Village News

In the news

New District Councillor for Melbourn

Village Fete & Music on the Moor Village Market Library Report Mobile Warden Scheme

Melbourn and Meldreth Self Help Group Melbourn History Group Melbourn and Meldreth Women’s Group Royal British Legion Royston and District Family History Society Lifeboats

Heydon Grange Wind Farm the impact on

Melbourn

Child and Family Nursing Team

Well Baby Clinics Drop in clinics for parents and babies are held as follows: Melbourn clinic every Wednesday between 9.30 and 11.30am at: 35 Orchard Road, Melbourn Telephone 01763 262861 Cambourne clinic every Monday between 9.30 and 12 noon at: Room 12 (upstairs), Sackville House, Cambourne Telephone 01954 282830

New District Councillor for Melbourn

Jose Hales has recently been elected as your new District Councillor for Melbourn, Heydon and The Chishills following the local election on 6th May.

Jose says “I would like to offer my sincere thanks for the fantastic support that I received leading up to and during the election. I feel very privileged that so many of you put your faith in me and as a result I will be working extremely hard on your behalf across the ward as part of a team, alongside District Councillor Val Barrett and County Councillor Susan van de Ven. Our ward is a great place to live and I look forward to working for you - and with you – to make it even better”

Jose will continue sitting on the Melbourn Parish Council in addition to being a South Cambs District Councillor and can be contacted on 01763 221058 or e-mailed at josehales@josehales.me.uk

Village Fete & Music on the Moor

Saturday 26th June 2010 1pm till late.

The countdown to this years fabulous Fete has begun. You may have heard or seen some of the publicity already announcing the days events on local radio, on facebook and on our website www.melbournfete.co.uk We expect a large turnout for the benefit of the whole village.

We would be delighted to hear from you through the website if you would like to get involved with either a stall or volunteering on the day. We have a great deal of fun and we have a really good social calendar.

There will be lots for you to join in with; enter a’ ride on’ mower for the Lawn Mower Racing, join a team for the tug-o-war or find a mate to throw an egg to.

We have Chapmans Fun Fair Rides and the Grafham Climbing Wall, always a favourite. We have a sculpture competition open to all to build a model no wider than 1m and no taller then 2m out of recycled materials. Judging will be by South Cambridgeshire Recycling Champion who will also have a stall on the day to help with any questions you may have on recycling. An entry form iis n this magazine but also available around the village or from our website.

Our bar and barbecue promise more choice with different real ales on offer alongside the ever popular PIMMS which will be in even greater supply having run out too soon last year! The BBQ is expanding and hopes to offer a hog roast, so come early as this is always popular, but soon gets sold out! In the evening something a bit sweeter,

COFFEE STOP

Every Saturday 10.30am to 12noon

Rombouts co ee & biscuits for 70p at All Saints’ Community Hall

maybe crepes cooked to order to follow your barbecue fayre.

Music on the Moor has it’s headline act – Shredded Beat – who will play to the end of the evening. Before that we have Toria Faith who did a Kylie Monogue tribute last year between main bands, and the ever popular and absolutely terrific BOB as well as Shredded Beat. Come along to what promises to be an idyllic summer evening FREE to all. BBQ and Bar stay open and last year it was warm and sultry and everyone sat or laid on the grass listening to the great music and thoroughly enjoying themselves. Why not bring a blanket or some chairs and relax in style.

For the Fete afternoon in the main arena, attractions include the Electralite Majorettes, colourful, skilled dancing with baton, pom-poms and flags. Also the Air Cadets marching band will be playing, Cambridge Reptile will be attending and a photograph can be taken as a momento of your reptile experience. Enjoy a cream tea at the pavilion or a piece of home made cake while listening to the live music of the Memphis Jazz Band playing throughout the afternoon and a Barber Shop Quartet harmonising songs during a typical English Village Fete Day.

Another plea to join our growing band of supporters, we can always use more help on the day, volunteers can get in touch on our website www.melbournfete.co.uk or email melbournfete@aol.com The same applies if you want to have a stall, or you can write to Melbourn Fete, 1 Mortlock Close, Melbourn, SG8 6DA.

