This one comes courtesy of the Woodland Trust.
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A new fence has been installed by the main entrance of the Recreation Field.
A tired wire link fence has been replaced by a smart wooden post and rail fence along with remedial work to the gate posts. Look out for another special addition on The Big Jubilee Lunch day which is the 4th of June 2012.
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Great & Little GiddingParish Council Clarion – Spring 2012 |
ELECTIONS of District and Parish Councillors will take place on Thursday 3rd May – see noticeboards
BLOOM IN GIDDING – following on from the successful Anglia In Bloom Silver Award of 2011 we are looking for volunteers to co-ordinate the 2012 entry. An excellent start was made last year in this community initiative and many hands make light work. If you are interested in helping in anyway please let the PC office know and we will put you in touch with each other.
ALLOTMENTS – there is a half allotment available from the 10 new ones provided last year Full plots are £15 per year (£20 from 2013) and subject to a tenancy agreement.
JUBILEE WOOD – a new pond has been excavated in the Jubilee Wood and it is hoped to have it established for the Diamond Jubilee. Fourteen new trees have been planted including mulberry, pear, peach, nectarine, plum, cherry and apple. There is to be a JUBILEE Coffee Morning (and activities) in the wood on Sunday 3rd June.
RECREATION GROUND – our application for Queen Elizabeth II Field Status has been accepted and a commemorative plaque will be unveiled at the JUBILEE lunch being held on 4th June. The idea behind the Big Lunch is to get as many people as possible to join with their neighbours for friendship and fun. All you need to do is turn up with your picnic and for the energetic amongst you games will be available!
VILLAGE HALL – a textile recycling bank has been located in the car park. The District Council is trying to encourage residents to recycle clothing and shoes. The materials put in the textile banks are sorted and sent to Africa, any clothes not suitable are cut into rags for industry. A small income may be generated from this (£150 per tonne) for the village.
A group are organising a 1950s dance night in the hall on Saturday 2nd June to celebrate the JUBILEE and the Parish Council have allocated funding to support this community event.
The AGM of the Village Hall & Recreation Ground committee will take place on Monday 16th April at 7.30pm in the Village Hall – please do go along and show your support.
VILLAGE WEBSITE -The Lottery Funding received by the Parish Council has funded the new village website including the newt trail.
AFFORDABLE RURAL HOUSING SURVEY – This has been organised by ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England) in consultation with the Parish Council and distributed to all houses within the village. The details of results will be presented at the Annual Parish Meeting on 17th April.
STREET LIGHTING – the County Council have changed to a white light source which should not impact upon the visibility on the street.
THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING will be held on Tuesday 17th April at 7pm prior to the Parish Council Meeting.
THE PARISH COUNCIL meet on the 3rd Tuesday of the month in the Village Hall at 7.30pm – members of the public are very welcome to attend but if you would like to speak on a particular subject, please let us know prior to the meeting.
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With an east wind howling down Main Street, villagers scurried along to the warmth of the Village Hall to do battle once again at the Quiz & Chip Night. Quiz supremo Lois Jordan set the tone of questions that would sort the wheat from the chaff. Fortified with liquid refreshment from the bar, the contestants sorted themselves into their respective teams. It was immediately obvious that this would be a two way scrap with the remainder fighting for the minor places. Our host and question master John Deval laid down the rules and the quiz commenced.
After three rounds of brain exertion we reached the midway point, time for fish and chips which were duly served up piping hot and very enjoyable. After another three rounds of yes, no, yes, that’s not right, put anything down, its errr… the quiz concluded. Its amazing how much you think you know when the answer has just been read out.
Thanks to all concerned for an entertaining evening.
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- Lois and Bruce reflecting on their fiendish quiz questions
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- John, running through the answer sheet
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- Half time score board
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- How not to have your pint poured
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- Team – Courage but no brains, oh yeah!
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- Team – All sorts
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- Team – theoptimists
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- Team – The Last Table
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- Team – Comfortably Dumb
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- A man and his fish and chips
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- Half time scores
Every few years on a rolling programme most the roads in the parish receive a new surface coating of stone chippings, rather than explain the finer details of the process take a look at The Idiots Guide To Highway maintenance, a really excellent and detailed web site about how our roads are maintained.
This series of photographs were taken on 22nd July 2010 as the B660 was being resurfaced from the Lutton crossroads to Great Gidding.
We all know something is imminent when the signs appear and the road sweeper starts hoovering up beyond the village boundary. Above we see the convoy of vehicles proceeding down the hill. Traffic management is by stop/go boards and radio communication.
The bitumen or tar lorry as they were known is always a site to behold, clouds of water vapour emerging from the spray applicator as the hot bitumen meets the cooler atmosphere.
