Speakers’ Corner

bringing up their children on their own. Or they might be very capable people who are struggling with the demands of new parenthood.

Home-Start Royston & South Cambridgeshire are now settled in their new home at Valley Farm in Meldreth, and over the last year has helped over 114 local families, with a total of 261 children, by providing support either through their Home visiting service or Family Support Groups.

The majority of families are referred to Home-Start by their Health Visitor or other Healthcare Professional. However, over 30% of families refer themselves to the service, recognising that they need support.

Home visiting is where a trained Home-Start volunteer offers a family support, friendship and practical assistance in their home for 2-3 hours once a week, at a time that’s convenient to the family. The kind of help offered depends on what’s needed - perhaps a friendly face to chat to once a week, or taking the children to the park for a couple of hours whilst the parent catches up on paperwork, housework, has some exercise or even catches up on some sleep.

The same volunteer visits the same family each week, so families have a regular friendly face coming in. As one mother put it: “I look forward to the weekly visits from my volunteer who gives me much needed breathing space, a listening ear and real friendship.”

In addition, family groups take place once a week, on Thursdays at the Methodist Church Hall, Queens Road, Royston, on Fridays at The Hub in Cambourne. Families may be family group members, have a home visiting volunteer or combine the two.

There are toys for the children to play with and a play leader organises a programme of activities, for example, drawing, painting, singing, sandwich making or dressing up. Activities are arranged for

COFFEE STOP

Every Saturday 10.30am to 12noon Rombouts coffee & biscuits for 70p at All Saints’ Community Hall

www.melbourn.org.uk/speakers-corner/www.melbourn.org.uk/speakers-corner/

A good ol’ moan!

Everyone gripes and grumbles about something, whether it’s waiting too long in a queue, missing post or poor restaurant service. But apparently although we enjoy a good moan, when it comes to complaining we British all too often shy away from confrontation. Partly because we don’t like the hassle, or we don’t think it will do any good. Perhaps we don’t want to be seen as the ‘moaning’ Victor Meldrew, or simply don’t know how or who to moan to. Most of us won’t make a complaint, no matter how badly we’ve been mistreated. Yet complaining is straightforward, so why do we consider it too much trouble?

On the door step

Melbourn is a great village – it has a lot to offer, but it does have its faults. Speakers’ Corner can be found on the village website. It is a blog where you can put your point of view on village issues or have something to say about other peoples discussions. It is the place for locals to ‘gripe’ and ‘grumble’ or just make an observation. Feel free to point out problems with speeding traffic, intimidating youths, littered streets, holes in the roads, overhanging branches, dog mess or problems with the councils, (not just the Parish but also the District and the County). The list can be endless – no doubt we can all think of one or two. One of our biggest problems is the assumption that somebody will already be dealing with the ‘situation’. A neighbour perhaps has let the authorities know or the appropriate authority has been patrolling the street and seen the problem. The Police have their faults (lots), but they also need the help of the public to identify problem hotspots. As do local councils. No point expecting them to know where there are potholes, bad lighting, overhanging bushes or disturbances in the village if no one informs them. In the real world there is not a ‘copper’ standing on every street corner or some official walking every path and road checking for problems – much as we feel there should be. (I know! ‘We pay enough’, I hear you say!) If you do have an issue and you want to tell someone about it, pick up the phone and let them know. Alternatively, put your complaint or problem on the site. Somebody in authority WILL be looking at it, we will make sure of that. As this site is open for others to leave their comments, someone may already have the answer your looking for. You DO NOT need to leave your real name on the site, a username is fine. We do ask you to fill out the form with correct details, but you can be assured your details are not revealed to anyone. We hope to feature many of the issues in the Melbourn magazine, so everyone in the village, not just those lucky enough to have the internet, will be able to get to know what’s going on. If you know someone with a problem but without access to the internet then why not help them by putting their problem on the site.

the parents too, perhaps with an outside visitor coming in to speak on a topic such as sun safety, first aid and offering advice on parenting skills. Volunteers are on hand to help throughout the session, and families bring along a packed lunch so everyone can sit down and eat lunch together.

