THE SKYLARK
Longstowe Parish Newsletter
April 2019
three months, on the first of January, Dates for your Diary: April, July and October. The January Parish Open Meeting on Thursday issue is usually prepared early so that 18th April 2019 at 7.15 pm. Tea and it is delivered before Christmas. As this coffee served at 7 pm. This is your is a Parish magazine, items are usually meeting – come and have your say. cleared by the Parish Council before publication.
Longstowe Parish Council: Parish Clerk Vacancy (Part-time) Neighbourhood Watch The Council is seeking to appoint an enthusiastic person to fill the post of Your co-ordinators are: Parish Clerk and Responsible Deborah Hemmins 719638 Financial Officer (RFO). This is a great opportunity for a local person who Peter Hemmins 719372 wishes to work flexible hours from If you see an incident, please take all home plus one evening meeting each the details and jot them down. month (excluding August). Knowledge Numbers, dates, times, descriptions. If of Word and Excel would be useful. matters are urgent dial 999. Otherwise Training can be provided and is highly telephone 101. You can also report recommended, and further details on incidents at www.cambs.police.uk. the post including duties can be provided by contacting Bobbie Coe
The Skylark 1 April 2019 In the first instance it was football and 11 May was known as Longstowe & Bourn 18 May Milton 2nds United. Not long after, cricket followed; 25 May Madingley 2nds later Bourn formed their own club. 01 Jun Comberton By the late 1920s and up to 1952, Longstowe cricket operated a team in 08 Jun Cam Kerala the Gransden-based Christmas 15 Jun NCI 3rds Challenge Cup League. Before WWII 22 Jun Harlton and up to 1950, the football team 29 Jun Romsey played in the Histon & District League, winning both League and Cup in 1949. 06 Jul After 1950, the club entered a football 13 Jul NCI 3rds team in the Cambs League. 20 Jul Milton 2nds In 1952, the club entered a cricket 27 Jul Madingley 2nds team in the Cambridgeshire Cricket 03 Aug Comberton League, becoming Junior League Champions in 1961. Longstowe II won 10 Aug Cam Kerala the Minor League in 1979. 17 Aug Haslingfield At football, Longstowe won the 24 Aug Harlton Bambridge Cup in 1962; the following 31 Aug Romsey year, 1963, they won the Gransden 07 Sep Charity Cup; both these finals attracted large crowds of supporters. For many years the club had two Heidi Allen, MP football and two cricket teams; alas, [email protected] because of lack of players, we are now Addenbrooke’s is to get a new down to just one cricket team. children’s hospital. The Health If you visit the village hall, you can Secretary, Matt Hancock, confirmed view the many team photos and the that up to £100 million will be Trophy Cabinet. The Club’s play- contributed by Government. We all cricket website is at know Addenbrooke's is a centre of http://longstoweplay-cricket.com excellence and this new children's and telephone contacts are hospital will enable them not only to John Gooch 07950 708 019 and continue to provide first class care in a John Murden 07952 425 003 new purpose-built hospital but will also R.H.M. free up valuable space in the existing Longstowe Cricket Club building. 2019 fixtures Looking ahead, 2019 promises to be a Cambs Junior League 3 South big year for Addenbrooke’s as the Royal Papworth Hospital moves to the Date Home Away site and plans for a train station pick up 28 Apr Abbots Ripton pace! 04 May Haslingfield Bringing improved infrastructure and increased funding to South
April 2019 2 The Skylark Cambridgeshire are key priorities for information, including my resignation me so I am pleased to share with you letter and statement can be found on a number of recent announcements my website – about the next financial year. https://www.heidiallen.co.uk/ Cambridgeshire County Council I know that not everyone will be happy, received a funding boost, with an but I can honestly say I have been increase in core spending power of bowled over by the overwhelming 5.7%, taking the Council’s funding support that literally thousands of my allocation to £386.5 million. This constituents have shown for my increase in core spending power is decision. It means so much to me to more than double the average know that my decision, hard though it increase in England. was, has been received so well locally. The Autumn Budget also announced I became an MP in 2015 as I wanted to £6,294,319 for Cambridgeshire for serve my country and give a voice to adult and children’s social care to help those who did not have one – that has alleviate winter pressures on the NHS. not changed. It remains a great honour Cambridgeshire Police have seen an to be your Member of Parliament and increase in their