Paxton Post Edition 16

Issue 16

Paxton Post

January - February 2020

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.

You adv r herert e

The Paxton Post is published every two months.

Our rates are: Quarter Page Mono - £ 5.00 per issue Half Page Mono - £ 8.00 per issue

Full Page Mono Full Page in Colour

- £15.00 per issue - £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

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 in the New Year

Tower Captain: Mrs Mary Parnham 01480 394727 MaryP2707@hotmail.com

Sunday January 12th at 11.00am Sunday February 9th at 11.00am Sunday March 8th at 11.00am.

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.

Informal services lasting c 40 minutes With activities for children to join in with.

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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New Fishing Venue As stated in the last edition of the Paxton Post we invited the EA to visit a potential lake in the Buckden area and conduct a survey of the lake. As suspected the silt levels of the lake are quite deep, in excess of 60 cm which affects the depth of water in the lake and also the sunlight encourages prolific weed growth that reduces the amount of oxygen in the water. Whilst on site the EA conducted a fish population count by electric fishing and found the only fish present are Tench, probably due to their ability to survive in water with low oxygen levels.

The majority of the fish are small in size (see picture)

We will hold further talks with the land owner to discuss of how we can move forward with the project and report in the next edition.

Match Fishing The recent match held on C section, Sunday 17th October was fished by several OBAS members and was won by Tony Elliott with a weight of 5lb 7oz. It was a nice sunny day but the water was running quite fast due to a couple of previous days of rain, but Tony was triumphant float fishing with a pole near to the bank catching mainly Dace and Roach on maggot and caster.

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Floating Pennywort The project continues to try and eradicate this invasive species and although the recent heavy rains have moved some remaining clumps downstream the high water levels restrict boat and bankside operations. A new permit has been applied for from the EA for 2020 and we hope to get back onto the job once the water levels allow safe working.

OBAS Membership A reduced membership price of ÂŁ15.00 will be available for Senior Members, starting 1st November 2019, all others remain the same but DO remember Junior membership is FREE! Membership books are available from all local tackle shops, from Bailiffs on the bankside but most important from our village Community Shop.

Predator Season Winter is traditionally the time for predator fishing to catch Perch, Zander and Pike. Here are a couple of pictures that show a cracking Pike weighing 22lb 4oz and a 3lb 5oz Perch caught on the New Cut and Sismy Island respectively.

New OBAS Logo Many thanks to Nigel Bargh for designing the first and new OBAS logo. The design is appropriate in that it encompasses both bridges, the smallest suspension road bridge in the world just after the railway crossing and also the stone built one over the Mill Stream.

Hope you enjoy your fishing on OBAS waters and look forward to meet you on the bankside.

Tight lines Howard www.ousefishing.com

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next club meeting will be on Everyone enjoyed our Christmas Tuesday 21st January 2020.

Lunch on 3 December and we all thank Rachel, the new chef and the We wish everyone a very happy Bell staff for a great time.

New Year.

Please note that due to the Bell not being open on 7th January 2020 our Angela, Sue & Marion

We are now seeing in our 2nd Christmas and New Year at The Bell and 2019 has been fantastic! There have been some harder times for us as we lost our chef Wil and it meant I had to take the reigns in the kitchen. However after a lot of searching we have been able to replace Wil and we look to continue to move forward in the kitchen.

I personally want to thank all of the customers in 2019.for your support and making The Bell the place it is. I also want to thank the team who work so hard alongside me making my job so much easier. Your all my pub family.

There is much planned for 2020 including our Whisky Tasting event on Jan 25th at ÂŁ25 pp. We will also have a vinyl night in February as well as a valentines menu.

RACH MANAGER

So myself and the team wish you all a happy xmas and a wonderful 2020.

01480.700107 07701038433 thebellgreatpaxton@yahoo.com

We are still looking at hosting events and can cater for these.

Our website shall be updated in January with more information but our facebook page is updated daily.

The Bell continues to be the hub of the village and the support is over whelming at times.

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Preparation and approval of the budget is one of the most important tasks a Council must undertake. Councillors have to consider what services they want to deliver and support in the financial year ahead. It is on this basis that the Council Precept is set. Once again, your Parish Council has decided not to increase its precept for 2020/21. It is confident that it can continue to deliver services such as street lighting and grounds maintenance as well as special projects such as traffic calming (if CCC approved) and yet still support, by grant, churchyard maintenance, the Recreation Ground and St Neots Museum. Special donations will be made towards the War Memorial and Holy Trinity Minister Celebrations in 2020. The Parish Council will also continue to look after Saxon Green and fund the ‘Paxton Post’ and even the Xmas Tree! The District Council will collect the Parish Council’s proportion of the Council Tax from April.

