Sports & Clubs

Bowls Arthur Andrews 261990

Bridge Club Howard Waller 261693

1st Melbourn Rainbows Abigail Roberts 261505 Brownies – 1st Melbourn Stephanie Cliff ord 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 Melbourn Judo Club Iain Reid 241830

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

Photographic Club Bruce Huett 232855

Ramblers Dave Allard 242677 Royston and District Round Table Michael Seymour 221398 Swimming Club Jenny Brackley 244593 Tennis (Melbourn) Dave Liddiard 07508 995 781

Tennis (Meldreth) Tracy Aggett 243376

1st Melbourn Guides

You’re never more than a few months away from your next toasted marshmallow at Guides! The week of bonfire night provided an ideal opportunity to have an outdoor fire with marshmallows and sparklers. The evening also included learning to light a candle and a gas stove with matches, burning an image onto wood with a pyrography tool and drawing a fire safety poster.

As always we participated in the Remembrance parade with a great turnout of girls; we led the parade with the Union flag, and also carried our Unit standard. We have started working on the ‘skills for my future’ themed resource, enjoying a game of spending and banking toy money, playing safely in the dark, learning about the food groups and planning a healthy meal. This tied in very well with a Bake Off competition, for which the signature dish had to be a vegan Bolognese, the technical challenge was Eccles cakes and the Showstopper was a 3-D biscuit sculpture of Santa’s grotto.

1st Melbourn Guides bake-off

We helped at the Hub’s Christmas event and also participated in the Christingle preparations and church service.

New skills and creativity were developed on the last week of term when the girls made Christmas table decorations from oasis and a candle, plus foliage and a colourful range of cut flowers which were kindly donated by Bury Lane Farm Shop. The girls had great fun and produced some wonderful results.

1st Melbourn Guides candle arrangements

We started the spring term with more activities from the new programme including a teddy race to illustrate positive and negative motivating techniques and first aid techniques. We also enjoyed an evening at Royston swimming pool.

If you would like to know more about joining our waiting list or becoming a leader, or if you have any skills, charities or interests which you would like to share with us, please contact me on: 01763 261443 or email: melbournguides@gmail.com Hilary Marsh

Ramblers’ Association Royston and District Group

Our walks programme continues right through the year. For details visit our website: www.ramblers.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, Royston Museum & Art Gallery and Melbourn Hub.

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 (5–7 miles) are held on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Our evening walks (3–5 miles) will resume on 29th April 2019. Prospective new members may come on three walks before deciding whether to join. Contact www.ramblers.org.uk to join.

Melbourn Bridge Club

The Christmas period proved very enjoyable for the Bridge Club. Parties for both Monday night and Tuesday afternoon were well attended and all enjoyed the bridge, the singing, the crackers, and the bubbly and canopies provided, which made for a jolly occasion.

The partnership winning on Monday was Theresa Shand and Keith Robbins, with 40 members attending, then on Tuesday afternoon Christine Hannington and Anne Church took the honours. With 48 members enjoying the jive exhibition from David Croxson and Susan Brooks, all with music and song from Brian Mannering.

There was a demand that a session should be held over the New Year and 30 people arrived on January 2nd in the evening. It is delightful that so many players are enjoying the friendly atmosphere that is making the club so successful, it is also helped that we meet at the United Reform Church hall, in Orchard Road, which was very nicely decorated for the Christmas period, and is a very well appointed place to play.

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 may be ordered by post from David Allard 01763 242677. They may also be purchased at the Royston Museum & Arts Gallery in Kneesworth Street (open Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays 10 am to 4.45 pm) and some are available at the Cave Bookshop in Melbourn Street or at Royston Library.

