Issue 80 Winter 2014 by Melbourn Magazine

www.melbourncambridge.co.uk

...editorial Who could believe that it is 20 years since the first edition of the Melbourn Magazine appeared? It has changed since then as you can see from this edition’s cover. It has been very interesting, and a lot of fun preparing the material for the magazine, and for the other publications. When we were discussing Melbourn 2000, which incidentally now contains a lot of history, digital photography was not available! All the photos were taken by ‘old fashioned’ cameras! Many Melbournians will remember Mr Behenna, the first Warden of the Village College, whose obituary appears on page 28 He must have been an extremely interesting person, and definitely a stickler for perfection. Apart from a very wet Fete, and rain earlier in the year, the weather has been wonderful, with a lovely summer and autumn. Who would have thought that we would be eating out of doors at the end of October! It was the hottest Halloween since records began! The weather was also excellent for Remembrance Sunday, even more moving this year as we remember those who died in the Great War which began 100 years ago. How many of us I wonder have looked through artefacts left by our grandparents and parents and found items relating to that time? See a feature on the Christmas truce in 1914 on page 6. Congratulations are due to Amanda Free and her daughter Daisy, who, in October were declared the winners of South Cambs Distict Council’s 33rd annual Best Kept Garden Competition! Now as we prepare for the holiday season the Melbourn Magazine Committee wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! * We would like to apologise for the quality of some of the black and white photographs in the last issue, the printer’s proof was fine, but due to a technical problem, which the printers have acknowledged, the final print run was not.

The front cover shows one issue from each year of publication.

Melbourn Magazine is printed quarterly and delivered free to every household and business in the village. All work on the Melbourn Magazine, including layout and design is produced by volunteers. The cost of printing comes entirely from advertising and sponsorship.

Melbourn Magazine is independent of the Parish Council NO public money is used. We would like to thank TTP for their continued sponsorship of the magazine. If you would like to advertise in the Melbourn Magazine see page 71 for details

Contents Village news

20 years – The changing face of a magazine

feature

The Great War – Christmas Truce

Community Matters Nature Council News Should there be 200 new homes

11 17 19 21

built off New Road?

Profile

Pauline & Alan Hay

feature

Origin of Christmas Day The Christmas Tree Mince Pies

feature

Punch, or the London Charivari

Obituary

First Warden of Melbourn Village College, 1959–1969

Education feature

29 33

MVC Creative Art Summer exhibition

Village information Diary Sports & Clubs feature

35 36 45 46

Bell Ringing Open Day East Anglian Air Ambulance

Church news What’s On Winter Flower Festival ‘The Flintstones save Christmas’ Cambridge Harmony (A Ladies Close Harmony Choir) Christmas around the world, Cantilena Singers Burns Night Supper Usher in the Christmas festivities

61 63 63 63 63 67

email: melbournmagazine@gmail.com

01763 290 335 FREE 07525 173 278 QUOTATIONS

COMMERCIAL

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Village news 20 years – The changing face of a magazine The Great War 1914–1918 Southwell Court British Legion Neil Morris Library The Hub Club Melbourn & Meldreth Women’s Group Melbourn History Group Ladies Circle Sports Pavilion Melbourn and Meldreth Lunch Club Relate Cambridge Cambridge Citizens Advice Saying goodbye to a soggy 2014 Fete Cambridgeshire ACRE’s Get involved with your local Healthwatch

5 7 7 7 9 11 11 11 11 13 13 13 15 15 15 18 18

The Great War 1914–1918 available for £3 ALL the proceeds raised from the sale of this book will go to charity. See page 7 for details

An exhibition by Melbourn History Group

to those who died, we remember; to those who survived, we hear you; to future generations, let us never forget.

20 years – The changing face of a magazine As the front cover of this issue shows, the design of the Melbourn magazine has had a number of makeovers over the past 20 years. Originally published by Melbourn Parish Council in 1995, the first issue comprised 8 pages produced on the Parish Council copier. Issue 2 – also produced on the copier – increased in size to 22 pages with contributions from a number of clubs and residents and included advertising for the first time. About five hundred copies were printed of these two editions and placed in the library, Post Office and the Co-op, for people to pick up. The third edition was printed by Hales Printers of Royston, with a print run of 1800 copies, the magazine was delivered to every household and business in the village. Hales continued to print until the autumn of 2000 when The Burlington Press of Foxton (later known as Langham Press) took over. It was at this time that colour printing was introduced albeit with just two colours – black and blue used on the front and back cover. The year 2000 also saw the launch of the Millennium book, a project undertaken by the magazine. The magazine became financially independent of the Parish Council in 1998 and has remained so ever since, being totally financed by advertising and sponsorship, though still carrying Parish Council information. In 2005, to help publicise the launch of the history book ‘A glimpse into Melbourn’s past’, full colour was used on the front cover and a few pages on the inside. The following year the magazine began using colour advertising, which proved very popular. Interestingly, in comparison the first year of publication (1995), the magazine had just 22 advertisers – today it has 80, and of the original advertisers 5 companies have remained with us – Chris Thomas, Melbourn Flooring, PL Cooper, South Cambs Motors and Urban Plastics. Although the design of the magazine has changed over the years, there are a number of people who have continued as part of the magazine team since those early days. From the original production team of 1995, four members still remain – Ann Dekkers, Mavis Howard, Eric Johnston and Peter Simmonett. From those who spend a great deal of their time carrying and delivering these (now-a-days not so light!) magazines throughout the village in all weathers, Mabel Houghton, Janet Batchelor and Jayne White have been with us from the beginning. Today, 2150 copies are printed and delivered to every household and business in the Parish by a team of 38 volunteers. TTP (previously known as The Technology Partnership) also began sponsoring the magazine in 1995 and have remained a generous supporter ever since. Without this collective team there would be no Melbourn Magazine. continued on page 7

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feature The Great War – Christmas Truce When the First Workd War was declared on 4th August 1914, many thought it would be over in weeks, or ‘surely by Christmas!’ But by December, it had raged for nearly five months with no sign of an end to the fighting. Over 1,200,000 soldiers from both sides had been killed, injured or were missing – presumed dead, in a war that would drag on for four long years and see millions more die. With so many casualties, there were calls for a truce from neutral countries including the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland, but this was ignored. Pope Benedict XV who had called the Great War “the suicide of civilised Europe”, appealed for peace, warning that:

“There is no limit to the measure of ruin and of slaughter; day by day the earth is drenched with newly-shed blood, and is covered with the bodies of the wounded and of the slain. Who would imagine, as we see them thus filled with hatred of one another, that they are all of one common stock, all of the same nature, all members of the same human society? In December the Pope again made an appeal for a temporary truce asking, “that the guns may fall silent at least upon the night the angels sang.” But the warring countries refused to create an official cease-fire. For the British, General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien issued instructions to all commanders at the front.

“It is during this period that the greatest danger to the morale of troops exists. Experience of this and of every other war proves undoubtedly that troops in trenches in close proximity to the enemy slide very easily, if permitted to do so, into a ‘live and let live’ theory of life…officers and men sink into a military lethargy from which it is difficult to arouse them when the moment for great sacrifices again arises…the attitude of our troops can be readily understood and to a certain extent commands sympathy…such an attitude is however most dangerous for it discourages initiative in commanders and destroys the offensive spirit in all ranks…the Corps Commander therefore directs Divisional Commanders to impress on subordinate commanders the absolute necessity of encouraging offensive spirit…friendly intercourse with the enemy, unofficial armistices, however tempting and amusing they may be, are absolutely prohibited.” However, with infantry units in such close proximity to each other, (sometimes no more than 30 to 60 yards apart) it was not unusual for the two sides to engage in small-scale fraternisation. In some sectors, there was the occasional ceasefire to allow soldiers to recover wounded or dead comrades.

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“The dead on both sides had been lying out in the open since the fierce night fighting of a week earlier…a large crowd of officers and men, English and German, grouped around the bodies, which had already been gathered together and laid out in rows. It was a ghastly sight. The digging parties were busy on the two big common graves… In the intervals of superintending it we chatted with the Germans, most of whom were quite affable. The digging completed, the graves were filled in, and the German officers remained to pay their tribute of respect while our chaplain read a short service. It was one of the most impressive things I have ever witnessed. Friend and foe stood side-by-side, bare-headed, watching the tall, grave figure of the padre outlined against the frosty landscape as he blessed the poor broken bodies at his feet. Then with more formal salutes we turned and made our way back to our respective ruts.” Although there was no ‘official’ truce, it was estimated that some 100,000 British and German troops were involved in these ‘unofficial cessations of fighting’ along the length of the Western Front.

“…it will surprise you to learn that the soldiers in both lines of trenches have become very ‘pally’ with each other. The trenches are only 60 yards apart at one place, and every morning about breakfast-time one of the soldiers sticks a board in the air. As soon as this board goes up all firing ceases, and men from either side draw their water and rations. All through the breakfast hour, and so long as this board is up, silence reigns supreme, but whenever the board comes down the first unlucky devil who shows even so much as a hand gets a bullet through it.” Christmas Eve 1914, began with clear skies and a hard frost – a great improvement from the constant torrent of heavy rain they had seen in the preceding weeks and the change made life in the trenches a little more bearable. Parcels arrived from home, packed with goodies and were distributed to the soldiers. The troops also received a plum pudding from the Daily Mail, chocolates from Cadburys and a ‘Princess Mary box’. This metal case, engraved with an outline of King George V’s daughter, contained: For the smoker – one ounce of tobacco, a packet of 20 cigarettes wrapped in yellow, continued on page 10

Princess Mary box

Melbourn Mobile Warden Scheme Can we help you? Can we help a relative? Can we help a neighbour? Who does the Scheme help? The scheme is open to anyone who requests our help including those who live alone or with their families but need the extra support offered by our services. Couples too are most welcome. It is also open to those in sheltered housing, as the scheme offers different, but complementary services. Note: The scheme also offers its services for short periods to cover the temporary absence of relatives who otherwise provide this support.

We offer help with:

and support via twice • Friendship weekly visits and daily phone calls and collection of • Ordering prescriptions shopping • Basic Collection pensions • Setting up ofLifeline service • Bereavement support • Advice on benefits • Going to the Post Office to pay • your bills on getting repairs done in • Advice your home transport to the hospital • Arranging or other appointments • Just coming round for a chat

What will it cost?

We do have to make a small weekly charge for the warden’s services. The fee is only £5 per week (a little more for couples). Margo Wherrell (Mobile Warden) 01763 260966 Mobile: 07935 315497 Email: tigress270549@aol.com Jeannie Seers (Deputy Warden) 01763 262651 Mobile: 07808 735066 Email: jeanseers1@ntlworld.com Joy Hyde (Assistant Warden) 01763 220139 Mobile: 07952 090089. Melbourn Warden Scheme is a registered charity.

However, what has really made this local and national award-winning publication a great success are the interesting and varied contributions from residents, active local groups and helpful advice and news from many important institutions throughout the county. As with the team who produce and deliver this award-winning publication, without these contributions there would be no magazine. The Melbourn Magazine team would like to thank everyone for their continued support. Peter Simmonett

The Great War 1914–1918 is available for £3 ALL the proceeds raised from the sale of this book will go to The Royal British Legion and Help for Heroes This year has seen many commemorations of the centenary of World War One up and down the country, not least the a very successful exhibition held in July 2014 at All Saints’ Church, produced by the Melbourn History Group. The exhibition was designed to show the tragic face of the war alongside interesting stories from home. We were also fortunate that students from Melbourn Village College visited Flanders and were able to share their thoughts about the battlefields where many of the most tragic events occurred during the war. Following the exhibition, The Great War 1914–1918 book was produced. As with the display panels in the exhibition, the book conveys a wealth of information covering all aspects of the war and its progress throughout 1914–1918. The campaigns and events are shown in time-lines, while at home, school records, council minutes and newspaper reports help to give an insight into village life. Also included is an account of the Melbourn man’s escape from the Germans and stories of men from Meldreth who fought in the war and of the German prisoners of war held there. This book sponsored by Melbourn History Group and Melbourn Magazine, was given free to every household in the Parish and all students at Melbourn Village College and the top two years at Melbourn Primary School. If you would like to purchase a copy, please contact Ann Dekkers on 261144 or Peter Simmonett on 220363.

Southwell Court The apparent decision by Metropolitan Housing Association to close Southwell Court care home has come as a shock to all, but most particularly the elderly people who had settled at Southwell Court as home, and staff, all of whom have been key to making Southwell Court the special place that it is. The County Council’s role, in funding a number of people who live there, is to help ensure that a distressing period of upheaval is handled as well as possible. It is encouraging to learn that there are a relatively good number of vacancies at homes in Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire, but that does not change the fact of forced moves for elderly and frail people, and the dispersal of a close community. What emerged from a well-attended meeting with Metropolitan senior management, residents and their families, staff, and district and county councillors was a confirmation that Metropolitan as owner of Southwell Court has never engaged with our community to explore ways of resolving problems. While Metropolitan described an historic problem of under-occupancy, we were upset to hear that prospective clients had actually been turned away. District Councillors Jose Hales and Val Barrett and I also felt that Metropolitan had not enthusiastically explored melbournmagazine

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possible solutions to a grant funding anomaly which has apparently held up the prospective sale of the home to another housing association better able to run it. It was agreed that Metropolitan’s ‘consultation’ period should allow this anomaly to be explored in case some solution might be found, but that the any period of uncertainty about the future be resolved as quickly as possible in order not to prolong a stressful time. It is hard to say at the time of writing what will happen next, but we are working together to do what we can for people affected by this difficult turn of events. Meanwhile we have been inspired to see families and staff supporting residents and one another, which just goes to show what a great community we have. Susan van de Ven Tel 01763 261833 susanvandeven@yahoo.co.uk

British Legion Women’s Section Melbourn and Meldreth Branch Sadly, in September, we lost our Chairman, Mrs Christine Lindsell who lost her battle with illness. Her funeral was held on Friday October 10th, and was attended by members of the Branch as well as her family and friends. I was able to carry the standard at the funeral. We will always be grateful to Christine for the time she gave us as Chairman. Christine was involved with the British Legion for about 60 years, served on the County Committee and was also a member of the Naval. Society. Our acting Chairman will be our present Vice Chairman Anne Neaves. Our September meeting was a visit to the Barrington Group Meeting and we celebrated the Harvest with them.

We also had an outing to the Chatteris Branch where we enjoyed lunch together. After lunch we were treated to a fascinating film show on the theme of ‘The Olden Days’. We held our own Harvest Supper on September 24th. Marion Long conducted a short Harvest Service before we all enjoyed a meal of sausage and mash. We are busy preparing a programme of events for the New Year and would welcome any ladies who are interested in joining us in our activities. We meet on the last Wednesday of every month at Vicarage Close Community Rooms at 2pm during the winter months. All ladies are welcome – you do not have to be connected to the Armed Forces. The Chairman opens the meeting with the Exhortation and we close with the National Anthem Pauline Parkinson Standard Bearer. Acting Chairman Anne Neaves 01763 260110 Secretary Elizabeth Murphy 01763 220841 Standard Bearer Pauline Parkinson 01763 262617

Neil Morris It was with great shock and sadness that we learned of the death of our friend and colleague Neil Morris, on 11 September. From the moment the A10 Corridor Cycling Campaign took root in January 2013 Neil was quick to volunteer and deliver support wherever it was needed. As someone who relied solely on a bicycle for making essential local journeys – and who had had his own cycling accident in 2012 – he was passionate about the importance of creating safe cycling routes. Neil was a familiar sight on the Thursday Tesco run (and took pride in fitting all of his shopping into his panniers) and knew every inch of the A10/A505 route. His behind the scenes work made the campaign the well-run organization that it has become: designing membership cards, keeping our books in good order, filling out grant applications, writing well-informed and well-argued letters to the local papers, and at a moment’s notice, making sure the tea stand was properly staffed for the first Awareness Ride in May 2013. Small acts of kindness within his community were what marked Neil out, and this is what we will remember him for most. Neil’s friends in the A10 Corridor Cycling Campaign.

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continued from page 6

“… Just before dinner I had the pleasure of shaking hands with several Germans: a party of them came halfway over to us so several of us went out to them… After exchanging autographs and them wishing us a Happy New Year we departed and came back and had our dinner… We can hardly believe that we’ve been firing at them for the last week or two – it all seems so strange” “…one of my machine gunners, who was a bit of an amateur hairdresser in civil life, cutting the unnaturally long hair of a docile Boche, who was patiently kneeling on the ground whilst the automatic clippers crept up the back of his neck.” Artist impression of the Christmas Truce

monogrammed paper, and a tinder lighter. Non-smokers received a packet of acid tablets (sweets), a khaki writing case, and a lead ‘bullet’ pencil. It also contained a picture card of Princess Mary and a message from the King: ‘May God protect you and bring you safe home’. Towns, villages and many organisations back home also sent gifts of food, warm clothes and letters of thanks. Across No Man’s Land, the Germans received presents from the German High Command, a meerschaum pipe and tobacco, or a box of cigars. Packages from home called Liebesgaben (loving gifts) included chocolates, cake, dauerwurst (sausages), gloves and leggings. Some troops were also given miniature Christmas trees (small conifers), which were put up on the parapets of the trenches and decorated with candles. The Germans continued the celebrations by singing Christmas carols.

“From the German trenches came the sound of music and singing… Climbing the parapet, I saw a sight which I shall remember to my dying day. Right along the whole of their line were hung paper lanterns and illuminations of every description, many of them in such positions as to suggest that they were hung upon Christmas trees.” The British responded by singing carols of their own and the two sides began shouting Christmas greetings to each other. Soon after, there were excursions across No Man’s Land, where small gifts were exchanged; cigarettes, cigars, tobacco, food, wine and souvenirs such as buttons and hats.

