This Parish Council meeting followed the published agenda and the following topics were discussed or reviewed.

• Telephone. The Parish Council has asked BT to provide a public telephone facility in the Village and has emphasised the urgency attendant on this request. Action from BT is awaited.
• Village Plan. A copy of the Plan has now been circulated to every householder and a sub-committee, reporting to the Parish Council and incorporating members of all interested parties, including the Churches, is now formed. As noted in an earlier report, the Parish Council will be responsible for recording the activities of the sub-committee and reporting its activities to the Annual Parish Meeting. Representatives of this sub-committee will make a presentation to the Local Strategic Partnership on November 19th.
• Housing Needs Survey. Documents related to this survey, implemented by the Rural Housing Enabler, are now in circulation. All householders are requested to return the survey documents in due time.
• Footpaths. Clearances continue. This work, organised by the Countryside Access Group, will include various re-surfacing and repair work. Long Lane now has a traffic barrier. The footpath bridges and drainage systems have been surveyed and necessary remedial work is currently being carried out. A new footpath map is being prepared and copies will be displayed on the village notice boards.
• Green Group. The Parish Council has received a letter of thanks for the £100.00 grant.
• Vacancy. A public declaration of the Parish Council vacancy will be made within the next four weeks.
• A14, improvement schemes. The Parish Council monitors the works proposed and is concerned about the possible increase in traffic through the Village. A letter expressing this disquiet has been sent to the authorities/contractors.
• Cambridge University. Possible development between Madingley and Huntingdon Road. This is to be studied by the Parish Council and its comments will be forwarded to the S.C.D.C Planning Office
• Sustainable Parish Energy Partnership. The Parish Council received minutes of the last meeting. Copies can be obtained from Mr. Fane.
• Finance. Disbursements included £258.75 for grass cutting, £149.50 to Moore Stephens (auditor), £574.60 Clerk’s salary, £22.60 for for Footposts and £40.90 for Village Plan literature.

The Community is reminded that Parish Council agenda items should be sent to the Parish Clerk, in writing, at least 14 days prior to the Parish Council meeting and that village organisations are invited to forward short reports on their activities to Council meetings.

The following organisation may be of interest to some members of our community.

VILLAGE BENEFITS ADVICE SERVICE Every year large amounts of social security benefits are unclaimed because many people do not know what they are entitled to, or how to claim, and older people and those with disabilities face particular difficulties. The Village Benefits Advice Service helps people to claim their share of these benefits, by offering advice and assistance. Telephone number 01353 666990 VILLAGE BENEFITS ADVICE SERVICE PO BOX 257 ELY, CAMBRIDGESHIRE, CB7 9EA

 MICROSOFT Microsoft donations to charities. Working with the Charity Technology Trust through their Charity Technology Exchange Service, Microsoft is amongst a number of technology companies that makes software such as Microsoft Office available to the voluntary sector with supporting training. In this area the Papworth Trust and the Varrier –Jones Foundation have received software donations. If you would like to recommend or have more information about this programme, contact:- Paul Morris 0203 139 6279 e’mail paulmor@microsoft.com www.ctxchange.org/about ctx/partners/microsoft

The K6 restoration continues (see phone box category or follow from the original post). Carl has now restored the replacement roof – here’s a photo walkthrough of him fitting it (more about Carl and the restoration business at his website).

Mine's the grey one in the corner - primed and welded.

Moving the box into place.

Higher...

..and higher...

...and higher still...

Carl manouvres the roof into place.

On it goes...

A snug fit!

And here's the view from inside - the cable channel for the ceiling light.

This Parish Council meeting followed the published agenda and the following topics were discussed or reviewed.

Telephone. The B.T. box on Church Green has been removed. The Parish Council has requested B.T. to install a replacement as a matter of urgency.

Public House. The ‘Black Horse’ re-opened in late August.

Village Plan. The Parish Council Chairman has met with members of the steering group to discuss publication and implementation of the Plan and has consulted all members of the Parish Council. A sub-committee, reporting to the Parish Council, incorporating members of all interested parties, including the Churches, is to be formed and the Parish Council will be responsible for recording the activities of the sub-committee and reporting its activities to the Annual Parish Meeting. Representatives of this ‘Village Plan Implementation Sub-Committee’ will liaise with ACRE and make a Presentation to the Local Strategic Partnership in November. The Village Plan is available on paper and on the Village web site.