Lots to look forwards to in one funfilled summer’s day – Saturday 26th June 2010. Brian Collingbourne Age Groups – two prize groups one for adults and one for under 18’s. Age groups under 18 may be split into groups depending on number of entries and age of entrant may be taken into the consideration. Brief – To make a sculpture out of recycled materials to not exceed 2m high by 1m wide/deep. Sculpture must be able to stand on it’s own on the grass surface of the field or on a table top, for display and can be of anything the artist wishes to make. The committee has the right to refuse any entry they may deem unsuitable for family viewing. The judge’s decision is final. The title of the sculpture is RECYCLING IS COOL. Rules – sculpture must be delivered to the Fete grounds between 9am and 11am on the day of the Fete. The sculpture will then be on display for the duration of the Fete and must be removed between 5pm and 6pm that day. The Fete committee cannot accept any responsibility for damage or loss of any entry, although every care will be taken with every item entered. Conditions – materials used must be materials that can be recycled. However please be careful with glass and metals. Also please make sure items used are cleaned and will not become smelly, sticky, rot or attract flies or wasps! Items can be stuck, strung or tied together and can be painted or left in their raw state. Entries can be entered by an individual or a group and open to everyone not just those living or going to school in Melbourn.

Melbourn Village Market

Local business owners Jane Froggatt of Phantoyzia Toys, Barrington and Jane Lynch of Madajazz - Jazzy Bags from Madagascar of Shepreth are the driving force behind this new initiative which has been established to support local businesses, local charities and to raise funds for Melbourn Village College PFTA.

The first two markets have been outstanding successes for everyone. Hundreds of local people have visited the market at Melbourn Village College Community Centre to buy fresh produce and gifts from local businesses, many of whom do not have a shop front.

Local charities, Friends of Chernobyl’s Children, and Guide Dogs for the Blind have offered delicious homemade refreshments to raise awareness for their charity and funds for their good causes.

The market is to run once a month on a Saturday from 10 to 12.30pm. Entry is free for you to come and visit a variety of regular and seasonal traders.

The feedback from all attending has been fantastic and we are so looking forward to the market becoming part of local village life. The next dates for your diary are 3rd July and 31st July and provisionally booked is the 21st August – see village website for more details. Look forward to seeing you there!

Melbourn Library Report

The good news is that the library is likely to stay open at least until the end of 2011. The bad news is that the Library service is under intense pressure to cut costs. The Service has made it clear to us that our performance ought to be better. Their main criteria for performance is how many books are borrowed. The Service prefers us to lend their books but accepts that we will lend a considerable number of our own books. Without our donated books we would have a very poor selection. I will come back to the need for donated books later. The Service intends to cut back the mobile service still further, blink or go on the wrong day and you will miss it. We hope to plug this gap by by extending opening in the future.

I expect you are wondering what costs there are for a Library that is run, insured and repaired by us the volunteers with help from the local Parish Councils. Well surprisingly there are costs in running the LAPs, something like £10,000 per LAP to cover the cost of admin, new books, delivery, reading schemes and general liaison. This translates into a significant cost per book lent. Now these cost are virtually fixed so if the actual loan rate goes up the cost per book comes down. So in order to

convince the council to go on supporting us we have to improve the return on their expenditure. The Library Service is likely to cut back its own libraries by about 3 or 4 branches in other areas over the next 2 years.

So we need to support our Library if we want it to continue. We, the Library team, love running it are looking for ways to provide other services. We currently run a story telling group for young children every Thursday morning at 10.00am for under fives. It is not necessary for children to have a long attention span. We currently have about 13 children attending. The sessions are very relaxed. We hear that some people are coming from Royston where the Library Sessions are packed out. Would any local writers like to come to the session with the idea of promoting their own books for children? We need to develop new uses for the library building. Its a shame to have a nice building which is only used for 11 hours a week. If you have any ideas why not come and discuss them with us.

