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
Evensong now starts at 4pm throughout the year.
Mike Keck
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.
Fabulous work Geoff!
View Geoff’s other Autumn Light paintings
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.
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.
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.
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.
Terry Murfitt
This beautiful flowering cherry tree was planted in the Jubilee Wood in October 2014, firstly in memory of Lois Jordan and secondly to thank Lois for all her efforts to make life in the Giddings such a joy.
For twelve years Lois carried out the duties of Church Warden and her grave may be seen in the grounds of St Michael’s Church, Great Gidding. Her lovely smile and her kindness to all are missed by many residents.
Great Gidding artist Geoff Goddard has sent the latest painting of Ashlea, once again set near the bridle path off Luddington Road.
Geoff is pleased to accept commissions and people can contact him at mail@geoffgoddard.co.uk and at his website http://geoffgoddard.co.uk. View Geoff’s other paintings of Ashlea on our previous post.
The rubbish bin that was situated on the crossroads opposite the shop was previously emptied by a volunteer.
The Parish Council will apply to Huntingdonshire District Council to replace this bin and also request that the District Council empties this on a regular basis in the future.
In the mean time there are waste bins outside the School and opposite the Fox and Hounds that are emptied by the District Council. There is also a dog waste bin at Chapel End Pond that is being managed by volunteers.
Robin’s funeral service will be held on Monday, 15 March, 2021 at 2.00p.m. at St. Michael’s Church, Great Gidding.
Sadly, Covid regulations restrict numbers attending the service to 30.
However, if you would like to show your appreciation for one of Gidding’s great characters, you will be able to do so on the day as Robin’s journey to the church will be preceded by a final circuit of the village he so loved and where he spent his entire life.
Starting at approximately 1.40p.m., first passing Flittermere Gate, the hearse will travel from the Glatton end of the village, down Main Street, then up Chapel End, Mill Road and back to Main Street before arriving at St. Michael’s.
Gill wants to thank everyone for their very kind words, emails and notes of support. She is extremely grateful for your kindness and hopes that as many people as possible will take a moment to pause and pay their respects, either standing by your gate or at the roadside, as the hearse passes by.
If you would like to make a donation in Robin’s memory you can do so through Crowson’s Funeral Directors or direct to the charity.
All donations received will go to support the work of The Air Ambulance Service
A few photos taken during the winter lockdown. The weather and scenery kind of convey the current mood I think!
(Paul Crank)