Housing Needs Survey. A survey, implemented by the Rural Housing Enabler is to proceed during the Autumn months. Parish Council members will discuss details and local implementation with the Enabler, prior to the actual survey.

Finance. Disbursements included £258.75 for grass cutting, £40.81 Allotment Water Rate and £10.00 for ‘bus shelter glasswork cleaning.

Footpaths. Some clearance has been carried out in Butcher’s Lane. This work, organised by the Countryside Access Group, presages various re-surfacing and repair work envisaged for the current year on other footpaths, including Long Lane. The footpath bridges and drainage systems have been surveyed for damage and remedial work will be carried out.

Green Group. A conditional grant of £100.00 was made.

Vacancy. M. Johnston has retired from the Parish Council. A public declaration of vacancy will be made.

Tree Warden. T. Stephenson agreed to act in this capacity.

Future Agenda Items. The Community is reminded that Parish Council agenda items should be sent to the Parish Clerk, in writing, at least 14 days prior to the Parish Council meeting and that village organisations are invited to forward short reports on their activities to Council meetings.

The next Parish Council Meeting will take place in the Village Hall at 8.00pm on Tuesday 15 September

1. Apologies

2. Minutes of last meeting 20 July 2009

3. Matters Arising

• Housing Needs Survey and Village Plan
• Report on Telephone Kiosk Church Green
• Footpaths and clearing of Long Lane

4. Resignation Mrs S Johnston

5. Finance

Bills paid

• Allotment water rate 4.81
• P Rounds grass cutting 258.75
• Over Cleaning Services cleaning bus stop Oakington Road
• Grant to Green Group

6. Correspondence

CCC Emergency Planning Awareness Seminar

SCDC Recycling bin for collection of textiles

• Microsoft software donations for charities
• SCDC CIEH Level 3 Award for health and safety in the workshop
• SCDC Gypsy and Traveller County Strategy
• SCDC Tree Wardens

7. Next Meeting 20 October 2009

by Jennifer Flippance, London 2010 Project Officer

K2 and K6 phone kiosks at Smithfield Market

For the last three years BPMA has been running popular walking tours, which take you into the heart of old GPO London, exploring 400 years of postal history and developments in the iconic street furniture of telephone kiosks and letter boxes.

The full tour lasts around 3 hours but next year, as part of our programme of activities to celebrate the London 2010: Festival of Stamps, we’re developing a ‘highlights’ version that will last around 1.5 hours and finish up at Guildhall Art Gallery. This will give you the opportunity to visit the fascinating exhibition, Empire Mail: George V and the GPO which will contain many significant objects and items of postal history from the reign of George V, when the GPO (General Post Office) was at its height.

Last week, Chris Taft, one of the curators at the BPMA who helped to develop and run the tours, took me out on the route of the new walking tour.

The Central Telegraph Office c. 1935

It takes in the old GPO heartland around St Martin’s Le Grand, once the bustling hub of communication throughout the empire. This incorporates the majestic former GPO headquarters of King Edward Building – opened in 1910, the front of which is still standing today – and the sites of GPO North, the Central Telegraph Office and GPO East, from where crowds gathered each night to witness the spectacle of racing mail coaches leaving London.

Today King Edward Street is overlooked by a statue of Rowland Hill, the social reformer who revolutionised the postal service in 1840, making mail communication within reach of ordinary people for the first time.

Curator Chris Taft, takes a break beside the statue of Rowland Hill, outside King Edward Building

Then travel further back in time to the site where the ‘bishop mark’ the world’s first postmark was struck in 1661. Continue to the area of the City where many coffee houses clustered in the 17^th and 18^th Centuries. Coffee houses were significant in the development of communication because many had the facility for visitors to post letters. Due to the coffee shop owners’ close relationships with ship owners, this was considered a more efficient way of carrying letters overseas than using the Post Office.

A little further on is the site of the office of the Postmaster General. In 1680 this was the only place you could post letters in the country. By 1808 the office was called “the most important spot on the surface of the globe.”

Dates for the new walking tour will be announced later in the year.

