The VILLAGER Issue 52 - July 2016 and Town Life LOCAL NEWS • LOCAL PEOPLE • LOCAL SERVICES • LOCAL CHARITIES • LOCAL PRODUCTS Inside this issue Win a pair of tickets to see Dizzee Rascal Horseboarding at the Annual Burghley Game and Country Fair Win £25 in our Prize Crossword Bringing Local Business to Local People in Alconbury, Grafham, Kimbolton, Riseley, The Stukeleys and all surrounding areas every month Your FREEcopy 2 Please mention The Villager and Town Life when responding to adverts The VILLAGER Issue 52 - July 2016 and Town Life LOCAL NEWS • LOCAL PEOPLE • LOCAL SERVICES • LOCAL CHARITIES • LOCAL PRODUCTS Inside this issue Win a pair of tickets to see Dizzee Rascal Horseboarding at the Anual Burghley Game and Country Fair Win £25 in our Prize Crossword Bringing Local Business to Local People in Alconbury, Grafham, Kimbolton, Riseley, The Stukeleys and all surrounding areas every month Your Contents FREEcopy Employment Matters ............................................22 Water, Water Everywhere ......................................26 Animal Know-How ................................................28 Children’s Page ......................................................30 Nick Coffer’s Weekend Recipe ................................33 Honey and Berries, Natural and Pure .....................34 Puzzle Page ...........................................................36 What’s On ..............................................................38 Prize Competition..................................................42 Horseboarding ......................................................45 Homemade Ice Lollies 15 Book Review .........................................................46 The History of Soft Drinks ........................................4 Horseboarding Win Tickets to see Dizzee Rascal ..............................9 Heritage in Palermo ..............................................10 45 Win a Aerial Picture from BeSkyBee ......................12 St Neots Film Festival ............................................13 Homemade Ice Lollies ...........................................15 Summer Lovin’ ......................................................16 Top Tips for Charities and Good Causes ..................19 Do I need a Consent Order? ...................................20 Tax Avoidance is Legal ...........................................21 August Edition booking and copy deadline is Tuesday12th July. September edition booking and copy deadline is Friday 29th July 11,000 copies delivered free of charge in the following areas: Abbots Ripton, Alconbury, Brington, Buckworth, Bythorn, Catworth, Covington, Dillington, Grafham, Great Staughton, Hail Weston, Keyston, Kimbolton, Kings Ripton, Leighton Bromswold, Little Staughton, Lower Dean, Molesworth, Old Weston, Perry, Pertenhall, Ramsey, Riseley, Sawtry, Shelton, Stonley, Stow Longa, Swineshead, The Stukeleys, Tillbrook, Upper Dean and Warboys (We also have over 150 distribution points, including pubs, garages, most shops, post offices, Supermarket Chains in all of the above as well as in Huntingdon, Lt Staughton, Grafham Water Visitor Centre’s and Kimbolton) Editorial - Catherine Rose, Solange Hando, Publishers Debbie Singh-Bhatti, Kate Duggan, Toni Hasler, Villager Publications Ltd Hannah Byatt, Tony Larkins, Carol H Scott, Nick Coffer, 24 Market Square, Potton, Bedfordshire SG19 2NP Pippa Greenwood, RSPCA, Trevor Langley and Willow Coby Tel: 01767 261122 [email protected] Advertising Sales/Local Editorial www.villagermag.com Scott - 01767 261122 [email protected] Disclaimer - All adverts and editorial are printed in good faith, Photography - Warrengoldswain and however, Villager Publications Ltd can not take any responsibility for the Darren Harbar Photography content of the adverts, the services provided by the advertisers or any statements given in the editorial. No part of this publication may be Design and Artwork - Design 9 Tel 07762 969460 reproduced or stored without the express permission of the publisher. To advertise in The Villager and Townlife please call 01767 261122 3 History By Catherine Rose The History of Soft Drinks With the arrival of summer, we will consume water - very similar to today’s. thousands of gallons of soft drinks - from Before mains supply was built, the water squash and cordials to fizzy ‘ades’ and coke – all available, particularly in rural areas, was often produced by a global industry that is worth contaminated and unsafe to drink. Consequently, billions. But have you ever stopped to wonder every town and village had a wide selection of how the soft drinks industry came about? public houses that brewed their own ‘small beer’ The earliest mention of lemonade occurs in as this was safer to drink than the water. Beer