The Chairman of the PC visited the site of the Affordable Homes for a site meeting to discuss boundary treatments. She also learned that the Parish Council's suggestion of "ST Mary's Close" for the address met with the approval of the District Council. Lastly, she took some photos on a cold but sunny day to illustrate progress:

Whaddon now has a Facebook page.

It appears that, regrettably, there has been something of a mini crime-wave in Whaddon over the last month. We thus put here an article by Mike Monks which is written for the next edition of the Whaddon News :

"It has been some time since I have reported criminal problems in the village but there have been a number of incidents in recent weeks that are worthy of coverage. Perhaps the most concerning, as it potentially concerns every resident, was an incident in Bridge Street involving two male intruders.  The resident had been vacuuming upstairs and on finishing she returned to the kitchen downstairs to find two hooded individuals who, on seeing her, ran from the house. Nothing was stolen and the resident chose not to report the matter to the police at the time. Subsequently, after talking to her Neighbourhood Watch coordinator, the incident was reported to the police who visited the following day. Being a day later there was little the police could do to catch the two individuals. There are two very important lessons to be learned from this incident: first, please lock all external doors even when you are in the house. Virtually all houses in Whaddon back on to open fields and offer easy access to any intruder – please don’t make it easier by leaving external doors unlocked. Second, any incident similar to this should be reported to the police immediately by calling 999 irrespective of whether there has been a loss or not. Only then is there any possibility of catching the intruders. I can confidently say that two hooded individuals wandering around Whaddon will stand out like a sore thumb.

"Unfortunately, late in October, the Golf Centre was burgled. A considerable amount of damage was done to gain access and in the internal search by the thieves. The Post Office till was stolen and efforts were made to remove the bar till but without success. The thieves also damaged the metal gates and drove over the practice green. The police are investigating.     

"At about the same time as the problem in Bridge Street, there was a metal theft at the Coningsby’s farm. The gates at The Green had been lifted off the hinges and an old roller had been dismantled and parts stolen. The police were informed at the time. This was yet another incident in the local area involving metal theft.  Thieves are targeting farm machinery, church buildings, Network Rail assets and BT telephone cables. Both Foxton and Barrington have recently been the victims of significant cable theft leading to a loss of telephones, broadband etc, so the problem really is on our doorstep.

"In early November the Village Hall was targeted by what appears to be vandalism. A side window made up of wire-reinforced opaque glass had been repeatedly hit and had fractured but had not disintegrated.  It appeared to be vandalism as if the intention had been to gain access to the Village Hall there were simpler options available.     

"Finally, a car parked on the access road to Town Farm Close and the Golf Centre was scratched along the side. Those affected felt it was vandalism which, until these past few weeks, has not been a problem in the village.       

"It is unfortunate that what had been an largely crime free year has been spoiled in the space of a few weeks. Hopefully it is just a blip and we can return to better times but with winter upon us and long periods of darkness everybody has a role to play in securing homes and keeping a wary eye open for unusual activity.  Please play your part and remember: dial 999 for a crime actually happening and either 101 or 0345 456 4564 for a non-emergency matter. Please also let your neighbourhood watch coordinator know." 

Mike Monks writes:

"Speedwatch continues in the village with sessions about every 10 days or so. We focus on Meldreth Road and Church Street monitoring cars both entering the village from Meldreth and passing through the village from the Whaddon Gap direction. In the main, we operate during the peak hours in the morning and late afternoon and, not surprisingly, we see many of the same cars. We continue to identify a number of cars exceeding 46mph, which is the speed that results in a letter from the police. Since we started Speedwatch in 2009 we have tracked nearly 9000 cars of which nearly 550 have received letters. We have seen an overall reduction in speeding but not enough to make us feel that Speedwatch is, in itself, reducing speeds.  That said, we do feel that it is worth our time while efforts are made to reduce the speed limit in the village to 30mph. There is still much to be done to achieve this but there are signs that the County Council, under the “localism” agenda is slowly moving in our direction."

The Parish Council is often asked to report potholes and fly-tipping. The facilities are now also available for residents to do both of these as well, to speed up the process. The more people who report something, it is more likely that something might get done!

