Farewell Meldreth

During my first year at the Primary School in 1998 I walked around the village taking photographs of interesting details I could find, to encourage children to take a closer look at the place where they lived. The display included the wooden scout badge on the old scout hut - long since closed and converted into a home; an old hay cart which stood for years at the station end of Flambards Close; the old pump that stands just off the pavement in North End – all things that told a tale of their own and quietly documented the history of Meldreth. Meldreth village itself has long proved to be a rich and enduring resource for children's learning in school. Our younger children in Key Stage 1 and Early Years have made weekly visits to the riverside and woods for some years now, using the natural environment as a springboard for scientific, humanities and imaginative work. Prior to Covid, groups of children could frequently be seen industriously pottering around on diverse and purposeful projects in Melwood and hopefully these will resume in the autumn term. One year, I ran a project with a class of seven year olds, where we set ourselves up as a conservation group ‘Wild at Heart’ with a mission to make the riverside and woods in Meldreth as perfect as possible for wildlife to thrive. Steve and Sandra Webb of the River Mel Restoration Group talked to the children and led river dipping sessions, leaving the children with a deep love and respect for the biodiversity on our doorstep. Our annual Fun Run for Red Nose Day has for almost twenty years now, wound its way along the woodland trail to the old mill and back – a much loved institution that returned this year after a Covid enforced absence in 2020. When studying Meldreth during wartime, it has been fascinating to look through the old school registers to discover how evacuee children from London swelled the numbers on the school roll during 1939 and 1940 and to re-enact our own ‘evacuation’ by dressing up in our 1940s clobber – complete with gasmasks – and parading from Meldreth station to spend a day in the village school – 1940s style – before being billeted with our evacuee ‘aunties and uncles’. From time to time we have made visits to Adcock’s [Topcliffe] Mill in North End, kindly hosted by Kathryn Betts. It is truly spellbinding for children and adults alike to climb the rickety stairs to the upper floor of

the mill where seed sacks still hang waiting for freshly ground wheat and the cogs and beams, flywheels and fittings stand poised, ready to turn once more should the waterwheel be reinstalled. The unmistakeable whiff of chaff still pervades the air and always adds plenty of atmosphere as Kath recounts the tale of the ghost of Meldreth Mill! Another enchanting visit that I have made with classes on a couple of occasions in years gone by is to Cam Valley Orchards in Whitecroft Road, where we have both watched the spring pollination and autumn harvest under the guiding hand of Tim and Nicky Elbourn along with one or other of the girls – (all of whom I am enormously proud to have taught). Romping though orchards, chomping through Jonagold and Pearmains, riding on trailers and creating links with a generations-old Meldreth economy certainly has a singular magic which will always stay with me as I’m sure it will with those lucky children who visited with me. A tradition that ended about eight years ago was our annual musical show with the children at Meldreth Manor School. For about five years, my class of 7-8 year olds worked through the summer term with an extraordinary composer and impresario called Peter Jackson – an erstwhile member of seventies prog rock group Van der Graf Generator. Together with the staff and children of the Manor School we created an annual musical extravaganza which took place in a vast marquee in the beautiful grounds of the school. We made props and costumes and instruments and learned an enormous number of songs which were spun into elaborate stories that took all day to perform. I have never experienced anything quite like those shows … they were incredibly moving experiences and will always have a special place in my heart. The Meldreth History website (www.meldrethhistory.org.uk) is and remains a phenomenally valuable resource for us in school, providing us with pictures, documents and first- hand recollections that bring the history of Meldreth into sharp relief – providing children with an experience of their village which is as close to time travel as is possible. I always couple our history study with local history walks that similarly strip away the years and enable children to know their village in a deeper and more rounded way. Children will know about what we call ‘The Great Fire of Meldreth’ of 1908, which destroyed all the homes

between Keys Cottage next to the school and the site of the current shop. As we walk on down the High Street, they will stop and imagine old Mr Mortlock emerging from the gateway of The Court in his carriage on his way to the new railway station – one of Meldreth’s first commuters. They will list off all the old pubs of Meldreth; The Green Man, The Railway Tavern, The Dumb Flea, The Bell, The Sailor’s Return and The British Queen - last ma’am standing. We will pause at the stocks and muse over the origin of the great stone that stands alongside - then imagine ne’er do wells of days gone by being left for a day or more in the stocks themselves at the mercy of their fellow villagers. After a pause at the old forge, where we stand and imagine we can hear the bellows gasping and the chink of hammer on anvil, we find our way finally to the church. Here I spent my last Monday morning with my class on a scorching day in July. We sat together in the shade beneath the yew tree there and mused over the legions of baptisms, weddings and funerals that have inexorably marked Meldreth time through the centuries … and then we considered what may have stood on the mound where the church now stands even before it was built, in time not documented, maybe before Meldreth even had its name. The wealth of learning, the depth of history, the orchards, the woods, the people, the buildings and the school of Meldreth – I have truly loved my time with all these things and I shall miss them dearly. Andrew Jones