Discovering Wisbech issue 061, May 2023

Welcome to your May issue...

Here we are once more – summer around the corner, lawns trimmed, barbecues brushed down … and teenagers mumbling and stumbling from one extra revision class to the next, nervously counting down the days before the exam onslaught begins. Let us all, (especially parents of these chilled youngsters who are about to morph into something so challenging and unpredictable, almost overnight), just remember that we’ve all come through, relatively unscathed … and so can they. Let’s just keep providing the calm harbour, from which they are soon to set sail, wherever their future may take them.

In the meantime, let us all enjoy the Coronation of King Charles III on Saturday May 6th – a truly memorable occasion for us all! Claire

May 6th will see the Coronation, the first such event in Britain for seventy years.

If like me you have not yet received your official invitation to Westminster Abbey (don’t know what happened there) you will more than likely watch all or at least some of it on television along with millions of others around the World.

I quite like a bit of pageantry and am a sucker for marching bands but for all those who aren’t but are forced to watch the Coronation of King Charles III with their families, then may I suggest they indulge themselves in a game of ‘spot the guest’.

Eagle-eyed observers are encouraged to identify the least known guest or alternatively the most unexpected leading to comments such as ‘What is he/she/they doing there?’

Wherever you witness the event, I am sure most of you will be watching a Coronation for the first time, so sit back and enjoy a piece of history...

4 The Potting Shed

12 .... CAP: Cost of Living

13 ..... Wisbech Town Council

14 .... Diamond Byte

16 ..... Whitings LLP

19 FACT: Community Travel

20 March Podiatry

23 .... Local Clubs and Groups

24 ... Steve Barclay

25 .... RSPCA: Open Day

26 .... Light Cinema

28 Curious Facts

29 The Fenland History Society

Account Manager

Paula Kirtland: 07903 776211

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Publisher and Sales Claire Saberton

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Editor Andy Hurst: editor.march@discoveringmagazines.co.uk

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Discovering Magazines, PO Box 164, Bourne PE10 1ET

30 ... King Charles III's Quiz

31 ..... Directory

With thanks to:

Diamond Byte, Whiting LLP, March Podiatry, Steve Barclay, Chris Donald, Bridget Hunter and Lin Stanton

Discovering Wisbech is published by a local team and is not associated with any other business. Care is taken to ensure that the content and information is correct at the time of going to press; however, we cannot take any responsibility for loss, damage or omission caused by any errors. Permission must be granted to reproduce, copy or scan anything from this publication. For a copy of our contributors’ guidelines please email info@ discoveringmagazines.co.uk.

May can bring a mixture of weather, so be prepared for late frosts, making sure that seedlings are hardened off before planting and protecting them once planted. A cheap way to protect tender young plants is to use “bottle cloches”, (simply cut down a two-litre plastic drinks bottle); they are useful for protecting young runner beans and peas. When watering young plants and seedlings, it is better to water less frequently but more thoroughly as this gets down to the roots. If you water lightly, it may only wet the surface of the soil and the roots may be encouraged to stay near the surface where they are more likely to suffer from drought damage.

If the weather is warmer, make sure you hoe regularly to keep weeds at bay. Also, the bugs will be out in force; the sooner you spot the problem the better, to stop them getting to plague proportions. There is no way to get rid of all these pests but there are commercial insecticides both organic and chemical. Here are some organic methods to get rid of aphids:

• Stir together 2 pints of water, 1 tsp of washing-up liquid and a pinch of cayenne pepper and spray on your plants.

• Peppermint, spearmint, and pennyroyal naturally deter aphids and ants, so plant (or put them in pots) throughout the vegetable plot.

• Plant flowers that attract the pest predators, such as marigolds and nasturtiums

To maximise your space for growing fruit and vegetables, try:

1) Intercropping – sowing two crops in the same

row, one slow and one fast growing. Fast growing crops include Oriental salad leaves, lettuces, radishes, spring onions, spinach, and spring-planted shallots. Slow growers are parsnips, sweetcorn, tomatoes, leeks, winter cabbage, cauliflower, sprouting broccoli and Brussels sprouts.