Our evening meetings are held in the Heritage Hall (the main hall downstairs) Royston Town Hall on the first Thursday of the month starting at 8 pm. » March 7th Around the Financial Centre of the City of

London Ken Drake Illustrated » April 4th The Majestic Age of the Ocean Liner Richard

Mellor Illustrated » May 9th AGM 7.30 pm followed at 8 pm Cambridgeshire history on your computer: the library on your laptop

Mike Petty Illustrated Annual membership £5 (Sept-Aug) (Under 18s half price) Visitors £2 Email: david.allard@ntlworld.com

Cambridgeshire Family History Society

Our monthly meetings are held in the Central Library, Lion Yard, Cambridge, between 10.30am and 3.30pm. Everyone is welcome and entry is free. The meetings follow a pattern of research being available from 10.30am all day plus talks at 12.30 and 2pm. » 9 February 12.30 Key Records and Resources with Caroline

Norton

The records from which many key ‘genealogical facts’ are derived are now mostly available online – but an oft asked question is “which website should I use?” The talk will aim to outline the leading online resources available for the key records – the choice is then down to your own preferences and particular needs. 2.00 Family History Scrapbooking with Audrie Reed

Audrie will bring along some of her scrapbooks and give suggestions on how to create our own scrapbooks to creatively document the history of your ancestors. » 9 March 12.30 Building the Core Tree with Caroline

Norton

Some ideas and techniques for developing your ‘core’ family tree – that essential trunk of 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, and so on, direct ancestors (256 = 5x great grandparents) from which all other research hangs. Will genealogical luck enable to to find them all and more – are you satisfied you’ve made the correct links across generations? 2.00 History of Royal Papworth Hospital with Becky

Proctor » 13 April 12.30 Tips for “Working forwards in Time” with

Caroline Norton » 2.00 Stourbridge Fair with Honor Ridout » 11 May 12.30 Tips for ‘Working backwards in Time’ with

Caroline Norton 2.00 TBA The information above is correct at time of publication but should there be any change it will be advised on our website www.cfhs.org.uk either on the Home page or in the monthly Newsletter.

Melbourn Bowls Club

Activities at the club have wound down during the close season, but behind the scenes there is still work going on to prepare for the new season.

We are pressing ahead with preparing the Green for next summer and hope to further improve its quality for the coming season. The work performed last winter enabled us to have one of the better Greens in South Cambridgeshire. We will be installing a new gate facing the Recreation Ground in memory of a longstanding member, Mervyn Mann, who sadly died last year, in time for the new season. We have also purchased a new set of pushers with the aid

of a grant from the South Cambridgeshire Community Chest Fund, for which we are very grateful. This is all part of our efforts to improve the facilities of the club to better represent the village to our opponents and enable greater enjoyment for the Bowlers.

Socially, we are continuing with our fortnightly Whist Drives on Friday evenings at the Clubhouse and welcome all comers to these nights. If you would like further information on this please contact Arthur Andrews by e-mail at arthur.andrews123@btinternet.com or by telephone on 01763 261990.

We will have a full programme of games during the summer with teams in the Meldreth League, the Cambridge and District League Divisions 1 and 5, the Foxton League, and the Business House League Mens and Mixed Divisions 1 and 2. In addition there will be Friendly matches and Club events on Sundays, Internal Competitions and Roll Ups on Monday Afternoons.

We also intend to continue with our popular Coffee Mornings during the season on Thursday Mornings. These are open to everyone and will give you an opportunity to meet and socialise with members. Usually there are games taking place during the Coffee Mornings so you can also watch members in action, particularly in internal competitions.

Our Open Day will take place as usual on the Sunday of the Early May Bank Holiday (5 May) when all will be welcome to come along and sample the game of Bowls. Of course, we hope you will enjoy it so much that you wish to take up the game and join the Club. All equipment will be supplied, we just ask that you have flat shoes, trainers are acceptable. We provide refreshments at the end of the day. There will be further information concerning our Open Day on our Web Site www.melbournbowlsclub.com in due course.

Melbourn Dynamos Football Club

All welcome! http://melbourndynamos.co.uk Founded in 2003, Melbourn Dynamos FC is a thriving and 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 3 through to 18.

