All contributions please to 8 Brookhampton Street.
As another Christmas comes round, we would like to thank Rosemary Hayes, our proof-reader, Tony Court, Hilary Rule and their delivery team for all their hard work and Sheila Birch for the 'Welcome to' column.
May we remind everyone that, as we hope to get the January issue 'put to bed' and possibly printed before Christmas, 12th December really is the absolute deadline.
Bins and boxes must be placed out by 7.00 a.m. on your designated day of collection.
S/0038/09/F – Addition of chimney – 13 Birds Close – Information only.
JAP Architects - Former Old Chapel, Frogge Street Tim Pavelin declared an interest. The Clerk read out a letter, which had been received this morning regarding a future proposed planning application for this site. The Architects were seeking the Parish Council's comments before a formal application is submitted. The plans will be circulated to the Planning Committee.
Brookhampton Street At the request of the Chairman, a letter had been sent to Mr T Bristowe regarding the branch from the Ash tree that overhangs Brookhampton Street. The SCDC Tree Officer had looked at the tree and advised, "The dead wood is removed and had no objection to this work as it is required in relation to safety of the highway".
Cemetery Rates Notice was received from the Valuation Tribunal giving us Notice of Alteration to an Existing 2005 Rating List Entry. Terry Sadler will draft a letter to be sent to SCDC with a copy to A Lansley CBE MP.
War Memorial The Clerk reported that at the Remembrance Service it was noticed that none of the names could be seen or read. It may be possible to obtain a grant from War Memorials Trust. The Clerk was asked to obtain a quotation from Reeds to clean the memorial and repaint the lettering.
Land adj. Stump Cross – a letter (written by Lewis Duke) had been sent to the Environment Agency together with copies of a flood map and photograph. If no response has been received within the next two weeks, Lewis Duke will ring Mr Bodell.
Drain top of Mill Lane – an e-mail had been sent to Network Rail asking for a response. The relevant people had read all the e-mails. Photographs of the flooding need to be taken and sent to Network Rail. A letter is to be written to Andrew Lansley CBE MP asking for his help in resolving this matter.
Abbey Street opp. Methodist Chapel – the aim for the soak away to be completed is by March 2010.
· The Clerk reported that the drain at the junction of Butcher's Hill and Abbey Street is not working. This had been reported to Highways, but no action as yet has been reported.
Ickleton Village Hall – Vandalism The police had reported that stills of the photographs taken by CCTV had been sent to their Press Office. Posters will be issued that can be posted in the village to see if anyone recognises the person in the photograph.
Police Surgery 16th November The police had reported that they felt the Surgery had been a success and wished to hold more in the future. The purpose of the Surgery is to give advice on local issues/security/Neighbourhood Watch. The Clerk reported that the children attending Froglets had enjoyed seeing and sitting in the police car.
The Highways Agency inform us that CarillionWSP are currently finalising details of the proposed resurfacing work starting early in the New Year on the M11 between Junction 10 (Duxford) and Junction 11 (Hauxton). This work will be taking place overnight and will commence in January 2010 and will take approximately 12 weeks to complete. Diversions will be in place.
Monday to Thursday nights - 8.00 p.m. to 6.00 a.m.
Friday nights - 9.00 p.m. to 8.00 a.m.
Saturday nights - 7.00 p.m. to 10.00 a.m.
During the daytime it is possible that a 50mph speed restriction will need to be in place.
There are still a few slots available to host the Posada 'travelling crib' which, by the time you read this, will have started its journey around the village. Details were in last month's ICENE. We look forward to welcoming Joseph and Mary at the Christingle Service on Sunday 13th December at 4.00 p.m. This year some of our Sunday School children will be taking part and helping us to remember key parts of the Christmas Story from the animal's point of view. We will be singing just a verse or two of many well known carols including the traditional Away in a Manger with our lighted Christingles and we'd love to see you there too. This is a great opportunity to really get 'in the mood' for Christmas and reflect on what it's all about. A collection will be taken during the service for the work of the Children's Society and once again we are very grateful for the invitation to cross the road afterwards to Norman Hall to enjoy mulled wine and mince pies (or juice and a biscuit) courtesy of Caroline and Julian Owen and family.
If you can't make the 13th there will also be a Christingle Service at St Peter's Duxford on December 20th and at Hinxton Church on Christmas Eve.
