Tuesday 25th January – The Little Thetford Wikipedia page is the Featured Article on the Wikipedia Main Page.
Well done John McCullough for all the hard work!
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A New Year walk
Photo: Judy Young
Next time you are walking in Little Thetford, take your camera. You never know what you may find. If you are unsure what you have seen, send us your photograph and we will identify it for you.
Whilst walking from Little Thetford to Ely on New Years Day with six friends, Judy Young spotted this unusual goose enjoying a swim on the River Great Ouse. Colin Saunders, one of the party, was so intrigued he looked it up on his return. The large black dewlap and knob distinguish this as a brown African Goose.
Photo: Judy Young
Colin reports: “The African Goose should be of about the same size and height as the Embden Goose . According to Oscar Grow the African Goose appears physically a cross between the Toulouse Goose , and the Brown Chinese Goose, with some of the size and dewlap of the Toulouse Goose, and some of the carriage and ‘knob’ of the Chinese Goose . Also Known as L’oie de Guine’e in France
The African Goose is said by some breeders to be a distinct breed imported from Africa, but the evidence a large genetic part of the Chinese is indisputable; see
Tegetmeir 1873. They were known as a pure breed in the USA from the 1850’s and although often crossed with the Toulouse as a commercial meat cross are a definite species descended from the Swan goose (Anser cygnoides) rather than the greylag (Anser anser).”Also spotted. Well not spotted actually, crested! In any case, crested ducks were seen during the same walk. Unfortunately, we do not have a Little Thetford photograph of them, so Colin Saunders found this image on the web. Colin again “Crested ducks are basically an aberration appearing in any colour and as such have a mixed history. The crest is essentially a mutation associated with skull deformities and known for hundreds of years. There are those who claim that crested ducks first appeared in Britain, which is unlikely but they were certainly first shown here and appear in many early poultry books . Genetic mutations appear occasionally all over the world. Selective breeding would then have increased the numbers of birds with the same characteristic. 17th century Dutch paintings show crested ducks on wildfowl such as Melchior d’Hondecoeter (1636 -1695) and Marmaduke Craddock (1660 – 1717) from Somerset in the UK showed them”
John McCullough
Little Thetford 1905
Edwardian centenarian Norah Bedford celebrated her 105th birthday on 27 December 2010. Born in 1905, during the middle of Edward VII‘s reign, Norah now lives in Littleport. A founder member of the Little Thetford social club, Norah has been active in Ely district village matters most of her life. For example, she has been a parish and county councillor for Stretham, a governor at many primary schools in the Ely area and president of the Little Thetford Womens Institute.
Norah was the St George’s Church organist for many years, only relinquishing the post in 2002 when the multitude began singing faster than she could play; she remains a well respected member of the congregation.
Mother of two, grandma to six and with ten great-grandchildren, Norah, who lived at Braham Farm with her husband Cyril, attributes her longevity to having a happy active life. According to the Cambridge News 27 December 2010, Norah said “I’ve never smoked, I’ve never really drunk and I’ve always tried to be as active as I can”.
Some significant events of 1905 include:
- 13 July 1905 release of the British silent film, Rescued by Rover, starring the world’s first canine film star
- 5 December 1905 the liberal leader Henry Campbell-Bannerman, the first man to be given the use of the term Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, being asked to form a government on the resignation of the conservative Arthur Balfour
It was also the year in which
- Albert Einstein published four papers significant to physics: Photoelectric effect, Brownian motion, Special relativity and Matter and energy equivalence. He called it his Annus Mirabilis, or his extraordinary year
- the Russian Revolution was at its height
- Henri Matisse painted the oil on canvas Woman with a Hat, purported to be his wife, Amelie
John McCullough
Waxwing in Little Thetford
Illustration: RSPB
This rare winter visitor from Scandinavia was spotted by Gill Norman recently in Little Thetford. Breeding in Northern European pine forests, this beautiful plump bird, with yellow tips to its wings, migrates south in winter when breeding grounds become over-populated. They feed on berries, particularly hawthorn, supplemented by cotoneaster and rose.
Photograph: Stuart Elsom
The Bohemian Waxwing, Latin name of Bombycilla garrulus, was first described by Linnaeus in 1758. It is not a threatened species, being listed as of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), although our visitor is very rare in the UK; the RSPB reports that less than 100 individuals winter on the east coast.
Waxwings do not mind feeding close to humans. The RSPB suggests that if we see such birds, it will encourage us to help other migrant species which all have a tough time finding food in our cold weather.
RSPB advice: Feeding birds and what food to provide.
Article by John McCullough
William Sole (1741–7 February 1802) was a British botanist born in Little Thetford, Cambridgeshire. Read more…
This wonderful pictures shows Graham Driver driving the last herd of cows in the village past the old Dutch manor house on the left and the Three Horseshoes in the background. The cows had names: Bess on the path, Angela in front of Mr Driver, Doll front left of the leading three, Vera to the left of leading three cows.
Last herd of cows in Little Thetford. Approx 1968
Read John Kisby’s wonderfully vivid account of the flooding of half of Little Thetford in 1947, which followed the severe winter of 1946/7.
Cyclist in the floods of 1947
We’ve now got an interactive version of the picture below here – just hover over the boxes to see the names.
This is Little Thetford WI visit to the Wedgewood Factory in the 1950’s. Can you help put names to faces? Click on the photo for a bigger version.
The lady in the 5th row, second from the right is Mrs Bedford who is now 106. If we can get some more names, we’ll put up an interactive photo like we have for some of the old school photos (eg 1987).
If you can help – drop us an email via the website, or contact Bob Young in the village.
Little Thetford WI visit to the Wedgewood Factory in the 1950s
The latest village newsletter is now online. If you’re in the village – a printed copy should be coming through your door very soon, if not already.
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