April 2024

3 Buckden Roundabout April 2024 Buckden Roundabout Team Editors - Articles & Events Ian Carter and Alec MacAndrew Email: editor@buckdenroundabout.info 33 Beaufort Drive, Buckden, PE19 5YU 07515 737636 Webmaster Alec MacAndrew Email: webmaster@buckdenroundabout.info Proofreading and editorial assistance Wendy Trattner, Lesley MacAndrew Advertisements and Payments Fiona Shirley Email: adverts@buckdenroundabout.info Distribution Co - ordinators Wendy Thelwall, Lesley MacAndrew, Patricia Ford Contact this email for info: Email: distribution@buckdenroundabout.info Front Cover This month ’ s cover is a photograph of the recent flooding at the Old Flour Mills and the river crossing provided by Frazer Hemming - Allen. As ever we are very grateful. We are looking for more photos and paintings of any kind that we could use as a front cover. We especially need photos and paintings of autumn scenes, and of events in the village. We should be grateful for photos (or even paintings!) of the coro- nation celebrations in the village. Please note that photos should ideally be in portrait format and should be a minimum of 2400 x 1700 pixels. More is better! All advertisements and non - advertising material are printed in good faith. Neither the Buckden Roundabout nor the Buckden Parish Council can accept any responsibility for the content of the advertisements, the services provided by the advertisers or any statements made in the advertisements or non - advertising material. No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored with- out the express permission of the Editor of the Buckden Roundabout. THE DEADLINE FOR RECEIPT OF ALL MATERIAL FOR THE MAY EDITION IS NO LATER THAN 4.30 pm ON WEDNESDAY 10th APRIL HOWEVER, SPACE IS ALLOCATED ON A FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED, BASIS. IT IS REGRETTED THAT ANY CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED AFTER THE DEADLINE WILL NOT BE INCLUDED. April Production Dates Production dates for the May Edition of the Roundabout are as follows: Copy deadline: Wednesday 10 April Proof Reading Friday 12 April Copy to Printers Tuesday 16 April Distribution Thursday 25 April Contents Buckden Parish Council 4 From your District Councillor 5 Church News 6 - 8 For your Diary 9 - 10, 13 Village News 11, 16 - 19 Grasses 12 School and pre - school 14 Buckden Community Events 15 Advertisements & Classifieds 2, 20 - 24 April 2024 I think it ’ s official now that February was the wettest on rec- ord in our area, and the rain has continued through March. All that rain resulted in floods making the river crossings at the Offords and Little Paxton impassable on more than one occa- sion, and life for our residents in the Marina and the boatyards a misery. It ’ s been such a big aspect of local life recently that I decided to use one of Frazer Hemming - Allen ’ s excellent drone photos of the floods at the Old River Mill and the river for our cover this month. I realise the floods caused disruption and misery for people, but they are also strangely beautiful seen from above. We have a couple of articles this month which you might want to check out. We regularly publish articles on wildlife written by Gregory Belcher who is a Senior Reserves Officer at Gra- ham Water. This month ’ s wildlife article is all about grasses— a huge family of plants that range all the way from giant bam- boo to beautiful lawn grasses to almost all the cereal crops we grow. His article is on page 12. Hedgerows and hedges are important for wildlife and for many other reasons. Richard Salmon of Pro Lawncare writes about the importance of hedges, and how to establish and maintain them on page 11. The Roundabout Editorial Team wish all our readers, contribu- tors and advertisers a very happy Easter. Please remember to visit the Roundabout website. As well as every edition from 2013 onwards available to see, there are often articles there that we could not fit into the print edition, as well as information that arrives during the month. The online edition of the magazine is in full colour: www.buckdenroundabout.info This month ’ s editor - Alec MacAndrew Editor ’ s Page