Last year a very small team did sterling work making 100 Christingles before the service. If anyone would like to join this year's assembly team on the morning of Saturday 12th please contact Mandy Jeffery mandy.jeffery@tiscali.co.uk or Cathy Heaney.
Ayko Monica Andreas Aerts was baptized at Ickleton Church on Sunday 1st November.
We are sorry to record the death of Tony Godfrey on 13th November aged 87.
Arrangements are as usual. All welcome. Start 6.00 pm at Grange Road/Coploe Road corner. For latecomers joining we proceed via Birds Close, Back Lane, and then back to Abbey Street… etc. Collecting will be in aid of 'CLIC Sargent' charity which helps families of children with cancer.
After the singing, victuals at the house of Miranda and Mark Stone-Wigg.
Pit stop half-way, chez Rosemary and Colin Hayes.
Any questions - contact John Williams, Jackie Casement.
CONGRATULATIONS TO……. Kerrie Harris and Michael Rule on the birth of their daughter, Charlotte Eleanor on October 14th. A sister for Arthur, Henry and Joe, a granddaughter for Audrey, Hilary and Derek.
Remembrance Thanks to everyone who came to our evening for Remembrance (in spite of the rain) and donated so generously. We raised a magnificent £250 to be split between the Royal British Legion and the Church. Thanks too to all the performers and helpers who made the evening so successful, enjoyable and thought-provoking.
We had a full house on November 4th to hear Peter Beales talk about his love of roses. Peter showed slides of different ways to use roses. i.e. in mixed borders, as specimen bushes, and the use of climbing roses to cover a wall, shed, archway, etc.
Members were able to buy roses at a very reduced rate and needless to say Peter didn't take many home with him. Ann Macdonald won the best bloom competition this month with a lively spray of Red Acer.
Duncan, our Audley End gardener, brought boxes of Heritage Apples Cox's Orange Pippin etc. for sale, which were also quickly snapped up. We all had quite a field day!
On Saturday November 28th from 12 noon – 3.00 p.m. we are holding a bulb stall in Great Chesterford Community Centre. The bulbs will be potted up and growing ready to give as Xmas presents.
The next meeting will be on December 2nd when Roger Harvey will talk about Hellebores and will bring some for sale. The competition will be something festive i.e holly etc.
For the first time ever the collection in the village has exceeded £1000. The final amount was not available as this edition of 'Icene' went to press, so further details will be included in the January edition. Thank you to all who gave so generously.
Thank you all who joined us to celebrate 10 years of the new village hall.
As far back as 1972 it was realized that the old school was no longer adequate as a village hall and a public meeting was held to discuss the building of a new hall. The vote found the majority of residents were not in favour.
In 1992 with £15,000 raised another public meeting was held and this time the vote went overwhelmingly in favour of a new hall.
Along with the sale of the old hall £336,000 was raised and building commenced.
We would not have this excellent hall today if it were not for a group of dedicated enthusiasts who worked tirelessly fundraising and project managing.
The hall is a great asset to the village and we are very lucky to have it. The management committee is committed to keeping it in top condition, despite soaring maintenance and utilities bills. Also we are mindful to keep hire fees low as the hall is here for its users.
The hall is used by various regular user groups and one off bookings, the latter of which brings in much needed revenue.
We would be happy to receive suggestions for other activities or fundraising activities.
We hope you enjoyed meeting hall users and will support our future activities.
This was held on September 10th at the Congregational Chapel, Great Chesterford after another successful year, this time with 'Antiques and Collectables' and 'Sense and Nonsense in Psychology'.
Our Chairman of the past ten years, Malcolm Cooke, had decided not to seek re-election and was gratefully thanked for all his work for the branch and skilful guidance of course selection. Ann Cook was also thanked for her support and work. Malcolm agreed to continue to serve on the committee.
Barbara Pashley agreed to combine the roles of Chair of the committee and Treasurer and looks forward to other interesting courses.
For the Spring 2010 term the course will be: 'Wet and Wild' (Tutor: Frances Dipper) 10 weeks.
Wildlife and habitats of coast, seashore, ponds, rivers and marshes, broads and fens. Includes practical work.
Every Wednesday morning 10.00 to 11.30 a.m. in Ickleton Village Hall. Start date January 13th.
