Local Events

Sunday 14th May 2.00-6.00pm

Topcliffe Mill Open for Na onal Mills Weekend

Come and visit this centuries-old watermill opposite Holy Trinity Church, North End, Meldreth

Admission £5 per adult

Accompanied children under 16 free No unaccompanied children

All proceeds will be donated to Meldreth Ma ers

Editorial

Welcome to the May Issue of Meldreth Matters.

There are several events taking place in the Village Hall this month. These include a Family Feast to mark the Coronation, the Annual Parish Meeting and a Village Film Night when The Lost King will be shown. I can recommend this film, particularly if you attended the talk by Mathew Morris on “Richard III: the King Under the Car Park” which was organised by Meldreth Local History Group in 2016.

In addition to the above, Topcliffe Mill in North End will be open from 2.00-6.00pm on Sunday 14th May as part of National Mills weekend. This is the first time that the mill has been open since 2019, so don’t miss the opportunity to see inside this wonderful watermill. Admission is £5 per adult and this year all proceeds will be donated to Meldreth Matters.

Kathryn Auction of Lots and Promises

The team is very grateful to those who have already responded with items for the Auction of Lots and Promises to raise much-needed funds to ensure the continued production of Meldreth Matters.

Items donated so far include:

 A set of golf clubs

 A group walking tour of Cambridge

 A bottle of dessert wine

 A flight in a light aircraft

 Beaded items

 An Introduction to Art Therapy session

 A week in a cottage in Anglesey

 A Samsung computer monitor

We are considering holding an online auction, perhaps followed by a live event in the Village Hall on Saturday 16th September if we receive sufficient offers/ donations. More details will be given in the June issue.

If you have any items or services you can donate please get in touch. We are looking for items/promises of small value as well as large because we very much want it to be open to everyone. Questions, ideas, and offers please to lesleyfarbridge@hotmail.com or 07917 065465.

Enid Marion Martin

Enid Marion Martin was born in Meldreth in March 1928 to Sidney and Helena Fost and lived in Allerton Terrace in the High Street. She had a very happy childhood. She went to school in Meldreth and Melbourn and started work aged fourteen.

Enid worked at Shepreth Station in the ticket office initially, and whilst working there was invited to the Lord Mayor’s Luncheon at The Mansion House in London; a very proud moment for her. She then worked at Foster Instrument Company in Letchworth alongside her brother Keith. In her spare time Enid enjoyed amateur dramatics and when she was sixteen played the part of Cinderella in the Meldreth pantomime. That is where she first met her husband, Robert Martin, who was from Scotland but was lodging in Meldreth at the time. As a result, Robert’s nickname for Enid was “Cinders”. Enid and Robert married in 1950 and soon after was the happy arrival of their only child Stephen.

Once Stephen was old enough, Enid worked for a few years at the local grocery shop owned by Mr Salisbury, but always had a driving ambition to own her own house. Enid therefore applied for the job as a Post Lady in Meldreth in 1959. This was quite something at the time and she was criticised by a few locally for taking a man’s job. Enid was determined though and after eleven years they were able to buy their own home in Hale Close, Melbourn.

Two years after moving in, Enid's husband became unwell and sadly died five years later. Enid was only 49 at the time. Enid spent the rest of her life devoted to supporting Stephen and Gilly and their children Jemima and Charlie. She often said that her grandchildren saved her life after Robert’s death.

Sadly both of Enid’s grandchildren had health issues and Enid then became the family backbone. She would cycle from Melbourn to Foxton to collect the children from school every day and would be a constant support with their many health issues, moving in at times when one or other of them was in hospital. Consequently her grandchildren adored her and they miss her terribly.

Despite her family commitments, Enid managed to find time to travel, visiting Australia, Russia, Singapore, China (where she walked along the Great Wall), the Caribbean and many more places.

At 75 Enid was still helping at the over 60’s Club in Melbourn. Ironically she was one of the oldest there. She also really enjoyed going to Meldreth Local History Group coffee mornings and reminiscing about the olden days.

