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Melbourn Hub offers a café with free Wi-Fi, a library access point and meeting rooms which can be used for leisure or business. We also offer a range of key community support services and aim to be a focus point for assistance and advice. Opening Hours Monday-Friday 9am to 5pm Saturday 9am to 3pm
30 High Street Melbourn SG8 6DZ Telephone 01763 263303 reception@melbournhub.com
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Melbourn
Community Hall
Melbourn Community Hall is in the centre of the village behind All Saints Church If you would like to hire the hall contact Sandie Springall Telephone: 01763 223320 or email: hallbookings@live.co.uk
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Tina Davey at Melbourn Veterinary Surgery
I have been trying to get an interview with Tina Davey at Melbourn Veterinary Surgery in Mortlock Street for ages – she is always so busy looking after our local pets!
However, I nailed her down just after Christmas and managed to get her story. Born into a farming family in Wiltshire she was surrounded by animals. With her brother and sisters, she would help out around the farm and watch her father milking the cows and it seemed to follow naturally that she would become a vet.
She left country life to attend the Royal Veterinary College in London where she met her husband Paul; who was already qualified, through a mutual friend. They got to know each other through a shared love of Scrabble! After graduating she moved to Warwickshire to join a mixed practice. Mixed Practice means that between them the staff coped with all animals large and small. From there she moved to Harlow where she worked for a brilliant practice where she was able to hone her surgical skills. Nowadays she and her husband specialise in small domestic animals with the odd wildlife case being brought in.
The strangest animal she ever had to deal with was a 3ft long iguana with a wound on its leg – that was a challenge. It was difficult enough to find the right drugs to treat cats and dogs, but an iguana… However, it survived. On another occasion she walked into the waiting room to find a rather strange looking man seated in the corner wearing a stove pipe hat and clutching a suitcase. She whispered a query to the receptionist but she did not know what he had in his case – most people come in with a
Tina Davey
Trudy Chapple and Pam Manning
basket, cage or cardboard box. Anyway, when the man finally came into the consulting room and opened the case there were two six-foot-long pythons which needed worming!
Firstly, she had to measure the reptiles – the python stomach is about a third of the way down its length and they did not have a dispenser long enough. They had to employ a bit of ingenuity and used a long urinary catheter to administer the ‘white drench’ liquid. Another success.
Tina and Paul have nearly always worked together and are joint partners in the Melbourn practice. They have two children, a boy who is an optometrist and a daughter who is a dental hygienist, whilst neither followed their parents in the veterinary line they are both in caring professions. Tina currently has a Labrador and a border terrier, plus two cats
The saddest moments come when they have to put beloved pets to sleep, especially when they have followed the animal through from puppy or kittenhood right through to old age. It is never easy, but Tina goes to great pains to soften the blow by allowing time for the owner to think it through and saying farewell. It is very seldom that she has to say, ‘this animal should be put out of its misery now’ It is a painless and peaceful process – I can attest to that for several times I have had the sad task of holding a much loved pet whilst the injection was done, and the animal normally just slips gently into unconsciousness.
Funny things that have happened – lots! Paul and Tina are adept at removing strange objects from stomachs, on one occasion a Labrador had a blockage which turned out to be a 6” rubber bone. The owners were astounded, it had been missing for eighteen months and presumably had been in the animal all that time before shifting and causing the problem. On another occasion they retrieved an apple shaped brass name holder of the type you put on the table so that guests know where to sit. Dogs are the worst offenders in the swallowing stakes, if the object has gone into the stomach it is usually an operation but sometimes an emetic will make the animal vomit the obstruction – one of the memorable ones was two odd socks and a pair of knickers! Tina said ‘That’s Labradors for you….’
The Daveys live in a nearby village and came to Melbourn because they really like the village atmosphere and being in a position to really get to know their clients and their pets - what they call ‘continuity of care’. Furthermore, in this area there is a vast source of dedicated services for referral and if they think that someone else in the area would be better equipped to deal with a specific problem they can tap into all this specialist help.
