December 2014 Number 320

Panser News

Pampisford’s Community Newsletter

Inside this issue:

Pampisford Church & Society Seasonal Events

Village Hall Updates

Sawston Medical Practice

RFC, RAF & IWM Duxford

December 2014 Number 320

Panser News

Pampisford’s Community Newsletter

December 2014 Number 320

Panser News

Pampisford’s Community Newsletter

Inside this issue:

Pampisford Church & Society Seasonal Events

Village Hall Updates

Sawston Medical Practice

RFC, RAF & IWM Duxford

2

CHURCH NEWS

Stop press 1: Christmas Lunch has been changed from the 4th

to the 9th

.

It is at The Red Lion Whittlesford at 12.30. I have a few names already,

more welcome. Please call me on 01799 530740.

I hope that as many of you as possible will be able to join us for our annual

Carol Service at 4pm on Sunday 21st December. Followed by mince pies

and mulled wine. Last year it was a wonderful sight and a privilege to lead

100 parishioners in Christmas worship.

Stop press 2: The Arch Deacon has confirmed that he will take the 7.30

Christmas Eve service. Good news!

I first started coming to Pampisford at the end of 2008, on a temporary

measure to help Ruth out on the non Eucharistic services. Well, 6 years

later still here, and as your Church Warden. My first impression of the

Church was its welcome and warmth and fellowship. As a PCC, we are

small. As we move towards 2015, it really would be lovely to see more

people with us. We would welcome any new members of the PCC and

congregation. It is your Church to be shared with you, and you would all

be welcomed with open arms.

May I wish you a really happy Christmas and a healthy and happy 2015.

Judith Sutcliffe

With many thanks to Alex Judd for his colourful Carol Service cover poster

SERVICES 2015

January 4

th Christmas 2 9.30 Communion Order 2 Phil Sharkey (TBC)

11th

Epiphany 1 9.30 Morning Prayer Judith Sutcliffe

18th

Epiphany 2 10.30 4 Churches at Whittlesford URC

25th

Epiphany 3 10.00 Worship for All Judith Sutcliffe

February 1

st Epiphany 4 9.30 Communion Order 1 Jessica Martin

8th

2nd

before Lent 9.30 Morning Prayer Judith Sutcliffe

15th

1st before Lent 9.30 Communion Order 1 Jessica Martin

22nd

Lent 1 10.00 Worship for All Judith Sutcliffe

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CHURCH BELLS DIARY

November 7th

: Quarter peal around mid-day, by a regular visiting group

of ringers based in Saffron Walden

November 15th

: Two minute toll on the treble tail end by Robin Lee, age 4.

First ring.

November 25th

: Afternoon visit as part of a Quarter Peal Day by ringers

based in Great Dunmow.

November 28th

: Little Shelford Practise evening relocated for one week.

Royal British Legion Poppy Day Collection – 2014

The amount collected in Pampisford and District earlier this month was £801.15 which virtually equates to last year’s collection. Whilst we do not have the exact figures for Sawston’s collection, as they are still awaiting some cheques, we understand that their figure is substantially up on last year, which means that our combined collection is likely to be in the region of £5,000 which is extremely good. I would like to thank all of those who gave so generously. Particular thanks are also due to the following businesses who sold poppies on their premises:- Excell The Country Store The Dentists Surgery Ridgeons Adcocks Refrigeration Xention Solopark The Chequers Public House Owl Group Sealmasters Sawston Carpets Cambridge Carp Nightingales Garage The Veterinary Surgery

Thanks must also go to the Parish Church for their collection on Remembrance Sunday. Finally my appreciation to Laurie Parke and my wife who assisted both with the collection and, in the case of Laurie, with counting the proceeds! CJR

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Blythe Brett from Town Lane

is available for Baby-sitting.

Please ring 01223 833-378 or 07763 124-235 4

Village Hall matters ……

Did you know that ……

We have a Keep Fit class coming to the

Village Hall every Thursday evening, starting on January 8th 2015.

Details to follow next month.

Also, our longstanding and wonderful Treasurer of the Village Hall

Management Committee has now left us, and she has been replaced

by Anna Lovewell.

Fund Raising for the Village Hall

A big thank you to all who donated books, dvd’s to our vergeside

stall. Terry and I had lots of lovely chats to people and we made

£69.00 in total. Beryl

Grace Upton is available for Babysitting

Good with children of any age (especially toddlers or small children)

Available every day at any time (apart from school hours)

Call 01223 832305 for more information 5

Why not hire Pampisford Village Hall for your special event ?