We still need donated books but cannot handle large collections because of the space and work needed to put them on our shelves. We suggest you bring 6 to 10 good books rather than a box which usually ends up for sale or we have to take them to the book bank. One idea would be if you had read a really good book like the one I read in Hospital last week. It was The Return by Victoria Hislop. I liked it because not only was it a bit of history I knew nothing about but it generated such intense feelings of love, hate, good and evil all in one book. I recommend it. Perhaps you would like to recommend a book for review?

Finally our long term future depends on the Parish Council finding us a new home. At best this is likely to take two or three years. It is a vital part of the village infrastructure and it is a meeting place for people. We need help from everyone to enable us to survive in these hard times. New members are really good news. Please help in anyway you can – even borrowing a couple of books and then not reading them helps us. Opening times are shown in the centre spread of this magazine and are as usual. Our phone is 01763 269956 during opening hours. Mike Stapleton

Melbourn Mobile Warden Scheme

After 16 years it is with much sadness I regret that I have to resign as Chairman of the M.M.W.S.

Over time I have been very ’hands on’, visiting clients and getting to know each and every one of them.

Unfortunately a couple of years ago I had a stroke followed by several minor strokes which has resulted in my being unable to walk or write, which makes me very inefficient.

Mr Bob Trimble has always taken a keen interest in the scheme, and when I was the callout number for 24 hours he accompanied me on the odd occasion to pick up a client who had fallen on the floor.

I have remained on the committee where I can use my experience to assist, so I am still here and would be pleased to hear from any of you at anytime.

I am very proud of the Scheme and feel that it is my legacy to the village and feel the scheme couldn’t be in better hands. Val M Trueman 220402

Melbourn and Meldreth Self Help Group

Thursday Lunch Club

Lunch Club would like to start with a very big thank you, to The Co-Operative Membership Community Fund, from which we have recently received an award which allowed all our members to have a free Easter lunch, complete with Easter eggs and hot cross buns. This lunch was cooked by the ladies who man the kitchen each week. Thank you ladies.

Lunch club is run entirely on donations. We are very grateful to both village councils, Melbourn and Meldreth, from which we receive grants each year. We lost our regular cook Mary, over a year ago now; she received a set amount each week to feed up to 32 diners from the two villages, and we were able some weeks, to make a small profit, as Mary did this work on a voluntary basis, and never charged us for her time. When Mary left us, we were very lucky with the help of Janice Guest, to come to an arrangement with Moorlands Court. They now provide us with meals each week and these are collected in hot boxes, served from the kitchen at Vicarage Close, for which we are charged per person. Lunch Club in turn, charges that amount for the food and the monies are passed onto Moorlands Court. Therefore we are always out of pocket, as in addition to the food, squash, tea and coffee is provided, together with a card and bunch of flowers for each birthday. On top of that we have rental charges, and insurance.

We have been very grateful to the Melbourn Village Fete committee these past years for a donation which has enabled us to provide a free Christmas Dinner, together with a small present from Father Christmas.

You will understand then, that extra donations such as that from the Co-Operative Membership Community Fund, are very much appreciated. There was a small amount of money left over, which will be used to put on a cream tea one afternoon in the summer.

Many thanks to the drivers, who all live locally and provide transport free of charge to get our members to Vicarage Close each week, without which we could not operate. Very few of our members have their own transport.

This last academic year, we have had the help of at least 3 students from Melbourn Village College most weeks. Melbourn Village College is hosting a course entitled: Diploma in Society,

WANTED

Melbourn Magazine is looking for help to coordinate the distribution of the magaine. If you can spare one day each quarter to help please contact Eric Johnston on 01763 220197

