Summer baptisms in Great Gidding

There were two Baptisms in St Michael’s Church in July, welcoming two young people into the Christian community in Great Gidding.

Firstly on Sunday 8th July, the baptism of Alice Helen Nunns took place. Mum and Dad, Charlotte and Michael Nunns, moved into Ludington Road last August. The godparents were Laura and Chris Tate of Molesworth.

The baptism of Alice Helen Nunns at Great Gidding

A fortnight later on Sunday 22nd July, the baptism offered the opportunity of welcoming back someone who had grown up in the village. Nicolas Tebbutt, (son of Vivian & Bill Tebutt of Main Street) and his partner Mel, brought daughter Amelie Una to St Michael’s Church to be christened.

The baptism of Amelie Una Tebutt in St Michael's Church, Great Gidding

The Reverend Mary Jepp officiated on both occasions.

Get Cambridgeshire Connected – Join the broadband campaign!

Get Cambridgeshire Connected – Join the broadband campaign!

You can help to bring fast, reliable broadband to Peterborough and Fenland, which is vital for our businesses and communities to thrive.

The plan is to provide access to superfast broadband to at least 90% of homes and businesses across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and better broadband access to all other areas by 2015. A countywide broadband campaign to Get Cambridgeshire Connected has been launched through the Connecting Cambridgeshire website. We need residents, businesses (you can register in both categories), parishes and community groups to show suppliers where there is demand for broadband to attract investment.

Please register your support using the online form at www.connectingcambridgeshire.co.uk it will only take a few minutes to register and doesn’t commit you to anything.

Please encourage your friends, family, neighbours, colleagues, customers and suppliers to also join the campaign!

Back Lane and the Sewage farm

Back Lane and the Sewage farm

Back Lane between Chapel End and the B660 at Oak Tree corner has taken a bit of a battering recently. Improvement works at Great Gidding sewage farm coupled with the wettest summer and autumn of  recent times has meant that the minor road has been subject to some heavy erosion and surface degradation. The contractors have assured the Parish Council  that the road will be reinstated on completion of the works. As to the improvements at the sewage farm, new filter beds are being constructed to deal with phosphates in the foul water.

Update

Work has moved on, new structure have appeared in the Sewage Farm compound. The access road has been widened at the entrance after all the tipper lorries and plant equipment had finished the heavy work !

Update 2

Partial repairs to  Back Lane have been carried out, that would be the big hole by the junction with the B660. There is still a an area of poor road surface against the entrance to the Sewage Farm.

Back lane repairs, Great Gidding

Mary’s ringing has ap’peal’

Mary Read of Great Gidding rings her first Quarter PealMany congratulations to Mary Read on ringing her first Quarter Peal ‘inside’ of Plain Bob and Grandsire Doubles. A Quarter Peal is about 45 minutes continuous bell ringing requiring a high level of concentration and ringing skill.

Mary was one of six ringers who rang at Holywell Church as part of the Huntingdon District Bellringers Quarter Peal Day on Saturday 16th June this year.

The Great Gidding Close Up Quiz – The Answers

The Great Gidding Close Up Quiz - The Answers

Welcome to The Great Gidding Close up Quiz.

If you lived in the village at the time of the Golden Jubilee celebration in 2002 you will recall that we offered a paper based quiz that asked you to identify close up photographs of certain locations around the Parish of Great Gidding. This is an updated version to accommodate the computer and smart phone generation. You may be able to guess some locations from the comfort of your seat in front of the computer but a walk round the village will nail the difficult locations and keep your eyes open when travelling out towards the parish boundaries. All the photographs are taken from public areas. Google Street View may help in some cases.

How to enter – Identify where or what the photograph is, either by house number or descriptive location. The closer the better. When you have identified as many locations as you can fill in the comments box at the foot of this page using a 1,2,3 order and send it in.

The quiz will run until 1pm on Saturday the 23rd June. The winner will be announced at the Mid Summer Picnic on the following day. A wider view photograph will also be posted with location text after this date.

A modest prize will be awarded to the most accurate entry.