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, the work with our Community partners including Melbourn Village College and Melbourn Parish Council, and of course our players’ achievements on the pitch and their support for the community. With the support of our fundraising and community partners, we are making the club more inclusive by assisting players whose families are unable to afford the necessary fees

We regularly host tournaments on behalf of the Royston Crow Youth Football League and these raise funds for our Club and our nominated charity, Tom’s Trust www. tomstrust.org.uk. MDFC was awarded Charter Standard status in 2009 and all of our coaches are DBS checked and qualified to a minimum Level 1.

This season we currently have more than 200 players in 16 teams at the Club and this includes our youngest players –the Dynamites. There are both mixed and girls only sessions for players between 3–6 years each Saturday morning.

MDFC is committed to supporting the health and wellbeing of the whole community. Many of you will have seen the great news announced on our Community fb page www.facebook.com/melbourndynamoscommunity/ about the full size all weather sports court for Melbourn. Discussions with the Football Foundation are going well and we will soon be ready with our community partners to submit a formal application on behalf of the village for this fantastic new facility. We have every confidence that it will be well received. This project is central to the continuing success and development of the club as well providing a much needed facility for the village. It will therefore be the focus of the club’s fundraising efforts for this season. This will be done through hosting tournaments, fun runs and other events as well as approaching community partners and benefactors for financial support. We are pleased to announce that our first fundraising event of the year will be a 5k Fun Run on Sunday 7th April (see photo page 55) starting and finishing at the Melbourn Sports Pavilion. Car Parking and refreshments will be provided. Make sure that you get this great event in your calendar and follow us on our community Facebook page for more details and further posts about how you can help to support this important community project.

District Councillor Jose Hales supports the concept of this vision, ‘Melbourn Dynamos offers a great platform for young people in Melbourn and the surrounding areas and I know that the members really do enjoy being part of the Club which promotes a healthy lifestyle and well-being in a great supportive environment that allows them to excel, whatever their level of ability. I am keen to support the Club with some very ambitious plans for the future geared at greatly enhancing the football facilities for the local and wider community, including local companies and organisations’.

Our youngest players – the Dynamites, increasingly provide the core of our league teams from under 7 upwards. The Dynamites’ coaching team is led by Dipak Patel. Dee was Cambridge FA’s Community Coach of the year for 2013, gained his Level 2 coaching qualification in June 2015 and is our Football Development Officer. These players, aged 3–6, 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 more success to our current League Teams. These girls and boys train with level 2 and level 1 FA qualified coaches in Saturday morning fun between 09.15–10.15 am at Melbourn Sports Centre. Sessions feature lots of short activities aimed at improving individual skills, concentration and the ability to be part of a

Melbourn Dynamos Football Club

team. The first one hour session is free thereafter we charge £2. All are welcome to the Melbourn Dynamites so why not bring your kids along so they can check it out. This season we are pleased to announce that we have a separate session for Dynamites Girls to help them enjoy football and form the basis of our future girls’ league teams. Dynamites Girls runs from 10.15–11.30 am on Saturday mornings for ages from 4–7.

The club’s success depends entirely on enthusiastic members and volunteers. Our continuing success and growth means that we need even more volunteers. If you feel that you would like to contribute to the club as an administrator, communications leader, fund-raiser, fixtures secretary, coach, match day official or in some other volunteer capacity then we would be pleased to hear from you through secretary mdfc@gmail.com or chairman mdfc@gmail.com. More information about the club and individual teams is available from the club’s Website: http:// melbourndynamos.co.uk.

