News and events

Christian Aid Week 2023

Please give generously


Christian Aid Week – May 2023. You can donate via the envelope put through your door or on line. Please take your envelope to Hatley St George shop and post office.
Christian Aid Week 2023 – you will have received a gift envelope though your letterbox… please give generously and take it to Hatley Post...
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What’s on

Events in and near Hatley


The HVA’s diary of events The Hatley Village Association (HVA) is running a feast of events – from coronation celebrations on Sunday, 7th May...
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Church newsletters

The weekly newsletter of
St Mary’s church, Gamlingay


St Mary's, Gamlingay, weekly newsletter .
In the latest (26th May) issue, the Revd. Hilary Young, our parish priest and rector, says scythe skill training has been arranged for July...
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Ishbel Beatty – 1927-2023

Former East Hatley resident, poetess and historian


Simon Keith and Ishbel Beatty at the 2018 Hatley Christmas Tea – a special book was given to Simon and Ishbel on behalf of Hatley village to mark 40 years' living here... days before they left to live in Nottinghamshire. Ishbel died on 5th May 2023, aged 96.
It is with sadness we report the death on the 5th May of Ishbel Beatty, aged 96. Ishbel lived at ‘The Palace’ in East...
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HVA events – June to December

Lots to look forward to and enjoy


Diary of events in and around East Hatley and Hatley St George, Cambridgeshire in 2023.
Round up by Linda Hudson First: big thanks to my colleagues on the Hatley Village Association committee (and other organisations) for helping to make...
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East West Rail

Preparing us for some big news


Official East West Rail header.
By Peter Mann The latest news from Beth West, the Chief Exec of East West Rail, is in splendid corporate-speak… “I made a personal...
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Out of bounds – Royston’s tidy tip

And Biggleswade, too (it's also shutting for three weeks)


The Royston recycling centre in Beverley Close (off York Way) Royston. Hertfordshire County Council, which owns the site, says it is going to ban residents who live outside the county from using the tip.
By Peter Mann According to a report in the Royston Crow, Herts County Council is to ban people from outside Hertfordshire using its tips…...
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Hatley’s defibrillator – just dial 999

Trained operatives will tell you what to do


The defibrillator cabinet outside Hatley Village Hall. If you need to use it, first dial 999 – it has been registered with the NHS who will provide the code to open the cabinet door and give instructions for its use.
Hatley’s defibrillator (above) is located outside the Village Hall in Hatley St George in a locked and temperature-controlled cabinet. It has full public access...
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St Denis’ is now an award winning church

First prize in a major competition
for ʻBest conservation’


St Denis' church East Hatley, Cambridgeshire from the south west. The Friends of Friendless Churches has completed two phases of restoration work since taking ownership of the building in 2016 – including (in 2018) new windows in the mediaeval nave and (in 2021) new windows in the chancel William Butterfield built in 1874.
By Peter Mann St Denis’ church in East Hatley, Cambridgeshire, has won a major ‘Best conservation’ award. The Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Service and...
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Rita the meter maid is coming to Gamlingay

Civil parking enforcement on streets near us


A civil parking enforcement 'service agent' putting a parking ticket on a car – part of Cambridgeshire County Council's take over of parking enforcement - March 2023.
By Peter Mann Cambridgeshire County Council is in the process of setting up a new department for parking enforcement, a job currently done by...
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Gamlingay gym: your local fitness centre

It’s based at the village primary school


Gamlingay gym reopened on 27th June 2022.
By Peter Mann Gamlingay gym, based at the village primary school in Station Road, has all the equipment one would expect to help keep...
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Buses

Some notes on local services
plus Park & Ride in Cambridge


Bus in Sawston, Cambridgeshire, March 2013. Photo: Peter Mann.
By Peter Mann and Nicola Jenkins It’s fair to say Hatley is not served well by public transport. Other than the ‘Thursday market day’...
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The Gamlingay and Hatleys Car Scheme

For when you don’t have the means of getting there


The Gamlingay and Hatleys local car scheme – Mick Marshall with client, June 2018.
Do you need help getting to your doctor or vaccination appointment? The Gamlingay and Hatleys Car Scheme provides transport for medical appointments – including...
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The West Cambridgeshire Hundreds

Ancient woods to explore


The Cambridgeshire Hundreds, an administrative division used from Anglo-Saxon times (circa 800 AD) to the 19th century when (as with most counties in England and Wales) Cambridgeshire was divided into 17 hundreds, plus the borough of Cambridge. Each hundred had a separate council which met each month to rule on local judicial and taxation matters. Picture source: Wikipedia.
By Peter Mann According to the Wildlife Trust for Beds, Cambs and Northants, the West Cambridgeshire Hundreds is ‘a collection of wildlife rich ancient...
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what3words

