Save our Crossing Patrols

The Neighbourhood Champions have recently learned that the School Crossing patrols are under threat of being cut by the County Council, as part of the next budget cuts.

Abbey People have  been supporting the Neighbourhood Champions to start a petition and protest against these cuts. We've just gotten back from a protest at the crossing and were pleased that Cambridge TV came along to film interviews, as did the Cambridge News.

We'd love to hear your thoughts about this! Comment on our Facebook Page

 Please complete the online petition: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/p/lollipop

Lantern Making Workshops

As part of our Winter Lights Festival, Abbey People are working with partners to have the following
FREE Lantern Making Workshops, details for each one are below.

Lantern Making
Date: Wed 2nd December
Time: 4:30 - 6:30pm
Location: Barnwell Baptist Church, Howard Road    
Host:  Abbey People & We Are Ditton Fields
For Children and Adults, no need to book, just come along.
Under 8's to be accompanied by an adult.







Lantern Making and Christmas Card Design 

Date: Saturday 5th December

Time: 10am - 12.30pm 

Location: Barnwell Baptist Church, Howard Road

Host: Arts Cafe (which opens every first Saturday of the month - all welcome!) and Cambridge Art Salon .
Under 12's need to be accompanied by an adult. 

No need to book, just come along.

The Arts Cafe opens every first Saturday of the month from 10.30 - 12.30pm at Barnwell Baptist Church 

www.cambridgeartsalon.org.uk

Lantern Making
Come and explore Cambridge Community Scrapstore and pick out  some of our unique materials.
Date: 9th December
Time: 4-5:30pm
Location: Cambridge Community Scrapstore, Unit 17, Barnwell Business Park
Host: Cambridge Community Scrapstore
For children aged 5+, parents welcome to attend with children.
Booking essential - Ring 01223 420309 to reserve your place. 

If you would like to make your own Lanterns please see these instructions: Instructions for making lanterns. You can make your lanterns any way you wish but please use LED lights and not anything with naked flames that might be a fire risk. We found the battery-operated LED strings work very well (stuff them inside the laterns with the controller taped to the outside) and are on sale at Poundland - for £1 - (they take two AA batteries, which are very widely available).

Stay well this winter

In the past year as many of one in four residents in Cambridgeshire visited A&E when they could have used an alternative service or looked after themselves at home.

Each visit to A&E costs the local NHS £87, and that’s before any treatment is given. When you look at the figures, this costs the local NHS over £4million a year. In turn this is the equivalent cost of 677 hip replacements, or 287 liver transplants or 115 more dementia nurses.

Using A&E when you don’t need to can also have a knock-on effect to the rest of the hospital, as busy A&E departments resulted in 500 cancelled operations and procedures because a bed was no longer available, and longer waiting and referral times.

But you can help

·         Stay healthy – get a flu vaccination if you are eligible

·         Look after others – check on elderly friends, relatives and neighbours especially in spells of cold weather, help them to keep warm and have the medication they might need

·         Be prepared – get your prescriptions in early before the holidays and see your pharmacist or GP for any issues you might be putting off

·         Choose the right service – your local pharmacy can provide confidential, expert advice and treatment for a range of common illnesses and complaints, without having to wait for a GP appointment.

For help with finding local NHS services visit http://www.cambsandpeterboroughchoosewell.co.uk/

Pumpkin Festival

More than 15 families attended the first Abbey Pumpkin Festival in the Margaret Wright Community Orchard. 

There was pumpkin carving...

Apple bobbing...

The Pumpkins looked great in the dark! 

 There was also a campfire and the chance to boil water in a Kelly Kettle with the help of the team from CHYPPS. 

A team of 5 volunteers made the event possible as well.   The event was a great success, if you would like to be part of the events team to help with events like this, please contact the Abbey People office at info@abbeypeople.org.uk

Family Fun Morning!

Lots of people came and had fun at our Family Fun morning on 29th October.  

Mucky Pup's helped the children make lots of Halloween crafts, Mr Marvel was great fun and lots of snacks were had! 

We are bringing a Lantern Parade to Abbey!  

On the 16th December, we'll be switching on the Christmas Tree outside the Barnwell Shops, then having a Lantern parade down Wadloes Road to the Barnwell Baptist Church, where we'll have a Community meal with Foodcycle followed by performances from the Glee Club and other local groups.   We'd love to showcase some of the different Winter Traditions of people who live in Abbey.


We are looking for local groups to get involved in performances.  We are also looking for local groups to make lanterns and take part in the parade.

Volunteers are welcome who would like to help out at workshops to make lanterns, or want to help on the day as hospitality teams or stewards.

Instructions on how to make a lantern can be found here.

Please do get in touch to help us make this a great event for Abbey.

Call the office on 01223 517259 or email nicky@abbeypeople.org.uk

FLOWERING ABBEY BULBS BULBS BULBS !

We have all been thrilled to see that the bulbs that we planted in January, February, and even early March, have been coming up in greater numbers than expected!  The new Scottsdales in Horningsea very generously gifted Abbey People with bulbs bulbs bulbs in January.  We then planted as many as we could in different community spaces and places; shown on the map further down the page.  See the earlier Blog in March that explains the full story.

Here are some photos of the bulbs coming up, especially at the Barnwell shops location !