“They finished their carol and we thought that we ought to retaliate in some way, so we sang ‘The first Noël’, and when we finished that they all began clapping; and then they struck up another favourite of theirs, ‘O Tannenbaum’. And so it went on. First the Germans would sing one of their carols and then we would sing one of ours, until when we started up ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’ the Germans immediately joined in singing the same hymn to the Latin words’ Adeste Fidéles’. And I thought, well, this was really a most extraordinary thing – two nations both singing the same carol in the middle of a war.”

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“We shook hands, wished each other a Merry Christmas, and were soon conversing as if we had known each other for years. We were in front of their wire entanglements and surrounded by Germans… We stood inside the circle like street corner orators… Where they couldn’t talk the language they were making themselves understood by signs, and everyone seemed to be getting on nicely. Here we were laughing and chatting to men whom only a few hours before we were trying to kill!” The strange and unofficial truce of Christmas 1914 lasted for several days and for many at the front – on both sides, that first Christmas in the trenches, clearly changed their impression of the evil enemy they were there to fight.

“All of a sudden the (British) enemy fire ceased. Complete silence came over the battlefield…we looked over the brim of our shell hole and there between the brick heaps, came a British soldier with a Red Cross flag which he waved and he was followed by stretcher bearers who came slowly towards us and collected our wounded. We got up, still completely dumb from fear of death and helped them to bring our wounded into our trenches. One hour later a British Army doctor came out, again with a Red Cross flag and he arranged a truce for two hours to let us collect our dead ones. I never forgot this generosity of the British.” “They were really magnificent in the whole thing and jolly good sorts. I have now a very different opinion of the Germans. Both sides have started the firing, and already enemies again. Strange it all seems, doesn’t it?” “It was then we discovered that those on the ‘other’ side were not the savage barbarians we’d been told. They were like us. Why were we led to believe otherwise?” The truce was not universal and not everyone was aware that it took place. Elsewhere on Christmas Eve, 98 British soldiers were killed mostly by sniper fire and on Christmas Day, 81 British soldiers were killed.

“Perhaps you read of the conversation on Christmas Day between us and the Germans. It’s all lies. The sniping went on just the same; in fact, our captain was wounded, so don’t believe what you see in the papers.” continued on page 14

Community Matters www.melbourncambridge.co.uk

Library

Melbourn History Group

The many visitors to the Hub will have seen the new library desk which is opposite the Hub reception desk. This has made life much easier for the librarians as we no longer have to set up the computer at the start of each session. It is particularly pleasing that so many children, as well as their parents are using the library. This summer the County Library Service ran a reading challenge again. This year it was called the Mythical Maze. Children had to read six books over the summer holidays and received a sticker for each book read. There were 15 who managed to read six books and they were presented with a medal and a certificate at a special ceremony at the beginning of October. Younger children are also catered for. One of our librarians runs Story Time every Friday in term time from 10 to 10.30 am. All children from 0 to 4 years are welcome. They are read two or three stories and there is also lots of singing and rhymes in between. There is no need to book, just turn up and join in the fun. Jane Stevens

After the successful WWI exhibition held on 19th July at All Saints’ Church, and the subsequent publication of the booklet to accompany it, several long standing members of the group decided to stand down. We are very grateful for the years of hard work put in by Colin Limming, Eric Johnston, Sally Wright, and the late Terry Rolt: without them we would not have been able to produce our publications, ‘Melbourn 2000’, ‘A Glimpse into Melbourn’s Past’, ‘Pictorial Melbourn’, the guide to All Saints’ Church and lastly ‘1914–1918 The Great War’. The remainder of the History Group, Peter and Jan Simmonett, Mavis Howard and Ann Dekkers have now been joined by Tony Truett, Wendy Phillips and Mark Ponder, and are considering what our next area of study should be. If there is anyone interested in joining the group, or has ideas for future projects, then please let us know, we need more people. We have a lot of fun too!

The Hub Club The Hub Club – the lunch club for everyone – is held on the second Wednesday of each month. There has been a very positive response to this club and we have had some very enjoyable lunches with lots of conversation. Just turn up at 12.30pm and join in, no membership is required. Jane Stevens

Melbourn & Meldreth Women’s Group The Group is for all women of any age. Meetings are held at 7.45 p.m. on the 4th Tuesday of each month, except in December and we vary our venues between Melbourn and Meldreth. We charge £1 on the night to cover expenses and there is an opportunity to make a donation to the chosen charity of the year, which is the National Autistic Society. We usually have a guest speaker or some in house entertainment followed by a chance to have a chat over tea/coffee and biscuits. We do not meet in December and we start our programme of 2015 off with our AGM, which is held in All Saints Community Hall. We have a short meeting to conduct our formal business of electing committee members, receiving reports and selecting the charity, which we will support for the year. The new programme for the year will be given out at this meeting. Usually this proceeds very quickly and then we have our bring-and-share supper to which all contribute and it is usually a time to catch up and enjoy meeting with one another. The February meeting will take place on 24 February 2015 at All Saints Community Hall when we are looking forward to Anna Taylor talking about Hats and The Role of Women – Anna is a milliner and this should be an interesting talk. If you would like to know anything more about the group please contact Pat Smith (262575), Sue Toule (260955) or Anne Harrison (261775)

Ann Dekkers 01763 261144 email heisei110@ntlworld.com

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Ladies Circle This September Ladies Circle have been fundraising for local charities. We hosted a tea party with a ‘bake off’ theme and invited our friends and ladies from the surrounding area Ladies Circles’. Together we had a wonderful afternoon drinking tea and tasting delicious cakes. Some ladies entered a bake off and we were incredibly lucky to have the Mayor of Royston to be our guest judge. The Mayor had the wonderful task of tasting all the entries and choose a first, second and third place. There were many delicious entries but the Mayor crowned Alexandra French, of Royston Ladies Circle, the star baker of the day.

The afternoon was a huge success and we raised £ 250.10p, which will be donated to local charities in the next few weeks. The tea party has been one of a few fundraiser we have held for local charities and we are thrilled to be donating money to Homestart to continue supporting their good work with young families in the area, Meldreth Manor, who need some renovation work on their therapy pool, money towards a new minibus for Meridian School and other schools in the area as well as helping a local young man with severe disabilities purchase a wheelchair not provided on the NHS. If you are interested to know more about us, or have a charitable cause we may be able to help with, find us on Facebook or alternatively call Hannah Paradis on 01763220967. We are a social group of ladies ages 18-45. We meet on the second and fourth Thursday of each month to do fun, social events such as going to the theatre, cinema trip, falconry, baking, recipe swapping and we even recently attempted pole dancing! Then there is our fundraising side, which is very important to us. We run a variety of fundraising events to help raise money for local charities/ causes. Look out for us this Christmas supporting Royston Round Table with the Santa float. We will also be running a quiz night in Meldreth village hall in February; more details to follow soon.

Melbourn and Meldreth Lunch Club Lunch Club is held every Thursday at Vicarage Close. The centre is open from 11.30am and lunch is served at 12. We are usually finished by 1pm but everyone is welcome to sit and chat until 1.30pm. It is a very informal gathering that hopes to provide the chance for the older members of our community to have a reasonably priced lunch and socialise with their peers. The club is run by Nikki and Julie, two Melbourn based mums. It is open to anybody that wishes to join us (space permitting). Cost for lunch, desert and a tea or coffee is £5 which is payable on the day. All we ask is that you telephone us on the number below if you are not able to attend. We can provide transport to and from lunch club for those that need it. The menu is posted at lunch club so you are aware of what will be served each week. If something is not to your liking we are always able to order a jacket potato with cheese/tuna and salad as an alternative. Diabetic, vegetarian and other dietary requirements can be catered for if you inform us of your needs. Our telephone number is 07599292327 Julie or Nikki will always try to answer your call but will always listen to messages and call back if requested. We look forward to seeing you.

Sports Pavilion Another fine addition to the facilities in Melbourn was opened in November and all those involved are to be congratulated. When one remembers the state of the old sports pavilion which suffered the unwelcome attentions of vandals, the new facility is a model of good design and thought. A group of people and firms were involved but amongst these were continued on page 15

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continued from page 10

“…we heard a band in the German trenches, but our artillery spoilt the effect by dropping a couple of shells right in the centre of them.” In the following months, the Germans approached the British for a possible truce but mostly without success. On Easter Sunday, 4th April 1915, a German unit raised a white flag and began leaving their trenches, but the British warned them telling them they would open fire, and so they retreated. On other parts of the front, no such warnings were given.

“We have issued strict orders to the men not to on any account allow a truce, as we have heard rumours that they will probably try to. The Germans did. They came over towards us singing. So we opened rapid fire on them, which is the only truce they deserve.” To ensure there were no more repeats of ‘fraternising with the enemy’ or ‘slackness in indiscipline’, over the Christmas period in 1915, the British High Command ordered a slow continuous artillery barrage along the front. Despite the waste of lives, units were also ordered to mount trench raids and harass the enemy line at night and mortar bombardments during the day. Troops were rotated to other sectors of the front to prevent them from becoming ‘overly familiar with the enemy’. Future attempts at a ceasefire were quashed with threats of disciplinary action.

“… I was shown a report from one section of how, on Christmas Day, a friendly gathering had taken place of Germans and British on the neutral ground between the two lines, recounting that many officers had taken part in it. This is not only illustrative of the apathetic state we are gradually sinking into, apart also from illustrating that any orders I issue on the subject are useless, for I have issued the strictest orders that on no account is intercourse to be allowed between the opposing troops. To finish this war quickly, we must keep up the fighting spirit and do all we can to discourage friendly intercourse. I am calling for particulars as to names of officers and units who took part in this Christmas gathering, with a view to disciplinary action”. Despite these threats, in the following years there were occasions when the opposing sides did meet up. In November 1915 near St. Eloi, south of Ypres, the Germans and British did call a short truce, so that they could bury their dead. December 1916 also saw a few areas along the line where the troops briefly got together to share Christmas greetings and trade presents.

“Here we are again as the song says, I had quite a good Christmas considering I was in the front line. Christmas Eve was pretty stiff, up to the hips in mud of course… We had a truce on Christmas Day and our German friends were quite friendly. They came over to see us and we traded bully beef for cigars.” Just outside Ypres, Company Commander Sir Iain Colquhoun (a relation by marriage to Herbert Asquith, the Prime Minister),

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agreed to a 45-minute truce to bury the dead between the lines. This led to Sir Iain being court-martialled for defying standing orders: ‘Conduct to the prejudice of good order of military discipline in that on 25th Dec he (1) Approved of a truce with the enemy (2) Permitted a cessation of hostilities’. He was found guilty and officially reprimanded. However, due to his good military service record he remained in his position.

“A German officer came forward and asked me for a truce for Christmas. I replied that this was impossible. He then asked for ¾ hour to bury his dead. I agreed. The Germans then started burying their dead and we did the same. This was finished in ½ hrs time. Our men and the Germans then talked and exchanged cigars, cigarettes etc. for ¼ of an hour and when the time was up I blew a whistle and both sides returned to their trenches.” The orders set in motion by the High Command to prevent any further fraternisation were later overshadowed by stories of German ‘atrocities’ the use of poison gas on the front line, the bombing of British cities by German Zeppelins and the ‘execution’ of Edith Cavell. Hatred for the Germans also increased when the Lusitania was sunk killing 1,195 civilians and crew. Warfare had become cruel and harsh as the casualties on both sides mounted.

“I saw New Years in last night in the most depressing way, wet, cold, slush and bullets and rockets. The Germans sung carols, so our men shot at them to keep them quiet… Never was warfare made more difficult.” The amazing demonstration of Christmas cheer and friendship during the Christmas Truce of 1914, was never really repeated. However, ‘no matter how brutal the war had become, this small ‘respite’ showed that soldiers’ from both sides had at least kept their humanity’.

The soldier’s heart rarely has any hatred in it. He goes out to fight because that is his job. What came before – the causes of the war and the why and wherefore – bother him little. He fights for his country and against his country’s enemies. Collectively, they are to be condemned and blown to pieces. Individually, he knows they’re not bad sorts. The soldier has other things to think about. Consequently, he has not time for rage, and blind furies only overwhelm him when the blood is up over fierce tussles in the heat of the thing. At other times, the childishness is apparent to him. But now an end to the truce. The news, bad and good, begins again. 1915 darkens over. Again we who watch have to mourn many of our finest men. The lull is finished. The absurdity and the tragedy renew themselves. Daily Mirror, 2nd January 1915 The text shown in italics are from letters and diary entries written by soldiers serving at the front. Peter Simmonett

Councillors Irene Bloomfield, Mike Sherwen and Mike Linnett on the Parish Council and Bridget Smith and Anita Dobson of South Cambridgeshire District Council. The moving force behind the whole project was Peter Simmonett who realised the former building lacked easy access for disabled people, and also that a better form of security was needed for a building that was rather isolated. His design of the improved access, security features and internal design gained the full approval of the Parish Council in 2012 and enabled, with the help of grants, the refurbishment to take place. It is to be hoped that local clubs and organisations will take advantage of the new facilities, which together with the Hub, are a credit to the Village. Colin Limming

Relate Cambridge Relationship support available in Melbourn from relate Cambridge The sessions are held in the small meeting room at Melbourn Hub on Wednesday each week. Appointment times are: 10:30; 11:45; 13:00 For more information or to book an appointment, contact Relate Cambridge on 01223 357424 Mon-Thur 8am-10pm, Fri 8 am-6pm, Sat 9am-5pm (confidential answerphone at all other times). A number of workshops are held at 3 Brooklands Avenue Cambridge CB2 8BB. If you would like information please contact Ellie Winter at Relate Cambridge during office hours on 01302 347712 or email admin@relatecambridge.org.uk Our training services offer:

range of courses for you, and • Ayourwidefamily training delivered at dates and • Flexible times to suit your needs for individuals to help boost • Courses personal wellbeing and provide

Cambridge Citizens Advice Do you or others in your area need advice on how to make savings on energy bills or to understand what financial assistance you’re entitled to? Cambridge Citizens Advice is running workshops to local groups in Cambridgeshire who would like to find out how to make savings on energy bills and what financial assistance they may be entitled to. If you are interested in finding out more please contact Lorraine at Cambridge CAB (LorraineP@cambridgecab.org.uk). The workshops form part of the Big Energy Saving Week campaign to make sure that this winter people have access to advice and information around checking bills, switching providers/tariffs and insulating homes in order to reduce energy bills. If you are an individual who would like advice on energy costs please visit Cambridge CAB at 66 Devonshire Road, Cambridge, CB1 2BL. Cambridge & District CAB, 66 Devonshire Road, Cambridge CB1 2BL www. cambridgecab.org

Saying goodbye to a soggy 2014 Fete …and looking forward to the blue skies of Fete 2015 The final accounts are now complete for our Fete in 2014 and despite torrential rain and the consequential drop in attendance and takings we actually made a small profit. This is, of course, due to the stoic character of Melbourn residents, the valiant effort of our band of volunteers and the generous support of local businesses and individuals through sponsorship and advertising. We only had a small amount of surplus to give away but we were able to make contributions to some local charities and activities. This year we were delighted to give money again to Melbourn Mobile Warden Scheme (MMWS). MMWS has operated in Melbourn for over 20 years and enables mobility impaired people remain independent in their own homes. The donation will help pay for outings and events for those in our village who depend on the support of MMWS. Additionally, we were able to support Melbourn Village College who run a summer school. This summer school helps children in making the transition from primary to secondary school. Finally, Melbourn Amateur Dramatics Society received a small donation which will help fund their Christmas production of “The Flintstones” which is in production. Of course, the Brownies who provided tea and coffee in the Pavilion also benefited from their hard work. We are looking forward to next year’s Fete and will make changes after the experiences of this year’s event. More information will be available in the coming months but we can announce already that there will be changes to the competition. Details of next year’s events will be posted on our website www.melbournfete.co.uk We really are unable to stage the fete without a band of volunteers to help in continued on page 18 Members of the Committee modelling this year’s Bar aprons

essential skills. Relate Cambridge – supporting relationships at every stage of your life. Relate is the UK’s largest relationship support organisation with over 75 years’ experience, Relate is ideally placed to provide vital skills training to support people in the workplace and at home. www.relatecambridge.org.uk melbournmagazine

Soft play fun for ages 0-13 years • Four lane high wavy slide in funky cow print • Tube slide • Farm themed balance beams • Duck pond ball pool • Dedicated toddlers’ area with mini wavy slide • Mini ball pool for tactile play • Party packages and two party rooms catering for between 10 and 25 children • Cafe with homemade food

Loyalty card rewards for regular visits

BURY LANE FUN BARN A10 Bypass, Melbourn Royston, Herts, SG8 6DF Telephone 01763 260418 www.burylanefunbarn.co.uk Mon - Sat: 9am - 6pm Sunday: 10.30am - 4.30pm

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Nature River Mel

You may not be aware of the fact, but the last Sunday in September was World Rivers Day. World Rivers Day is a day that has grown out of the United Nations’ Water for Life initiative, which helps to create a greater awareness of the world’s waterways. Rivers in every country face an array of threats, and World Rivers Day promotes the active involvement of local communities to ensure the health of their rivers in the years ahead. The River Mel Restoration Group decided to mark this day at their September working party by undertaking an in-river litter pick, followed by a celebratory cake at coffee time. Over the last few years the amount of litter in the Melbourn stretch of the Mel has decreased significantly but, unfortunately, plastic carrier bags, bottles, cans and doggie “poo” bags are still found by volunteers when working in the river. This litter is not just unsightly but causes direct harm to our wildlife and is a hazard to our volunteers. There are bins on the Recreation Ground for both rubbish and doggie “poo” bags, so why throw them in the river? Plastic bags do not biodegrade, they photo-degrade – breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic pieces that contaminate the river and eventually the wildlife that depends on it. To help prevent this, we carry out twice yearly dedicated in-river litter picking sessions, one in the autumn and one in the spring. Litter is a direct result of human activity and it is sad and rather ironic to think that we need to mark World Rivers Day with a session to remove it from our river. By the time you receive this magazine the RMRG will have stopped working in the river for the winter season and will be concentrating on improving bank habitat. The reason we stop working in the river at this time is to ensure that trout can spawn, undisturbed, in the gravel riffles that you can see along the River Mel. Trout lay their eggs between December and March, and its important that we do not disturb the silt during these months, otherwise it will settle on the riffles and stifle out the oxygen that sustains the eggs and young trout. This year there have been increased sightings of trout in the River Mel, so we need to protect their breeding grounds during these vital winter months. A very different activity for the group is the dressing of a Christmas tree as part of Holy Trinity Church’s Christmas Tree Festival in Meldreth. This is an enjoyable way of preparing for the festive season and helps all of us who attend to get into the festive mood. We wish all of you a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year. For further details about volunteering or the dates of future working parties please telephone Maureen Brierley on 01763 262752 melbournmagazine

the set up, clearing up and the running on the day. As we grow in size and introduce more activities the need for volunteers grows. If you can help us for a few hours then we would be very grateful. You can contact us through the website or respond to the volunteer campaign we will be running as the next fete approaches. We have a great team who give up part of their weekend in June to help and it is great fun and rewarding and we would welcome anyone who could join our team. Finally, a reminder that the fete will be held on 20 June 2015.

