Many of you will know that we have a colony of these fabulous birds in our village. Read our new web page to find out more about them.

Fulbourn Neighbourhood Plan Referendum

9 February 2023 at the Fulbourn Centre between 7.00am and 10.00pm

We are sure that by now you have all received detailed information from the Parish Council and your voting cards. We do hope that you have been able to find time to look at the plan and will support its adoption. Members of the Fulbourn Forum committee, along with other villagers, have played a significant part, over several years, in the writing of the document, including the amendments necessary for it to satisfy both South Cambs District Council and the Independent Examiner.

The full online version of the plan can be viewed on the SCDC website – Click here for the link. Hard copies can be viewed at the PC office (01223 785683) and at the Library. For more information please find the Parish Council Notice publicising the Referendum also attached to this email.

We are experimenting with having a newsletter instead of just emails to communicate with our followers. What do you think? Sign up to get your full copy by emailing fulbournforum@gmail.com

Click here to see the latest Newsletter!

We do hope that you can come to our festive winter market on 26 November. A great place to find some early Christmas gifts or just a treat for yourself.

There will be 15 craft stalls with a huge range of handmade goodies. Original art, prints and T-shirts, cards for all occasions, jewellery, ceramics, a range of leather goods including bags and wallets, fabric and knitted items, hand-crafted wooden items both decorative and practical, an eclectic range of crafts from Africa, and handmade soaps, lotions and face/body care products.

The food stalls include a  great selection of cakes and baked items, bread, handmade chocolates, vegetarian samosas, vegetarian sausage rolls, onion bharjis, jams, chutneys, local honey, and more. Also Artisan Cheese with an excellent range including olives and more, ales from Fulbourn’s Moonshine Brewery, and Fulbourn apple juice.

The cafe, as always, is run by Fulbourn Women’s Institute providing very affordable refreshments. A good place to catch up with friends and neighbours.

Another successful Repair Cafe on 12 November with 47 items presented for repair, 24 of which were fully repaired, 14 were partly repaired and/or advice given, and 9 items considered unrepairable. 11 volunteer repairers were present. We have thanked all those who contributed: repairers, cafe helpers and bakers, ‘front of house’, organisers and administrators. There is a lot involved in putting these events together and their successful implementation, but it is a good community event with many items given a new lease of life.

There were 6 volunteers at the Nature Reserve work party on 13 November. A smaller number than usual but we still managed to uproot and remove a large number of young hawthorn bushes in Long Fen Pasture (the narrow meadow just after Ox Meadow, the one with the great oaks). This work helps towards ensuring an abundance of wild orchids in the summer, the reason for the designation of the Reserve as an SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest). The next work party is on 11 December, and then 8 January – do come and give a hand if you can.

Sixty bags of rubbish were collected at our October litter pick. Thank you so much everyone who helped.

Fulbourn Autumn Community Litter Pick

Sunday 25 September 2022. Meet at the Fulbourn Centre between 2.00 and 2.30pm

We hope that many of you can join us again to help clean up the village before the onset of the winter months. Plenty to do, as always, but with enough volunteers we hope that we can cover most of the village and wider parish, including along the approach roads where much litter is thrown from passing cars.

Pickers and bags (and bag holders) will be available from outside the Fulbourn Centre when you come to confirm your picking area. We will have plenty of gloves to borrow, and a few hi-vis vests, but do please bring your own if you have one. As usual, arrangements will be made for collection of the filled bags from the roadside, so no need to carry them back to the Fulbourn Centre. Accompanied and supervised children are very welcome and encouraged – we had an enthusiastic number back in April. Please take no risks when picking from alongside a busy road, and keep back from road edges. If you cannot safely access the litter, then please leave it in place and report back so that suitable action can be taken in a controlled and safe way. Fly tipping or similar will be reported to South Cambs District Council for removal.

If you cannot make the Sunday afternoon but would still like to help, contact us for the pickers and bags (available from Friday 23 September) so that you can pick your chosen area in the morning or on another day.