Tricia and Lorna planted up at the Barnwell shops and Library and are amazed at how many actually came up this year !

A few of the many bulbs we planted have come up this year in front of our Barnwell Library.  Maybe lots more next year !

Five bright orange stars in amongst all the lovely foliage that Keith has been planting at our Abbey Community Centre Garden through the years !  And these lovely tulips below were also gifted to Abbey People by the new 

Scottsdales in Horningsea.

                                 The map below shows where the thousands of bulbs we have planted thus far.

Community Orchard Easter Fun Day

Hey !  What Great Fun we all had at the Orchard on 04 April !

It was our Community Orchard Spring Event Day.

Despite the weather being a bit grey and slightly nippy,

It didn’t seem to matter at all !

Keith had organised absolutely everything !

We had a gazebo, chairs and tables; tea and coffee and lots of yummy treats.

Apples, juice, donuts, and gorgeous home made cakes, cookies, and brownies! Wow !

Some were made by Rebecca and others made by Helen ‘Pattercake’

Keith had also organised a nature hunt for the children as well as making mini Bug Hotels.

Tricia was digging out the bramble roots in order to plant some lovely wild garden seeds.

She had a great team of children helping do some fun digging too !  

There was lots of chatter chatter chatter as everyone was catching-up and learning about all sorts of different interest groups in our community!  'Make Do and Mend’ folks were there with all sorts of wonderful things they had made.   Harvey and his wife were there too.  He is starting up the Abbey ‘Old’ Boy’s Club.  Nicky and Simon were there keeping everything going as well !  I brought the new Abbey Bulb plan and was telling folks about the Abbey Bulbs project and taking photos too :)

Some exploring down in the woody end of the Orchard

And the bulbs that we all planted in February were popping up on the day too!  

Here are some of them planted around the Lovely Bug Hotel :)

What a Great ol time it was for All of us !     
Many thanks Keith !
Cheers All !                          
Lorna  :)

Neighbourhood Champions

Would you like to make the Abbey area even better?  Do you like to get to know your neighbours? Would you like to get out and about in your street or neighbourhood?

Then becoming an Abbey People Neighbourhood Champion might be just the thing. 

Neighbourhood Champions will have a small patch which covers your street, flats or part of your neighbourhood.  You'll put leaflets through the doors of your neighbours, get to know people and be a contact point for people where you live.   You can do as much or as little as you want, we think people will spend about 3-4 hours per month.  You'll be able to earn Time Credits for this if you want. 

As you get stuck in, you might be able to have street-party, tidy up an area that needs it, or maybe just carry on being a point of contact and friendly face. 

If this sounds like something you might like to do, please come along to our training on Friday 8th May at 9:30 am at the Community Wing at Abbey Meadows School. Contact Nicky for more information or to book your place. 

We'll be having more training sessions, so if you are interested but can't do that date, please still get in touch. 

Glee Club Sings to Easter! 

The Glee Club celebrated the end of the Spring term on Thursday 26th March with an end of term concert.

12 young people from the Abbey Area, performed a concert of 10 songs to family and friends from across the ward.  The concert was to celebrate their hard work over the term.  The performers sang group songs, as well as performing in small groups.

The performers are planning their next concert for the Big Lunch on 7th June.

If you are a young person in Abbey and would like to join the group, please email nicky@abbeypeople.org.uk, or come to the Barnwell Baptist Church at 6pm on Thursday's in Term Time.

The Abbey Big Bulb Idea (ABBI)

Abbey People were very lucky to receive a lovely gift this year from the new Scottsdales in Horningsea 

They donated thousands of bulbs to us for planting all around our community!
So far we have planted 3,580 bulbs bulbs bulbs !

The bulbs include daffodils, narcissai, tulips, grape hyacinths, snakes head frittillaria, hyacinths, etc,etc,etc.

This has involved a few of us Abbey Peeps and anybody who wants to plant bulbs in their own Abbey areas.

Here is where we have planted so far:

The Barnwell shops and Library:                                                                       650 bulbs

The Abbey Community Centre and Nursery                                                     650 bulbs

The Abbey Orchard                                                                                           780 bulbs

Howard Road near Howard Close                                                                     200 bulbs

Howard Road near the block of flats                                                                 100 bulbs

Pathway between Wadloe’s Road & Ditton Meadow                                       650 bulbs

The Leper Chapel                                                                                              400 bulbs

Newmarket Road @ Ditton Walk planter                                                         150 bulbs

……………………………………………………………………………..

TOTAL BULBS PLANTED SO FAR                                                              3580 bulbs bulbs bulbs !

DO YOU WANT TO PLANT SOME BULBS IN YOUR OWN ABBEY AREA?    READ ON :)

We were given the bulbs in early January after the planting season in Nov-Dec.

By January, it is too late for Scottsdale’s to sell the bulbs and they are starting to grow in their packages. Scottsdale’s then gives them to community groups who plant them into the ground as soon as they can.Some bulbs planted in January and early February have started coming up but most will come up next year. By then they will be well established in the ground and all ready to come up and give joy to many hearts in the Spring time, and for years to come !

If you would like to plant some bulbs in your own Abbey Area, please just contact Lorna and we will be happy to help you get started in your area.

Before we know it, The Abbey will be jumping with Springtime Colour !

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from Abbey People!

We are looking forward to a fun year ahead!