July2021

14 Buckden Roundabout July 2021 The Parish Council—Part 6 Articles always wanted! Are you a budding writer? Buckden Roundabout is always looking for articles to be included in the magazine. • Maybe you have something interesting to share about the history, geography or nature of the village? • Do you run a local group, society or activity (that is essentially non - commercial) and are looking to either attract new members or raise the profile of the group? • Do you have a short - story, poem or fan fiction to share? Whatever the topic, send your articles to editor@buckdenroundabout.info for consideration. The Parish Council - Part 6 I ended last month ’ s story promising to say something about how main drainage came to the village. Although the Parish cCuncil had pressed for better drainage for many years it had very little real influence on the timing. Work had started in 1939 but the war curtailed its completion. Work did not restart until the 1950s and not completed un- til 1958. The provision of water prior to it being piped to the whole of the village was from small reservoirs, pumps, wells and water cart. It was not until 1946 that a scheme for piped water to Buckden and ten other villages was started and its introduction continued until the early fifties. In 1956 the Council initiated discussion about the Buckden Memorial Playing Fields and the possible purchase of the Great Vineyards. In 1960 the deeds of the Memorial Playing Fields were handed over to the Parish Council as Custodial Trustees. In May 1967 a public meeting agreed that a new village hall should be built to replace the rifle range hall in Church Street. At the 1971 Parish Assembly, which was attended by over 200 people, the Council agreed to give £10,000 towards the building of the new hall. This came into use in January 1975 under the management of the Vil- lage Hall Trust (VHT). A club was also opened to all resi- dents of the village for an annual subscription of 50p. The original idea of the club was not only to provide a venue for socialising for residents but also to use any profit to defray the costs of running the hall. The council and the VHT agreed to work closely together and it decided to re - establish Feast Week. The Council also instigated work on the clearance of the Valley Area. It also made grants to the tennis and bowls clubs to enable them to build their own facilities. I shall return to the Village Hall when I write about the late 1980s (perhaps the development of the Hall and the playing fields might prove a suitable subject for a future article). Throughout the late 60s and the 1970s the Council had to consider plans for the further provision of houses in the village and at each stage it was committed to try to ensure that the houses were not cramped and were of suitable design for a village environment. A walkaround the village suggests that on the whole it succeeded to meet its aim. School Lane and Greenway are excellent examples of open planning for an estate. The 1966 aerial picture of the village on the History Society ’ s web site provides a good picture for comparison with now. In 1975 the council first discussed the possible provision of an office for the clerk who was carrying out all Council work in their own home. It was not until 2006 that this ambition was finally realized. Throughout the 1970s there were con- stant fears expressed about the speed of traffic on the A1, the dangers of crossings in the centre reservation and the risk of accidents at the Brampton Road and Perry Road junc- tions on the A1. The problems already evident on the roundabout were also discussed. The year 1979 saw the first employment of a village handyman; until then jobs had been completed by volunteers or contractors. The Council agreed to support the newly formed drama group and the proposed new parish magazine, The Buckden Roundabout, the first issue appeared in September 1979. In 1981 the Council opposed plans to move Buckden out of Huntingdonshire. As one councillor put it ‘ From the tenth century when King Athelstan formed the shires of Mercia, Buckden has been part of the Shire of Huntingdon …’ In spite of the Council ’ s opposition and a petition signed by over a thousand villagers, Buckden was moved for electorial pur- poses into a new parliamentary constituency of South West Cambridgeshire. The new constituency was abolished in 1997 and Buckden resumed its place in Huntingdonshire. The problems of satisfying the needs of the young people in the village, especially teenagers, had often been discussed at council meetings and at the 1984 Parish Assembly the discussion topic was “ Isn ’ t it Time that Youngsters had their Own Place? ”. Twelve teenagers attended the meeting and the names of seventy five of the village ’ s three hundred teenagers between the ages of eleven and eighteen were gathered. It was agreed that money should be set aside, a small working group set up to include young people and the VHT was co - opted to work with this group. The best laid plans gae oft astray, and in spite of the best efforts by the Council, the VHT and individuals the problem still exists. Eventually the reserved money was absorbed into the coun- cil ’ s accounts in spite of the fact, as we shall see later that a special room was designed and included in the plans for the rebuild of the village hall. Next month I shall describe the rest Council ’ s work in the 1980s and 1990s. - Terry Hayward