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17, Portway, Melbourn, Royston SG8 6EU 17, Portway, Melbourn, Royston SG8 6EU Phone 01945-428757 Mobile 07976-769398Phone 01945-428757 Mobile 07976-769398 Surveys of all gas & lpg appliances carried out. Surveys of all gas & lpg appliances carried out. Surveys of hot & cold water installations carried out. Surveys of hot & cold water installations carried out. Surveys of central heating systems carried out. 17, Portway, Melbourn, Royston SG8 6EU 17, Portway, Melbourn, Royston SG8 6EU Gas & lpg boilers serviced or replaced. Phone 01945-428757 Mobile 07976-769398Phone 01945-428757 Mobile 07976-769398 Surveys of central heating systems carried out. Central heating systems replaced or upgraded. Surveys of all gas & lpg appliances carried out. Surveys of all gas & lpg appliances carried out. Gas & lpg boilers serviced or replaced. Powerflushing service. Surveys of hot & cold water installations carried out. Surveys of hot & cold water installations carried out. Central heating systems replaced or upgraded. Servicing, faultfinding, repairs to all gas & lpg appliances. Bathrooms fitted. Underfloor heating installations. Surveys of central heating systems carried out. Gas & lpg boilers serviced or replaced. Central heating systems replaced or upgraded. Surveys of central heating systems carried out. Gas & lpg boilers serviced or replaced. Central heating systems replaced or upgraded. Powerflushing service. Servicing, faultfinding, repairs to all gas & lpg appliances. All general plumbing work undertaken. Landlord & Gas Safety Certificates issued. All works carried out by Gas Safe Registered engineers. Powerflushing service. Servicing, faultfinding, repairs to all gas & lpg appliances. Bathrooms fitted. Underfloor heating installations. Powerflushing service. Servicing, faultfinding, repairs to all gas & lpg appliances. Bathrooms fitted. Underfloor heating installations. Bathrooms fitted. Underfloor heating installations. All general plumbing work undertaken. No call out charges. Free quotations. References given upon request. All general plumbing work undertaken. Landlord & Gas Safety Certificates issued. All general plumbing work undertaken. Landlord & Gas Safety Certificates issued. All works carried out by Gas Safe Registered engineers. Landlord & Gas Safety Certificates issued. All works carried out by Gas Safe Registered engineers. All works carried out by Gas Safe Registered engineers. No call out charges. Free quotations. References given upon request. No call out charges. Free quotations. References given upon request.No call out charges. Free quotations. References given upon request.

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Self Help Group Lunch

Health and Development. This is attended by students from Melbourn Village College, Bassingbourn Village College and The Meridian School, Royston. All the students who have attended lunch club have been fantastic. They are very polite and have been of great help, both in the kitchen and serving our members. All schools should be very proud of these students, they are a credit to all concerned. If you wish to go on a waiting list to join lunch club, or can offer to help either to drive or in any way please contact me. Jayne White 220250 jayne.white1@ntlworld.com

Melbourn History Group

When we started to work on the Melbourn History Books so many people were kind enough to send us memorabilia of past events such as photographs, letters, programmes and so much more. After publication these were filed away in a fire-proof filing cabinet and we have just started to sift through the mass of material with a view to properly cataloguing everything we have and filing these under proper titles. It is fascinating work reading again of the past history of the village and there is a great temptation to spend time reading instead of working!

The Group played its part in the recent Art Project for Stockbridge Meadows by walking with the various artists and telling them something of the past history of Melbourn. We hope that we were able to assist them in their formative thoughts and some were especially interested in the more lurid stories such as the Ship Money Riots or the stopping of the Feast by Reverend James Hamilton “The beast who stopped the Feast”.

The Cambridgeshire Association for Local History makes awards every year to residents of villages who play an outstanding part in their village’ sactivities and the group was very pleased to nominate Peter and Jan Simmonett for an award. A report of the presentation will appear in the next issue of the magazine.

The Association also sponsors Young Persons History Awards and the Group felt that the Primary School and Village College would want to possibly nominate pupils but sadly up to the time of this report no acknowledgement or reply to our invitations has been received.

The Group inherited a great many glass slides of village life as it was many years ago taken by Percy “Peep-Bo” Salmon. These are stored safely and we have every hope of taking the most interesting and possibly making a DVD for general use. We are indebted to Ray Ellis for all his help and advice in this matter.

Visitors to the Parish Church in pursuit of ancestors still leave the details in the Visitors Book placed there and every enquiry is acknowledged and followed up with as much information as we are able to find from our own records. We are still busy transferring the Births, Marriages and Deaths details on to our computers with a view to publishing these on the village website in due course. Colin Limming

Melbourn and Meldreth Women’s Group

I am writing this as signs of spring are everywhere with bulbs coming up and we even had sunshine today which brightens all our spirits and in February Nicola Dunklin cheered us all up by sharing with us the wonderful work carried out by the many people involved with the Friends of Chernobyl Children. In March Mary Price talked to us about her “Path to the Ministry.” In April and May respectively we had talks about The Melde Restoration and Stamps which goes to show how much is going on in our villages.

