Love your Defib

Barnack and Pilsgate residents are invited to attend a training session by the Community Heartbeat Trust, to demonstrate the use of the defibrillator units provided to the village.
We have three public units: Main St, Barnack and Pudding Bag Lane, Pilsgate (both in the red re-purposed phone boxes) and Barnack Village Hall. There is also a fourth unit at The Acres community hall.
The defibrillators are designed for anyone to be able to use, but being familiar with the use in advance could certainly save precious time. The training session will also cover how to spot Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) and Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR). Tea and coffee provided. Barnack Village Hall, Tuesday 23 April 7pm.

Chair Yoga bainton

A chair yoga session is going to start in the Reading Room, Bainton with Marleni from 8th May, 2025 weekly from 11.00-11.45a.m.
If you would like to join in please come along or for further details please contact me on 01780 740269. Thank you, Sheila Bratley

Another Op’nin’, another Show

The Stamford Concert Singers at St John the Baptist’s Church, Barnack PE9 3DN – a variety of Spring, Easter, and Show numbers.
Saturday 5 April 7 pm £10 tickets from Revd Gary: gary.aldersonwrites@gmail.com
The Programme:
Another Op’nin’, Another Show
Ah,May the Red Rose Live Alway
He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
Sorcerer Duet
The Land of Might-Have-Been
Rose of England
Somewhere
Duet
Speed Your Journey
Bird Catcher’s Song
Letter Duet
Summertime
Easter Hymn ( O Rejoice….)
Guys and Dolls
Piano Duet (The Leap Year Waltz)
We’ll Gather Lilacs
Duet
Ave Maria
And this is my Beloved
The Impossible Dream
Show Boat

Messy Church in April

The next Messy Church in Barnack Church will be on Good Friday, which is April 18th, at 10am. We very much hope to see as many “Messy Church families” there as possible. Newcomers are also extremely welcome.
As there will not be a Messy Church on the second Sunday afternoon of April, the next afternoon Messy Church will be at 3.30pm on May 11th.
As usual, please contact Mike Mills or Carol Summers if you would like more information

The Arts Society Peterborough

Monthly talk is at The Fleet,
Community Centre, PE2 4 DL
10th April 2025
‘Not just Smoke and Mirrors :
The Magical Art of Camouflage in Warfare’ By Nicholas Reed
Nicholas is an art historian and archaeologist. His talk today covers how camouflaging of ships in wartime was invented in WW1 by the artist Norman Wilkinson, and perfected in the Royal Academy Schools.But it was a professional conjuror who accomplished astonishing things against Rommel in Africa. The talk reveals the answer!
Doors open at 10-15am for coffee and a chat, the talk starts at 10-45am and lasts an hour, all are welcome, so why not come and join us? Parking free.
For more information and details of how to join the society, visit: www.the-arts-society-peterborough.org.uk

The Monday Club

For our March meeting one of the Sue Ryder Hospice volunteers, who is also a Community Fundraiser for the Charity, came to give us a short talk on the hospice – both in terms of its financial pressures which grow every year as the proportion of the funding from the government decreases, given the rise in the cost of care for this sector.
The hospice has 20 beds and we were interested to learn that they are not always at capacity. It is possible to have a look round the hospice which, as Barnack WI, we did ten years ago before the newly built hospice reopened. There are opportunities for volunteering and of course there is a charity shop which has some really good items. We took a collection for Sue Ryder and were very pleased to give our speaker £125 for the charity.
Members are reminded that, because the third Monday in April is Easter Monday, we are meeting one week early on the 14th. Beryl Burrows is planning something crafty again for us (thankfully Beryl is very patient!) and also Annual Subs will be due at the same time. BK

COFFEE STOP BARNACK

A warm welcome awaits you on Wednesday mornings at the weekly gathering of ‘Coffee Stop’.
This is held in the Millstone Pub from 10.30 to 12 noon.
This provides an opportunity to catch up with friends – and make new ones if you are a newcomer to the village.
It’s also good to know that we are supporting our local pub.
Carol (740438)