was historical texts from the mid-1600s. A non-fizzy even given to children. refreshing drink, probably only available to the People also brewed their own drinks at home more wealthy, it is believed to have come over and would frequently boil water before adding from Italy via France and was made from water natural flavourings such as nettle, barley, and lemons with sugar or honey added. dandelion, burdock and ginger to improve the In the late 1700s, a method for artificially taste. This would then go through a natural carbonating water was invented by Dr Joseph fermentation process to produce a very low Priestley. This meant that soda water was alcohol drink, frequently believed to have commercially available by 1800 and within 20 medicinal properties. years, ginger beer was also being advertised. Non-alcoholic versions of these drinks began to Household names of today such as Schweppes be produced commercially, becoming popular and R. Whites began selling manufactured during the Victorian era and some of these ‘old lemonade in the 1850s that consisted of a citric fashioned’ herbal flavourings are still produced acid base with oil of lemon, sugar and carbonated today. 4 Please mention The Villager and Town Life when responding to adverts 5 To131x194mm advertise JM in generic The VillagerVillager advert and (embed).indd Townlife please1 call 01767 261122 10/06/2016 14:29 By the mid-Victorian era, ginger beer was ‘the most popular non-alcoholic beverage’ although lemonade must have come a close second. They were produced in ‘mineral factories’ across the country. Storing fizzy drinks required the development of suitable and stable containers. Round-ended glass bottles began to be manufactured for lemonade. This shape was deliberate so that the bottle had to be stored on its side which kept the cork moist and allowed for better sealing of the effervescent drink. Ginger beer on the other hand was usually stored in solid stoneware containers with a large cork pushed firmly into the top to prevent it from ‘popping’. The ingenious Cod’s bottle with its glass marble stopper became available at the end of the 19th started making their squash and barley water in century. These were eventually replaced by metal the 1930s. ‘crown’ and later screw caps. Aluminium cans with The 20th century paved the way for specialised pull rings were introduced in the late 1950s. essence-based soft drinks from brands such as Irn In the latter half of the 19th century, a drink Bru, Tizer and Corona. made from the African kola (or cola) nut became Soft drinks factories were once commonplace in available in the UK - known as ‘kola champagne’ the UK. In mid-Bedfordshire for example, prior or ‘kola tonic’. Meanwhile, in America, a similar to 1900, the original Mineral Factory of Wells drink was being made from the leaves of the & Co. was situated in Biggleswade ahead of its Bolivian coca shrub. brewery on the same site. The company brewed In 1886, Dr John Pemberton of Atlanta, Georgia ginger beer and supplied soda water siphons decided to combine these two ingredients to although their largest trade was in ‘pop’ - sugary produce his own ‘brain and nerve tonic’ which carbonated drinks of various flavours, the most logically, he called ‘coca-cola’. Coca-cola proved so popular being their Golden Lemonade. popular that Asa Candler bought the patent from Commer lorries supplied the local pubs with Pemberton and set up the now world-famous ‘mineral waters’ in addition to the main trade of Coca-Cola Company. Today, the Coca-Cola brand beers, wines and spirits, as well supplying them still uses the original and instantly recognisable to private houses and shops. Soft drinks had ‘Spencerian Script’ logo that was first designed by become so popular that during the Second World Frank Robinson. War, the soft drinks industry was nationalised. Concentrated fruit drinks or cordials also began There were even small factories in the villages. In to appear at this time, again from companies that Northill, just outside Biggleswade, another local are still well-known today including Rose and mineral water factory was owned by Marsom its Lime Juice Cordial. By the First World War, the Brothers. Situated opposite The Crown pub, term ‘squash’ had become a recognised one for today, a private house stands on the site and this type of concentrated soft drink. Robinsons has old ginger beer bottles set into the eaves as homage to the firm. Although a new mineral water bottling unit was established in the old maltings in Biggleswade in 1952, Wells & Winch merged with Greene King in 1961 and the mineral factory closed in 1974. However, despite the closure of many of these small factories, the soft drinks story has evolved, turning from a cottage industry to one of gigantic