Cllr Roy Gerstner – Community Activist

Kier construction have been awarded the contract to built the Kings Dyke Bridge and the associated works required to complete the project, they have awarded Ramboll to design the project, (see below).
Cambs County Councillor (Whittlesey North) and chairman of the Kings Dyke project committee Cllr David Connor said….

“I am very pleased to announce the contractor has been chosen, local people have been looking for a solution to the problems caused by the K.D. level crossing for a very long time and their wish to see the scheme delivered as quickly and smoothly as possible.
It will be a benefit not only to the people of Whittlesey, but further afield and for the local economy.

A 6 month design process will now start, Council officers will work closely with ‘Kier Construction’ and their design partners ‘Ramboll’ on the details of the scheme’

Another step forward – Ramboll UK are the company who helped design and delivered the ‘New’ Forth Road Bridge – opened by the H.M. The Queen yesterday….
Naturally – the Whittlesey (80+ metre bridge) is not on the same design, cost or complexity as the Forth Road Bridge….

Of course in my dreams – it would have been nice to have a bridge like this….. keep dreaming …. Roy…. like many things in my life…

10 members of the public including myself attended this months meeting. The group acts as an interface between the Surgery and the patients.
I have been in the group since its inception.
The Patients Participation Group (PPG) has supported the practice in many ways, from raising funds for the ‘Blood Pressure Machine’ to the next project of paying and installing a ‘Water Cooler’.

Several items were covered, and a comprehensive update from the Practice Manager on what’s happening at the Surgery.
Maybe not many people realise the pressures placed on ALL surgeries through the whole country, with population increases and a shortage of doctors ….
One of the topics ‘always’ covered is that of ‘appointments’ – this is a ever challenging issue for this and The Jenner Health Centre.
There can only be a finite amount of appointments in a day, given the availability of Doctors, Nurses and support staff – I am NOT making any excuses on their behalf – I am reporting the facts I hear them.
There is and will be on going disappointment for anyone who can not get an appointment today or tomorrow, it is NOT always practical for the elderly to queue up at 07:50 on the good chance of getting an appointment today for example.
Several ‘newish’ ways of ‘squeezing’ more appointments is by telephone consultation, the Doctors and Nurses can ‘treat’ twice as many patients this way, rather than a face-to-face appointment.
I have publicised the ‘Doctors Hubs’ where-by there are appointments available at other aligned practices within the ‘Hub’, there will be an extra 20,000 appointments available this year within this system.

Of course ‘YOU‘ could learn a lot more about how the NHS and Surgery works here in Whittlesey, by joining the PPG – It costs ‘NOTHING’  – a couple of hours every few months, for direct information.
Details can be found on The NQS Website http://www.queenstreetsurgery.co.uk/

Please note: The Patients Participation Group is NOT an avenue to make complaints.
General ‘issues’ are brought up regularly.
There is a set procedure in place for individual patients who have issues or complaints to follow, and these are dealt with as per set governance of the practice.
These are dealt with in a timely and fair manner.

(To see page 2 ‘click’ on the small arrow in the bottom left hand corner)

More controversy about (County Councillors) allowances which I will cover and comment on later.

As my previous post, my thanks to the RBL (Whittlesey) for flying the MN Flag, I did ask a number of partying public if they knew the flag and unfortunately none did- which I am not surprised – still ‘we’ know. A good turn out on the Square with about the same number of happy revellers as last weeks event.
The weather ‘just’ held – but by the end at 5pm it just started to drizzle.
Still well done to The Whittlesey Lions and the supporters who made the event.

There is a WTC Planning meeting this Wednesday 06th September – for which I will post up the agenda shortly – some interesting applications….

There is a Patients Participation Group meeting at The New Queen Street Surgery on
Monday 04th September @ 7pm – I plan to attend, it is a public open meeting.

Next Sunday of course is The Whittlesey Festival – another fantastic event (weather permitting) with lots to see and do, more to follow.

A couple of break-ins this week, one where the low life just walked in – doors not locked.

Finally, some Riff Raff – decided to dump a settee at Kings Delph Layby – has been reported and hopefully to be removed shortly – and yes I am aware of ‘Travelling People’ at the New Road Car Park area.

Lots of events this weekend, fetes, family events and fund raising.

The Whittlesey Lions – another fantastic group of ‘Volunteers’ who raise a lot of money for local groups and enhancements – celebrating 100 years…. photo’s coming if I make the event….

