship Farm with a big box balanced on the handlebars of his sit-up-and-beg bike. He dumped it on my kitchen table – it was only the Melbourn Enclosure Book, dated 1839, a fabulous item with watercolours of the Church and The Bury, maps and lots of big red seals. I immediately rang Mr. Pettit at the Cambridge Collection and he was beside himself, our book had long been thought lost or maybe sold to America, but certainly no one had ever thought that it was lurking under a bed in Norgetts Lane! It is now safely housed in the Cambridge Collection and may also be borrowed for special occasions by the village.

One of the things we did was to send a letter of congratulation to Her Majesty on behalf of the village, and I received a very gracious acknowledgement. I would rather like to think that the letter is framed and on the wall in the Parish Council Office, but I doubt it!

I got into BIG trouble for having held the Elizabethan Fayre on The Cross without having asked permission of the British Legion! I confess it had not crossed my mind; I had cleared it with the Church but the Legion was most upset and I had a rocket from them. My plea was that all the men whose names were inscribed on the Cross had given their lives to give us the freedom to be celebrating, and I just about escaped being put in the stocks. However, being Chairman of that Jubilee Committee was a wonderful experience for me and I got to know many, many people in the course of that year.

I know that ‘real’ Melbourn people will still think of me as an incomer even after 60 years, but that first experience of getting involved in the village and later having the privilege of working on the Melbourn History project have been amongst the highlights in my life. Mavis Howard