Modern facilities, Meeting room and outdoor area in pleasant rural setting

Pampisford Village Hall - Functions, Receptions & Parties For all enquiries and bookings please call 01223 833635

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The Mystery Moggie of old Town Lane …

Is this your cat? I would really like to know

who he belongs to. He is a lovely cat but he comes

in through our cat flap on a daily (and nightly)

basis. He seems hungry but we don’t feed him, but

he is cheeky and sneaks in to eat our own cats’

food.

PLEASE call or text me on 07413528516 if he is

yours, otherwise we may end up adopting him!

Sue Lockwood

As ‘Neighbours’ of IWM Duxford, Pampidford residents are probably

aware of reports that the whole IWM ‘empire’ will be going through a

period of radical change in 2015. One consequence is the decision to

reduce big special events at Duxford to Air Shows plus Remembrance

Sunday during 2015. See P.19 of this issue of PN for details. PM

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♫

♫

YOUR VILLAGE CHARITY

THE PAMPISFORD RELIEF IN NEED CHARITY

(Registered Charity No. 275661)

The Trustees are undertaking a review of the services they provide to Pampisford

residents. This is a small charity with limited resources and it is important that best use is

made of these.

The services currently provided are

A taxi service for residents without transport for medical appointments.

A bereavement grant to the estate on the death of a resident

Cash grants at Christmas to elderly and disabled residents

Grants to community projects e.g. Panser News and Village Hall

Grants to residents for purposes which fall into the category of “Relief in

Need”.

Suggestions on other services that could be provided will be welcomed.

If you are of state retirement age or are receiving disability related benefits and have not

received a Christmas cash grant in the past, an email or telephone call to one of the

numbers below will ensure you are considered.

Grants in the “Relief in Need” category can be made to help in many different

circumstances. Each application is considered carefully on the particular circumstances

and the resources available at the time. If you or someone you know might be helped by

a grant please let us know. If you don't tell us it is unlikely we will know and will not be

able to help.

All applications will of course be treated in absolute confidence.

To avoid misplaced expectation please note that grants cannot be made towards payment

of Council Tax or any other tax, that loans cannot be made and that grants can only be

considered for Pampisford residents.

Email contact dennbeau@googlemail.com

Roger Turnbull Chairman 836822

Dennis Beaumont Clerk 833653

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OLD RON’S RURAL RAMBLINGS_NOVEMBER 2014 Carried forward to December Remember I was waiting to taste my tall sweet corn ? Well the wait is over, they are inedible ! Apparently someone at the Garden Centre confused the seeds of regular corn on the cob sweet corn with Maize grown for cattle feed. Hence the terrific growth rate and enormously thick fibrous stems which make great cattle feed when chopped up. In my case they will be chopped up to make excellent compost for next year’s crop. Talking of feed, I planted a stand of Teasels at the field end of the Allotment to attract Goldfinches. It appears to have worked, last week I counted 16 birds on one plant. They have very sharp pointed beaks which enables them to be expert at extracting the fine seeds from the plants spiky heads. The collective name for a group of Goldfinches is a Charm, very apt. OLD RON

FREE HELP FOR LEARNER DRIVERS Carlos Smith, Education Support officer with Right Driver at Boston, Lincs, has asked PN to alert Pampisford residents to the contract they have with the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), enabling them to provide free Highway Code education for car, motorbike, lorry and coach trainee drivers. No registration or payment is required, and they hope that they might be a helpful resource for members of our community. Carlos advises that Right Driver is preferred and used by a large number of driving instructors, youth organisations such as Scouts and Army cadets, schools, community organisations and more, to help people get their driver’s licences, by using their free official Highway Code theory test questions, broadcast via the company website at

