Paxton Post Issue 15

Issue 15

Paxton Post

November - December 2019

THE MAGAZINE FOR GREAT PAXTON

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"Our business is built around 3 things, As we care about our customers and the service we provide, this enables our business to grow from strength to strength. Over the past 38 years, our customer records have flourished, but our values remain. 'Our pride is in our promise offering the best value and customer service'�.

This is your magazine, and it needs your contributions.

All contributions to the next issue of the magazine are gratefully received. We particularly welcome: • News of village events • Photographs from the village • Private for sale adverts • Recipe ideas • Letters to the Editor • Reviews and Opinions • Anything you feel the village would be interested in.

Contributions should be sent to Simon using the details below: Email: simon@easiprintandcopy.co.uk Telephone: 01733 602302 Post: Easiprint Ltd, Unit 8 Parkhouse Ind Est, Farcet, Peterborough, PE7 3DJ

The Paxton Post is delivered to every home in Great Paxton, and advertising is available at competitive rates. Advertising is not only great local exposure for local businesses, but it also helps support this village magazine, which is a real asset to Great Paxton.

The Paxton Post is published every two months.

Our rates are: Quarter Page Mono - £ 5.00 per issue Full Page Mono - £15.00 per issue Half Page Mono - £ 8.00 per issue Full Page in Colour - £20.00 per issue Advertisements should be sent to Simon using the details below: Email: simon@easiprintandcopy.co.uk Telephone: 01733 602302 Post: Easiprint, Unit 8 Parkhouse Ind Est, Straight Drove, Farcet, Peterborough, PE7 3DJ

You adv r herert e

Green Waste Monday 4th November Monday 18th November Monday 2ⁿd December Monday 16th December Monday 30th December For more information on your bin collections, including what goes in what bin visit http://www.huntingdonshire.gov.uk/bins-waste/

Black General Waste Wednesday 13th November Wednesday 27th November Wednesday 11th December Tuesday 24th December

Recycling Waste Wednesday 6th November Wednesday 20th November Wednesday 4th December Wednesday 18th December

Paxton Post is published by Easiprint Ltd in association with Great Paxton Parish Council. It is funded by the Parish Council, with help from advertisements. Whilst every effort is made to ensure information in this publication is accurate, neither the Editor nor the Parish Council can be held responsible for any errors. The views expressed in this publication may not necessarily reflect those of the publisher or the Parish Council.

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Regular services in Holy Trinity Church.

1st Sunday of the month 9.00am Holy Communion in 1662 Prayer book language 2nd Sunday of the month 11.00am All Age Worship lasting 40 minutes family friendly and informal.

3rd Sunday of the month 11.00 am Holy Communion in contemporary words.

4th Sunday of the month 11.00 am Morning Prayer.

Vicar: Canon Annette Reed 01480 211048 canonannettereed@gmail.com Churchwardens: Mr Bob Hacking 1 Mint Lane, Great Paxton 01480 219846

On the fifth Sunday, we move a Songs of Praise around the benefice at 10.30am See the notice board by the porch for more details.

Mrs Sarah Gray, 12 Church Lane, Great Paxton 01480 214015

All – Age Worship Services for November and December 2019 Sunday 10th November – Remembrance Sunday.

A traditional service of Remembrance starting with a procession from the village green at 10.40am. The Act of Remembrance will take place around the war memorial In the churchyard at 11.00am

Tower Captain: Mrs Mary Parnham 01480 394727 MaryP2707@hotmail.com Anyone is most welcome to contact Annette with an enquiry about a wedding baptism or funeral. If you would like her to visit you, please do get in touch.

Sunday December 8th at 4.00pm Christingle with carols.

Everyone welcome to enjoy this lovely service of light and Christmas cheer. The amazing Great Paxton Anglo-Saxon preserves will also be available to buy after the service.

For regular updates and news from all of our four churches go to our benefice web-site: www.thepaxtonsbenefice.org Follow us on Facebook: @ThePaxtonsBenefice.

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Christmas Eve at 4.00pm Carols round the crib. Come early to be seated for this very popular Annual celebration of Christmas.

Other Christmas events By kind permission of Rachel and her team at The Bell Pub our Vicar plus guitar will be singing carols on Friday December 20th at 7.00pm.

Also, on Christmas Eve at 11.30pm The First Communion of Christmas

Hope lots of you can come along and share the festive spirit.

You will find a warm welcome at all of our services.

Floored!

Our vicar Annette writes:

We had known for some time that part of the pew platforms in the nave of holy trinity church were “spongy”. But we didn’t know just how bad the woodwork was underneath the floorboards until a carpenter took them up and peered inside. Due to damp coming from the huge Saxon pillar, the wooden structures on the south side of the nave floor were rotten and there was no way they could be repaired. So, with important services coming up, it was imperative that we did something quickly and not just put a fence around the dangerous area.

Thankfully, the contractors who were on site finishing off the repairs to the chancel, were able to quote to carry out comprehensive repairs and with advice from our architect, we had a new floor area within 48 hours. It cost us £920.00 which came out of our “challenged” savings account. To keep our church safe to use, we need to carry out repairs sometimes, and we are so very grateful for everyone who supports the 100 Club and gives to the church whether in time, talents and /or financially.

