Sports & Clubs

Bowls Jacqui Dodds 243667 1st Melbourn Rainbows Abigail Roberts 261505 Brownies 1st Melbourn Stephanie Clifford 220272 Brownies 2nd Melbourn Samantha Pascoe 261400 Cricket Martin Winter 262733 Croquet Janet Pope 248342 Football Club Andrew Edwards 223109 Judo Derek Coult 225004 McSplash Joanne Greene 263313 Melbourn Sports Centre Graham Johnson-Mack 263313 Ramblers Dave Allard 242677 Royston and District Round Table Michael Seymour 221398 Squash Club Nick Sugden 261064 Swimming Club Jenny Brackley 244593 Tennis (Meldreth) Sue Davies 220174

1st Melbourn Rainbows

This year was the start of our Guiding Centenary and to celebrate, Girlguiding UK has teamed up with 18 charities. Different projects have been created by the girls and young women to change the world. We gave our Rainbows a chance to vote for which project they wished to participate in and their choice was Kidscape.

The project will create awareness about bullying and how to say no to a bully. Learning how to take direct action against bullying by making pledges, learning about healthy friendships and becoming bully proof! We have learnt songs, played games and participated in crafts to help us be more confident about ourselves and our abilities. We have all now completed the project and are wearing our badges with pride.

Also, earlier this year, we had our first ever Rainbow Sleepover to celebrate our unit’s first birthday. We created our own party food, played games, made stained glass windows and bracelets as well as other great things. The girls were fantastic and behaved impeccably, so much so, we are looking forward to having another sleepover later in the year.

For one evening we gave our Young Leader, Jo Evans, better known as Tulip, a chance to teach us all some dancing. As well as learning some old dance routines, she taught the girls a new routine which they performed to their parents at the end of the evening. A rather exhausting event for the older members of our group but not so for the girls who had a fantastic time.

All the Rainbows this year have also gained themselves a ‘Roundabout the World’ badge. We had to complete four activities under the theme’s Laugh, Look, Learn and Love. For laugh we made edible mud cups including worms! As you can imagine a very messy task but thoroughly enjoyed by all. For love we made windmills to place in our gardens, this was to remind us to love our planet, and for learn we made mini greenhouses. Lastly for look, we made ladybirds and then had a ladybird hunt around the church grounds.

We are now fast approaching the end of our summer term and are planning a trip to Fowlmere Bird Reserve with a picnic. Let’s hope the weather stays fine for us.

Our numbers this year have swelled to 21 with all our Rainbows having made their promise including our new young leader, Rebecca O’Brien (Daffodil) and we also have a new helper Michele Hooker (Orchid).

We have enjoyed many great activities over the last two terms and it is with some sadness that a few of our Rainbows will now be moving on to

01763-262943

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Brownies in September. We know they will have lots of fun and wish them all well.

Although we do have quite a long waiting list, if your daughter wishes to become a Rainbow, please call Abigail Roberts, Unit Leader on 01763 261505.

1st Melbourn Guides

World Issues, Water Aid, and wacky games were just some of the themes of the summer term programme at 1st Melbourn Guides.

Water Aid was our charity for the term, and we started by exploring the problems faced by developing countries with drama sketches based on real life situations. On another evening we collected buckets of water from the Mel, carried them back to the hall, and then tried to make just 5 litres of this water fulfil a series of typical daily tasks such as cooking porridge, washing children, and watering a vegetable garden. In order to fundraise for our Nepalese water project we had a stall at the Melbourn Fete which raised £65 from the sandpit treasure hunt in which everybody won a prize, and the water quiz which nobody won! Thank you to everyone who supported our stall.

On other sunny Guide evenings we enjoyed a range of co-operative and competitive games, including sack and chocolate sweets, and a box in which to present them.

As the Girlguiding Centenary celebration year approaches, we are looking forward to summer camp, a ‘Guidopoly’ challenge round Cambridge, and a pop concert at Wembley Arena.

Would you like to be part of the action? Our Guide unit in Melbourn is so popular that it is having to split into two groups, so we need some more adult helpers. It’s a great opportunity to meet new people, enjoy a wide variety of activities, and get involved in village life. If you were a Brownie or a Guide you will remember what fun you had; if not, now’s your chance! No previous experience necessary – just a sense of fun, a bit of patience, and two hours to spare on a Wednesday or Thursday evening. If you would like to find out more, please contact me on: 01763 261443 or email: melbournguides@gmail.com Hilary Marsh.

football relay, balloon volleyball, groundsheet shuffle, and a game of rounders.

Survival skills are a traditional part of the Guide programme, and we had outdoor evenings at the Moor and Riverside Park during which the girls learned FIrst Aid and navigation, and were also challenged to sketch a view of the church and do a healthy living quiz. Less healthy was the shared bag of chips at the end of the evening!

