Profile – Colin Limming

Profile

Colin Limming

Colin Limming is a man of many parts and, as Colin would be quick to quip, ‘some of them actually working!’ Colin is the master of the bon mot, the appropriate quotation, the apt remark. Many a time during a tense Parish Council meeting Colin’s ready wit would defuse the situation. But let me tell you more; Colin was born in North London and his early years were spent in Potters Bar. He passed the 11+ and went to Minchenden Grammar School in Southgate where History and English Literature and Language were his favourite subjects. No surprises there ! He was always an avid reader and was blessed with a retentive memory. His father was in the Home Guard and his mother was a fire watcher and he has many Second World War memories of watching the Battle of Britain being played out in the skies above London. These are memories I share – still so vivid in the minds of those who witnessed it. In that summer of 1940 he joined the Wolf Cubs, wearing a scratchy green jersey, scarf and woggle. 68 years later he is still a County Fellowship Member and is on the Archives Research Team looking into the history of Hertfordshire scouting. Scouting was more than a hobby, it became a passion and he went through to become a Scout, Senior Scout, Rover, Rover Leader and later became Assistant County Commissioner in Hertfordshire for the newly formed Scout Fellowship. He is the proud owner of the Silver Acorn for distinguished service to the Scout Movement. When Colin left school he joined a printing firm for 18 months before being called up for National Service in the RAF. He asked for a posting in the Home Counties so that he could continue his scouting activities in his leisure time and was, in the way of service logic, posted to Iraq. He spent his service stint in Habbaniya 60m west of Baghdad in the desert. He said there were no problems there in those days, and he enjoyed playing lots of sport (but not ice hockey!). He spent time in Kurdistan at the leave centre and can claim to be one of the few people to have played cricket in the middle of Baghdad. It was in the RAF that he learned to type and when he came out of national service he went back to the same printing company and they sent him up to Lancashire where he did a spell, enjoying the cricket in his spare time. He came back to Head Office in London and was there until 1966 when the company moved to Basingstoke. The paternalistic company for which he worked was McCorquodales – mainly known these days because Hugh McCorquodale was married to Barbara Cartland and Colin says that despite the bad press she has often received she was in fact a very kind and thoughtful woman and the company was a typical old family business which looked after its staff. Colin met his wife Joan on (guess what?) a Rover Scout/ Ranger Guide committee. I asked Joan if she had any photos of them together in their uniforms and she said unfortunately no, but she had lots of photographs of herself with OTHER scouts in uniform !!! They got married in 1961 and had two daughters Sarah and Anne who later both went to Melbourn Village College. The family moved to Melbourn when Colin became M.D. of the Letchworth factory but in 1981 it was closed and Colin was made redundant. However, his skills were not allowed to lie idle for long and he quickly got a job working for Labute in Cambridge as an administrator. Colin remained with Labute until he retired in 1992 but – not one to be idle for long - he immediately took on the challenge of becoming Clerk to Melbourn Parish Council, and it WAS a challenge. Without raking over old coals, the council was in some disarray and Colin was indispensable in pulling it round. He held that position for six years, passing all the necessary exams and running the Council business for a time from his spare bedroom – no designated Parish Office in those days. Throughout all this activity there is yet another strand – Colin’s involvement with the Church of England. He began serving at the age of FIVE and continued until the age of 75 (with a few breaks when he was in the services, etc) He finally decided give up serving and he now has time to sing in the choir. With so much experience Colin has learned a great deal about church procedure and etiquette and

mutters darkly when things are not ‘done proper’. He is a member of the Guild of Servants of the Sanctuary involved in training aspiring altar servers. He has also served on the Parochial Church Council both as a member and as clerk. Everyone knows Colin through his involvement with the wonderful History of Melbourn book– it was he who steered us through the applications for a grant and chaired all the committee work and spent many a long hour in front of the microfiche at the Records Office. His early love of History really came into its own as he ferreted out old stories about Melbourn’s past and he is still helping emigrants to look up their ancestors in the village records. Colin stressed that he was blessed throughout the work on the History with a very strong and supportive committee. Now add to all this activity his work in the U3A where he serves on the committee as Speaker finder and he runs the Church Visits group. He also belongs to the Music Group and the Poetry group and joins in the Short Walks. He is speaker secretary for the National Trust Local Association and still does volunteer work as a room steward at Wimpole Hall. I am beginning to feel exhausted by this man’s energy and enthusiasm ! Dare I ask if he has time for any hobbies? Of course he has. He played hockey and was an umpire for many years, and has been an enthusiastic supporter of Middlesex Cricket Club and Arsenal Football Club since he was a small boy, never wavering in his affections. He likes watching cricket but NOT 20/20 and is a frequent visitor to Lords and Fenners. He and Joan are fond of going to the theatre and cinema and both enjoy music, particularly traditional jazz. We all know him to be a great Quiz Master and Quiz setter and it goes without saying that he is also a reader (where else would he find all those odd quotations and facts which he trots out all the time) he often re-reads John Buchan and Sherlock Holmes. The history of the Music Hall fascinates him and he is pretty well word perfect in all the old songs and the Flanders & Swann records and others of that ilk. Colin and Joan have three grandchildren of whom they are extremely proud – Jonathan is an officer in the Royal Navy serving on HMS Manchester, Erin is at Liverpool University reading Classic Civilisations and Niles is still at school in Cambridge. Daughter Sarah is a Cub Scout Leader – a chip off the old block – and met her husband scouting, whilst Ann met her husband here in Melbourn when bellringing ! So a close family who have very strong ties with Melbourn and certainly both Colin and Joan have put a great deal of time and effort into this community. Theirs is a partnership and Colin stresses that none of the activities and achievements I have mentioned would have been possible without Joan’s support over the years. They have old fashioned values of ‘you only get out what you put in’ and they have certainly put a lot in between them. As I said at the beginning, a man of many parts and Colin, I think Melbourn is the richer for your presence here. Mavis Howard