Cambridgeshire ACRE’s Now is the time to consider your heating oil requirements for the winter months. Traditionally heating oil prices in the summer and early autumn months tend to be cheaper and deliveries faster than in the colder weather. Cambridgeshire ACRE’s community oil buying scheme is designed to help purchasers of central heating oil to make savings by buying in bulk. The scheme is open to anyone in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Community buildings such as churches and village halls as well as businesses, which are reliant upon heating oil, can join too. The annual membership fee for domestic users is £20 and covers as many oil orders, as you need during the course of the year. Through our partnership with AF Affinity Limited, a subsidiary of Anglia Farmers Limited, the leading agricultural purchasing co-operative in the United Kingdom, the scheme makes the most of collective purchasing power. The average saving is usually 2pence per litre against online prices .In July and August this year members who ordered oil in these months got it at less than 50pence per litre (exclusive of VAT at 5%). The environment benefits too as every time a tanker comes out to make a delivery, it is using a lot of diesel – a full tanker can get as little as a horrifying 8 miles per gallon. If deliveries are organised so that one tanker delivers to several customers in a village, instead of making lots of individual deliveries, the fuel consumption is reduced and so is traffic in the village.

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There are five easy steps to cheaper heating oil: 1: Join the Cambridgeshire ACRE Community Oil Buying Scheme: Complete • Step a membership form or apply online and then set up a direct debit to pay for your future oil purchases.

2: Receive a reminder to check your oil levels: Each month, we’ll remind you • Step to check your tank and notify you of the deadline to place an order. The minimum order is 500 litres.

3: Place your order online: Use our online portal to let us know how much • Step oil you want to buy. Your order increases our negotiating power, so once submitted we regard it as binding.

4: Sit back whilst our negotiators get the best possible price: AF Affinity Ltd • Step negotiates the best price from a range of suppliers. We advise you who the supplier is, the price per litre (exclusive of VAT, currently at 5%) and the approximate date of delivery.

5: Take delivery of the oil and pay the company: The oil will be delivered as • Step soon as possible and your bank account is debited with the amount you owe.

To find out more about the Cambridgeshire ACRE Community Oil Buying Scheme go to our website www.cambsacre.org.uk or contact Julie Weekes on 01353 860850 email oil@cambsacre.org.uk

Get involved with your local Healthwatch Our job is to make sure that you have a say when decisions are made about local health and social care services. We are local, independent and here for you. We can link you up with the organisations that provide health and social care locally, and try make sure your opinions are listened to. We can help you find out about local health or care services that might be able to support you. If you have a concern or complaint about any local health or care service, we can tell you where you need to go to sort this out and who could help you do this. We need to know what it is like for you to use any health or care service in Cambridgeshire. Please talk to us about your experiences. We share this information with the people who make decisions about local health and care services to help improve care. We make sure you cannot be identified when we share this information. Right now, we are very interested in your experience with:

• Your GP Surgery • Urgent Care (including 111, the ambulance, and out-of-hours care) • Mental health services • Sexual health services

If you have used any of these services in the last three months, then please do get in touch to tell us about your experience. Volunteer with us We need volunteers to help us talk to people across the county about their health and care experiences. We have launched some fantastic new volunteering opportunities this autumn. Our Street Reporters will help us investigate local health & care issues that are important to people in Cambridgeshire and report back on them. Our Research Volunteers will help us research local health & care services. We still need more Outreach Volunteers, to help us promote Healthwatch and talk to local people about their experiences. We provide training, support and pay out of pocket expenses to all our volunteers. Get in touch to find out more or help us develop more volunteer roles by telling us what you would be interested in doing as a volunteer. Call us on 01480 420628 or visit our website at www.healthwatchcambridgeshire.co.uk

MELBOURN PARISH COUNCIL 30 High Street Melbourn SG8 6DZ Telephone: 01763 263303 ext. 3 e-mail: parishclerk@melbournpc.co.uk The Parish Office is open Monday to Friday 9am to 4pm (the office is closed between 1p–2pm

Minutes of Parish Council Meetings and Planning Committee meetings are available on the village website

Council News High Street resurfacing

Chairman Bob Tulloch 25 Hale Close, SG8 6ET Telephone 221373

Vice-Chairman Maureen Townsend 32 New Road, SG8 6BY Telephone 260959

Chair-Conservation Rosemary Gatward 94 High Street, SG8 6AL Telephone 261225

Chair-Cemeteries Mike Sherwen 3 Hale Close, SG8 6ET Telephone 260070

Michael Linnette 11 Chapel Lane, SG8 6BN Telephone 262534

Irene Bloomfield 78 Russet Way, SG8 6HF Telephone 222558

Val Barrett 2 Station Road, SG8 6DX Telephone 261227

Christopher Stead 70 Russet Way Telephone 260743

By the time you read this article the High Street between the Cross and Water Lane may have been resurfaced. Thanks to everyone who has been in touch with concerns and ideas and suggestions. It’s great that the surface of the road will be so greatly improved, though it is recognized that a lot more could be done. A unique programme of drainage maintenance in the High Street is now a regular occurrence and this has made a big difference. Other questions about the positioning of the bus stop straddled across two driveways, speeding traffic, and the dangerous turn into Water Lane have been raised and are being explored.

Drains! Every year a number of people contact me to say that drains in their street appear not to have been cleared out for a very long time. It’s good to report that County Highways is now communicating much more effectively about the annual gully (surface water road drain) cleaning schedule. Indeed I was surprised to be contacted for the very first time in five years notifying me of this activity! Unfortunately some of this had already taken place, without my being able to help notify people in advance - for if a parked car blocks access to a drain then it can’t be cleared out. However I’ve now met with the officer directing this service and am advised as follows: The gully clearing team did the rounds in Melbourn in July/August. But if you think a drain has not been cleared, please can you send me a photograph (if possible) and let me know the exact location, and then I will pass the information on to Highways so their contractor can return and get the job done. Grass should not be growing out of drains! If you would like to go direct to Highways the email address is Pauline. peachey@cambridgeshire.gov.uk.

Accident black spots Chair-Highways Jose Hales 23 Elm Way, SG8 6UH Telephone 221058

Chair-Planning Kimmi Crosby 20 Norgett’s Lane, SG8 6HS Telephone 261283

John Regan 10 Little Lane, SG8 6BU Telephone 264154

Julie Norman 31 Station Road, SG8 6DX Telephone 263462

Following the tragic fatal accident at the Melbourn Bypass in late June, and the spate of serious accidents at the Frog End junction earlier in the year, I went to visit the Road Safety team to learn what I can about accident causes and trends, and possible remedial works. The Melbourn Bypass accident does not appear to have been part of any trend that could inform remedial works. However at Frog End, there is a clear pattern of accidents involving drivers turning right onto the A10 from Cambridge Road. Incredibly the Frog End junction is only number 72 on the countywide accident cluster site list which is a continuing frustration, however I am working with officers to see if we can find an angle to get something done. Some preliminary work has taken place in terms of understanding what sort of remedial work would make sense. I will keep you updated

Cycles on trains and the Rail User Group Andrew Mulcock 1 The Lawns Close, SG8 6DR Telephone 222940

Tim Baker 18 Rose Lane, SG8 8AD Telephone 262700

County Councillor Susan van de Ven 95 North End, Meldreth, 261833 susanvandeven@yahoo.co.uk. District Councillors Val Barrett, 2 Station Road, 261227 Jose Hales, 23 Elm Way, SG8 6UH, 221058 cllr.hales@josehales.me.uk

It is always helpful to send out a reminder that the 8:10 morning train from Meldreth to Cambridge has a cycle restriction, for safety reasons. Now the preceding 7:44 train is suffering from severe overcrowding, and GTR, our new train operating company, is monitoring the number of cycles in order to consider whether additional restrictions are necessary. At the time of writing this article we’re not sure yet what the result of this audit will be. continued on page 25

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Should there be 200 new homes built off New Road? That is the question that Melbourn residents and businesses were pondering in October. We thought that this question had already been answered back in early 2013 when South Cambridgeshire District Council (SCDC) was asking for comments on The Local Plan. On that occasion 760 people said No to a proposal to build 265 homes on two sites between New Road and Bramley Avenue. However SCDC got its sums wrong and The Local Plan did not make provision for enough homes to be built in South Cambridgeshire – an additional 1500 will be needed. This means that sites, such as that off New Road, which have not been ruled as unsuitable for development can now be considered and the race is on for developers to submit planning applications to make up the shortfall in homes. At the beginning of September, Endurance Estates indicated its intention to build up to 200 homes on the largest of the 2 sites that had been left out of The Local Plan. Once EE formally applies for planning permission, Melbourn Parish Council will be asked by SCDC whether or not it supports the application, and to explain why it takes the position it does. To reach a view, the Council needed to know what the village thought.

Why was another consultation needed? Endurance Estates said in its leaflet that it would consider providing facilities for the village such as “a care home, small offices for local businesses, doctor’s surgery, dentist, crèche or community building”. Also the developers will be obliged to provide up to 40% affordable housing. Would Melbourn residents agree that an extra 200 homes is a price worth paying to obtain these benefits? The outcome of the consultation is that people do not think so. A total of 1648 people responded to the consultation – that is just over twice as many as in 2013. It took more than 2 days for the Councillors who ran the consultation to open

all the envelopes and check people’s eligibility to vote. It then took the Assistant to the Parish Clerk and her helper over one month to enter all the details and comments onto a database. In 2013, 84% objected to the proposed development, 8% supported it and 8% made comments without saying whether they did or did not support the proposal. In 2014, the figures were 86% objected, 10% supported, 2% did not have an opinion and 2% of forms were spoilt. Unsurprisingly, in the light of the overwhelming objection, the Parish Council decided at its meeting on 27 October that it will fight the proposed development. Many people who made comments said that they do not object to Melbourn growing and developing. It is the large number of houses to be built at once that concerns people and they are worried too that the village infrastructure will not be upgraded to support them. Melbourn is already a large village and has seen its population increase 3-fold over the last 60 years, from 1425 in 1951 to 4689 in 1978 households by the time of the 2011 census. There is an average of 2.37 people per household. Thus an increase of 200 homes (together with the extra 64 homes off Victoria Way which were already in The Local Plan) means an estimated population increase of 13%. Put in a couple of comments to illustrate the points people made? At the moment the Parish Council and volunteers are collecting information so that the impact of 200 houses on things such as traffic congestion, road safety, school place and the sewage system can be assessed. If you would like to see a full report of the consultation and the results, look on the Parish Council website or call in at the Parish Office for a hard copy. If you would like to receive updates about the fight against the development, e-mail the Parish Clerk (assistantclerk@melbournpc.co.uk) and ask to have you name put on the circulation list. Melbourn Futures Committee, Melbourn Parish Council

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Profile Pauline & Alan Hay Personal care for your feet in the comfort of your own home • Nail Trimming • Hard Skin & Cracked Heels • Corns & Verrucas • Fungal Nails Please Telephone for Day, Evening & Weekend Appointments on 01763 261250 or 0791 3913955 Nancy Foster MCFHP MAFHP

Registered Member of the British Association of Foot Health Professionals

email: nancy.foster@tesco.net

Cambridgeshire Army Cadet Force Corps of Drums Melbourn Detachment (opposite the Village College) Monday 7pm–9pm 12–18 years (and in year 8)

Looking for Fun and Adventure? Want to learn to play a Musical Instrument: Flute, Drum or Bugle? Be part of a Marching Corps of Drums. Telephone 07840899565 email jrshaw@virginmedia.com www.cambsacf.com

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When Alan Hay was born in 1942 his father was a chicken farmer who had returned from missionary work in Egypt due to ill health and been advised to work in the open air. In 1944 at the height of the Blitz his father was ordained and they moved to Braintree and then on to a parish in Norwich in 1946. So Alan’s involvement with the church began at a very early age. His parents remained in Norwich until the 1970s, Alan went to school there and regards Norwich as his home town. From there he went to St Catharine’s College in Cambridge where he got a first degree in Geography and promptly went to Nigeria for two years research on a Commonwealth Exchange Scholarship studying aspects of the Nigerian road transport system. He returned to Cambridge to write up his PhD thesis and he looked up a friend whom he had met in Africa, and who was beginning a flat-share with a certain young nurse called Pauline…. Pauline had been born in Letchworth and spent the first nine years of her education at the co-educational St Christopher’s School. Founded in 1915 soon after Ebenezer Howard had established Letchworth Garden City, this has always been a very progressive and controversial establishment. Here the pupils called the teachers by their first names, did not wear a school uniform, ate an entirely vegetarian diet and were self governing. When she was 13 her parents realised that she needed a more structured education and she was sent as a boarder to an all-girls school in North Wales – a big shock to the system! After completing her schooling she returned to East Anglia and trained as a nurse at Addenbrookes, eventually becoming a staff nurse. They married in 1967 and Alan became a lecturer at Leicester University and in 1970 spent 9 months in Madison when Alan was appointed Research Associate at the University of Wisconsin. In 1971 they moved from Leicester to Sheffield, where they remained until 1995 although they visited the United States again when Alan was appointed Visiting Associate Professor at the University of Washington. So Pauline is no stranger to the packing case! Whilst hopping backwards and forwards across the pond, they had three children – Andrew, Fiona and Nicholas. Andrew is Deputy Head at Conisborough, (his subject is Geography of course), Nicholas is M.D. of Fowler Welch Transport based in Spalding and Fiona is a seed scientist. Fiona’s work has taken her to the Philippines as deputy head of the Genetic Resources Centre at the International Rice Research Institute – where they have a store of 200,000 different samples of rice seed. Fiona and her Italian husband have just had their first child and this year Pauline and Alan had the pleasure of travelling out to Manila (twice) to meet their new granddaughter. On the second visit it was the cyclone season and very hot and sticky but still a delight. In 1995 they left Sheffield when Alan took up a post as Vice Principal of Christ Church College in Canterbury. It was while there that he became chairman of the Goodwill Children’s Homes charity operating in Tamil Nadu, southern India. This involvement began

through their church at Sheffield, which raised money firstly to provide clean water for the 200 or so young children who live in small groups with a housemother. As the children grew older, they realised that they had to provide different accommodation, support and trade skills for teenage children and later on a third programme was initiated which seeks to support needy families in their own villages – tribal outreach work covering some 20 villages. The aim of the charity, supported entirely by public donations, is to provide a place of safety where vulnerable children can enjoy a home, medical care, good food, education and time to play. Alan and Pauline were able to visit Tamil Nadu on a number of occasions and they both found this immensely satisfying work with which to be involved and were very moved by the children and their dedicated carers. In 2002 Alan retired and having known and loved Cambridge in their youth, and with family links in the area, they started looking at some of the villages in South Cambridgeshire, finally settling on Melbourn where they moved into Norgett’s Thatch in 2005. Pauline and Alan have a strong Christian commitment dating back to their childhood. Alan is the treasurer of All Saints’ here in Melbourn and is a Licensed Lay Minister to the Diocese of Ely. He regularly preaches here and at Meldreth and sometimes helps out at other parishes in the Deanery. Pauline is a long term member of the Mothers’ Union having joined in Sheffield in 1983, The MU is very strong worldwide with some four million members – only 4% of whom are resident in UK! Membership is open to all, yes, men and women alike, married, divorced or single. Here in the Deanery of Shingay the MU has about 55 members and offer support and companionship to families, the younger mothers meeting once a week.

