Diary

JUNE

Monday 1

Melbourn Bowls Club Roll Up at the Club 2.30pm weekly Melbourn Bridge Club every Monday at Vicarage Close contact Howard Waller 261693

Tuesday 2

Toddlers Plus Baptist Church 9.30–11.30 (TT) Melbourn Bridge Club every Tuesday (see article)

Wednesday 3

Baptist Craft Club 9.30am followed by Coffee Break 10.30

Thursday 4

Holy Communion All Saints 10am Melbourn Bowls Club Coffee Morning 10.30–12 at the Bowls Club weekly Craft & Chat URC 2–4pm Royston & District Local History Soc Town Hall Royston 8pm

Friday 5

Coffee at URC 10.30am Meldreth manor Summer Fete

Saturday 6

Coffee Stop ASCH 10.30am

Sunday 7

Holy Communion 8am Evensong 6.30pm All Saints Holy Communion URC 11am Communion Service Baptist Church 6pm

Tuesday 9

Toddlers Plus Baptist Church 9.30–11.30am (TT) Mothers Union contact Pauline Hay 260649 Melbourn & District Gardening Club Afternoon Tea for members

Wednesday 10

Baptist Craft Club 9.30 (TT) followed by Coffee Break 10.30am Hub Club Lunch 12.30pm

Thursday11

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

Friday 12

Coffee at URC 10.30am

Sunday 14

Family Communion All Saints 9.45am URC Service 11am Foxton Open Gardens 2-5.30pm

Monday 15

Royston & District Family History Society ASCH 7.30pm

Tuesday 16

Toddlers Plus Baptist Church 9.30–11.30am (TT) Melbourn Bloomsday Celebration Group (see article) for Water Aid

Wednesday 17

Baptist Craft Club 9.30 (TT) followed by Coffee Break 10.30am

Thursday 18

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

Friday 19

Coffee at URC 10.30am

Saturday 20

Coffee Stop ASCH 10.30am The Bookshelf Melbourn Fete (see article)

Sunday 21

Holy Communion 8am Family Service 11am All Saints Baptist Communion Service 10.30am URC 11am

Tuesday 23

Toddlers Plus Baptist Church 9.30–11.30am (TT) Women’s Group Musical Evening Meldreth 7.45pm

Wednesday 24

Baptist Craft Club 9.30 (TT) followed by Coffee Break 10.30am British Legion Women’s Section Vicarage Close 7pm

Thursday 25

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

Friday 26

Coffee at URC 10.30am

Saturday 27

Coffee Stop All Saints 10.30am Safari Supper (see article) Little Chishill Manor Open Gardens 2-5pm

Sunday 28

Family Communion All Saints 9.45am URC Service 11am

Monday 29

Rail User Group meeting Foxton Village Hall 7.30pm

Tuesday 30

Toddlers Plus Baptist Church 9.30-11.30am TT

JULY

Cambridge Open Studios every weekend throughout July

Wednesday 1

Coffee Break Baptist Church 10.30am

Thursday 2

Holy Communion All Saints 10am Melbourn Bowls Club Coffee Morning weekly 10.30am Craft & Chat URC 2-4pm weekly Royston & District Local History Soc. Royston Town Hall 8pm

Friday 3

Coffee URC 10.30am Evening Summer Fayre Melbourn Primary School

Saturday 4

Coffee Stop ASCH 10.30am

Sunday 5

Holy Communion All Saints 8.00am Evensong 6.30am All Saints Holy Communion URC 11am Baptist Communion Service 6pm

Monday 6

Melbourn Bowls Club Roll Up 2.30pm weekly Melbourn Bridge Club every Monday Vicarage Close 7pm contact Howard Waller 261693

Tuesday 7

Melbourn Bridge Club every Tuesday (contact as above) A10 Corridor Cycling Campaign Astra Zeneca Building Melbourn Science Park 7.30pm

Wednesday 8

Baptist Craft Club followed by Coffee Break 10.30am Hub Club Lunch 12.30pm

Thursday 9

Craft & Chat URC 2-4pm weekly

Friday 10

Coffee at URC 10.30am

Sunday 12

Family Communion All Saints 9.45am URC Service 11.00am

Tuesday 14

Toddler Plus Baptist Church 9.30-11.30 (TT) Mother’s Union contact Pauline Hay 260649 Melbourn & District Gardening Club ASCH 7.30pm ‘A Bulb for Every Season’

