6 Village Playright On BBC Radio Steve Waters' hit play Contingency Plan has been adapted for radio and will be aired on Sunday December 13th by BBC Radio 3 at 8pm. Contingency Plan ran to packed audiences earlier this year in London. It is a cutting edge drama about the crisis facing everyone in the country as sea levels rise and storm surges intensify. Steve Waters is well known in the village as chairman of HICCA, one of the leading climate change action groups in Cambridgeshire. If you miss the original broadcast, you can hear it again online using BBC's iPlayer until 20th December.
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Pay, Say, and Play Jam making at Chivers A story session on the Recreation Ground has helped to raise money for the planned new play facilities on the Recreation Ground. On a sunny and warm penultimate Sunday in September, many parents, their offspring and friends — at least a hundred in number — joined in a story-reading event on the Rec. Three story readers (Judith Balls, Jan Watt and Nigel Walter) gave their time and services to entertain the children with tales of wonder, mystery and just plain fun. Mindful of the
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All eyes and ears follow the story strong sun that day, some of the stories were read under the spreading boughs of the old oak tree in the middle of the play area, with the entranced children sitting on the grass in the shade. Others took the form of an active ‘tale chase’ from one apparatus to another, with each phase of the story being revealed within each of the pieces of play equipment. The sight
of a story-reader descending the helter skelter slide reading as he slid and wearing an old scarf (needed for that part of the story), whilst at least thirty children hung on the bars and crowded on the grass, was quite memorable. The Pied Piper himself didn’t have such an enthusiastic and focused trail of children in old Hamlin town! The village youngsters demonstrated that, despite all our technical advances, a good story, superbly told, will hold their attention and transport them to lands far away. The children buzzed around like a swarm of bees all afternoon, following their story-reading leaders, whilst parents busied themselves with the secondhand book stalls, being consulted about the new play area design and taking tea, cakes and squash in the refreshments gazebo. But the boundaries soon blurred: the children were consulted, took refreshments and helped their parents choose the books. Conversely, many of the parents were seen looking wistful and sitting on the grass enjoying the stories just as much as the youngsters. Some of the stories must have been magic. The whole event was organised by the Friends of the Rec and the ad hoc group bidding for the grant money to be able to enhance and update the play facility at the Rec. Although the grant should be substantial, as are the contributions from the Feast and the two Parish Councils, about £5000 must still be raised by the community if the new play area is to be built as planned. This small event raised a worthwhile contribution, and the organisers will be promoting other events in the near future. The real stars of this event were the very talented story tellers and the youngsters of our village. Thank you to everyone who made this event such a success.
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What do you think happened next? Children are enthralled by Jan's active storytelling
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Brian Ing
In the September issue of the HI Courier we described how Chivers began in Histon and came to be one of the biggest jam manufacturers in the country. In this issue we continue our look at Chivers and discover how they made their jam. Fruit would come to the factory from the orchards in Histon and go straight to the sorting rooms, where every single piece of fruit would be examined to ensure it was suitable to be passed to the boiling rooms in the factory. In the boiling rooms were big silver–lined pans, and it was in these, with the addition of sugar, that the fruit was made into jam. After leaving the boiling rooms the jam would pass through pipes to the filling machines, and I have been told that these machines could fill over 100 jars a minute. After being filled, the jars would be moved to the cooling chambers to cool, and then to store rooms to await distribution all over the country and maybe beyond. I would like to acknowledge all the help and support I have received when preparing the Chivers articles featured in the HI Courier. Full details of this help, support and resources used are available on request from info@cambridgetimetraveller.com.
Fonz Chamberlain.
Cambridge On Film The Cambridge Time Traveller group will present ‘Cambridge on Film’ from 2 – 5 PM on Saturday 28th November at the Salvation Army Hall, Impington Lane, Histon. Come and see how Cambridge used to be, as recorded on old film. We’ll also be showing 1930s film of the Chivers factory, from picking the fruit to making jam. In addition there will be special guests and lots of information on the history of Cambridge and Histon. Entrance for non-members is £3; group members and under-sixteens go free. Refreshments will be available. For more information, call 234720 or email events@cambridgetimetraveller.com The Cambridge Time Traveller group would like to acknowledge the help of Hairy Dog Designs, The Salvation Army and Roy Doggett for the film and for supporting this event.
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