Highlights of Patrol time this term were the firing of mini rockets, pond dipping, making a shelter, and a fashion show. For Fathers Day the girls made

Melbourn Bowls Club

The sun is out The sky is blue There’s not a cloud to spoil the view And we haven’t Haven’t worn our waterproofs! I make no apologies for the rhyme to begin my article! What a fantastic summer we are having and bowling has certainly been a winner with beautiful sunshine, a warm greeting wherever we go and brilliant bowling with very little to dampen the atmosphere!

It was sunshine all the way on open day with all the members gathering together after a long cold winter to be meet with friendly and familiar faces to open a new season. It was not long before the leagues were underway and all systems were go. Division 2 are consolidating their place and hope to push for promotion next season. Division 5 are enjoying themselves in a very friendly yet competitive league and have produced some excellent results along the way! Everybody is enjoying the Friendly matches, where Melbourn players frequently meet out with old friends from other clubs. The Business House league is enjoying a good season with a consistent run of good results and Melbourn have consolidating their position in the Meldreth League.

As if this is not enough, there are club competitions also going on around the league matches. How do we do it I hear you ask!! Well the inter club competitions are one of the highlights in our bowling season with the finals taking place on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th September and Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th September 2009. You are most welcome to come along to watch the finals. There is always a good atmosphere, an exciting game, hopefully good weather and if that is not enough a bar too!!

Yet the end of the season is fast approaching and the end of August will draw a veil over another very enjoyable season. Why not come along and watch some of the remaining games down at ‘The Moor’ (just past the Village College School) and see for yourself what an enjoyable game bowls can be!! Elaine Cooke Melbourn Bowls Club.

Melbourn Sports Centre

It’s been another busy season here at Melbourn Sports Centre. The Free Swimming Initiative has proved extremely popular, attracting not only the age ranges it is aimed at but also other family members as well. We have begun to remodel our changing room facilities with the aid of capital from the scheme. The autumn will see facilities with new floors, improved showers and redecorated wetside changing rooms.

We enjoyed having a stall at the Melbourn Village Fete, and meeting more of the local community whom we serve. Our River Mel Derby game helped raise money for our children’s holiday PlayScheme funding, which was well attended.

This year’s Summer Pentathlons focused on children having a chance to learn and experience sports featured in the Olympic Games, which included gymnastics and basketball as well as the usual football, tennis and athletics skills. The final day of each activity week was our fun day, with a pool party and disco to finish off the event. Once again, the Pentathlons proved a popular and effective way to involve youngsters in both the social and competitive side of sport. We also want to thank TTP, our local sponsor, for sponsoring these events for us once more.

Our swimming lesson crash courses have been popular with our younger swimmers in the school holidays, and we are pleased to see many have improved their standards. Other activities that have been a sporting success include snorkeling and trampolining.

This season also saw the introduction of monthly Gym Challenges in our fitness suite. Our first monthly challenge kicked off on 1st August, inviting participants to see how far they could row in a ten minute period. Sports Kit of Royston sponsored the event and generously donated a £30 voucher to the winner, so we thank them for that, as well as their involvement in our Discount for Members scheme, which entitles facility members to a 10% reduction in purchases at the Sports Kit store. If any other local businesses would like to join in with this scheme, please contact the Centre Manager for further details.

Embrace Autumn at Melbourn Sports

We hope to see you all at our Open Day event on 12th September. For more information, please contact us. With the chilly return of autumn weather, why not come inside for a game of squash, badminton or table tennis? Autumn courses available at the centre include: For Children –

Toddler For Adults – aerobics and boxercise

We’re also holding a National Pool Lifeguard Qualification course during the October school half term week. Future activities that we’ll be bringing to the facility include tennis coaching, Friendly Friday sessions and Family Circuits.

We look forward to welcoming you this season at your local community sports centre. Graham Johnson-Mack Melbourn Sports Centre Manager

Ramblers’ Association Royston and District

Our walks programme continues right through the year. For details visit our website: www.ramblers-herts-northmiddlesex. org.uk or contact David Allard (01763 242677). Email: david.allard@ntlworld. com or Lesley Abbiss (01763 273463).

There is also a poster displaying walks for the current month in both Melbourn and Royston libraries.

We have walks on Sundays, which are normally 5-7 miles in the morning and a similar or shorter walk in the afternoon. Some Sunday walks are Figures of Eight making it possible to do only the morning or only the afternoon. Half-day walks are held on Tuesday or Thursday mornings (sometimes on both days). Sadly our evening walks ended on 26th August but will resume at the end of April 2010. Prospective new members are always very welcome and may come on a few walks before deciding whether to join.