I am very grateful again this year, for the Royal British Legion Whittlesey Branch, who are ‘flying’ The Red Duster’ (The Red Ensign of the British Merchant Navy).
The Merchant Navy lost more men and some women at sea than the Royal Navy during both world wars and other conflicts.
This is me in 1973, I was the Communications and Electronics Engineer seconded to the British Red Cross and from late 1971 to 1973 supported a Red Cross ship taking aid to Vietnam.
I was seconded on many occasions by the Red Cross, the final ‘mission’ was the Bosnia conflict 1992/1993
I spent a total of 28 years at sea and my ‘Log-Book’
informs me I covered over 1 Million Nautical Miles and visited over 100 countries.
I am also very pleased that Fenland District Council celebrate this day in honour of those who perished at sea.

Intended to raise public awareness of the UK’s ongoing dependence on seafarers, this campaign invited selected local authorities to fly the Red Ensign – the official flag of the UK Merchant Navy – atop public buildings and on prominent flagpoles on 3 September.

In 2016 the Red Ensign was flown on Merchant Navy Day at more than 400 locations ashore, with flag-hoisting ceremonies arranged by many local councils and other organisations – see www.merchantnavyday.uk.

This year every community, parish and town council was asked to take part, in addition to all borough, county and district councils plus unitary authorities throughout the UK. Members of the Nautilus International union were encouraged to lobby their home local authorities.

Owners and custodians of historic and landmark buildings with flagpoles were also invited to get involved, including English Heritage, Historic Scotland, Historic Houses Association, National Trust and Welsh Government Cadw.

As a result the Red Ensign will this year be flown ashore at more than 600 locations – see Roll of Honour.

After a very peaceful and good weather break in Suffolk (Off the grid) –

Besides visiting some very good National Trust properties, the serenity around ‘Snape Maltings’ was so, so good – although no time to take in a concert.
Came back and found that actually ‘some’ readers had actually missed my missives – surely not withdrawal symptoms!!!
Besides having 6 continuous days of sunshine and no rain, kicked off yesterday with a visit to the St Andrews Fete – Nice crowd with an hour or two for families + a bar from ‘The Falcon….
   

Well, one bit of news I picked up from a pretty reliable source, when asked the latest on the ‘Kings Dyke Crossing’ – not really a hold up as such!!!! – but there is apparently a short fall in funding the project, with Network Rail putting in a derisory amount for their ‘share’ –
Lets face it – Network Rail, couldn’t be bothered one way or another about a bridge.
So where is the short-fall money to come from – well Cambs CC who are overseeing the project – could borrow the money, then again the funding could come from another budget within the Council (someone else goes short) – How much the shortfall is I don’t know, but my suspicions are that there could well be a further few weeks delay, whilst this is sorted out. The Bridge is on its way I have no doubts – remember the ‘bemoaners’ on the now defunked ‘Whittlesey StreetLife’ for-ever posting negativity about this subject – where are they now – I know…!

Still lots of events coming up in the next few weeks, and for those who get our ‘Two’ excellent free monthly magazines – all events are well advertised .

Where do you leave ‘Keys’ – we’re probably all guilty, in respect of leaving keys too handy to be lifted. Key Hook, Key Basket, Keys in Jacket, Keys in Jeans and even Keys in drawers are ALL the obvious place a thief can pretty quickly find your pride and joy.

Between 24/08/2017 21:30 – 25/08/2017 08:00, A burglary occurred at Eastfield Drive, Whittlesey.
Offender(s) have entered property and have taken vehicle keys.
The Victims Mercedes vehicle was then stolen from the driveway.
The vehicle is described as a Silver Mercedes C220 saloon vehicle, registration LL11TWP.

If anyone has any information on this crime, please call the Police Non-Emergency number on 101 and quote crime reference CF0487760817.
Kind Regards PCSO GREEN

Find somewhere not so obvious or a decent ‘Key Safe’ hidden away…

Some very useful information that applies to us all involved in Web-Blogs and Social Media – wonder how many people actually adhere to these standards – I try my best.

Unfortunately I am unable to attend, this is a public meeting which I have posted before, however if no one turns up, decisions are made without public participation.

Wednesday 23rd August 18:30 -21:00 March Library, City Road, March PE15 9LT

The Garden Waste service is new and we are keen to gather customer feedback on the performance of the service.

Please can you take time to answer a short series of questions about your experience of the service this year.

Please click on this link to access the survey 

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/gardenwaste

The survey takes less than 5 minutes to complete – worth doing if you’re a customer/

Chair of Fenland District Council Mrs Kay Mayor will be hosting a coffee (cakes!) morning at Fenland Hall, March. The event will be held on the:
28th September – 10:00am to 11:30
A very worthwhile charity, which several Chairs have supported in the past.

Photo shows a previous event when Cllr Ken Mayor was Chairman of FDC and to his right Cllr Mrs Kay Mayor this years Chair.