Town Lights 25th November - St Neots Town Council

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Let’s Work Together Yes, there was triumph for St Neots at In Bloom Awards. A fourth Silver Gilt Award and the regional Environment Award – not a bad result for St Neots, considering the Anglia in Bloom judges visited on a market day! However, in the wake of the latest success, the St Neots in Bloom team are asking: ‘So where do we go from here? According to the judges’ report there is a need to build on the current success and to do that we need YOUR help. Why? Because floral displays don’t create themselves and they are only part of the ‘In Bloom’ campaign. We, the local community, need to work together to improve the town’s visual impact to the world at large and make its daily operations as sustainable as possible. Here are just a few ideas of how you can help. • Create a lovely floral display that everyone can enjoy. • Keep the area around your property free of litter. • Help the cash-strapped councils and pull out the weeds in footpaths around your home or office. Remember to compost them too. • If you see litter gathering behind shops and buildings in town, help us by asking the shop keepers to take some pride and clean up! • Keep us at St Neots in Bloom, up-to-date with any activities you may be involved in, which help to improve our environment, no matter how small it may be. • Become a St Neots in Bloom volunteer. We will do our best to include your efforts in our portfolio which show all the year-round activities the Anglia in Bloom judges can’t see during their three hour visit. Above all, be proud of our town - It’s a great place to live! Contact the St Neots in Bloom team via Lin Buck at lin.buck@ntlworld.com Hidden Jewel in St Neots’ Green Corridor? Have you visited Sudbury Meadow yet? It is a Green Flag Community Award® conservation site on Crosshall Road, Eaton Ford. Friends of Sudbury Meadow celebrated receiving the national award in July. It recognises high quality green spaces in England and Wales, which are managed by voluntary and community groups and is valid for twelve months. St Neots in Bloom also recognised Sudbury Meadow’s contribution to local wildlife, by nominating it for an Anglia in Bloom Special Award for Biodiversity, an award which it won in 2007. No repeat this year, however, but it did make the top six finalists in the Anglia region. Friends of Sudbury Meadow has managed the Huntingdonshire District Council owned site for ten years. We depend heavily on volunteers to maintain and improve the wildlife habitats, which include three gardens. Meeting twice a month (Wednesday and Saturday) for 2-3 hours, we all enjoy getting together in the fresh air and doing something positive for our local wildlife. If you would like to help, come along to one of our meetings or contact me, Alison Pearson, at general@sudburymeadow.org.uk or 01480 374792, for more details. See our website for more details too - www.sudburymeadow.org.uk. 6 Priorities November 2011
Bushmead was the First! Longsands College has just celebrated its 50th birthday and I am sure that we all wish it well for the future. It claimed to be the first school for secondary age children in St Neots, but in fact the first school to be built for secondary age pupils in the present town of St Neots was Eaton Socon Secondary School, eventually known as Bushmead, which opened in January 1958 - three years before Longsands. The school took pupils from Eaton Socon, Wyboston, Roxton, Chawston, Colmworth and Great Barford. Bedfordshire County Council had wanted to build the school in Great Barford but Raymond Smith, county councillor for Eaton Socon, persuaded them to build a two form entry school in Eaton Socon. School lessons, being a rural secondary school, History of Love’s Farm A detailed 14 page booklet about the Archaeological Excavations at Love’s Farm has been published revealing extraordinary findings. Oxford Archaeology East, on behalf of JJ Gallagher Ltd, undertook excavations and research between 2005-2008 in advance of development of the site for housing . Archaeological examination of this scale has never taken place before within the Cambridgeshire region and the results have completely transformed our understanding of the earliest inhabitants of the areas around St Neots. Archaeologists believed that the ‘cold clay lands’ of the River Ouse Valley were largely uninhabited until the 18th century. This assumption has been transformed and evidence of settlement and associated activity spanning over 5000 years has been uncovered. The booklet offers an insight into the ancient and diverse landscape, including housing, farming, industry and trade, ritual and religion. Some of the most ancient finds included Neolithic pottery, a polished stone axe from 3500 BC and a Bronze Age field system dating from 1500 BC. From 200 BC to around the 5th or 6th century AD the site was occupied by an agricultural community who created many of the landscape features we still see today. As a result of Parliamentary Inclosure in 1770, Adam Love was allotted the “farm”, hence “Love’s Farm”. As well as improving our understanding of the landscape, the site offered many interesting artefacts, including extremely rare shoes from the 4th/5th century, a bronze bust of the Goddess Minerva and the fragment of a military armilla-a Roman Centurion award. Ritual and religion features strongly with evidence of a 1st Century monument and symbolic animal burial including a dog buried with a stone in its eye and careful placement of red deer antlers within a 5th century well. Copies of the booklet are available from Katie Baldwin, Love’s Farms Community Development Officer. You can contact Katie on 01480 403813 or email katie.baldwin@bpha.org.uk. *We thank J J Gallagher Ltd for their permission to reproduce the above and Oxford Archaeology East for the use of the front cover image. included aspects of rural science, such as chicken and bee keeping, as well as carpentry and the usual secondary subjects. There was also an active Young Farmers Club. When Eaton Socon changed counties and became part of the town of St Neots in 1965, the school continued for a few years, until it was decided to move the children and some of the teachers from Bushmead to Longsands in 1969. The school buildings in Bushmead Road were then adapted for use as a primary school and those children moved gradually into there from the older school buildings in School Lane. In 1977 a purpose-built Infant School was built behind the older secondary school buildings which was sadly demolished in 2002. Sue Jarrett, ESCA Chairman and History Co-ordinator Residents Take Action Following reports of litter, dog fouling and damage to residents’ homes in the area by the inconsiderate playing of ball games, Luminus and other partner agencies held a neighbourhood action day in Eaton Socon. Those who participated included the local Neighbourhood Policing Team, Luminus Neighbourhood Wardens, employees from Luminus, the Community Safety Team at Huntingdonshire District Council, a representative from the Eaton Socon Community Association, local residents and enthusiastic children – resulting in eight bags of rubbish being picked up. Luminus, with partner agencies, was also able to raise awareness about the Street Representative Scheme they are in the process of launching which encourages residents to become involved in addressing issues of concern in the area they live. Councillor Tom Sanderson, Executive Councillor for Community Safety said: “It is great to see that local people care about the areas where they live and as a result, were keen to participate in the action day. Hopefully this activity will continue to grow.” Luminus Group Chief Executive, Chan Abraham said: “We carry out events like these because we want to encourage communities to believe they can make the difference. The Eaton Socon Action Day is a great example of how small actions can have a big impact. I applaud all who gave up their free time.” Those who participated in the event were entered in a prize draw which saw a local girl win a family ticket for four to the cinema, provided by the Huntingdonshire Community Safety Partnership. Residents interested in becoming involved in future events that will help address issues of crime, disorder and antisocial behaviour can contact the Community Safety Team at Huntingdonshire District Council on 01480 388233 or visit www.huntingdonshire.gov.uk. For information about the Luminus Street Representatives Scheme, please contact Andre Fourie on 01480 428546 or andre.fourie@luminus.org.uk. November 2011 Priorities 7
Page 1 and 2: Prior ties St. Neots Old Bushmead S
Page 3 and 4: The Chairman’s Column New Curator
Page 5: This Christmas, the award winning S

Town Lights 25th November - St Neots Town Council

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