Potholes: these should be reported to the County Council online. Information is available via the CCC Web site. Online reporting has the advantage of being able to track progress on the problem. Alternatively phone 0345 0455200.

Fly-tipping is dealt with by South Cambridgeshire DC, and should be reported by phone on 0345 0450500. More information is available via their web site.

Bus services: as you may know, the County Council is reviewing its decision to stop subsidising buses. There is a consultation questionnaire available at their web site. We urge all villagers to fill this out so there is a sizable response from Whaddon.

A long-running saga is nearing fruition. On 12 July, a Ground-Breaking ceremony took place on the site at Church Corner which has been earmarked for some time for eight affordable homes.

The Bedford Pilgrims Housing Association (BPHA) will be in charge of the project; the developer is Bramhall Construction (BC). It is anticipated that full-scale works will begin on 15 August, and that the project should take about a year to complete. Bramhall have promised to work with the community to ensure that the disruption is minimised, and also that the parish is kept informed of progress. At some time shortly after the formal start, a general event will be organised for the village to tell everyone more about the project.

The Parish Council reiterates what has been said before, that priority for these houses will be given to those with Whaddon connections. It is essential that anyone interested in one of them register with the SCDC housing department as soon as possible, otherwise they will not be able to apply later. The sooner the better!

This link is to a Press Release issued by the BPHA about the event and the project.

John Cross, Chief Executive BPHA, Councillor David Bard, vice-chairman South Cambridgeshire Council, Robert Loudoun, Construction Director BC,
and Nigel Strudwick, Whaddon PC, at the ceremony (© BPHA)

Whaddon Parish Council is delighted to announce that Mrs Kate French has been co-opted as of 11 July to fill the vacant place on the council. She will also sit on the Planning Committee. The council would like to welcome Kate to the council and wish her every success; we of course thank her deeply for her interest in village affairs.

On a different note, the council is seeking another chairman. Nigel Strudwick is going off to teach in the USA for a year from late August, and this requires that he resign his office. More news will follow.

We are sorry to report that Cllr Will Burchett has resigned from the Parish Council, as he is hoping to emigrate some time in the next future. The Council would like to thank Will for all his help and hard work over the past few years on the council and with the playground project, and wish him every success for the future.

This of course means that there is a vacancy on the council. No electors have called for an election, so the Parish Council is now at liberty to fill the vacancy through co-option.The following is for those who are interested:

Parish Councillors have a dual role to represent the views and concerns of residents to the Parish Council, District Council and County Council and also to report back to residents on issues affecting the parish.

To find out more please contact Nigel Strudwick (Chairman) on 207434 or Gabby van Poortvliet (Clerk) on 208450, for an informal discussion. Alternatively you can email whaddonpcclerk [at] yahoo.co.uk

Formal expressions of interest should be made to Gabby van Poortvliet by Friday 24th June, either by writing to her at 134 Bridge Street, or by email as above. It would be good if you would be available to meet with the Council shortly thereafter.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Annual Parish Meeting, 18 April 2011, Whaddon Village Hall 8 pm

The purpose of the Annual Parish Meeting (APM) is to give a forum for villagers to come along, hear reports on all the activities taking place in the village, and to ask questions on any subject they like.

Although the APM has to be chaired by the PC Chairman, it is NOT a meeting of the PC, but a meeting of the village, but it is hoped that as many Councillors as are able will attend.

All parishioners are urged to attend, and we will be offering refreshments from about 7:30 pm.

As of 22 March Whaddon Village Hall and Recreation Ground Trust has been granted the status of a Charitable Trust (Number 1140851, Working name WVHRGT).This should mean that we have access to various charitable forms of funding which were not previously accessible. Thanks to all Trustees for their hard work, especially the Chairman, Jenna Lewis.

The precept for next year has been left the same as it was last year. However, you will see the actual amount on your Council Tax bill reduce slightly as there are more houses paying tax in the village than last.

For the details of the precept, please see this file.

Mike Monks writes:

It might seem strange to be mentioning the Poppy Appeal at this time of the year but it is actually appropriate as Whaddon has been awarded the Diplock Trophy for 2009/2010 as the village in South Cambridgeshire that made the greatest year on year improvement in donations. As the Poppy Appeal ran until 30 September 2010 the award has just been made. Interestingly, Whaddon last won the trophy in 2002 when Sandy Fisher was the village coordinator. My thanks go to Flo Bye and Henry Burgess as well as all who donated at the Remembrance Service at St Mary’s church in November 2009.