The last full-length walking of 2009 takes place on Saturday 26 September (1.00 – 4.00 pm). Click here to find out how to book tickets

21 July 2009, 7.30pm Village Hall

1. Apologies

2. Presentation by Miss Sara Johnston from ACRE on the Village Plan

3. Minutes of the Meeting held on 16 June 2009

4. Matters Arising:

• Housing Needs Survey
• Cycle Path to Madingley and Cambridge
• Cleaning of Callow Brook and overhanging tree Madingley Road
• Black Horse Public House – present status
• Village Plan implementation
• Repair to telephone kiosk Church Green

5. Footpaths

6. Finance – request from the Dry Drayton Green Group for further grant of £100 for future activities

7. Planning Applications – Demolition of garage and erection of new one 9 Pettitts Lane

8. Correspondence – CCC Position Statement Children’s Centres Development in Cambs

9. Date of next meeting 15 September 2009

Anyone walking through the City of London will note weird and wonderful street names such as Cheapside, Poultry and Undershaft, or the more mundane Milk Street, Bread Street and Oat Lane, and get a sense of the Square Mile’s past history as part over-crowded slum, part burgeoning centre of trade. But the history of postal communication can also be seen in the City, with Postman’s Park and Post Office Court being merely the most obvious examples. These and other sites will be explored as part of the BPMA’s programme of GPO London walking tours.

In 1643 the first General Post Office was established in the City, with the site most likely to have been in Cloak Lane, near Dowgate Hill. This came just eight years after Charles I made the Royal Mail available to his subjects, although it was Oliver Cromwell who formally established the Post Office in 1657.

At this time Coffee Houses were considered more reliable mail providers than the newly formalised Post Office. Many Coffee House owners collected letters and made arrangements with ship masters for their delivery overseas. This practice was illegal for it infringed the Post Office monopoly, but the service continued to be popular. It is not coincidental that so many early Post Offices were also established in the City of London.

The site of the Garraways Coffee House (rebuilt 1874) and Lloyds Coffee House (1691-1785) will be visited on the tour, along with the sites of the former GPO Headquarters at Lombard Street and St Martin’s-le-Grand.

Other notable sites visited on the tour are King Edward Building (the former Chief Post Office now occupied by Merrill Lynch), and GPO North. Also in the vicinity was the Central Telegraph Office where Guglielmo Marconi demonstrated wireless telegraphy to William Preece, Engineer to the GPO.

There will also be an opportunity to explore a range of operational GPO street furniture from many eras, including manhole covers, telephone kiosks and letter boxes.

The tours last around 3 hours and are conducted by BPMA Curators. For more information and booking details please see our website.

BPMA Walking Tours, 2009
GPO London – Tuesday 30th June 2009, 1.00-4.00pm
GPO London – Saturday 19th July 2009, 2.00-5.00pm
GPO London – Tuesday 26th September 2009, 1.00-4.00pm

This Saturday our Curators will be throwing open the doors of our Museum Store, where some of the larger items in our collection are housed, and helping people view and explore some of the classic items of street furniture which shape our urban and rural landscape.

Few of us take notice of the humble pillar box at the end of our street, yet it is an essential part of our lives. Such everyday items have a fascinating history and have been through many changes in their history. From the size and design of the aperture, to the colour, shape and internal workings of the box itself, each evolution reflects both changing technologies and changing needs.

A Scottish lamp box bearing the Scottish Crown instead of the EIIR cypher

Lamp boxes were first trialled in 1896 for residents in fashionable London Squares who required a nearby posting facility so their letters written late at night could catch the midnight or early morning collections.

There have also been regional differences in street furniture design. In Scotland Royal Mail street furniture, vehicles and buildings bear the Scottish Crown rather than the cypher of Queen Elizabeth – EIIR. This is due to complaints that Her Majesty is not the second Queen Elizabeth of Scotland, but the first.

Street furniture produced for Royal Mail and the Post Office has often been innovative. A telephone kiosk in the BPMA’s collection includes a stamp vending machine, perhaps a pioneering example of the current trend in technology for convergence.

Other topics to be covered on the day include wall boxes, Stamp Vending Machines, sub-stations, manhole covers, milestones, signage, pouch boxes and PODS. So, if you’ve ever wondered what’s inside a pillar box, why telephone kiosks have sloping floors or how ‘posties’ manage to deliver to so many homes from such a small mail bag, join us at the Museum Store this Saturday.

The GPO Street Furniture Discover Session will take place at the BPMA’s Museum Store on Saturday 20th June from 11am-3pm. For further information, and to book, please see our website. A Discover Session on Square Pillar Boxes will take place on Saturday 19 September.