Wednesday 15

Baptist Craft Club 9.30am (TT) followed by Coffee Break 10.30am

Thursday 16

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

Friday 17

Coffee URC 10.30am

Saturday 18

Coffee Stop ASCH 10.30am The Bookshelf

Sunday 19

Holy Communion All Saints 8.00am Family Service 11.00am URC Service 11.00am Baptist Communion Service 10.30am

Monday 20

Royston & District Family History Society ASCH 7.30pm

Tuesday 21

Toddler Plus Baptist Church 9.30–11.30 (TT)

Wednesday 22

Coffee Break Baptist Church 10.30am-12 End of Term

Thursday 23

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

Friday 24

Coffee at URC 10.30am

Saturday 25

Coffee Stop ASCH 10.30am

Sunday 26

Family Communion All Saints 9.45am URC Service 11.00am

Tuesday 28

Women’s Group Melbourn 7.45pm National Autistic Society

Wednesday 29

Coffee Break Baptist Church 10.30am-12 Royal British Legion Women’s Section Vicarage Close 7pm

Thursday 30

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

AUGUST

Saturday 1

Coffee Stop ASCH 10.30am

Sunday 2

Holy Communion All Saints 8am URC Service 11.00am Baptist Communion 6pm

Monday 3

Melbourn Bowls Club Roll Up 2.30 weekly Melbourn Bridge Club every Monday Vicarage Close contact Howard Waller 261693

Tuesday 4

Melbourn Bridge Club contact as above

Wednesday 5

Coffee Break Baptist Church 10.30am

Thursday 6

Melbourn Bowls Club Coffee Morning 10.30 weekly Royston & District Local History Society Royston Town Hall 8pm

Friday 7

Coffee URC 10.30am

Saturday 8

Coffee Stop ASCH 10.30am

Sunday 9

Family Communion 9.45am All Saints URC Service 11am Melbourn Bowls Club v Cambridgeshire Vice Presidents

Tuesday 11

Mothers’ Union contact Pauline Hay 260649 Melbourn & District Gardening Club ASCH 7.30pm

Wednesday 12

Coffee Break Baptist Church 10.30am Hub Club Lunch 12.30pm

Friday 14

Coffee URC 10.30am

Saturday 15

Coffee Stop ASCH 10.30am The Bookshelf

Sunday 16

Holy Communion All Saints 8.00am URC Service 11.00am Baptist Communion Service 10.30am

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

Monday 17

Royston & District Family History Society ASCH 7.30pm

Wednesday 19

Coffee Break Baptist Church 10.30am

Friday 21

Coffee URC 10.30am

Saturday 22

Coffee Stop ASCH 10.30am

Sunday 23

Family Communion 9.45am URC Service 11.00am

Tuesday 25

Women’s Group outing TBA

Wednesday 26

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

Friday 28

Coffee URC 10.30am

Saturday 29

Coffee Stop ASCH 10.30am

Sunday 30

Family Communion All Saints 9.45am URC Service 11.00am Melbourn Bowls Club Open Triples

The closing date for the next issue is Friday 17th July 2015 which will appear in September, listing events in September, October and November 2015.

We’re Volunteers Searchingfor

Melbourn Magazine is delivered free to every household in the village by volunteers.

If you would like to help please contact Ann Dekkers on 261144

Village information continued

Orchard Surgery & Dispensary

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 • 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.

BIN COLLECTION

MELBOURN

9 May Blue & Green Bin Saturday Collection 15 May Black Bin 22 May Blue & Green Bin

30 May Black Bin Saturday Collection 5 June Blue & Green Bin 12 June Black Bin 19 June Blue & Green Bin 26 June Black Bin 3 July Blue & Green Bin 10 July Black Bin 17 July Blue & Green Bin 24 July Black Bin 31 July Blue & Green Bin 7 August Black Bin 14 August Blue & Green Bin 21 August Black Bin 28 August Blue & Green Bin 5 September Black Bin Saturday Collection 11 September Blue & Green Bin 18 September Black Bin 25 September Blue & Green Bin

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

Melbourn Health Visiting Team

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

8a Romsey Terrace, Cambridge. CB1 3NH Offi ce 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

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

Melbourn Village College has been recognised for its international work.

The college has been awarded the British Council’s Intermediate International Award.

The award, which runs until 2018, recognises the school’s work to bring the world into the classroom by forging lasting relationships with schools overseas and introducing global themes to pupils.

