Handyperson Services, mainly for people aged 60 plus

By on May 28, 2014   /   Community, Home page latest news, News stories and reports   /   Leave a comment
Tags:
Handyperson Services, mainly for people aged 60 plus

Handyperson Services complete ‘odd jobs’ around the home, mainly for people aged 60 plus.

The County Council, Cambridge City Council, district councils and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), are working together to develop a countywide Handyperson Service. To help develop this service a survey has been produced for people over 60 or with a disability, carers, professionals and organisations and groups to say what sort of handyperson service they would like to be provided. The survey is now ‘open’ and closing date for responses is 5.00pm on Monday 23rd June 2014. Below are links to the survey should these be of interest for inclusion on your website for local people to be able to share their views.

Information provided by: 
Amanda Davies, Communications Officer, ASC Personalisation, Cambridgeshire County Council

Back to Top

Watch out, watch out… there’s a Neighbourhood Watch about!

By on May 1, 2014   /   Home page latest news, News stories and reports   /   1 Comment
Tags: ,

Some good news for residents in the Giddings – Neighbourhood Watch is coming to town! Great Gidding’s Kim Wells is taking on the role of organiser and will be dropping leaflets through your door very shortly.

If you’d like to know about the scheme or get more ‘hands on’ then visit:
www.ourwatch.org.uk/your_local_area/neighbourhood_watch_schemes

Put in your postcode and all the Neighbourhood Watch groups in this area will come up. You will see ‘the Giddings’ and if you click on this it sends an email to Kim. Or you can email Kim at kimmol@.me.com and she will go through it with you.

United we stand.

Neighbourhood Watch logo

Back to Top

Spring walking

By on April 27, 2014   /   Great Gidding, Home page latest news, News stories and reports   /   1 Comment
Tags: , , , , ,
Spring walking

Spring is certainly here!

We’re even having a few dare I say it much needed April showers. But don’t let these put you off heading out for a walk, cycle or ride.

It’s amazing how pleasurable a walk in the rain can be. The whole walk can be transformed into a glorious experience, as long as you’re dressed for it & you don’t get cold.

Firstly the smell of rain on spring flowers, hedges & grasses is a delight, not to mention the sensation of it landing on your face & hands.

I was out in the rain this week & a kind lady in a car pulled up beside me & asked me if I needed a lift. She was surprised when I said I was enjoying a leg stretch in the rain!

Don’t get into the habit that you only do things when the weather is fine & sunny & to dismiss the rain or dull chilly weather as bad! This is very easily slipped into & the problem is we miss out on so much that is going on around us in our lovely countryside.

So go on, get out there & experience all weathers. It’s so exhilarating & really makes you feel alive & brings you into the present moment.

Things to look out for : Birds building nests & looking for worms, swallows newly returned from far away & dancing in our skies. Skylarks above your head singing. Cowslips, May blossom,bees working the blossoms. Cows turned out to summer grazing. Horses enjoying the spring grass, perhaps without their winter rugs & lots & lots more.

Enjoy!

Rachel

Back to Top

Great Gidding Figure Skater is Special Olympics Champion

By on April 23, 2014   /   Home page latest news, News stories and reports   /   Leave a comment
Tags:
Great Gidding Figure Skater is Special Olympics Champion

Calum Titmus (20) from Great Gidding has just come back to the UK having competed last weekend in the Austrian Special Olympics Figure Skating Championships. He competed alongside competitors from Germany, Russia, Finland, Great Britain and Austria. After two days of intensive competition, he successfully defended his title as Austrian National Special Olympics Figure Skating champion. 

This is all the more remarkable when you realise that Calum is Autistic with severe learning difficulties. 

Figure Skating as a Special Olympics sport was brought to Britain for the first time in 2012, and this year Speed Skating was added to the event. Calum entered the Speed Skating event at three distances, winning Gold in each race, and is now the first British Special Olympics Speed Skating Champion.

Great Gidding skater Calum TitmusCalum Titmus

Inclusive Skating Charity
Calum is also heavily involved with Inclusive Skating. This is a charity that is trying to set up a family orientated group at each ice rink in the UK. This group will be for anyone with any visual, hearing, bio-mechanical or learning difficulty, along with family and carers who want to learn to skate. Please look out for local fundraising events for Calum and Inclusive Skating.

