Issue 25
Paxton Post
July - August 2021
THE MAGAZINE FOR GREAT PAXTON
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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, 39 Benedict Square, Werrington Industry, Peterborough, PE4 6GD
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.
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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. 3
Vicar: Canon Annette Reed 01480 211048 canonannettereed@gmail.com Churchwardens: Mt Bob Hacking 1 Mint Lane, Great Paxton 01480 219846
Mrs Sarah Gray, 12 Church Lane, Great Paxton 01480 214015
Tower Captain Mrs Mary Parnham 01480 394727 MaryP2707@hotmail.com Church Treasurer: Mrs Jacqueline Jackson jnmunro@btinternet.com
Our benefice Facebook Page is updated most days with news and pictures from around our four churches. You will find us @thePaxtonsBenefice. Annette continues to produce a Sunday You Tube video service, and the link will be found on the Facebook page and also on the Great Paxton Community Facebook page on Saturday evening. Please do contact Annette with any enquiries about weddings, baptisms, and funerals. These “occasional offices” at the time of writing can take place with the number of people who can be seated socially distanced in any of our buildings. SERVICES IN JULY AND AUGUST 2021 For the time being we are continuing this pattern of services at Great Paxton Church: Sunday Mornings: Morning Prayer at 10.45am. We STILL look forward to the time when we can all sing together! Please note that in July we shall not be holding a Sunday service on July 11th or July 18th due to the internal replastering project taking place during those two weeks.
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Commemorating the WW1 memorial in Great Paxton Churchyard Graham James writes about the commemoration to mark the 100th anniversary of the unveiling of the WW1 memorial in the churchyard On Saturday May 15th two commemorations were held in Great Paxton to honour the sacrifice made by villagers to defend our country. In the churchyard, the war memorial was rededicated to mark the 100th anniversary of its unveiling. The village showed itself off in wonderful light in front of interested villagers. Those present included relatives of some of the soldiers on the memorial, the Lord Lieutenant Julie Spence ,the Rural Dean Rev Nicki Bland, our County Councillor and mayor of St Neots Stephen Ferguson, our District Councillor Richard West, the president of the St Neots Royal British Legion Keith Ridley, experts in the history of the Battle of Britain David Duker and Philip Harvey who brought with him Cardell's medals and our now regular bugler Peter Halliday from Bedford Brass. Wreaths were laid by villagers Jen Casey and Graham Bevan, and 23 peals of the bells were rung - one for each year of Philip's young life. Julie Spence read out the names of the soldiers on the cross and also the speech made the then Lord Lieutenant at the original ceremony. Graham James gave a moving talk about some of the backgrounds of the soldiers. The commemoration was led by our Vicar, Canon Annette Reed. Immediately afterwards we moved through to the garden of the adjoining Manor Farm. There we commemorated the Battle of Britain pilot, Philip Cardell, who grew up there but was killed in a plane crash on September 27th, 1940. You can read more about the unveiling of the plaque for Philip Cardell in the history section of this edition – including the fly past of a spitfire plane.
The Lord Lieutenant Julie Spence and Rural Dean Rev Nicki Bland at the WW1 memorial in Great Paxton Churchyard
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Graham Bevan is in training yet again for the Cambridgeshire Historic Churches Trust Sponsored Ride and Stride Event on Saturday September 11th, 2021. Here is what Graham has written: Last September Graham Bevan cycled in and around St Neots visiting 19 places of worship for the annual Cambridgeshire Historic Churches Trust (CHCT) Ride and Stride event.
