Homefield CloseHomefield Close is an estate is made up of private and council-owned houses, but the main part is sheltered housing for the elderly. Brenda Dodd has been Warden to the sheltered housing for twenty years. She writes: "I have enjoyed working with the elderly. I work with the Deputy Warden and together we try to see all our residents and make sure that they are all right every day. If anyone is ill we call a doctor, if other help is needed we try to contact the people needed, eg family or Social Services. We cover 24 hours a day, seven days a week so we do sometimes get called out during the night. If a resident is ill or has had a fall, we stay with them until other help arrives and make sure they are comfortable before leaving. The bungalows are all fitted with an intercom system, and all rooms have an emergency `red cord' which can be pulled to call instant assistance from either the Warden or Deputy Warden's house. "Central to Homefield Close is the Community Room. This is used by residents and friends of pensionable age. We hold weekly Whist Drives, Bridge and Bingo and monthly coffee mornings and Church Services. We organise tea parties throughout the year and during the winter months we make hot lunches for our residents. We organise outings throughout the year. These include visits to the seaside, garden centres or markets, mystery tours, shopping trips etc. "If you would like further information please get in touch. We try to make everyone feel welcome."
Bricks, bats and tiles Willson's building business was based in a large surviving cottage to the south of Histon Green. This now belongs to the Wynn family. Willson's helped to restore Madingley Hall and Histon Parish Church in the 1870s. They built many village houses: commemorative bricks survive in a cottage at Cambridge Road. When John's son, Charles, died unexpectedly in 1893 a buyer for the business could not be found. It was the end of an era for the local brickworks (dry powder, Oxford clay and superior kiln technology revolutionised the industry). The kiln was demolished around 1920 by Mr Walter Unwin who used the bricks for making up his farm roads. Alongside the surviving brick tied houses there used to be a pair of thatched cottages, the homes of Elias Wilkin and William Knightley who were brickmakers in 1881. These cottages were painstakingly dismantled in the 1970s and exported to France for re-erection.
Dear Friends, What does the word community mean to you? As a word it is frequently bandied about, but when you ask people what they mean by it they often struggle to give a clear and concise definition. The dictionary says that community is "a body of people living in one place or district and considered as a whole". This seems to me to be a good description of Impington and Histon. Two villages, one community. Whether we live in Impington or Histon we share the same joys and frustrations. We share the same concerns over the proposed Sainsbury's development, the seemingly ever increasing traffic levels along the A14 and, of course, the length of time it takes to get out of the village in the morning. More positively, we share the same excellent schools, shops and businesses. Though two villages, we are for all intents and purposes, one community. It was, therefore, with great pleasure that I accepted the post of Priest in Charge at St Andrew's Impington. In this day and age it makes sense for the two Church of England parishes to work together, to share resources and complement each other. Both St Andrew's have different stories to tell. I want to maintain their differences and ensure that, rather than competing with each other, together they serve the whole community. Together we can strengthen the life of our community. Hugh McCurdy
Whatever happened to Impington Feast?Feast stalls were last seen on the open space near the Railway Vue in the 1930s. This location of the Feast in latter days is confirmed by the large numbers of whelk and cockle shells found when the garden, now on the site, is dug! The Feast was a great time for families and friends to get together. It is thought that the Feast was not only a celebration of village life and the summer, but also a means of raising money for the Church. In the 14th and 15th centuries May Day was the beginning of a three-month period during which celebrations could be held on any day the community chose. These days were called May games, May ales, Church ales, summer games or summer plays. Sometimes the Feast was celebrated on the dedication day of the Parish Church in honour of its patron Saint. Impington Church may once have been dedicated to St. Etheldreda, which would have meant the 23 June. However, Impington Feast was traditionally held the week after Histon Feast. In comparatively recent times the Feast had dwindled to a few stalls, but the day was still celebrated, as the following extracts from local newspapers show:
In 1982 Impington Church Council suggested to the Parish Council that the Feast should be revived, to coincide with the Flower Festival at the Church. The Parish Council declined to get involved. Perhaps the idea of Feast stalls in the churchyard at the time of the Flower Festival could once again be floated; if not in 1998, why not in the year of the Millennium ? With thanks and acknowledgement to John Whitmore for permission to use his Village Society booklet no 18 as a source for this feature.
© Impington News 1998 |
Beyond the present paddock and recreation ground in Burgoyne's
Road is the site of Impington's old brickyards. A willow-edged pond is all that
now remains of the Willson & Son Brick and Tile Works. Local clay was dug
and 'puddled' here over the winter. In the Spring it was hand-moulded using frames,
stacked and left to air dry before being kiln-fired in time for the summer building
season. In addition tiles and bats were made. Bats were unfired hods of air-dried
clay, mixed with straw. They were used to build boundary walls and one-storey
cottages and outbuildings, which were waterproofed using plaster or bitumen and
were finally thatched.