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) 

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.

General Election Question Time 27 April IVC 7:30PM

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.”

BREAKING NEWS: Guided Bus DELAYED … until 2015?

Delayed until 2015?

News is leaking out of the Cambridgeshire County Council suggesting that it may be 2015 before the guided bus is running.  It looks as if contract and construction disputes between BAM Nutall and the county council may take years to resolve.

There will be many news media stories about this in coming days.  But the HI Courier has obtained the report being submitted to the Cambridgeshire County Council next Tuesday 16th March 2010,  10.00 a.m., Kreis Viersen Room, Shire Hall, CAMBRIDGE

You can find the report  here. (  http://bit.ly/9MXEXC  )Watch this space and our April issue for more details - and ‘no’ it isn’t an April Fool’s joke - but a very sad state of affairs that is likely to get even worse than it now appears.

MOT Voucher Auction

Number of Bids to date: 0   High Bid:  n/a

Buckingham & Stanley have generously donated an MOT voucher with a retail value of £54 to the Play Area project. It expires at the end of this month, so the project organisers have asked the HI Courier to see if we can auction it to the highest bidder. Because of time constraints, the auction will begin on 4th March and run until 11:59:59pm on March 15th.  Bids can be made by email to mail@hicourier.co.uk   Each evening we will update the highest bid on our website www.hicourier.co.uk - no name will be given only the amount of the current highest bid.
Remember this voucher is only valid for an MOT until 31/03/2010. All proceeds go to The Rec Playarea Project. Good luck!

LOCAL SURGEON’S MERCY MISSION TO AFRICA

Leo Cheng, Histon resident and surgeon, recently returned from Benin on board the world’s largest non-governmental hospital ship – the Africa Mercy. There he performed life-saving operations to some of the poorest people of Africa.  He will be speaking at the Histon Methodist Church ‘Big Issues’ series of meetings on 25 February at 7:30 PM at the church hall.

Leo Cheng, a Consultant Oral and Facial Reconstructive Surgeon in Cambridge and London spent two weeks in Benin, West Africa and has previously volunteered with the international charity Mercy Ships which has operated hospital ships since 1978. Last year, he also went with his daughter, Kat who volunteered as an eye clinic assistant in war-torn Liberia. Two years ago, his wife, Hilary, a Methodist Minister in Histon also volunteered as a chaplain for patients and carers both on board the Africa Mercy and on land-based community projects and clinics.

Leo said: “Publicity in the UK often focuses on a few desperate patients being flown into UK for reconstructive facial surgery but with Mercy Ships, we provide western quality treatment for patients in the poorest countries of the world, on their door step. We know that 90 of the world’s biggest cities are port cities, offering easy access to the ship for people without health care.”

The woman in the photograph with the enormous benign tumor in her neck is a perfect example. Leo told the HI Courier: “This woman was around 45 years who came to the Africa Mercy reluctantly because she thought that her growing neck lump was going to stay with her for life.

“He could not believe that the tumour had gone after surgery as he looked at the mirror because the tumour had been with him for so long. It is very sad to me to see such an extensive tumour in desperate patients like him. What he needed was basic surgery from specialist Maxillofacial Surgeon to remove the tumour when it was small but such basic surgical procedure does not exist in the developing world like those countries in West Africa. Here in UK, small tumours of the parotid gland are removed by Maxillofacial Surgeons with a few hours with good preservation of facial function.”

HICCA at the Wave, 5 December

HICCA members were in force at the WAVE climate change demonstration. Sarah, Elaine and Marine had created a fantastic banner for the march which will, no doubt, get many outings at future events. A lot of us travelled down together on the Coaches laid on by the Co-op.

HICCA marchers with banner before the WAVE march

There were blue hands, faces and bodies as far as the eye could see in either direction, which was some feat for a chilly dayin early December.  We felt that we needed to be at The Wave because the Copenhagen talks could prove to be such a defining moment in history. There were people from all ages  enjoying the carnival atmosphere.

There were people from all ages  enjoying the great atmosphere.

It is by no means inevitable that Copenhagen will see the fair deal that everyone at The Wave was calling for, but there was an undeniable sense of momentum as we rode the crest of our Wave past Downing St. and eventually engulfed the Houses of Parliament.

It was a great feeling to be marching alongside 50,000 others from all walks of life on the largest climate change demonstration ever seen in this country.

But the work doesn’t stop here. There’s plenty more campaigning to do during and after Copenhagen if we  are to sustain the pressure on our politicians to make them take the radical steps that are needed to avert climate chaos.

The Wave, Saturday, 5th December

The Wave, on Saturday 5 December, will be a carnival style procession through the streets of London to call for international action on climate change. It is being organised by the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition, which has been organising peaceful climate change marches since 2006 to keep the pressure on government for definite action on climate change.

details of the day

• Meeting from 12pm, Grovesner Square, central London
• Starts at approximately 1pm
• The route will flow from Grosvenor Square, via Piccadilly and Whitehall, to finally encircle the Houses of Parliament on both sides of the Thames.
• A stunning finale will take place at 3pm as The Wave encircles the Houses of Parliament

Members of  TheCo-operative and Oxfam supporters can book up to 6 tickets with their membership number/Oxfam code. Travel to The Wave costs from as little as £5 per person for coaches, £15 per person for trains and free for under-16s. For further details of the day and to book subsidised transport visit Co-operative site

Quite a number from HICCA are already booked on the coach leaving at 8:30 from Queens Rd, Cambridge.  So book a ride for just £5 and join us on the march. Look out for the brand new HICCA banner!

Village Energy Show Sat Oct 24th, 2-6 pm

• Get advice and a chance to chat about cutting your household energy bills and carbon footprint
• See technologies that can help and talk to installers
• Meet local people with local experience
• Find out about energy-saving support for your local community
• Bring the family and friends – it’s about all of us

Venue:  Impington Village College, New Road, Impington

Free entry

Organised by South Cambs Sustainable Parish Energy Partnership in collaboration with HICCA.

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