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The Pheasant Re-Opens
After what feels like forever, we are so delighted (and relieved) to announce that the Pheasant is finally back open for business!
It re-opened on Saturday 5th June at 3pm.
 It was a lovely warm afternoon and evening and it was not long before the garden was filling up with villagers, happy to have their pub back under new owners Jenna and Stuart. Excellent food was available from 5pm all presided over by front of house manager, Laura.
Although booking is not essential, it is strongly recommend to avoid disappointment.
The online booking system will be active imminently, but for the first week, please just give The Pheasant a call on 01763 838535.
For more information see the new pub website at
pheasantgc.com
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The windmill has moved again.
from David McKeown
The restoration of the windmill is continuing slowly but we have now agreed with Bill, the millwright, on completion of the contract by the end of June. As part of this, he is building covers over the wheels and gears that turn when the wind blows the tailfan so he let the mill turn to wind on Monday to check the meshing of some of the gears.
The mill has been secured in its new position because the safety covers are not yet completed so it cannot be left to turn automatically yet. We plan very soon to be carrying out the necessary health and safety assessments that will give us the confidence to let the mill ‘do its thing’. Then our mill will be presenting us with a new aspect whenever the wind changes direction.
Then, subject to a favourable risk assessment, we should be able to let the mill follow the wind automatically. Chishill will have the biggest weathervane in the district!
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The Hundred Parishes Society
  The Hundred Parishes Society was launched in 2014 in an attemp to raise awareness of a large area of northwest Essex, northeast Hertfordshire and southern Cambridgeshire that is particularly notable for its exceptional depth of heritage.
The Society is so called to recognise that it contains just over 100 administrative parishes which includes Great and Little Chishill. The website is www.hundredparishes.org.uk
An article is produced each month with news or information of interest to the area. This month, the article is about Walks in this area.. The picture above was taken on Walk 140 at Shalford.
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Walk 125 Hatfield Broad Oak
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Walk 149 Clavering
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Walk 153 CastleCamps
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Saffron Screen
Saffron Screen is your not-for-profit independent community cinema based within Saffron Walden County High School. The professional auditorium boasts a full size screen, 200 cinema seats, Dolby Digital surround sound and both 35mm and digital projection equipment. Ticket and refreshment prices are kept low to benefit all and parking is free.
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Re-opening as from 21st May
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A Autism-friendly screening (No adverts or trailers, Low level lighting throughout the showing, Film sound at a consistently lower volume)
DDementia Friendly screening. (see cinema website for details)
s Subtitled line Sold Out
B Baby friendly - Bring your baby (under 12 months) for a trip to the cinema without worrying about babysitters. There will be changing mats and a comfortable environment for new parents – and a certain amount of noise can be expected!
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For full details see website www.saffronscreen.com
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Saffron Hall
 Saffron Hall is an exciting venture set up in the grounds of Saffron Walden County High School. The vision is to inspire through music and the arts.
Exceptional adjustable acoustics. Ample FREE parking.
See Whats On for more details
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Academy of St Martin in the Fields
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The Academy of St Martin in the Fields has been a byword for brilliance, freshness and effortless finesse for many years.
Mozart’s magnificent Symphony No.39; the climax of a programme that sweeps from Shakespeare’s enchanted isle to the fjords of Norway, calling in Prague and Rome along the way.
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Sun 6th June
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4pm,7pm
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Members Event: Genesis Sixteen
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This event is for Saffron Hall members and Genesis Sixteen Supporters only.
This performance is the culmination of a choral course run by Harry Christophers CBE and Eamonn Dougan as part of Genesis Sixteen. The project is The Sixteen’s free young artists’ scheme for 18-23 year olds, which aims to nurture the next generation of talented ensemble singers.
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Sun 13th June
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4pm
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Cambridge Summer Music Festival presents Mendelssohn's Octet
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Violinist Freya Goldmark will be joined by seven brilliant rising stars of the UK music scene for this special Cambridge Summer Music Festival performance.
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Fri 25th June
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4pm, 8.30pm
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Tenebrae
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This programme celebrates some of the finest choral works from the Renaissance through to the present day, ranging from Allegri’s iconic Miserere mei, Deus to Harris’ spectacular Bring Us, O Lord God.