2) Catch Cropping –sowing a fast- growing crop in the brief period a plot might be empty. Other jobs to do this month include:

• Earth up potatoes – when the leaves are about 20cm tall, draw up the earth on either side to form a ridge approx. 15cms high: this will protect the foliage from frost and stop the tubers going green.

• Cover carrots with netting to stop carrot fly damage.

• Put up bean and pea supports.

• Pick flowers off new strawberries to prevent them cropping in their first year.

• Seeds to sow out this month are too numerous to list, but a few include carrots, beetroot, French beans, lettuce, spring onions, salad leaves and peas.

• Try “succession sowing” a small batch of seeds every two or three weeks and you should have a steady supply rather than a glut: it will also help to maximise your chances of successful germination.

• Indoors, you can sow chillies, courgettes and squashes, runner beans, sweetcorn, aubergines, and cabbages.

Now, let’s hope for some good weather for growing and planting: enjoy!

Blinds in Har mony For all your Blinds, Awnings and Curtains

Westbrook Window Repairs say Thank You for Local Support

Westbrook Window Repairs would like to thank their loyal customers for the amazing support shown to them during bleak times.

The business officially opened in May 2019. Tom Westbrook, the man behind the company, had more than twenty-five years’ experience in the trade before embarking on this new challenge.

SPECIAL OFFER 20% OFF When 2 or more vertical blinds are purchased!

Conservatory blinds • INTU blinds (no screws used) • Black-out blinds

Vertical / Roller / Pleated / Roman blinds • Venetian blinds, Wood and Aluminium

Tom explains: “I’ve always dreamed of running my own business and still to this day feel overwhelmed by the support received from local customers.”

Tom has always been a big believer in repairing wherever possible. Often to the surprise of many customers, Tom can complete lots of different aspects of repair work, saving them the expense of buying new.

Fly screens

• Motorisation and child safety devices availab le on all blinds

Fly screens • Awnings and Canopies • Made to measure and Handm ade Curtains

Tom loves running his own business and especially enjoys meeting people and helping with any job big or small. From repairing draughty letter boxes, changing locks, hinges, and glass to replacing a house full of windows or fitting a stylish new door he is always happy to provide a free no obligation quote.

Come & visit our showroom at 15 Market Place, Whittlesey, PE7 1AB

Opening Hours: Tuesday to Friday 10.00am to 4.00pm and Saturday 10.00am to 1.00pm

Telephone 0800 028 2942 or 01733 840258 • enquiries@blindsinharmony.co.uk Visit us at ww w.blindsinharmo n y.co.u k

Tom and his wife Suzanne are very grateful to the customers that have supported their growing business over the last two-and-a-half years. They are looking to the future and excited about what the future holds for the developing business. If you would like further information about how Westbrook Window Repairs can help please call them on 01354 653445 and follow them on Facebook.

• DOMESTIC and COMMERCIAL

Cost of Living

64% of communities in East of England see an increase in poverty

Christians Against Poverty (CAP), Centenary Church March and Wisbech Baptist Church are encouraging people in the East of England to join the fight against poverty, as rising costs continue to have a devastating impact on local communities across the area and region.

YouGov polling shows 64% (3.2 million) of adults in the East of England have seen an increase in poverty in their local area and 88% (4.3 million) think it’s important more is done to tackle the problem. But many charities fighting poverty are facing funding struggles at a time when the cost-of-living crisis is driving increasing demand for their help.

East of England-based churches, in partnership with Christians Against Poverty, are collectively helping thousands of people to break free from poverty across the region with more than 2100 people becoming debt-free following their help. Centenary Church March and Wisbech Baptist Church are churches working hard on the frontline to offer face-to-face help to people in Fenland.

CAP’s latest YouGov poll shows poverty is on the rise in local communities across the UK and I’m certainly seeing people suffering here in Fenland due to rising costs and low incomes. Almost half of adults (2.2 million)

in the East of England have gone without heat at some point this winter. It’s likely to get worse unless we all play our part.

That is why Christians Against Poverty is launching a new campaign asking people to join the fight against poverty's stranglehold on our local communities.

