Since the May edition of Willingham News was prepared South Cambs have changed a collection date. Please be aware that Blue and Green bins will be emptied on Saturday May 13 rather than the advertised date of Friday May 12

We apologise, we are having difficulty uploading the latest edition of Willingham News. We are working to solve the problem as quickly as possible.

Care Together is a programme led by Cambridgeshire County Council in collaboration with our partners and local communities. The aim is to help more older people to remain living independently and happily in their own home for longer. It will change the way care and support for older people.

To ensure that it is helpful for you, we would like your participation in answering an online questionnaire.

If you would prefer to complete the questionnaire in writing, then paper copies are available from the Parish Council Office at the Ploughman Hall.

There are running sessions held every Tuesday evening from 6:45pm at the Willingham Recreation Ground. These are lead by HI Runners, an Affiliated England Athletics Club, using qualified Run Leaders and takes the form of interval sessions. They are suitable for all levels of runners, even beginners, as we work on building running fitness and endurance. Sessions last about 45mins to an hour, including warm up, cool down, and stretching.

For further details contact Sessions – HI Runners (hi-runners.co.uk)

On Monday 6^th June, the Willingham Gardening Club held its first in-person meeting since March. Encouragingly, attendance was high, with a mix of returning members and new faces. This meeting signified the official beginning of the next chapter for the Gardening Club, as a new club committee was successfully elected by attendees. As such, the new committee would like to take a moment to thank the previous committee for their unwavering dedication and enthusiasm in maintaining the spirit of the Gardening Club throughout the years.

Following the meeting formalities, attendees then spent time discussing the future direction of the Gardening Club. This provided a fantastic opportunity for everyone to voice their opinions on the upcoming activities the Gardening Club will undertake, ranging from talks from local experts to hands-on horticultural tutorials.

We hope you can join us for our next meeting on Monday 4^th July at Willingham Social Club from 19:00, where we will be welcoming guest speaker Wendy Jones from The Bushel Box Farm Shop who will give a talk entitled ‘Nine decades of a family fruit farm’. As club membership fees are not yet being taken, there will be an ‘on-the-door’ fee of £3 per person.

The meeting concluded with a free plant, seed and produce swap, provided by many of the attendees who had been very generous and brought something to swap!

If you have any questions about the Club, please do not hesitate to get in touch with committee via email at: willinghamgardeningclub@gmail.com.

The creation of the Willingham Community Orchard and QEII tree planting was, in part, funded through local community sponsorship of the fruit trees in the orchard and the trees in the QEII Field. This scheme proved to be very popular but, with a finite number of trees available some potential sponsors were left disappointed.

The unsponsored woodland trees planted in the Community Orchard, have since made good growth, so WAG would like to offer residents a fresh opportunity to select and ‘Adopt a Tree’ with a donation of £20.

Your donation would purchase a label for your tree with a personalised dedication, but it would also contribute towards future developments of the Community Orchard. One idea we have is to mass plant bluebells in the woodland area.

So why not take a wander round the Community Orchard and select a woodland tree to adopt, or, if you prefer, we can select a tree for you? If you are not familiar with the location it is on the Earith Road, RHS, at the de-limit sign.

If you wish to adopt a woodland tree in the Community Orchard please contact Andrew and Amanda Harris at apharris54@gmail.com or telephone 07759276527 for further information.

Willingham Action Group

Please make sure you have completed this! It’s to look at the needs of your village over the next decade or more based on what you the residents want. It can be completed online – just click on the ‘It’s time to have your say’ heading on this page. Alternatively, if you prefer, you can complete a paper version and details of how to get one are under the ‘It’s time to have your say’ heading as well.

To those who have played squash in the past, those who are playing now and those who would like to try it out. The squash club at Swavesey (by the Village College) has been refurbished to a high standard with thanks to Ali Loke, World Squash ranking 74.

The club runs leagues, men’s and women’s teams, competitions, social events and group or private training sessions offered by Ali. New members are always welcome at this friendly, lively club and they offer free taster sessions.

For more details visit the website https://www.swaveseysquash.com/ or contact Ali Loke ali@alilokesquash.com

Just click on any of the links below…

Sir David Attenborough makes stark warning about species extinction

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-54118769

NASA: Antarctica Melts Under Its Hottest Days on Record
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/146322/antarctica-melts-under-its-hottest-days-on-record

Boris Johnson to unveil plan to power all UK homes with wind by 2030

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/oct/05/boris-johnson-to-unveil-plan-to-power-all-uk-homes-with-wind-by-2030

You can take the Willingham Plastics Pledge here