Fee is £43.50 but the first two classes may be sampled at £4.35 each.
If travel to the venue is a problem, it may be possible to arrange shared transport.
CALLING ALL CHILDREN, MUMS AND DADS, GRANNIES AND GRANDPAS and ALL LOVERS OF THE PANTOMIME!
The three churches at Duxford, Hinxton and Ickleton are organising a pantomime which will be performed in Ickleton Village Hall on Saturday 2nd January 2010, at 2.00 p.m. The show will be ALADDIN and will be performed by a travelling pantomime called Chaplins. This fun-filled extravaganza is aimed at children aged 3-103 years (!) and features a cast of 5 professional players in a programme lasting 2 hours. The audience will see up to 9 colourful characters that delight and entertain with all the antics you expect of panto! This will be a great opportunity to bring the three parishes together for some local Christmas-time entertainment.
Tickets will be £7 for adults, £5 for children and free for those under 3 years old (sitting on an adult's lap), and will include a complimentary ice-cream.
THE CHESTERFORDS, ICKLETON & HINXTON W.I.
Our guest speaker at the November meeting was the well known flower arranger Joyce Svensson. Joyce was pure magic with her art of creating arrangements from the garden using the simplest materials: dried flowers, fir cones, berries, evergreens, etc. enhanced with a few baubles for the Christmas effect.
Please note next month the meeting will be a week early on December 9th at the earlier time of 7.30 p.m. There will be a pot luck supper and entertainment by Lacy Anderson and his accordion band.
Demands on our services have increased dramatically; in order to satisfy this demand and continue to offer a first class service we are planning a complete overhaul which will benefit our patients and the practice. Our vision is that we will have three types of service: firstly a same day service for urgent problems; secondly pre-bookable appointments with a named clinician up to 4 weeks in advance; and finally a long term medical conditions clinic where patients with several problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease etc will come to the practice for a full check up of all conditions in one appointment. The first phase of these changes will be a telephone triage service for same day appointments. Patients who request a same day appointment will be able to discuss the problem with either a doctor or a senior nurse and you will either be given medical advice, an appointment for the same day or an appointment in the next few days. This service is starting in late November. The other new services will be put in place by early February 2010 and I will send further articles in the next edition of the magazine.
On the staff front Gerard Newnham joined us in May as our new Practice Manager; he has fitted in extremely well with our team and has already made many positive contributions to our working practices.
Whenever possible book in advance and avoid telephoning between 8.00 and 9.30 a.m.
And finally, we would like to wish all our patients a very Happy Christmas.
This will take place on Friday 4th December, 7.30 p.m. at Thriplow Village Hall. All welcome.
This popular event attracts teams from all around. Ickleton's first team won last year.
Join us for a good evening.
Once again this year we are decorating our house front and garden at 17 Birds Close for Christmas. Our charities this year are The Breast Cancer Ward and The Teenage Cancer Unit, both at Addenbrooke's. Please come and visit us.
The changes in the bus timetable which were due on 30th November will not now take place.
This is due to the fact that the Guided Busway opening has again been postponed.
I had put the new timetable on the village notice-board one day and had to take it down the next!
On the Friday evening churchwardens and licensed lay ministers were invited to hear the Archbishop of York speak. Simon Casement and I went along for Ickleton. What can I say about this man to do him justice? He greeted us as 'brothers and sisters in Christ'. He spoke passionately for 50 minutes on Witness to God, emphasising how each and everyone of us is important to God, loved by God that we are all equal in God's eyes. He spoke passionately about his Uganda, about his Christian upbringing and about the early days of his ministry, and he spoke clearly about his vision for the Church of England and answered questions better than any politician. In all he said there was a depth of passion, sincerity, humour and genuine Christianity and humility that I have never seen or heard before. There was no pomp or ceremony, he just appeared and spoke to people, yet he had a presence and exuberated sheer joy. He was absolutely spell-binding and well worth missing tea for! He ended the evening by blessing us and then 400 hundred voices blessed each other in the words of the Grace.
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We do not want line spacing under headings and between paragraphs.
It would be helpful if you could ring us a day or so later to confirm we have received your email.
Obviously, if you do not have a computer, hand-written articles are still welcomed.
Gt. Chesterford and District Gardening Society Meeting 8.00 p.m.