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 Posted - 14/05/2009 : 11:20:26
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Emma Saint
from the Heart Breakfast Show "Tony & Emma" will be judging the Scarecrow Competition on Thursday 14th May. She will be walking around the village from 6.00pm. The winner will be announced by Emma at the Scarecrow Festival on Saturday, 16th May at the Village Hall and Playing Field. The ‘Heart’s Angels Street Team’ will join Emma on 16th giving out
Scarecrow Festival
The Friends of Paxton Pits and the District Council rangers will be participating in this year’s scarecrow festival. The Rangers will be making a team of scarecrow rangers who will be on duty at the Visitors Centre. The Friends will be making a family of scarecrows which will be pond dipping in the wildlife garden. The Friends will have a scarecrow making session on Thursday 23rd April (St George's Day) from 2.00 to 5.00 pm. Just drop in with your clothing and newspapers/plastic bags for stuffing.
Jim Stevenson, Senior Ranger
23rd April is not just St George’s Day, the patron saint of England, but is also acknowledged as the birth date of England’s greatest poet and playwright, William Shakespeare (1564–1616). Known as The Bard of Avon his tally of works amounts to ten tragedies, ten historical plays, 17 comedies, 154 sonnets and five major poems. I wonder how many of us studied his works at school or college, and if so, do we still remember the verse that we were taught? On a whimsical note, it is also alleged that Shakespeare died on …..23rd April.
Wildlife Trust - Huntingdon Area Group
The Beautiful Bluebells of Brampton Wood
The Huntingdon Area Group of the Wildlife Trust invites you to come and experience the delights of a carpet of bluebells in this ancient woodland that lies on our doorstep. You are welcome to share this enchanting scene by participating in a guided walk through Brampton Wood on Sunday, 26th April.
George Cottam, who is Warden of Brampton Wood, is also Chairman of the Huntingdon Area Group of the Wildlife Trust. George will be delighted to lead us through this ancient woodland where a rich variety of flora can be seen. His aim will be to highlight the beautiful scent, colour and freshness of the bluebells that encapsulate the essence of a traditional English spring.
Everyone is most welcome to attend. Please meet at Brampton Wood Car Park, Grafham Road, Brampton at 11.00 am (GR TL 184698). Park in the Trust car park.
Admission: adults £2.00, children free. For more information please visit the website www.wildlifetrust-huntsareagroup.org.uk or contact George on 01480 450809.
Little Paxton Woman’s Institute
We are a varied group of friendly ladies who enjoy having a good time. Why not give us a try? We meet at the village school on the third Monday of every month. We have a speaker most months.
Our next meeting is on Monday, 20th April 2009 with
Sqdr. Ldr Kevin Dalley giving a talk on
‘The History of RAF Wyton’
Come and join us for the evening to see if you enjoy our company. We have a raffle and refreshments with an entry charge of £2.50.
Men are welcome on this occasion as they may also find our speaker of interest.
Can you help us at The Scarecrow Festival
on Saturday, 16th May?
We will be in the Village Hall serving tea and home made cakes
between 10.00am - 5.00pm.
This will be a BIG event so donations of cakes would be welcome.
The W.I. organises walks, theatre and fun things through the year.
For more info. Contact (president) Jacqui on 01480 219132
Annual Parish Meeting
The Annual Parish meeting will be held in the Village Hall on
Friday, 17th April 2009 at 7.30pm
The Parish Councillors would like to welcome you to the Annual meeting to hear the Parish Council activities last year and the plans for the future.
Like last year, the serious bit will be first then after a short interval there will be an opportunity to listen to the activities of local organisations.
AGENDA
Welcome to the meeting
Apologies
Minutes of the 2008 Annual Parish Meeting
Matters Arising
Parish Council Reports
Open Forum (Questions and Answers)
There will be a short ten minute interval. Light refreshments will be served.
