Candidate Reveals All in Cambridge

Occassionally fate intervenes in elections and gives us a view into a candidate’s inner character. This is what happened on 19th April 2010 when Tony Juniper, Green Party parliamentary candidate in Cambridge, helped catch a burglar. The Cambridge News front page story reveals a man who realised that something was wrong, was quick off the blocks and got the job done without regard to his own personal safety.

Cambridge News, Monday 19 April 2010 (Click image to read story) 

SCAM WARNING! Calls about your computer

A few minutes ago I received a call from someone who claimed to be calling from Microsoft. She said they had detected problems on my computer with some downloaded files that were slowing down my computer. She told me they needed me to go to their troubleshooting website and that once they determined the extent of the problem they would hand me over to a Microsoft certified engineer. “Are you in front of your computer now?” she asked. “Yes” I said. “Then let me give you …” I interrupted to ask again: “Did you say you work for Microsoft”. “Yes” she replied.

Then I lied: “I work for Microsoft, too, and I’m not aware of any problems.”

“Excuse me,sir?” she responded with a degree of surprise and alarm in her voice.

I got half way to repeating my lie when she abruptly hung up!

BEWARE! Do not fall for this apparent scam. Warn others. And report back to the HI Courier website any similar experiences.

- Ken, editor

Massive Arctic Ice Cap Is Shrinking

ScienceDaily (Apr. 13, 2010) — Close to 50 years of data show the Devon Island ice cap, one of the largest ice masses in the Canadian High Arctic, is thinning and shrinking.

A paper published in the March edition of Arctic, the journal of the University of Calgary’s Arctic Institute of North America, reports that between 1961 and 1985, the ice cap grew in some years and shrank in others, resulting in an overall loss of mass. But that changed 1985 when scientists began to see a steady decline in ice volume and area each year.

“We’ve been seeing more mass loss since 1985,” says Sarah Boon, lead author on the paper and a Geography Professor at the University of Lethbridge. The reason for the change? Warmer summers.

- more

New Website Feature: Full Newspaper Edition Online!

Nearly all of our newspapers (print editions) are now available on our website (digital edition). Just click on the ‘newspaper’ button at the top of the page.

This feature does require a good broadband connection since each file is 10-20 Mb in size.   This is a work in progress and we hope to be adding a story index soon.  The file for our September 2009 issue was damaged but will be available soon.  Your comments are appreciated ( mail@hicourier.co.uk ).

In future, digital copies of our newspaper will appear here on the day of publication.

April HI Courier newspaper available online (updated)

A pdf copy of our April 2010 print edition is avalable here to view.   We will be creating an archive of all back issues in the coming weeks.

Update: Check out our March 2010 issue, too.  What do you think?

Impington Toad Rescue

It started Friday evening 19 March.  First there were a few. Then the migration began in full. The toads marched out of Impington woodland areas heading for their spawning lakes adjacent to the Holiday Inn.  Halfway along their path stood an unexpected obstacle - the new Guided Busway track - the toad equivalent of the Great Wall of China. Had it not been for Anita Joysey the scene would have been tragic - thousands would have died from dehydration and predator attacks.  

It now appears that Impington is home to an exceptional colony of common toads (Bufo bufo) as defined by the Natural Environment and Rural Community Act 2006. The common toad is a true gardeners friend living on a diet of slugs, and insects. So far, over 3000 have been rescued, checked and counted. Anita Joysey and Dave Seilly found the first wave of migration early Saturday 20 March and rescued 701 toads.  They carefully collected them from the sides of the busway where the exhausted animals had been trying to find a way around the endless track then gently carried them into the lake in large buckets.  Then they spread the word that more were likely to come.  It’s this time of year when toads are on the move from their winter hibernation shelter to spawn in nearby lakes. Like salmon they return to the place of their birth to spawn the next generation. Any stress is dangerous as they have limited energy resources. They will not have eaten from the time the went into hibernation in October until they return from spawning in mid April.

Upon hearing the news, Impington parish councillor Pene Nudds sprang into action alerting councillors at District and County level. Last year a far smaller migration left many toads crushed by Busway construction vehicles.  Parish, District and County councillors were determined to avoid a repeat of that incident. Soon help began to show up as Anita and her crew of volunteers collected stranded toads each morning. Dave Haxton, a representative from Atkins, the engineering firm that is acting as project manager for the Busway project, arrived bright and early Monday morning to see what could be done.  Last year a temporary toad fence was erected to prevent additional carnage as toads strayed onto the path of Busway construction traffic.  This needed repair.  Pitfall traps that had been used last year to safely catch and hold toads for short periods needed to be installed. Atkins moved swiftly to assist, sending several staff and ecologists to help Anita with the morning and evening rescue efforts. 

William Seale from Maddingly Toad Rescue told the HI Courier that this is a Biodiversity Action Plan issue.  The number of common toads, in spite of their name, are dwindling as development and habitat removal increases.  Impington now appears to be a site of significant interest. William has been working for over 20 years to rescue toads and provide safe and stable habitats for them.   

Toads emerge from hibernation on land in late February or early March and complete the migration back to the lake where they started the previous autumn. Once there, mating and egg laying occur over a brief period in March and April. The adult toads then leave the lake and head back to the land needing, once again, to cross the Busway track on the way. They live in the woodland for the remainder of the year, entering hibernation again in late September or early October.

Several permanent toad tunnels will be needed to allow this two way access between the woodland and lake. County council has assured us that they will begin construction when they officially take control of the northern section of the Guided Busway. Tunnels of the sort needed can be built after the fact while the busway is in operation. Until that happens mitigation efforts and daily toad rescues will be needed for the few weeks of back and forth migration that occur in March and late July.

