14th December 2025

 

           Dear All,

10 Turning Points in European History this week covered 1870/1 the Franco Prussian War and the lead up to it with the emergence of Otto van Bismarck and Kaiser William I. It was the last session of an excellent course.

There was a U3A lecture on Insects this week covering their decline and what you can do in rewilding gardens as there are 22 million gardens in the UK. This included growing Native Plants, Tolerating Weeds, not using Glyphosate and Mowing less. There are currently 925,000 species identified and an estimate of up to 5.5 million world-wide. He illustrated the talk with some exotic photos,

 

 

Tiger Beetle

 

At the Local History meeting on Tuesday I did a presentation on the “History of Beaumont” mentioning the Saltings, Hamford Water and the Islands, the Cut and Quay, the Farms, the Hall, Floods, reclaiming the marsh and Landermere.

 

 

Beaumont Quay

 

Garden/Allotment wise I mended the fruit cage at the allotment and helped Kate finish pruning the cherry tree while she has also been pruning apple trees. I have also cut up a large consignment of kindling as a Christmas present for Adrian as he recently purchased a single bundle for £8.99!

Kate was still not up to the prescribed walk on Thursday so we did a shorter route round the Fen in bright sunny conditions. A highlight was seeing a herd of 12 fallow deer which is the most we have seen in this parish. On the way back we stopped at TeaBellies the new café next to the shop for coffee which was doing well with 13 customers.

 

 

Bare Fen, Over

 

Fallow Deer

 

 

Ouse Fen Bank

I had a Travel Writers Book Group in Cambridge after where were discussing “Among the Russians” by Colin Thubron. It was written in the 1983 after a 10,000 mile road trip across the Soviet Union from the Baltic States to the Caucasus meeting ordinary citizens, dissidents, intellectuals and describing the landscape along the way. It is of course dated but a little depressing despite being very well written.

Friday the last Biography of the term was a two parter with a short Biography of “Tahiri” a Persian lady in the 1800s who stood up for women’s rights and was persecuted and eventually murdered by strangulation. After I presented a quiz based heavily on the questions Kate prepared for the Day Centre quiz plus some extras I added from this terms Biographies.

 

 

Tahiri

 

After we had a Christmas lunch in “The Maypole” In the evening it was the Over Pantomime “Once Upon a Time”. The cast was very youthful but the acting was very good, the singing not quite so good but OK. It was a blend of Cinderella and Snow White!

 

 

Pantomime Programme

 

Over had another win yesterday beating Cambridge City Reserves 2 v 1 in an entertaining game with 13 minutes of extra time!

Kate finally managed a doctor’s appointment yesterday and was diagnosed with osteoarthritis, hopefully it can be managed to some degree but not likely to be cured.

Best wishes

 

 

Mike & Kate

 

7th December 2025

 

           Dear All,

After we attended the combined Advent Service at the C of E last Sunday night Kate really struggled to walk home as her ankle, knee and hip were all hurting. She has had some discomfort for some time but this was much worse. It has varied in intensity during the week and a doctor’s appointment involves a wait of 2 weeks!

10 Turning Points in European History this week covered 1848 National Revolutions in various countries throughout the continent due to:

1.      Population growth

2.      Urbanisation and poor social conditions

3.      Better communications

4.      Harvest failures e.g. Irish Potato famine

5.      Dissatisfaction with absolute rulers

6.      Educated middle class getting involved with politics

France, Austria and Italy were used as examples. Britain was not affected because we had The Great Reform Act, a popular monarch and a Chartist protest meeting of 150,000 dispersed because it began to rain!

Jenny has been for dinner most nights as Tony is still in Addenbrookes given only days to live.

I managed to finish slicing up the fallen tree on Tuesday and we made a trip to Bluntishan Tip on Wednesday afternoon only to find that it had closed 5 minutes before we arrived. We had more successful journey on Thursday!