funding from central although I may have lost my party Government and in addition, the Police label, I have not lost my determination and Crime Commissioner (PCC) has to serve you with everything that I launched a consultation on the Police’s have. I’ll continue to fight for the very share of Council Tax for 2019/20. Last best for South Cambridgeshire: year, the PCC introduced a new providing excellent local services, structure for local policing which ensuring fairer funding for those brought an additional 50 officers to the services, delivering on the vital front line. As a result of last year’s infrastructure projects we need and increase in the policing part of the continuing to be a voice for the council tax, a further 55 officers were vulnerable in our community. also recruited and are now in training. I’m still “Heidi” and whenever you need As you probably now know, on the 20th my help or are concerned about a local February I announced my resignation or national issue, to coin a phrase, from the Conservative Party and joined “nothing has changed!” You can still The Independent Group of MPs. This contact me as you always have. I’ll be was an incredibly difficult decision but I organising some public meetings and believe our country deserves better. get togethers in the coming weeks and More competence, more collaboration, months so you can talk to me about more expert analysis, more my decision and learn more about my transparency, more care, more ambitions for this new political party. fairness and less entrenched political Finally, it’s the turn of the A428! ideology. So I have joined, alongside Highways England has published its 10 other MPs of both Conservative and long-awaited proposals for the A428 Labour backgrounds, The Independent between Black Cat and Caxton Gibbet. Group. In time, our intention is to form Full details are available here – a new political party, positioned in the https://highwaysengland.co.uk/projects centre ground of British politics. More /a428-black-cat-to-caxton-gibbet/.
The Skylark 3 April 2019 Cllr Dr Tumi Hawkins (SCDC) Cllr Mark Howell (CCC) http://www.TumiHawkins.org.uk [email protected] “My South Cambs” Customer Portal Fight against scams The new web-based SCDC customer Led by Cambridgeshire County portal went live on 21st January. This Council and Cambridgeshire Police, facility is to enable residents to access the Against Scams Partnership unites council services easily and electron- more than 20 organisations, including ically. Ultimately, it will help us save Peterborough City Council,Trading money that would otherwise be spent Standards, Age UK, Neighbourhood on printing papers and postage but Watch and NatWest Bank, who will more importantly it will free up officer work together to raise awareness of time. scams and to support victims of You can access the new portal either scams. from the SCDC homepage or on According to Action Fraud, 53% of https://mysouthcambs.scambs.gov.uk. people aged 65 or over have been Users can create their own account targeted by scams and criminals. using e-mail, facebook, Google etc. Being a victim of this crime can have a and it can be used to report issues, devastating impact. These crimes are ask questions, obtain information on all often targeted at people in our council services such as waste communities that are vulnerable for a collection, benefits, planning etc, and variety of reasons, including poverty, also to track progress of enquiries. We isolation, frailty, disability, cognitive are still working on it so we would impairment, and age. welcome your feedback and ideas. Anyone can be a scam victim, Localised Council Tax Support regardless of age, gender, education (LCTS) scheme or economic background; partners are committed to act on the Against Scams Council adopted its LCTS scheme at Partnership’s four key aims: full council in February. The scheme • Improve awareness of scams provides help for people on low • Increase protection for everyone, incomes, pensioners and those in and especially vulnerable people, receipt of certain benefits with their against scams council tax bill. Details are at • Implement consistent recording of http://scambs.moderngov.co.uk/docum scams and improve referral ents/s110341/Local Council Tax processes Support Scheme. • Improve support for potential victims The council informs those already in of scams. receipt of support about the scheme, Cambourne Village College but those who think they may be eligible should contact CCC put in process the capital project [email protected] or call to expand the College for this 03450 450 064. September, but an ecological survey carried out late last year found great crested newts. This has caused a delay in the project programme.