Councillors have looked at a request from residents of Dovecote Lane to install a mirror which, in their view, would assist exiting vehicles and improve road safety and visibility up Paxton Hill. Regrettably, the Highways Authority are not in favour of mirrors for this purpose, but they have offered to improve the sightlines by cutting back shrubs etc on the highway verge. Other measures to reduce the speed of vehicles entering the village down Paxton Hill were also discussed and could, potentially, be considered as highways improvements in the future.

Although not the best day weather-wise, you might have seen the County Council’s

Dragon Patch Machine which visited the village at the end of November to repair potholes in London Lane. Road surface damage elsewhere in the village has been identified and hopefully the machine will make an early return to address them.

All local Councils, big and small like ours have been asked to plan for the passing of Queen Elizabeth. Parish Councillors have agreed a series of actions which will take place around that time and these can be viewed on the Parish Council Website. The Parish Council will liaise with the Primary School and the Benefice of Little & Great Paxton so that between us the village is ready to pay tribute in the right way.

Lastly, if you feel that you would like to contribute to the life of the community and represent the interests of the parish locally and beyond as a Parish Councillor, please contact the Parish Clerk for a job description and further details email: clerk@greatpaxton-pc.gov.uk.

The next Parish Council meeting will take place on 20th January 2020 at 8pm in the Community Room, Great Paxton School.

Please join us.

Happy New Year to you all.

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CLOUDS These are obviously a great influence, as they dictate sun and shade, rain and snow, also wind. The most pleasing are those which resemble small white fluffy patches as they are normally associated with fine weather. If woolly fleeces strew the heavenly way, be sure no rain disturbs the summer day.

When cirrus clouds appear, high up and wind whipped like mares’ tails, they foretell the arrival of wind.

Mackerel sky and mares’ tails. Make tail ships carry low sails.

Much weather lore associated with clouds has a nautical link, as weather is a dominant factor in the daily lives of sailors as well as countrymen.

When clouds look as if scratched by a hen, get ready to reef your topsails then.

A mackerel sky as its name suggests, is mottled like the fish, and when the sky gradually clouds over with this pattern, fine weather is on the way out.

There are many rhymes and verses about the mackerel sky: Mackerel sky-rain is nigh, is one, but usually the rain will not be heavy: Mackerel sky, mackerel sky never long wet, never long dry.

RICHARD WEST DISTRICT COUNCILLOR TEL 01480 811467 OR 0784 1866630 EMAIL richard.west@huntingdonshire.gov.uk or richard.west@buckdencambs.co.uk GREAT PAXTON WARD covering Abbotsley Great Paxton Great Gransden Toseland

I was pleased to be asked to join the St Neots Master steering group and attended a meeting on December 13th.

The steering group is pulling together many different initiatives for the town including the bid by Huntingdonshire district council for the governments 675 million funding for High Street regeneration, the cycle and pedestrian bridge which is due for construction Autumn 2020 now Balfour Beatty have been chosen as the project contractors and a transport survey.

The website for the Masterplan is https://www.stneotsmasterplan.co.uk/ If you have views or opinions that you would like fed into the plan please contact me.

Julie Wisson County Councillor St Neots East and Great Gransden division 07725 791459 01767 677837 julie.wisson@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Rainbows and Brownies have been busy completing their Communicate Skills Builders Badges (stages 2 and 3 respectively) and Guides their Innovate Skills Builder in the run up to Christmas...

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Rainbows have been learning how to warm up their vocal chords and project their voice and how communicate in creative ways

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Brownies have been communicating using emojis, sign language, the phonetic alphabet and top trumps.

They've also be learning how to overcome nerves with beat the butterflies.

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Guides have created zip wires for their mascots, designed earthquake resistant sky scrapers, have been human databases and expressed themselves through art.

We had an autumnal Spooktacular night; autumn crafts and biscuit decorating accompanied with lots of laughter and fun, and a little bit of mess (the best kind) at Rainbows whilst the Brownies and Guides headed off for a spooky trail around the village using clues to find the skeletons that had been hidden. Treats along the way and then back for hot chocolate specials, spooky leaf creatures and handmade

hair bands to finish the night off.

Girls from all three units proudly led the procession down to the church on Remembrance Sunday and laid a wreath during the service. They also took great delight in create a banner for the small chapel in the church creating poppies with painted handprints on a giant piece of fabric.