http://rightdriver.co.uk/. 9

PARISH COUNCIL REPORT Date of last Parish Council Meeting: 13th Nov

Date of next Parish Council Meeting: 11th Dec

Full minutes and reports are available on the village website: http://www.pampisford.org.uk or paper copies are available from the Clerk by request. Anna Lovewell, 11 Church Lane, 01223 835050, clerk@pampisford.org.uk Street Lighting Changes led by Balfour Beatty- The project will take about 6 weeks to complete. BB have been contracted to provide lighting to British Safety Standards hence the removal / repositioning of lights. There is a need for evenly spaced columns and positions that do not interfere with overhead power lines as the new lights are much taller. The lights will be dimmed from 10pm-6am. Residents with problems with light entering their property can request BB to install a front or a back baffle to the light. These can be fitted retrospectively. Residents with concerns can contact BB directly on Freephone: 0800 7838 247 or www.lightingcambridgeshire.com. Road Resurfacing Meeting for Brewery Road: PD and AJ met with representatives from Cambridge County Council Highways Dept. in November to discuss the poor state of the road surface in Brewery Road (caused by a defective Bitumin Spraying nozzle). New contractors will inspect the road with members of the PC to discuss the feasibility of improvements. Roof of Bus Shelter on Brewery Road: The roof of the bus shelter near the Chequers was blown off after the recent strong winds. The PC are investigating its repair. Finances: Community Account: £13,159.41; Total Money going out: £1083.05; Receipts: £350.00 Rent from B.Moore for Clay Pit and Drainage Meadows £5,025. Bills: £330.91 CGM: CGM: grounds maintenance Sept. ; £28.51 G.Berridge for yearly e-mail accounts for Clerk and Chairman;£91.16 Cambridgeshire County Council Street Lighting Energy 2013-2014; £65.00 A.Turnbull Gardening Services for cutting Brewery Road Rec hedge; £297.31 CGM: grounds maintenance Oct. Pay: Clerk hours: 14hrs £123.69; Groundsman hours: 9hrs plus holiday pay of 13hrs 53 (Sept 2013-Sept 2014) £146.47.

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Report byTony Orgee: (abridged) South Cambridge District Council. Local Highways Improvement Scheme Panel meeting: TO was happy to support the bid by

Pampisford PC for a scheme to improve safety near the junction of Brewery Road and London Road. Details will be presented to the County Council’s Highways and Infrastructure Committee when it meets on 20 January 2015 when a decision will be made about which bids to support. Solar Farm, Sawston/Babraham planning application: TO spoke in opposition to the plan at the DC Planning Committee because of its sheer size and its location in the Green Belt. The Committee rejected the application by 8 votes to 2. A new planning application was submitted for a solar farm in the same general location but on a smaller scale opposed by Sawston PC. Local Transport Plan: This seeks to address existing transport challenges as well as setting out policies and strategies to ensure that planned large-scale developments can take place in the county in a sustainable way. TO believes that there should be more emphasis on improving the quality of the environment in villages on heavily-trafficked transport and on taking steps to mitigate congestion near sites of considerable employment importance. This is the case at the A505 / A1301 (Sawston roundabout) junction where traffic will only increase due to developments at the Genome Campus and Granta Park. Babraham Institute development: TO attended the DC’s Planning Committee to speak about the application for buildings to accommodate another 450 employees together with associated infrastructure. TO asked that the applicants should make some contribution to improving the safety of cyclists on Pampisford Wych and also make a contribution to slowing traffic in Babraham High Street in the light of the higher volumes of traffic that will be generated. The Committee approved the application but did ask officers to investigate TO’s suggestions about safety on Pampisford Wych and in Babraham High Street.

Peter Topping Cambridgeshire County Council:

(abridged). Road Resurfacing: PT attended the

meeting with Highways regarding the poor surface of Brewery Road. It is

important for the new contractors to have a site meeting to talk through the

road issues and to determine how feasible it will be to do the remedial

work. PT to get Highways to confirm a date for this.

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DECORATOR

Tim Purdew Professional Decorator

A C & G

Painting and Decorating Interiors and Exteriors

Paper Hanging

Tel: 01223 830691 Mobile: 0777 48988373

E mail: timpurdew@hotmail.com

3 Hammond Close Pampisford CB22 3EP

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SAWSTON MEDICAL PRACTICE – DECEMBER VILLAGE NEWS

Jenny Aston, Advanced Nurse Practitioner at Sawston Medical Practice, has recently received a Royal College of General Practitioners faculty award. This recognised her work seeking to standardise and improve the organisation of General Practice both nationally and locally. She has worked tirelessly to raise the issue of Practice Nurse training. There is currently no nationally recognised Career Framework for Practice Nurses, and no specifically identified funding to train either Nurses or Health Care Assistants. Individual practices pay for training from an ever decreasing income. The recent “Put Patients First: Back General Practice” campaign has highlighted the lack of investment in General Practice. It receives 8.4% of the NHS budget but provides 90% of all NHS contacts.

As Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners Foundation Nursing Group, Jenny (pictured below receiving her reward) has a powerful Role and has been influential in developing national standards and competency frameworks for Health Care Assistants and Nurses working in General Practice. The lack of nurse training placements in General Practice has fuelled the recruitment problems as students do not experience General Practice and so it is not always considered as a career option.