Presentation of Quality Award by Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Association of Local Councils
Mr. Andy Veale- Editor of the Hunts Post
Inspector Mark Greenhalgh- St.Neots Police Station
Wildlife Explorers- Di Rockett & Sarah Boulton
Sarah Minifie – Calor Village of the Year
A celebrity Olympic Swimmer - to be confirmed.
Cllr Alan Denison
Chairman of the CouncilParish Council Meeting dates for next three months
The Full Council will next meet on 2nd April, 7th May and 3rd June and then monthly on the first Thursday thereafter. All Full Council meetings start at 7.30pm. The June meeting is on a Wednesday due to the village hall being used as a polling station for the 4th June election.
The Planning Committee will meet on 23rd April, 21st May, 18th June and then monthly on the third Thursday each month. Planning meetings start at 7.30pm. The Amenities Committee will meet on the same dates as the Planning meetings at 8.00 pm. All meetings are held in the back room of the Village Hall. There is a 15 minute Public Forum at the beginning of each Council meeting when members of the public are invited to raise issues with Councillors.
New Councillor
Cllr Dennis Flavell was co-opted on to the Parish Council at the 5th March meeting.
For all Parish Council enquiries, please contact Clerk of the Council, Mrs J Gellatly, 11 Hayling Avenue Little Paxton. Tel 01480 470193.
Office hours 9am-2.30pm.
Email: littlepaxton@hotmail.com www.littlepaxton.org.uk
Communications Award
After winning the Peterborough & Cambridgeshire Village of the Year Award in 2007, Little Paxton went on to enter into further rounds of the National Competition earlier this year.
At the National Awards ceremony in London on 2nd December 2008, Little Paxton won the Communications Award - East of England along with a prize of £500.
Parish Council Chairman Alan Denison and Vice Chairman Peter Hagger attended the Award Ceremony at The Guildhall and were presented with the Award Certificate. The event was compered by Bill Turnbull.
Cllr Alan Denison said, “We are absolutely delighted to win this Award and it will be displayed prominently in the Village’.
The winner of the Village of the Year England was Levington and the UK winner was Isle of Barra.
New National Neighbourhood and Home Watch Website
Are you an existing Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinator or are you interested in setting up a Neighbourhood Watch Scheme in your area? If so, you may be interested to hear about the new National Neighbourhood and Home Watch website, which provides a wealth of information, including access to training materials, NHW toolkits, crime prevention advice, newsletters, advice on managing schemes, including writing newsletters and providing a presentation to a group of people, and information on grants and funding opportunities for crime prevention initiatives, to name but a few!
To access the Website, please log on to www.mynhw.co.uk.
Little Paxton News by Email
Since our article in December Village Views, eleven people are now on the Council’s email newsletter distribution list and two newsletters have been issued.
Wouldn’t it be great if there were 100 people on the distribution list?
If you use email and are interested in signing up for Little Paxton email updates then simply send an email to: littlepaxton@hotmail.com
Paxton Pits Nature Reserve
Bardon Aggregates has been doing a lot of earth moving for us in February. After clearing away all the soil heaps from the Great Meadow Project, our contractors, Neil’s Plant, finished up by creating a new pond for us on the site of the old gravel storage area. They dug down a couple of metres to see what was underneath, but only found waste ‘pea-gravel’ mixed with sand, the odd tyre and tractor part. They also struck water which, as expected, keeps the level of the nearby Heronry Lake. Now, this can rise or fall by about 1m, which is not good for a lake that will only be about 1.5m deep in the middle. We will have to line the pond so that it can be filled to a more or less constant level to suit our needs.
The pea gravel is very soft and collapses easily so we are keeping people off until the lining is in place. We have put up a permanent post-and-rail fence. The public still has access to the permissive path that leads behind the Lafarge plant but there is a slight detour where you leave the Heron Trail. All will be obvious when you see it.
