Terry passed away peacefully at home on Wednesday 5th February after a long illness.
His funeral ceremony will be held on Tuesday, 18th February at Peterborough Crematorium from 3.30pm. All are welcome to attend in order to commemorate and to celebrate Terry’s life.
Our thoughts are with Pat, Terry’s son, Andrew and all his wider family at this sad and difficult time.
Giddings teamwork is a marvellous thing and on Saturday night the ‘swing team’ had risen to the not undaunting challenge of transforming GG Village Hall into a spectacular night club redolent of the popular and vibrant era of big band swingtime. What a success! The room was transformed with swathes of translucent fabric delicately lit from behind with hundreds of tiny bulbs, with large circular tables adding to the nightclub feel.
But what’s a nightclub without music? And wowee – the 16 piece Fortissimo played ‘BIG BAND’ with such exhuberence that most folks took to the floor at some point during the evening. The beautiful voice of singer Lyn Jones – known to some of us through her GG pantomime days – took us through all of our swing favourites until sadly the evening was over far too quickly.
So many people helped with decorating the hall, preparing a lovely meal and manning the bar but special thanks must go to the core organisers Mary Read, Sue Shepherd, Jane Edwards and Anthea Keck for helping to raise funds for St Michael’s Church. You all did a great job!
Well, we’re into a very wet start to the year. So most footpaths, Bridleways & verges are sodden. Think ahead before you choose to walk, cycle or ride. It may save you some difficulty & save these surfaces from becoming completely poached up. Choose routes that are less likely to cut up. This is particularly important for riders as tracks & Bridleways take a while to recover. It also saves your horse losing shoes & walkers boots from becoming blocks of clay!
A little more care from drivers would also help our verges & gateways from becoming ruined. Narrower roads need drivers to slow down & wait as other drivers approach, rather than simply maintaining the same speed & mounting the verges. You are also less likely to get stuck & your vehicle less likely to get so dirty & your brakes to collect so much grit & dirt.
Anyway there are still plenty of lovely walks & rides to enjoy & of course places to cycle.
Last words. . . Don’t forget hi vis jackets if it’s dull or misty & of course lights. . .& you drivers!
Have Fun,
Rachel
This year’s poppy collection in Gidding raised £91.58; the district total was £4,604. Lyn Smith would like to thank everyone for donating to the street collection – the money you have given helps enable the Royal British Legion to continue its vital welfare and benevolent work.
Click here to view a definitive footpath and bridleway map for Cambridgeshire
Dear Broadband Champions,
We are delighted to inform you to that we will be celebrating the first Connecting Cambridgeshire programme green cabinets going live with superfast (fibre) broadband on Monday 25 November.
We will mark this milestone with the unveiling of a new cabinet in the rural village of Grafham. This is one of ten new cabinets going live across the county at the same time, with many more to follow in the coming months.
More details will be announced on Monday 25 November on the Connecting Cambridgeshire website, where people can see when local cabinets go live on the ‘my area’ pages and how to upgrade to superfast broadband.
We have had fantastic support from all over Cambridgeshire for the broadband programme, which has brought together local councils and our partners, working closely with our broadband champion, businesses, communities to make it happen.
We know many people have been eagerly anticipating the first phase of delivery since the signing of the contract in March – when we set the expectation that BT would start delivering fibre broadband for homes and businesses by the end of this year.
This marks the start of the roll-out. We are on track for fibre based broadband to be available to 98% of premises by the end of December 2015, which will make Cambridgeshire one of the best connected counties in the country.
We wanted you to be among the first to know and will follow this up with a Connecting Cambridgeshire Brief at the end of November.
Kind regards
Connecting Cambridgeshire team
This is taken from their website:
Great Gidding
Premises in Great Gidding are included in the Connecting Cambridgeshire programme. This means that, by the end of 2015, there will be improvements to the broadband infrastructure that will enable many homes and businesses to receive superfast broadband speeds (minimum 24Mbps)* while others will be able to receive fibre broadband speeds of between 2Mbps and 24 Mbps.
Superfast broadband is forecast to be available in your area between September and December 2015.
The scheduling for each phase depends upon the outcome of surveys and more detailed planning so we cannot be more precise until these are completed. We will be updating the website regularly as the information becomes available.
The broadband speed you will get depends on a number of factors including the length of your line from the telephone exchange or green roadside cabinet, the line quality, and the equipment and internal wiring within your premises.
Connecting Cambridgeshire is working to ensure that everyone in the Connecting Cambridgeshire programme gets as fast a speed as possible given their geographical location. Some premises may be particularly hard to reach meaning that a connection to the fibre network may not be possible. Where appropriate, alternative technology may be used to provide broadband connectivity (minimum 2Mbps). These technologies are likely to be delivered later in the roll-out – but still before the end of 2015.