Jenny Aston’s goal is to see all Health Care Assistants and Nurses trained to the highest possible standards so that the best care can be provided for patients.

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The Practice is pleased to celebrate the success of the two Flu Saturdays we held this year. Over the two days we were able to administer in excess of 2,000 vaccinations to the Practice population.

And finally, Christmas and New Year are upon us again. The Practice is only closing on Thursday and Friday, 25 and 26 December, and then again for one day on Thursday 1 January 2015. Apart from those three days it will be business as usual. If you have any problems on the days we are closed, remember – you can call 111.

A Day in the Life of…

Student Doctors at Sawston Medical Centre

A speedy breakfast is all that we have time for before setting off on the 8

mile cycle from Cambridge to Sawston. Arriving at the surgery at 8:15am

we just about have time to make a cup of tea before beginning our busy

working day. With a revitalising warm drink in hand we go to meet our GP

supervisor to discuss the things we want to practice and learn in the

morning session.

Today we have a morning surgery scheduled. This means that we have the

opportunity to speak to each patient ourselves, if appropriate, before the

GP joins us to discuss the management. Don’t worry though, appointments

with us are scheduled to be twice as long as usual, so there is plenty of

time with both us on our own and with the GP present, ensuring your

problem is still managed as successfully as possible. This chance to run our

own consultations provides us with an excellent learning opportunity,

allowing us both to gain practical experience and to find out the actual

impact of different diseases on patients, not only on their health but also on

their general well-being and daily life.

A second cup of tea is in order following the hustle and bustle of morning

surgery, before we have a tutorial with one of the GPs. By this stage, our

minds are pretty full of questions, as well as points for further research. In

the tutorials, we discuss the conditions seen over the course of the morning

as well as covering a specific topic, for example skin rashes, highlighting

different ways patients can present to the surgery as well as the different

management options.

Now, it is time for a home visit. These are always very interesting,

allowing us to observe the real context of disease and to begin to

understand the close relationships a GP has with their patients within the

community. Patients who require a home visit may be very ill and unable

to come into the practice themselves. This gives us further insight into how

disease affects people in their homes and also gives up the chance to see

decisions being made about the need for further care or possible hospital

admission.

14

We are thus able to observe community medicine at its best and it is a real

privilege to be given the chance to visit patients and their relatives in their

home environment.

This lunchtime, there is a practice meeting where the GPs meet to discuss

complicated situations and cases with their colleague. Each of the GPs at

Sawston has a specific area of interest, and they are able to give second

opinions on certain cases, contributing to better patient care. Furthermore,

the meeting highlights important issues within the practice and among the

patients to the whole team. On other days, we have had the chance to visit

the pharmacy, or to shadow a practice nurse, finding out more about the

different areas essential to a GP practice.

There is a ‘minor operations’ list running this afternoon and we are

scheduled to assist; this is a rare opportunity in primary care. In minor

surgery, we are able to observe, and even perform basic skills that we have

previously been taught. The things that we can do include injecting local

anaesthetic to numb the area to be treated and assisting with putting in

stiches to close wounds. We really value having feedback from the patient

when we are performing these procedures, as it helps us reinforce our

strengths, as well as identify areas we need to improve.

Having finished for the day, we mentally prepare ourselves for the long

cycle home. Sometimes, if we finish early enough, we do decide to treat

ourselves to a visit to one of the many bakeries in town; they have a superb

choice of pastries!

Finally, we’d both like to say a massive ‘thank you’ to all of the patients

who have seen us over the last couple of weeks, and to those who agree to

see us in the future. You may not realise it, but it is you (our patients) who

are our best teachers! Becky Hulbert and Juju Knee

The staff of Sawston Medical Practice wish a very Happy Christmas and Happy New Year to you all

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RFC / RAF DUXFORD IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR

Many 2014>1914 broadcasts and commemorative events have emphasized for PN readers that this year marks the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War (FWW). Most have doubtless noted that the Imperial War Museum (IWM) ‘big fuss’ focused on the original IWM London at Lambeth, after a major rebuild and creation of magnificent new FWW galleries. So why no equivalent ‘fuss’ at IWM Duxford, especially involving ‘Neighbour’ villages like Pampisford ?

Longer-standing PN readers may remember from my previous articles that Duxford Airfield was still only farm fields in 1914. Construction of Royal Flying Corps (RFC) Duxford began in October 1917, and it opened as an RFC Mobilisation Station in March 1918, well before construction was completed.

