Feature

For further details on these or any other activities, please drop in, call 01763 263313 or go online at www. melbournsports.com. We look forward to seeing you this season! Graham Johnson-Mack Melbourn Sports Centre

The Bridge Club

The Bridge Club celebrated its first birthday on September 6th, when 26 players played duplicate bridge. The winning pair, who took away the bottles of wine, were Malcolm Dean and Pat Bridges. If enjoyment is the hallmark of success, then Melbourn Bridge Club is a total triumph. The range of abilities of the players are from relative newcomers to the more experienced good local player who are ready and willing to pass on advice, but only when asked. Players without partners are welcome, and we will guarantee all a game, although, of course, to pair up with a regular partner is a bonus for both player and the club. The club meets every Monday at 7.15p.m. at the Vicarage Close Community Centre and play finishes about 10.30 p.m. The £2.00 fee represents good value. Please contact the Secretary, Howard Waller, on 01763 261693 or email melbournbridgeclub@yahoo.co.uk.

Greetings from the Norman family in France

We lived in New Road, Melbourn from 1986 until 2009 when we moved to the French Pyrenees to start a new life as peasant farmers. Our son, Harry, was born in 1993 and attended the playgroup, the Primary School and the Village College and we all tried to play an active role in village life. Some of you will have bought local honey from our garden stall nearly opposite the Surgery road. Our life here in the Basque region of France, close to the Spanish border, is very different to our former life in Melbourn. It is as if we have turned the clock back 30 years to an existence where people still leave their doors unlocked and there are no shops open on Sundays. We have survived our first year here without television, hairdryer, vacuum cleaner or iron and don’t miss any of these things. The one thing I couldn’t do without is a broadband connection, which keeps me in regular touch with friends and family, enables me to listen to BBC Radio programmes via the I player and to manage our finances and administration remotely.

I have recently written a book about our move to France, covering the years 2006 when we first found ‘our little piece of paradise’ until 2009 when we were finally able to make the move. Inevitably, it includes many references to Melbourn including how I joined the Melbourn Mushroom Club so that I would be able to identify fungi on our 46 acres of land. The book is called Norman’s Folly and is available from Amazon and other major bookstores or can be ordered quoting ISBN number 978-1-4461-4409-1. Price £9.99. Perhaps someone could persuade the local library to obtain a copy!

I return to Melbourn regularly. Some things, such as the friendly faces in Leechs and the Building Society, haven’t changed. Others have, such as our neighbours, and the new properties squeezed onto tiny plots along New Road. With the next generation of Normans now living in Melbourn, we will undoubtedly be following the fortunes of the village for many years to come. For those of you who enjoy the book and want to continue following our fortunes, I write a regular blog about our day-to-day life here, the address of which can be obtained by emailing me.

Clare Norman (formerly Benton) clare.norman@sfr.fr

Photograph: Book Cover for Norman’s Folly