Why another pond? You may think that we have plenty of ponds already, and lots more to come, but we don't really. We have a lot of deep lakes, all with predatory fish in them. We also have a lot of temporary puddles that dry up but we only have a few permanent ponds suitable for amphibians. We hope that this pond will be better for frogs than our existing ones. Frogs have almost disappeared from Paxton in recent years. By having a lined, self-contained pond away from the road we hope to avoid pollution from run-off.
However, the main reason we wanted this pond was for educational purposes. The adjoining enclosure is to become our new hands-on educational area. We need to have a reasonably large pond, handy for pond dipping with schools who may only be with us for a couple of hours. Of course, the pond will not be ready for use for a year or two. We need to let the wildlife and the plants colonise it first.
We do not introduce any plants or animals to the reserve, not even frogs, as these might carry a disease such as ‘red-leg’ which has wiped out many wild populations. We already have a lot of invasive ‘alien’ plants and a few unwanted animals such as terrapins and zebra mussels.
We’re excited about the pond. It will be a lovely feature in future years, but all the trails are a bit of a mess at the moment. Bring your wellies!
Jim Duthie
Colour schemes
In the first three weeks of January 2009, Little Paxton Playground Group visited village groups to ask the young people to choose colours for the Multi Use Games Area and the youth shelters. On each occasion, the actual plans of the multi use games project were displayed. The old pictures were also on display as examples of colour schemes.
The Group visited Little Paxton Guides, Little Paxton Primary School Years 5 and 6, Little Paxton Colts Under 11s, Under 15s, Michelle Wingate Dance Class, Little Paxton Beavers, Little Paxton Cubs, Little Paxton Scouts, Youth Club and Longsands College.
Overall, 177 young people of the village saw the plans and completed a response form.
The top three popular colour schemes for the ball court were red/silver, blue/silver and red/black.
The top three popular colours for the youth shelters were red, blue and silver.
In February, the Parish Council approved the Playground Group’s recommendation and agreed the multi use games area will have red fence panels with silver posts. The youth shelters will have red canopy and silver posts.
St. James Churchyard - Memorial Safety
The Parish Council has now received permission (Faculty) from the Diocese of Ely to safety test the memorials in the churchyard and carry out any repairs.
The memorials in St James’ churchyard will be safety tested after the 15th April 2009.
If a memorial requires to be repaired, the Parish Council will contact the owners (where known) to request the necessary work to be carried out.
The churchyard is very old and in many cases there will not be any contact details. The Council will be responsible for the repairs to these memorials.
There is a well used public footpath through the churchyard and the Parish Council has a legal duty to ensure that the churchyard is a safe place for all users.
Cemetery Rose Bed
The Council now has Guidelines for the Rose Bed in the Cemetery. Relatives can choose from a list of fourteen David Austin Roses with a wide range of colours. All the roses can be purchased locally. Permission is required before planting a rose.
The Rose Bed Guidelines can be accessed on the Council website www.littlepaxton.org.uk/cemetery or contact the Clerk for a copy Tel. 01480 470193.
Accidents in the Children’s Play Park, Village Hall Car Park and Playing Field
The Parish Council strives to ensure that all its areas are safe places for the general public to enjoy. Regular safety checks are carried out on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. From time to time, accidents do happen on Council property. If you have an accident, please report it to the Clerk in order that the Council’s Accident Book can be updated. By reporting accidents, the Council can put measures in place, if required, to prevent anyone else having a similar accident.
Commerative Bench
Last Year Little Paxton won the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Village of the Year Award. Little Paxton Parish Council used some of the prize money to purchase a Commemorative Bench which has been installed near the public footpath in St. James Churchyard
Welcome/Information Leaflet
The Council has revised its Welcome/Information leaflet. The leaflet has information about village groups and organisations, with contact numbers along with details of shops and other services.
If you know anyone who has moved into the village, please contact the Clerk who will arrange delivery of the free leaflet.
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Viillage Views Spring 2009