The Club are always keen to hear from new players, and new volunteers so please contact us via our Secretary, David Atkins on 01763 263462 or secretary mdfc@gmail. com, http://melbourndynamos.co.uk or find us on facebook ‘Melbourn Dynamos Community’ https://www.facebook. com/melbourndynamoscommunity/

Melbourn Football Club

It has been a number of years since Melbourn Men’s Football Club have made a contribution to the Melbourn Magazine so I am pleased to write this entry on behalf of the club that I have been involved with for more than twenty years. During this time, I have witnessed the demise of several sports within the village including the Cricket, Badminton and the Tennis Clubs, the Cricket and Badminton clubs each achieved high levels of success in local competitions in their past but this failed to save them as interest waned and facilities deteriorated. I reference this, as in August 2017 Melbourn Men’s Football team was one ‘click’ away from joining these sporting clubs in their demise, with an e-mail informing the Cambridgeshire Football Association that we were folding having been written and ready to go. It was down to one man, Simon Gascoyne, the club secretary for many years, that the club survived as he could not accept that over 100 years of history could be ended with the click of a button. So not to be deterred, Simon decided to try once more to find a manager for the team and made one more telephone call that achieved success in getting someone to take on the difficult role of being a manager for a village football team. Not only did he find this person but he also convinced former committee members to return and help run the club, lightening the load for the few remaining committee members.

At the start of the 2017/18 season the team had to forfeit the first two games, leading to the club starting on minus three points due to failing to fulfil these fixtures; however, by then we had encouraged enough players to join the squad and our season began with mixed results but we were up and running with the main aim of staying in the Mead Plant & Grab Division 3A of the Cambridgeshire Football Association Leagues. This was a really tough season but the team stayed together despite some bad results and remained in good spirits as the season went on. We avoided the drop and looked towards to the club moving forward into the new season 2018/19.

After the end of the 2017/18 season, the committee approached a former player, Ben Fox, to ask if he would be prepared to take on the role of Manager of the club. Ben had returned for the last few games of the season and

helped the team greatly in staying up. Ben agreed to take on the role and to say that this has been good for the club would be an understatement. Ben is a Level Two FA Coach and will be working towards Level Three in the future. His enthusiasm, drive and commitment to the team has been a revelation and as I write this the club are proudly sitting top of the Mead Plant & Grab Division 3A. Ben has attracted a number of very good local footballers to the club and I for one can vouch that it is worth a trip down to the Moor on a Saturday afternoon as you will see some very good football being played by Melbourn FC.

As with all sport it is important to continue to build for the future and as a club, we are wanting to encourage the youth players from Melbourn Dynamos to make the transition to men’s football providing them with a continued interest in sport. It is our ambition to eventually return to fielding two teams on a Saturday and to do this we will need to develop the club further by adding to the squad numbers. The spirit amongst the team is as good as I have seen in the years that I have been involved with the club, so if there is anyone who is interested in joining Melbourn Football Club as a player, committee member or even as a supporter then please contact: Simon Gascoyne on 07732 613555 or e-mail him on simon_gascoyne@hotmail.com

Melbourn Sports Centre

For those of you who don’t already know, we have: • A state of the art fitness suite offering a variety of membership schemes • A 20 metre swimming pool (kept ever so slightly warmer than most!) • A comprehensive swimming lesson programme, catering for all ages and abilities • Upgraded multisports courts for hire including tennis, football and squash courts • Water sports courses and activities • Traditional and modern exercise classes • Access to Melbourn Village College sports hall and gymnasium for activities such as trampolining, badminton and basketball • Supervised sports and pool parties Winter Review There’s been a lot going on this season at the sports centre, to keep the community fit and ready during the Winter. Aside from our normal classes, courses, swimming and fitness suite activities, we also had:

Our Christmas party, which was really well attended with 40 children enjoying a festive pool party and a visit from Father Christmas, who gave up some time during his busy period to hand out some goody bags.

We also had a bumper bag of Christmas and Half Term activities running, including our OFSTED registered PlayScheme, where children were treated to trampolining, swimming and creative crafts. Other holiday activities included a Swimming Crash Course and Trampolining Taster sessions.

Finally, we are pleased to announce that we have taken over the administration of MC Splash Swim Club. The Club will continue to take place on a Friday evening and will be run by head coach Jenny Brackley (term times only). MC Splash Swim Club is a friendly, non-competitive club, and although we don’t compete in external competitions, we do hold our own annual in-house gala each year. We welcome swimmers from intermediate standards to advanced. We also offer adult pay as you go sessions too (8.45pm–9.45pm term times only).

