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Village News
In the news Mary Woodcock and Coffee Stop 5 Library News 5 Future of Melbourn Library Access Point 6 The Melbourn Village Plan 6 Mrs Janice Guest 7 Melbourn & Meldreth Women’s Group 7 Fundraising for Home-Start 7 Village Fete & Music on the Moor 9 Melbourn History Group 10 Meldreth History Group 11 Royston and District Local History Society 11 RNLI 11 Meldreth (and Melbourn!) Station birthday party 13 Litter Picking at Meldreth train 13 New Melbourn Singers 15 Helping with lifts to youth clubs 15 Melbourn Mobile Warden Scheme 15
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COFFEE STOP
Every Saturday 10.30am to 12noon
Rombouts coffee & biscuits for 80p at All Saints’ Community Hall
Mary Woodcock and Coffee Stop
As many people will know, Mary Woodcock started Coffee Stop in November 2002, working hard to set it up and organise it. Thanks to Mary’s efforts it continues to run smoothly. I took over the running in June 2007 with Mary acting as my Deputy until she stepped down in January 2010.
Mary and Peter decided to move to Westcliff-on-Sea to be near family, and at Coffee Stop on 11th June the Vicar, Andrew O’Brian, presented Mary with flowers and a farewell card signed by many of the people who frequent Coffee Stop every week. Two delicious cakes were made for Mary by Angela Mead, which were shared with everybody present.
We all send our very best wishes to Mary and Peter in their new life – they are both missed. Sue Toule, Coffee Stop
Rev. Andrew O’Brien and Mary Woodcock at the Coffee Stop
Library News
The Library continues to be busy. We attended the Summer Fête with various displays aimed at promoting the Library. There was bookmark making for children and quizzes for both children and adults. The Story Time Sessions have been suspended during the Summer Holidays.
The Sessions are open to parents with pre-school children and will restart on Thursday 8th September. We need more helpers to run the sessions so if you would like to help please contact Eleanor at the Library on Thursday mornings between 10.00 and 10.45am.
There is a need for new librarians particularly for the Saturday Sessions. The work is enjoyable as it brings you into contact with people borrowing books and using the computers. It is also the only way to protect the Village Library. We have resisted a proposal to automate the library as we believed this was against the spirit of a volunteer run library. The Library Service accepted that the proposed change was not necessary and would have been costly to install.
We remind you that we have increased our opening hours and are now open on Tuesday afternoons from 2.30 to 4.30pm. Our opening times are: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 2.30 to 4.30pm. Thursday 5.00 to 7.00pm Saturday 10.00 to 12.00pm Story Time 10.00 to 10.45am. The Library may open on Thursday mornings during Storytime. Mike Stapleton
Future of Melbourn Library Access Point
As ever there seems to be a steady stream of helpful people willing to help out. A response from a resident to the Library Access Point’s recent request for a new Saturday morning helper came through almost straight away, which is greatly appreciated.
The County Council’s budget cuts mean that a number of Cambridgeshire libraries are facing huge changes. Those best poised to survive are the ones able to reinvent themselves as part of a hub or cluster, which could see groups like Citizens’ Advice or other public services joining together with a library service, plus perhaps a café. Ironically, library usage is going up throughout the Cambridgeshire system, and that includes Melbourn.
Melbourn’s Library Access Point has been standing pretty well on its own feet for the past eight years with very little support from County. But there is a big issue for Melbourn’s library: premises. The portable cabin in The Moor is simply at the end of its life and for the library to continue, the reality is that we – the local community, not the county council – have to find alternative premises.
The Melbourn Village Plan
The Village Plan Has Arrived!
The Steering Committee for the Melbourn Village Plan is delighted to announce the completion of the Melbourn Village Plan project.
In this edition of the Melbourn Magazine you will find your own personal copy of the report, published as a summary. This includes all the recommendations being made and also gives a brief description of how the results were obtained.
The summary document contains the complete Action Plan section from a full version of the Melbourn Village Plan report. There are exactly 50 suggested courses of action listed. Each of these contains a simple description of the issue or idea raised as a result of your comments and feedback. We have also proposed a first step towards achieving each of the suggested goals in the Action Plan. In addition, we have suggested the organisation responsible for taking each action forward and when it might be possible to achieve a first step towards the goal.
We would like to sincerely thank all residents who contributed to the Melbourn Village Plan. An incredible 1830 of you answered the residential questionnaire, representing 52% of all households in Melbourn. Many clubs, businesses and other organisations also answered detailed enquiries since the project was launched in the autumn of 2009. Without this vital information revealing what the people of Melbourn think there would be no Melbourn Village Plan. We hope you agree the finished report has been worth the effort and time. Your personal copy of the Melbourn Village Plan Summary Report does not contain the detailed background or results from the residential questionnaire and other research. The complete picture can, however, be found in the main report document from which the Summary Report has been drawn. You are encouraged to read the full report. This is available to download from the village website www.melbourncambridge.co.uk and is on loan from the village library as a hard copy. Copies can also be purchased using the contact details shown at the end of this article.
Finally, the Steering Committee would also like to thank Melbourn Parish Council for first suggesting the project, their encouragement and support, the sponsoring of much of the cost of production and for adopting the finished plan, and to the Melbourn Magazine for publicising the Plan.
What Next?