This is the crunch part of the operation, the bitumen emulsion being sprayed out on to the road surface quickly followed up the stone spreader with an 8 wheeler tipper keeping the spreader topped up. The rate of application of bitumen and the stone chippings will have been predetermined in the contract. The idiots guide to highway maintenance will inform you of these things in greater detail. Click the link and have a read.
The stone spreader operator has a commanding view of the operation, he has to judge forward speed and the width of spread whilst keeping an eye on the hopper load.
The job has several hazards, passing traffic, moving machinery, hot liquids and obstructions to deal with such as overhanging branches that get hooked up on the passing tipper lorry.
Immediately following the first stone spreader another one follows on putting a finer layer of chippings down.
To make sure that the chippings adhere to the bitumen base layer, road rollers are used to compress the two elements together. Road rollers have evolved from the first steam rollers, diesel powered rollers, multi tyred rollers and now site rollers. Another useful reference site is the Road Rollers Association
Finally as the convoy makes its way to Great Gidding we see some of the work force in a lighter moment. These chaps are the stop /go board operators for traffic approaching from behind. Now the road has been resurfaced it takes on the feel of a skid pan as loose stone chippings accumulate. This is where drivers always observe the speed limit signs and drive diligently according to the road conditions. A road sweeper will follow up this operation with two or three passes in the forthcoming weeks.
The Village History Group met on Wednesday 18th April and viewed the photographs that were “discovered” during the History Day, held in October 2011. The next occasion we meet will be Wednesday 19th September, when there will be a speaker on Local World War II airbases, everyone will be welcome to join us and, as details are still to be confirmed, there will be an update published in the July/August edition of the Parish News, and on this website.
A short photo essay on the creation of the latest tranche of allotments.
With householders facing increased bills for fresh food, pressure was put on the Parish Council to facilitate some extra allotments near the Jubilee Wood. The land had always been allocated as allotment ground but it required that the caretaker tenant to relinquish the area of land which he graciously did.
A contractor was organised to create the allotment layout.
The previous crop had been mown down and work began using rotovator to break up the surface.
Quite unusual to see a tractor mounted rotavator in good condition. Most have been consigned to the farm scrap heap as they have been superseded by alternative types of mechanical soil cultivation.
The work nearly complete. Although it looks like an instant seedbed the new allotment holders will tell you its tough digging. Tractor mounted rotavators are notorious for creating a pan just below the surface. The only remedy is the traditional double digging and incorporation of organic matter.
Within a few months some of the allotments are in full production.
This is copied from the Simon Lewis Books website:
Great Gidding in Cambridgeshire where Northampton’s John Clark promoted GP Midgets. Now an industrial estate off Hemmington Lodge Lane. Steven Parker, who works at the site today says “there’s very little evidence …the tarmac or concrete surface was broken up for unknown reasons leaving us with huge flooded potholes. …you can still see where the carpark would have been near the entrance for spectators & racers although its like a jungle now!.” More of Steve’s photos can be seen on the Gt Gidding page – www.simonlewis.com/gidding.html.
As you can see above it’s now a very anonymous site but the faint outline of the track shows up on Google Maps Does anyone know when the track operated or have any old photos?
Visit the Simon Lewis Books website
The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire.
Laura Watson, Community Conservation Officer produced the survey of the ponds in Great Gidding their website, is packed with information and ideas to help us all enjoy our environment.
Look out for the Species A -Z Everything you need to know from Acorn Barnacles to Zebra Spiders
Have you seen any toads this month? why not join Garden Watch or if you love Bluebells they have information just for you!
You can even sign up to receive their E-newsletter and so much more.
Creating a new pond
After mulling over the idea of how to bring another environmental benefit to the Jubilee Wood
it was fairly obvious that a new pond was called for. The site was quickly identified within
the wood, the wettest part ! So on a hot September day our local digger operator, Jeff turned
up with his JCB and was told to create an interesting shaped pond.
Nothing startling was unearthed as the dig commenced only the usual Hanslope series top soil
overlying the standard chalky boulder clay below.
In an average year when you dig in this clay the soil will stick inside the bucket. Not this time
round, its as dry as it could be.
The final shape of the pond follows best advice in that you need a deep area sloping sides and
a gradual slope to a shallow area.
The excavated clay soil was shaped into a stockpile and then covered with top soil and was
immediately sown with grass seed.
The job done, now we awaited the rain and we’re still waiting 6 months hence.
Taking a lead from our other recently cleaned out ponds we added stones to create a firm base.
Five months on and the 2011/12 drought is borne out by the low winter rainfall and the struggle to naturally fill the pond.
Remarkably over the weekend of the 28th and 29th of April 2012 a deluge of 30mm of rain topped the pond up to the shelf on the subsoil level. It may fill even more as the wood is fairly well flooded.