Ride and Stride is the single largest source of income for many Historic Churches Trusts in the UK enabling them to make grants and loans to places of worship. Great Paxton Church has often benefitted from grants from CHCT, the latest being £1,000 towards the replastering project in 2020. Graham's efforts from many generous villagers raised an amazing £2,202 in September 2021, divided equally between Holy Trinity Church and CHCT. He must be a glutton for punishment because on Saturday 11th September he's volunteered to do it all over again, only this time with more mileage and more stops, covering the Huntingdon and St Ives area. Many of you know Graham from organising the 100 Club, which since its introduction in 2010 has raised considerable sums for Holy Trinity. But more about the100 Club's year 12 later in the next edition. No doubt Graham will hopefully be knocking on your door for sponsorship before September 11th, if he misses you and you wish to make a donation then please do contact him on 01480 212637. Since Covid-19 many prefer the online banking method of payment with no cash transactions, we are now operating payments by bank transfer.
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Annette writes: It was lovely to be able to join with children at Great Paxton School in June for outdoor collective worship. The year groups were split into two and one session followed another. We sang and talked about the parable of the biblical mustard seed, and how, though tiny, it grew to be one of the tallest plants where birds take shelter. Every act of kindness and generosity makes a difference in the world – even if it sems small and insignificant. Gertie Guitar came along as well with Annette for an airing! We wish everyone in the school community a well-earned rest in the summer holidays
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A poem written by John Butler about Great Paxton Church. Why do we like to gaze And why do we wonder? Is it that we can really move in time As here by the trees we stand, look over the grass And see, as in days of youth, The Saxon pile? Symbol of honesty, set in your village charm, As far from the city’s grey as the roses are. And quietly, next to the farm, You speak of the days when ships along the Ouse Brought Saxons. Now the bells in stately time Over the willows ring. St. Ives and Huntingdon And many a quiet meadow village too, Have churches old, but none as old as you. The poem was written by John Robert Butler (born 1909). His father, who became a policeman in London, was born in Boughton Village (just across the river from Gt. Paxton). Eventually the family came to live at the Black Bull Public house in Great Paxton and John went to Great Paxton School. He won a place at Huntingdon Grammar School, but circumstances wouldn’t allow him to go. He eventually became a nurse.
Friendship Club Next meeting 11oclock Tuesday 6th July at Bell Great Paxton. We welcomed 3 new members in June. And would be lovely to see a few more new faces. A lovely Happy Friendly Club. You will be made very welcome. Contact Sue 07790449010 Marion Reeves 07730162249 Angie Best
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How you can help us… Everyone that enters will be put into a separate raffle to win £30, some fizz and a MWFT voucher. For every hour of exercise you complete you’ll get a raffle ticket for the main raffle.
Saturday 7th August - 8am - The Bell, Great Paxton Family friendly - Cake Sale - 50/50 Draw You can get raffle tickets from: Laina Atkinson • The Bell, Great Paxton • Great Paxton Community Shop We have a GoFundMe page: https://gofund.me/f61e191a There is a collection pot in Great Paxton Community Shop BONUS… If you donate into the pot at the community shop Mitch Wilson PT will have to do BURPEES!!!