The Annual Parish Meeting will take place at 7.30 pm in the Village Hall on 16th June 2009

1. Apologies

2. Presentation by Miss Shilton, Rural Housing Enabler, Cambridgeshire ACRE on a possible Housing Needs Survey.

3. Minutes of the Meeting 16/5/2009

4. Appointment of Officers and Representatives for the year

• Chairman
• Vice Chairman
• Treasurer
• Independent Auditor
• Tree Warden
• Footpath Officer
• Representatives, Village Hall Committee and School and Village Association

5. Matters arising from the minutes

• Cycle path Madingley/Cambridge
• Cleaning of Callow Brook
• Overhanging Tree, Madingley Road
• Repair to telephone kiosk Church Green
• Black Horse Public House
• Village Plan
• Dry Drayton web site
• Parish Forum Meeting

6. Finance
To pay CALC Affil Fee £187.17
H.Russell Internal Auditor £50.00
P.Church Council grant, churchyard and clock £350.00
P.Round grasscutting £258.75
Receipts CCCouncil footpath grant £250

7. Next meeting 21 July 2009

Yes it happened a few days back a group of Californian Students got into a Telepone Kiosk one piled on top of the other and they all fit in.
Californian Telephone Boxes must be the same size as or much the same size as every where else I reckon. On top of that they the beat the last known Record of the 1970´s.

The structure of the BPMA often causes confusion. At present the BPMA is split between two locations, Freeling House and the Museum Store. Freeling House (part of the Mount Pleasant Mail Centre complex in Central London) is where we house our publically-accessible Archive Collection and have a small Exhibition space. The Museum Store, in Debden, Essex, is where our Museum Collection is kept.

Each year there are a number of opportunities to visit the Museum Store and view the objects kept there. These include vehicles, sorting desks and machinery, an assortment of letter boxes and telephone kiosks, and even Sir Rowland Hill’s desk.

BPMA Curators will take you around the Store, telling the stories behind some of the objects. If you’re a vehicles enthusiast, interested in the development of the pillar box or just curious, we’d welcome your visit.

Museum Store Opening Times, 2009
Open Afternoon – Wednesday 1st April, 2.00-4.00pm
Open Afternoon – Wednesday 6th May, 2.00-4.00pm
Open Evening – Monday 1st June, 6.00-9.00pm
Open Afternoon – Wednesday 3rd June, 2.00-4.00pm
Open Afternoon – Wednesday 1st July, 2.00-4.00pm
Open Evening – Monday 6th July, 6.00-9.00pm
Open Afternoon – Wednesday 5th August, 2.00-4.00pm
Open Afternoon – Wednesday 2nd September, 2.00-4.00pm
Open Evening – Monday 7th September, 6.00-9.00pm
Open Afternoon – Wednesday 7th October, 2.00-4.00pm
Open Afternoon – Wednesday 4th November, 2.00-4.00pm

Special Events at the Museum Store, 2009
Family Open Day – Saturday 13th June, 10.00am-5.00pm
Discover Session: GPO Street Furniture – Saturday 20th June, 11.00am-3.00pm
Discover Session: Square Pillar Boxes – Saturday 19th September, 11.00am-3.00pm

Group bookings are welcome.

For more information on the Museum Store and directions, please click here.

A typical public telephone booth in central Madrid.

The 20th Century Society has produced these quirky tea towels featuring the K8 telephone kiosk.

The kiosk 8, or K8, was designed by Bruce Martin and first appeared in 1968 as a modern version of the classic K6 red phone box. Its modular style marked a radical change from the previous design and reflected the mood of the 60s.

Of the 12,000 produced only 12 are known to have survived – the Society has launched a search to hunt down any other remaining examples of this classic piece of industrial design.

The tea towels are designed by People Will Always Need Plates who have previously designed ceramics for the V&A and De La Warr Pavilion. The company’s design philosophy is based on creating witty, thoughtful and stylish products as an antithesis to the current proliferation of cheap, throwaway design.

They are priced at £12 including p&p for a pack of two (one each of red and blue), together with a brief history of the phone box written by Gavin Stamp. Proceeds from the sale of the tea towels will be used to support the Society’s campaigns to preserve the best of twentieth century architecture.

Further links

History of the red phone box

Interview with Bruce Martin in Architects Journal