Hatley Parish Newsletter

JULY 2019

Hatley village Fête Lazy Sunday afternoon? Not in Hatley on 21st July – it’s the annual Hatley Village Fête! Get along to the village playing field from 1.00 pm to 4.00 pm. Splat the rat, hook a duck, beat the buzzer and try your luck on the wheel of fortune. Visit the craft stalls, with everything from honey to home sewn items. The kids can let off steam on the bouncy castle, while adults enjoy a cup of tea, a glass of Pimms or a cold beer. There’s a BBQ and an ice cream van too, plus classic cars and tractors, tombola, raffle, and more! Profits go to Hatley village projects. Everybody welcome, entry and parking are free. Come on over and enjoy yourself! Please contact the HVA to donate items for the cake stall or raffle prizes.

The new Hatley website is live Please do take a look: www.hatley.info. There is a considerable amount of information about all aspects of Hatley under the main headings: About Hatley – Hatley's churches – Hatley’s history – News and events – Places to go – Parish Council and planning – Practical matters and other things – Shop and post office – Village Hall.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Ishbel Beatty for her wonderful contributions to the website over the years. Take some time to read her many fascinating items on Hatley’s history (www.hatley.info/hatley‐history) and her amusing and pertinent poems (www.hatley.info/about‐ hatley/poems‐books) capturing so accurately local subjects dear to our hearts. We miss her and Simon Keith greatly and wish them both all the best in their new life in Retford.

We are very fortunate to have such an interesting, informative and illustrative website, which is no doubt the envy of many other parishes. Peter Mann has reported and photographed many events which showcase the best of Hatley and we hope you will support the inclusion of such records. If you’re not happy for your name or photograph to appear on the website, please request its removal via the Parish Clerk ([email protected]).

Thank you to Peter Mann for his dedication to the website, both the old and new versions, and to Nicola Jenkins for her supporting role on the Hatley website team. PS Did you see the July / August 2019 issue of the Gamlingay Gazette and the article about the new website on page 28?

News from Hatley Village Association Our Easter Sunday event was a joint celebration between the residents of East Hatley, Hatley St George and St George’s church. Following the early morning service at the church we all gathered at the Village Hall to enjoy a full English breakfast together. The delicious breakfast, cooked by Jason Titmus, included his own handmade sausages and black pudding, and we also enjoyed pastries, fresh juice and hot drinks. After everyone was full there was an Easter egg hunt, crafts, Easter bonnet competition and of course the Easter story. All food and drink was kindly donated by everyone involved. Thanks to the generous donations by all who came along we raised £84.30, which was split between the HVA and Churches Manna project. We are very much looking forward to next year’s Easter breakfast and hope more of you will join us.

The Race Night, which was superbly organised by Mervyn Lack and Sarah Titmus, raised a fantastic sum of £283.00. Sadly, and rather frustratingly, the event was not as well attended as in previous years, which is a great shame considering the hard work and effort that goes in to hosting these community events. But everybody who came along enjoyed themselves and there were generous donations of raffle prizes. The Race Night will no longer feature as an annual HVA event unless others wish to help Page 1 of 3

organise it. As you are all aware from the recent mailshot, the HVA has very few committee members and needs your support. Maybe you have ideas for new events or can spare a few hours to help with planning or setting up one or two events through the year? The HVA provides a great opportunity for you to socialise with friends and neighbours whilst raising funds for various village improvements projects, so please do show your support by attending their events whenever you can.

Heritage Open Days at St Denis' Church The Friends of Friendless Churches owns St Denis’ in East Hatley – along with 52 other redundant churches in England and Wales – and often gives us a mention in its quarterly newsletter. The pleasant surprise in the current (Summer 2019) issue was not just another mention of St Denis’ but a big plug for the new Hatley website – there's a copy of the piece on the website: www.hatley.info/news_events/news/were‐in‐the‐news.

The FoFC relies on donations, legacies and its membership for its income – the cost of joining is a very modest £30.00/year, £20.00/year for seniors, with serious discounts for joint members, although they are reviewing the rates, so now is the time to join. The non‐tangible benefit of joining is the warm feeling one has knowing if it wasn’t for the likes of the FoFC, much of our built heritage would by now have been destroyed. By joining, you are helping to preserve our past for future generations to enjoy – go to www.friendsoffriendlesschurches.org.uk/join‐us.