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Parish Council Report: Summer News Councillors Old & New After 38 years’ service, Joan Addison has tendered her resignation from the Parish Council. Joan has supported and served the parish of Great Paxton with distinction over these years in many various roles and those present at the May meeting paid tribute to the huge contribution she has made to village life. A summer bouquet has since been delivered to Joan and it is the plan to present a commemorative gift and a memento of Great Paxton to her over the next few weeks. This means there are now two vacancies on the Parish Council. If anyone is interested in becoming a Councillor or just making an enquiry to start with, please email the Clerk who will be happy to answer any questions and send details through to you. The Parish Council was also pleased to welcome new County Councillor Stephen Ferguson to his first meeting. May Meeting After all the uninteresting AGM formalities (accounts, audit appointments & policies), the Parish Council – • supported the proposed footpath creation and extinguishment orders around College Farm; • received feedback following a ‘walkabout’ with a Highways Officer in the village during which issues around potholes, road surfaces, re-lining, footpaths, overhanging trees etc were raised and solutions discussed. Hopefully, you will have seen some outcomes already; • awarded a grant of £1500 to the Recreation Ground Committee; • received a RoSPA safety inspection report on Saxon Green Play Space and recognised that those issues raised, albeit low risk, were caused by poor drainage, the accumulation of surface water and subsequent soil erosion. Councillors are looking at ways to rectify this problem. • Noted that the Bus Shelter was now looking better having had its broken panels removed and replaced; • Noted that work was continuing on the ‘Welcome Pack’. Since the Meeting • Representatives of the Parish Council and Speedwatch Group have met a County Council Engineer to look again at the options that might be available to make the High Street safer for pedestrians and vehicles. The Group explored, in detail, the possibility of chicanes, speed bumps and MVAS units and where they might be placed. As the original and approved application was for two chicanes, the Engineer agreed to look again at the scheme and report to the July meeting when a final decision on how to proceed will have to be made. • Apologies – for the recent poor performance of the Grounds Maintenance Contractors. We look forward to an improved service going forward. • Lastly, can you all help to maintain the good appearance of the village by keeping on top of your front gardens and those shrubs and bushes which have 18
suddenly grown twice the size in the recent sun and wet weather. This is especially important where they overhang walkways and pavements as pedestrians, prams and wheelchairs need to be able to pass by without stepping into the road. Next Meeting On Monday 5th July at 8pm in the School Hall – our first ‘face to face’ meeting since last year! Hope to see you there.
NEWS FROM YOUR DISTRICT COUNCILLOR WHAT WAS A SIXPENCE? Old money is what divides oldies who remember sixpences from the post decimal generation. Before 15th February 1971, a sixpence was able to buy a bar Dairy Milk, chips and an ice cream. It was called a tanner and two sixpences made a bob (a shilling). Then came decimalisation and although it remained in circulation, the massive devaluation caused by the change in coinage robbed it of power and finally of its usefulness. Also lost were the florin (then two shillings), half-crown (now the equivalent of £5) and penny. The farthing with its iconic wren image was lost ten years earlier value was increased by being made into cufflinks. Nowadays the buying power of sixpence is a pound, divide the price of your purchases by 40 and you arrive at the price you would probably paid in 1960. A letter cost one or two pence from 1840 until 50 years ago, nowadays a first- class stamp costs 85p, the equivalent of sixteen shillings and sixpence. PRINCE PHILIP The Duke of Edinburgh 10 th June would have been Royal Highness 100 th birthday. Prince Philip has played a great part in the life of the County of Cambridgeshire, not only through his work with the University but through his interests in all areas of public life, the environment, in architecture, engineering, sport, farming, National Playing Fields, the armed services and their associations. Prince Philip will always be remembered for his loyalty and constant support for the Queen throughout her reign. It was a difficult task, particularly at the beginning because no one had done it before, but he worked tirelessly at achieving a lifetime of service, and in his own words. ‘’I simply got on with it’’ RICHARD WEST DISTRICT COUNCILLOR Great Paxton ward covering Abbotsley, Great Gransden, Great Paxton , Toseland, Waresley cum Tetworth, Yelling. Tele 01480 811467 or 07841 866630 Email richard.west@huntingdonshire.gov.uk or richard.west@buckdencambs.co.uk 19