On my way to the surgery I had noticed the number of pink circles highlighting spots where dogs had fouled the pavement. I raised the subject with Tina and she agreed that some pet owners were irresponsible and allowed their dogs to defecate randomly without clearing up, but sometimes in the case of elderly pet owners it was more accidental than wilful. However, there is one owner of a large dog which regularly performs along that stretch so if anyone can pinpoint an owner – it IS an offence.
When they are not flat out working in the surgery (as they were the very busy morning I was there) Tina and Paul like to walk their dogs, cycle around Grafham Water and ski.
Before I left, to make way for Lenin who had a bad foot, Tina particularly asked me via these pages to thank all her clients who regularly support their Christmas Raffle. Each year they put together a hamper which is raffled and the money raised this year – £466 – went to Home Start. Whatever money is raised, the surgery doubles it and in past years they have donated to the Primary School, the Ebola Crisis, and the East Anglian Children’s Hospice. Thanks to all those generous supporters.
I was left with the impression of a warm hearted woman who enjoys using her skills to keep animals (and their owners) happy. What a welcome addition to our village, our own veterinary practice. Mavis Howard
Tina with a patient
up by councillors a few years ago to provide best prices through community bulk buying. There is no joining or membership fee and you can use the service on a one-off basis. At the end of the year, we get a rebate which goes to a local charity – last year it was used to set up a mental health support service at the Melbourn Hub. To learn more about the Oil Club, please ring 01954 07860904045, or email Jeremy Cole at jeremy@agricole.co.uk.
Memorable Moments with David Piggott December’s celebration for Meldreth Station Master David Piggott saw exuberant consumption of tea and cake in the Station Waiting Room, as passengers young and old, and many of David’s work colleagues, gathered to thank him for many years of unsurpassed service. Please pop down to the station to see David’s portrait over the booking office hatch.
Thank you to everyone who contributed words and photographs for Memorable Moments with David Piggott – a few copies are still available so please contact me if you would like one. A small donation of £3 is requested to help cover print costs. Water butts donated for station gardening A big thank you to Melbourn and Meldreth Churches Together for the donation of several water butts to ensure adequate water supply for Shepreth and Meldreth Station gardens. Station footfall rise The Office of the Rail Regulator has published station footfall figures and there has been a sharp rise at our local stations since 2010, and even from 2014 to 2015. The three figures are footfall calculations for 2010, 2014, and 2015.
Foxton: 72,072 / 87,164 / 94,080
Shepreth: 79,104 / 92,146 / 105,802
Meldreth: 205,836 / 243,646 / 267,218
The Meldreth, Shepreth and Foxton Rail User Group is lobbying for halfhourly off-peak trains, and longer trains. If you might have an interest in any
Andy Hart, Meldreth station services manager, David Piggott and Susan van de Ven aspect of what the Rail User Group is up to – gardening, rail service issues, working for better station infrastructure – please do get in touch. We need all the help we can get, to keep improvements coming. Business opportunity: Shepreth original station building As part of the ‘Community Rail Partnership’ for Meldreth, Shepreth and Foxton Stations, we are supported by the National Association of Community Rail Partnerships. One of their key aims is to facilitate bringing disused railway station buildings back into use. The lead person came to look at the Shepreth Station building in early December and is helping us to put the case to Network Rail, who own the building. A rental income to Network Rail should be a no-brainer, and the old station building would make an ideal office/business space. Our Community Rail Partnership is free for local businesses to join, so if you are interested and would like more information please get in touch. Smart Ticketing, Meldreth Station From Great Northern Railway: Rail passengers at Meldreth, Shepreth and Foxton can now use Great Northern’s new smartcard ticketing technology ‘the key’ for season ticket journeys to and from London and stations in between. We have now been able to spread its availability this further north, beyond Royston, which was the previous limit of the scheme, to Foxton station. Next year, we hope to extend it even further – to Cambridge, Ely and King’s Lynn.
