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and expanded their empire, but by the time Napoleon came along they had got stuck, the generals were old and the army outdated and unhappy due to excessive discipline.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

 

23rd November 2025

 

           Dear All,

10 Turning Points in European History this week covered 1709 the conflict between Russia and Sweden. Sweden was the major power in Europe at the time with an excellent but warlike ruler Charles XII and Peter the Great was Czar of Russia, he was also energetic 6’ 7” tall and a man of the people travelling widely to try and understand the world. There was a Great Northern war in 1700 which Russia lost but in a return match in the coldest winter for 600 years at Poltava Russia won and Sweden was never a major power again.

I booked flights to Moldova again on Tuesday this time accompanied by Kate and Geoff leaving 5^th March. I have also been chasing seed to send out for the seminars.

The Local History meeting was on “Elizabethan Grammar Schools” by Mike Mancaster who was subject to one in his youth. The schools came about because of the need to encourage Protestantism, because the government needed administrators and because rich individuals were keen to show their philanthropy. Senior pupils were only allowed to talk in Greek or Latin and were punished for speaking English. Mike went to Ashby School as a border aged 11 and hated every moment. He rebelled as often as he could by running away, smoking etc and as part of the rebellion kept a meticulous diary of the teacher’s cruelties. He revisited it during lockdown and friends encouraged him to publish his experiences so a book is coming out next year.

We went to Coton Garden Centre on Wednesday morning to buy some plants for the aquarium and also collected 6 Cardinal Tetra’s.

Group discussion this week was on the town of Colossae. After I booked a property in Wrabness for a week after Easter to celebrate my 80^th birthday with family and maybe friends.

Geoff Pake was the speaker at the Garden Club on Wednesday evening talking about his life as a Fen Farmer which went down very well.

The walk on Thursday had a chilly -4C start from Ingham, north of Bury St Edmunds and took in Timworth, Fornham St Martin and the River Lark. It was an excellent walk and warmer once the sun came out but quite long as we detoured through the grounds of Culford School - so the “Short” walk was 9.5 miles.

 

 

Timworth church

 

 

Ice & Water

 

 

Irrigator Line-up

 

 

River Lark

 

 

Entrance to Culford School

The Biography topic this week was Cardinal John Henry Newman who was an English Catholic theologian, academic, philosopher, historian, writer, and poet. He was previously an Anglican priest, and after his conversion to Catholicism, became a cardinal.

 

 

Cardinal Newman

 

We had a Men’s Breakfast at chapel Saturday morning where the speaker was David Wyatt who was a pharmacist heavily involved with the introduction of asthma inhalers. He is also married to a previous vicar of Over.

I watched football Saturday afternoon in rather damp and chilly conditions. It was a hard battle with Over winning 2 v 1. Ely Reserves.

Best wishes

 

Mike & Kate

 

7th November 2025

 

           Dear All,

After swimming on Monday the “10 Turning Points in European History” topic was 1584 the assignation of William of Orange at Delft. It was a time of tension between Catholics under Philip II of Spain and the Calvinists of Northern Europe championed by William Prince of Orange. The assassination lead to the Spanish Armada and 80 years of on and off conflict.

Before the session 3 of us were interviewed for a U3A publicity film so the next stop will probably be Hollywood!

We started to work on the fallen tree on Tuesday morning but it will take a few more sessions. Mary-Ann and family returned from Tenerife with mixed experiences as although the weather and beaches were fine they all seemed to have had tummy trouble.

Kate and I led the walk that we had recced last week from Cottenham via Rampton. There was a good turnout and reasonable conditions for walking. It was a typical fen walk with plenty of long straight flat stretches but we had improved it by cutting through Rampton and taking in the thatched church where a group were decorating and gave us a short talk about the church.

 

 

The Chequers, Cottenham

 

 

The Gothic House, Cottenham

 

 

High Street Cottenham

 

 

Thatched Cottages, Rampton

 

 

Desirable Residence, Rampton

 

 

All Saints, Rampton with Thatch

 

The Biography subject today was Joseph Johnson (1738 –1809) he was an influential 18th-century London bookseller and publisher. His publications covered a wide variety of genres and a broad spectrum of opinions on important issues. He was a Dissenter who held weekly dinners for friends who sat and discussed topics until the early hours Guests included Joseph Priestly, Mary Wollstoncraft, Richard Price, Benjamin Franklyn and Thomas Paine. Printing was just getting going he was very influential in propagating the opinions of Dissenters. He is yet another important historical character who is hardly known today.

 

 

Joseph Johnson

 

I harvested the first pot of Sweet Potatoes this week and they look promising.

 

 

Sweet Potatoes

 

There was excitement in the village yesterday as when we got up there was no water. This affected the whole of Over and Swavesey so the schools and Preschools were all closed.

The reason why the letter is early this week is that Kate and I are taking a short break in Edinburgh from tomorrow until Tuesday.

 

 

Best wishes

 

Mike & Kate

 

2^nd November 2025

 

           Dear All,

After swimming on Monday the “10 Turning Points in European History” topic was 1565 “The Nest of Vipers” the Ottoman Turks attempt to conquer Malta. The Ottoman Empire had expanded rapidly under Selim 1 and Suleiman the Magnificent but The Knights of St John had been expelled from Rhodes and settled in Malta. From there they harassed the Ottoman trading ships so Suleiman decided to obliterate them, sending 25,000 men in 300 ships. If he has succeeded the Ottomans would have taken Spain and more besides. However the Knights, together with local Maltese and the Spanish infantry managed to defeat them thus stopping the spread of Islam in Europe. The Knights of St John eventually evolved into the St John’s Ambulance organisation.

 

 

In the afternoon it was another funeral this time for Dr Peter Friend the father of one of my cricket colleagues and an eminent geologist. I had never been in a room with about 200 geologists before and kept thinking about Bert in the “Big Bang Theory”.

As we were expecting visitors on Thursday we decided to walk on Tuesday carrying out a recce from Cottenham to Rampton for a walk we are due to lead next week. I entitled the photos “I Spy Fly Tipping – with the odd burnt out car!” It is a favourite area for Travellers to off load items so perhaps not the most scenic walk we have ever done! We did see a pair of Roe Deer and the bushes were laden with sloes.

 

 

Fen Potato field

 

 

Fly Tip No.1

 

 

 

Sloes

 

 

Friendly Ponies

 

On Thursday we entertained most of the Burrell family who moved from Over to Norwich last year. We were expecting them early as this has happened before but in fact they went straight to the Community Centre and met up with some other folks and we joined them for Lunch. They came back to us in the afternoon. They were not here for very long so the house recovered quite quickly!

 

 

Grace & Kate

 

 

Rachel, Arthur & Nathan

The Biography topic on Friday was “Martin Luther” who had been the subject of “10 Turning Points” the previous week so deja view again!

 

 

Martin Luther

 

In the evening we had a CEEM meeting at Geoff and Janet Pake’s to receive a report from the group who went to Moldova in September as well as plan next year’s visits. CEEM is due to change its name to “Moldova Matters Ltd”

In the garden this week I have removed and dug the outdoor tomato area and we now have quite a haul of green tomatoes. The salad crops in the greenhouse are coming along quite well.

 

 

Winter Salad Crops.

 

Over did not have a match yesterday so I went to the new Cambridge City stadium at Sawston to watch City Reserves v West Wratting with David and Mervyn.

 

 

Cambridge City FC

 

Best wishes

 

Mike & Kate