We now have a smart chancel roof, replastered east wall of the chancel and shining chancel windows which have been releaded and cleaned – all paid for by the Church Commissioners, apart from some extra masonry work and a copper strip on the roof.

Repair wise, the next aim is to redecorate the chancel and carry out plaster repairs in the nave. Then, in spring 20120, we shall look forward to the 5 yearly architect’s inspection.

So, grant applications will continue, but with the support of the village I’m sure we shall achieve all that we hope for.

Hoping to see lots of you over the Christmas season – and have no fears of putting your foot through a floor board!

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We meet on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday each month throughout the year, with the exception of the 3rd week in December.

choices given to Racheal at meeting on 19th November 2019.

We have a good mixture of men and women in the club and we give a warm welcome to any new people that would care to join. Just turn up on the day and enjoy a cuppa and meet new friends.

We hold our club in the Bell Pub between 11:00 – 12:30, Rachael kindly opens up for us and provides Tea/Coffee and cake for which we pay £2 each towards the Pub’s costs. We have a chat and quite often a “Denis” Quiz, which is fun as he makes them very interesting and varied subjects. We have various ‘pub’ games we play. If any member has a Birthday we give them a card from the group and sing “Happy Birthday” to them. Following our meeting on the 3rd December 2019 at 12:30, Rachael has agreed to provide us with a Christmas Lunch menu, Angela has the menus and prices and we give these out on 15th October meeting.

The meals will have to be booked and the

Congratulations to Jenny for raising £1000.00 this year for the McMillan Nurses, she is one of our members who makes homemade Jams & Marmalades for sale and holds a coffee morning in September each year.

Come along and join us, Angela, Marion & Sue

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Colour Me In

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Fiona Wynde, Dementia Friendly Officer for the Alzheimer’s Society recently gave a presentation to the Parish Council. She explained that a ‘Dementia Friendly Community’ was a place where people with dementia were understood, respected, supported and able to live in the way that they wished to. A few simple actions within the community, like changing the colour of a doormat for instance, could make such a difference and might encourage someone with dementia to visit the Community Shop, the local pub or go to Church.

To help raise awareness of the condition amongst individuals, businesses and community Groups in Great Paxton, the Parish Council decided to set up an event which they hope will encourage people to get more involved and to understand how they might contribute to the village becoming a ‘Dementia Friendly Community’. This is to take place between 7-8pm at The Bell, 50 High Street on Tuesday 12th November. Please try and find time to attend.

Good news – the Parish Council has been trying to arrange for a mobile post office to visit the village at least once a week for two hours. If this goes ahead, it will be based close to the Community Shop. The Parish Council is hopeful that the Post Office will be in touch shortly with a proposed opening date for the new service. Keep an eye on the website for the announcement of a start date - www.greatpaxton-pc.gov.uk.

Not such good news – Councillors continue to struggle to progress the project to create a cycle path from the village to St Neots as, perhaps not surprisingly, effected local landowners are not totally in support of the idea. So, to try and seek a way forward, the Parish Council has enlisted the help of both

the Cycling Projects Team at the County Council and Sustrans in the hope that they might be able to come up with an alternative and more acceptable route.

More news over the new few months.

Change is coming to the way in which street lighting energy is provided to the village.

This has previously been managed by the County Council. The County Council has given notice that they intend to withdraw this service from the end of October. So, your Councillors have been looking at alternative suppliers of energy for street lighting and will decide which energy company to opt for at their next meeting.

Research, so far, suggests that this will be an added cost to the Parish Council so it is opportune that Councillors will start to consider the budget for 2020/21 at their next meeting.

One of the most important jobs of a Parish Council is to agree a budget for the next financial year and to set a precept. This process will begin at the next meeting on 28th October and conclude at the November meeting on the 25th. Be assured that there will be other issues on the agenda to discuss at both meetings if numbers are not your thing. So, please join us at 8pm on both evenings in the Community Room, Great Paxton School.

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OLDIES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN GREENIES Oldies are often blamed for having brought this planet to the edge of environmental disaster, but it should be pointed out that we all grew up practising ‘green lifestyles’. In fact we had to in order to survive.

We didn’t drink from plastic containers, we took lemonade bottles back to the shop for a deposit, or it would be collected by the Corona man who left the filled replacements.

The same with milk, it was delivered everyday in bottles by the milkman who collected the used bottles.

Sweets were decanted from a jar and wrapped in a paper cone. Sugar was sold loose, and butter and cheese were cut from the slab and wrapped in greaseproof paper.

Rag and bone man collected items for recycling and waste food was fed to family pet or wildlife.

Christmas chicken (turkeys were an extreme luxury} had to be plucked and butchered on the kitchen table and eggs were saved for the winter months in earthenware pots.

We walked or cycled to school, and after leaving school cycled or walked to work whatever the weather or took a bus.

People didn’t have fresh clothes each day, men changed shirt collars not the whole shirt, clothes were repaired, recut, and recycled handed down one generation to another.