Despite the English summer trying it's best to thwart us we're still having a great time meeting together outdoors. We've been creative and made socially distanced adaptions to many of our favourite games so we can continue to play them. The Rainbows have been working towards their Innovate Skills Builder Badge, the Brownie and Guides towards their Camp Skills Builder badges. There's been learning how robots work, fire building and lighting, inventing camp gadgets/ learning knots, putting up tents.... Alongside this there has been chemistry challenges, canvas art creations, exploring emotions, dancing in the rain with wellies and umbrellas, a-z nature scattergories, wee beastie challenges, story-relays, an alternative version of dodgeball, water fights, promise ceremonies, fathers day crafts, a visit from our county commissioners and a Guides bake off (our winner was a friend's inspired cake!). The Guides did a village litter pick - all were really surprised at how much litter they were able to collect in such a short space of time from saxon green, the roadsides and the rec. Thank you to those who kindly lent us their litter pickers. We've had some new Rainbows join us this term and we asked one of them, Lucy, to give her verdict.... "It is fun at Rainbows and I love it there. We play lots of fun games and sing the Rainbows song. I'm really happy to be a Rainbow" (Lucy, Rainbow) One of our older Brownies has been busy working towards her Brownie Gold
Award. Alongside earning all six theme awards she has three challenges to complete; "I've been working towards my Brownie Gold Award and one of the challenge i had to complete was to run an activity. I chose to run a spy themed evening for my Brownie friends. They had to start with some spy training which was creating spy id cards and cipher wheels for decoding messages.. Then it was mission time... they had to solve a load of riddles and clues to rescue some teddies that had been toynapped. It was lots of fun but lots of hard work to organise and set it up." (Helena, Brownie) Some of our older Brownies and Guides ventured to Hautbois, a Girlguiding activity centre near Norwich for an activity day. We'll let our Brownies and Guides tell you more... "On Sunday, 13th. June, I had the best day because I had a Brownie Day Out in Norwich. It was so fun! At the start of the day, we got to do grass sledging. I was really sacred at first. The hill was so steep; I was worried I would fall on my first go, but loved it by the end. After sledging we did Monkey climbing. The tree was very high. On my first attempt I didn’t get very high but on my second go I reached half way. My favourite bit was coming down. We held onto the rope and pushed off the tree, walking down backwards. Next we did canoeing. When we were canoeing two Guides were screaming as they accidentally bashed into every tree!
At the end we were allowed to jump in the river :) After everyone dried off, we had lunch and did more grass sledging and then zip lining. I was scared because we were up high and flying over stingy nettles! I went so fast! But still managed to land on my feet. Phew! At the end of the day, we had hot dogs and burgers followed by marshmallows. Whilst roasting marshmallows we sang lots of songs. I loved it and had the best day ever!" (Molly, Brownie)
sure we were properly strapped in and then we went! Fifth, we then had some hotdogs and burgers, they were all from the barbeque. Tasty! Last but not least, campfire songs and roasted marshmallows then after that we went home. Best day ever! Thank you for reading. (Naomi, Guide)
"At Guides, we went on an activity day where we had load of activities including grass sledging, monkey climbing, canoeing and zip wire. First, we went monkey climbing which was when you are on a high tree with climbing holds that you use (we were attached to a harness which kept us safe).Second, we did grass sledging which is when you are on a sledge with wheels and you will have a helmet and something to hold on to and then you slide down the hill and stop at the end. Third, we went canoeing. There were 2 people (minimum) and 4 people (maximum) per canoe. We went under a bridge and had to remember to duck! We had life jackets on too. Fourth, we went on a zip wire and we had a helmet and a harness to keep us safe. We had clips, one to go on the harness and the other also on the harness. We got a trolley, slid it onto the start on the wire, sat down to make
And of course, we can't wait to be handing out all of the badges which the girls have worked so hard towards this term.
We're finishing off our term with Riverside walks and challenges in St Neots, campfires and festivals, waterfights and
Volunteering Opportunities If you have some time to spare and would like to volunteer, we'd love to hear from you! There are opportunities to work with the girls or to help us behind the scenes with admin, finances, fundraising etc. We'll give you a warm welcome, support and training to help you on your way and lots of fun and laughter too. Joining as Rainbow, Brownie or Guide We are operating waiting lists at the moment so if you'd like your daughter to join, we'd recommended signing her up as soon as possible at http://www.girlguiding.org.uk
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 clerk@greatpaxton-pc.gov.uk 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 Trevor Smith 07473 213556 email: trevorsmith1009@outlook.com Walkers Group Linda Richardson 01480 213768 Any corrections please notify the editor or email jillatgp@gmail.com
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