There are great benefits to using ‘the key’ – once passengers have it, they can buy tickets online and then load them up simply by touching one of our new ticket gate card readers, or they can buy tickets to upload to the smartcard at one of our ticket machines. If anyone loses a card, it can be instantly cancelled and a replacement issued with the same ticket pre-loaded.
The smartcard is supported by a recently-updated online ticketing system and updated app which is designed to make the whole ticket buying process easier. • ‘The key’ can be requested free online and posted to homes; passengers can then buy tickets using their card easily so there will be no need to queue at a ticket office to buy or collect • Purchases and renewals of season, monthly or weekly tickets can be made online and collected simply by touching a smartcard reader at the passenger’s specified station • The new mobile app will put customers’ ticket wallets at their fingertips, giving them a new way to buy season tickets • Passengers will also be able to buy tickets for ‘the key’ at station ticket machines outside the London Travelcard area
•Passengers will be able to check the status of their tickets on the key and journey history either online, through our iOS or Android app, or by touching them onto ticket machines at stations • If a registered card is reported lost, it becomes “hot listed”, so cannot be used for travel. A customer is then issued with a new card with their existing products already on the card. Meldreth, Shepreth and Foxton Rail User Group Meeting – 15 March 7 for 7:30 at Elin Way Meldreth Community Room. All Welcome. Susan van de Ven Meldreth, Shepreth and Foxton Community Rail Partnership railusergroup@gmail.com, Tel 07905 325574
A10 Corridor Cycling Campaign
Why Dr Richter (and other locals) cycle to work: Orchard Surgery Melbourn GP, Dr Jens Richter, cycles to work from Harston. He writes, I cycle on the A10 path at least three times a week, commuting from HarstonMelbourn-Harston. “My reason for cycling: it improves my wellbeing and fitness, reduces my CO2 footprint and is a good example for others.”
William Bains
I live in Melbourn, and I cycle to the centre of Cambridge and back for work about 50 times a year (I work part-time in Cambridge). I cycle because it is healthier, much cheaper, and at 8:00 in the morning it is actually faster than driving.
Ann Smith
I live in Royston, and work for AstraZeneca on the Melbourn Science Park. I cycle to and from work on the A10 path 4 days a week in most weathers. I am determined to use my bike where I can, but the path surface, and the challenge of crossing both the A505 and the A10 in rush hour in both directions, is substantial. This does lead me to use the A10 itself, southbound in particular, quite often, which I do want to avoid. A bridge and a proper surface would attract many more users I am sure.
Vivienne Brown
I commuted to London for 12 years until 2013, when I retired. For the last three of those years I joined the ranks of the mildly insane who used their bikes to get to and from the stations; in my case, from home to Royston, then King’s Cross to Westminster and of course back again in the evening. Cycling on my trusty Brompton transformed my commute. The cycle rides lifted my mood, increased my fitness, admitted me to the exalted company of fellow Bromton-ites and saved me from the horror of the Tube. In addition to all that, I shed pounds – painlessly. Since retiring, the only thing I have missed about work is the commute.
One big improvement to my commuting experience would have been safe and wellmaintained cycle paths on the routes I used. There are plenty more like me out there, who cycle for work, leisure, pleasure and fitness – and if you use a bike, you see them.
Cycle paths and longer distance mobility scootering:
Jeanette White
I am very grateful the cycle path is along the main road from the Weaver’s Shed to the crossroads at Shepreth. As a mobility scooter user it makes getting to my mother’s at Fowlmere so much easier. If I went the back way past the Bird Reserve the drivers of cars would not be happy. I would love to be able to get to Royston on my scooter but would be very scared of crossing the by-pass. Yes there are buses but on a nice day as I have a scooter I would rather use it. I would also be able to get to my doctor’s at Burns Road so I could get an appointment any time rather than time it with the buses. I am for a safe passage from Melbourn to Royston using my scooter as I love to get out rather than stay in. Similar profiles of local commuting are posted at http://a10corridorcycle.com/a10-users/.
Dr Jens Richter
William Bains
Ann Smith
Vivienne Brown
Jeanette White
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