An adventuresome group of four (that’s us three ‘girls’ and Stanley the dog) had a delightful return trip to Grafham Water yesterday courtesy of the new ‘bus-on-demand’ service named Ting.
Once you’ve booked your journey by app or by phone the bus can be tracked in real time so you know exactly when it’s going to arrive, and ours was on time and hosted by two very friendly Ting staff, driver Lisa accompanied by very helpful Dave.
Excellent service
We were picked up at 10am and dropped at Grafham Visitor Centre, had a lovely walk to Perry for lunch at the pub, then returned to Grafham village to be picked up at 3pm.
Read all about Ting and how to make use of this great new service in the article on this website:
Things are hotting up as we get ready for the second Gidding Christmas Cornucopia which promises to live up to its name with a wide and varied range of craftspeople, offering different and unique goods.
There will be gorgeous woven willow animals, cards, ornaments, handmade pens, art, children’s craft, crochet, recycled furniture, hand painted silk scarves, felt brooches, storage bags, equestrian items, socks – everyone loves new socks at Christmas! – bird boxes (to ensure the Christmas robin has somewhere to stay,) and ceramics, almost all made locally.
And when you’re tired of shopping, take the weight off and treat yourself to a cuppa and a slice of cake in the Cornucopia Cafe. You can enter the raffle, too, with the chance to win a fantastic Christmassy hamper or try your luck on the tombola.
Covid restrictions observed
It promises to be a really fun afternoon, with all Covid restrictions observed of course and the chance to catch up with friends and neighbours in a convivial atmosphere.
So round up the family and get ready to tick all those presents off your Christmas list on Saturday 27 November from 2.00 to 5.00pm.
Cash is best
PS As we have such a poor signal in the Village Hall which makes online transactions hard to do, best bring cash or cheque to make your purchases.
As we prepare for next month’s extravaganza, we need help with one of the Gidding Cornucopia’s most popular attractions……the tombola.
If you have a stash of ‘stuff’ that you just don’t know what to do with……unused presents, gadgets, toys, ornaments, etc. etc………why not donate them as tombola prizes?
All you need do is call or email Deni (01832 293240 denidarke27@gmail.com) to arrange drop-off or collection of anything you can spare to swell the number of tombola prizes.
We hope you can help us raise funds in support of village and community causes.
And we hope to see you at the Gidding Christmas Cornucopia on Saturday, 27 November for what promises to be a fun get-together with plenty of Christmas retail opportunities!
WHEN: Friday 22nd October, between 13.20 and 14.20 hours
The ting bus is visiting Great Gidding so we all have chance to see what this new on demand transport service is all about before it launches on Monday.
Come along, there will be handouts and a chance to chat to one of the drivers too.
Background – Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority is trialling a new demand responsive transport system called ting. Instead of running to a fixed timetable, you can now book trips across West Hunts using the ting trips app, or the booking line, when you need them. Once you have booked your journey, it will tell you how long until your bus arrives and where it will meet you so you can hop on board. You can track it live too. You can head over to www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and-offers/east/Tingfor all the information.
Gidding Christmas Cornucopia, 2.00pm – 5.00pm Saturday November 27th 2021, Great Gidding Village Hall.
Mark your diaries – it’s time to start your Christmas shopping.
Entry is FREE and there’s going to be over 20 crafts and gifts stall holders and all are busy lovingly creating their products and preparing their wares ready for the 27th November. Here are just some of the beautiful items that will be on sale…
Enjoy cakes and coffee too!!
Christmas Cornucopia Café will be open all afternoon for delicious homemade cakes, coffee and tea.
Sue Shepherd and Mary Read are delighted to announce that last Sunday’s Gidding Garden Party raised the marvellous amount of £400 to give directly to The Green Backyard allotment project in Peterborough.
Sue Shepherd adds “As members of the PCC we were very aware of the Church’s ongoing need to raise money. Despite this we all felt that perhaps this time the Church could reach out and give rather than take and that just maybe we the PCC as representatives of the Church could do something that would be of benefit to our community and at the same time help those much less fortunate that us i.e. the Green backyard.
We were overwhelmed by the generosity of our Great Gidding friends and neighbours. It would be good if future events could continue in this vein of giving and sharing.
Many thanks to everyone who helped by coming along to the event and by contributing cakes, plants, donations, time and effort”.
Christmas Cornucopia ’21 is set to be another fabulous event in which to buy wonderful Christmas presents made by our talented local community. Taking place in Great Gidding Village Hall from 2pm until 5pm and complete with cafe serving coffee, tea and yummy cakes.
