No Election Here

In response to a query to the web site – it doesn’t seem that there is a local government election in Dry Drayton today – It’s Cambridgeshire County Council in 2009 and South Cambridgeshire in 2011.

Dry Drayton Cheese Lovers

Dry Drayton Cheese Lovers will be delighted to learn that after a three month absence the Cambridge Cheese Company is back operating in All Saints Passage Cambridge – don’t be put off by the scaffolding down the passage – they really are back. Treat yourself to some delicious cheese when you next go to town.

That time of year in Dry Drayton

It’s that time of year when the grass starts to put on a spurt – and for Dry Drayton this usually means the public spaces looking like a scruffy meadow. How refreshing this year to note comments from a number of people about how good the verges and grassed areas look. The Parish Council seems to have at last got things right on the grass cutting front – so well done them, and well done this year’s contractor. All we need now is a bit more sun to set this off to advantage.

And talking about “time” – here’s an interesting and unusual shot taken by a returning Dry Drayton commuter at Cambridge Railway Station at midnight on Thursday last, when the defunct station clock, had been lowered to be fixed by a team from Ede Wilkinson.

 

Verge Improvements

Workmen completed the next part of the verge improvements between Dry Drayton and Oakington this week. These verge inprovements are for horse riders and walkers, but might be usable by somone on a mountain bike. The surface is not metalled as on a cycle track. Unfortunateley the two parts of the improved verges have a 0.4 mile gap in the middle, including the dangerous bend on the Oakington side of the junction. The gap in the middle will be left until the Dry Drayton / Oakington interchange is next upgraded.

Unless you are a horse rider or a walker, these improvements won’t make a great deal of difference. What is really needed is a cycle track along this route to link to other cycleways from Oakington and to the proposed “misguided bus” into Cambridge. Will these improved verges make it any easier to have the route turned into a proper cycleway later? Will the Parish Council and the Village Plan currently being drafted pick up on this?

 

Houses for Sale in Dry Drayton

Having just updated the Houses For Sale page on DryDrayton.net one can’t help to wonder whether the global credit crunch and the difficulty in obtaining mortgages are starting to affect the local housing market. There are currently six houses for sale in the village and we know of others who want to leave but haven’t yet put up the “For Sale” sign.

Our school

Dry Drayton school featured in a leading article today in the Cambridge News about over-large class sizes. The story was about the education of pupils suffering if class sizes are too large and Head Margaret Prosser spoke of teaching pupils as individuals in the very small classes in the school.

Madingley to Cambridge Road

We were saddened to see from the Cambridge News on Tuesday that the incident on this road on Sunday was in fact a fatal accident and that some of the people involved were from dry Drayton. A witness from Madingley told the Cambridge News “The road is particularly dangerous and they’ve done some surfacing work there recently to improve it”. How, we wonder, does this stack up with our local Councillor’s statement in the most recent Village Newsletter that: “The cycle route from Bar Hill and Dry Drayton to Madingley Road Park & Ride is great and we hope cyclists take full advantage of the route and enjoy the great outdoors while encouraging people to do their bit for the environment.”

Anyone who uses this road will agree with the Madingley resident that this is indeed a dangerous stretch. Although the victim of the fatal accident last weekend was not a cyclist, anyone who has cycled the road knows that cars swoop past just inches away and at ridiculous speeds. The edge of the tarmac falls away sharply in places, making any mistake difficult to correct. As if this isn’t enough, during term time, some motorists heading for Cambridge in the morning thrash through Madingley to try to re-join the traffic jam on the Madingley Hill a few cars ahead.

Isn’t it time Cambridgeshire County Council tried out some traffic calming here, and perhaps introduced the kind of “quiet lane” policy introduced by the Countryside Agency and practiced in Norfolk and Kent – where vehicles have to travel slower and give way on designated quiet rural roads to cyclists and walkers? This should also be applied to the Dry Drayton to Madingley Road – then this could become a great route for cyclists.
 

South Cambs – has anybody seen the new bus passes?

Residents over 60 in Cambridge City have already received their new go-anywhere free national bus passes. Has anybody seen any yet from South Cambridgeshire District Council?

Link to our website

This is a quick link to our village site at www.drydrayton.net

What a weekend..

Strange things were happening in and around Dry Drayton this weekend.

A night shift worker from Dry Drayton – one of those excellent essential workers who keep the major London hospitals working – had a scary trip to work on Saturday night. Arriving at Cambridge Railway Station at about 7pm to catch the Kings Cross train, she found that there were over a hundred unhappy travellers herded outside the station by the British Transport Police. A security incident was in progress – all trains to London up and down the line were halted and nobody could say for how long. A fast drive to central London saved the day and she arrived just in time for an 8.30pm start – her kind driver facing a hundred mile trip instead of a quick turn-around in Cambridge. Try getting compensation for that from the train operator!

Then on Sunday it snowed again, for the second weekend running. Some sort of serious incident happened on the back road from Madingley to Cambridge as police closed the road.

You would think you might be able to find a passing reference to these newsy items in the Cambridge News, but our venerable local paper seems to have missed them.