To tackle poverty head on in 2023, we are asking politicians, energy providers, utilities companies, local organisations and individuals to all unite with the aim of ending UK poverty. We’ve come up with a number of simple ways you can join the fight against poverty here in Fenland and also across the UK. How to play your part

Discover: Learn more about the issues around poverty and how you can join the fight through following CAP on our social media channels, we’re on Twitter @CAPuk, Facebook @CAPuk, and Instagram @capuk_org

Connect: Whether you’re a local organisation, business or an individual, Centenary Church

in March and Wisbech Baptist Church would love to connect with you and have an informal chat about how you can play a part in tackling poverty in our area. Contact us via email linstanton@capuk.org if you’d be interested in helping us to help others.

Christians Against Poverty (CAP) is a UK charity working with more than 800 affiliated churches to deliver debt help, budgeting guidance, support to find work, life skills groups and more. Visit capuk.org to find out more.

By Lin Stanton Centre Manager for Fenland CAP

PHILIP AT DIAMOND BYTE

MALEVOLENT MALVERTISING

Most browsers, websites and Apps use push notifications as a form of marketing and in general these ‘Allow Website Notifications’ are fine as they simply let web developers notify users when new content is posted. However, over the last few years, criminals have been misusing these notifications to hide malware, a tactic known as ‘malvertising.’

Malvertising works when users open a website with Allow Website Notifications and are faced with a pop-up asking for permission to display notifications. If users agree, their choices are saved in browser options and criminals are then able to continually feed them with unwanted ads. These intrusive ads can in turn lead to malicious websites and can even run scripts that install malware. Some sites ask to ‘enable notifications, otherwise content will not be displayed.’ When the user declines, the pop-up keeps appearing until the website is closed. These notifications to display content are merely trying to trick users into clicking ‘Allow.’

Even with an adblocker installed, malicious push notifications can still get through as I have seen on many of my customers’ computers.

Typical signs that the push notifications you are getting are malicious are:

• Ads appear in places where they shouldn’t, e.g. your desktop, even when the browser is closed.

• Websites you used to visit are now not displaying properly, or you are redirected to another address.

• You get pop-ups which advertise fake software or updates, or warnings that you are infected, followed by prompts to install a specific clean-up tool (DON’T!).

• Apps and programs are installed on your PC that you don’t remember installing.

Don’t worry, they can be removed:

Google Chrome – go to Settings by clicking on the vertical three

dots, then scroll down to Site Settings and click, then click on notifications, then block all or some sites from sending you notifications.

Microsoft Edge – go to settings by clicking on the horizontal three dots, then on the left-hand menu click on Cookies and Site Permissions, now scroll down on the right hand side to Notifications and untick Ask Before Sending, this will block them all.

Mozilla Firefox – click on Options from the drop-down menu, then choose Privacy & Security from the list at the top left. Scroll down until you come to Permissions, click on the Settings button for notifications and you can see all the websites you allowed pop-ups from.

Finish by scanning your PC and cleaning it up with professional anti-malware software. To prevent infections with malicious push notifications, be cautious. Keep the list of websites from which you accept push notifications short and NEVER go online unprotected.

FOR THIS AND ALL OUR OTHER ARTICLES, GO TO WWW.DIAMONDBYTE.CO.UK

VAT – DIY Housebuilding!

Keith Day

Among many post-pandemic trends has been a rise in DIY housebuilding. A quick tour of Wisbech and district reveals selfbuilds in a variety of locations as individuals and their families aim to realise their dream.

The DIY Housebuilders’ Scheme is a tax refund mechanism for people who build, or arrange to have built, a house in which they intend to live. It also includes the conversion of commercial property into a house or houses.

The scheme effectively levels the playing field placing DIY housebuilders on equal footing with commercial housebuilders who offer new properties but are zero-rated.

As it is an HM Revenue & Customs claim scheme, there are four principle conditions.

• Naturally, the first is for evidence of planning permission which must be submitted with a claim.

• The’ builder’ or a relative must live in the finished home for residential or holiday purposes.

• The claim must be supported by all original invoices.

• Only a single claim can be made and it must be within three months of the work being completed.