Save the date
Make sure to put the date November 27th in your calendar now and watch this space for more details!
Our Harvest Festival service last Sunday was the first at which the congregation could sing, albeit still wearing masks, for nearly eighteen months. The church was beautifully decorated, and thanks to all who did the decoration. The service was made up of hymns and readings, and taken by Revd Fiona Brampton. The readers were Mary Read, Sue Shepherd, Sylvia Hogg and John De Val. The only thing missing was the sound of the church bells. Hopefully they will be heard again in the not too distant future.
Garden Party at Crown Cottage
After the service, there was an opportunity for the village to come together at a Garden Party at Crown Cottage, organized by the Parochial Church Council. A special thanks to Sue and David for providing such a splendid setting. Proceeds after expenses will be given to The Green Backyard, a community allotment project in Peterborough. We were delighted to welcome a couple of members of the charity, who shared their ambitions for the future with us.
Thank you to everyone who came along and supported this delightful event – even the sun shone on us!
Services at St Michael’s Church
Now a sense of normality is returning to everyday life, this is reflected in services at St Michael’s Church. As many of you will know, we have taken the opportunity to re-assess the pattern of services, and these come into full effect in September.
Tuesday 7th September at 8.30am Morning Prayer
Tuesday 14th September at 8.30am Morning Prayer
Sunday 19th September at 4pm Evensong
Tuesday 21st September at 8.30am Holy Communion
Tuesday 28th September at 8.30am Morning Prayer
In September, we are re-introducing the monthly weekday service of Holy Communion, which takes place on the 3rd(third) Tuesday of every month. Please note that effective from this month, all Tuesday services will start at the slightly later time of 8.30am
Gidding resident and artist Geoff Goddard has sent us the fifth one of his beautiful paintings in the series called ‘Autumn Lights’ which at 90cm x 60cm is the largest painting so far. The location is in the field just behind Alconbury brook from Great Gidding, accessed from Luddington Road.
We had a fleeting visitor to Great Gidding on Tuesday, a cormorant, which was first reported outside the end bungalow in Mill Road and then walked and flew down Main Street. Late morning today there were again a number of sightings in Main Street. Eventually, the bird was standing in the road outside the Village Hall whereupon it was later captured and taken into care for its own safety.
Photo: Laura
Photo: Laura
Photo: Lesley
A few cormorant facts!
Cormorants originally used to be a seabird frequenting the cliffs around the British Isles and Northern Europe; although in recent years they have moved inland, possibly because of declining fish stocks around our coasts. They nest in colonies in trees, locally there are colonies at Little Paxton Nature Reserve with currently about 50 nests. They also nest on the Ouse & Nene Washes, Holme and other places in Cambridgeshire, birds often fly out from the colonies to feed in lakes, particularly those that hold good quantities of fish.
Cormorants are difficult to love, seen up close they are quite reptilian in features having a very sharp hooked beak as Graham, from The Waterfowl Sanctuary, and myself can testify. Cormorants have been persecuted by man in the past because of the adverse effects they are thought to have on fish stocks. They are a protected species under the Wildlife & Countryside Act, but they can be shot under licence to ‘prevent serious damage’ but only after other methods have been, ‘tried and failed’. Cormorants normally feed entirely on fish, obtained during the day by diving from the surface, using their feet to propel themselves under water their wings are held close to their bodies; they stay underwater from 15 – 60 seconds down to depths of up to 9 metres. Most prey is brought to the surface often shaken and thrown in the air before swallowing. After fishing, cormorants have a very unusual habit of sitting on posts with their wings stretched out to dry their feathers.
Baby Conrad
How did Conrad (or Cormorant Strike as he has also been called) finish up in Main Street? It is difficult to know if it is a he or she, but it is definitely a juvenile bird, (light coloured breast feathers) it will not get its all dark feathers for a year. So my theory is that it is “a baby bird” (or at least a teenager) newly away from its parents; taking those first few tentative steps (or flights in this case) away from home. We have had some bad spells of weather recently and it may have downed the bird and it has not been able to feed as there is no suitable habitat nearby, any local goldfish or Koi may have had a narrow escape.
The Waterfowl Sanctuary
Graham is currently feeding our Gidding cormorant some recently thawed roach that he has obtained from a fishing bait shop in Huntingdon; he will keep up us updated as to progress. Graham came out very quickly although strictly speaking he deals with waterfowl, ducks geese, swans etc. His website is here https://www.thewaterfowlsanctuary.co.uk/ and he is very deserving of donations towards his work.
Cormorants have been recorded living up to 20 years old, so let’s hope Graham can get the bird’s strength up and can return it to the wild at a suitable location.