Home-Start is desperate for volunteers for both the home visiting service and Family Groups. Volunteers give a local family the most precious gift there is – time.

All volunteers are parents themselves, often with older children and are able to spare time and their company with a family. They’re not healthcare professionals or connected to the family in any way, so offer impartial confidential support.

Home visiting volunteers receive preparation on how to work with a family, and once qualified are appropriately matched with a local family. The next course will take place in February/March 2010. Family support group volunteers are needed once a week between 12 noon and 3.00pm, so this fits in with school hours.

There are so many ways you can support Home-Start – as a home visitor or family group volunteer, by becoming a trustee, by giving a donation or by attending our fundraising events. For further details - Home-Start can be contacted on 01763 262262 or email admin@hsrsc.co.uk

Women’s Group

24th november Coming to what? Alan Hay Meldreth Meeting Room December no meeting 26th January 2010 AGM Melbourn Community Hall All starting at 7.45pm

Self Help Group

Thursday Luncheon Club We have had a very good year. Despite losing Mary Daynes, our cook of many years standing, we are still going. Our food is collected from Moorlands Court who provide us with a two course meal. We have a six week menu and we thank Sabrina and Dawn, the two cooks at Moorlands Court, together with Sharon and Denise for their enormous help. We are looking forward to Christmas. As mentioned before, due to lack of a resident cook, the ladies in the kitchen will be providing a fantastic Christmas meal for our lunch club members. As last year, we hope Father Christmas will spare us some of his valuable time. Continued thanks, to the many ladies and gentleman of Melbourn and Meldreth who provide transport and help in the kitchen, without whose help we would not be able to operate. There is still a waiting list for lunch club, but if anyone wishes to be added to the list, please contact me on Royston 220250. Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas, from all at Luncheon Club. Jayne White

Lifeboats

By the time you read this local RNLI groups will have been reviewing the previous year and planning for 2010. Where does the time go?

This last year has been an even busier one for crews and fundraisers alike. There has been great pressure on crews as many people now take holidays nearer home due to the recession. This led to more activity on British beaches – not always of a sensible nature. The number of rescues of people drifting out to sea on inflatables doubled, and inexperienced sailors caused a large rise in sea rescues – nearly 1,500 between April and June.

Because of all this, and because people are understandably less keen to part with money in the present uncertain financial situation, national fund raising efforts have also come under great pressure. Fortunately RNLI has always been sympathetically received by the public, but there is a limit to people’s generosity.

Local groups, including Royston, do their best to swell the coffers, and 2009 was a busy, if at times frustrating time for us too. Our annual Flag Day sadly raised only a fraction of its normal amount, due to the council in its infinite wisdom booking two other charities to collect on the same day. (Irate letters followed I believe.)

We also had a lot of trouble with our regular souvenir selling at Duxford Air Shows, due to suddenly being regulated to an open-air pitch, and needing a tent to cover our wares. We surmounted this obstacle, but were forced to abandon one event as we did not have enough people to set up our stall.

However, we look forward to 2010 with optimism, with bookings for local fetes, and the Royston Kite Festival, and hopefully a Flag Day to call our own.

‘Every little helps’ as we are told, and it encourages us to think that all over the country, groups like ours are doing their bit to keep this great institution going. With your help RNLI will always keep afloat. Jean Eames (01763 245958)

Melbourn History Group

You will read elsewhere of the successful 50th anniversary of the opening of the Village College. The History Group were very happy to be associated with the event and provided a stand mounted with many of the College’s archives showing press cuttings and photographs of the many happy times since 1959. It was a joyous occasion as many old pupils met up again and exchanged reminiscences.

Having finished our work on the 50th anniversary the History group is again attending to the regular requests that we received from visitors to the village who leave their queries in the visitors’ book in the Parish Church or ring us direct. Over the last few months we have dealt with queries on the ancestors in the families of the Kings, Days, Stockbridges and Worlands and several people have gone away with the Melbourn History Book.