Congratulations to Mike and his assistants for a great job. A picture of the trophy is below.

As required by planning laws, those behind the affordable houses project at Church Corner have put in place an archaeological dig to ensure that nothing of interest will be lost by the building work. This started on 31 January.

The topsoil for four test areas was removed with a JCB, simply to save time and money--as the budget for this sort of work is restricted. I have been checking in each day with the archaeologists from Bury St Edmunds. They have so far discovered at least four roughly parallel ditches in the centre of the field. These could well be field boundaries of different dates, as yet no traces of buildings have yet been found. Some of the trenches are probably to be dated to the 15th century by pottery fragments discovered. A 19th century field drain passes through one of the excavations.

Work has reached the water table, below which it doesn't look as if the ditches extend. It will probably stop there. The water table is quite high here. Below are some pictures.

	The site
	The central trench
	(left) one of the ditches (right) the field drain
	The trench again

 

 

Whaddon Cricketers

After a successful first meeting on 26th November, we have a total of 26 interested members (list to be added below), and more popping up since then. If there’s anyone else, then please don’t hesitate.

After much interesting debate and robust exchange of views, a few concrete things were finally sort of agreed (sort of):

• we are to be a social team, playing for serious fun
• every member will be guaranteed a game, regardless of ability
• we expect to arrange some indoor net practice in the new year (once it warms up a bit), either in Bassingbourn or Royston (please let us know if you are interested in turning over the old arm; will be starting in March probably)
• our first definite fixture is against the Independent Newspaper, on 4th June 2011
• we intend to play about half a dozen matches a year on our own ground, either on Sundays or Saturdays
• if anyone knows of other clubs looking for matches, then we are game (Hare Street, Steeple Morden, Reed Junior Colts 5ths have been vaguely mentioned)
• each member would be willing, subject to personal circumstances, to make a donation as a club start-up subscription (mainly for buying cricket equipment, insurance, rope, protective netting along the fence and the maintenance of the square)
• each player in a match will be expected to pay match fees (amount to be decided) to cover rental of the Rec and for the provision of crustless cucumber sandwiches, provided by the very generous (a start-up donation was extracted under torture) and inimitable Ken “WG Grace” Green.
• there is competition on for position of scorer: Helen “Wendy Wimbush” Strudwick vs David “Beardless Bill Frindalangelo” Grech (this should be a interesting struggle, awash with coloured ink, a different one for each bowler mind)
• the cricket pitch will be ready by Spring time (thanks to our trusty professional groundsman Neil Gardner), who has sourced a 1950s steamroller 3-ton for us.

It has been brought to our attention that our pitch is perhaps a tad small. It is, there is no denying it. But the “management” (self-appointed at present, sorry) makes no excuse: we feel that the Rec was born for cricket, it is the heart of our village, it will pull them in for miles around once they see us straining every hamstring early of a Sunday morning (after church, of course). I would also direct these people to the Hare Street pitch, which is even narrower. We should see how it goes for a few years, then if we have caused too many broken windows or car accidents (all suitably covered by insurance) we should look for other premises in the village. But for now, let’s go with what we’ve got.

One more thing: there is a mole encroaching on the square – any ideas, please let us know. According to the groundsman, he (or she) is after the worms. Please whenever you visit the Rec, take a handful of worms away with you. This will reduce the problem. But please don’t dig for them. This will only make things worse. Sing to them. The Whaddon Whitsun song is ideal (in fact, ancient sources tell us that this was the original reason for its composition). Enough.

Peter Haselden | cricket [at] whaddon.org

Bus service

A permanent bus service for the village has now been achieved, following the trial in 2010. It has not proved possible to maintain the long route round the whole village and passing along Mettle Hill, but this would have required a subsidy beyond the statutory powers that the Parish Council has. The solution was to request that the 127 bus turn off the A1198, enter the village down Whaddon Gap, turn round and pick up/drop off at the top of Bridge Street and then resume its route. This is not costing us anything, and so is what the media would call a "win-win" situation. The timetable is being distributed to all houses, and is available here on the Public transport page.