Legislation is planned by HMRC – no pun intended - to digitise the DIY Housebuilders’ Scheme and simultaneously extend the time limit for making claims from three to six months. For the time being, it remains three months from completion of the building work. Claim too early, you may miss out on recovering some of the VAT.

The list itself is limited and claims cannot include

• Services –architect and surveyors fees.

• Planning fees, consultancy and design fees.

• Hire of tools and plant.

Do talk to us before you start your project – it could save you money in the long term. Contact our Wisbech office in The Crescent.

Information on which this article is based is correct at the time of publishing. Any updates are available on our website: whitingsllp.co.uk

FACT: Your Community Transport

Following a successful grant application from the ‘Know Your Neighbour Fund’ our Mobile Community Hub will be visiting villages in the coming months. Onboard will be information on our services, refreshments, Wi-Fi and we are working together with other organisations to help combat social isolation.

Dial a Ride is our pre-bookable scheduled service operating throughout the Fenland area providing a door-to-door timetable/route service for individual people unable to utilise conventional public transport services. Free if you hold a Cambridgeshire County Council bus pass. You must be a FACT member to use this service – at just £10 a year.

Dial a Car is a pre-bookable, paid for service which can be used by members who have no access to transport services. This service is predominantly for medical appointments but can be used for you to visit friends, relatives and holidays etc.

Group Bookings – our vehicles are available to local community groups/non-profit organisations

whose activities relate to social welfare, recreation, cultural or similar purposes. You must be a member of FACT to use this service and the cost of annual membership is £15. The Community Garden, Community Fridge (Mon & Fri 10am-12noon), Make & Mend – Weds 2pm-4pm & Saturday 10am -12pm) and Swap Shop are all based at the FACT Office, 5 Martin Avenue, March.

We have lots more to come at FACT and are always looking for volunteers to help improve our community. For further information on any of our services, please call (01354) 661234 or email hub@cotransport.org

Toenail reconstruction is a cosmetic or medical procedure performed by a podiatrist. We use a specialist gel that is layered either directly onto the nail or nail bed if no nail is present due to trauma or surgery. This is suitable for both men and women, with the option of a natural looking finish or gloss finish. This procedure creates a brand-new nail or covers unsightly or misshapen nails so that the nail is more aesthetically pleasing. This is perfect to disguise unsightly nails due to fungal infections, or damage to the nail bed.

This means that you can still have lovely looking feet for your holiday or special occasion and flaunt your feet in style. Nail reconstruction is not a permanent solution. The length of time that the nail reconstruction lasts will vary from person to person.

The new nail will generally last between four and six weeks but can last longer depending on how much of the nail is damaged; after this time, the reconstructed nail is removed and a new one can be reapplied.

A reconstructed toenail may be treated in exactly the same way you would treat a normal nail, meaning you can apply nail varnish and use a nail varnish remover.

Contact us now on 01354 651200 for more information about how we can help your damaged, ugly nails look beautiful again!

Lyncroft Care Home

Our family, caring for yours

Lyncroft Care Home provides the kind of care we’d want all of our loved ones to receive. Our newly refurbished home is beautifully furnished, whilst retaining a warm family atmosphere that makes Lyncroft feel extra special. If you’re concerned about how your relative is coping and would like them to have more support, Lyncroft provides family-led care in a luxurious and homely environment.

• Fisherman’s Arms Pub

• Bistro Café

• Hair and pamper salon

• Tailored meaningful activities

• Daily Fine Dining

• Luxury en-suite bedrooms

For more information about life at Lyncroft Care Home contact Customer Relations Advisor Mel Cushen on 07563 022 290 or email mel.cushen@countrycourtcare.com

01945 475 229

81 Clarkson Avenue, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, PE13 2EA

www.countrycourtcare.com

Wisbech u3a is an organisation which aims to meet the social, recreational and creative needs of those no longer in full-time employment. We meet on the 2nd Thursday of the month in St Peter’s Church Hall, Wisbech at 2-30pm. We have lots to offer you so please come along and find out for yourself. www.u3asites.org.uk/wisbech

Friends of Wisbech & Fenland Museum hold monthly talks at Wisbech Public Library. For further details, please see Facebook Friends of Wisbech and Fenland Museum, www.wisbechmuseum.org.uk or email: friendsofwisbechmuseum@outlook.com