It is perhaps a good idea to remind our readers that all new Melbourn residents are entitled to a free copy of the History Book and can obtain one from either the Parish Council Office or from any member of the Group. Colin Limming. 01763 260072

Royston & District Local History Society

website: www.roystonlocalhistory.org.uk Our meetings are held in the Heritage Hall, Royston Town Hall starting at 8pm. It costs only £5 for an annual subscription (Sept-August) Visitors are welcome £2. Our programme of evening talks may be viewed on our website.

The Royston Cave in Melbourn Street, which has many interesting medieval carvings, will re-open on Easter Saturday 2010.

Our website shows all the books we have for sale. Many of these result from the considerable work undertaken by our Publications sub-committee. The books are available from David Allard 01763 242677 or may be purchased at the Royston & District Museum in Kneesworth Street, Royston. Thurs 3 December Modernizing History – Exploring Hitchin, illustrated. Alan Fleck Thurs 7 January History of Addenbrookes Hospital, illustrated. Fraser Rogers Thurs 4 February The Pioneer Years – the founding and development of

Letchworth Garden City up to 1920, illustrated. Victoria Rawlings Thurs 4 March The Inns and Outs of Pub Names, illustrated. Mark Pardoe

Royston & District Family History Society

We are just getting back into the swim of things after the summer break and settling in to our second year at All Saints’ Community Hall in Melbourn.

Our first meeting of the new season, September 21st, was a very interesting talk by Eve McGlaughlin about the property of a married woman and what happened when her husband died. Eve is a real heavyweight in family history circles with numerous book titles to her credit and her vast knowledge of her subject shone through in her talk. We all ended the evening much more knowledgeable about the possible circumstances our widowed ancestors would have faced than we were before. Eve also brought along a selection of her own books for sale so most of us went home with lighter purses as well. Our next couple of meetings are member’s evenings when we talk about our own experiences in trying to trace our families and help each other to knock down those “brick walls” which we all run into with our research from time to time. Every year we attempt at least one project. Currently we have two on the go. Our “outdoor summer project” has been the Monumental Inscriptions of the Churchyard at Steeple Morden. After several sessions crawling about on hands and knees trying to read very worn headstones we have reached the checking stage. All the stones have either been read, or at least categorised as illegible, and we now change personnel and read them all again, hopefully that should bring any errors to light. It is hoped that within a year the Steeple Morden churchyard will join our other 12 Monumental Inscription booklets for sale.

The current indoor project is the transcribing of the Marriages from the Parish Registers of Royston Parish Church. This, when published, will cover the same time span as the burials which we already have published and will be followed in the future by the baptisms.

Earlier this year we had a stall at the Family History Day at Denny Abbey Museum. Cambridge and Huntingdon Family History Societies also attended along with several Local History Societies. It was an interesting and reasonably profitable day but, bitterly cold. We were in the cart shed and the wind sure did whistle round it!

For our summer outing this year we had a coach trip to Bletchley Park. We were blessed with a glorious day, which certainly helped and we all agreed that it provides a really good day out. Not only is it very interesting to see the Enigma Machine and all the other code breaking gizmos and computers, but the grounds are lovely and the mansion itself very impressive. We were also extremely fortunate in our guide, an indefatigable lady called Jean Valentine, who actually worked there during the war and has “the T-shirt”. She was fascinating.

Our December meeting will, as usual, be a Christmas Social then it will be noses to the grindstone again in 2010.

We are always pleased to welcome

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www.melbourn.org.uk/speakers-corner/

visitors if you would like to come along and see what we get up to. We meet on the third Monday of the month at All Saints Community Hall. Jan 18th Member’s Questions and a short talk by Peter Jackson “Thomas

Sutton & Charterhouse” Feb 15th Member help Member Mar 15th “In praise of old churches”

A talk by Mr Roy Tricker April 19th “Tracing the convicts who went to Botany Bay” a talk by

Mr Ken Griffin Avril Emery, Chair/Editor Royston & District FHS

Royal British Legion

The all-important Royal British Legion event of the year, The Poppy Appeal, is over, we awit the final results. This was followed by the Armistice Day Remembrance Service at The War Memorial. Sadly we did not march this year due to the retirement of our Parade Marshall Mr. Reg Luff. Reg Luff is nearly ninety now and has served our branch for many years; his former army service shows in his smartness and posture and he is without doubt a credit to our branch.

