Comet Neowise, also known as Comet C/2020 F3 is viewable in the northern skies. The comet will be closest to Earth on July 23, passing some 64 million miles (103 million km) from our planet.

Continue reading “Comet Neowise” →

As the nearby McDonald’s reopened after being closed due to the lockdown so did the increase of rubbish close to the restaurant. Continue reading “Rubbish build up at Eye Green Nature Reserve” →

Here’s your list of 2019 Christmas events around the area:

Continue reading “2019 Christmas events – in the village and around the area” →

Eye post office has now permanently closed. In recent years the village has also lost both its independent bakery and butchers. It will probably be the elderly and residents without transport that are affected the most. There has been a post office on this location for over 40 years and this is the first time I’ve known the village to be without one*. The current owners have been running the post office for around 25 years and although they have tried to sell the property as an ongoing business this hasn’t been successful. As reported in the Evening Telegraph “store turnover has fallen from £204,750 a year in 2016 to £187,781 a year since the arrival of a Co-op across the road, while Post Office income has dropped from £38,873 to £20,533 over the same period”. Many services are now online such as car tax and it has taken its toll on the rural post office. Plans have now been submitted to convert the building into a fully residential property. Continue reading “Eye post office closure” →

The result for the Peterborough:

Turnout: 72.4%

By Ward

Do you ever groan because you get stuck in a queue behind a tractor when you are in a rush? Are you worried that wildlife is disappearing from farmland, such as the skylarks you heard as a child?

We can all be affected by the above and it’s easy to blame farmers, especially with harvest approaching, when many farm vehicles will be out on the road, but do you ever stop and think what they are doing? Do you know some of your local farmers are producing the potatoes for your chips, sugar for your tea and coffee and mustard for your family roasts, to name just a few items?

Do you know that these same farmers are also hard at work with the RSPB helping to give nature a home on their land? It is due to this network of farmers, working across the Thorney Farmland Bird Friendly Zone (between Peterborough and Wisbech), that not only are there more habitats for declining farmland birds like lapwings and corn buntings but also for many other farmland species including hares, hoverflies and water voles.

Thanks to these farmers’ work and support, the RSPB is now able to offer opportunities for all ages and abilities to come and discover how farmers are helping wildlife on their farms. We’ll be arranging a number of visits to both local villages and the farms themselves for you to find out more between September 2013 and January 2014, including opportunities to come on a nature walk or have a go at creating a home for wildlife yourself.

So, go on spread the word and look out for posters appearing in and around the Thorney district with news of events. To express an interest and to find out more call the Fens Area Office on 01954 233260, or email Jane.Andrews-Gauvain@rspb.org.uk

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The last section of the new £80 million Peterborough to Spalding road opens.

After delays caused by slippage on the embankment the final part of the A16 from Dogsthorpe to Crowland has opened. You can read more on the reasons for the delay below. We’re just glad it eventually got there.

Youtube video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQg63ecj_7Q&feature=feedu

Traffic could be reduced around Eye this October as the new £80 million Peterborough to Spalding road opens this October.

The road from Crowland to Spalding opened in August 2010 but due to ‘slippage’ on the embankment and road close the Car Dyke Bridge, the section from Crowland to Dogsthorpe remained closed while work was done to correct the damage. The bridge cost around £3 million and the repairs around £5million so its been an expensive little project.

More on the Evening Telegraph site here.

The road above is the one children will have to walk or cycle along now the transport has been cut. The council has said that improvements to the roundabout have meant it is now safe for children from Eye to walk to Deacons. The crossing is one thing but the road has a very high volume of traffic including articulated lorries and only a narrow path on Eye Road between Eye and Welland. Have these council staff who made this decision ever walked the route? This decision will put children’s lives at risk. Its dangerous enough for adults, without children having to walk along it and even worse in bad weather or on dark winter evenings.

Traditionally children from Eye went to Arthur Mellows Village College in Glinton. The background to this whole sorry saga started when catchment areas were redrawn in 2006 ahead of the Deacons Acadamy opening in 2007. It seems some parents were made to send their children to the brand new Deacons Academy but the school ended up with too many pupils wanting to go there so the catchment area was changed back to Arthur Mellows.

As one student commented on the story “we didn’t pick the school we got made to go there because the council changed the catchment area. And in return the promised us free transport until year 11. Is not, in fact, the distance it’s the fact that they broke the promise. And before anyone says shouldn’t have picked the school we didn’t, our right to pick a school got taken.”

And from a parent: “As a parent, I didn’t originally didn’t want my send my child to Deacons Academy. But at the time I was told I had no choice in the matter as Arthur Mellows had too many pupils. To be told a few years down the line that free transport is going to be removed because the council has changed its mind is a disgrace and I will be doing everything I have to get it re-instated. Maybe if the City Council had listened to parents in the first place rather than just rail-road changes through this could have been avoided. “

There was a story about it in the Evening Telegraph in 2006, click here.

On top of this, the three-mile limit is around half-way through the village so pupils that live on the opposite side of the village will still get transport while others will have to walk while the bus passes them on the main road. In fact, the stop that children catch the bus from is around 2.9 miles from Deacons.

The question is will the council be held accountable if a child is injured or worse walking or cycling to school?

More on the story on the Evening Telegraph website here.

UPDATE: The council have u-turned their decision to remove free transport. More here.