Do come and join in if you can, even for just an hour or so – it makes such a difference to the village and is a benefit to wildlife.

Fulbourn Autumn Community Litter Pick

Sunday 25 September. Meet at the Fulbourn Centre between 2.00 and 2.30pm

We hope that many of you can join us again to help clean up the village before the onset of the winter months. Plenty to do, as always, but with enough volunteers we hope that we can cover most of the village and wider parish, including along the approach roads where much litter is thrown from passing cars.

Pickers and bags (and bag holders) will be available from outside the Fulbourn Centre when you come to confirm your picking area. We will have plenty of gloves to borrow, and a few hi-vis vests, but do please bring your own if you have one. As usual, arrangements will be made for collection of the filled bags from the roadside, so no need to carry them back to the Fulbourn Centre. Accompanied and supervised children are very welcome and encouraged – we had an enthusiastic number back in April. Please take no risks when picking from alongside a busy road, and keep back from road edges. If you cannot safely access the litter, then please leave it in place and report back so that suitable action can be taken in a controlled and safe way. Fly tipping or similar will be reported to South Cambs District Council for removal.

If you cannot make the Sunday afternoon but would still like to help, contact us for the pickers and bags (available from Friday 23 September) so that you can pick your chosen area in the morning or on another day.

Do come and join in if you can, even for just an hour or so – it makes such a difference to the village and is a benefit to wildlife.

Fulbourn Fen Nature Reserve Work Parties

The Wildlife Trust Fulbourn Nature Reserve volunteering mornings will restart on Sunday 16 October. We’ll be tackling more of the invasive scrub in the meadows where the wild orchids proliferate. Everyone is very welcome including children, although they must be supervised by a parent or guardian. Sturdy footwear and thick work gloves are a must – the gloves especially as hawthorn can pierce thin gardening gloves. Tea and coffee is back on the agenda for a mid-morning break, with the occasional biscuits or nibbles.

We meet at the bottom of Stonebridge Lane by the entrance to the Nature Reserve. All the 2022-2023 dates are given below. Please note the different start time for the November work party.

Sunday 16 October – 10.00am to 1.00pm

Sunday 13 November – 1.00pm to 4.00pm (to avoid Remembrance Day events)

Sunday 11 December – 10.00am to 1.00pm

Sunday 8 January – 10.00am to 1.00pm

Sunday 5 February – 10.00am to 1.00pm

Sunday 5 March – 10.00am to 1.00pm

If you require more information please contact the Wildlife Trust local volunteer warden Peter Montgomery – pete.monty@gmail.com

And three further dates for your diary:

Fulbourn’s Repair Cafe

Saturday 12 November 2022, 2.00 to 5.00pm, in the Townley Hall, Fulbourn Centre

Too early to book, but please make a note of the date if you have something that needs repairing. Run by Fulbourn Forum in association with Cambridge Carbon Footprint, full details will be sent around mid-October.

Wilbraham River Protection Society AGM and Talk

Talk by Wildlife Trust Conservation Manager Martin Baker

Tuesday 22 November 2022, 7.00pm, in the Great Wilbraham Memorial Hall, Angle End.

The short AGM will commence at 7.00pm followed by the talk at around 7.30pm. Martin’s talk will centre on the work by the Wildlife Trust of promoting and implementing Nature Recovery Networks in the Greater Cambridge area and beyond. Fulbourn and Wilbraham are part of the catchment area for the River Cam, so the health of our countryside, river, streams, watercourses and springs is important in the recovery of nature, both for the benefit of wildlife, human wellbeing and the climate.

All welcome. Free event.

Fulbourn Community Market

Saturday 26 November 2022, 2.30 to 5.00pm, in the Townley Hall, Fulbourn Centre

Details to follow in November.

Thursday 7 June, meeting at 6.00pm at the Reserve entrance in Stonebridge Lane