Cllr Roy Gerstner – Community Activist

As per my story last week,  RG Article Mud Walls Going to March

A good article in The Cambs Times© Click Here – CT Mud Walls
A special exhibition has launched in March on how unusual structures in Whittlesey have been preserved.
The Mud Walls Group show how their walls have been surveyed and restored at the exhibition at March Museum.

Organiser Robert Boddington explained how some people felt the walls were a “liability”, but others recognised that the individual nature of the structures enhanced the value of the properties they were built on.
Picture Cambs Times©

David Hancock, who initially identified the remaining mud walls in the town, said that he was not aware of any such constructions in March.

Les Heaton, a March resident and museum member, believed that there had been a couple of mud walls but these had been levelled in the 1940s.

If anyone has further information, David Edwards, the museum archivist would be interested to hear on 01354655300.

The Mud Walls exhibition is free to view and open on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10.30 to 3.30pm throughout February.

In general with the help of ‘volunteers’ our town can be regarded as a ‘fairly’ clean and safe place to live, work and play. Yes we are not without incidents, and the amount of rubbish left by some is a disgrace…’we’ clear most of it up, with our two excellent street cleaners.
Graffiti and Fly-Tipping is similarly dealt with by Fenland District Council.

Commons leader Andrea Leadsom calls on fellow MPs to back The Mail’s Great British Spring Clean campaign.

Andrea Leadsom said litter is a ‘huge concern’ following launch of campaign In Commons she urged politicians to don high-vis jackets and take part

• Nearly 25,000 people have signed up to clear-up waste in just six days 
• Visit http://gbspringclean.org to sign up to the Daily Mail’s Great British Spring Clean campaign today.

  So why not have a one off/time go and surprise yourself …….get a bit of fresh air and meet/network with other passionate people who care about out town and villages…..or contact :
  Rebecca Robinett
  Street Pride Co-ordinator
  Fenland District Council
  01354 602134
  rrobinett@fenland.gov.uk

15 days of celebrations, eating and family gatherings – The year of the Pig.

https://youtu.be/_u-R-aIq3_E

Some of us during our career’s or community work have had to have CRB checks – Criminal Records Bureau, as they were known, I have had several enhanced CRB checks done.
It is now called DBS – Disclosure and Barring Service.

What is the Difference Between a CRB and a DBS Check?
There is no difference between a CRB and DBS check. … One of which was the coming together and merge of the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA), under the new title of the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

I have no issues with this being done to ‘safeguard’ the public/children or vulnerable people I engage with – but it is only as good as the day the checks are done.
I have no issues with the frequency these checks are done – there is a cost of course.

So we learn this week that Cambs Police come pretty low on the league table of checking up on their own officers.

BBC 5 Live Investigates found that there were thousands of officers and staff who had not undergone the stricter checks.

Freedom of Information replies from 36 of 43 police forces in England and Wales revealed that 16 of them had not performed retrospective background checks on those people.

West Midlands Police had the largest number of officers and staff who had not been checked or vetted within the last 10 years, with 3,283.

Hertfordshire Constabulary had 831 and Cambridgeshire Constabulary had 637.

West Midlands Police said it had “backlogs in our routine reviews of vetting” but it was confident only “a minority” were not covered by other government or security checks.

So Cambs Police it is time to get your own house in order – otherwise the ‘public’ may well loose confidence in the service.
If I a member of the public need vetting regularly – surely the Police should come under the same rules.

Article from Bowls International©
The Hotshots of Bowls nude charity calendar, organised in support of Hannah Overton, has to date raised £22,233.52.
The money will be split between Bloodwise and Cancer Research UK and comes from calendar sales and donations.
Throughout the summer months of 2018, almost 60 English bowlers bared all to produce the nude calendar after learning that Hannah had been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia.

The Parkway club bowler, who was just 28, died on December 23.
Hannah started her bowls career at the age of ten by playing indoors at Peterborough Indoor Bowls Club and outdoors at Whittlesey Manor Bowls Club.  

She was part of the Huntingdonshire team that won the England Under 31s National Competition in 2003.
She played in the pairs with Michelle Coleman and in 2011, they reached the final of the Women’s National Pairs Championship.
She played triples with Emma Thurston and Pat Reynolds and Michelle joined to make a fours team.

They qualified for the National finals together for many years and enjoyed a very successful bowling career together.
Hannah made her England debut in 2006 at the age of 15 and went on to represent her country in numerous International Series’, including captaining the England Blue team to success in Northern Ireland in 2014.

In 2012 the bowlers moved from Whittlesey Manor Bowls Club to Parkway Bowls Club, Maskew Avenue in Peterborough.
Hannah was an integral part of Parkway BC’s run to the final of the Women’s Top Club in 2017.
Hannah secured a National title in 2012 as a member of Huntingdonshire’s Walker Cup team, before also reaching the Women’s National Junior Singles Championship Final in 2014.
Hannah made a lot of friends throughout her life from Sir Harry Smith College in Whittlesey, Lincoln University, the two schools that she worked for Gladstone Primary School and St Botolph’s CofE Primary School and the British bowling community and this showed at her funeral that was attended by about 300 people who had travelled from all over the country to be there.  

She had a guard of honour from her fellow bowlers from the Parkway Bowls club.
Emma said: “Hannah wasn’t only a bowling partner, she was also one of our best friends, always happy and would do anything for anyone and this year is going to be especially hard when we put on our team shirts for the first time without her by our side.  

“We are having a memorial teddy bear made from her Parkway shirt so she will be able to come along and be our mascot in our future games. “The world of bowls is devastated to lose one of our family and she will be remembered by us with various charity events that are being organised across the country.”

As per my post on the 26th (below or Click Here) on the Whittlesey Town Councillors who will NOT be standing for re-election in this coming May’s local elections.

Sadly I have to say that Cllr Ralph Butcher will not be standing, I have known Ralph for many years and he has always treated me very well and always engaged with me.
Picture WTC                     he also started his politics ‘Independent’ and is
currently the longest serving Whittlesey Town councillor – he sat on the ‘old’ Urban District Council, has been Chairman of FDC and a Country Councillor for many years.
Ralph has a wealth of knowledge which as I said will be sadly missed.

Retiring from the front line but I am sure he will be able to assist in historical events that have happened within our area and correct any misunderstandings or ‘false news’

Picture RG                               Happy retirement Ralph.
Ralph was one of the first councillors to promote/join in ‘Street Pride’ pictured here on the (left) about January 2008 with myself on (right).
Picture RG