No 20: April 2010

Published by Rothay House, Mayfield Road, Eastrea

On the right is one of the designs for the village hall proposed by our architects, Ellis Miller. This was done without cost to the Village Hall Trust. The delay in planning permission lost us the chance of our £500,000 Big Lottery grant, so we cannot proceed with this building. But a design is being finalized that Eastrea can afford and details will be announced in May.

the final plans for the hall will be

unveiled and a public meeting

will be held. Building work should

start in October.

The Race Night organiser is

Tina Arnold of Mayfield Road.

She has already been finding

sponsors for the races. Many

local companies have given

money to the funds. There will be

a full ploughman’s supper for just

£3.50 available on the night and

the profit from the sale of supper

tickets will also go towards the

village hall funds.

The last fund raising event for

the village hall was the raffle at

last year’s Eastrea Beer Festival,

which raised £300.

EastreaEastreaEastrea Village NewsVillage NewsVillage News

RACE NIGHT! Make a note in your diary and

don’t miss the Nag’s Head

Horse Race Night on 7th May

from 7.30 pm. Have you not

been to one before? Then do

come along. The atmosphere

is terrific — the races are

played on the big screens in

the pub and the evening will

be an exciting one. It’s the

next best thing to going for a

day at the races.

Of all the money taken on the

night, 75 per cent is given back as

prizes. So your chances of winning

are much higher that at the races.

This evening is a fund raiser for

the Village Hall Trust. Next month

HOW THE HALL

WON’T LOOK

Page 2

Eastrea now has its own official Wildlife Site. The enclosed stretch of meadow to the south-west of the village contains many wildflowers (right) and the willow trees show that, many years ago, the land was farmed in the traditional manner. The land is known as the Drover’s Field and it is believed that this is where cattle were rested before being driven to market in Peterborough or Whittlesey. Naturalists have been to survey this secluded site and the landowners have now formally agreed

for it to be officially designated as a nature reserve for the village. Many species live on in this secluded spot, including the marsh-mallow plant (top right) and stag beetles. Any volunteers interested in helping to manage this site are invited to contact the Eastrea Village Hall Trust on Peterborough 350888. If sufficient interest is shown, a committee of Eastrea residents will be set up to manage the reserve. One possibility is to graze the land, to reduce the height of grass and allow rarer plants to re-emerge.

NEW EASTREA WILDLIFE SITE

GRANT NEWS

Any student resident in Eastrea can apply for the 2010 Storers Student Bursary. This is a grant awarded to students of any age (yes, if you are studying for a degree or a diploma in later life you are equally welcome to apply). The trustees of The Storers may also award one or more Student Support Grants. These are all tax free gifts to the students, and the awards are always announced to the press. Eastrea villagers in financial need can also apply for a Storers grant. In this case all the awards are strictly confi-dential and any grant is tax free. For Further information phone the Clerk to the Storers: Peterborough 350888. Email: mail@eastrea.net.

Mechanical diggers have been at work on the village hall develop-ment site on Coates Road. They are part of the archaeological survey which has to be undertaken before building work can commence. One important find was this piece of stone pot from the Bronze Age, dating from about 4,000 years ago. This pot fragment is the size of the palm of your hand (the 10 cm ruler is, in traditional units, four inches long). This pottery relic is being pre-served for the Council but we hope one day to exhibit such finds in the Eastrea Village Hall.

EASTREA

ARCHAEOLOGY

Contact by telephone: 350888. Email: mail@eastrea.net