This year we had a new Poppy Appeal Organizer, Steve Fuller, who lives in Meldreth. He and his wife are very keen to do their best for The British Legion. Another retirement has come about, that of Mrs. Sheila Goldthorpe our former Standard Bearer of the women’s branch. We are always sorry to lose such people, but happily her position has been filled by my wife Pauline. Our membership still stands at 31, with plenty of room for new members who will always be welcomed. My regards to you all, Patrick Parkinson, Chairman & Secretary,

Melbourn and Meldreth District Women’s Branch

Members held a Tombola Stall at Coffee Stop on 12th September, as this had been designated as ‘Women’s Section Day’. We all dressed in Region colours of yellow and blue, and made money for Branch Funds.

Members are looking forward to a visit to Brick Lane on Dec 9th, where we will partake of a Christmas Dinner and entertainment.

Anyone wishing to join can contact either Mrs E. Murphy (01763 220841) or Mrs A. Neaves (01763 260110)

Library News

The Library has been doing well over the last few weeks. We have had a considerable increase in borrowing which is against the national trend. We have also been able to train three new librarians who are easing the load on our existing team. Our new Chair Lady, Jocelyn has inspired us to various measures that have greatly improved the Library. We have completed our repairs and repainting which has made the building far more welcoming. The Doorstep service run by Hilary Frith of the Library service has been using our Library to provide books for readers in Moorlands which has made Wednesdays very busy. We have two Book Clubs who use us to obtain collections for their readers.

We notice that very few readers come on Saturdays which surprises us. Why not visit us when you come into the village on Saturdays. If you are new to the village

you will find our facilities both welcoming and useful. Our stock is intended to reflect the needs of the village but if you need other items we can get them quickly via the hold service. The hold or reservation service is free for books and items in the Cambridge Collection which means for all the regular libraries in Cambridgeshire. Books take about a week to arrive. Books arrive at the beginning of the Monday session and are available for collection during that session. Our own stock is based on paperback fiction with a few donated hardback books. We also have categories for autobiographies, history, large print, travel, gardening and cookery. Our children’s section has a considerable number of young children’s books such as picture books plus lots of books for primary school children and a number of young adult books. We do need some more books for the younger age group as their usage is very high and maintaining enough books to keep our younger readers happy is quite difficult. So donations of books in good condition for the under fives would be appreciated as we have several users who borrow up to the maximum number of such books for their children.

We have relatively few reference books as nearly all research nowadays is done on the internet. We have two internet terminals available free for our readers. These terminals have access to several specialist services which are paid for by the Library Service which include encyclopedias, Ancestry.com and back numbers of The Times. If you are new to computing just ask the Librarian on duty and they will be delighted to show you how to access the services. It is very easy once you have the system explained to you. There is a printer which for a small charge can copy information in black and white. Colour copies are available but these are a little more expensive. Please check with the Librarian on duty.

You can renew your own books on line by accessing: https://ibistro.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/uhtbin/cgisirsi/x/WEB/0/29/491/X/3

You will need your library card number and your password. If you have forgotten your password you can obtain it by presenting your card to one our Librarians.

The Library Service has an email system available to warn readers when their books are due for renewal. Ask at our desk to activate the system. You can access the catalogue at: www.ibistro.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/uhtbin/webcat We are open at the following times: Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays 2.30–4.30pm Thursday Evenings 5.00–7.00pm Saturday Mornings 10.00am–12.00pm Mike Stapleton

The National Trust

During tours of Wimpole and when we enter the Housekeeper’s Room in the basement, tour guides remind their parties that one of the “perks” given to the Housekeeper in times gone by was to take visitors round a property when the family were not in residence. We remind them of the incident in Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” when Elizabeth Bennett and her aunt and uncle are shown around Pemberley. The “perk” came when the Housekeeper expected a “tip” for so doing and we are quick to remind our visitors that no such requirement is expected today – much to their relief! When we also remind them that on that same occasion Elizabeth met Mr D’Arcy fresh from his plunge into the lake, then the eyes of the ladies in our parties mist over! I am afraid that some of our male tour guides are a poor substitute for Colin Firth.