It became automatically Royal Air Force (RAF) Duxford on 1 April 1918, and operated as a Training Depot Station (TDS) until May 1919, training two-seat day-bomber pilots, from ‘ab initio’ to Wings standard. No. 35 TDS at Duxford operated in partnership with its ‘sister’ No. 31 TDS at nearby Fowlmere, built at the same time as Duxford, but completely demolished during the early 1920s and returned to agriculture. Duxford, however, was selected in 1919 to be a permanent, peacetime RAF station, and became the home of No. 2 Flying Training School in April 1920.

Three Squadrons, Nos. 129, 123 & 119, were mobilised at Duxford during March to August 1918. They were equipped with Airco DH6 + DH9 two-seat biplanes, designed by Geoffrey de Havilland before he founded his own company. However, they never actually went to war before the Armistice on 11 November 1918. In overlap, from April to November 1918, 126 day-bomber pilots qualified at Duxford, while 13 others were killed in flying and ground accidents, with 10 aeroplanes written-off. This was around one death for every 10 pilots to qualify, a rate of 10%, which was close to the RAF’s overall training loss rate during 1918.

The two-seat biplanes operated as trainers by No. 35 TDS were Airco DH4 + DH6 + DH9; Avro 504K; and Royal Aircraft Factory BE2c + RE8. Most PN readers should by now have had the opportunity to admire the DH9 + RE8 displayed in AirSpace, and also the BE2c in the FWW section of the historic hangar 4.Battle of Britain exhibition, at IWM Duxford.

16

PN readers aware of Duxford’s history during the Second World War, know that the station was occupied from April 1943 to December 1945 by the 78th Fighter Group of the US 8th Army Air Force. This was, in a sense, ‘history repeating itself’, because Duxford was also home, for a few months each during March to November 1918, to ground crew under technical training from six US Army Aero Squadrons. These were the 159th, 137th, 23rd, 151st, 256th and 268th.

But what about the ‘girls’ ? Happily, about 200 members of the Women’s Royal Air Force – the 1st WRAF, 1918-1920 – were gainfully employed at Duxford. They worked in a wide variety of ground support roles – e.g. as caterer, cleaners, clerks, laundresses, orderlies, secretaries, store keepers and typists – but perhaps most importantly as Motor Transport (MT) drivers and motorcycle Despatch Riders.

Senior RAF officers came to regard WRAF Despatch Riders as much more reliable than their male counterparts. Section Leader Muriel Norman was one ‘shining example’ at Duxford, pictured below with three colleagues, in the MT Yard on Christmas Day, 1918. IWM staff don’t know why they didn’t go home on leave, but this and similar photo’s in the Historic Duxford collection show that they enjoyed a day off and traditional festivities on the station. PM

Peggy Muriel Emily Jackie

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SPECIAL EVENTS 2015

Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 May: VE-Day Anniversary Air Show Commemorating the 70th Anniversary of VE-Day

Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 July: Flying Legends Air Show

Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 September: Battle of Britain 75th Anniversary Air Show

Sunday 8 November: Remembrance Sunday Admission Free

See http://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-duxford or Tel. 01223 835 000 for further information

DUXFORD

Gordon Shaw & Associates ASSOCIATES DENTAL

Principle dentist: Gordon Shaw

Associate dentists: Emilie Eve &

Alan Slater

• Independent family practice

• NHS treatment for children

• Off-road parking

• Out-of-hours emergency service

for registered patients

NEW PATIENTS WELCOME!

111 Brewery Road, Pampisford,

Cambridge, CB22 3EW

Tel: 01223 566595 / 835624 Fax: 01223

505597

dentistry@gvshaw.com

www.gvshaw.com

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PANSER NEWS is financially supported by in house fundraising, donations from various village groups and our advertisers. The ideas and opinions expressed in Panser News are not necessarily those of the editors. This Month’s Editor: Peter Murton peterguy@mail.com Next Month’s Editor: Bill Gysin bill@elcomponent.co.uk

Last date for Articles: Wednesday 24th December

Coordinating Ed: Chas Hunt dchunt@btinternet.com / 0777 3213814

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100 CLUB WINNERS

The 100 Club was created to raise money for culture & recreation in Pampisford. Numbers are drawn every month. Contact Alison Turnbull: rab.turnbull@tiscali.co.uk

1st 68 £100 I Boyd 2nd 169 £ 50 S Purdew 3rd 74 £ 25 B Bridgland 4th 151 £ 10 S Taylor 5th 197 £ 6 A Killander 6th 8 £ 3 E Robinson