Heating came with winter fires, never in the summer however cold, if you were cold you wore more clothes especially sweaters and cardigans which were knitted at home, rarely bought.

Now we will have to go back to that simpler lifestyle to ensure the planet survives for future generations.

District Councillor Great Paxton ward Richard West 01480 811467 Covering Abbotsley Great Paxton Great Gransden Toseland Waresley-cumTetworth Yelling EMAIL richard.west@buckdencambs.co.uk or richard.west@huntingdonshire.gov.uk

The first half term has been full of fun, exploration and laughter for all three units. We are delighted to have opened a Guide unit in the village. We are getting up to speed with running three units back to back with all that entails so we currently have a small group made up of those girls who finished Brownies last term.

• Guides put their science hats on; physics explored with eggs, salt, water, gravity and pressure as well as milk and straws!

Then onto sports science to test out the right balls for throwing, kicking Girls have been busy making decisions and passing before about how we run the meetings; designing their own. everything from choosing new leaders Oh and there might names - Guides have decided that their have been some leaders will all have the name of cheeky hot minerals and previous stones and chocolates slipped in Rainbows have continued with the as well! flower theme. The girls have also had • Rainbows and Brownies are their say on their programme for the completing different communication term. skills badges; learning how to express themselves in different ways A few highlights from our term so far... (everything from mime to emojis) as well as preparing themselves for performances by beating the • Rainbows have headed out on a butterflies and learning about personal walk into the village and woods space - how to respect and protect it. enjoying the evening sunshine. All the • The Guides have been busy mixing girls spent time making a list of what with other Guide units; they've taken they thought they would see on their part in the St Neots Division Guides walk and then ticked it off along the Quiz and whilst we didn't walk away way. We had lots of laughs, fun and with the trophy they did us proud. met some friends along the way.

They've also taken part in a navigation • Brownies have had some wind challenge with Loves Farm and St Neots turbine fun whilst thinking about Guides using the 3 words app to test renewable energy. We created our own their navigation and map reading skills. wind turbines using our bodies and • We are looking forward to joining in then with paper straws and drawing with the village's Remembrance Sunday pins with a hair dryer making the wind! celebrations once again and have been Off then to explore physics - all of the creating a banner to hang in the sixes managed to create a hovercraft church. and we had some success with creating • Future Girl Acts; Make change today tornados. for our world tomorrow; all three units • Little Owl made her promise as an got involved in Girlguiding's annual adult leader before heading off to community action week by becoming university - we will really miss both of planet protectors and making a plastic our young leaders as they head off on promise. Girls from across the UK had new adventures told Girlguiding that they were worried about the damage plastic pollution is

causing our planet and the animals we share it with. So we came together to make a change. We explored the plastic pollution issue and made some animals out of our recycling before committing to making a change by making a plastic promise. You can make yours at https://www.plasticpromises.co.uk/ These are the things we like to do in Rainbows by Molly S • Recycle • Art for Remembrance Sunday • Interesting stories from friends • New skills • Bubbly and fun leaders • Observe nature • Walking • Singing songs Volunteers We are on the look out for some additional volunteers to join our team and help provide more fun and adventure for girls in the village....

We have opportunities for...

• Young Leaders; If you're female and aged between 14-17 this could be for you.

It's a great opportunity to boost your CV, gain the service element of your Duke of Edinburgh Award as well as learning new skills and having lots of fun with Rainbows, Brownies and Guides.

• Unit Helpers/ adult leaders particularly for our Brownie age group (aged 7-10) Interested in joining the adventure?

What to know more?

Get in touch girlguidinggreatpaxton@gmail.com 24

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1st Gt.Paxton Brownies 1st Gt.Paxton Rainbows

Emma Christie

Church Bell Ringers Holy Trinity Church

Mary Parnham Canon Annette Reed

Churchwardens

Bob Hacking Sarah Gray Julie Edwards Simon Black Tom Marion Reeves

Community Room Crib Team Football Club Friendship Club Gt. Paxton Community Shop Gt. Paxton Cubs Andy Ottley Great Paxton Allotments and Community Garden Gillian Smith Ladies Group OBAS Parish Clerk Petanque Recreation Ground School Headteacher Great Paxton Preschool St. Neots Police Village Website Woodsooners Golf Society Walkers Group

1stgreatpaxtonbrownies@gmail.com 1stgreatpaxtonrainbows@gmail.com 01480 394727 01480 211048 canonannettereed@gmail.com 01480 219846 01480 214015 01480 472132 01480 700107 07576 600523 marionreeves@btinternet.com 01480 218 624 07704 857636

01480 477847 gilliansmith462@btinternet.com Melanie Dingemans melanie.dingemans1@gmail.com Howard Fieldhouse 07824 569111 Christine Brandon gppc1@outlook.com Brian Wright 01480 473697 Michael Fairs Michael.fairs@gmail.com Lee Frost 01480 472132 Julie Edwards 01480 472132 101 www.greatpaxton.org Martin Bazley 01480 21927 Linda Richardson 01480 213768

Any corrections please notify the editor or email jillatgp@gmail.com

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