Whaddon Village Hall and Recreation Ground Trust

The Trust was finally set up after an initial meeting in November 2010, and is now running the village hall and rec leased from the Parish Council. The Trust is in the process of completing charitable registration, to enable the raising of funds for the refurbishment of the hall. See the Village Hall page for more information.

Web site redesign

Whaddon's web site has gone from strength to strength over its short existence (see the Statistics links on the right). The design, however, has remained the same. A new more modern design, using more current techniques, has been implemented for the new year. We hope users will find it easier to navigate because of its more consistent interface, but still interesting. Please get in touch with any comments via the "Contact us" link at the top right.

Quite a few important things have happened in the course of the summer and early Autumn.

Affordable Homes

The SCDC Planning Committee has approved the plans for eight affordable homes at Church Corner. The village has been looking at ways of providing this for some years now, and it now looks like the scheme of the Bedford Pilgrims Housing Association could go ahead. Several conditions will be attached to the consent, one of which was that planners, architects and applicants, along with the PC, should meet to try and refine further the details of the plans and to minimise their affect, particularly on the adjacent Rose Cottage. This meeting has taken place and we are awaiting the result. The funding for the scheme is dependent on work starting in some form by January 2011.

Village Hall

An even longer-running saga is that of the refurbishment of the village hall. At last documents have been signed to set up a charitable trust, and to lease the running of the hall and recreation ground to that trust. A initial meeting of the trust will be called some time soon at which members can be elected, officers appointed, and responsibilities allocated. Charitable status will permit access to funds which are not available to Parish Councils. At the same time, SCDC have given the village a grant of £25,000 towards the project.

Bus Service

The six month trial of the bus is coming to a close. The extension of two buses to run to Whaddon via Mettle Hill has not yet shown any signs of breaking even, and the PC has no further funds (or legal powers) to enable this to continue. HOWEVER, CCC and the bus contractor have agreed that the same two buses can take the shorter route into Whaddon via Whaddon Gap, turn round at the top of Bridge St, and then resume their journey. So we will still get the same two buses to and from the village, and the most important thing is that this can be done at no cost to the village. An excellent solution.

Cricket anyone?

A number of villagers are planning on trying to get a cricket team together for next summer. The first step has been to cordon off an area of the Rec on which a pitch is being prepared. All interest is appreciated

20 June--Whaddon Open Gardens

A new venture, suggested by Wendy Evans, for villagers to open up some of their gardens to visitors to raise funds for the village hall, has been a great success. Eight gardens were open round the village, and tea and cake was provided in the village hall as part of the entry price. The amount raised is in the region of £1300. We thank Wendy for the immense effort she put into organising this, and to everyone who contributed their time or their garden to making it a success.

If anyone has any photographs, could they send them to the webmaster so he can put them here?

22 June--Exhibition of documents from the Cambridgeshire Archive

In the course of 2009, a document relating to a land transfer in 1438 in the parishes of Whaddon, Meldreth and Bassingbourn appeared at a London dealer. The three villages were asked if they would be prepared to contribute to the cost of buying it for the Cambridgeshire Archive, and they did so. The document was subsequently purchased and conserved for the Archive.

Whaddon suggested in 2010 that the document be exhibited in the villages so that residents could see to what they contributed. An evening was arrange in Whaddon Village Hall to which Philip Saunders and his colleagues brought not just this document but a number of others relating to the villages, as well as general information about the Archive. A lot of residents of all three villages attended and the event was considered a great success. It is very important to connect local residents with their history and the three parishes are very grateful to the Archive for making this possible.

The document itself is illustrated below; a PDF file of a translation and notes by Philip Saunders can be obtained from the Meldreth web site by following this link. There was also a news item in the Royston Weekly News.

Bus service!

The 127 bus between Royston and Guilden Morden has finally been brought to Whaddon, thanks to a joint effort between Whaddon Parish Council and Cambridgeshire County Council. The Parish Council is subsidising the service for an experimental period of six months from 12 April. Here are a couple of photos of the first bus in Church Street.