You may also have seen her when visiting Addenbrookes, where she is a volunteer in the chaplaincy team. Pauline goes in once a week to her particular ward and is given a list of people who would like a visit. Her role as a lay chaplain is to listen (in confidence) and give support - sometimes it is not only patients, but their families, and even members of staff. I am sure that Pauline’s calm and compassionate nature must be greatly valued in that role. Both are big readers – surprisingly Alan has a penchant for Scandinavian crime novels! They host a Bible Study group once a week in their house, they are keen gardeners, Pauline loves all forms of handicrafts, particularly needlepoint, flower arranging and occasionally playing the piano. They are widely travelled and with four grandchildren they are kept pretty busy. I, and many others in the village, are delighted that they chose to settle in Melbourn and they have seamlessly fitted into village life. Mavis Howard

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ESSE Retail & Therapy Free Parking Available at Sheene Mill Opposite or our Private Car Park Next Door

Where Else Can you Shop, Keep Fit and be Pampered? 24

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30 Station Road Melbourn Cambridge SG8 6DX Telephone: 01763 261000 Email: info@esse.uk.com

Nevertheless, the Meldreth, Shepreth and Foxton Rail User Group continues to encourage people to use folded bikes whenever possible, or to wait until off-peak time to bring full-sized bicycles on trains. The group is also asking GTR to increase provision for cycle parking at Meldreth Station and this should be possible – hopefully we won’t have too long to wait. Meanwhile, cycle parking at Cambridge Station is increasing significantly, and many people now leave an old bike at Cambridge to use in town once arrived. GTR has very helpfully made sure that our unique 50% 16-18 year-old discount remains in place, for students travelling to Cambridge. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any queries about this. The Rail User Group will meet next on December 10, 7:30pm, at Elin Way Community Room in Meldreth. Everyone is welcome and this is always a very friendly and relaxed meeting. Susan van de Ven Meldreth, Shepreth and Foxton Rail User Group Tel 01763 261833, susanvandeven@yahoo.co.uk

A10 Corridor Cycling Campaign: morning rush hour Cycling toward Cambridge at morning rush hour, the A10 is a busy place. The best way to discover how busy is to try it sometime! Today, I set off at 8:20 for a 9:00 AM meeting at Trumpington Meadows (I’m one of the slower cyclists on the go) and found myself in a cycling stream with people joining and exiting at different points. While waiting for the barriers at Foxton Level Crossing I met a man cycling from his home in Royston to his work in Northwest Cambridge. Further up I encountered two tiny children and their mum cycling to school in Harston. Several sixth formers passed me in Hauxton. A few people were headed in the opposite direction, but for the most part cycle traffic was moving north. From well before the M11, road traffic was at a standstill. At Trumpington Meadows, my meeting was with County cycling officers and the property developer to find out when the new cycle path connecting Hauxton and Trumpington, through the new country park, will be open for public use. (There has been a delay due to heavy lorry traffic needing to move large amounts of earth over the farm bridge, which also serves the new cycle path.) We rode the new path out as far at the A10 in Hauxton, and just as we peeked across the temporary barrier from the other side, there was a familiar Foxton cyclist heading toward Cambridge. We persuaded him to sneak through a gap in the hedge, with his bike, to join us. So he too got a preview of the new path. The new country park is a glorious place and will be a far more enticing route into Cambridge than the M11 roundabout. It should have been open by mid-September and hopefully the delay won’t be too long. The route back again, at lunchtime, was quiet by comparison with morning rush hour. There are two wild apple trees between Foxton and Shepreth, not to mention endless opportunities for blackberries at the right time of year.

The campaign group meets next in January – please check our website for details. We continue to work for a safe off-road pedestrian and cycle link spanning the RoystonCambridge A10 corridor. It is always great to have new faces, so please do come along, or get in touch if you would like to find out more. Susan van de Ven www.a10corridorcycle.com Questions for your Councillor? If you have a question for your County or District Councillors please contact the following: Cllr Val Barrett Tel 01763 261227 valbarrett2001@yahoo.com Cllr Susan van de Ven Tel 01763 261833 www.susanvandeven.com Cllr Jose Hales Tel 01763 221058 jose@josehales.me.uk Cllr van de Ven and Cllr Hales also hold a drop-in advice surgery at Melbourn Library Access Point in the Melbourn Hub on the first Monday of the month from 2:30–3:30. If you’d like to make an appointment to meet at any another time or closer to home, please let them know.

British Tommy (returning to trench in which he has lately been fighting, now temporarily occupied by the enemy). “Excuse me – any of you blighters seen my pipe?” Punch, or The London Charivari. January 20th, 1915

Did you know – The term Cartoon as it is known today was ‘invented’ by Punch as a socially barbed critique of Parliament and politicians.

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feature

Origin of Christmas Day It was the first Christian Emperor, Constantine, who decreed December 25th to be Christ’s birthday. No Bible scholar really believes that Jesus was actually born on December 25th. Long before it became Christmas Day December 25th was a special date in the Roman Calendar. There was a festival to celebrate the sun called Saturnalia and during this the 25th was ‘Dies Natalis Invicti’ (the Birthday of the Invincible One – the sun). This was part of the winter solstice, the period of the longest night and the shortest day, after which days again lengthen. To celebrate people decorated their houses and gave presents.

The Christmas Tree According to legend in eighth century Germany St Boniface came across a group of pagans worshipping an oak tree. They were about to sacrifice a baby to the tree when St Boniface rushed in and rescued him. He cut down the oak with the axe that was to be used to kill the child, and saw, growing between the roots of the chopped down oak a small fir tree. To him this symbolised new life coming from death as with Christ’s resurrection. From then on the tree became an important part of Christmas celebrations in Germany, it was brought to England and popularised by Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria.

Mince Pies These originally were made to look like Christ’s crib (and contained meat as well as fruit) and by the 1600s some cooks added a pastry baby Jesus ! Oliver Cromwell’s parliament banned the celebration of Christmas, and mince pies. So people made the pies round instead – and when Christmas celebrations were reinstated they stayed round!

COFFEE STOP Rombouts coffee & biscuits for 80p

Every Saturday 10.30am to 12noon at All Saints’ Community Hall 26

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We are a warm, friendly, family run home conveniently situated close to the station and town centre of Royston. If you would like to find out more about St George’s, please call us for a brochure or drop in for a chat. 42 Kneesworth Street, Royston, Herts. SG8 5AQ Telephone: 01763 242243 web site: www.stgeorgescare.com

M&M BOOKS CASH PAID for Old and Modern Books Also Purchased Coins, Medals, Postcards, China, Cigarette Cards, Jewellery, Furniture, Old Toys & Cars, Stamps, Programmes, Glass, Comics, Collectables

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Punch, or the London Charivari

Fifty years hence – From London to Paris in – just time enough to allow of a comfortable Lunch and a quiet Cigar on board the Electric Plate-Glass Club Express.

Punch, or the London Charivari Almanack, December 5th, 1889

Householder. “But, hang it all, I can’t see why that bomb next door should make you want to raise my rent!” Landlord. “Don’t you perceive, my dear Sir, that your house is now semi-detached?”

Punch, or The London Charivari. February 9, 1916

Over the years we have used a number of cartoons and quotes from a magazine that has it’s origins in the Victorian era, but went on to become an influential and iconic British institution, well into the 20th century. Punch, or the London Charivari was a threepenny weekly magazine of humour and satire established in July 1841 by journalist and playwright Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. It didn’t start auspiciously, less than six months after the magazine was first published, it was in financial difficulties. It’s fortunes changed mid 1842 when they published a special edition called ‘Almanack’, and sales rose beyond all expectations. However, it wasn’t enough to sustain production of the magazine and it continued to struggle. In December 1842, they were taken over by a publishing firm called Bradbury and Evans. The new owners, turned its fortunes, when they began publishing the works of many notable writers and poets. Throughout the years these have included Sir John Betjeman,

Quentin Crisp, Alan Coren, Peter Dickinson, Joyce Grenfell, Miles Kington, Henry Mayhew, Somerset Maugham, A.A. Milnes, W.M. Thackeray and P.G. Wodehouse amongst many others. Some of the finest illustrators/cartoonists were also used; C.H. Bennett, Quentin Blake, Richard Doyle, Fougasse (Kenneth Bird), Ronald Searle, E.H. Shepard and John Tenniel. Punch was known for its sophisticated humour and its political and social cartoons which captured life in great detail. Its early readership included Elizabeth Barrett, Robert Browning, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Dickinson, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Although the glove puppet Mr Punch, of Punch and Judy fame was used as the cover illustration, Punch actually took its name from a joke made about it’s first editor Mark Lemon, that ‘Punch is nothing without lemon’ – referring to the term used for a large bowl containing a variety of mixed drinks often served with fruit – notably lemons. The subtitle, The London Charivari was taken from an earlier French satirical humour magazine called Le Chariva (meaning a medley of discordant sounds). At the start of the 20th century Punch had a circulation of around 100,000 and had peaked to 184,000 by 1947–48. However soon after, the readership went into steady decline until in 1992 production ceased after 150 years of publication. An attempt by Mohamed Al-Fayed to revive the magazine in 1996 was short lived and it finally closed in 2002. Today Punch is a window into a bygone era – a view of life which was so different from today. With it’s many illustrations, it poked fun at politicians and national figures, highlighted fashion, political in-correctness and poverty. But it also looked into the future to show how life might be in fifty to a hundred years. N.B. Henry Mayhew was a great advocate for social reform. In 1851 he published a series of books called London Labour and the London Poor, which, as the title suggests looked at the working class in the poorer areas of the city. John Tenniel’s, best known work includes the illustrations for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the LookingGlass. E. H. Shepard was the illustrator for Winnie the Pooh and The Wind in the Willows and Ronald Searle was the creator of St Trinian’s.

Home-Made Munitions.

Punch, or The London Charivari. Vol.152. Almanack, June 27, 1917

Punch, or the London Charivari can be viewed online at Project Gutenburg – www.gutenberg.org Peter Simmonett melbournmagazine

Obituary

First Warden of Melbourn Village College, 1959–1969 Arthur Behenna M.A.(Oxon) FRGS

Arthur Behenna (photo on page 29), the first Warden of the Village College, died on 23rd September, 2014. He was 91. Some of your readers may well recall the time when Mr Behenna came to Melbourn. It was his task to appoint teaching and support staff to serve at the new Village College built on The Moor and to prepare the school with its everyday minutiae for the opening in the Autumn of 1959. The official opening proved a ‘great occasion’ for no less than the then Minister of Education, Sir David Eccles, was invited to open the shiny-new establishment with the Bishop of Ely in attendance. The college was one of the last to be opened before its innovator, Henry Morris, the notable one time Chief Education Officer, died. During his ten years at Melbourn Arthur Behenna oversaw the steady growth of the school, the equivalent of a secondary modern school under the then tripartite system (of Grammar, Technical and Modern schools) and witnessed the surge and success of Adult Education in this part of South Cambridgeshire. Gone was the well-worn, all-age school: in its place was here, within the village, a new building to be proud of, and, what’s more, a college where every villager from the wide catchment area of eleven other villages was welcome - it was a community hub for all. (Buses brought in children by day and a free bus service ferried in the adults during the evening) Very quickly the bristling community-spirit engendered by Henry Morris’ ideal was underway – and Mr Behenna had his part to play in its earliest flowering. Arthur Behenna had previously been a Colonial Officer in Nigeria and one might be forgiven for thinking that he brought a little of that imperial past with him. His majestic, headmasterly frame, occasionally wrapped in an academic gown, may not have wrought fear but there was a certain magisterial air about him. He favoured a traditional, deferential approach to schools and schooling: a top-down control which was readily transferred to others through his tight departmental governance. There’s no doubt that this was in stark contrast to the times - for the 60s, if nothing else, was a decade of new music, mini-skirts and change. But he remained true to his own ‘gentlemanly ways’. He was just as likely to ask a member of staff to ‘attend to your tie’ as he might to a pupil in the first year: surnames were to be preferred to Christian names and in all those small matters he mirrored a world that was steadily by degrees disappearing. He ‘looked the part’, as one might have heard it said by an older adult student and, indeed, he did. As Warden, though, he surveyed everything: the beautiful grounds wonderfully tended by Mr Ernie Smith, the head gardener: the flag-post annually painted by the caretaker: and the cleaning, otherwise overseen by the attentive housekeeper, Miss Howard. The material state of the school was a joy to behold – no Warden could have done more to demand that its original gleam be preserved.

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But the College was no gloom-ridden artifice. Oh no, not whilst there was a certain Mrs Gladys Turner to ‘see to’. Gladys was the college cook and her empire was the kitchen next to the assembly hall-cum-dining room. Her sharp wit, her ungovernable laughter, together with her delightful disregard for anything that smelt of pomp and circumstance was infectious: whatever she did with the food, and she had a wizardry of culinary skills, it got into everyone’s veins (if that’s possible), and even into Mr Behenna’s. On reflection, she did much to modify the Warden’s all-seeing role, at least she thought so. Mr Behenna, on one memorable occasion, was proud to be able to welcome Her Majesty The Queen Mother, when she, in 1960, opened ‘Moorlands’, the old people’s home across the road from the college. The children were assembled along the open drive to the school to offer their loyal applause for it was intended that Her Majesty would gracefully make her unhurried way to a helicopter which was temporarily housed on the college playing field to the rear of the building. In an unprepared ‘dummy run’ Gladys Turner performed a tour de force by giving what was termed ‘a very fair rendition’ of the dramatic role expected of Her Majesty making her ceremonial way to the helicopter. Tears of joy aided by whoops of laughter greeted Gladys’ ‘warm-up’ act. By the time Mr Behenna and his royal guest made their way to the take-off pad the party was greeted with a genuine glowing response from the children. Not surprisingly, you might think, Her Majesty noted the depth of the affection of “such delightful young people”. Mr Behenna left Melbourn to become, in turn, headmaster of a large school in Shropshire; then Head of Lincoln School in the 1970s; and finally, he became the first Head of the amalgamation of four Lincoln city schools – and, to his credit, he seemed to have enriched it immediately by adopting the title of one of the combined schools – Lincoln Christ’s Hospital School, a truly Behennian move. Arthur Behenna may have left one long-lasting stamp upon The Village College – its Latin motto: Nisi Dominus Frustra, which, incidentally, is the heraldic motto of a rich academic centre, the City of Edinburgh, and that shared motto, though rarely understood, was worn on every Melbourn school blazer in the 60s and beyond. And of its meaning? You might say, for instance, “without God all is in vain”; but there is a nice double meaning involving the word “dominus”: “without the teacher all is in vain”. However, a little while ago the vestige of an age totally disappeared for the Latin motto, perhaps Mr Behenna’s remaining gift, has, for a number of reasons, been unadopted by the College. John Bell Member of Staff – Melbourn Village College 1964–1994

Little Hands Karen

MVC EDUCATION

U3A

PLAY SCHOOL NOTRE ECOLE PLAYGROUP

Education SCHOOL LITTLE HANDS PRIMARY

VILLAGE COLLEGE

MOOS Melbourn Out Of School Club

01763 260964

Melbourn Playgroup Jane Crawford 07842 151512 Notre Ecole Janet Whitton

261231

Pippins Children’s Centre Alison Wood

223460

Primary School Headteacher Stephanie Wilcox 223457 U3A (Univ. of Third Age) Chairman George Howard

260686

Village College Principal Simon Holmes

223400

Mr Behenna at The Village College in 2009 on the occasion of its 50th Year Celebrations

Melbourn Out Of School club has been incredibly busy during the first half term back. We have had some new children to our setting and are pleased to say all have settled in really well. The new space we gained at the beginning of this term has had an exceptional impact on MOOS. Following on from the huge success we had with our 2-week summer holiday club we are really pleased to say that we plan to cover most of the half term holidays. The exception to this will be the Christmas break. We are also planning to cover the first two weeks of the summer next year (2015). Our holiday club as with our Out of School Club setting aims to be a freely chosen, self - directed environment. We aim to ensure we have as much input regarding the running of the setting from the children who attend. If you think this may be of interest to you please do contact a member of the MOOS team on 01763 223459 Yvette Griffiths – MOOS Manager.

Little Hands Nursery School The bigger hands at Little Hands, Melbourn have spent a very busy summer preparing for the new term, ensuring our little hands enjoy bundles of fun in every session. Plans for the refurbishment of the room adjacent to the Butterfly room are well under way. This additional area will give our younger children more space in which to roam and explore. Our recent room for the under two’s has proved enormously popular with our parents and spaces are being snapped up fast. As our intake is rapidly increasing and our nursery grows, there will be the opportunity to welcome more staff into our team, ensuring we can welcome many more little friends into our Nursery. The September term is an exceptionally busy time as we welcome new children into our Nursery, this offers great opportunities to make more friends and create even more fun. Recently, our children got to grips with harvest. We learnt all about the crops and explored our favourite fruit and vegetables. It appears we have a healthy bunch of children at Little Hands who enjoy their vegetables…no wonder the rooms are always buzzing with energy. We enjoyed harvesting our very own apples from the tree in the garden. The fun didn’t stop there…our small but very talented chefs cooked up a delicious treat APPLE CRUMBLE! We filled our tummies with this at snack time, yummy! The apple crumble definitely tickled our taste buds and left us wanting to cook some more scrumptious treats. There’s no better excuse for doing this than a cooking week to carry on our Harvest Festival theme. We made our own bread rolls and it was lovely to see some of our friends enjoying their roll the next day for lunch. We have some very talented fingers at Little Hands, these fingers created cupcakes, jam tarts, flapjack and even home made pizza. Welcome to Little Hands very own Great British Bake Off! melbournmagazine

Melbourn

Youth Club Activities Where? Community Sports Pavilion, The Moor, Melbourn When? Tuesdays, 7-9pm

Who? For all aged 11-18

What and why? Free activities! 2 Dec 9 Dec 16 Dec

Cooking: Great British Bake Off Hockey & Christmas decoration making Christmas party!

Melbourn Youth Club will re-open every Tuesday evening from Tuesday 13th January 2015 Contact: Martin Goddard, Youth Worker martin.goddard@groundwork.org.uk www.groundwork.org.uk/beds @gwklutonandbeds #MelbournYouthClub

Little Hands is a Private Nursery School specialising in quality education for the under fives and offers Flexible hourly booking - open 08.30 to 16.30 Term time bookings with optional holiday club Bumble Bee room for children 12 – 24 months Ladybird room for 2 year olds Butterfly room for children 3-5 years With optional “ready for school sessions” Holiday club for children aged 12 months to 8 years All sessions have a high staff to child ratio and are available for funded 2 year olds and funded 3/4 year olds with no extra charges Categorised as “Outstanding” by Ofsted For further information please contact Anne McCrossen - Nursery Manager : 01763 260964 e-mail lh-melbourn@btconnect.com Little Hands is also at Bourn, Linton and Newton visit the website at www.littlehands.co.uk

Riding For The Disabled Association Incorporating Driving Iceni Group Riding for the Disabled Curious about creative writing? Seeking community and a bit of gentle prodding to keep your pen moving? Join a Writing Circle! Writing Circles are programmes for small groups of writers who meet once a week, led by teacher and facilitator, Melissa Fu. Courses offered in Melbourn and nearby villages.

