Letters to the Editors
Dencora Field
Dear Editors
I refer to the recent letter from your correspondent, Mark Lewinski, concerning the plot of land colloquially known as Dencora Field.
Firstly, let me put the record straight. ECDC are extremely short of affordable houses for rent in their district based on both present needs and the forecasted requirements in the foreseeable future, and consequently at the beginning of the year they contacted all known landowners asking if they had any land which could be made available for this purpose. Dencora replied to this request.
Under the ECDC structure plans, affordable housing can be built on areas outside the normal development envelope in what is known as exceptional sites. Before any progress can be made the Parish Council concerned has to give their consent.
With this in mind the topic was fully explained and discussed at the Annual Village Assembly held on May 15th. This was followed up by a lengthy discussion at a specially convened Extraordinary Council Meeting on June 26th. At this meeting the Council took into account the comments made at both the Village Assembly and at this special Council Meeting and passed a resolution that the Council
"in principle agreed to the building of up to 8 dwellings of affordable housing on the site in question provided the reasons for non-development set out by the Planning Authority and reinforced by subsequent Planning Inspectors, is not affected so as to prevent any additional Open Market housing development at any time."
If this small development goes ahead, and as yet no response has been received, the houses would not be owned by Dencora but by one of the Housing Associations such as Hereward.
Finally I should like to point out that the agendas for the Annual Village Assembly, at which any resident may speak, and for the Extraordinary Council Meeting were put on public display on the Village Notice Boards in line with the statuary requirement, as is the case with all Council Meetings. Council meetings are open to the public and always have an item during which members of the public may raise any question relevant to the agenda.
Yours sincerely
Mark Lewinski's Dilemma
Dear Editors
I was delighted to note that not only does Mr Lewinski share my doubts about the guy who wrote the plays of Shakespeare but that, like me, he also hoards old copies of the Crier. His letter in the December Crier mentions his concern that he may have missed something regarding the possible development on the Dencora field. So let me illustrate that all the information he needs has been available in the Crier. Because of space I can only give the briefest references. No doubt Mark will apply his usual scholarly approach and if in any further doubt will be responding.
- Crier May 2003. Page 9. Advert about the Annual Village Assembly. "Everyone welcome!" Early May: the village is widely bill postered about the above event with the topic DENCORA featured in huge letters. 15th May the Village Assembly is held with 23 villagers attending.
- Crier June 2003. Pages 6, 7 and 8.
- Crier July 2003. Page 4.
- Crier August/September 2003, pages 5-6: an objective and extremely informative summary of the discussion at an Extraordinary Parish Council Meeting. All living in the Dencora area should read it. On page 2 appeared an excellent and perhaps a less than objective letter from a concerned resident.
- Crier October 2003. Page 2. Mark's first letter claiming he has tried "to maintain an informed awareness about Dencora."
But in the light of the information provided above - has he?
I hope this helps. Maybe a future crossword can be devised around this most contentious issue.
Tiffany again
Dear Editor,
I was interested to read Betty Prime's short item in the December Crier, (reporting a WI talk) about the artist/craftsman Tiffany. Residents in Cambridgeshire may like to know that they may inspect an example of Tiffany's workmanship even closer than the V & A. One of the stained-glass windows in the parish church of Kimbolton (a village about 10 miles west of Huntingdon) was designed and made by Tiffany. The window commemorates two young girls, (the daughters of the donors of the window) who died in childhood. The picture in the window shows the incident in the gospel story in which children are brought to Christ to be blessed. Two of the children standing close to the Christ figure and waiting for the blessing have the faces of the young girls who died. Kimbolton is proud of its Tiffany window: a street near the church is named "Tiffany Lane".
Tiffany is not noted for his windows. Small ornamental glass objects (vases, lamps and so on) are commonly associated with his name. However I saw in USA a whole church full of Tiffany windows, in Fredericksburg, Virginia: about 10 or 12 windows showing scenes from the gospel story of Christ's life. The only picture I now recall is of Christ joining two disciples on the road to Emmaus. All the pictures were made in subdued colours - browns and grays. There was a wealth of detail and realistic background. One had the impression that Tiffany was irked by the restrictions imposed by the medium; and would have preferred to be painting a series of large oils to show the gospel story.
Yours sincerely,
The "Old" New Vicarage
Dear Editors,
We have been in Swaffham Prior now for four months; we are enjoying the peacefulness of living in a village after being "city" people for thirty odd years.We had never really wanted to live in the city but we had our four children there and they soon became ensconced in city life, schools societies etc but we always knew that we would eventually live in a village; it just never seemed to be the right time until our youngest had finished his GCSEs.
We bought this house in July if this year it sits at the back of the churches and is indeed the "old" new vicarage. For those of you that had perhaps had meetings here or had visited you will know it was (and still is) in a pretty awful state. We have already begun work on the house and it will soon begin to feel like home. At present we are ripping out the bathrooms. They were in dreadful need of attention the floor boards needed replacing, doors needed to be replaced and moved and the sanitary wear removed to accommodate more modern showers. At the moment we are living in a building site.
We would like to tell anyone who is worried or disturbed by our renovations that we are seeking advice from a local architect and that nothing has been or will be done without the proper permissions being obtained. To the person or people who felt it necessary to inform the council of our work we would like to invite you to our home to have a look for yourselves, there is nothing happening that we would not wish you to see. We would welcome any visitors. We had a wonderful evening at the variety performance, and were sorry we could only stay for half of the evening; our eldest son (who we also brought to the evening) had just announced his engagement half an hour before and we wanted to celebrate as a family at home.