April 2019 4 The Skylark As a result, temporary accommodation begin towards the end of 2019, and will be required from September 2019 completion due by December 2020. for a short period of, hopefully, no The current Shire Hall, running costs longer than four months. We have are in the region of £900,000 per year. started this process to ensure that two The building of the new and smaller double mobiles are provided for the HQ is part of a much wider plan to start of term September 2019 and the base ourselves closer to communities, project team has been working closely and make better use of our own assets with the school on the location of these and those of partners across mobiles. Cambridgeshire. New CCC Headquarters in
Alconbury Weald JOTTINGS FROM THE LONGSTOWE Cambridgeshire County Council is CHURCH PCC (PAROCHIAL CHURCH inviting residents to view and comment COUNCIL): on plans for its new Headquarters in Alconbury Weald, prior to the A short note this issue, as running late submission of a formal planning for the Press (as usual). However, there application. are several notes of interest, outside A decision taken by Full Council in usual church matters, which you might May 2018 set the wheels in motion for find of interest. the Council to move from its costly six- On a recent visit to Ely Cathedral to acre Shire Hall site in central Cambridge to a smaller, more flexible see the beautiful Stitching Exhibition purpose-built building in Alconbury in The Lady Chapel, we came across the Weald. northern chapel that is dedicated to St The new two-storey headquarters, George and is the chapel of the which aims to be ‘bright, efficient and Cambridgeshire Regiment. Panels on the flexible’ will incorporate a private wing walls commemorate the men who died in for staff housing around 350 desks, the two world wars of the last century. and a public reception area with Imagine our surprise at the entrance to informal meeting space. this chapel to find a Book of Council and Committee meetings are Remembrance to the fallen, dedicated set to be held in a multi-use 90-seater by Michael Jarvis to his parents Vic and space, which can be split into 3 rooms, Doris on their Golden wedding in 2011 and offering potential for future great friends of the Church and the community use. Village. What a lovely way to recall Even after taking the cost of the new much loved parents. building into account, the move is set to save the Council in the region of £46.5m over the next 30 years, savings which will be reinvested back into public facing services. Planning permission will be submitted in late spring, with construction set to
The Skylark 5 April 2019 A huge thank you from the PCC to Peter Devastating drop in bee population Hemmins for dedicating the total After a steady decline in the number of collection from Sheila’s funeral to the bees in the English countryside the Fabric Fund. Some £430 has been government has finally been forced to received and we are very hopeful that take action. this, together with other monies held, A large number of formerly means a decent form of heating in the unemployed people have been given church by the end of the year. Hurrah. temporary employment at pollinators. They should be seen at work in our Finally, once again much thanks to fields, hedgerows and orchards busy everyone who has volunteered with the pollinating from the beginning of April. rubber glove duty inside, and saws and The pollinators will be easily identified pruners for the outside of our pretty as they will be wearing uniform yellow church. Everything looks very smart for and black striped jackets. They will the start of the church year. Thank have pollen sacks attached to each knee and headgear with a pair of you. Much thanks to Will and Mercedes pollen sensors looking like feelers. for again generously funding the Churchyard maintenance. To avoid an over concentration of pollinators in any given area they are The Annual PCC Meeting which is open encouraged to hum as they work so to everyone in the Village, is 6th April others nearby will know they are there. in the Church at 9.30am. Please do It is anticipated that the groups of come along. We are in the process of pollinators may not all have English as reviewing the Electoral Roll for the their first language but will need to Parish of Longstowe and if you would communicate with their fellow workers like to be included please contact so that pollination groups may cover Maddy Crowther (01954 718303) or areas efficiently. To this end, they have all been taught to indicate in which email [email protected] direction attention is necessary, by FUTURE DATES FOR YOUR DIARY: greeting each other with a wiggling shuffle with their feet always pointing 6th April ~ Annual Meeting Longstowe to areas heavy with pollen. Church PCC (Parochial Church Council). This is an open meeting and will be held This will be tiring work and workers may become fatigued. If you live in a in the Church from 9.30am rural area, it could be a good idea to SPECIAL SERVICES: carry a sugar-laden drink to offer to a fatigued pollinator to help to revive 14th April ~ Palm Sunday Morning Prayer him. 10.30 am 19th April ~ Stations of the Cross If you would like to apply for voluntary work, you will need to apply for a TPL Noon (Bourn Church) st (Temporary Pollination Licence) by 21 April ~ Easter Day Holy Communion applying online to the DEFRA website. 9.30 am Just search for “Bee a bee”, the page 30th June ~ Team Service 10.30 am will be available from 1st April.