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Sat 26th June
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5pm, 7.30pm
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Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
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Join the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment for a bold, new take on Baroque’s greatest hits. We ask how did these works travel from relative obscurity to becoming staples of popular culture? What are the six degrees of separation that connect us all with Bach’s Air on the G string?
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Sun 27th June
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4.30pm, 7pm
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SWCHS Event = School performers
www.saffronhall.com Box office 0845 548 7650
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Royston Cinema
The Royston Picture Palace is a community cinema run by the people of Royston and surrounding villages. Although staffed by volunteers, the audience will experience state-of-the-art digital projection onto a 7m screen supported by a 17 speaker digital sound system.
The cinema is located in Royston Town Hall, which has undergone a complete refurbishment in preparation for its new role in the community.
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Nomadland
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12A
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Fri 11th June
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7.30pm
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Ammonite
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15
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Sat 12th
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7.30pm
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Raya and the Last Dragon
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15
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Sun 13th
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2.30pm
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Sound Of Metal
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15
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Fri 18th
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7.30pm
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Six Minutes to Midnight
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12A
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Sat 19th
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7.30pm
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Sun 20th
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2.30pm
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The Dig
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12A
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Fri 25th, Sat 26th
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7.30pm
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Peter Rabbit 2
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U
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Sun 27th
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2.30pm
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Complete Diary available here
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Bin Collections Tuesdays unless otherwise marked
8/06/21: Blue Bin and Green Bin
15/06/21:Black Bin
22/06/21: Blue Bin and Green Bin
29/06/21: Black Bin
Not sure what goes in which bin? Click here to see the SCDC quick guide.
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Thriplow Dump
RE-OPENED but you need to book a slot. cambridgeshire.bookinglive.com or 0345 045 5207. Slots are at 15 mins intervals and only one visit per week allowed!.
Gravel Pit Hill, Thriplow, Cambridgeshire SG8 7HZ
Tel: (01223) 839001
Opening hours:
8am to 5pm Every day including Bank Holidays, 1st April to 30th September
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Fancy a Walk?
Circular Walks from Great Chishill
13.3Km
8.9km
7.4Km
or
4.5Km
or, if you want to go further afield, Essex Walks More than 50 FREE walks to download, details of all the books, maps and walking groups in the county.
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Barley Shop Opening Times
Normal opening hours
Mon to Fri 7am to 7pm
Sat 7am to 2pm
Sun 8am to 2pm
Post Office
Mon 7am to 6pm
Tue 1pm to 6pm
Wed 7am to 5pm
Thu 7am to 1pm
Fri 7am to 6pm
Sat CLOSED
Tel 848288
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Looking for an Architect?
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The Bells of St. Swithuns
St Swithuns, the church in Great Chishill, has 5 bells which have been ringing out for literally hundreds of years - 4 of the bells were made in the middle of the 17th century so are 350 years old!
There have been times when they have been silent - during the war, then for the 25 years leading up to the Millenium when they fell into disrepair, and latterly due to the pandemic.
Now, with lockdown easing, the bells can be rung again, so on Wednesday 19th May the bell ringers started practicing again. Social distancing was maintained, but it was a start to return to 'normality'.
Bell Ringers View of Sunset in the Church
Ringing bells is very much a skill, an enjoyable mental and physical activity, open to everyone, church goer or not. So if you would like to learn to do this old, traditional and very English skill, please feel free to come along to any of the practices on a Wednesday evening.
The bells were made ringable for the millenium but on a limited budget. So the ringers have been raising money ever since the millenium for the renovation of the bells, their ancient fittings and the wooden frame in which they are mounted. The frame was made from recycled timber around 1650! The project will cost somewhere in the region of £80,000 (including VAT which we may get back), but we are hopeful of grants to help along the way.
If you would like to help, or are interested in more information about ringing in Great Chishill, have a look at the bell ringing page.
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The Chalk Pit
Not many people seem to know about the Chalk Pit which is located on the footpath from New Road through to the path leading to the Icknield Way from Heydon Road. Over the last year, Robin Dibblee has worked tirelessly, with the help of some other volunteers, to start to turn this overgrown dump into a village amenity.
Robin writes
Chalk Not Clunch
As Peter Wiseman’s slides record, late Victorian Chishill was desperately poor, with chalky soil and bare of trees, chopped down for fuel. The Chalk Pit was dug in the hope that a valuable building material, Clunch, might save the day. Unfortunately there was only flinty chalk - and the Pit had closed by 1900.