Apart from swimming lengths, our swimmers also learn survival skills, snorkelling and other water-based activities. For more details, please visit our website at www.mc-sport. co.uk or email info@mc-sport.co.uk. March/April 2019 It’s a universally accepted fact – Mums are great! So this Mother’s Day, how about treating her to her own gym membership or purchasing a gift voucher for our other activities here at Melbourn Sports? Make this Mother’s Day one she’ll never forget!

March 2019 sees the return of our charitable Swimathon, with all participants raising money for the Marie Curie Cancer Care Trust. We’d love to have as many entrants as possible; teams of up to five are welcome, as well as individual swimmers. The Swimathon takes place on Friday 29th March and Saturday 30th March. For further information, please see reception or visit our website at www.mc-sport.co.uk.

We’ve got a bumper bag of Easter activities this year, including our OFSTED registered Play Scheme, where children can enjoy trampolining, swimming and creative crafts. Other holiday activities include a Swimming Crash Course and Trampolining Crash Course. NB. These activities do require booking, as spaces are limited. May 2019 We welcome back the outdoor sports and tennis season this month. And for all you budding Wimbledon stars, courts can be hired mid-week and at weekends.

After last year’s success, we are also looking to run another Mini Triathlon event, enabling youngsters to complete a mini fun triathlon, where they scoot or bike and then run around a basic course on site. Full details will be released soon.

Later this month, we will be running our children’s holiday activities once again to coincide with the Whitsun holiday, with Play Scheme and a mixture of indoor and outdoor activities available. June 2019 For something a bit different this Father’s Day, how about treating your Dad to his own gym membership or purchasing a gift voucher for our other activities here at Melbourn Sports? It’s a great way to help a loved one get fit!

Plus why not start planning your summer sports early this year, with our holiday courses like the Children’s Pentathlon and Swimming Crash Course on offer? Bookings taken from June onwards.

Other activities available this spring and summer include:

•Our usual popular swimming lessons, both group and private • A range of exercise classes including Aqua-fit, Body workouts, Boot Camp, Pilates, Swim-Clinic (pool training session) • Indoor and Outdoor Court Hire For further details on these or any other activities, please drop in, call 01763 263313 or go online at www.mc-sport.co.uk. We look forward to seeing you this season! Graham Johnson-Mack/Melbourn Sports Centre Manager Melbourn Sports Centre, The Village College, The Moor, Melbourn, Royston, Hertfordshire, SG8 6EF 01763 263313/www.mc-sport.co.uk/info@mc-sport.co.uk

Grinnel Hill BMX Club

This winter has seen the addition of a new beginner line being created at the top of the field, which for the first time has trialed a new building method of encasing the outer edges of the jumps and landings with turf to protect them from frost and water damage over winter months. Not only does this do away with the need to cover them in tarpaulins in the off season it is also pleasing to the eye.

There also continues to be minor adjustments to the existing jumps around the site to make them even nicer to ride.

Finally, as special thank you to Cambridge County Council who awarded the club with their Community Chest Grant to allow us to buy more supplies including tarpaulins, polythene and first aid kits.

The club is open annually April to September. Strictly for BMX use only, for ages 12 and older, members have the option of either becoming a seasonal member for £50 (April to September), or a day member (per session) for £10. Our aim for the club is to promote an activity for the young community of Melbourn and surrounding areas to participate, with the guidance of our committee and experts, in a safe and friendly environment. Members will have access to BMX coaching and expertise on site during club open days. For more details and to download your membership form today please visit; www.grinnelhillbmx.co.uk Acknowledgements: Melbourn Parish Council for their ongoing support at all levels to keep the club sustainable and open. Wrights Mower Centre Melbourn for their help and generosity in supporting us to keep the site to a well maintained and safe standard for the foreseeable future.