Fenland Archaeological Society (FenArch)

Monthly talks and meetings at The Secret Garden, Mile Tree Lane, PE13 4TR Facebook https://m.facebook.com/FenArch/ Website https://www.fenarch.org.uk

Wisbech Yoga Club

Meets at Trinity Methodist Church on Mondays 7pm-8.15pm and Wednesdays at Elm Primary School or Emneth Central Hall 7pm-8.15pm. For availability contact Peter on 07905 601585 or email: pabamullins206@ntlworld.com

Wisbech and District Flower Club

Meets every third Monday of the month at St Peter's Hall Wisbech from 7.30pm

Please call Yvonne on 01954 581360 for more information

TIME TO SPRING INTO ACTION...

By Steve Barclay MP

Now the clocks have changed and Easter is behind us, looking ahead to May and the long weekend of the King’s coronation, it finally feels like the dark days of winter are behind us and we’re heading closer to summer. Spring is one of the best times in the constituency as we see nature come into its own and new growth. As always, it has been a busy month. Wisbech Town Cricket and Hockey Club has just days left before its fundraising deadline of May 9th to support the new astroturf pitch. Raising £20,000 will allow the club to access another £10,000 pledged by Sport England Places and Spaces. Already, £375,000 has been raised to lay a new shock pad, sand-dressed playing surface, LED floodlights, spectator area and perimeter fence. But more money is needed for maintenance equipment, dugouts and replacement goals. See https://www. crowdfunder.co.uk/p/wtchc-pitch-refurbishment

Residents also have until May 12th to have their say about the future of healthcare in the constituency as part of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Integrated Care System’s new short survey on its draft Joint Forward Plan. Last October, more than 2300 people shared their views about local health and care services as part of the Let’s Talk: Your Heath and Care initiative, which helped shape the ICS’s Health & Wellbeing Integrated Care Strategy. The draft plan sets out how the ICS will deliver and improve health and care services over the next five years.

Feedback collected during Anglian Water and Cambridge Water’s first round of consultation on a £2 billion plan for a new reservoir between Chatteris and Wimblington has been published https://www.fensreservoir.co.uk/.../Fens-reservoir

More than 550 people attended events, and almost 350 made submissions about the scheme, which is designed to supply 250,000 homes with water. Over the coming months, the Anglian Water and Cambridge Water team will be working on the design of the reservoir, including the height, how it will be accessed, and conducting wildlife and ecological surveys to inform environmental assessments. There is lots of work to do to address

some of the concerns of local residents, in particular those with homes and businesses directly affected, and I remain concerned at the length of time those affected will have to live with uncertainty impacting their lives. I have raised this with the relevant business representatives and will continue to make this case in the weeks and months ahead. Meanwhile, although I appreciate not everyone will wish to delve into the technical detail regarding the flaws in the Wisbech incinerator proposal, I have shared my ten-page submission to the Planning Inspector, prepared in conjunction with a leading expert in environmental issues relating to waste incineration projects. I remain in no doubt that this is a deeply flawed scheme. The problems with the proposal I set out in my initial twelve-page report including the impacts from traffic congestion, visual impact, air pollution and proximity to local schools, etc, still apply but I also wanted to set out more detailed environmental analysis which further illustrates at a more technical level the flaws in this proposal.

Access to fast, reliable broadband is an essential part of modern life so it’s great news that the Government’s Project Gigabit has awarded a major contract to upgrade Cambridgeshire’s hard-to-reach areas to CityFibre. The project, which will take five years and deliver gigabitcapable connections to about 45,000 rural homes and businesses in the area, is worth £69 million. The contract, one of the first, will unlock a further £53 million commercial investment from CityFibre to expand its network to another 170,000 premises. In the constituency CityFibre has already invested £5 million in March, where the primary build is complete and thousands of homes now have access to speeds more than thirty times faster than superfast broadband, and another £3 million in Whittlesey, where work is currently underway. Digital connectivity is important to support economic growth and innovation as well as for entertainment, keeping in touch with friends and family, or working from home so I’m very pleased the rural hard-to-reach are being targeted to ensure no one gets left behind in the gigabit broadband upgrade.