For course details, dates and registration, visit melissafu.com

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Walk beside a child or lead a pony We desperately need your help at the South Cambridgeshire Equestrian Centre Barrington On Tuesday’s 9.45–11.45am In term time only Please contact Diana Allan 01638 572044 or Thalia Myers 07850 477550

Autumn has arrived! The leaves are changing colour, the trees are slowly becoming bare, so what perfect way to view the changes of the season, of course an autumn walk. The children love jumping in the leaves and listening to the crunch under their wellies. The children enjoy collecting conkers, berries, leaves and sticks. Back at Nursery we have been using nature to create autumn collages, hedgehogs and conker rolling in the paint. It’s creeping up to our favourite time of the year, CHRISTMAS!! Excited faces, glitter, Christmas decorations, singing carols; it truly is the season to be jolly! The run up to Christmas will consist of lots of painting and making things. We love creating cards and gifts for our loved ones with a personal touch. We enjoy cooking delicious Christmas cookies, mince pies and decorating Christmas cakes. Our favourite creations are the melting snowman biscuits. Christmas truly consists of pure fun! The fun doesn’t just stop at the end of each term. Holiday clubs open 8.30–4.30. Our flexible booking system enables parents to build the exact nursery care they need for their family. For more information please contact Anne McRossen Nursery Manager by telephone on 01763 260945 or by e-mail at lh-melbourn@btconnect.com.

Melbourn Village College Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award Twelve students from Melbourn Village College, Dani Friel, Eleanor Ferrie, Sam Austin, Ollie Johnson, Matt Harris, Josh Bates, Natalie Bartholomew, Jessie Peacock, Charlotte Stewart, Eirini Hunnable, Abbie Jones and Mary Topalian, took part in their Bronze Assessed Expedition last weekend, in the hills and woods near Chesham in Buckinghamshire, along with a contingent from Comberton Village College. Friday night’s sleep was constantly interrupted by a building alarm going off regularly throughout the night, so there were some bleary eyes on Saturday morning, but everyone was in high spirits nonetheless and ready to start hiking. Rather unfairly after

last week’s glorious sunshine, the weather took a turn for the worse on the Saturday and they were rained upon for a good majority of the day. However, the sun came out towards the end of the afternoon and the students were able to partially dry off before dark when it turned suddenly very cold. Sunday’s weather was much nicer, and the students were pleased to start the second day of hiking if only to warm up. They were very relieved to limp (in some cases) up to the finishing point on Sunday, and they showed real strength of character to keep going all weekend under challenging conditions, which included lack of sleep and some minor injuries. They should definitely be feeling proud of their accomplishment, and should be congratulated too on their exemplary behaviour and attitude throughout the weekend. They are a real credit to Melbourn Village College. Mrs Spicer & Mrs Bowers

Melbourn Village College welcomes primary pupils Melbourn Village College welcomed more than a hundred pupils from local primary schools to experience a day as secondary school pupils. The pupils were treated to a day of fun and learning based around the subjects they will study when they go to secondary school. Year 4 pupils were divided into mixed groups named after European countries and took part in a number of activities, including creating a mood board based on a popular William Blake poem, an introduction to algebra, and learning how to greet each other in various languages.

Year 5 Arts Day Around 130 youngsters were transported back in time for a taste of life 50 years ago. The nine and ten year olds from seven South Cambridgeshire primary schools spent a day at Melbourn Village College for a themed 1950’s event.

continued on page 39

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Home cooked food using only the best local ingredients. Individual care and support for each and every child and their families. Large, fun outdoor playgrounds and fields for the children to explore, to run, skip and jump.

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A loving family environment created by qualified happy staff. 98% have a professional childcare qualification and they all love their job. twitter.com

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feature MVC Creative Art Summer exhibition

MVC had a very creative GCSE exhibition in the summer term, in which the excellent work of MVC art students was displayed to both the moderator and the public. A selection of the work was then put on display at Melbourn Primary school. The work was both creative and skillfull. It represents the very best of Melbourn Village College Art students’ creative output. As a school we take great pleasure in showing off the work of all individuals taking GCSE art and are very proud of all the students’ hard work and dedication.

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Planning your next holiday or day out? We have: ● A wide range of holidays and excursions ● Local pick up points in South Cambs & North Herts ● UK & European Holiday breaks from £79 ● Day excursions from £19 ● Travel in small friendly groups ● Packages for clubs and societies ● Corporate outings River Cruises ◦ Seaside Breaks ◦ Theatre Trips ◦ Gardens Factory Visits ◦ Shopping Trips ◦ Dutch Bulb Fields ◦ Airshows Heritage Holidays ◦ Steam Train Trips ◦ Christmas Markets Thursford Spectacular ◦ Pub Lunches ◦ Orkney and Shetland

For further details and a brochure… Contact us on 01223 208926 bookings@eclipsecoaches.co.uk www.eclipsecoaches.co.uk Eclipse Coaches Ltd. 20 Leaden Hill, Orwell, Royston Herts. SG8 5QH

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Village information IMPORTANT NUMBERS Orchard Surgery Appointments & Dispensary 260220 For repeat prescriptions send email: prescriptions.orchardsurgery@nhs.net

EDUCATION

Royston Family History Society Pam Wright

Melbourn Playgroup Jane Crawford

07842 151512

Library LAP Mike Stapleton

269956

Little Hands Nursery School

260964

Out of school times

Hospitals Addenbrooke’s Royston

01223 245151 01763 238020

OUT OF HOURS EMERGENCIES Camdoc 01223 464242 NHS Direct 0845 4647 (queries 24hrs)

01223 503972

Notre Ecole Janet Whitton

261231

Primary School Headteacher Stephanie Wilcox

223457

U3A (Univ. of Third Age) Chairman George Howard

260686

Hon Sec Hilary Docwra

222486

Mem Sec Chris Davison

264189

Village College Principal Simon Holmes

223400

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Police (non emergency)

Fire & Rescue Service 01223 376217 Crimestoppers Freephone

0800 555111

Age UK Cambridgeshire

01223 221921 0300 123 23 23

Neighbourhood Watch 260959 Maureen Townsend maureentownsend1@aol.com

Chiropodist

Cambs Registered Trader Sceme 01223 221921

District Nurses (Primary Care Trust)

Telephone Preference Service www.tsponline.org.uk 0845 070 0707

S Cambs PCT 35 Orchard Road

263260

Dentist

262034 01223 846122

Home-Start

262262

CAB Royston

08456 889897

Childline

221398

Royston Lions Janet Daniels

260009

RSPB Doug Radford

208978

SOAS (Supporters of All Saints’) Doreen Johnston

220197

St George’s Allotments Assoc. Bruce Huett

brucehuett@compuserve.com

Thursday Luncheon Club at Vicarage Close Nikki & Julie

07599292327

Women’s Group Pat Smith

260103

All Saints’ Church Rev Andrew O’Brien Melbourn Vicarage

260295

Curate Mary Price

261569

Churchwardens Roger Mellor

220463

260127

Mike Galley

Community Hall booking Sandie Springall

223320

hallbookings@live.co.uk

Baptist Church Rev. Stuart Clarke

Child & Family Nurses

262861

Car Scheme 01223 506335

frierly@ntlworld.com

PLACES OF WORSHIP

HEALTH Blood Donors

Dial-A-Ride

Royston and District Round Table

245228

Osteopath Kath Harry St John Ambulance Robert Jakubiak

Secretary Guy Manners

261650 01223 872298

United Reformed Church Minister Rev. Duncan Goldie 260747

261716

Secretary Peter and Eirwen Karner

262346

220507

Hall booking Beryl and Barry Monk

246458

0800 1111

Samaritans

08457 909090

Services Anglian Water Gas emergency Electricity South Cambs District

LOCAL CLUBS

SPORT

Air Cadets 2484 (Bassingbourn) Squadron 08457 145 145 0800 111 999 08007 838838

Transport British Rail Enquiries Stagecoach Cambus

Tony Kelly Mon & Wed evenings 7 – 9.30 p.m.

The Press Royston & Buntingford Mercury Media Centre, 40 Ware Road, 01992 526639 Hertford, SG13 7HU Royston Crow 6, Melbourn St, Royston, SG8 7BX

07557 232154

Cambridge News 3 Melbourn Street, 249144 Royston, SG8 7BP Fax 244502

Croquet Janet Pope

261693

Jazzercise Sarah Howard

07703 422394

Abigail Roberts

261505

Judo Derek Coult

225004

Brownies 1st Melbourn Stephanie Clifford

220272

Melbourn and District Tennis Club

Brownies 2nd Melbourn Samantha Pascoe (Brown Owl) 261400 CATalyst

0774 953 0112

Dramatic Society Kathy Wholley

223805

email: k_wholley@hotmail.com

261144

Advertising

Jan Simmonett

220363

Distribution

Jose Hales

221058

248342

07508 995781

David Liddiard Melbourn Dynamos FC Gordon Atalker Blake Carrington Chairman

07770533249 07730488743

Melbourn Football Club Simon Gascoyne

261703

Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Stuart Morris

208634

Melbourn Sports Centre Graham Johnson-Mack

263313

Gardening Helen Powell

245887

Meldreth Tennis Club Sue Davies

220174

Guides 1st Melbourn Hilary Marsh

261443

Swimming Club Jenny Brackley

244593

Squash Club Nick Sugden

261064

MADS (Melbourn Amateur Dramatics Society) 232622

Donna Sleight

261144

Melbourn Pottery Club Maggie

WARDEN & SHELTERED HOUSING SCHEMES Dial-A-Ride

email: frog.end@virgin.net

Ann Dekkers

221571

Bridge Club Howard Waller

Melbourn Mushroom Club John Holden

Editorial

248774

Bowls Elaine Cooke 261518

Melbourn History Group Ann Dekkers

Melbourn Magazine Committee

Badminton Steve Jackson

Bellringers Barbara Mitchell 1st Melbourn Rainbows

08457 484950 08706 082608

249156

01223 207307

01223 506335

Mobile Warden Scheme Warden – Margo Wherrell

260966

Meldreth Local History Kathryn Betts

268428

Deputy – Jeannie Seers

262651

Mothers’ Union Pauline Hay

260649

Assistant – Joy Hyde

National Trust Colin Limming

260072

John Impey Way Jeanette Holland

220139 269596

Eric Johnston

220197

New Melbourn Singers Adrian Jacobs

243224

Information

Anne Lambert

261480

Southwell Court

262121

Photographic Club Bruce Huett

232855

260564

Parish Profile

Mavis Howard

Moorlands Denise Taylor

260686

Ramblers Dave Allard

242677

Vicarage Close Warden Eileen Allan

263389

Production

Peter Simmonett

220363

Royal British Legion Women Elizabeth Murphy

220841

Proof reading

Brenda Meliniotis

261154

Royal National Lifeboat Institution Jean Emes

245958

Vicarage Close, John Impey Way & Elin Way

Colin Limming

260072

Royston and District Local History Society

Brenda Meliniotis

261154

242677

Every other week. 9–5 Monday to Friday

Village Diary

David Allard

Lead Sheltered Housing Officer - Monday to Friday 9–1.30 Eileen Allan

Mobile 07876 791419 / 245402

melbournmagazine

DIARY DECEMBER

Monday 1

Melbourn Bridge Club every Monday at Vicarage Close contact Howard Waller 261693 Tuesday 2

Toddlers Plus 9.30am Baptist Church Hall URC Christingle Service Brownies & Guides 7pm Wednesday 3

Craft Club 9.30am followed by Coffee Break Baptist Church 10.30 Thursday 4

Holy Communion All Saints 10am Craft & Chat URC 2-4pm Homestart Christmas Door Workshop £20 per person contact 262262 Royston & District Local History Soc. Town Hall 8pm ‘Christmas Food Through the Ages’ Friday 5

Coffee at URC 10.30am Melbourn Bowls Club Whist Night 7pm MADS ‘The Flintstones Save Christmas’ 7.30pm

Friday 12

Friday 26

Coffee at URC 10.30am

Coffee URC 10.30am

Saturday 13

Saturday 27

Coffee Stop ASCH 10.30am

Coffee Stop All Saints 10.30am

Sunday 14

Sunday 28

Family Communion & Sunday School

Family Communion & Sunday School All

All Saints 9.45am Nativity Service Baptist Church 10.30am URC Service 11am Monday 15

Royston & District Family History Society ASCH 7.30pm Members Christmas Social Tuesday 16

Toddlers Plus Baptist Church 9.30-11.30am (TT) Melbourn & District Photographic Club each week

Saints 9.45am URC Service 11am

JANUARY 2015 Friday 2

Coffee at URC 10.30am Saturday 3

Coffee Stop ASCH 10.30am Sunday 4

until April Foxton Village Hall 7.30pm contact

Holy Communion All Saints 8am

Bruce Huett 232855

Holy Communion URC 11am

Wednesday 17

Craft Club 9.30am followed by Coffee Break Baptist Church Hall 10.30am Thursday 18

Communion Service Baptist Church 6pm Tuesday 6

Spring Term begins Toddler Plus Baptist Church 9.30-11.30am (TT)

Holy Communion All Saints 10am

Wednesday 7

Saturday 6

Craft & Chat URC 2-4pm

Craft Club Baptist Church 9.30am (TT)

Coffee Stop ASCH 10.30am The Bookshelf

Friday 19

URC ‘Tastes of Christmas’ 11-3pm

End of Term

MADS ‘The Flintstones Save Christmas’ 7.30pm

Coffee at URC 10.30am

Meldreth Village Hall

Saturday 20

Sunday 7

Coffee Stop ASCH 10.30am

Holy Communion 8am Evensong 6.30pm All Saints

Carol Singing at The Cross 10.30am

Communion Service Baptist Church 6pm

Churches Together

URC Communion Service 11am

Sunday 21

MADS ‘The Flintstones Save Christmas’

Holy Communion 8am All Saints

matinee 2pm

Baptist Communion Service10.30am

Coffee Break Baptist Church 10.30am Thursday 8

Holy Communion All Saints 10am Craft & Chat URC 2-4pm weekly Royston & District Local History Society Town Hall Royston 8pm ‘Four Years Out of Our Lives’ Friday 9

Coffee at URC 10.30am Saturday 10

Coffee Stop ASCH 10.30am

Monday 8

URC Nativity Service 11am

Sunday 11

Last Poetry Workshop The Hub 2-4pm

Churches Together Carols at Moorlands Court

Family Communion & Sunday School

Tuesday 9

2.30pm & Southwell Court 3.30pm

All Saints 9.45am

Toddlers Plus Baptist Church 9.30-11.30am (TT)

Carols by Candlelight Baptist Church 6pm

URC Service 11am

Mothers Union ASCH Service for Advent 2pm

Carol Service All Saints 6.30pm

Tuesday 13

Wednesday 10

Wednesday 24

Toddler Plus Baptist Church 9.30-11.30am

Baptist Craft Club 9.30 (TT) followed by

Coffee Break Baptist 10.30am

Mother’s Union Communion Service followed by

Coffee Break 10.30am

Crib Service All Saints 3pm

lunch at The Hardwick Arms Arrington

Hub Club Lunch 12.30pm

URC Watchnight Service 11.30pm

Wednesday 14

Carol Singing at The Black Horse 8pm

Midnight Mass All Saints 11.30pm

Craft Club Baptist Church 9.30am (TT)

Thursday 25

Coffee Break Baptist Church 10.30am

Thursday11

Holy Communion All Saints 8am

Thursday 15

Holy Communion All Saints 10am

URC Christmas Service 8.30am

Holy Communion All Saints 10am

Craft & Chat URC 2-4pm

Christmas Morning Baptist Service 9.30am

Craft & Chat URC 2-4pm weekly

Churches Together

Royston & District Family History Soc. ASCH 7.30pm ‘An Unruly Mob’ – tales of Balsham Friday 16

Coffee at URC 10.30am

FEBRUARY Sunday 1

Winter Flower Festival All Saints 11-5pm followed by service for Candlemas

Saturday 17

Holy Communion All Saints 8am

Coffee Stop ASCH 10.30am

URC Communion Service 11am

Sunday 18

Baptist Communion 6pm

Holy Communion All Saints 8am

Monday 2

Family Service All Saints 11.00am

Melbourn Bridge Club meet every Monday

URC Service 11am

Vicarage Close contact Howard Waller 261693

Communion Service Baptist Church 10.30am

Tuesday 3

URC Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Toddlers Plus Baptist Church 9.30-11.30am (TT)

Service 6pm Monday 19

Royston & District Family History Society ASCH 7.30pm Tuesday 20

Toddler Plus Baptist Church 9.30-11.30am (TT) Wednesday 21

Craft Club Baptist Church 9.30am (TT) Coffee Break Baptist Church 10.30am URC Reflective Service 7pm Thursday 22

Holy Communion All Saints 10am

Wednesday 4

Craft Club Baptist Church 9.30am (TT) Coffee Break 10.30am Thursday 5

Holy Communion All Saints 10am Craft and Chat URC 2pm-4pm weekly Royston & District Local History Soc Town Hall 8pm ‘The Abbey, the Knight and the Cross’

Monday 16

Half term Royston & District Family History Society ASCH 7.30pm Wednesday 18

Coffee Break Baptist Church 10.30am Thursday 19

Holy Communion All Saints 10am Coffee & Chat URC 2-4pm Friday 20

Coffee URC 10.30am Saturday 21

Coffee Stop ASCH 10.30am The Bookshelf Sunday 22

Family Communion All Saints 9.45am URC Service 11am Tuesday 24

Toddler Plus Baptist Church 9.30-11.30am (TT) Women’s Group ASCH 7.45pm ‘Hats’ Wednesday 25

Saturday 7

Craft Club Baptist Church 9.30am (TT) Coffee Break Baptist Church 10.30am British Legion Women’s Section Vicarage Close 2pm