What could have been a disaster has been avoided by the cooperation at all levels - parish, district, and county councils, Atkins, and most of all by Anita Joysey and her volunteers.  Our hats off and a ‘well done’ to all.  The HI Courier will be watching and reporting as this story develops.

VILLAGE SOCIETY PROGRAMME Spring/summer 2010

HISTON AND IMPINGTON VILLAGE SOCIETY

PROGRAMME FOR SPRING AND SUMMER TERMS 2010

Meetings are held in the Brackenbury Lecture Room, Impington Village College on Tuesday evenings from 7.30 - 9.15  Non-Members £2.00 at the door

30 MARCH
VICTORIAN BUILDINGS OF CAMBRIDGE AND SOUTH CAMBS
By TONY KIRBY, Hon Research Fellow at Anglia Ruskin University. An exploration of the ways in which the Victorians and Edwardians changed the “built environment” of the Cambridge area

Schools Easter Holidays
1 - 16 April

27 APRIL
URANGAN - the founding and growth of an immigrant settlement in Hervey Bay, Australia.
By ELEANOR WHITEHEAD. If you have stories of early family immigrants we would love to hear them at this or next month’s meeting

18 MAY
MEMBERS ENTERTAIN
Schools Half-Term
24-28 May

29 JUNE
THATCHING
By JEFF HELME. Many examples of his fine workmanship can be seen around our villages, but how many of us really know much about this age-old craft?
SUNDAY AFTERNOON

11 JULY
IMPINGTON FEAST SUNDAY AFTERNOON HERITAGE WALK Guided by ELEANOR WHITEHEAD. Tea and cakes afterwards in the church hall. Meet at 2.30 pm.

Full details later: 28 September, 19 October, 14 December, 25 January 2011 (AGM)

Guided Busway to Open in April? (April 2010, 2011, 2015 ?)

    

 

Tuesday 16 March 2010:

CCC met today to consider the report released last week.

From the Chief Exec’s blog:

Finally, Cabinet considered a progress report regarding the Guided Busway. Cllr Roy Pegram made the following statement:

“Senior staff from Cambridgeshire County Council (CCC) and BAM Nuttall Ltd (BNL) have met to consider further the outstanding issues holding up completion of the northern section of the Guideway as set out in the report to CCC Cabinet, dispatched last week and being considered today.

“The meeting was productive and actions have been agreed by both parties, commencing with early technical meetings this week, which if carried through, should lead to the resolution of the issues.

“Both parties have agreed that these actions will be monitored by the respective chief executives over the next five days, ahead of a further senior level meeting at the end of the month.

“One of the issues is the Busway’s maintenance track that is currently under water in some areas.

“CCC and BNL have agreed that these areas need to be raised, a process that will require liaison with the Environment Agency because of flood storage issues in the flood plain. The good news is that any work on this could be carried out whilst the Busway is operational, so the work, which needs drier conditions, will not prevent the Busway opening.

“CCC and BNL wish to see the Busway operational as soon as possible and have agreed to use the procedures laid out in the contract to progress the outstanding issues.

“Provided there is the expected progress during the coming weeks, both parties are hopeful that it will be possible to indicate by the middle of April the target date for trialling and then operating the Busway.  [That doesn't mean it will start in April! It will be announced - maybe - when it might start.  - ed.]

“CCC and BNL remain resolutely of the view that once completed the Busway will provide the high quality, well-used and successful service we always anticipated.”

Histon Author’s New Book: In Kinabalu’s Shadow

In Kinabalu’s Shadow -An exciting, touching and thought-provoking novel by Histon author Steve Morris.

In the 1960s Steve Morris lived and worked as a volunteer in North Borneo (now Sabah, Malaysia)where most of the book is set. While there he met many people, both locals and expatriates, who had direct experience of the Japanese occupation of the island during World War Two. This novel is based on their reminiscences.
The author’s personal knowledge of the island and its’ varied people shines through the book and brings it to life. I confess I was not too pleased to be asked to read another “World War Two” book but I soon forgot my prejudices and become involved in the lives of the characters.

Australian Tom Field takes his new bride Mary to live on the copra plantation he manages in British North Borneo. He introduces her to the beauty of the island and its fascinating inhabitants. She has to get used to having servants and to how to behave with the different strata of society: European colonials, Chinese shopkeepers, native people in the towns and on the plantation and the tribes in the interior.

Once Mary becomes accustomed to it, life in Borneo is good. After a while, however, the war which seemed so distant in Europe threatens to affect them as the Japanese start to move. While the Field family return to the safety of Sydney for the birth of their second child the Japanese invade Singapore and overrun North Borneo. Europeans in Borneo are taken to internment camps and British and Australian soldiers captured in Singapore end up in POW camps where they are treated brutally by the guards.

Tom is recruited for secret work and returns to Borneo. Linking up with his friends from the head-hunter tribes, he becomes part of the resistance which assists the Australian 9th Division in the liberation of the island. It is not as simple as it sounds.

Steve Morris presents a wonderful insight into the life in North Borneo under cruel Japanese occupation. I was totally captivated by the different characters and their struggles. Knowing the ending of the story (the Japanese lose) from the beginning didn’t spoil the suspense. It is a story which shows vividly what it was like for the ordinary people of Borneo and how important it is for ordinary people to stand up for what they hold dear and not just rely on the military.

It is a book I enjoyed reading and one I would happily read again.

In Kinabalu’s Shadow is available in paperback from Amazon and all good bookshops RRP £7.99. Also as an e-Book from Authors-on-line £3.99 ISBN - 978-07552-1198-2

- reviewed by Paula Dean

Ten Sing Concert - Sat March 20, IVC

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