The money currently available for this project will cover only the main refurbishment work, and so the Town Council still needs to raise funds to ‘kit out’ the inside of the building. A steering group will be formed shortly to consider ways of raising this additional money. Part of its remit will be to investigate the future requirements of the building, together with its longterm management and sustainability.

If you are interested in becoming a member of this group please contact the Town Clerk, Alison Melnyczuk, on 01480 388932

Your St Ives Town Initiative Summer Festival committee have already started planning events for this year.

Saturday July 12th A special concert by theChamber Orchestra of St Ives will be held in the Free Church. We hope this ‘prom’ oncert will include the Rodrigo guitar concerto with a guest soloist. More details later…

Then together with St Ives Rowing Club we are planning our annual Riverside Gala. Saturday 19th July will be the St Ives Regatta, with invited crews from our region.

Sunday 20th July will be a day of Dragon Boat Racing, making this one of the most exciting weekends on the river. Both days will include children’s entertainment, music, beer tent, food stalls and craft stalls. Look out for more details in our next issue of Suggestives

Let’s keep our fingers crossed for good weather!

On Remembrance Sunday, 11 November 2007,the people of St. Ives paid their respects for the dead of the two World Wars, and for those who have died in service to the Crown since the end of the conflicts in 1945.

The weather was mild and dry and, as can be seen, this brought out a large crowd. The parade was led by the Royal British Legion St Ives Branch, and the Town Council, and also participating were many of the town's other organisations including many of the youth groups. In all 39 wreaths were laid.

Our parade was, of course, part of the national commemoration for Remembrance Sunday. The event was very successful due to the many organisations that participated, and all those people who gave up their time to assist including the musicians -- and especially the young trumpeter who played The Last Post and The Reveille.

The Parade marked the end of the end of the Poppy Appeal and so I should like to record my thanks to all the volunteers who helped with the collection, which takes place not only in the town but also in a number of villages in our area. I am also very grateful for the generosity of all those who contributed to the appeal. The grand total collected to date stands at £12,600 which is an increase on the previous year's collection.

As Branch Chairman I should like to record my thanks to all those who made both the parade and the appeal such a success.

Eric Brocklebank, Branch Chairman, Royal British Legion

There can surely be few people who do not know that a new town – Northstowe -- is to be built adjacent to Longstanton and Oakington. It is expected that its residents will be regular users of the guided bus system currently undergoing construction in the surrounding areas.

South Cambridgeshire District Council based at Cambourne received planning applications in December 2007 from the joint promoters, English Partnerships and Gallagher, in respect of approximately 9,500 homes, together with schools, employment areas and a town centre. It is envisaged that up to 24,000 people will inhabit Northstowe, and that outline planning permission for the town will be received by the end of this year.

Everyone now has the chance to view the plans and make their comments. St. Ives Library has a copy, or you can view them at South Cambridgeshire District Council offices at Cambourne, or online at www.scambs.gov.uk (the download file is very large and it is recommended not to use a dial-up connection to view them).

Now is the time for all comments or objections to be made to South Cambridgeshire District Council. You have until approximately the end of March 2008 to have your voice heard.

Although sticky underfoot, the Festival was a huge success, with over 28,000 people flocking to the event, and the town, from all over the country. Sid had been hugely influential in bringing the Festival to St Ives in the first place. He was Chairman of the IWA organising committee and put in an enormous amount of work over many months leading up to the Festival. Deeds as significant as these deserve recognition, and so for those who don’t know Sid, we are pleased to offer some background on this issue’s unsung hero.

Sid was born in Limes Park, London Road, St Ives, and educated locally, at the boys school in North Road, and then at St Ivo. After a very successful career as a local builder and demolition contractor, Sid was recommended to slow down for health reasons, and he concentrated on running a small tool hire company, working from premises in Old Ramsey Road. He is married to Christine, and they have three children, and nine grandchildren. That’s enough to keep anyone busy, but Sid has still found time to be involved in promoting his home town.

He joined St Ives & District Chamber of Commerce in 1967, and became President from 1980-82. The Chamber was the forerunner of today's St Ives Town Initiative, and also the instigator of the town's Christmas Lights Committee. For nine years Sid not only chaired this committee but was also the maker, with a group of volunteers, of many of the display fittings used in the lighting scheme.

Sid has enjoyed a lifelong interest in boats and boating. He was on of the first local boys to join St Ives Sea Scouts, and in 1984 he became a committee member of the Great Ouse Boating Association, becoming Chairman in 1998, and is currently Secretary. Although officially retired Sid still offers his time as an advisor and consultant to the Environment Agency and GOBA, and also keeps himself busy at sea. As skipper, he delivers boats, mostly barges from Holland, and pilots boats for one of the biggest marine insurance companies in this country. In his (occasional) spare time he can be glimpsed on his own water,our river Great Ouse, in his 31-foot cruiser. Give him a wave!

The SITI website was written, hosted and maintained by Datamend and they are hoping that the latest addition of the members’ forum will be an asset to all members as will the recent direct link to their own websites and on-line access to their membership details. They also supply SITI with ADSL (broadband) and email services.

Datamend will continue sponsoring SITI as they feel that they provide an important role within our lovely town and would encourage businesses and individuals to consider taking up membership.

Datamend can be found at 5 Royce Court, Burrel Road, St Ives, Cambridgeshire, PE27 3NE

Visit www.datamend.co.uk to see the services they offer.

The Street Ranger scheme was launched across the district in May 2007 by Huntingdonshire District Council. It was heralded as “the eyes and ears of the community, to help improve the quality of life, provide a sense of security and to help keep the streets, car parks and open spaces clean, tidy and well maintained.” Since then your Street Rangers have dealt with 43 incidents within the town, and a further 34 in the surrounding villages.

Between them Jan and Michael cover the area between 7am and 6 pm Monday to Saturday and will be only too happy to help you. Next time you see one of them stop and talk -- they may just have the answer to the problem you have been puzzling over.

If you can’t wait until you see them please ring 388388 and someone will pass on your message. Who can you call? Street Rangers!

Welcome to new member Total Computing Systems Ltd, who are the third member operating from a business park. Jon Hunt, Director, said ‘Our move from Wyton to larger premises in St Ives has been very good for business. We enjoy being near such an attractive Town as St Ives and look forward to taking part in SITI events – we may even manage to get a Dragon Boat Team together for the July River Festival !’

Don’t forgot to visit the SITI web site www.goingtostives.info and look for the List of members (from Membership on home page), together with Phone/Web details.

Farewell to Peter Irving, market stall holder and SITI member, who told us: ‘At Christmas I decided to give up my secondhand bookstall on the Friday and Bank Holiday markets. After a period of twelve years I felt that it was time to stop - the boxes of books don’t get any lighter! I'm pleased to say that the bookstall has been most successful and trading in St Ives nothing but a pleasure. I shall miss the Friday market and its customers very much. I wish the traders of St Ives every success in the future’.

We will miss Peter as a member and trader – we wish him all the best in the future.