A Melbourn Village Plan Implementation Team will be formed from willing volunteers. This team will facilitate the many recommendations in the Action Plan, providing help and guidance where needed. Volunteers for the implementation process will need to be recruited.
From the Action Plan section in the Summary Report you will see many opportunities for interested people to come forward and become part of individual projects. Examples are in the management and improvement of pavements and footpaths, development of cycling services, support for the elderly, conservation of wildlife and helping to run clubs and groups. In the case of clubs and groups, support applies to both existing activities and also those currently missing from village life. There are many other opportunities, including involvement in overall management of the implementation process itself.
Many people have volunteered already. However, we are particularly looking for people who are prepared to help in specific areas of need. Targeted support is required for all action plan initiatives that are included in the Summary Report where volunteering is mentioned. If you have already volunteered, or are thinking
of doing so now, we would particularly like to hear from you. Should you have a general desire to help out, but with no special or personal interest, you are also most welcome. Perhaps you feel you could guide others in an area you feel strongly about or where you have some expertise. This would be especially useful.
A public meeting will be organised. The entire village will be welcome. The meeting will be used to outline the structure and operation of the Implementation Team and ask for volunteers to actively join in. It will therefore be a major opportunity for those of you who are thinking of volunteering for specific areas of interest, or to provide general support to the implementation of the Melbourn Village Plan. There will be plenty of advance publicity for this event.
We hope you enjoy reading the report. Please give us your comments – we would love to hear from you. Look out for more news in the next edition of the Melbourn Magazine!
If you would like to volunteer or just want to know more please contact – melbourn.planning@googlemail.com Or, call Sally Arnott on 01763 263231 or 07519791256 Melbourn Village Plan Steering Committee
Mrs Janice Guest
I said in the last edition that I would keep you up to date with the fundraising we are doing in Mum’s memory.
Edward Dodson ran the London Marathon back in April. He crossed the finishing line in three hours and fifty seven minutes and raised £4775.00. We would like to thank Edward very much for all his hard work.
As most of you know we arranged a Charity Summer Ball at the Sheene Mill, Melbourn on Friday 15th July. We had one hundred and eleven guests from all over the country who came to eat, drink and dance to raise money for the Motor Neurone Disease Association. We had a fabulous evening that was enjoyed by all. Along with the money raised from ticket sales we had a raffle, which local companies and friends donated prizes to – I would like to thank you all for your generosity and also to those of you who made monetary donations. In total the evening raised £2800. There has already been enquiries about next year’s Ball, so watch this space.
We have a couple more events coming up in the next twelve months including a Choir Concert at Melbourn Parish Church on Saturday 1st October 2011 and a family walk in the local area. We will advertise these on the gates at number 1 Mortlock Street, so do please stop and see what we are up to. Alternatively, please call me on 230831 or email jeremy.ashworth@ntlworld.com or Erica Mansfield on 261777 for more information.
Thank you again to everyone for your continued support of the MNDA and I will report back in the next edition. Mrs Helen Ashworth
Melbourn & Meldreth Women’s Group
Since the last issue of the Magazine we have had an interesting talk given to us about some of the work of The Mothers’ Union and we will have shared another evening of member’s music. This was a very sociable evening much aided by the cakes (generously supplied by members), tea, coffee and chatter that we all shared. In August we will have had our walk around Meldreth guided by members of the local History Group and ended up quenching our thirst at The British Queen!
We look forward to Canon Linda Church sharing with us her experiences of her time in Canada which she spent shadowing a bishop and that will be on 27th September at 7.45p.m. in Meldreth Meeting Room which is attached to Meldreth Church.
We shall be busy organising the Harvest Supper for the Parishes of Melbourn and Meldreth which will be on 30th September in Meldreth Village Hall. As always this is a popular event and so tickets must be purchased in advance from a committee member as numbers are restricted.
On October 25th we meet at The Community Hall behind All Saints Church in Melbourn when we are looking forward to a talk by Hilary Ritchie about the history of Addenbrookes Hospital. On November 22nd I shall be leading an Advent reflection in Meldreth Meeting Room. We do not meet in December and we hold our AGM on 24 January 2012 in Melbourn Community Hall. Once the formal business of electing committee members, receiving accounts and nominating our charity of the year is finished, we share a meal to which members have all contributed.
We are open to all women and there is no annual membership fee as we charge £1 on the night, there is also the option of putting a contribution in the pot for charity. Our meetings begin at 7.45p.m. and we vary our venues between the villages of Melbourn and Meldreth. If you would like a copy of our programme please do not hesitate to contact me, the committee contact details are on this and we are happy to try and organise lifts is you need transport. Pat Smith Chairman 01763 260103
In 1991 a group of women living in Dusseldorf started to meet regularly to quilt. In 2011 they were still meeting every 2 years despite most of them having returned to their home countries. The 2011 reunion was held in Melbourne Australia where the Home-Start raffle quilt was started. Barbara, the Scheme Manager for Home-Start Royston and South Cambridgeshire, is part of this group.
Hearing about the family work done by Home-Start women from Norway, Germany, Finland, America, Australia, Japan, Austria and the UK decided to make a quilt to help raise much needed funds for Home-Start Royston and South Cambridgeshire. The women bought local Australian fabric, most of which is based on Aboriginal designs and pieced the top of the quilt at a workshop
