The Melbourn Village Plan

On page 35 you will find an article featured in Meldreth Matters by Angus Bell that was of a show at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe concerning an alleged dispute between the two villages about the naming of the station. It has long been alleged that at one time our local station was named ‘Melbourn and Meldreth’ and we do have photographic and documentary evidence that this was so. It’s a moot point but one that regularly comes up in discussions between our friends in Meldreth and ourselves, but the show was a great success. Read it for yourself. The Group recently ordered and sold another order of the Melbourn Radiate Brooch and such was the demand that another batch has been requested. These are hallmarked silver and you will find details on page 9. It’s a lovely present, so bear it in mind.

We wish all our supporters a Happy Christmas and a Peaceful New Year. Colin Limming

All Saints’ Community Hall

Improvements have been made to the kitchen area in the Hall and we now have installed an ‘instant’ hot water system that has done away with the old urn. That means no more ‘steamy’ rooms and flaky ceilings and with the addition of a coat of paint the kitchen is back to its former new state.

In recent weeks regular weekly bookings have been made and the Hall is now in use for a greater part of the week. Some enquirers have been disappointed but we are making every effort to fit groups and organisations in wherever possible. This is not always possible, so if you have an event coming up it is best to enquire sooner than later. The Hall is proving the ideal venue for children’s parties and as Christmas approaches we expect the level of bookings to rise. Colin Limming Bookings Secretary 01763 260072 hallbookings@live.co.uk

Free Storytime for under 5s!

Thursday 10–10.45 am

Melbourn Library The Moor, Melbourn

(next to Melbourn Village College)

Contact: Eleanor 01763 260924 or library 01763 269956

The Melbourn Village Plan

Making it Happen!

In August we provided a short version of the Melbourn Village Plan to all residents as an insert with the autumn edition of the Melbourn Magazine. A central part of this document was a list of 50 recommendations offering opportunities to make our village even better. If you missed reading this for some reason you can find the full version of the Village Plan report by asking at the Library or visiting the village website.

Following agreement with the Parish Council, the constitution for an Implementation Team has now been agreed. By the time this magazine is distributed a public meeting will have been held to describe what happens next and to invite all interested persons to participate if they wish. There will be more about this in the spring edition of the Melbourn Magazine.

Sustainability

As mentioned in the last Melbourn Magazine we promised to keep the village up to date with latest news. The big news at present is the cost of energy, with stories of price rises constantly in the press. What can we all do about this? The responses from the 2011 village plan were strongly in favour of sustainability and ‘green’ projects.

Consequently, one of the 50 recommendations from the Melbourn Village Plan was to start a ‘sustainability’ initiative for Melbourn. South Cambridgeshire District Council formed a Sustainable Parish Energy Partnership (SPEP) in March 2009 to promote ways of saving and generating energy and to help reduce those fuel bills! It is proposed that volunteers from Melbourn join those from both Meldreth and Shepreth where this process has already begun.

The Parish Council fully supports the scheme and by the time this magazine is published there will have been another public meeting where the benefits and opportunities have been fully aired for discussion. Some of you might have already attended one of two meetings already held on this subject, one in Meldreth and the other in Shepreth.

Other villages, such as Coton, have already made amazing progress with local sustainability projects, such as the bulk buying of photovoltaic solar panels to generate household electricity. These are panels that are fixed to the roof and supply a very good proportion of domestic electricity needs. The present government scheme of ‘Feed in Tariffs’ offers extremely generous incentives for investing in such panels, with financial payback currently at about 6 or 7 years. Bulk buying of panels will substantially reduce the unit cost of panels and improve the payback even further. Group schemes are possible, allowing low cost ‘buy-in’ for households where investment outlay or roof layout is an obstacle.

The three-village initiative with SPEP will aim to promote the widest possible