We look forward to a varied programme over the coming months, on June 22 we shall be having our Garden Party in the Meeting Room at Meldreth Church - or perhaps even outside if the weather permits! This is a popular event so you need to get tickets from one of the committee members. Then 27 July we will be at The Melbourn Community Hall behind All Saints’ Church where we will take the opportunity to share with one another some of our favourite pieces of music – often an interesting kaleidoscope of music from around the world. 24 August we are in the The Meeting Room at Meldreth Church and Toni Haynes will be giving us a talk entitled “Colour & Style.”

All our meeting start at 7.45p.m. do feel free to come and join us if you would like any more information contact Pat Smith 260103

DID YOU KNOW

We now have a ➧ Butcher, Baker, ➧ Greengrocer, ➧ Fishmonger ➧ ... and Grocery Stall every Wednesday and Saturday.

Other products available include:

Linen ● Swimming Pool Supplies ● Jewellery Hardware ● Kitchenware ● Plastics ● Books Ladies and Gents Clothing ● Bric A Brac and Wooden Wildlife Supplies. Come and visit the home of the: Royston Sausage – try before you buy.

Forthcoming events EVERY 1ST SUNDAY OF THE MONTH Outdoor Farmers Market. 10am – 1pm. Come and sample the tastes of Gary Rhodes Local Hero Stuart Blackman’s Vension Kofta’s, for the sweeter tooth try out National CupCake Champion Kevin Sibleys Cakes and Home Made Fudge. Other stalls include; Fruit and Veg, various Meats, Arts and Crafts, Hand Made Jewellery, Pasties, Pies and Rolls. See for yourself.

EVERY 3RD SATURDAY OF THE MONTH Mini Outdoor Farmers Market. Incorporated into the twice weekly Charter Market; 9am – 1pm a range of local products at reasonable prices.

HOME DOG BOARDING My love for dogs

‘My love for dogs’ offers home boarding for your canine friend. I am a dog lover, smitten with them and my home is totally dog friendly. I am delighted to open up our home so that whilst you are on holiday, your dog has a holiday in the comfort of our home, with a totally secure garden. I am fully insured, police checked and have grown up with dogs all my life. Holly, our beautiful golden Labrador loves to play with new friends. Rest assured that your dog will have at least two long walks a day either at the heath nearby to our home, or in the fields surrounding our village. We also utilise on a daily basis on local village recreation ground and play ball games there. Should you require any further details please do not hesitate to call Amanda Bishop on 07903 806750.

We are based in a small village near Royston in Hertfordshire.

Home-Start Royston & South Cambridgeshire are looking for more volunteers - could you give a Home-Start family the most precious gift - your time ?

Our volunteers are all parents or grandparents who can give a few hours a week to help families who are finding it difficult to cope All parents need emotional and practical help to get through the first few years, but not everyone has friends or family nearby This is when Home-Start volunteers can help! Further details can be obtained by calling into our offices: Unit 6, Valley Farm, Meldreth, SG8 6JP, or contacting us on 01763 262262 and talking to Wendy or Tracy or e-mailing admin@hsrsc.co.uk

It’s a fairly quiet period for most Royal British Legion branches at this time of year; one big event is the 20 10 Annual Conference which will be held at the Villa Marina in Douglas on the Isle of Man, the dates are Saturday 22nd & Sunday 23rd of May 2010; the odd meeting and seminar will follow this I suspect. Anzac Day is another event in which The Royal British Legion takes part. Anzac Day is considered a national public holiday in New Zealand and Australia, and is commemorated in both countries on 25th April each year in tribute to members of The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzac) who fought at Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I.