A global outlook is a key feature of the curriculum in all Comberton Academy Trust schools, of which Melbourn is a part.

Melbourn has excellent international partnerships, is the only school in ACT, an innovative cross-border cultural heritage and educational exchange programme between twelve arts and education partners from France and England and backed by the European Regional Development Fund, and is set to develop further links with Spain and France.

To obtain the award, Melbourn focussed on seven activity areas, which included a German exchange project where students explored their respective home towns, a WW1 project which culminated in a Year 8/9 trip to the Battlefields to mark the centenary of the outbreak of war and a variety of arts and music-based workshops and performances.

MVC Head of Languages Ben Hutchinson said: “I am thrilled that all of our international work has been recognised through the International Intermediate Award.

“Achieving this award is due to the work of staff and students across the college and we are looking forward to building further partnerships abroad now.

“In an increasingly interconnected world, our students need to learn be able to engage in communication with people from a wide range of different cultures and traditions. We believe that our work as an ACT partner has allowed us to achieve this goal.”

Rachel Hawkes, Associate Deputy Principal with responsibility for languages and international education across the Trust, said: “This award is an excellent achievement. To be successful, schools have to show not only that the international dimension is part of the whole school ethos, but also that there has been a significant impact on learners as a result. I am therefore delighted that Melbourn has been recognised in this way.”

Fostering an international dimension is at the heart of the British Council’s work with schools to help young people live and work as global citizens in a shrinking world and this award recognises schools which fulfil a number of specific criteria.

This view is supported by evidence from an ICM survey of UK business leaders carried out for a report by the British Council and Think Global, a charity that works to educate and engage people about global issues.

The report, The Global Skills Gap: preparing young people for the global economy, reveals that when recruiting new staff employers rate knowledge and awareness of the wider world as more important than a candidate’s degree classification or A-level results. Melbourn Village College has received two awards, which recognise their achievements – and as a result has been invited to join a national network of high-performing secondary schools.

The college has received two SSAT Educational Outcomes Awards for being in the top 10% of non-selective schools nationally for attainment (based on students’ best eight average point scores) and for being in the top 10% nationally for value added progress.

Last summer 75% of Melbourn students achieved five GCSEs at grades A*–C including maths and English – 20% above the national average.

In English the number of students who made three levels of progress was 83% and for maths 89% - both figures putting them way above the National average.

The Schools, Students and Teachers Network (SSAT), founded from the former Specialist Schools and Academies Trust in May 2012, will hand Melbourn their awards at a regional celebration ceremony next month. Only 108 schools in the country qualified for both awards.

Melbourn will also now join the Leading Edge group of schools who are all rated by Ofsted at Grade 1 or 2. All Leading Edge schools, which must show pupils make excellent progress and/or perform above the national average, are committed to: working in partnership to raise achievement, innovation and sharing practice both within and beyond the network.

Melbourn Principal Simon Holmes said: “I am very proud that the excellent standard of education at MVC has been recognised via these two awards, in particular the one for progress.

“This clearly indicates that we make a substantial impact on the life chances of the students at the college.

“It is a deserved reward for the commitment and hard work of the whole staff team and the positive relationships they foster with students. In addition, being invited to be a part of the Leading Edge programme will open up more avenues for innovation and partnership work and help us continue to offer the best possible opportunities to all of our students.”

Sue Williamson, the SSAT Chief Executive, said: “These are very prestigious awards and MVC have done exceptionally well to win two awards. They demonstrate the high quality work that the staff and students are doing.”

Year 4 Science Festival

More than 100 youngsters from six of Melbourn Village College’s feeder primary school enjoyed a fantastic hands-on science day at the senior school.

Coinciding with National Science Week and the Cambridge Science Festival, the Year 4 pupils were welcomed by a group of talented Year 8 and 10 Melbourn students for one of three sessions during the day and took part in eight experiments. These were: • Fire extinguishers – students made models of carbon dioxide fire extinguishers using baking powder and hydrochloric acid.

They then used the gas to put out a candle.