The tours end at the end of October and it remains to be seen if they will continue next year or if the Trust will open Wimpole, as with other properties, for “free flow” from 11.00. a.m. If they do it will require a lot more volunteer room stewards than we have at present.

The Royston & Saffron Walden National Trust Association has now retreated indoors for the winter season and a list of their talks is shown in the calendar. All National Trust members are welcome at our monthly meetings that are held either at Royston Town Hall or Saffron Walden County High School Sports Centre at 7.30 p.m.

If anyone is interested please let me know. Colin Limming 01763 260072

Melbourn Village Fete 2009

With the success of this year’s 1st combined Village fete and “Music on the Moor” evening still ringing in our ears “literally”, the fete committee would first like to once again thank all the volunteers for giving us their valuable time on the day and all our sponsors for giving us their hard earned cash. Both of which allowed us to organise one of the most well attended fetes this village has ever seen in recent years.

In turn for all those that were fundraising on the day for their given club, society or charity this had to be the most profitable fete to date for them, which is fantastic news in this current financial climate. Not forgetting this could not have been achieved without the support of all local families that attended with all their friends from far and wide, this now looks like an event that people are putting in their diaries and making a point of attending.

The Melbourn Village Fete Committee are proud to announce that we have donated over £2000 again this year to various organisations within the village as listed below. 1 Mc-Splash Swimming Club 2 River Mel Restoration Group 3 Melbourn & Meldreth Self Help Group 4 MVC Prom Committee 5 Moorlands Court Extra Care Scheme 6 Melbourn Playgroup

The Fete committee are always looking to build on the success of the previous year’s event and have already taken the decision to hold the 2nd combined Village fete and “Music on the Moor” evening, as well as booking the dated for 2010 which will be Saturday 26th June. We will be looking to fill next year’s event with even more for the whole family to do during the Fete, and hopefully have some new local bands as well as the old crowd pullers for the evening. With that in mind we are eager to encourage more local bands, groups and societies to get involved to highlight their particular cause, so please contact us soon to avoid disappointment.

The committee’s numbers look good, which is excellent news. However, to put on a larger event we could always do with some extra help whether it be a full committee member or a volunteer on the day. So if you can spare some time for a worthy and rewarding cause, whether it be a few hours or more please contact us. Brian Collingbourne (Chair) Melbournfete@aol.com Web: site www.melbournfete.co.uk

Expertise on yourdoorstepyourdoorstep

19 StationRoad Melbourn RoystonHertfordshire SG86DX Tel01763 217510 Mon-Fri9am-5pm Sat9am-12pm

Customer Hotline Tel0845601 3344 Mon-Fri9am-10pmSat 9am-6pmSun 11am-5pm

Time to keep your moneyclose to home

Head Office Administration Centre PO Box232 51 NewmarketRoadCambridge CB58FF Tel0845 601 3344www.cambridgebs.co.uk

Firstly, may I introduce myself? My name is Lucy Lambert and I am the recently appointed Branch Supervisor at the Melbourn branch of Cambridge Building Society. I have worked for the Cambridge Building Society for 8 years, mainly at the Sawston Branch but also at our St. Andrews Street branch. I am keen to become involved in the community here and am delighted to represent a local mutual building society that has a firm ethos not only in providing excellent financial services to its customers, but which also believes in being actively involved with local community and charity events.

I would also like to introduce to you Andy Jukes who is the recently appointed Area Sales Manager for the Society. Andy has extensive experience in the financial sector and is also very keen to become involved in the community here and provide market leading service to our existing and future customers.

At the Cambridge Building Society we have various services that we can provide to you. Please feel free to pop in and see Becca, Helen or myself at 19 Station Road, Melbourn, to talk to us about them all. We can also discuss ways in which you feel we could benefit the local community. We are open 6 days a week: Monday - Friday: 9.00am – 5.00pm Saturday : 9.00am – 12pm We look forward to your visit were you can expect a warm and friendly welcome. Lucy Lambert

Five Top Tips To Avoid A Christmas Debt Hangover

Christmas is a time for giving, but you don’t want to give yourself a headache in the New Year with bills and debts you can’t afford. It’s all too easy to overspend – there are tempting offers and pressures to buy, but you must decide how much you can afford before you start spending. 1 Plan early for Christmas.