Buses will serve Meldreth Road and Church Street from Monday to Saturday, and will call at Tesco and Royston Station before terminating at Royston Bus Station. The Bridge Street times to Royston are 08:32 and 10:12 (on Wednesday the existing market bus will run instead of the 10:12, leaving 09:40). Return times from Royston Bus Station will be 13:10 (12:40 on Wednesday) and 17:10--for the latter please tell the driver you want to go to Whaddon. The bus will stop anywhere safe through the village.

Annual Parish Meeting, 27^th April 2010, Whaddon Village Hall 8 pm

Villagers will have seen in the Whaddon News that we are instituting an Annual Parish Meeting this year. This is what appeared in there:

The purpose of the Annual Parish Meeting (APM) is to give a forum for villagers to come along, hear reports on all the activities taking place in the village, and to ask questions on any subject they like. This is a new departure for Whaddon, and it will take over many of the items which in the past have (not quite correctly) formed part of the Parish Council AGM, which will now become a much shorter meeting.

Although the APM has to be chaired by the PC Chairman, it is NOT a meeting of the PC, but a meeting of the village, but it is hoped that as many Councillors as are able will attend.

All parishioners are urged to attend, and we will be offering refreshments from about 7:30 pm.

Bus Service

At last! The 127 bus is being diverted via Whaddon for an experimental service for six months, starting 12 April. Details will be circulated to all households, and posted here when we have them.

Precept

You will have read here and in the Whaddon News that the Precept for 2010-2011 is unchanged (click here for details). Many of you will thus be as surprised as the Parish Council was to open your Council Tax bills and see that your contribution to the Whaddon Precept has gone up by 4%.

The Chairman took this up immediately with SCDC. The explanation is as follows: the total precept has to be divided between the number of properties in the Parish paying the tax, as you might expect. Unbeknown to the PC, the number of empty houses in the ex-MOD rental area of Cardiff Place has increased from one last year to sixteen at present. Thus there are fifteen fewer houses to pay, and thus the rest of us have to pay more to make up the difference.

The PC is of course not privy to what happens in the rental part of Cardiff Place, but is in the course of writing to SCDC to ask that we be kept more closely informed about variations in the number of tax-paying houses there in future. The Chairman has been assured verbally by the CEO of SCDC that they will look into this.

Blue Bins

You may have heard that SCDC are introducing another concept into recycling, that of the Blue Bin--this looks just like the Green Bin except it is a different colour. The Chairman has seen one at SCDC. Basically, it replaces the Green Boxes, which will no longer be used (and which will not be taken away by the Council--you can use them as you wish once the new system comes in). Bottles and cans, plastic or glass or metal, can all be thrown in the new bin, and the separation will be done automatically at the recycling depot. In addition, the Blue Bin will have an inset tray in the top for papers, which will not have to be put in a bag. The final version will have an extra pocket in the back for recycling batteries.

So, when is it happening? Well, the new bins are going out in September 2010, with the first collections under the new system in October. We shall let you have more information as it becomes available. For sure there will be an article about it in the South Cambridgeshire magazine.

Some items from the Parish Council Meeting

1. The Precept for 2010-2011 is unchanged from 2009-2010.

2. Concerns have been expressed recently over the noise from aircraft performing aerobatics over Whaddon. The PC has discussed this with Consultative Committee of Little Gransden airfield, where the pilot is based. We will be requesting that a representative from Whaddon join that committee; we will also be posting information about the agreed procedure for reporting occasions where the aerobatics are thought by parishioners to be a nuisance.

3. The Affordable Homes story continues. It is hoped that the Bedford Pilgrims Housing Association will submit plans for approval at the end of February, making a planning decision most likely in April or May. The Pilgrims have to reapply for funding for the scheme.

4. Discussions about the proposed lease are still delaying the set-up of a Charitable Trust for the Village Hall, but there are signs of improvement. An application has been made to the SCDC Communities Grant Fund for some money towards the hall refurbishment project.

5. It has been brought to the PC's attention that a proposal has been made to add a small Camping/Caravan site to Whaddon Golf Centre. Those who live immediately adjacent to the site have received information on how to comment from the Caravanning and Camping Club. Villagers can also find out more by contacting the Golf Centre, or talking to a member of the Parish Council. Such sites are exempted from the normal planning process and so the PC has no statutory role in the process.

• News from 2009 will be found here
• News from 2007-2008 will be found here