Coffee Stop ASCH 10.30am

Thursday 26

Sunday 8

Friday 6

Coffee at URC 10.30am

Family Communion All Saints 9.45am

Holy Communion All Saints 10am Craft & Chat URC 2-4pm

Friday 23

URC Service 11am

Friday 27

Coffee at URC 10.30am

Evensong All Saints 6.30pm

Coffee URC 10.30am

Saturday 24

Tuesday 10

Saturday 28

Coffee Stop at ASCH 10.30am The Bookshelf

Toddler Plus 9.30-11.30am Baptist Church (TT)

Coffee Stop ASCH 10.30am

Sunday 25

Mothers’ Union contact Pauline Hay 260649

Family Communion All Saints 9.45am

Wednesday 11

URC Service 11am

Craft Club 9.30am (TT)

Craft & Chat URC 2-4pm weekly

Tuesday 27

Women’s Group ASCH 7.45pm AGM Wednesday 28

Coffee Break Baptist Church 10.30am Royal British Legion Women’s Section Vicarage Close 7pm Thursday 29

Holy Communion All Saints 10am Craft & Chat URC 2-4pm weekly Friday 30

Coffee at URC 10.30am

Coffee Break 10.30am Reflective Service URC 7pm Thursday 12

Holy Communion All Saints 10am Craft & Chat URC 2-4pm Friday 13

Winter Flower Festival All Saints’ Church Melbourn Saturday 31st January and Sunday 1st February 20 15

Coffee at URC 10.30am MVC Training Day with primary schools Saturday 14

Coffee Stop ASCH 10.30am Sunday 15

Holy Communion All Saints 8am

Saturday 31

Family Service All Saints 11am

Winter Flower Festival All Saints 11am-5pm

URC Service 11am

We shall be pleased to receive contributions in any form, articles, poems, drawings, photographs, letters etc., pertaining to Melbourn. Please send any contributions to the Editor, at 110 High Street, Melbourn, marking them ‘MELBOURN MAGAZINE’ or you can email them to melbournmagazine@gmail.com

t for the nex te a d g in s The clo uary y 16th Jan a d ri F is e issu in ill appear w h ic h w 2015 in March, ts n e v e g n March, listi ay 2015. April and M

Village information continued Orchard Surgery & Dispensary Melbourn Health Visiting Team Monday to Friday 8:30 – 1pm and 3pm – 6pm Phone 01763 260220 Telephone requests are not accepted

• •

For repeat prescriptions you can: Fax 01763 262968 or email: prescriptions.orchardsurgery@nhs.net

Drop in clinics for parents and babies are held as follows: Melbourn clinic every Wednesday between 9.30am and 11.00am at: 35 Orchard Road, Melbourn. Telephone 01763 262861

Allow at least 48 hours (two working days – excluding weekends and bank holidays) for repeat prescriptions to be ready. Do not leave your request to the last minute. Prescription/medication depending on eligibility can be collected from the Surgery

Co-op

Tesco in Royston

Please let the dispensary know where you wish your prescriptions to be sent. This will remain your choice until we are informed otherwise.

Green bin collections during the winter Through the winter months of December, January and February only, the green bins will be moving to a monthly collection. From March to November the green bins will continue to be collected fortnightly.

BIN COLLECTION

8a Romsey Terrace, Cambridge. CB1 3NH Office Mon-Fri 9.00am-12.30pm. Telephone 01223 416 141 answerphone out of these hours enquiries@cambridgeshirehearinghelp.org.uk

A drop in advisory session is held at Vicarage Close Community Room, the 4th Thursday every month from 2pm to 4pm

See the website for more information www.cambridgeshirehearinghelp.org.uk Battery exchange and retubing. We do not do hearing tests

MELBOURN 5 December 12 December

Black Bin Green & Blue Bin

19 December 27 December

Black Bin Blue Bin ONLY

9 January 16 January

Black Bin Green & Blue Bin

23 January 30 January

Black Bin Blue Bin ONLY

6 February 13 February

Black Bin Green & Blue Bin

20 February 27 February

Black Bin Blue Bin ONLY

6 March 13 March

Black Bin Green & Blue Bin

20 March 27 March

Black Bin Green & Blue Bin

Saturday Collection

For an update on collections visit: www.scambs.gov.uk/content/friday For more information and collections of large household items Telephone 03450 450 063

www.melbourncambridge.co.uk

Cam Sight’s Rural Support Group meet in Melbourn to provide help, friendship and ongoing support to local people with sight loss. The group enjoys speakers, music, information, advice and a chance to try out low vision equipment. They meet on the 1st Wednesday of each month, 2 – 4pm at Vicarage Close. For further information please call 01223 420033 or info@camsight.org.uk

The event was spread over two days to accommodate all the Year 5 children from Melbourn, Meldreth, Barrington, Hartson and Newton, Hauxton, Fowlmere and Foxton primary schools. They looked at rock and roll and jazz while working in the dance and music departments, while drama were focusing on the main themes of the 1950’s. The art activity was based on the artist Victor Vasarely and the Art Movement Op Art. The pupils worked with watercolours and had the opportunity to design their own example of Op Art. Half the children attended on each of two days but after the final day all were invited to perform and show off their work at a special gala evening for parents. Kelly Coghlan, Primary Liaison Co-Ordinator at Melbourn Village College, said: “All the pupils were fantastic and a credit to their primary schools, parents and themselves. For most, this was their first time experiencing a secondary school environment, but this didn’t seem to faze them. “The step up to a secondary education is often a daunting one, but days like this can make that process easier. It was great to give these young pupils a taste of secondary education and the great opportunities that will be provided to them. “Melbourn is a school that takes pride in knowing each of its students and events like this are vital in starting off that learning process, and connection between school and student.” This summer, the college recorded its best ever GCSE results with 75 per cent gaining at least five A*-C grades including maths and English. The results also demonstrated, most importantly, that pupils were making above the expected levels of progress.

Melbourn Village College joined with the Comberton Academy Trust, a partnership of four academies, a year ago. The college has been working in partnership with its other schools to share best practice, expertise and help improve standards in South Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

Rugby Tournament On the 16th October Melbourn Village College’s Year 9 team entered the end of season rugby tournament. The previous two years saw the college finish in 4th and 3rd place so the aim this year was to go better. In the first round Netherhall were the opponents and a very tight game was played with only one try scored by Kai Linnell after catching a wayward kick and forcing his way over the line. This set up a second round match against Melbourn’s ‘bogie team’, Parkside. A much more free flowing game was played and tries scored by Kai Pendlebury, Fin Livingstone, Charlie Clark and Alex Howorth along with the conversions by Stuart Dingwell allowed Melbourn to progress to the Semi Finals. Chesterton lay in wait, a team not played before but powerful play and two early tries from Livingstone and Clark settled early nerves. Later in the game more tries scored by Howorth and Harry Gee and conversions by Dingwell and Alex Little give Melbourn a commanding lead. A consolation try at the end for Chesterton was not enough and Melbourn won 28-7. Melbourn finally made the final and played Linton. A tight opening half played out with no team showing that they could take control of the game until Gee broke through after some fine back play to score converted by Dingwell. This caused a fight back from Linton who scored a well worked converted try down the wing to level the match at half time. Linton continued this intensity in the second half scoring early but crucially missing the conversion. continued on page 43

melbournmagazine

M I L L .S I D E CA B I N E T M A K E R S

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Millside’s bespoke joinery, caters for our customers individual requirements, from Kitchens, Bedrooms and Studies Millside Cabinet Makers Ltd The Moor, Melbourn, Royston Hertfordshire, SG8 6ED Telephone 01763 261870 email: millsidecabinetmakers@btconnect.com www.millsidecabinetmakers.co.uk

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feature

MVC Creative Art Summer exhibition continued from page 33

melbournmagazine

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Attempt after attempt and unfortunately Melbourn couldn’t get over the line until a break from the rapid Dylan Miller looked like it would be the one, but he was tackled half a metre out. An outstretched arm reached over placing the ball on the line prompting everybody to look at the referee who, after a moment’s thought, gave the try, score 12-12 with a conversion to win it. Dingwell who hadn’t missed a kick all day stepped up and carefully slotted the ball between the posts and heard the full time whistle seal victory 14-12 and Melbourn were crowned Champions. Onto the County Championships now with Nene Park Academy awaiting in round 1.

Notre Ecole We have made some changes at Notre Ecole! Our Thursday after school session is now taking place at Melbourn Primary School for children who attend the school. In making this change we hope our club will become more easily accessible to the children in the village and hope to support Melbourn Primary School in their drive to offer a wide range of interesting clubs. So at our new Thursday club children have been learning how to introduce themselves, to name the colours in French and to count to 20. We have also been learning the French words for some fruit, singing songs and acting out role plays around this theme. The children seem to be having fun and they are learning lots of new language. Meanwhile, our Wednesday after school club continues as before and this term we have been learning French around the theme of mini-beasts. We have been able to enjoy the late summer sunshine by taking a number of activities outside. We have played games to reinforce our newly learnt language and we even went to the woods for an insect hunt one sunny afternoon. The first half of the autumn term finished with revisions of some Halloween words and a crafty session making Halloween mobiles. We are looking forward to continuing our autumn theme after half term but also to leaning some new French words and phrases around the theme “By the fire” or “Au coin du feu” in the lead up to Christmas.

Adults at our beginners group continue to make good progress having returned from the summer break full of enthusiasm. We have been looking at some of the main sights of Paris and learning to describe them in French whilst also finding out how to obtain tourist information. We have learnt how to book a room in a hotel and the French for the main things found in a hotel room. We have been practising the French alphabet and how to ask for “some” of something rather than a specific quantity. Meanwhile members of our more advanced conversation group have been discussing a variety of topics including the secular aspect of French society and the Mediterranean industrial port town of Fos sur Mer and its effect on local public health and the group have also spent some time studying grammar, particularly tenses and verbs. Why not make it your New Year’s resolution to learn a new language? If you or your child are interested in joining one of our groups please get in touch. Notre Ecole, led by a native speaker and a graduate of European Studies with French, has been teaching French to pupils of all ages for fourteen years. Call either Marine on 07533 443153 or Janet on 07791 853448 for further details. If you prefer e-mail, contact marineboulter@yahoo.fr or janet.whitton@tiscali.co.uk. We look forward to hearing from you. Learn French in a friendly atmosphere *French for Children – Games, role-play, songs etc. Every Wednesday from 3.45pm to 4.30pm Every Thursday from 4:15pm to 5:00pm *French for Adults – All levels, Conversation Every Wednesday from 8.00pm to 9.00pm GCSE lessons available by arrangement. Individual lessons also available. Telelephone Marine 01763 222876 or Janet 01763 261231 mob-07533 443153 mob-07791 853448 Email marineboulter@yahoo.fr or janet.whitton@tiscali.co.uk. We look forward to hearing from you. (Enhanced CRB clearance recently completed)

melbournmagazine

“When we remortgaged it was sorted quickly and efficiently. I would definitely recommend The Cambridge.” The Aves family, mortgage customers, St Ives Branch

After hearing our members’ stories, let us do the same for you. Your story is different but the role we can play is the same.

Helping your story happen www.cambridgebs.co.uk/avesfamily For further information pop into your local Melbourn Branch 19 Station Road, Melbourn, Royston, Hertfordshire SG8 6DX T: 01763 217510 E: melbourn-branch@cambridgebs.co.uk

Savings

Mortgages

Insurance

Life essentials

YOUR HOME MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON YOUR MORTGAGE. The Cambridge Building Society, Head Office Administration Centre, PO Box 232, 51 Newmarket Road, Cambridge CB5 8FF Telephone 0845 601 3344 www.cambridgebs.co.uk Email enquiries@cambridgebs.co.uk All communications with us may be monitored/recorded to improve the quality of our service and for your protection and security.

THE CAMBRIDGE Building Society 44

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Sports & Clubs Bowls Malcolm Davey 262704 Bridge Club Howard Waller 261693 1st Melbourn Rainbows Abigail Roberts 261505 Brownies – 1st Melbourn Stephanie Clifford 220272 Brownies – 2nd Melbourn Samantha Pascoe 261400 Croquet Janet Pope 248342 Football Club Andrew Edwards 223109 Dynamos Football Club Les Morley 07739 593771 Gardening Club Helen Powell 245887 Guides – Ist Melbourn Hilary Marsh 261443 Judo Derek Coult 225004 Melbourn Karate Club Peter Khera 07866 374674 Melbourn Sports Centre Graham Johnson-Mack 263313 Melbourn and Meldreth Women’s Group Pat Smith 262575 Sue Toule 260955 Anne Harrison 261775

1st Melbourn Brownies Over the last year we have been working on our Big Brownie Birthday Challenge and our Circus Skills badge. We have been doing various activities towards these badges. Also, at the end of last term, we had a barbecue that all of the parents were invited to. Some examples of what we have done towards our Big Brownie Birthday challenge are making Thinking Day cards and pasta photo frames. As well, we had an International Evening. I ran the International Evening and this helped me achieve my Baden-Powell award (the highest award a guide can get). During the evening the Brownies got the chance to try loads of different foods from other countries. They learnt some facts about each country, like what their Brownies are called. Also, one week we ran an evening for the Rainbows. In the weeks running up to that evening Amelia, one of the other guide helpers, taught all of the Brownies a dance that they performed to the Rainbows, which went really well. The

Brownies planned lots of other activities for the Rainbows, which were equally successful. Also, later on in the year we made fake wounds and we went to a district event called Rosebuds’ Rally, because Brownies used to be called Rosebuds. Recently, we have been working on our circus skills badge. In the first week of working on this badge, we all tried plate spinning. We tried lots of different methods and techniques in plate spinning, with varying levels of success. In the next week, continuing the circus theme, we made some treats that you might find as refreshments at a circus. We made cake pops. It went really well, despite not everyone being great at the forming of the cake pops. We also had our own mini circus. We all had our face painted, which looked amazing. Every Brownie painted at least one person’s face. Then we all performed to each other. It included gymnastics, stilt walking, dancing and clowning. By Amy Selby (Little Owl) on behalf of all the Leaders at 1st Melbourn Brownies (Brown Owl, Eagle Owl, Nightingale, Squirrel, Amelia and Lucy) If you (or your daughter) would be interested in joining in the fun please contact Brown Owl on 07888831140.

1st Melbourn Guides The summer holidays seem a long time ago now, but they provided sunshine for our annual summer camp in early

Photographic Club Bruce Huett 232855 Ramblers Dave Allard 242677 Royston and District Round Table Michael Seymour 221398 Squash Club Nick Sugden 261064 Swimming Club Jenny Brackley 244593 Tennis (Melbourn) Dave Liddiard 07508 995 781 Tennis (Meldreth) Sue Davies 220174

1st Melbourn Brownies circus skills

melbournmagazine

feature Bell Ringing Open Day

Saturday 27th September 2014 An open day was held at Holy Trinity church, Meldreth, to launch the appeal for the restoration of the bells, the most rung church bells in the world, so that they can be in a firstclass condition, ready to continue ringing for the rest of the 21st century There was plenty to see and do, with displays of information, an impressive spread of handbells and the Diocesan Association mobile demo bell, in addition to the ring of eight bells in the tower. A video camera was set up in the bell chamber, which showed how the bells swung full-circle as the ropes were pulled. And there was plenty of demonstration ringing to watch and listen to, with experts to explain what was going on. The event attracted both ringers and non-ringers. The ringers ranged from novices, who took the opportunity for a bit of extra practice, through more experienced ringers from the local area, up to the expert peal ringers, who are regulars here. Several lapsed ringers enjoyed finding out that, like riding a bike, they hadn’t forgotten the knack of ringing. Non-

East Anglian Air Ambulance Just Giving has recently revealed the top ten most generous towns in the UK… We weren’t surprised to hear that top of the list are Bedford and Cambridge, donating over £2.5million between them! Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire make up half of the area covered by East Anglian Air Ambulance; we also carry out our lifesaving emergency medical work in Norfolk and Suffolk. EAAA receives no direct government funding, so the £7.6million needed to run our service this year comes directly from charitable donations and the local people who generously support us. There are lots of ways you can donate to EAAA, the simplest of those is by using our text to donate numbers. If you would like to make a text donation, Text EAAA to 70300 to donate £3 or Text HELI to 70500 to donate £5.

www.melbourncambridge.co.uk

ringers came from both Meldreth and Melbourn, as well as from further afield, and most tried their hand on the end of a bell-rope, finding out just what up to half a ton of swinging metal feels like. It was good to have so many young visitors, who were keen to have a go at everything, even if they needed to stand on a few boxes to reach the ropes! One four-year-old showed an impressive style on a tower bell many times her own weight and even younger visitors were able to swing the demo bell, set up outside in the sunshine in front of the church porch. Thanks to all those who gave their time to contribute to the success of the open day, by demonstrating, explaining and assisting, and especially to those who made and served the refreshments. We are also very grateful to the many visitors who donated generously to the appeal for the restoration of the bells. Over £500 was donated, which, together with Gift Aid, will be worth even more. For more information, visit www.meldrethchurch.org.uk/bells/appeal.htm

However, it isn’t just financially that you can support us, many people choose to donate their time instead. We greatly appreciate all the time that our volunteers give up for EAAA, without them our work would not be possible. Trevor and Bridget Crow, from Cambridge, have been volunteering for the charity for 6 years. Trevor said: ‘We are both in our 70s and volunteering for EAAA keeps us active and gives us something to do in our retirement’ ‘We have been to some fantastic events including the Duxford Air Show where we worked at the EAAA merchandise stall. It has been a great opportunity to meet some new people and visit different places. We have found some lovely pubs!’ If volunteering is not for you and you would like a quick way to help the charity, why not follow us on Facebook and Twitter? Together, we save lives.