St Denis' church will be open on September 13th, 14th and 15th for the Heritage Open Days (HOD) – an opportunity to have a look inside if you've not been in before to see the work the FoFC did last year putting in new windows and a floor. They are still in the process of raising funds to complete the restoration of the chancel – on the basis every little helps, there will be a collection plate during the open days for contributions. The opening times are 10.00 am to 12 noon and 2.00 pm to 4.00 pm on each day. Hatley St George church will also be open on Saturday 14th September as part of the Cambridgeshire Historic Churches Trust's 'Ride and Stride' day.

CPR and defibrillator awareness training Following the training session in March hosted by the East Anglian Air Ambulance, which was very well received, a second session has been arranged for Monday 23rd September. It will be held at the Village Hall from 11.00 am to midday. We hope that as many residents as possible will take advantage of this fantastic opportunity to learn life‐saving skills.

The sessions are provided to you free of charge but any donations from attendees will be gratefully received by the EAAA on the day. The Parish Council will also be making a financial contribution to help cover the cost of both events. The session is limited to 20 people so please contact the Parish Clerk to reserve your space. Please note that you do not need to be trained to use a defibrillator; the sessions allow you to familiarise yourself with the equipment and procedures so that you might feel more confident to use a defibrillator if required. The equipment is designed to be used by anyone – you only need to phone 999!

Play area update Good news – thanks to some careful restoration work to the play tower by Mark Wilsher and the Parish Councillors it has passed another annual RoSPA safety inspection. However, as the play tower requires further minor repairs and replacement items, as well as frequent safety inspections due to the deterioration of the timber posts, the Play Area Working Party will consider options in the coming month for the purchase and installation of a new steel‐framed play tower. The play tower that was selected as a replacement in 2016 is no longer available and would have required substantial funding contribution from third parties. The group will be considering smaller and more affordable units that provide the same level of play as the current play tower.

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Please can we ask again that you refrain from walking dogs near the play area or letting them run loose in this section of the field. Also, please note there is a designated dog waste bin near the layby to the playing field, so please use this for dog poo bags and not the general waste bin that is located in the play area. If you see visitors using the play area to walk their dog, please help to encourage them to use the many other green spaces in the parish rather than this area which is allocated for children.

South Cambridgeshire District Council waste services There are two campaigns currently being promoted by SCDC Waste Services, the first of which is detailed in the accompanying leaflet about contamination of recycling waste. Placing incorrect items in the blue recycling bin costs SCDC money as it contaminates items that should be recycled via alternative service providers (such as textiles) and often causes large quantities of recyclable materials to be rejected. Please read the leaflet to see how you can help to ensure that only the correct items are recycled via your blue bins.

The second campaign is concerned with the increasing problem of large‐scale fly tipping by commercial operators in the district. Illegally dumped waste not only costs SCDC and landowners for the removal and correct disposal of the waste but may also contain waste which is harmful to the environment. SCDC is urging everyone to check that operators collecting rubbish are properly registered waste carriers. An easy way to do this is online via the Environment Agency’s website. When fly tipping does occur, Environment Enforcement Officers will always attend and examine reported fly tips of any nature. Any sightings of fly tipping should be reported as soon as possible via SCDC’s website: www.scambs.gov.uk/report‐it.

Keeping up appearances The Parish Council works hard to ensure its assets are routinely inspected and maintained, with all risks eliminated as promptly as possible for the benefit of the wider community. The annual litter pick held each spring is always a successful event – the assistance of residents, who volunteer to pick the many sack loads of litter, is always gratefully received. However, there are some areas of improvement where the Parish Council does not have the power or responsibility to take action.

The Parish Council receives requests throughout the year to cut back hedges to improve road safety, particularly at the East Hatley junction where visibility is limited when pulling out onto the main highway. The footpath in Hatley St George is also quite narrow in places which makes it unsafe for some users, especially with an increasing number of speeding vehicles passing close by. The trees and hedges are on private land and therefore we ask you to consider what improvements you can make on your boundary so the path and road remain safe for all.

Cancellation of bus service 28 The 28 bus service, which runs from Cambourne to Gamlingay, has ceased to operate as from the 13th July as no bids were received when the contract was tendered. Bus service C2 will continue to provide a Thursday journey to St Neots for residents of Hatley, Gamlingay and other villages.

Parish Council meetings The next Ordinary meeting of the Parish Council is due to be held on Tuesday 16th July at 7.30 pm in the Village Hall. The agenda is currently on the notice boards and website. Also, come and visit our stand at the Village Fête to find out more about the projects that we are involved in for the benefit of the parish.

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ The newsletter will be available on the Hatley website. Please get in touch if you have any notices or event dates that you would like shared in the next newsletter, which is due to be distributed in November.

Parish Clerk: Kim Wilde | Tel: 01767 650596 | Email: [email protected] | www.hatley.info

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