Swavesey Meridian Feb/Mar 2006
Hopefully by the time you read this the youth club in the village will be up and running. The inaugural evening was well received and we should soon have a part time youth worker in place, it all takes time but we will get there. Now let us hope that the youth club will be well supported and will start to provide some activities for the teenagers of the village.
You will see from the pages of this issue that there are concerns over the risk of flooding in the village. This is an issue that concerns all of us and if you have an opinion about this please speak to a Parish Councillor. Not only are houses directly at risk of flooding affected but we will all be affected by the “postcode lottery” that some home insurance companies operate whereby if just one property in your post-code area is affected then you are deemed to be a bad risk and will not get insurance for your buildings nor your contents. It could also affect the value and saleability of your house as some lenders may not be willing to give you a mortgage!
Finally it looks as if the guided bus may become a reality- what are your views, let us have your opinion on this. Do you think it will work? What effect is it going to have on traffic through the village? Would you use it?
Deadline for the April/ May issue is 25th February.
Ed.
EDITORIAL
Front Cover:- Pancake Race, a watercolour by Alison Lucas.
Pancakes have been made since very early times and it is known that they were made by the Ancient Romans. Shakespeare mentions them in two of his plays: “All's Well that Ends Well” and also in “As You Like It”.
Shrove Tuesday was the day in which everyone was expected to go to church to confess their sins and be "shriven" ready for the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday. During the period of Lent the devout were expected to practice complete abstinence, including not eating meat, and so housewives, mindful of the waste of perishable foodstuffs if they were not eaten before the Lent fasting commenced, would cook up all the dairy produce and make pancakes - filling and nourishing, to fortify their families for the lean days to come.
The origin of pancake racing
Pancake races are thought to have begun in 1445. A woman had lost track of the time on Shrove Tuesday, and was busy cooking pancakes in her kitchen. Suddenly she heard the church bell ringing to call the faithful to church for confession. The woman raced out of her house and ran all the way to church; still holding her frying pan and wearing her apron. In following years, other women of Olney, not to be outdone by their neighbours, got into the act. Pancake races are still held each year at Olney in Buckinghamshire.