August. This year the girls enjoyed a Commonwealth games themed camp, where we tried climbing, carpet sledging and kayaking; had a silly sports competition, cooked lunch on backwoods fires, and slept under the stars on the last night. The autumn term started with games and patrol activities, followed by a cooking competition run by the older Guides, and bring-and share crafts. On a warm dry evening we did a night hike with torches and compasses, ending up in Riverside Park for some games of tag. Three new girls made their Guide promise in October, and we ended the half-term with an indoor campfire. We currently have a full unit and a waiting list, and would welcome another adult leader. If you would like to know more about becoming a Guide or a leader, or if you have any skills or hobbies which you would like to share with us, please contact me on: 01763 261443 or email: melbournguides@ gmail.com Hilary Marsh

Royston & District Local History Society www.roystonlocalhistory.org.uk Our website shows all the books we have for sale. Many of these result from the considerable work undertaken by our Publications sub-committee. The books are available at our meetings or may be ordered by post from David Allard 01763 242677. They may also be purchased at the Royston Museum & Arts Gallery in Kneesworth Street and some are available at the Cave Bookshop in Melbourn Street. The society is responsible for the opening of Royston Cave, Melbourn Street, Royston which will be re-open from 4th April 2015. www.roystoncave. co.uk Our evening meetings are held in the Heritage Hall (the main hall downstairs) Royston Town Hall starting at 8pm. After the talk which lasts about an hour, coffee and biscuits will be served. Books and Cave DVDs will be on sale. Annual membership £5 (Sept-Aug) (Under 18s half price) Visitors £2.

4th Christmas Food » December through the ages Fiona Lucraft 8th Four Years out of our » January lives Colin Limming 5th The Abbey; the Knights, » February the Cross Chris Leuchars

Royston & District Family History Society The start of our new season has been overshadowed by the loss of Avril Emery, our Chairman for 15 years and a long time resident of Melbourn. The Royston & District Family History Society members will remember and miss Avril for her special personality, especially her humour and her way with words as she was our Journal Editor for more than twenty years. Our sympathies go to Peter and their family. Programme 2014–15

17th Jean Bingham » November Handley (member) They gave their lives! The stories of some local lads

15th Members’ Christmas » December Social 2015

19th Peter Jackson (member) » Jan ‘An Unruly Mob - tales of Balsham’ » Feb 16th Members Evening TBA 16th Dr Ken Sneath » March Everyday Life in the Eighteenth Century

The season continues until our AGM in June If you fancy coming to meet us you will be most welcome. 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. Projects Report. R&DFHS is continuing to record the Orchard Road Cemetery, Melbourn. Our publications are available at our meetings, from our website www.roystonfhs.org.uk or from www. parishchest.com. Various new projects, some with the Royston and District Local History Society, linked to the commemoration of WW1 are continuing namely the VAD hospital in Queens

Road Royston and listing the Births, Marriages and Deaths in the Crow from 1910. Pam Wright, R&DFHS Enquiries@ RoystonFHS.org.uk.

Ramblers’ Association Royston and District Group Our walks programme continues right through the year. For details visit our website: www.ramblers-herts-northmiddlesex. org.uk or contact David Allard (01763 242677). Email: david.allard@ntlworld.com or Lesley Abbiss (01763 273463). There is also a poster displaying walks for the current month in Royston library. We have walks on Sundays, which are normally 5-7 miles in the morning and a similar or shorter walk in the afternoon. Occasionally Sunday walks are Figures of Eight making it possible to do only the morning or only the afternoon. Half-day walks are held on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Our evening walks will resume on 27th April 2015. Prospective new members are welcome and may come on three walks before deciding whether to join. www. ramblers.org.uk to join.

Melbourn Dynamos Football Club For Boys and Girls aged 4–18 years old http://melbourndynamos.co.uk Melbourn Dynamos F.C. is a friendly community youth football club that gives boys and girls the opportunity to play regular football regardless of their experience or ability at all ages from 4 through to 18. We have almost 200 players registered to the club to play league football. This is in addition to the many of our youngest players (age 4&5) who have fun and develop their skills through the Dynamites’ pay and play sessions on Saturday mornings (10.30–11.30am ) at Melbourn Sports Centre – our home ground. We are a successful club defined by the strength of support from members and families, the praise and recognition of fellow clubs and FA Leagues, working

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with our Community partners including MVC and Melbourn Parish Council, and of course our players’ achievements on the pitch and their support for the community. We are especially pleased with the success of our youngest players, the Dynamites. They are coached by a team led by Dee Patel who was Cambridge FA’s coach of the year for 2013. These players, aged 4-6, have fun and develop their skills before deciding whether to play league football as the club’s under 7s team. This fun preparation and skill development through the Dynamites has undoubtedly brought rewards to our current Under 7s (see photo), Under 8s and Under 9s teams. This season we are pleased to announce that we have established an U21s team. The team plays in a new Hertfordshire FA League that has been developed to provide a bridge between youth and men’s football and it provides a natural home for our players graduating from youth football. We are also keen to develop the club further by providing opportunities for girls’ football as an alternative to our mixed teams. The Club has campaigned again the FA’s ruling not to allow mixed football after primary school age. In the last few years, the FA has progressively moved its position and for the present season allows mixed football up and including the U16s. All of our coaches are CRB checked

and qualified to at least F.A. Level 1 standard. We are also recognised as a Charter Standard Club which means that we have all the correct people and practices in place to operate in line with government requirements. If you are interested in finding out more about the club and the opportunities to play football with us, please contact Nicky Patel on 07951 590139 or email her at nikki-dip@ntlworld.com.

Melbourn Bowls Club The Bowls Club is now in its winter hibernation mode after another enjoyable year. We were again able to welcome a number of new members this season who have entered wholeheartedly into the life of the Club. Their input has been very welcome and we are delighted with their enthusiasm and progress. We have been able to hold a number of functions to help raise funds for the Club over the Summer Months, including our Open Triples; our Coffee mornings run by Muriel Cooper; and a Quiz Night held at All Saints Community Hall. We will be holding another Quiz Night in November and all tickets have been sold out. Many members put in a lot of hard work in arranging and running these events and we have to be very grateful for their efforts. With regard to external competitions our Division 1 Cambridge and District League team were unfortunately relegated to Division 2. The Meldreth

League Team finished fourth, whilst the afternoon Foxton League team finished fifth out of eleven with a positive shots difference. The Business House League team achieved promotion to the the first division, so congratulations to Malcolm Davey and his team. Our Division 5 Cambridge and District league team improved markedly on last year’s Wooden Spoon to finish in mid table, a number of last year’s new members showed much improved form with the extra experience gained from last season. and enable the team to fight their way up the Division. The annual Ladies v Gents match was held on 13th July and this year the Ladies managed to avenge last year’s defeat and emerge victorious, with help from a couple of “cross dressers”. Next season the Gents may be less generous in their donations to the Ladies Team. The Melbourn Club Triples were held on 29th July and won by Lorna Morgan, Mervyn Mann and Yvonne Blows The internal Club Competitions finals, with the exception of the Club Triples, took place in September with the following results:Monday Afternoon League – Winner: Peter Blayney Ladies Singles – Winner: Sue Sell Men’s Singles – Winner: Rod Sell Novices Singles – Winner: Martin Leggett Mixed Pairs – Winners: Sue and Rod Sell Drawn Pairs – Winners: Mike Keith and Martin Leggett melbournmagazine

PC Repairs Advice & Installation of Home Networks Help with Selecting a Computer Fault Finding Brian Girling 01223 208529 (Wimpole) E-mail bg@moncraft.co.uk We can also provide the following services: Design of brochures, posters, business cards A4/A3 laminating • A4 comb-binding Small print runs on A6 to A3 media

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Handicap – Winner: Sue Sell Fish & Chips Pairs (Chris Blows Memorial Shield) – Winners: Di Clark and Sandy Earls During the winter we are continuing with Whist Drives every other Friday at 7.00pm in the Clubhouse and will continue until Easter with a break over the Christmas period. This is a friendly sociable event and prospective new members would be made very welcome at these evenings. If you enjoy a friendly game of cards, not taken too seriously, why not come along? It would be a good opportunity to see whether you enjoy the company of the present members and consider whether you would like to join the Club for next season. The dates up to Christmas will be in the Diary section, but those after Christmas have not yet been arranged. For further details contact Arthur Andrews (tel 01763 261990). During the winter we will be planning for next Season and hope to give you up to date information in the next issue of the Melbourn Magazine. I can, however, say that our Open day, when we hope to welcome prospective new members will be Sunday 3rd May 2014. More details concerning this day should appear in the next issue. Items for the Diary (please enter in Diary Section)

October 2013 Whist Night »»24 Melbourn Bowls Club 7.00pm November 2013 Whist Night »»7Melbourn Bowls Club 7.00pm November 2013 Whist Night »»21 Melbourn Bowls Club 7.00pm December 2013 Whist Night »»5Melbourn Bowls Club 7.00pm

Melbourn Bridge Club We should like to congratulate the Melbourn Magazine on reaching its 20th anniversary. Without doubt the Magazine is both informative and interesting and deserves to win any Best Village Magazines that there are. Our own 5th anniversary has just been reached, and I should like to thank everybody that has played with us, and helped to make the club as friendly and competitive as it is. Monday evenings at the Vicarage Road Community Center

sees thirty or more players, and gives players without partners a guarantee of a game. We all look forward to seeing you. Contact Howard Waller 01763 261693

Meldreth Croquet Club Melgrave win the Beds and Herts. League Once again Meldreth teamed up with Bygrave to play Association Croquet in the Beds and Herts league under the name of ‘Melgrave’. The other clubs playing in the league are Enfield, Watford, Wrest Park, St Albans, Letchworth and Northampton – quite a wide geographical spread. Our previous best results have been finishes in midleague positions but this year we did exceptionally well. Having won or drawn virtually all our games, a win against Northampton in our final game of the season would have given us the league title outright. However, we could only draw and this meant we had tied with St Albans on equal points. It was agreed that there should be a final decider to be held on neutral territory and this was arranged for Wrest Park on the 19th September. Our team of Duncan Hector, Alec Osborne and Peter Whiting played well against a strong St Albans team and came out on top. Duncan won all his games and Peter and Alec both won and lost one. It was close, but enough to beat St Albans and bring home the Hector Shield as league winners. Congratulations to them and to the other players who have made up our teams during this very successful year (Keith Holgate and Robert Skeen).

Golf Croquet The group of “usual suspects” have been playing golf croquet regularly on Sunday mornings and on some Tuesday evenings throughout the summer. With the coming of Autumn we are now playing on Wednesday afternoons instead of the evening. The number of regular players has doubled with people from Robert’s course joining in during the summer. One recent Sunday morning we had 3 simultaneous games going on which was a bit confusing but it worked out satisfactorily. We will continue playing on Sunday

mornings and Wednesday afternoons providing the weather is good. If you are interested in joining us please contact Roger Wallbridge for more information. (email: rogandlinwallbridge@bbmax. co.uk tel. 01763261405)

Introduction to Croquet Course Earlier this year Robert Skeen organised an introduction to croquet course for people who were interested in learning to play. It took place over 3 successive Saturday mornings in May and June with Robert giving the basic coaching and club members helping out. There was not a huge response but we have gained 5 new members who play golf croquet regularly, which is a very good outcome for Robert’s efforts. Janet Pope

Grinnel Hill BMX Club The unseasonably mild winter saw the club successfully carry out an extensive re-working of the Advanced lines on the site, meaning we again opened in early May. Since then we’ve seen over 70 members, many new and existing returning through our gates, from Melbourn itself to surrounding towns/ villages, counties, and foreign visitors from the BMX community travelling as far and wide as France, Germany, Holland, Poland, Latvia, America, and even Australia! With another long, hot, dry spell this summer, the club has installed waterproof polythene sheeting to protect each and everyone of the jumps and landings when not in use, a complete game changer for the club, as even with the heavy downpours we’ve seen, the dry dusted riding surface remains protected and doesn’t get washed away, meaning the site can remain open for longer by reducing the hours of routine maintenance required, resulting in us staying open for even more weekends and evenings between May and September where weather has permitted. This winter will see a major re-design and construction of the middle of the site, with completion scheduled for Spring 2015. continued on page 53

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Melbourn Sports Centre For those of you who don’t already know, we have: state of the art fitness suite offering • Aa variety of membership schemes swimming pool (kept • Aever20sometre slightly warmer than most!) comprehensive swimming lesson • Aprogramme, catering for all ages and abilities

multisports courts for hire • Upgraded including tennis, football and squash courts

• Water sports courses and activities and modern exercise • Traditional classes to Melbourn Village College • Access sports hall and gymnasium for activities such as trampolining, badminton and basketball

• Supervised sports and pool parties

A winter wonderland at msc! We have loads on offer this month, with something for the whole community to get involved with…. So why not come along and find out more about your local sports centre!

Come in out of the cold! We’re not going to let those long winter nights stop us from enjoying our exercise! As well as our indoor facilities like the swimming pool, squash courts and sports hall, we have loads of classes to keep you fit and healthy, including Boxercise, Swim Clinic, Boot Camp, Zumba, AquaFit, Pilates and Body Workout. We also offer table tennis alongside our normal indoor racket sports. And they’re all reasonably priced, so the one thing that will stay plump is your purse!

Party time! Looking to book a birthday or Christmas party? How about bouncing those cares away with our new trampolining party, now available as well as our normal activities. We also have the adjacent Community Centre available for booking, with or without the pool facilities.

Activities for children! With Christmas fast approaching, an

ideal time to book your young ones onto one of our great activity courses. These include our Christmas Pool Party and our popular Ofsted PlayScheme. We will also being taking bookings from January for our February half term activities which will include our swimming crash course, trampoline & snorkelling tasters and our popular Ofsted PlayScheme.

The perfect present! With Christmas just round the corner, keep your eye out for our gift promotion – a fun and fit idea if you’re looking for something different to buy a loved one or friend (or treat yourself!) Or why not take advantage of one of our great membership schemes to our fitness suite, which houses the latest in gymnasium equipment, including C.V machines fitted with audio visual technology, an ideal present for a love one!

Activities for young children (Aged 2 ½ – Full-time school ages) Waterplay These pre-school swimming lessons are an ideal first step for your child learning to swim, with the aims to build confidence in water, learning basic skills like floatation and movement using buoyancy aids.

13.30 – 15.00 »»Tuesdays: (30 min lessons) 13.30 – 15.00 »»Thursdays: (30 min lessons) 10.30 – 11.30 »»Fridays: (30 min lessons)

Prices: £3.50 per lesson (paid termly)

Activities for adults Adult Swimming Lessons We offer a wide range of adult swimming lessons, from beginners to advanced. We operate weekly lessons and oneto-one lessons as well as crash courses during school holidays.

»»Beginners WED19.30–20.15 TUES 15.00–15.45 »»Intermediates SAT 08.00 – 08.45 WED 20.15 – 21.15 »»Advanced SAT 07.45 – 08.45

Aqua-Fit Each class lasts an hour and includes warm up, combination exercises, cool down, stretches and often deep water work. Our fun and friendly sessions are made all the more lively by popular musical accompaniment. Go on - give it a go! For further details on parties, gift memberships or any of our activities, please drop in, call 01763 263313 or go online at www.melbournsports. com. We look forward to seeing you this season! Melbourn Sports Centre, The Village College, The Moor, Melbourn, Royston, Hertfordshire, SG8 6EF 01763 263313 / www.melbournsports. com / info@melbournsports.com

Melbourn Karate Club The Kamaete Schools of Traditional Shotokan Karate (KSTSK) held their Autumn Grading Examinations on Saturday 27th September at Hertfordshire Sports Village, Hatfield Hertfordshire. Members of the Melbourn Karate Club took part in these grading examinations. Sensei Peter Khera, 5th Dan Instructor commented “all students did very well and showed good progress. Concentration, focus, etiquette and discipline was maintained throughout the grading which is not an easy task for the younger juniors.” Grading results as follows:

• George Whybrow Red • Henry Whybrow Orange • Callum Keir Orange • Megan Huff Orange • Steve,Huff Orange • Ewan Cameron Orange Waldman Orange with • Asa Stripe

Yellow

The club meets every Sunday at 12 Midday at Melbourn Village College Sports Centre. New beginners are always welcome and no special clothing is needed. Free Introductory Class and Free Club membership for more details www.kstsk.co.uk or call 07866 374674

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Church news Melbourn Baptist Church After the summer holidays, the church has been gearing up for one of its busiest times of the year. Ideas for the development of the church hall continue to be raised, and to help this project, a “vision board” has been placed in the church, to provide updates, and also for people to add their views about the future of the hall. Church members have also been taking part in safeguarding training in Huntingdon for all those involved in children’s and youth work. The church was also involved in a Churches Together exhibition of artwork featuring Heroes and Villains of the Bible at this autumn’s Royston Arts Festival, with work displayed at St John’s parish church. Members welcomed Jos Holtzhausen of Christ’s Hope International to a Sunday morning service, when Jos gave an update on the work of the organisation. Christ’s Hope, supported by this church among others, cares for people, especially children, infected with, and affected by, HIV/AIDS. An auction of produce after the church’s harvest service in October raised more than £200. The theme of the service was Seed Sowing, Soul Searching, Harvest Reaping. The church is also involved in the Operation Christmas Child Shoebox appeal, organised by international relief group Samaritan’s Purse, which supports needy children around the world, and shares its Christian faith. Contributors can either pack their own boxes, or donate items to send in a shared box.

United Reformed Church Historic Churches ‘Ride and Stride’ Over the weekend of Saturday 13th and Sunday14th September a group of older and younger cyclists and walkers travelled around the nearby villages visiting the local churches. We were being sponsored as part of the National Historic Churches Trust ‘Ride and Stride’ event. (See rideandstride@nationalchurchestrust.org for more information) We were blessed with a lovely day for cycling on the Saturday. The only limit on distance for the older cyclists being whether we intended walking the next day! The younger members of the group were very enthusiastic good company. It was lovely to be greeted by people manning many of the churches and to have the opportunity to learn some interesting things about many of the buildings. We appreciated the refreshments on offer too! On Sunday 14th our Junior Church walked in the village where they looked at All Saints Parish and the Baptist Churches.