Heading off to Iceland
Calum will also be one of the senior British Inclusive skaters, that is any figure skater with an impairment, heading to Reykjavik, Iceland at the end of May 2014. He will also be competing as a Special Olympian.

Calum attends Huntingdon Regional College and trains twice a week at Planet Ice in Peterborough. He also trains at the gyms in the One Leisure group and with the Piranhas Swimming Club in Huntingdon as well as the Peterborough Special Olympics Swimming Club. He represented the Eastern Region region in the National Special Olympics Games in Bath last August as a swimmer, winning a gold and silver medal.

Back to Top

Pop up Picnic

By on April 11, 2014   /   Community, Home page latest news, Jubilee Wood news   /   5 Comments
Tags: , , ,
Pop up Picnic

Social media Pop up Picnic

 

For 10 solid years we have held a midsummer picnic in the Jubilee Wood come rain or shine and the abiding memory is rain and not much shine.

This year, 2014 rather than a fixed calendar date for the “Summer Picnic” we take a view on the weather and when it looks settled for a few days ahead everybody twitters, texts, emails or facebooks (not sure how to pluralise facebooking) for a particular day or evening.

Yes not everybody will be able to come, but that happens anyway. All you need is a picnic hamper ready to roll.

We will still aim for June but the exact day will have to be determined by http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/forecast/sawtry-cambridgeshire#?tab=regionalForecast&fcTime=1390089600 .

Comments please.

Back to Top

Terry Neal

By on February 7, 2014   /   Home page latest news, News stories and reports   /   Leave a comment
Tags:
Terry Neal

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.

Directions to Peterborough Crematorium.

Back to Top

New and Old on the Rec

By on January 19, 2014   /   Community, Home page latest news, The Environment   /   1 Comment
Tags: , , ,
New and Old on the Rec

New Play Equipment

Youngsters will be delighted to try out the new play pieces on Great Gidding  Recreation Field. Some of the elements of the older play equipment are showing their age so the Parish Council and the Recreation Field committee sought out some funding and quotes for replacement items which have now been installed and judging by the muddy grass have been thoroughly tested.

Particular thanks to Councillor James for her work in sourcing the funding and quotes to get the play equipment updated.

 

Old Pavilion Demolished

The wooden pavilion has been taken down for safety reasons, the upkeep and maintenance were considered to be prohibitive given the poor usage and the petty vandalism that occurred in recent times.  It makes it easier to decide about a replacement structure should the need arise.

I for one have enjoyed numerous sports and field activities that the pavilion afforded us not least the many barrels of beer that David Shepherd supplied for the cricket fixtures. It really was an idyllic village cricket field scene even when it rained. However things move on and hopefully a new Village Hall and Recreation Field committee will see the potential to reinstate some sort of functional building.

The remmnants of the pavillion

Back to Top
Back to Top

Parish Footpaths and Bridleways

By on December 9, 2013   /   Great Gidding, Home page latest news, News stories and reports, The Environment   /   Leave a comment
Tags:
Parish Footpaths and Bridleways

What a lovely autumn we’ve had and a gentle ease into winter

What better time than now to get out into the countryside & explore.
We are so lucky here in the Giddings to have access to so many paths & bridleways. What better way to unwind, take exercise, either alone or with company & enjoy what nature has to offer.

For both riders & walkers the bridle way start, off the Luddington road, leading to the bridge, has been resurfaced. So access along this route will now be easier through the wet months.

Click here for info on the Countryside Code

Click here to view a definitive footpath and bridleway map for Cambridgeshire

You can also report any problems along footpaths or bridle ways on this portal.

For those of you who are really keen, you could take secateurs with you & trim any overhanging brambles on route. This is extremely helpful as these grow rapidly, during the growing months.

Well enjoy the outdoors, whatever the weather!


Merry walking, cycling & riding,
Rachel

Back to Top

The view from St Michael’s Church tower

By on November 12, 2013   /   Home page latest news, News stories and reports   /   1 Comment
Tags: , , ,
The view from St Michael's Church tower

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

Back to Top