April 2019 6 The Skylark Longstowe Village Hall Longstowe History Society
LONGSTOWE HISTORY SOCIETY LONGSTOWE VILLAGE Gransden HALL Windmill
A.G.M. History, Significance and Restoration illustrated talk by Martin Davies Wednesday, 3th APRIL 2019
at 7.30pm Tuesday 30th April 2019, 7.30 for 8pm in the Village Hall LONGSTOWE VILLAGE HALL
Admission: £3 everyone welcome (Members free) Refreshments included OPEN to ALL RESIDENTS Please support your Village Hall
LONGSTOWE … something new … village FETE needs Afternoon YOUR HELP Tea in the Village Hall
SUNDAY 9th June 2.00pm Friday, 26th April the FETE cannot happen without 2.30 to 4.30 VOLUNTEERS
to help run the BAR, BBQ, RAFFLE, STALLS or GAMES and again on … 17th May and * PLEASE join us * contact: Jane Bowden, [email protected] 28th June
The Skylark 7 April 2019 A14H2C newsletters brew, potentially from as far back as The partial remains of a woolly 400 BC, were uncovered in tiny mammoth and a woolly rhino, both fragments of charred residues from the dating back to the ice age and at least beer making process from earth 100,000 years old, are among the excavated with other archaeological remarkable finds from the team finds. working on the £1.5 billion A14 Dr Steve Sherlock, Highways England Huntingdon to Cambridge project, archaeology lead for the A14, said: during excavations for construction “It’s a well-known fact that ancient materials near Fenstanton in what was populations used the beer-making once an ancient river. One of the tusks process to purify water and create a was over one metre long and weighed safe source of hydration, but this is over 40lbs. potentially the earliest physical evidence of that process taking place in the UK.” Further finds show the locals also had a taste for porridge and bread as well as beer. Finds so far have included 40 pottery kilns, 342 burials, a Roman supply depot, rare Roman coins from the third century, three Anglo Saxon villages, and an abandoned Medieval village. The River Great Ouse Viaduct stretches for half a mile and will take the new A14 over the river and the East Coast Mainline Railway. The Other finds: Construction Director said: “This Deep below the surface of Britain’s viaduct over the River Great Ouse, biggest road scheme something has south of Huntingdon, is by far the been brewing… for a very long time – biggest bridge on our 21-mile project. more than 2,000 years in fact. It’s taken over 18 months to build, and Experts have uncovered what is covers 747 metres to carry drivers over believed to be evidence of the first the river and floodplain – yet when it beer brewed in the UK. opens to traffic in 2020, drivers will cross it in less than 30 seconds.” The tell-tale signs of the Iron Age
Village Hall Hire Charge per day £120, per hour £12. For further information and bookings, contact Mrs Caroline White: [email protected] / telephone or text 077 32 160 951
Please send items for the July 2019 Skylark by Monday 13th June to [email protected]
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April 2019 8 The Skylark