•Spinning Tardis – students made model tardis’ and used the power of water to help them to spin. • Indicators – students used Universal indicators to investigate whether a number of household liquids were acids or alkalis. • Static Electricity: students used balloons to create static electricity. They then used this to make foil hover, pick up semolina and move a coke can. • Hearing tests – students looked at how sound waves travelled to our ears using a model ear and then a signal generator to create a range of sound frequencies. • Flame tests – students burnt some chemicals and observed what colours the flames turned • Spinners – students coloured a pair of pictures such as a bird and a cage. When they were stuck together and spun they looked like they were one picture. • Extracting Iron – students used the chemicals in a match to get iron from iron oxide. They then tested the iron with a match. Melbourn science teacher Cat Rich said, “It was a fantastic day for all concerned. The Year 4 students tried lots of experiments that they would normally be able to do at school and Melbourn students worked exceptionally well, teaching the Year 4s” An unnamed Year 4 student said: “I liked the day a lot and hope that I can come again. My favourite part was when the flames burnt green!”

Fred Close, a Year 8 student, added: “I enjoyed the day, working with the Year 4 students.”

Mars Rover Visit

A Mars Rover landed at Melbourn Village College this term. Accompanied by two of its engineers, Abbie Hutty and Kat Styles, the Rover visit was designed to give Key Stage 3 students an insight into space exploration of the future.

The visiting Mars Rover, known as Bridget and looking really glamorous in her coat of real gold, was the prototype for the one due to be sent to Mars in 2018. On previous outings Bridget has met many famous people, including the Queen, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Professor Brian Cox.

The 300 students were talked through the design for the rover and saw the £1.6 million vehicle drive around the school hall, directed by a play station controller. “It was fantastic to have Bridget come in and for her engineers to explain to the students that the Space Industry isn’t reserved for NASA,” said Principal Simon Holmes. “As a result of this visit students will have had their eyes opened and some of them may be inspired to reach for a career in this area. Bridget may have just met the creators of her successors.”

“It’s not every day you get a Mars Rover into school!” added organiser and Science teacher Tracey Mayhead.

Students in Years 7, 8 and 9 at Melbourn Village College have been extending their science learning this term.

Having had their appetites for science whetted by the visit of a Mars Rover prototype a couple of weeks ago, there has been great excitement for this week’s Science week, where the curriculum has been extended and the focus has been on competitions and investigations.

Year 7 have looked at the science of fizzing, making their own honeycomb and looking at why carbon dioxide is formed. Year 8 looked at energy and attempted to cook an egg using the least amount of fuel possible, and Year 9 at boats fuelled from citric acid, bicarbonate of soda and water. Year 8 have also had a visit from a group called Mad Science and students will be entering a national competition based on science and discoveries linked to their local area.

All Year 7 and 8 students completed the big science week quiz provided by the British Science Week Team.

Dance Competition

On Saturday 7th February, Melbourn Dance Company and PADCo took part in ‘Energise’ a Youth Dance England U.Dance event, that saw various dance groups from across the county come together to share their work at Swavesey Village College. Both performance groups did incredibly well, with the

organisers commenting on how confident and comfortable they looked whilst on stage. This was the third year running for Melbourn’s participating groups, and we look forward to it again next year.

Noye’s Fludde

The Biblical story of Noah and the flood was brilliantly brought to life in an incredible cross-border collaboration.

Following two sell-out performances of the Benjamin Britten opera Noye’s Fludde in France in January, the Anglo-French cast reconvened for two spectacular shows in Comberton Village College’s Seventy-eight French schoolchildren, the Orchestre de Picardie, internationally-renowned conductor Arie van Beek, Royal Opera House company members Anne Mason and Geoffrey Moses (Mr and Mrs Noah) and Southend YMCA joined students from six South Cambs schools for the show directed by Amy Lane, also from the Royal Opera House. Costumes, sets and props were designed by students from the University of the Creative Arts.

The lead English school in the production was Melbourn Village College and they provided six soloists – Tom Carrington, Cameron King, Jenny Elliott, Izzy Koyander, Sophie Jelley and Joe Randall – who were Noah’s sons and wives.

An additional 25 Melbourn students were joined by 30 from Foxton, Harston & Newton and Hauxton primary schools in the chorus with 15 students each from Comberton and Cambourne village colleges added for the English performances.

There was also a special opportunity for talented Melbourn Year 10 cornet player Ben Doughty to join the 42 French conservatoire students playing alongside the Orchestre de Picardie and Melbourn’s Alderney Smith to join the Comberton technical crew.

The production came about through an EU funded project called ACT – A Common Territory – which celebrates the shared culture of northern France and south east England through a creative partnership between cultural organisations, colleges and schools on both sides of the Channel. This production is just one of many cultural exchanges the project has enabled over the past three years.

Melbourn’s head of music, Paul Belbin, said: “This was a stunning opportunity for our students to be a part of a professional production.