Relay for Life is a unique event which honours Cancer Survivors, remembers those lives taken away by cancer and educates the community into cancer prevention.

We have Relays taking place in the local area this summer

For more information please visit www.cancerresearchuk.org/relay/ or telephone 01223 404195

Village information

Household Waste and Recycling Centres

Items that are accepted • Green waste • Hardcore (bricks, rubble) • Paper • Glass • Scrap metal • Waste oil • Fridges/freezers • Car batteries • Textiles • Cardboard • TVs and computers (incl. monitors) Please Note: the sites will only accept waste from household sources. Milton

Butt Lane, Milton Tel: 01223 860674 • 9am–8pm Monday to Friday • 9am–6pm Bank Holidays, Saturday & Sunday • 9am–4pm Monday to Sunday (1 October–31 March) Thriplow

Gravel Pit Hill, Thriplow Tel: 01223 839001 • 8am–5pm Monday to Friday • 8am–5pm Bank Holidays, Saturday & Sunday (Summer) • 8am–4pm Monday to Sunday (1 October–31 March)

Melbourn Bus Timetables

Note: These times have been taken from the companies website, but are subject to change, please telephone the company for updates.

Bin collection

reminder for Melbourn

5 December Green Bin and Box 12 December Black Bin 19 December Green Bin and Box 27 December Black Bin* 3 January Green Bin and Box* 9 January Black Bin 16 January Green Bin and Box 23 January Black Bin 30 January Green Bin and Box 6 February Black Bin 13 February Green Bin and Box 20 February Black Bin 27 February Green Bin and Box 6 March Black Bin 13 March Green Bin and Box 20 March Black Bin 27 March Green Bin and Box 3 April Black Bin 10 April Green Bin and Box 17 April Black Bin 24 April Green Bin and Box

* Day late collection – Saturday

For more information and collections of large household items telephone 0845 0450 063

MONDAYS TO SATURDAYS (Except Public Holidays) DAYS (EXCEPT PUBLIC HOLIDAYS) Cambridge to Melbourn (Royston)

Cambridge Drummer Street bay 7 The Leys School Trumpington Maris Lane Harston village hall Foxton Memorial Shepreth garden centre Melbourn car park Royston bus station Royston Tesco Royston Burns Road 0840 0845 0851 0859 0905 0907 0911 0920 0926 0928 0940 0945 0951 0959 1005 1007 1011 1020 1026 1028

at yl r u o h

then

40 45 51 59 05 07 11 20 26 28 l i t n u

26

1440 1445 1451 1459 1505 1507 1511 1520 1526 1528 1540 1545 1551 1559 1605 1607 1611 1630 1621 1623 1640 LR 1656 1704 1710 1712 1716 1735 1726 1728 1740 1746 1751 1759 1805 1807 1811 1820

1826 1840 1846 1851 1859 1905 1907 1911 1920

1926

Melbourn to Cambridge

Melbourn car park Shepreth garden centre Foxton Memorial Harston village hall Trumpington Maris Lane The Leys School Cambridge Drummer Street 0708 0712 0714 0720 0728 0734 0740 0738 0742 0744 0750 0758 0804 0820 0918 0922 0924 0930 0938 0944 0950 0948 0952 0954 1000 1008 1014 1020

at yl r u o h

then

48 52 54 00 08 14 20 l i t n u

1548 1552 1554 1600 1608 1614 1620

A on Saturdays and during school holidays may arrive at Drummer Street up to 10 minutes earlier 1648 1652 1654 1700 1708 1714 1720 1748 1752 1754 1800 1808 1814 1820

Local Bus companies

Stagecoach in Cambridge 01223 423578 – Huntingdon & District 01480 453159 – Alans Bus & Coach 01763 245073