The Christmas season was kicked off at Christingle with other Rainbows, Brownies and Guides from our district (the girls found it funny when the leaders had to dress up!) along with a variety of Christmas crafts, games and karaoke to make us feel sufficiently festive.

As well as seeing new Rainbows, Brownies and a leader make their promise this term, we've handed out a I am a Physicist badges to the Brownies along with a range of interest badges (which girls complete at home) from baking to grow your own, nature to painting, aspirations to human rights.

We've got a talented bunch of girls who are busy exploring new ideas and new skills in a variety of different ways which is absolute delight to see.

Rainbows and Brownies finished off their term with an energetic Christmas Party. The Guides opted for a pamper, pizza and popcorn film night in onesies!

Remembrance Sunday by Jasmine (Guide) On Remembrance Sunday We all met at the village green; Guides, Brownies and rainbow's ,lined up and walked down to the church together following Rev Annette, when we got to the church we used our flag poles to make an arch and let people enter the church under it .The church was very busy and it was nice to see all the people.

Paxton and I made a pond there and we have a frog. My sister and I call it Hermione. To get my badge I had to draw a picture of the four seasons, plant a seed and go on a wild walk. I went to Paxton Pits and collected leaves and looked out for animals and picked blackberries.

Join the adventure If any girls (or adults) want to join the fun and adventure please register your interest via http://www.girlguiding.org.uk/joinus or drop us a line at girlguidinggreatpaxton@gmail.com Tracey Murray

I am a physicist badge by Faith (Brownie) At Brownies we worked towards our Physicist badge. It took a long time (I started it when I was a Rainbow) and we did lots of games and experiments with balloons. My best game was making a hovercraft with my Six, the Imps, out of a balloon, a bottle lid and a old CD. We had to blow the balloon up and let it go on a soft floor and it worked. It was great fun.

My first interest badge by Rachael (Rainbow) I chose to do my nature badge because I like animals and nature. I like to try and save the nature around me and keep it safe. We have lots of newts which are protected. I regularly visit the environmental centre in Little

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"100 CLUB" (YEAR 9) WINNERS 2018/2019 HOLY TRINITY CHURCH DECEMBER 2018 £100 NUMBER 83 LAURA LAWRENCE £50 NUMBER 243 PAUL CLARKE £25 NUMBER 6 MARY WEIR

JUNE 2019 £100 NUMBER 146 MATT & UTE AUSTEN £50 NUMBER 82 DENNIS CARROLL £25 NUMBER 176 RAY GEEVES

MARCH 2019 £100 NUMBER 85 BILL PEACOCK £50 NUMBER 254 NICOLA JONES £25 NUMBER 175 BENITA SAUNDERS

SEPTEMBER 2019 £100 NUMBER 240 LUCY SMITH £50 NUMBER 188 FLEUR BATEMAN £25 NUMBER 247 JEREMY PERRIMAN

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1st Great Paxton Rainbows: 1st Great Paxton Brownies: 1st Great Paxton Guides: Church Bell Ringers Holy Trinity Church

1stgreatpaxtonrainbows@gmail.com 1stgreatpaxtonbrownies@gmail.com greatpaxtonguides@gmail.com Mary Parnham 01480 394727 Canon Annette Reed 01480 211048 canonannettereed@gmail.com Churchwardens Bob Hacking 01480 219846 Sarah Gray 01480 214015 Community Room Julie Edwards 01480 472132 Crafty Belles Craft Group Diane James Diane.james42@outlook.com 07522 449535 Crib Team Simon Black 01480 700107 Football Club Tom 07576 600523 Friendship Club Marion Reeves marionreeves@btinternet.com Gt. Paxton Community Shop 01480 218 624 Gt. Paxton Cubs Andy Ottley 07704 857636 Great Paxton Allotments and Community Garden Gillian Smith 01480 477847 gilliansmith462@btinternet.com Ladies Group Melanie Dingemans melanie.dingemans1@gmail.com OBAS Howard Fieldhouse 07824 569111 Parish Clerk Christine Brandon gppc1@outlook.com Petanque Brian Wright 01480 473697 Recreation Ground Michael Fairs Michael.fairs@gmail.com School Headteacher Lee Frost 01480 472132 Great Paxton Preschool Julie Edwards 01480 472132 St. Neots Police 101 Village Website www.greatpaxton-pc.gov.uk Woodsooners Golf Society Martin Bazley 01480 21927 Walkers Group Linda Richardson 01480 213768 Any corrections please notify the editor or email jillatgp@gmail.com

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