June 2024

4 Buckden Roundabout June 2024 Buckden Parish Council Buckden Parish Council News... Council Website For more information, please visit the Buckden Parish Council (BPC) web site at www.buckdenpc.org.uk. To automatically find out what is going on subscribe to our Newsletter service using your email address. A Repair Café for Buckden? Have you heard of the Repair Café movement or been to one? St. Neots had its first in February. It generated a lot of interest and was a great morning. Cambridgeshire has an increasing number of them, and we would like to start one in September for our village. The international Repair Café movement kicked off in Amster- dam and now there are nearly two thousand Cafés around the world, covering most continents. The concept is borne out of the Repair, Recycle and Reduce idea, thus reducing the amount of waste that goes to landfill. In the UK we produce the second highest amount of e - waste per person in the world - it ’ s shocking! Most importantly, Repair Cafés bring people together. They are community events that match people who need stuff fixed with people who like fixing things and are completely non - commercial. Although there can be no promises and no guar- antees, repairers will do everything they can to save items and reduce the impact that buying new stuff has on the envi- ronment. Repairers are always keen to teach visitors how to do the repair themselves and at the very least encourage them to watch while they do it. There ’ s a real ‘ can do ’ atmos- phere at Repair Cafés - it ’ s good to tackle practical problems in a way that can make a real difference. The Parish Council are looking for volunteers to help us to run this event. We are looking for both people who are interested in being a repairer and for anyone who would like to help to run the café, baking cakes, doing some admin and so on. Do you enjoy fixing stuff then this could be the perfect outlet for your skills? The sorts of repairs undertaken range from electri- cal, mechanical, sharpening/restoring garden tools, bicycles, to clocks, jewellery, woodwork, upholstery, sewing and some- times some very interesting and unique pieces. New volun- teers are “ buddied up ” with experienced repairers from the Cambridgeshire Repair Café Network at their first event so that they can see how the process works. Toolkits and con- sumables are borrowed from the Network, so you don ’ t have to use your own if you don ’ t want to. All you donate is 3 - 4 hours of your time! If you would be interested in volunteering to join us or want to find out more, please contact the Clerk to the Parish Coun- cil clerk@buckdenpc.org.uk who will put you in touch with the “ Making a More Sustainable Future For Buckden ” group. Flooding Whilst we hope for good weather over the Summer, please remember that in the event of flooding a range of equipment is stored at the shed on the Allotments in Silver Street. If you need the access code, please contact one of: John Thelwall 07831 580625 Caroline Underwood 07739 249036 Anne Howell Jones 07557 025241 Cambridgeshire Churchyard Conservation Award BPC maintain the Churchyard of St Mary ’ s Church and have been approached to apply for an award under this scheme run by The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire. The aim is to manage the Church- yard ’ s grassland and wildflower areas, trees, shrubs and other wildlife habitats more sustainably. This is likely to lead to some small changes in the grass cutting and other mainte- nance whilst we adapt some areas of the churchyard for the benefit of wildlife. If you are interested in the award more information can be found at https://www.wildlifebcn.org/ sites/default/files/2023 - 02/Scoring%20leaflet% 20Churchyard%20Conservation%20Award.pdf Election of Council Chair Anne Howell - Jones has stood down as Chair of the Council and Peter Clark has been elected. Caroline Underwood re- mains as Vice Chair. Council Meetings The next Council meeting will be at 7.00 pm on Tuesday 11 th June. The meeting will include a 15 - minute open forum. If you want to speak at the meeting, please let us know what you want to say, by contacting the Parish Clerk. You will get a three - minute slot. The Council Planning Committee will also meet if required. Agendas for both meetings are posted on the Parish notice boards no later than the Saturday preceding the meeting. Office opening hours The Clerk operates flexibly between the office and home. If you wish to meet with the Clerk, please call on: 07483 033357. Office opening hours The Clerk operates flexibly between the office and home. If you wish to meet with the Clerk, please call on. 07483 033357. All of the papers and reports for Council Meetings are available on the Thursday before meetings on Council website www.buckdenpc.org.uk .This provides the opportunity to see the agenda, reports of work carried out by the Council as well as reports from our County and District Councillors. Any questions or comments on this report should be addressed to the Parish Clerk at: Buckden Parish Council, Buckden Village Hall, Burberry Rd, Buckden, PE19 5UY. Telephone 01480 819407 Email: clerk@buckdenpc.org.uk.