Your area has a Broadband Champion, who has been helping us raise awareness of the programme and encouraging people to register their demand for superfast broadband.
Cambridgeshire Mencap is a local charity. We support children, young people and adults with learning disabilities in lots of different ways. Our services include supported living, access to enjoyable community activities and training. We also support parents and carers, providing them with information, advice on relevant issues and backup when they need a rest.
We rely on volunteers to help deliver our services and welcome those who want to make a positive difference and we are urgently seeking new volunteers at the moment.
Please contact Volunteers Support Co-Ordinator, Marika Newman if you can help. Telephone 01223 883141 or email: marika@cambridgeshiremencap.co.uk
For more information visit www.cambridgeshiremencap.co.uk
The countdown to Christmas has started, and Huntingdonshire District Council would like to encourage you all to keep the party going by remembering to recycle over the festive period. We are recycling more at home than ever before, which is great, and we don’t want it to be forgotten about during the festivities.
Christmas is a time for entertaining, which means we all have more waste to dispose of. In Huntingdonshire, we are fortunate to be able to recycle a wide range of materials within the blue bins or clear sacks, which helps us all to recycle more this Christmas. Remember to recycle all of your Christmas cards, wrapping paper (paper type only), sweet tins, and the plastic packaging from your gifts within your recycling bin. Don’t forget that all food waste, including your turkey carcass, vegetable peelings and any leftovers can be placed in your garden waste bin for composting.
Collections of all waste types will continue throughout the festive period, but your day of collection will change for a few weeks. Collection arrangements are below and you can also download your collection calendar from www.huntingdonshire.gov.uk/bins
| Normal | Change to |
|---|---|
| Monday 23 Dec | Normal |
| Tuesday 24 Dec | Normal |
| Wednesday 25 Dec | Friday 27 Dec |
| Thursday 26 Dec | Saturday 28 Dec |
| Friday 27 Dec | Monday 30 Dec |
| Monday 30 Dec | Tuesday 31 Dec |
| Tuesday 31 Dec | Thursday 2 Jan |
| Wednesday 1 Jan | Friday 3 Jan |
| Thursday 2 Jan | Saturday 4 Jan |
| Friday 3 Jan | Monday 6 Jan |
| Monday 6 Jan | Tuesday 7 Jan |
| Tuesday 7 Jan | Wednesday 8 Jan |
| Wednesday 8 Jan | Thursday 9 Jan |
| Thursday 9 Jan | Friday 10 Jan |
| Friday 10 Jan | Saturday 11 Jan |
| Alconbury | 9am – 4pm |
| Bluntisham | 8am – 4pm |
| St Neots | 8am – 6pm |
| NB. Sites close at 1pm on Christmas Eve, and are closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. | |
Find your nearest at www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/environment/recycling
Recycling Banks for clothes, textiles, DVD’s, CD’s and books are located throughout the district. Find your local bank at www.huntingdonshire.gov.uk/recyclingcentres
Avoid your blue bin being rejected for collection by keeping out black sacks and textiles
As Mary, Brian and Neville prepared St Michael’s Church bells for the Remembrance Sunday Service in Great Gidding we had a sneak view of the church tower and steeple and then out onto the parapet to see the views across the village towards Hamerton, Luddington and north towards Sawtry.
Video of view from St Michael’s Church in Great Gidding
Following the highly successful visit by Gidding residents to the Bharat Hindu Samaj Temple in June, the group visited two mosques in Peterborough last Wednesday evening.
The visit, arranged by Gidding residents, began with a tour of the Faizan e Madina Mosque guided by our very welcoming host Ansar Ali. The Faizan e Madina Mosque, purpose built in 2004, is the largest of the five mosques in Peterborough and accommodates up to 4000 people.
Faizan e Madina Mosque
We then moved on to visit the Khadijah Mosque Islamic Centre close by in Cromwell Road. Here we were invited to observe the mens evening prayer session before joining the members of the community in an evening meal. During the meal we chatted with our hosts and were able to ask many questions. The Centre welcomes visits from groups and individuals, as Ansar Ali explained, “These gatherings are designed to create mutual understanding. We also like to share a meal with our guests.”
The Giddings group found it a most interesting and rewarding evening and were all very touched by the warm and friendly welcome we received. Our thanks to Ansar Ali, his brothers and sisters.
Our hosts included: Saleha Zafar, Muzaffar Hussain, Nadeem Dar, Atiyyah Zafar, Tahir Masood, Zaheer Abbas, Ameir Usman, Ansar Ali and Fiaz Kausar.
Photos and report by Krystyna Wojcik