A tool for finding and guiding people to a precise location... as is its rival, Plus Code


Hadrian's Wall at Housesteads Roman Fort (Vercovicium), an English Heritage site near Hexham in Northumberland. Its what3words are rental.puzzle.outcasts. Photo: Peter Mann.
By Margot Eagle what3words is the perfect tool for finding and guiding people to a precise location, which street addresses and post codes don’t...
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Covid help and other info

What's available if you need it


The Hatley Coronavirus Support Group.
The Hatley Coronavirus Support Group is here to help you if you need it. How can we help? Pick up prescriptions from the local...
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St Denis’ re-skinned

Now a significant local asset – and open every day


The south wall in the nave and chancel of St Denis' church, East Hatley. In 2022 the walls in the nave were replastered and (at the far end) the reredos restored. St Denis' is now every day from 8.30 am to dusk. Photo: Peter Mann / Buzz Associates.
By Peter Mann An unexpected grant late 2021 from the government’s Culture Recovery Fund enabled the Friends of Friendless Churches, which owns St Denis’...
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Have you read this?

Mentions we've spotted of Hatley in books


South Cambs magazine, winter 2019 – panel on great places featuring a photo of St Denis' church, East Hatley, Cambridgeshire.
By Peter Mann Depending on where you live, there can be any number of mentions of your locality in books on the countryside, buildings,...
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Rescuing our churches

Articles highlighting the plight of rural churches


By Peter Mann It was a good week for spotting mentions of the Friends of Friendless Churches – and the plight of rural churches...
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Planning applications

Updated 10th December 2022


Post heading – planning applications.
Current application(s) The planning application relating to Moat Farm was decided some time ago but is currently subject to planning conditions. Moat Farm, East...
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News on nature

Our local, Local Nature Reserve


Red kite – part of the natural scene around Hatley St George and St Denis' church in East Hatley. Photo by John O'Sullivan.
There is a small corner of Hatley which is forever a nature reserve – it surrounds St Denis’ church and is, officially, a Local...
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Bat emergence survey

A batty visit to St Denis’, 17th July 2021


Brown long-eared (plecotus auritus) bat – photo / Rachel Bates.
By our bat correspondent, Nicola Jenkins Rachel Bates of the Cambridgeshire Bat Group organised a survey of bats emerging from St Denis’ church on...
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A little less of St Denis

Lost in the great fire at Notre Dame Cathedral


St Denis' statue in Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris. He was beheaded around 250 AD - Notre-Dame was built on the site of his church 900 years later. A relic of St Denis, placed in the weather vane atop the cathedral's spire in the 1830s was lost in the devastating fire of 15th April 2019. [Photo by Thesupermat-CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21763309]
Saint Denis was a 3rd-century Christian martyr and saint – martyred for his faith by decapitation, thus now portrayed carrying his head in his...
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William Butterfield in action

A visit to All Saints, Margaret Street, London – and an important paper on this star architect who restored St Denis' in 1874


All Saints, Margaret Street, London – the interior, looking towards the magnificent altar piece at the east end and dating from 1909.
There can be no question William Butterfield (1814-1900) was, along with Augustus Pugin (1812-1852), Sir George Gilbert Scott RA (1811-1878) and Sir Charles Barry...
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Someone put a grenade in their blue bin!

Would you believe the things people put in their blue bins?


Found in a blue wheelie bin [4] – a-metal tape measure. Only things which can be recycled easily should be put into your blue bin. SCDC has a list on its website.
A grenade, a toilet seat and disco lights are on a list of items people in south Cambs have wrongly put into their blue...
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Fly-tippers – does you mum still clean up after you?

SCDC’s new innovative sign asks embarrassing questions


'Why are you fly tipping?' – a new SCDC sign which asks fly-tippers if their mum still cleans up after them.
South Cambs District Council is erecting these eye-catching signs which question why people are fly-tipping – including whether their mum still cleans up after them....
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Memories – Mervyn Lack

Remembering ten fond years of living in East Hatley


Memories are made of this – graphic header for the 'Memories' history page.
Mervyn Lack moved into 34 East Hatley in 2012… and moved to St Neots in July 2022, which prompted the idea of asking him...
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Retired after 15 years

Goodbye to the original Hatley website


Well, that was the website that was. 12th July 2004 to 15th April 2019. RIP. After 15 years’ faithful service, time for a long...
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Someone nicked our children sign

Do you know what happened?


One of the 'Children' signs in Hatley St George, Cambridgeshire – it was stolen on 6th January 2019 and we'd like it back please.
You will have noticed the two original (and a bit worn looking) ‘children’ signs in Hatley St George have gone. The one above was...
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