Horses and 'Planes
Dear Editors
I have no particular view on horses, but if Mr Everitt says in his Parish notes they are harmless and wants to encourage them just five lines after providing a specific example of damage done by them, methinks I spy mischief ahoof. Or if itÕs his own, perhaps I mean afoot. And since at least one of my daughters is exhibiting the early symptoms of a possible future dependency upon the services of one of these fourlegged lawnmowers, I will say that I happen to know that horses are capable of inflicting lasting injury to oneÕs bank account.
Aircraft, however, are a different kettle of fish. Or possibly fowl. I am inclined to ally myself with Mr Everitt here - which will probably a) surprise him b) be a relief to some and c) be a disappointment to others. Such fragile, transient, expensive, ozone-depleting and mostly unnecessary creatures as pass over here should be allowed to fly free. If one lived within ten miles of Luton Airport where I grew up, it would probably be a not uncommon if secret dream that Santa brings you a large supply of ground-to-air missiles, the sky being lit up like a Christmas tree with twinkling but far from silent lights for most nights of the year; the days the same except you have to read the phone number of Easyjet every few minutes as a large flying advert goes over.
Here, it is different - the US military provide that little bit of excitement and remind us that our little island has its uses for the world's only superpower as they cruise past gently in pairs in their little grey pointy F15s and F16s - a brace equates to many millions of extravagant dollars, I learned, after they flew a couple from round here into a mountain in Scotland; slowing now after some several thousand miles - generally they don't wake the children as they tend to do the macho we-arethe- greatest throttle stuff only in daylight. The proximity of the US bases keeps a lot of the downmarket commercial riffraff away, but the ones that drift gently in to be serviced in Cambridge are delightfully quiet and slow because they are always empty - they have to be, the runway being so short, or there wouldn't be much left of Sainsbury's.
The occasional twirly practice ones from Duxford are fun to watch, and the vintage flypasts of wartime aircraft are a free show and won't be there to watch forever. I know there are those high in the Imperial War Museum's administration who don't think they should be allowed to fly at all just because they are old. If so, chop 'em up for firewood, say I. Like musical instruments that exist as instruments only if played, an aircraft is an instrument to be flown. The ones that sit on the ground at Duxford are mere shells of what they once were.
As for the jockeys and the well-heeled investors in the upmarket versions of those prancing lawnmowers, flitting in and out of Newmarket from one race meeting to another, they can hardly be expected to suffer the indignities of the A14 with us hoi polloi, can they? They'd never keep up with their lifestyle and in any case, do we want our roads cluttered with the rich and famous? Prince Charles recently turned up in Reach in a solitary helicopter; but his ground-bound departure necessitated a cavalcade of motorcycles, a Jaguar, a sinister-looking dark minivan, another motorcycle and a load of flashing lights. I for one find my quiet driving thoughts seriously disturbed by blue Police lights coming up suddenly in my rear view mirror. Keep those who can afford it off the road, I say.
Those Dear Horses
Dear Editors,
Well, actually, there is only one now, as the chestnut has been removed. But worry not, it is hoped that the remaining Dobbin will soon have a little companion.
As Margaret Stanier and I were clearing the coagulated clay and leaves left on the pavement after the burst water main near Kate Child had been repaired - as we were doing this, I spied someone with riding boots, and rushed over to speak to her so that Dr Stanier could finish off the job without me - WHICH SHE DID!
I asked the horse lady whether she was aware that her horses were the subject of village debate. Nope, she was just a friend of the horse owner. Even so she was concerned and obviously worked closely with the owner.
She knew they had to make a contribution to the Church for the water but did not know to whom to pay it. As the cost including water used and the standing charge is about £65 per annum I think they would be more than happy to make a contribution to whomsoever deserves it. As for removing the barrier, they had to do this once because the landowner stipulated that, before they put the horses in the field, the hedge running down the side of Coopers Lane had to be cut. The machinery was too high to pass the trees along the usual way to the field. Previously the PC had paid for the hedge to be cut, so this was a major saving for the village. And now, with the wonderful grasscutting of Kelley Harrington, Coopers Lane is a truly rural wonder to walk along.
As many have asked me about the fate of the horses I hope this reassures everyone that, with a bit of luck and tolerance, they will be remaining.
The Three Policemen
Dear Editors,
On the day that Prince Charles visited Reach, three police motorcyclists came along the road together. Funny isn't it? You don't see one for ages, then - - - - .
Sincerely,
BOXING DAY HOCKEY MATCH
Come and support your local team against the Bulbeckians at 11.00 on Boxing Day morning at Swaffham Bulbeck. If you enjoyed the Pink Rabbit in the Village Variety Show then you will get even more pleasure from his ludicrous antics in the Swaffham Prior goal. Unless other players volunteer only the Pink Rabbit can save SP from the most infamous and humiliating defeat.
Mulled wine will be available.
There will also be a collection for Magpas whose services are often required before, during and after the match.
Christmas Market
(held on the day of THE rugger match, a very cold wet Saturday afternoon)
THANK YOU to all who helped in so many different ways whether it was preparing several weeks before, on the actual day, or after the event, and also to those who came and supported by spending.
I am not going to mention a single name, you know who you are. We managed to hit the target by raising just over £1,000 which will go towards church expense.