The War Memorials Trust held a conference on the 4th March at The Guildhall in Cambridge to discuss amongst other subjects, the role of the trust, conservation and ownership and responsibility of memorials. Avril Mellors attended on behalf of Melbourn Parish Council, and John Chamberlain on behalf of Meldreth Parish Council; prior to this conference I had asked Melbourn Parish Council if they would consider the possibilities of some conservation and refurbishment work being carried out on the Melbourn War Memorial which members and I believe is now in need of attention, this of course is whether budgets allow. I am, however, still hopeful of getting some help. Our standard bearer Mike Cooke is now attending training classes along with my wife Pauline who is now thankfully out of hospital and fully fit to take part again. As yet I have no news about the vacant post of 2010 Poppy Appeal Organizer, the Appeal work starts around August, and is always a busy time for the person involved. Patrick Parkinson, Chairman & Secretary, Melboum, Meldreth & District Royal British Legion.

Royston and District Family History Society

On the whole we have had an entertaining winter season. Like so many others the weather did have some bearing on attendances. Particularly badly hit was our Christmas Social on December 21st. The only upside being that the sixteen of us who managed to make it through the “blizzard” were able to make as many trips to the buffet table as our hearts desired. We have had some informative and entertaining speakers over the last few months. Some of those were given by our own members and it would take a braver soul than I to single any one of them out but, of the guest speakers, we all were very moved by Steve Fuller from the Imperial War Museum, he has made a speciality of the history of the Bedfordshire Regiment, particularly during the Great War. He asked us to provide him with some names of soldiers a few weeks before he gave his talk and, by the time he spoke to us, he had found out an awe inspiring amount of information about them. It was a very valuable talk to give a room full of family historians because the sources and methods used by him could be transposed to most of the Regiments in the British Army at the time. At the end of the meeting All Saints’ Hall emptied very swiftly as members rushed home to log-on to his recommended websites. Also very much enjoyed was Mr. Roy Tricker with his talk “In praise of old Churches”, not only was he very knowledgeable but extremely entertaining. Don’t ask me how he managed to extract so much fun out of ancient buildings but he did.

As well as enjoying all this socialising we have completed two projects this year both of which are now available from our bookstall or via the website www.parishchest.com they are Royston Parish Church Marriages (1662-1812) and Banns (1754–1837) and Monumental Inscriptions of Steeple Morden Parish Church.

June 21st is the AGM with cheese and wine. We then have our summer break and reconvene on Sept 20th with “More on the WW1 soldiers of the Bedfordshire Regiment” by Steve Fuller who is back by popular demand

Our website is www.roystonfhs.org.uk and all our meetings, unless otherwise stated, take place on the third Monday of the month at All Saints’ Community Hall, Melbourn with doors opening for chat and a look at the bookstall at 7.30 pm and talks commencing at 8pm.

We are always happy to see new faces and can assure you of a warm welcome Avril Emery Chair/Editor Royston & District FHS

Lifeboats

It is always difficult to write for a period some time ahead, but we hope that this year you will have a sunny and safe holiday.

At the moment we are basking in warm sunshine – such a relief after what has seemed an extraordinarily long winter.

Bad weather no doubt contributed in part to last year being the busiest on record for RNLI, with the number of launches topping 9,000 for the first time in RLNI history. Volunteer crews launched 9,223 times, rescuing 8,235 people.

Our lifeguards also had their busiest year, proving that it is not only rough seas that cause the need for rescue – lifeguards responded to 13,591 incidents, and assisted 15,957 people.

The busiest RNLI station was Tower, on the river Thames, with 379 launches, and 147 people rescued. The busiest lifeguarded beach was Weymouth Main, with 647 incidents.

Statistics like these spur us on to generate funds for RNLI, and we have a full programme planned for the rest of this year – hope to see you at the Kite Festival!

We would like to thank everyone who supported us at our Morrison’s collection in Royston – over £200 was raised, and also thank those shoreline members who have offered to help with our Tesco collection in May, it is very much appreciated.

Finally we would like to express our sadness at the passing of a long-lived resident of Melbourn, Daphne Black. Daphne, who was 95, had an amazing, full life, and was ardent supporter of RNLI, serving on our committee for over 20 years. The time and effort she put in to raise funds will always be remembered and appreciated, as will her tremendous energy and enthusiasm. Jean Emes 245958 Secretary Royston Branch