Good luck

Click on right hand picture to reveal location

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Jubilee Wood Midsummer Picnic

Jubilee Wood Midsummer Picnic

Sunday June 24th started off in much the same vein as nearly all the previous days of the month, wet. The forecast was positive so the message went out that the picnic was on.

No sooner had electronic mail delivered the good news, the heavens opened and it chucked it down. Luckily by picnic time the sun had decided to shine. So the annual trudge to the Jubilee Wood with food and seating paid off. A grand gathering of villagers sitting in the sunshine getting trench foot but enjoying the conversation and the snail racing. Next year 2013 will be the 10th year of planting the Jubilee Wood so a special picnic is called for so I propose a 1pm start on Sunday June 23rd. The long term weather forecast is positive although it might rain.

Great Gidding recreation ground now a QEII field.

Great Gidding recreation ground now a QEII field.

For the Queens Jubilee the Parish Council had applied for a Fields in Trust grant to safeguard the village recreation ground.

So all of the legal paperwork has been done (for free) and now the recreation field can officially be called a Queen Elizabeth II Field (www.qe2fields.com).

As part of the celebration The Parish Council have replaced the chain link fence at the front, and there will also be a metal plaque that will be put at the entrance.

Fields in Trust is about encouraging young people to get fit and enjoy the outdoors by protecting the precious spaces available for outdoor activity and to ensure future generations can benefit too.

See www.fieldsintrust.org/ for more information.

Rounders and The Diamond Jubilee Big Lunch – photos

Rounders and The Diamond Jubilee Big Lunch - photos

After a very wet Sunday (see Michael’s Jubilee Wood report) we were all glad to see a glimmer of blue sky for the Diamond Jubilee Big Lunch and village rounders match on the Recreation Field.

With a marquee to shelter from the predicted showers the villagers tucked into their picnics, washed down with FREE beer (a very nice Nene Valley Brewery ale) and wine from the bar.

Rounders – old ‘uns v young ‘uns

No sooner had we finished our first courses then the rounders match began. With two teams – oldies v young ‘uns – there was a wide range of ages (and batting styles) evident and much cheering. In between rounds (and showers) the wellie chucking event took place further along the field, with some spectacular throws and some near misses!
The event was rounded off with a prize giving ceremony most of which seemed to go to the young ‘uns!

Fields in Trust

Another reason to celebrate this weekend was the confirmation that the Great Gidding Recreation Field was now under the ‘Fields in Trust’ scheme which means that the facility is protected for future generations and can no longer be sold for development. More about the ‘Fields in Trust’ project.

Many thanks

Thanks to Michael and Julie Trolove (and many others) for organising the event, installing the marquee, arranging parking, sorting the drinks and the hundred other things that no doubt needed doing that made the event such a success.

More photos from the Jubilee Dinner Dance

More photos from the Jubilee Dinner Dance

A few more photos of the Diamond Jubilee Dinner Dance kindly supplied by Michelle Woodley.

A wet Sunday in the Jubilee Wood

A wet Sunday in the Jubilee Wood

Celebrating the Diamond Jubilee with a special tree planting ceremony

It seemed a good idea at the time, a coffee morning in the Jubilee Wood with a special tree to be planted in recognition of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebration. Oh how it rained, the ground waterlogged, the long grass sopping wet but we are made of stern stuff in the Giddings and we didn’t let a major weather event dampen our fortitude (42mm of rain over Saturday night and all day Sunday)

To help us celebrate, our special guest Mr Neil McKittrick,  a deputy Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire planted  a tree, a Cratageus  Prunifolia. This is an attractive Hawthorn that has good autumn colours and long lasting red berries that the birds will enjoy. The tree will remind all those who attended  of the atrocious conditions and the absurdity of drinking coffee in the temporary visitor centre.

Special thanks.

A special thank you to Tony and Pat Scott for the suggestion of the tree and the link to our special guest. We know that Tony is not enjoying the best of health at the moment so we we wish him well for the future.

Thanks to all who supported the event and Rachel for coping with the coffee duties in trying conditions.