| News from St Ives |
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| St Ives Cambridgeshire
A personal view
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| RECESSION: SHOPS CLOSE IN ST IVES | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Above: Woolworths closed in December 2008 and currently lies empty. On right: Walkers Bookshop closed on February 28th 2009. It is sadly missed. |
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| Eaden Lilley in Bridge Street was bought by Townrow. People are pleased that we still have a reasonably sized department store. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Would-be customers were upset to find that in June 2010 Grays long established butcher's shop was "closed until further notice". It was our only real butcher's. The large number of new charity shops do good business here - but are no substitute for "real" shops. |
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| THE CORN EXCHANGE
re-opened in June 2010. It is now available for exhibitions, theatrical events and concerts, indoor markets, conferences and self-catering dinners and parties. For more information, see its website: http://www.thecornexchange.org.uk |
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| The Open Day on June 26th 2010 aroused much interestand visitors were highly impressed by all the space and the number of room available. Another £10,000 or so still has to be spent on interior furnishings - and then it will be put to the acid test: how many people are actually going to use it? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| This was Mrs Bateman Brown (in centre of picture) opening a Free Church Sale of Work in the old Corn Exchange, presumably at the turn of the last century. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| GUIDED BUS The new way-over-budget and much-delayed guided bus system between Huntingdon and Cambridge, via St Ives, has been delayed yet again and will not now open before December 2010 at the earliest, instead of April 2009 as planned. There are disputes about standing water, flooded cycle tracks and a leaking bridge that are not going to be easily solved. Many local people are still wondering about whether or not this will turn out to be the biggest white elephant ever. The ongoing dispute between the Cambridgeshire Council and the contractors beggars belief. It is also suggested that, one day, the A14 may be widened to a dual 3-lane carriageway, and that a new dual 3-lane carriageway be built to the south of Godmanchester, Huntingdon and Brampton to join the A14 to the west of the A1. It is intended that the better public transport and further "more rigorous measures" will discourage motorists from driving into Cambridge. |
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| ANGLO-NORMAN ENCAMPMENT Noble's Field, May 1st - 3rd 2010. Attendance was rather disappointing, but there were some interesting things to see (including a daily battle) - and admission was free. It rained on Sunday, but this cleared up, and the boat-burning (advertised on site as happening at 5.0pm but really happening at 4.30pm) was watched by quite a crowd - even if all of the boat did not go up in flames (see below). A local fire appliance was standing by. |
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| The performers camped in the field overnight - and the wind, rain and even some hail could not have made it very comfortable for them. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| CIVIL WAR SKIRMISH
Town Centre & Old Golf Course, Westwood Road, June 19th and 20th 2010. |
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| Roundheads fought Cavaliers in a skirmish presented by Fairfax Battalia, Civil War re-enactors. It began with the "blowing up" of the St Ives Bridge, but, as seen above, the real bridge fortunately emerged unscathed - although a police launch stood by just in case.
The subsequent gun fire on the old Golf Course could be heard from miles away, and reduced some young spectators to tears, but it was an impressive display with hundreds of appropriately dressed participants, some of whom could be met wandering around town - and even attending a local church service. |
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| The Roundhead army was based on Sir ThomasFairfax's New Model Army Regiment, c1645. There was plenty going on although it was not always easy to discover exactly what! |
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Move on to NEWS FROM ST IVES 2 |
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