Thereafter, the Pit became a scrap-heap for the village, increasingly infested with an invasive creeper that killed off trees by draining the roots of water and crowding out the leaf cover with dense foliage. New Zealand is eradicating this creeper over the entire South Island.
The Pit Club took up this challenge by removing the scrap, using its value for reduced costs from the skip company. The creeper is piled up, awaiting disposal. The cleared rising ground has been planted with 150 indigenous free trees from a conservation charity. It was necessary to remove further scrap for tree planting, for which it is hoped the Parish Council will pay for costs of disposal.
The Bowl has now been opened up, with the footpath meandering through. Footfall has increased five-fold with people taking short-cuts from Heydon Road to New Road. It is unique in being a wooded environment in what is otherwise bare downland across other village footpaths.
Nick Kiddy the farmer leases this land from County Farms and has to pay rental for no return. He has been a ‘kindly landlord’ to the Pit Club, allowing the environmental improvements which make the Chalk Pit a special place. It is hoped the Scouts will use it for meetings and woodcraft - and maybe even have the Bowl a setting for a Chishill Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Not Fly-Tipping!
  Anyone passing out of the village down New Road on 30th April could be forgiven for thinking that there had been some fly-tipping! However, the pile of rubbish from the chalk pit - mainly old corrugated iron and other metal junk, was put there by a team of volunteers, using 11 wheelbarrows to move the rubbish, mainly collected up by Robin, up to the road ready for same day collection by skip lorry.
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Village Hall Bookings
It is possible to have a look at the Village Hall diary online. Simply click on the picture of the calendar to see it. (the diary will open in its own window).
Please treat this calendar as a guide only as some events may be provisional.
If you would like to make a booking, please email chishillvh@gmail.com
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Test
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Parish Services
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Great Chishill United Reformed Church
There has been a ‘Congregational chapel’ on the site of the present United Reformed Church for over 400 years and we are very much planning for the future.
Great Chishill 'URC' has been going through a season of change with the Minister moving on to pastures new. At the present time there is a Membership of three, but there is optimism about increasing this number. The congregation has been growing in recent years, notably increasing the average service attendance. This has been while trialing different forms and times of services supported by guest preachers. There is an evening service once a month which has proved to be very popular. For‘special’ services at Christmas, Easter, Advent and Remembrance between forty and one hundred people have been welcomed into the chapel.
The chapel fellowship has become an increasingly important part of village life with a variety of events encouraging people to come together – films, Scottish dancing, concerts, silver surfers’ internet café, whist drives and hosting parties for all ages. On a Sunday you are guaranteed a warm welcome, with services held on the first and third Sundays of the month. Whether a morning or evening service the duration will be around 45 minutes with a time of friendship and fellowship afterwards in the schoolroom (usually with splendid refreshments).
The present pattern of services is for a 6pm evening service on the first Sunday of the month and for a 9.30 morning service on the third Sunday of the month.
Services will start again on Sunday 16th May, 9.30am
Read about more than 300 years of 'Non Conformist' worship in Great Chishill
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Defibrillator
 An Automatic Electronic Defibrillator (AED) has been installed on the wall of the sports pavilion facing the car park. In the event of a cardiac arrest, upon calling 999 the caller is given the location of the nearest AED and the code to unlock it. The device gives easy to follow verbal instructions, is safe to use, and will only operate if it is appropriate.
More information about Defibrillators.
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Mobile Library Dates
Heydon Road opposite the bus stop, on the first Wednesday of each month 14:10-14.40
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Melbourn Library Opening Times
Monday 2.30 to 4.30
Tuesday 2.30 to 4.30
Wednesday 2.30 to 4.30
Thursday 5.00 to 7.00
Friday 2.30 to 4.30
Saturday 10.00 to 12.00
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Local History
Chris Allan from Barley sent us a copy of an article about Great Chishill published in 'The East Anglian' in October 1966. It contains interesting old photos including The Plough, Rectory Cottage, the Church Tower and the Windmill. See the whole article here.
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History
 
To find out about the history of our villages read an extract from 'A tale of two villages' by the late Lorna Prior together with the Doomsday Book entry.
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June 2021 Chishills Newsletter now available to view or download
May edition of the Icknield Way Parish Village Web magazine here.