SuperFast Broadband We are writing to ask you to help bring SuperFast Broadband to Melbourn homes and businesses. We all know the growing importance of broadband to our lives – for business, pleasure and for accessing services. However, the service available to many parts of the village is poor.
What can I do to help? Visit the website www.connectingcambridgeshire.co.uk where you will be asked your postcode and landline telephone number(s). That’s it! Really? Yes! The purpose of this is to show suppliers such as BT where there is most demand for broadband and it will encourage them to invest here sooner. The more people and businesses who register the faster we will get an upgrade to our service. What if I’m not connected to the Internet? No problem. Paper forms are available at libraries and council offices. Let us know if you would like one. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. Please don’t hesitate to contact us should you have any questions or comment – we will be delighted to hear from you. Susan van de Ven County Councillor and Jose Hales District Councillor and Broadband Champion for Melbourn.
CATalyst news By the time this article is being read CATalyst (Community Action Together) will have held the first of a proposed series of ‘Volunteering Locally’ information drop-in sessions in partnership with Royston Volunteer Centre. There is always a need for new volunteers, whether it is for one-off events or a regular commitment. At the moment there are two new initiatives that CATalyst is hoping to develop WISEArchive is an inter-generational project. It is a webbased archive which records and preserves the working life stories of older people. Volunteer story tellers and collectors are needed locally. Meet-in-Melbourn. A new networking initiative bringing people together for social activities such as cinema evenings, theatre trips or just a drink in the local pub. For more information please email: dianelou@hotmail.co.uk LOOK out for forthcoming dates for Table-Top and Car Boot Sales organised by CATalyst and village partners. These will be posted on the village web-site, in the Library, Post Office and other public places. New volunteers always welcomed to help with these events. CATalyst 0774 953 0112 CommunityActionTogether@hotmail.co.uk
Trading Standards Eat, drink and be merry this Christmas! As the party season approaches and we stock our cupboards for the festivities, many of us are also watching the pennies. Everybody likes a bargain, especially when there are presents to be bought, journeys to be made and all sorts of other expenses chipping away at the bank balance. With this in mind, Trading Standards would like to warn readers about the pitfalls of buying alcohol from unconventional sources such as car boot sales, strangers at the pub, workplace or selling from the back of a vehicle or any other unusual sources. In recent times there has been an increase in the amount of counterfeit and fake alcohol found in the county. Counterfeit alcohol, just like any other counterfeit product, mimics a genuine branded article and tries to pass itself off as the genuine product. Usually the counterfeit product is very convincing and most consumers wouldn’t notice any difference in the packaging. As well as counterfeit alcohol there are drinks designed to look like new and appealing brands. Often these products do not meet the required legal standards of composition – either having too little or too much of certain required ingredients or featuring ingredients that shouldn’t be present at all. Often these ingredients can be harmful to health. Indeed, both counterfeit and other fake drinks should be avoided at all costs. They may contain either much more or much less alcohol than stated on the label and than is required by law but worse than this, however, is the fact that many counterfeit and fake drinks contain chemicals that are normally used in products such as cleaning products, antifreeze and screen wash. For example methanol, isopropyl, propan-2-ol, acetone and chloroform are commonly found in illicit alcohol. Needless to say, these products can be dangerous if consumed and pose a risk to health. For example, people have been known to be sick or suffer dizziness, breathing difficulties, kidney damage, blindness and even death after consuming fake alcohol. Nobody can tell what’s in a bottle of fake drink and so the risks are unpredictable. The simple message is to not buy or consume any drink of questionable source. So if you choose to eat, drink and be merry this Christmas, please do so in a way that is safe and doesn’t risk your health or that of your guests. If you see any alcohol that you suspect to be counterfeit or fake, please contact our partner, Citizens Advice Consumer Service, on 08454 040506. For business advice and support contact 0345 0455206.
CCORRN RePaint Can you reuse some paint for a good cause Do you know a local community or sports group, charity or other good cause that needs low cost paint which also is environmentally friendly?
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