The Buttercross Club

Chris Harrison-Smith, resident of Bainton, gave us a very interesting talk, illustrated on screen by photographs he and his wife Anne had taken, about their cruise in early June last year which coincided with the eightieth anniversary of D-Day.
The visit started in Tilbury and their first port of call was Portsmouth. We were shown a photograph of the impressive Spinnaker Tower which Chris and Anne visited. He said that the view from it was wonderful. Portsmouth was where much of the D-Day planning took place. Their visit there began on board ship from where they viewed a fly past by the Red Arrows. The weather was beautiful and the aeroplanes flew over the top of the ship. That evening, from aboard their cruise ship, they watched a drone light show which formed a spitfire, a soldier and the words ‘I remember’ in the night sky. The next day they sailed across the channel and docked off the coast of France. There was a very moving D Day Commemoration Service on board.
The ship’s arrival coincided with a strike by French dockers so it was unable to dock in Le Havre as planned and had to go elsewhere. They were able to visit Pegasus Bridge on the Canal de Caen. During World War Two the allies needed to capture and hold the bridge for strategic reasons which is why troops arrived in large gliders each holding about thirty men. One of the gliders landed in the pitch dark sixty yards from the bridge and held it until reinforcements arrived.
The cruise passengers then visited Sword Beach, a name thought up by the allies. It was there that many of the British Forces arrived having struggled to get to the shore. There were over 1,000 casualties which sadly included at least 350 killed. The cruise ship passengers were shown the pontoon dock and Mulberry Harbour which were needed to aid delivery of supplies. The visit to the site of battles in World War Two gave Chris and Anne an insight into the awfulness of war and its consequences. They were thankful that the rest of their cruise was a gentler experience with pleasant days visiting places such as Guernsey, the Isles of Scilly, the Abbey Gardens in Tresco and Cobh in Southern Ireland. One highlight Chris picked out was the visit to Danny’s Bar in Ireland where he drank Guinness to Danny’s guitar music!
They visited the Inner and Outer Hebrides and spent hours on deck looking at the Scottish mountains. They were blessed with good weather and even Cape Wrath in Sutherland was calm. They went to Orkney and saw the Italian Chapel in Kirkwall which had been built by Italian prisoners of war. They visited St. Magnus Cathedral, Great Britain’s most northerly cathedral, called in at Aberdeen and admired their granite buildings, especially those around the university. They also admired the fishermen’s cottages. On the ship they could take advantage of the activities provided such as lectures and games. They also enjoyed good food and lovely cocktails.
It was clearly a very special holiday. After their arrival home they paid a visit to Stowe Gardens where numerous life-sized silhouettes of both soldiers and members of the Resistance Movement, mostly with their heads bowed, were a reminder of D Day.
Diary Dates: Our next meeting of the Buttercross Club will be on Wednesday, 2nd April, when the speaker, Clair Wordsworth, will give a talk on the Ivy Benson Band.

Review of Peterborough Local Plan

The draft Local Plan is due to be presented to Peterborough City Council’s Cabinet on Thursday 20 March 2025. If the plan is approved by Cabinet, the public consultation will take place from 11th April 2025. You will be able to find out more about the draft Local Plan consultation from: Local Plan Review | Peterborough City Council. The following are points of most relevance to the villages covered by the Parish News.
The time-span of the new Local Plan
Peterborough’s new Local Plan will cover the years 2024 to 2044. The statutory minimum lifetime of a local plan is 15 years from the date of adoption. Longer is required if the Plan includes new settlements or large additions to villages
A new housing target for Peterborough
The new minimum target is 20,120 new dwellings in 20 years, an average of 1,006 per year. Local Housing Need is assessed using a standard methodology.
Settlement Hierarchy
The hierarchy is retained in Policy LP1. This means that most growth will be in and adjacent to urban areas. Barnack and Helpston are classified as ‘Medium Villages’; the others in our area are ‘Small Villages’. The existence of village building envelopes is acknowledged.
Housing allocation for Peterborough
Policy LP2 in the draft new Local Plan allows for 22,180 new dwellings for the whole of Peterborough. The allocation is Urban 19%; Urban Extensions 50%; New Settlements 13%; Villages 6%;‘Windfall sites 11%.
Housing allocations for our villages
Policy LP57 (Medium Village Allocations) allocates a single site for 91 dwellings in Barnack: Land to the north of the Bainton Road B1443 (i.e. the field abutting Sissons Close). Helpston is allocated 207 houses. Bainton’s allocation is 18, but no allocations are made for the other Small Villages (Ashton, Pilsgate, Southorpe, Ufford).
New settlements in the countryside
Policies LP53, LP54 and LP55 detail two large new settlements in the countryside. One is at Deeping Gate (1,055 dwellings), the other is north of Castor and Ailsworth (3,000 dwellings + 1,800 more after consideration but these are not included in the draft Local Plan.
Peterborough Local Plan and Barnack Neighbourhood Plan
Part A of the draft new Local Plan states Neighbourhood plans must work alongside a local plan and not conflict with ‘strategic policies’ in the local plan, such as minimum housing targets. The proposed new housing estate lies outside Barnack Village’s building envelope. This, together with the large size of the proposed development, brings Barnack’s Neighbourhood Plan into conflict with the draft Local Plan.
The draft Local Plan will be an agenda item at the April meeting of Barnack Parish Council (date not yet fixed). As always, members of the public are welcome to attend.
Margaret Palmer
Vice-chair Barnack Parish Council

Irish Night – Nana Irene Stole the Show!

Thanks to all of you who came to Irish Night and supported another BCA fundraiser. Fun night with great music from Irish folk band Pennyless.
Highlight of the evening was 86 year old Nana Irene, who came with her daughter and grand-daughter, from Little Northfields and didn’t want to leave and drank all the Baby Guinness!
We raised over £600 profit for the continual maintenance and upkeep of the Village Hall.
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO SUPPORTS THE BCA & OUR BEAUTIFUL VILLAGE HALL

Flippin’ Brilliant!

Pancake Day at Barnack Village Hall
Just wanted to say a big thank you to Plants Eggs of Bainton, for donating all the eggs for the pancakes served on Tuesday 4th March. We made over 150 pancakes and served to a continual queue of families from Barnack School, Preschool and the village from 4.00 until 5.30pm.
This event is put on, every year, by Barnack Church and I know everyone very much appreciates the generous donation of all the pancake ingredients, toppings and teas/coffees. Thanks to the dream team of helpers: Carol Pickering, Carol Summers, Marie Dove, Sally Longden as well as pancake chefs: Ruth Beaver and Sally Hullock of the BCA