 

 

Tree Trimmings

As Kate was not up to walking on Thursday I did a short walk round Over Fen. There was a remarkable number of livestock in evidence.

 

 

Duce’s Pond, Fen End, Over

 

 

English White Cattle

 

 

Herefords

 

 

Kerry Hills Sheep

 

 

Stabiliser cattle

 

After we did the Tesco’s shop and met ex NIAB colleague Simon Kightley who has just become a grandfather for the first time as well as Cathy Wright and Margery Johnson.

The Biographies subject was John Logie Baird who is credited with inventing Television. He was entirely self-taught and dismissed as an eccentric “Radionutter” but persisted despite many setbacks and eventually founded the first TV Company.

 

 

John Logie Baird

I managed some digging this week between the showers and Broad beans and over wintered Alliums are looking OK.

 

 

Broad Beans & Alliums

 

Overs 1^st team match was off as the Hemingford pitch was too wet so I watched the Reserves beat Fenstanton 3 v 1.

 

Best wishes

 

Mike & Kate

 

30th November 2025

 

           Dear All,

10 Turning Points in European History this week covered the conflict between Prussia and France in 1807. Prussia had been powerful under Frederick the Great who built up the army and expanded their empire, but by the time Napoleon came along they had got stuck, the generals were old and the army outdated and unhappy due to excessive discipline. Napoleon humiliated them under their new king Frederick William III but he had a remarkable Queen Louise who Napoleon referred to as “the only man in Prussia”. She inspired a complete reform of the country sacking all the old generals, replacing the cabinet, creating a Ministry of War, training the army, promoting on merit, abolishing serfdom etc. The new army was able to help defeat Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815. We also covered the abolition of the slave trade in Britain in 1807.

We have had Jenny Miles for dinner most nights this week as her husband Tony is in hospital very ill and she is rather confused.

In the garden this week I have harvested the last of the peppers and also Sweet Potatoes and cleared the bottom glasshouse. Kate is doing battle with the weeds on her allotment.

On Wednesday Derek Medlock and Joyce came for coffee, Norman Ingle for lunch, Adrian for afternoon coffee and Jenney for dinner!

I have been trying to supplement the free seed donated for Moldova with some targeted varieties and have been able to source bulks of Water Melon seed and Tomato Gardeners Delight this week.

On Thursday we walked from Graveley via Yelling and Papworth St Agnes. It was our first real taste of mud in recent times so it was a bit of a challenge.

 

Graveley Coronation Shelter

 

 

Duck House

 

 

Papworth St Agnes old Bake house

 

 

Papworth St Agnes cottage

 

 

Yelling Moss covered cottage

It was my turn to present the Biography on Friday and my choice this time was “Capability Brown”, Every time we have visited a stately home or castle it seems the grounds have been laid out by Capability Brown so I wondered just how extensive his efforts were and what he was like. He came from a humble background but learnt both gardening and architecture on the job and ended up working on over 100 projects many of which are still viewable today. He numbered 5 Prime Ministers, 15 Dukes and King George III as clients and ended up as Lord of the Manor at nearby Fenstanton. I could go on but will save it until I can bore you in person!

 

 

Capability Brown

 

In the evening we held a Games Evening at the chapel featuring Beetle, Snooker, Putting, Darts, Linkee, Dominoes, Wii and Jenga amongst other things. Esther, Emma and Ruth (Emma’s mother) came up and joined in.

 

 

Adrian, Emma & Esther at Beetle

 

 

Jenga Tension

 

 

Hurricane Grange and Cool Hand Dean!

 

Ben is on his travels again this time to Italy where he has not been impressed by the punctuality of the trains. Evidently Mussolini making them run on time is a bit of a myth!

 

The Coliseum

 

Over lost a hard fought cup game 2 v 1 to West Wratting yesterday. We are joining the Anglicans for an Advent service tonight – so the build up to Christmas is beginning!

Best wishes

 

Mike & Kate