Harvest Festival Celebrations The church was beautifully decorated for Harvest Sunday. Both Brownies and

Guides paraded as part of the morning service. We enjoyed a “bring and share “tea later in the day, which was followed by a Songs of Praise evening service. The sale of much of the harvest produce, along with donations on the day amounted to £160. This, along with suitable produce, was taken to Jimmy’s Nightshelter in Cambridge. A further Harvest Service was led at Moorlands Court on 5th October, when we were joined by a great turnout of residents and supported by members of Melbourn Baptist church.

Collecting for Royston Foodbank We have a collection point in the church where donated foods for the Foodbank can be left on a Sunday. If you would like to donate at other times please feel free to drop in on a Thursday when the church hall will be open for the Craft and Chat group between 2–4 pm, or during melbournmagazine

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Open Mon - Fri 9.30 – 4.30 Sat 9.30 - 4.00 House Clearances undertaken We also buy books, collectables, furniture etc. Tel: 07596 990660

Friday Coffee between 10.30–2.30. We have a list of most suitable donations available, or more information can be found on the website www.royston. foodbank.org.uk

Christian Aid Talk and Supper On Friday October17th we hosted an evening to both learn more about Christian Aid’s ongoing projects in Burundi and fundraise to support the charity. Imogen Tate, the Cambridgeshire County Co-ordinator spoke about her trip to Burundi, describing the challenging situation there, but also about the welcome she received and the positive progress being made through some of the Charities’ projects.

SOAS 100 Club The August draw was made by Rev Andrew O’Brien on 30th August. There were 76 members, The first prize of £25.40 goes to Mr & Mrs Travis (71) and the second of £12.70 to Hilary Docwra (64) . The September draw of the 100 club was made by Mike Rawlings on 4th October. There were 76 members. The first prize of £25.40 was won by Joy Hyde (42) and the second of £12.70 by Alan & Jane Brett (12) . The October draw was made by Rev Andrew O’Brien on 1st November. The first prize of £25.40 goes to Joan Statter and the second of £12.70 goes to Robert Burgess.

The Word of God from David Burbridge All things were made by The Word of God, and The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, The Lord Jesus, full of grace and truth. From The Apostle John’s introduction to The Gospel. The Word made flesh in human form Entered the world he made; The darkness fled and glory shone Around where He was laid. Paul Cook 1985 (Joint Editor of Christian Hymns)

If I could meet a real Christian! C.S. Lewis said “Perhaps the greatest tragedy in the world today is the fact that we are just playing at being Christians.” The Early Church was not playing, it was in deadly earnest and the world looked on in astonishment as more and more became disciples of Jesus Christ. Yet it started with twelve totally committed followers. Jesus calls us to be His ambassadors, to be his representatives, so that others may come to know and love Him. What is the function of an ambassador? An ambassador tries hard to represent his country in the best way he can, he does his best to handle awkward people with patience and tact, with courtesy and kindness. By his behaviour he hopes to create warmth and interest towards his country. In the same way, if we are to be true ambassadors for Christ, we must represent Him in the best possible way by our behaviour. If we are cold and unfriendly, distance ourselves from people and show lack of care and concern, we betray Him. Perhaps we are their only contact with Jesus. Somebody once said “If I could meet a real Christian I would be one”. What he meant was that it sounded wonderful, Christianity, but nobody seemed able to live as Christ did, nor to obey His commands and follow His teaching. It seemed to be all theory, but no action. And, of course, we do fail; we know we fail, but why do we fail so often and so badly? One of the reasons is that we try to live in our own strength instead of asking for God’s grace, God’s power enabling us to do what would otherwise be impossible. It is only by the grace of God that our divisions can be healed, but we must sincerely want them healed. What so often happens is that we get entrenched behind our walls and have no wish to break the walls down and build bridges instead. The walls keep out all that might disturb our comfort; all those people we want no contact with, any ideas or views that might challenge us. We can be self-centred and self-indulgent behind walls, and blind and deaf to the injustice in the world, and to other people’s pain and problems. On the other hand, to come out and build bridges, stretching out in friendship to others means that we are in a very vulnerable position. We know that, like our Master, we shall experience times of rejection; we shall experience ingratitude as He so often did, and often our love and friendship will be thrown back in our face. But this is how Jesus lived and He calls us to do the same. While there are walls there can be no peace and harmony and it is hypocritical to pray for world peace if we are not being peacemakers in our own surroundings and circumstances. World peace will come when there are enough individual hearts working for peace. Jesus gave His life on the Cross to break down the walls, so that all mankind would be brought into a loving relationship with God and with each other. It is unlikely that we shall be asked to lay down our life, but we must be ready to take the hurts and insults that come our way and to deal with them in the same way as He dealt with injustice, cruelty, ingratitude and rejection, even the rejection of His friends. He did not retaliate, He did not hit back. Let us stop building walls, harbouring resentment and instead build bridges, build bridges especially towards those whom we find difficult to get on with, towards those who irritate and annoy us; towards those who are unpleasant to us. As we do so, we are sharing in a very real way in Christ’s work of reconciliation. We must not draw back as we attempt to build because we come under attack. When, in spite of the sniping and gunfire, we calmly go on building our bridges of friendship, we will find, though it may take a long time, that the enemy becomes less hostile, even, perhaps, becomes a friend. Isn’t God reaching out to us all the time, persevering, never giving up? Do we want Him to keep account of our misdeeds, the things we are ashamed of, or do we want Him to look only at our good points? Then it is the least we can do for each other. Rev Andrew O’Brien melbournmagazine

Pool Parties at Mel-BOURN2SWIM 1 Hour in a warm pool with slide and various toy floats A choice of hot or cold food after your fun swim Individual float jackets available All this for £150.00

For more details go to www.mel-bourn2swim.com

or call Dawn 01763 262344/07891655398

www.melbourncambridge.co.uk

What’s On Winter Flower Festival

A Flower Festival at Candlemas Weekend of 31st January – 1st February 2015 11am–5pm (closing on Sunday with a Service for Candlemas at 5pm) All Saints’ Church will once again be holding a Flower Festival over the weekend of 31st January and 1st February next year. It is hard to believe that this will be our fifth bi-annual festival. The first festival was held in winter 2007 and the primary goal of the event is to create something special for everyone to enjoy, rather than to raise money – although over the years the event has raised money to help with the upkeep of All Saints’ Church and, in the first year, made a small contribution towards the cost of building the Community Hall.

and original ideas to base their arrangements on. We have had Pantomimes, winter festivals, winter memories, events and lots of snow and ice! Not many festivals (I don’t actually know of any others – but I don’t want to say there are no others – just in case!) are held during the winter. It is definitely more challenging – but perhaps that adds to fun. Last year we asked festival visitors to provide feedback on comment cards and we received some really generous comments – such as “A beautiful display – so much creativity and talent, well worth seeing”, “The Church looks amazing, beautiful flowers, arranged in really imaginative ways”, “It was a wonderful experience congratulations!” “Amazing expertise, imagination and flair” and lastly “Novel idea, my first winter flower festival”. The team of arrangers includes those who regularly arrange flowers for services and festivals in Church, friends, family and members of local flower clubs. We are very grateful for the time and energy they spend planning and then arranging in Church over two or three (cold) days. We look forward to welcoming you over the festival weekend – come and enjoy the arrangements, some warming refreshments and browse our craft stall.

How can I help? The opportunity to be surrounded by beautiful flowers and their scent at what is usually a cold and sometimes grey weekend alongside the uniqueness of the event and the creative arrangements all help to attract a good number of visitors. Each year the number seems to increase and promotion, through Flower Clubs, Churches and various media ,have encouraged visitors to travel further to the event. We are pleased to welcome all visitors but last year we were particularly pleased to welcome a small group from the Flower Guild at St Albans Cathedral. The theme of each festival has been winter and every time our wonderful team of arrangers come up with more creative

If you would like to support the festival financially please get in contact. If you wish, your support will be acknowledged in the festival programme and in front of the display you sponsored – or we could also place an advert in the programme if you would like to advertise in exchange for a contribution towards the cost of printing. If you would like to support the event by giving your time and being involved – in any way: arranging, sweeping up after the arrangers, making refreshments for arrangers or serving refreshments to visitors – or in any other way – again, please contact us. Rebecca Gatward Rebecca.gatward@btinternet.com or Rosemary Gatward 01763 261225 continued on page 63

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Julie Newby – Time for You Beauty and Holistic Therapist

A therapy room based at GYMBO’S HEALTH, FITNESS & WELLBEING A boutique personal fitness studio, Monday 3-7pm, Wednesdays 9am-7pm and Saturday 9-12am College Farm Business Park, Meldreth, SG8 6FP ~ Check out www.julienewby.co.uk for more details or email julie.newby@virgin.net or call 01763 208387 and I’ll send you a leaflet

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Christmas pantomime ‘The Flintstones save Christmas’ Melbourn Amateur Dramatics Friday 5th and Saturday 6th December curtains open 7.30pm Sunday 7th December curtains open for matinee 2.00pm Meldreth Village Hall. Tickets from www.melbournamdram.co.uk

Supporters of All Saints’ (SOAS) Present

Cambridge Harmony (A Ladies Close Harmony Choir) in All Saints’ Church Melbourn

Burns Night Supper Saturday 31st January 2015, 7.30pm Barley Town House Tickets £17.50 including welcome drink, three course home cooked meal, music, reeling, haggis and more! Buy tickets soon for this annual popular event! All proceeds to Save the Children Telephone Liz on 01763 838172 or email Lucie: luciecoleridge@gmail.com

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 Sarah or Jackie or e-mailing admin@ hsrsc.co.uk. Registered Charity No 1105385

A home visiting volunteer would normally have parenting experience with an understanding of the problems and pleasures of family life. We link this well-supported and trained volunteer to the most suitable family referred, offering home visits, usually for 2–3 hours a week. Our volunteers support families in a huge variety of ways which can include: offering a non-judgemental listening ear, helping parents to manage their children’s behaviour, providing practical help around healthy eating, accessing other community services and supporting parents in keeping their children safe.

This is when Home-Start volunteers can help!

www.hsrsc.co.uk

Friday 12Th December At 7.30 pm A Programme Of Popular And Well-Loved Songs and Songs For Christmas. Tickets £8.00 (Includes A Glass Of Wine/Fruit Juice)

From George Howard (260686) or Colin Limming (260072) or on The door on the evening

Christmas around the world, Cantilena Singers Saturday 6th December, 7:30pm – 9:30pm Bassingbourn Parish Church North End Bassingbourn SG8 5NW Christmas around the world, Cantilena Singers Music for Advent and Christmas with an international flavour Programme to include carols and other celebratory music suitable for Adventide and Christmas. Daniel Spreadbury (director) Refreshments available by donation £7, £5 Proceeds to the church For tickets contact Sam Spreadbury 07967 197337 sam.spreadbury@gmail.com www.cantilenasingers.org continued on page 67

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Melbourn Buildings/Fencing Suppliers Phillimore Garden Centre, Melbourn Tel 01763 263336 Open Mon – Sat 9.30am–5pm Sun 10am–4pm Manufacturers of all types of garden buildings. Customised buildings our speciality. Landscaping and fencing supplied and installed. Sheds, Summerhouses, Gazebo’s, Aviaries, Catteries, Kennels/runs, Chalets, Log Cabins. Bases undertaken.

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The Black Horse welcomes you … Steve, Kerry and all the staff would like to welcome you to

The Black Horse, Melbourn A traditional country pub which serves real ales, with a friendly atmosphere. Whether you’re looking to have a quiet drink, a bite to eat or you’d like to watch televised sporting events, a warm welcome is guaranteed. Dining Food is served Wednesday–Sunday 1200-1400hr & 1800-2030hr. Parking The Black Horse has it’s own private car park and there is also ample local street parking available. Outdoor Facilities We have a large Beer Garden to the rear comprising a decking patio area overlooking an fully-enclosed garden with children’s play equipment. Smokers Smoking inside the bar areas is not permitted by law but in addition to the outdoor patio/garden we also have a substantial permanently covered and partly enclosed decked seating area which, although open-air, offers very effective protection from the elements.

www.melbourncambridge.co.uk

Children We aim to provide a family-friendly environment. Children accompanied by an adult are welcome inside the bar lounges. At the moment we only have one high-chair available, but customers are welcome to make their own arrangements. For baby/toddler feeding just ask if you need any water or anything warmed. Dogs We recognise that some of our customers like to include the pub on their dog walk, and we aim to accommodate them but do ask that in consideration of our other patrons dogs must be kept on a lead at all times. Particularly inside the premises the lead needs to be short enough to keep your dog close to you. Private Functions The Black Horse is available for private functions, for further details just give us a call.

The Black Horse 63 Orchard Rd, Melbourn, Royston. SG8 6BP Telephone 01763 262136 email: info@theblackhorsemelbourn.co.uk

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Available on Royston Market: Saturdays and Wednesdays 8am to 1pm approx

Fresh Fruit and Vegetables,

Timber • Aggregates Fencing • Paving • Bricks Blocks • Sheet Material Insulation & much more

Fish direct from Great Yarmouth, Bread and Cakes, Cheese & Cold meats (Wednesdays only) Flowers and Plants, Jewellery (Gold bought for Cash), Picture Framing, (Saturdays only) Kitchenware, Antiques, Pet Supplies. Ladies Wear (Wednesdays only) Golf Equipment (Saturdays only)

New Traders Always Welcome Contact Market Manager 01763 245484 or email: markets@roystontowncouncil.gov.uk

Royston Town Council 66

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Phone: 01763 261740 Email: sales@norburys.com www.norburys.com 1 London Way Melbourn, SG8 6DJ (Just off Back Lane)

Usher in the Christmas festivities Local charity Cambridge Past, Present & Future (CambridgePPF) has festivities for both adults and children alike this Christmas, from a performance of ghost stories in the Leper Chapel to making Christmas decorations at Wandlebury Country Park with other activities in between. At the Leper Chapel come along and sing carols by candlelight or join a midnight communion on Christmas Eve. And if that is not enough, usher in 2015 with a New Year’s Day invigorating walk through Coton Countryside Reserve.

Winter Tree Identification at Wandlebury Saturday 13 December: 12.30am to 4.30pm Get away from the shopping and other indoor preparations in the run-up to Christmas. Join the CambridgePPF team and learn how to identify trees by examining bark, buds, leaves, shape and form at this adult-only workshop. Then put those new-found skills to use by exploring Wandlebury Country Park.

Ghost Stories at the Leper Chapel Friday 12 December to Sunday 14 December: 8pm

Soak up the atmospheric beauty of CambridgePPF’s historic Leper Chapel during a telling of ‘Casting the Runes’ – two ghost stories by M. R. James.

Christmas Crafts for Children at Wandlebury Saturday 20 December: 11am and 2pm

ARCHITECTURAL DRAWINGS FOR

Children will be able to make rustic Christmas decorations using natural materials found in the park. Experts from CambridgePPF will be on hand to help during these two sessions. Children must be accompanied by an adult.

Christmas Carols at the Leper Chapel Sunday 21 December: 6.30pm to 8.30pm

PLANNING & BUILDING REGULATION APPLICATIONS

Carols by candlelight at CambridgePPF’s Leper Chapel will be led by The Revd Roger Williams and Cottenham Brass Band. Mince pies and mulled wine will be served following the service.

EXTENSIONS, ALTERATIONS, LOFT CONVERSIONS ETC

Midnight Communion at the Leper Chapel

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Wednesday 24 December: 11.30pm and 12.30am Communion service by candlelight, with carols. This event is free but all donations will be greatly appreciated to the upkeep and support of CambridgePPF’s Leper Chapel.

New Year’s Day Guided Walk at Coton Countryside Reserve Thursday 1 January: 11am to 1.30pm Kick-start 2015 with an invigorating walk through the Reserve. Join the CambridgePPF team for a revitalising and scenic walk, starting out at Coton’s pub The Plough and taking in wildlife and countryside views. For more information: bookings@cambridgeppf.org, call Nicola on 01223 243830 extension 207 or visit www.cambridgeppf. org/events melbournmagazine

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Melbourn magazine is non-profit and all work on the magazine including layout is produced by volunteers. The Magazine is published four times a year in the first week of March, June, September and December. We print 2200 copies which are delivered free to every house in the village. Advertising revenue is used for printing costs only. Adverts should be supplied as finished artwork and must be at the sizes shown below. Please send artwork to mag@melbourn.org.uk. The current rates for advertising in the Magazine are as follows: Size per…

Width x Height

1/4 inside page(79 × 128 mm) 1/2 inside page(163 × 128 mm) Full inside page(163 × 262 mm)

B/W

Colour

Advertising rates are per year (four issues)

£95 £167 N/A

£143 £237 £464

For further information on advertising please telephone 220363. Remittance or cheques should be made to Melbourn Magazine.

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Leech & Sons The Letting Centre Little Hands

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Marfleet Construction Builders The Maternity Boutique and School Uniform Shop Mel-bourn2Swim Swimming School Melbourn Buildings/Fencing Suppliers Melbourn Flooring Flooring, Tiling & Home Interiors Melbourn Garage MOT and Servicing Melbourn Dental Practice Melbourn Ironing Service M&M Books Second hand & rare books M&M Furniture Antique and Secondhand furniture Millside Cabinet Makers Bespoke furniture Molly Maid Cleaning Services Mobile Locksmiths Doors, Windows, Key Cutting

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MAGAZINE ADVERTISERS

The Melbourn magazine team would like to thank all our advertisers for their support and sponsorship

Printed by The Langham Press

Issue 80 Winter 2014

Articles inside

Sports & Clubs

Diary

feature

Obituary

Nature

Community Matters

feature

Education

Village news

Should there be 200 new homes

feature