MAY AT THE MOVIES

Get the mix tapes ready; the gang is back with some new members! Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will be giving us another adventure on May

3rd. Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), still reeling from the loss of Gamora (Zoe Saldaña), must rally his team around him to defend the universe as well as protecting one of their own. A mission that, if not completed successfully, could quite possibly lead to the end of the Guardians as we know them.

Racing its way to our screens for the final chapter on May 19th is Fast X. Over many missions and against impossible odds, Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his family have outsmarted, out-nerved, and outdriven every foe in their path. Now, they confront the most lethal opponent they’ve ever faced: a terrifying threat emerging from the shadows of the past who’s fuelled by blood revenge, and who is determined to shatter this family and destroy everything and everyone that Dom loves, forever. In 2011’s Fast Five, Dom and his crew took out nefarious Brazilian drug kingpin Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida) and decapitated his empire on a bridge in Rio De Janeiro. What they didn’t know was that Reyes’ son, Dante (Jason Momoa), witnessed it all and has spent the last twelve years masterminding a plan to make Dom pay the ultimate price. Which has left us all wondering how will this end?

With a thirst for adventure, we have The Little Mermaid on May 26th. Ariel (Halle Bailey), a beautiful and spirited young mermaid, the youngest of King Triton’s (Javier Bardem) daughters – and the most defiant – longs to find out more about the world beyond the sea. While visiting the surface, she falls for the dashing Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King). But mermaids are forbidden to

interact with humans, and Ariel must follow her heart... She makes a fateful deal with the evil sea witch, Ursula (Melissa McCarthy), giving her a chance to experience life on land but ultimately placing her life – and her father’s crown – in jeopardy.

Eurovision 2023 at The Light

For the first time EVER, the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final show will be broadcast LIVE into cinemas across the UK, allowing fans to come together and be ‘united by music’ sharing in the incredible experience of celebrating the biggest, brightest, boldest music party of the year on the big screen! Hosted this year in Liverpool by the BBC on behalf of Ukraine to a global audience of more than 160 million, the 67th Eurovision Grand Final will take place on Saturday, May 13th. Here at The Light, we are very proud to show our support – and will be bringing some very special guests to help you enjoy the night of your life!

NT Live’s blistering political thriller: Best of Enemies, filmed live in London’s West End, screens on May 18th. It’s 1968 America, and while two men fight to become the next president, all eyes are on the battle between two others: the cunningly conservative William F. Buckley Jr., and the unruly liberal Gore Vidal. During a new nightly television format, they debate the moral landscape of a shattered nation. As beliefs are challenged and slurs slung, a new frontier in American politics is opening and television news is about to be transformed forever. Starring David Harewood (Homeland) and Zachary Quinto (Star Trek).

More blockbuster films coming your way include: The Flash, Barbie, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

Book your tickets and find out more by heading over to wisbech.thelight.co.uk

The Little Mermaid

Fast X Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

NT Live: Best of Enemies

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Interesting and Curious Facts of Yesteryear

Unusual, fascinating and sometimes amusing, by the author of ‘Wisbech’s Secret Princess’, Chris Donald

THE POLITICIAN AND THE MAN FROM WISBECH

Two men from different backgrounds, one wealthy and the other not so wealthy. They were to come together and change the lives of many. The POLITICIAN was William Wilberforce and the MAN from WISBECH was Thomas Clarkson.

William was born in 1759 into a wealthy family and Thomas just one year later, his father being headmaster of Wisbech Grammar School. They both lost their fathers at an early age. William was nine years old and Thomas was only six, and they both studied at Cambridge University. William was to become a politician and Thomas a vicar. Thomas gained a degree and became a dean. William got a degree too, but whist still a student he became an MP for Hull. This sounds impossible and wouldn’t happen today but, in those days, politics was very different to what it is now.

Parliament was completely undemocratic. In Wilberforce’s time only four percent of the population could vote and they were principally landowners and men of wealth. Politics was unjust and riddled with corruption. Small constituencies were run by the landowner who chose a candidate to stand as MP and larger constituencies could be bought. In some cases, those who controlled a seat would advertise it for sale in the local paper.