Enid lived independently and managed her own home well into her late 80’s, taking great pride in her garden and still cycling long after most would have given up. However, her greatest pride and joy was always her family. She still talked constantly about her parents, as if they were still here. After Robert’s death her life revolved totally around Stephen and her grandchildren; never missing a holiday with all the family or Sunday lunch, complete with robust discussions on politics and the Royal Family! Sadly Enid died eleven days before her 95th birthday. She will be greatly missed by all her family and friends.

Steve, Gilly, Jemima & Charlie Martin

Melbourn Mobile Warden Scheme

Supporting people in Melbourn, Meldreth & Shepreth

Can we help you? Your relative? Your neighbour?

What is the service?

We offer twice weekly visits and daily phone calls to support elderly or mobility impaired residents in their own homes by building a friendship and helping prevent social isolation. We can carry out errands such as local shopping, collecting prescriptions, paying bills or going to the Post Office so people can remain supported and independent at home. We can also help couples or those living with their family. We are also trained to support people living with dementia.

Who provides the services?

Mobile wardens, who have all been carefully selected for their caring nature and are DBS checked.

What will it cost?

We do make a small charge for the services, which is from as little as £7.50 per week.

How can I join?

For more information please contact Jeannie on 07808 735066 or Jane on 07592 821976.

Melbourn Mobile Warden Scheme is a registered charity Richard Burns

For installation, repair or advice please call Tel: 01763 263 121

Iris Rathwell

The death has occurred of Doctor Iris Rathwell. Iris, who was born in Albania, had lived in Meldreth for fourteen years. Iris was often seen walking in the village with her dog Lorcan and her young niece, Poppy. She was an enthusiastic restorer of her thatched house. She was a leading doctor in the UK in child mental health. Iris had many visitors: close friends from the village, colleagues from the NHS and friends and relatives from around the world. This gave her great joy.

There has been acknowledgement on the public record about this extraordinary individual who so much represented the dedication, skill and innovative imagination of professionals at all levels of child mental care.

Iris spoke often about the difficulties in overcoming the natural tendency of elements of the profession and of politicians and commissioners to separate themselves due to professional training in variations and levels of response. Iris was, I believe, at the forefront in finding ways both to encourage and to structure flexible and responsive capacities that considered ever changing ways of dealing with issues of funding and planning.

Both pre and post pandemic, and in the face of cutbacks she worked with a national team to respond. She also found ways of training and inspiring new professionals to meet new challenges. Iris was commended for many things, among which was the training of Judges in understanding a child-first approach to the legal problems of child abuse. In her clinical work at grass roots level she was committed to the child, to the family and to the professionals involved, often over problematic areas of custody and of development of individuals for year after year.

We are all only superficially aware of Iris’ origins. I know her early training and love was in the realm of music where she reached a professional ability. The Communist regime in Albania overseeing Iris’ education as a teen had other views of the assignments to be given to women of her intellect and family party background so Iris was steered to become a doctor; one of the few in the country in the profession of Psychiatry. When the regime fell, a long period of chaos followed but as a young doctor she stuck to her post cheerfully while engaging the realms of aid workers from the outside world swarming into this last Communist dictatorship in the needs of the children there.

Iris won short term scholarships to Belgium and then found ways to come to Britain to work from the ground up to retrain in her profession. She worked in all areas and at all levels of child mental health in some of the most difficult areas of London and the UK. She was involved in assessment and testimony in notorious areas of abuse which deeply affected public concern.

Step by step and on merit Iris became a leader in national outreach services for children in the UK.

Iris accepted with humility and courage every challenge of child mental health, the realities of social conditions from education and critical response especially challenges in professional development and in bureaucracy. Her age is a great loss to the United Kingdom, the NHS and Child Psychiatry. She will be much missed by colleagues, stepson Daniel, husband Richard and dog Lorcan.