“We took a large party of children to Amiens and Compiegne in January, where we performed two sell-out shows.

“We were delighted to be able to welcome the cast to Cambridgeshire. Britten devised the opera to be performed by communities in community settings and I am sure that he would have approved of such a diverse coming together to re-tell a great story with great tunes!”

Melbourn Principal, Simon Holmes, added: “This has been a huge collaborative effort between 10 organisations and thanks must go to all involved, including those whose work behind the scenes has enabled it to be such a huge success.

“The experience of working with so many different professionals in a performance of this standard is something the students will remember for the rest of their life. They should be very proud of what they have achieved.”

South American Students’ Visit

Students of Spanish at Melbourn Village College were given a boost thanks to a group of native speakers.

Twenty Peruvians students spent the day at the college, not only chatting (in Spanish) to Year 8 and Year 11 pupils, but also giving them a taste of the South American culture.

The group, who are on an exchange programme with Comberton Village College, one of Melbourn’s partners in the Comberton Academy Trust, played traditional Peruvian music using a special drum, guitars and panpipes, sang songs

in Spanish as well as demonstrating some well-known dances.

They then sat down to chat to the English students and help them with their Spanish speaking.

Assistant Principal Regina Lawrence, who also teaches Spanish, said: “We were delighted to host a visit from some Peruvian students, who went into lessons to help our students with their Spanish speaking and treated us to a traditional Peruvian dance and music performance. It was fantastic to see our students being able to use their language in a real context and they were very welcoming to the visitors.”

The students also appreciated the opportunity with Joie Cabreza commenting: “They were really friendly and their English was really good.”

Lara Davison said: “Their dance performance was really cool and entertaining. They played their musical instruments really well,” while Shauna Edwards added: “They got on well with the MVC students.”

The Peruvians, who have spent three weeks in Cambridgeshire, have also visited Cambourne Village College, London, Ely and Cambridge as part of their programme and have stayed with English host students from Comberton.

Rugby Victory

The year 9 boys can add to their rugby victory earlier this year as they won the District Basketball competition hosted by Long Road College. The team had to qualify for the finals and this was done with a depleted team due to injury and illness. Parkside and Linton were the opponents in the qualifying stage and nervy but ultimately winning performances saw MVC through to the finals. Chesterton laid in wait in the semi-final and the game began with both teams giving up possession cheaply and missing easy opportunities to score. Eventually both teams settled down and started their scoring but each time MVC stole the ball back and mounted a quick counter attack points were added and this proved to be the difference,

MVC were through to the final. St Bede’s and Cottenham would have both been encouraged by the poor standard of the first semi final. St Bede’s were the winners and so two old basketball rivals were thrown together again. A stern but encouraging team talk seemed to do the trick as MVC were quickly into scoring and raced into an 8 point lead only for St Bedes to claw it back with some good long shooting. Crisper, more accurate passing though was enough for MVC to really show what they were capable of and the points kept coming mainly through Alex Little and Fin Livingstone and very soon St Bede’s game was up. Congratulations to the boys, some of whom were scouted for the Cambridgeshire County team.

Uniform recycling

New and second-hand uniform from Melbourn Village College is set for a new life at a school in Bosnia.

The college adopted a new uniform of navy jumper, white shirt and navy and gold tie in September and the previous royal blue sweatshirt and white polo shirt is now being phased royal blue sweatshirt and white polo shirt is now being phased out.

However, staff and students were keen to see it put to good use and the entire stock of brand new sweatshirts and polo shirts as well as all the contents of the second-hand uniform shop is being donated to a school in the Eastern European country which was decimated by war in the 1990s and is still rebuilding lives and communities.

Around five boxes of uniform is expected to head East with the help of local suppliers, Schoolyard, of Jarman Way, Royston, who are helping co-ordinate the export effort.

Melbourn Principal Simon Holmes said: “I’m absolutely delighted that we have been able to put this uniform to good use. Helping others is a key part of being part of a global international community.”

The World Challenge Expedition

On Saturday 28th March, on a rather dull and drizzly afternoon, 16 Year 10 students from Melbourn Village College took part in the sponsored Reigate Rampage 5km Mud Run. Set around equestrian gallops and a cross-country course, the 5km course included 50 man-made and natural obstacles; including stream crossings, cargo nets & ropes to climb, a water slide and lots and lots of mud!!

The reason for running, jumping, climbing and crawling through all this mud and dirt? – to raise funds for the World Challenge Expedition to Ghana that the 10 girls and 6 boys are undertaking in July 2016, after completing their GCSE’s.