Wilberforce inherited wealth and was able to launch his parliamentary career at the age of twenty-one with it. And this was while he was still studying at university. He paid nearly £9000 for the borough of Hull (almost £100,000 today). He entertained the local Hull merchants and paid them just under ten guineas each for their vote. It was at this time he became very good friends with William Pitt, the younger, who was later to become Prime Minister.

He then went on to stand for the biggest constituency in the country, Yorkshire. This had twenty thousand voters, more than anywhere. He and Henry Duncombe raised more than £18,670

towards costs and although they didn’t use all of it, they managed to win the two seats.

Wilberforce had at last one of the most prestigious seats in the Government and now his friend William Pitt had become Prime Minister.

But in 1785, at the age of twenty-six Wilberforce had a spiritual conversion. He had believed in Christianity all his life, but had led a life of jollity, travelling in Europe, going to dances and the theatre, and to a certain extent, gambling. From now on he was going to have a Puritanical look on life.

And in the same year, at the age of twenty-five, Thomas Clarkson discovered the horrors of the slave trade which would haunt him for the rest of his life. And so, the stage was set. Clarkson was going round all the MPs living in London gathering support for abolishing slavery and the two men met. Wilberforce with the help of Clarkson was to spend the next twenty years campaigning for slavery to be abolished. Wilberforce had already heard about the anti-slavery campaign as the Quakers had earlier presented a bill against the trade nearly a hundred years previous. Clarkson travelled the country gathering evidence for Wilberforce. He relied quite heavily on the Quakers who would look after him, feed him and put him up for the night. In Liverpool he nearly lost his life. A gang of men were paid to kill him. Luckily, they didn’t succeed.

But, then in 1788, it seemed all would be lost. Wilberforce became ill and was too weak to attend parliament. He was violently sick, feverish, couldn’t eat and had trouble with his digestive system. His doctor gave him just a few weeks to live. The only medicine that gave him any relief was opium. But how would Thomas Clarkson get rid of slavery without William?’ What would happen to the bill abolishing slavery?, Thomas couldn’t present the bill. It needed an MP... Would all this hard work be in vain? FInd out next month!

It is the true duty of every man to promote the happiness of his fellow creatures to the utmost of his power

William Wilberforce

FENLAND FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY

By Bridget Hunter

On Coronation weekend many union flags will be flown. And I will face something that upsets me... the Union Flag being flown upside down!

If flown upside down it is a signal of distress and help is required. I served in scouting for more than fifty years and one of my tasks was to teach cubs all about our union flag and how to fly it. The union flag is made up of the three flags of the united UK nations: England, a red cross on a white background, Scotland, a white diagonal cross on a blue background, and lastly Northern Ireland a red diagonal cross on a white background.

As Scotland joined England first, the white diagonal cross is shown as the broader white cross on the flag on the hoist side of the flag. Northern Ireland’s is the narrow red cross on a narrow band of white below the broader white

cross on the hoist side of the flag. They are reversed on the fly side of the flag. If I see one upside down should I ask if they need help?

OUR COMUTER RESEARCH SESSIONS. In Wisbech Library on the FIRST TUESDAY of each month from 10am-12noon, plus, the SECOND MONDAY of each month from 11am-2.30pm at Baytree Garden Centre in Hilgay near Downham Market. We offer help with family research.

OUR MONTHLY MEETINGS. These are held in Wisbech Library from 7pm-9pm on the FOURTH Thursday of the month except August and December. On Thursday, May 25th, Alan JOHNSON will give his talk Gateway to History.

OUR SPEAKERS are available to attend groups and clubs to give talks in the local area.

For further information on any of the above please phone me on (01945) 587723.

www.wisbechtennisclub.org.uk

wtcmembership@hotmail.co.uk

Chin Up Charles Fitness taking a holistic approach to fitness focusing on movement, alongside nutrition and lifestyle habits including self-care and stress management. When you’re nourishing your body and mind you can be the best version of yourself!

Level 3 Personal Trainer and Holistic Core Restore® Coach, specialising in working with women at all stages of their life, including pelvic health, pre to post natal and peri to post menopausal.

sessions online or in person, training with a friend or a small group and classes.