Winged chape
The Little Thetford winged chape was found by David Fletcher within an acre of the site of Harrimere Chapel. According to Mike Young, it is a rare artifact. A chape is a metal plate or mounting of a scabbard or sheath. A winged chape is indicative of later European Bronze-Age cavalry warfare. The location of this find around the Harrimere area suggests it may have been part of a ritual or sacrifice.
Grass snake
(Natrix natrix)
Brian Marston of Little Thetford tells us he recently saw a five–six foot (1.5–2 m) grass snake (Natrix natrix) swimming in the catch-water drain at the back of his house.
The 2011 Flower Festival, organised by The Friends of St George’s, will be held in St George’s Church over the weekend of 11–12 June. The theme is 20th Century life in Little Thetford and we have ten different subjects, including, the school, the church, the chapel, the Womens Institute, transport, the village feast, farming, as well as the two world wars.
The event will be open from 10:00 am and close at 5:00 pm on Saturday followed by a talk given by local historian Mike Petty starting at 7:30 pm. The talk is titled “20th century village life”. Tickets are £5 including a complimentary glass of wine. On Sunday the festival opens at 11:00 am and closes at 4:00 pm. A Songs of Praise service will follow at 4:30 pm.
All the proceeds from the weekend will be used for repairs to this grade II* listed building. We presently have works in excess of £17,000 in the pipeline, with work hopefully starting in July 2011.
See also 2009 flower festival.
A pleasant walk around Bob Youngs garden this afternoon revealed a natural history delight. Examining the recently excavated woodpecker hole high up in the tree we saw an eye looking sheepishly at us down below. A few seconds later, a head poked out. It was not a woodpecker at all! It was a squirrel. As we said in another post, what comes out of a woodpecker hole may not be a woodpecker. We never imagined a squirrel!
Great spotted woodpecker. Photo Steffen Hannert
Gray squirrel. Photo CC-BY-SA from Wikipedia
Sensei Lee Nash tells us of his family oriented Karate class held in the Little Thetford village hall on Tuesdays 7—8 pm.
Local archaeologist David Jacques discovered this burnt flint whilst rooting close to the woodpecker chippings in Robert Young’s garden on Sunday, 17 April 2011. Burnt flints have been found all over the area including Soham and Cambourne. Such finds provide evidence of human occupation from the late Neolithic through to the Bronze-Age. It is believed that the flint was put into the fire overnight and used to heat water in the morning.
Dave Fletcher reported some of his finds to us recently. We especially liked five curse tablets, or lead curses, which were found within an area of approximately one acre close to the site of Harrimere Church. Dave has had the large tablet identified by Helen Fowler and two of the small ones by Anne Taylor, both of Cambridge University’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology; although none of these suspected Roman tablets has yet been opened.
The latest village newsletter is now online. If you’re in the village – a printed copy should have already come through your door.
Norah Bedford
Norah Bedford
Norah Bedford, who recently celebrated her 105 birthday, passed away on Friday 18 March 2011 following a short illness after a fall. A former councillor, school governor and president of the Isle of Ely Federation of Women’s Institutes, Norah had two sons, John and Denis; six grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren. Norah is pictured in this photo of the Little Thetford WI visit to the Wedgewood factory in the 1950’s. Our thoughts are with Norah’s family at this sad time.
Can you help with a Litter Pick around the village on Saturday 9th April 9.30 am.
If yes, please report to the Village Hall Car Park.
Black bags and a supply of equipment will be supplied, but if you can bring gardening gloves, florescent bands or jackets and pickers that would be helpful.
Here’s what we collected after just 1 hour last year:
Litter Pick Results 2010
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