Be realistic and budget accordingly.

Work out how much you are going to spend on each person – and stick to it.

Manage expectations as to what you or Santa can give. 2 Don’t forget the everyday bills.

Remember that rent, the mortgage, utility bills, food bills and other existing debts still have to be paid - and the consequences can be severe if they ‘re not. Even though it’s Christmas get your priorities right. 3 Don’t bank on an overdraft.

If you need more money, don’t just run up an overdraft without talking to your bank first – it will work out much more expensive. 4 Keep things simple.

If you can’t afford to pay for your goods outright by cash or cheque or debit card, don’t be persuaded to take out extended credit agreements unless they really do work out cheaper. 5 Shop around.

Try as many different places as possible to find the best price. Buy what you want and not what other people say you need. Be wary of extended warranties; the cost of a repair could be less than the cost of a warranty.

Next month we give another five top tips, but if you do get into difficulties, get advice as soon as you can from your local Citizens Advice Bureau on 08456 – 88 98 97 or visit: www.adviceguide.org.uk The CAB is still looking for more volunteers to train as advisers and to work in reception. We are two local Mums (Melbourn & Meldreth) who became friends at our children’s school. We both love to cook and realise the importance of providing home cooked family meals within a budget. We had an idea about creating a family meal planning website which took away all the stresses and strains of constantly wondering what to provide for tea every night. We feel that by planning properly families can save money on their weekly food bill, reduce food waste and save time. This is an element of housekeeping/cooking that our Grannies/Mums were familiar with, but perhaps our generation moved away from as life became more hectic and disposable. As we now find ourselves in a recession, these values are once again becoming more important and our website can be a tool to aid this.

We spent a good period of time firming up our idea, before we were ready to select a web design company to develop the site. We are great believers in supporting the community that we live in and that was no exception when looking for a web company to develop our idea. It took a lot of hard work, stress and disappointment until we ended up with the site that we have just recently launched. It took 3 different web companies and 2.5 yrs for it to come to fruition, we’ve learnt a lot as this wasn’t our area of expertise, but we have stayed local. We believe it is worth all the hard work and are receiving very positive feedback from our Members.

In these continuing credit crunch times our site is a great solution as all our recipes our tried and tested, use seasonal ingredients which can be bought locally, recipes can be scaled up when cooking for more or less and are linked to a shopping list which you can personalise with all your own extra household items. We know how busy life can be for the person who cooks and we think our site helps to relieve some of the stress.

If you would like to take a look at the website, please use the link www.wots4supper.co.uk. Jo and Annette, Co-Founders

Meldreth Pre-School

Reg.Charity no.1034965

Village Hall Meldreth High Street

This friendly, non-profit making Pre-School now has spaces for September 2008.

We offer Morning, Lunch Club and Afternoon sessions to children between the ages of 2 and 5 years.

We offer a high staffing ratio, whilst maintaining competitive rates. £8.20 per session, £3.00 for Lunch Club

We accept Government Vouchers (which makes sessions for the over 3’s free)

For more information please Contact: Pre-School Leader, Jane Cable on 07952 295655 during Pre-School Hours (Mon/Tue 9-3, Wed/Thur/Fri 9-12.30) or telephone The Admissions Secretary, Yasmin Croxford on 01763 220246

Little Foxes

Baby & Toddler Group

Little Foxes is a friendly, fun, good value, baby & toddler group. The baby & toddler group provides a great opportunity to meet other mums and for the children to play together. It is run by mums & child carers for babies and children up to 5 years old. There are a baby area, dressing up clothes, trikes, trampolines, duplo, cars, dolls, etc. There are creative activities, song & story time and refreshments for the adults & children. Foxton Village Hall Hardman Road Foxton Tuesday (term time only) 09.30 – 11.00 £1.50 per session