The World Challenge Expedition is a student-led developmental programme, encouraging the teenagers to learn about responsibility, leadership, planning, team-work and both physical and emotional challenges. They will be accompanied by two members of staff from MVC and a World Challenge Leader who is responsible for ensuring the safety of the team.

The 14-day trip will include a few days acclimatisation in Ghana, a jungle trek and the main part of the trip – a Community project within a village, either, renovating a local school, establishing a clean water supply or working on conservation. The team will be camping, eating and sleeping within the local community. This opportunity to support a less-privileged community provides an experience, which places the students in a strong position to make the most of their future education and careers.

Students have to fundraise £2400 themselves, to cover project costs as well as their travel expenses and the Mud Run is only one activity they have undertaken. They have bagpacked at Tesco Royston, organised cake stalls, raffles & quiz nights and are planning car washes and other events in the local area. A breakfast meeting presentation to the Melbourn Business Association bought their cause to the attention of the local business community.

The students would like to thank Melbourn Parish Council and TTP for their sponsorship, as well as all the friends, relatives, neighbours and other local businesses who have supported them so far. There is still a long way to go to raise all the funds needed and would be grateful for any further support. The group can be contacted via Melbourn Village College.

For further information about World Challenge visit www. world-challenge.co.uk

Notre Ecole

Throughout January and February, children at our Wednesday after school club learnt French around the theme of ‘Winter’. We learnt vocabulary to do with winter clothes, winter weather and winter activities and played a number of games to help us remember new words. We also enjoyed trying to sing the popular ‘Frozen’ song in French. We weren’t doing too badly with the chorus after a few weeks! We also spent some time practising larger numbers. One of the activities we did here was to try and guess celebrities’ ages. Then of course we celebrated ‘La Chandeleur’ (Candlemas) in the usual French way by eating pancakes but only after we had learnt the French for the ingredients.

After the February half term break we spent some time learning vocabulary around the theme of vegetables. To this end we played the game ‘I went to the market’, acted out roll plays at the market and planted some bean and tomato seeds, which are coming up nicely now. We also made pizzas, which we topped with some of the vegetables we can talk about in French.

Our Thursday group, meeting after school at Melbourn Primary School, was well attended during the spring term. We practised introducing ourselves and made puppets showing happy and sad faces to illustrate how we were feeling. We practised numbers and colours in French and learnt some French words for different kinds of transport. We also enjoyed singing two French songs around the transport theme. One of the things that children really enjoyed though was sampling different types of food that we had for our after school snack.

At the Wednesday evening Adults Beginner’s class we have been looking at expressions that take the verb ‘avoir’, practised telling the time in French, practised using big numbers, talked about our hobbies, practised giving directions and talking about places around town. It has been a very busy half term!

Meanwhile, the more advanced group has discussed a text about Paris and another about the Charlie Hebdo attack; they have looked at idiomatic expressions around the word ‘oeuf’, while also looking at some grammar points. Perhaps you are looking forward to your summer holiday in France and would like to brush up your French. 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 boultermarine@gmail.com 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)

Melbourn & District U3A

Spoilt for Choice

So what do you do with your days once you’ve retired and the demands of work are over? For some, their dream of peace and quiet becomes a tedious round of days with little point – a sad final act to a life full of activity. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Melbourn and the surrounding district offer a really surprising range of learning, leisure and community activities. Restoring the River Mel, bowls, church craft groups, WI, library volunteering – it’s all here. But perhaps the most popular and varied group is the Melbourn & District branch of the University of the Third Age (U3A).

The U3A is a national network of independent learning-for-pleasure cooperatives, which use the knowledge, experience and skills of their own members to organise and provide interest groups. In the Melbourn U3A these include family history, French and German conversation, poetry, bird watching, table tennis, bridge, yoga – and the list goes on. There are other local U3As as well, with other choices. Buntingford, Hitchin and Cambridge all have busy groups, and another is being planned in Royston. If you want to have a taste, then come along to Melbourn’s next meeting at Melbourn Village College, 2.45 pm on Wednesday 17th June when gardener Twigs Way’s talk is entitled ‘The Country House goes to War’. See you there! Maureen Moody

Workers’ Educational Association (WEA)

Enrolment for the Autumn courses will be on Tuesday 15th September. Details in the next issue of the Melbourn Magazine or from Secretary 01763 660234.

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