Missing parrot

I was wondering if you could help. You did a story in 2014, I believe, when my parents' (Cedric Tunnell) parrot went missing and they got him back safely.

He has taken flight three times now (mostly dad walking outside and forgetting the parrot is on his shoulder) and they have been lucky enough to get him back each time.

But now he has flown again for the fourth time, same circumstances, and we are offering a reward leading to his return.

My parents are becoming increasingly worried as their African Grey parrot, Chazzie, has been missing in the Littleport area since Tuesday May 18.

He is very friendly and tame and may answer to a whistle.

Please can people keep an eye out for him, especially in gardens, trees, hedges, sheds and outbuildings?

We are so very worried now and desperate to get him home especially in recent weather conditions.

PAULA LAW


Have your say about future of Soham

Soham and Barway Neighbourhood Plan covers the parish of Soham.

The parish includes the hamlet of Barway and we feel it is important to recognise that the residents of Barway are just as important as those of Soham.

The Neighbourhood Plan was put in place by the government, in order to allow local people to have a real say in the way in which their neighbourhood (town, village, hamlet) develops over the next 30 or so years.

The rules for making a neighbourhood plan are quite specific and mean that the group steering the making of the plan must consist of not only local councillors but also members of the public.

The residents of the designated area (in our case the parish of Soham) have to be shown to have been consulted in a number of diverse ways so that as many different people as possible can have their say.

You may be aware that, pre-Covid, we carried out a paper survey of all the households in Soham and followed it up with a public forum held in the Pavilion to present the results and explain more about the Neighbourhood Plan.

Since then, lockdowns have intervened but we are now getting back on track with the next stage of seeking people’s ideas.

At present, there is an online survey for businesses to complete.

This can be found via our Facebook page Soham Neighbourhood Plan.

We urge all business owners/managers to fill this in so that we can better understand their needs for the future.

Our next consultation is about the green spaces in the parish including the commons.

This document can now be found also on our facebook page.

If you know of anyone who would like a paper copy because they cannot access it online, please ring 07863425244 and we can arrange to have a copy provided for completion.

In the near future, we are going to put together consultations about traffic and transport, local facilities (including sports and leisure), heritage and conservation (of land and buildings), and the built environment (which covers what developers do when they build a new estate).

We urge you to fill in these consultation forms as soon as you are aware of them.

Your ideas are important. If you have comments to make you do not have to wait for these consultations but you can have your say on our Facebook page or on the phone.

Once we have collected all the ideas from residents, we will distil them into a document.

We must take care that none of what we propose goes against the ECDC Local Plan. i.e. if the Local Plan specifies that Soham must build 1000 houses, then the Neighbourhood Plan cannot reduce this number.

It can however, influence how the houses look and what local facilities may need to be considered to support them.

It can also identify areas on which development cannot take place but a valid reason has to be provided.

The Neighbourhood Plan will first have to be approved by East Cambs District Council to ensure that what we are proposing is legal and not in conflict with their Local Plan.

Once it is approved the Neighbourhood Plan goes to a referendum in the parish.

If it succeeds, then our Neighbourhood Plan becomes part of planning law.

So this is YOUR OPPORTUNITY to have your say about what happens in Soham Parish in the future.

What sort of legacy we will be leaving our children and grandchildren in Soham?

ROSEMARY AITCHISON, Soham


Ely Lifelong Learners

We at Ely Lifelong Learners are delighted that Russian born lecturer, Marina Burrell, is to present a day school on The Life and Music of Rachmaninov.

Marina will ask "Why is his music so popular in the West?"

We will explore the magic of the four "weeping" notes and the mysteries behind "The White Lilac" and the composer's silence.

The date: Monday June 28. Venue: The Countess of Huntingdon church, Chapel Street. Cost: £30

Time: 10:30am to 3:30pm Coffee will be provided but bring own lunch.

For further information and to book contact: Anne at awarham575@btinternet.com or 01353 662712

ANNE WARHAM, Ely Lifelong Learners secretary


Inner Wheel meeting

The Inner Wheel Club of Ely held their International fundraising meeting in aid of Smile Train and once again unfortunately had to be conducted on Zoom.

Jonathon Roberts spoke about the charity which provides corrective surgery for children with cleft lips and palates.

A small surgery taking 45 minutes can transform a child’s life.

One and a half million cleft surgeries have been performed since the founding of the charity in 1999.

After the talk, members played bingo and guess the weight of the cake made by our vice president, Julia Smith.

Some members of Rotary joined us for the meeting and a collection of £570.00 was raised.

DIANA GOLDSTEIN


Thank you

I wanted to get in touch to say thank you for the positive editorial you gave me recently in the Ely Standard.

If you are able to share my public thanks in the paper when you have the opportunity that would be very much appreciated.

Opening the new Slimming World group has really given a boost to the health and wellbeing of the local community and a welcome financial boost to the Glebe Hall in Sutton.

CAROLINE BADCOCK, Slimming World consultant


Amnesty in lockdown


Like many other local groups that rely on fundraising activities, we have struggled over the last year to come up with anything newsworthy.

We have kept the group going with monthly Zoom meetings and have actually increased our membership with some new, keen, younger, people, but that in itself is not going to set East Anglia alight.

Tragically, the pandemic has meant that regimes around the world have been able to increase human rights abuses.

Some of these include:

* a Belarus president able to ground a ‘plane to remove a dissident

* an Iranian court able to give Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe yet another prison sentence for attending a peaceful protest years ago

* a car wash in the Fens discovered to be operating with slave labour

* an increase in child marriage in Bangladesh as poverty bite and parents literally sell off their girl children

* the genocide being practised by China against the Uighurs

Organisations like Amnesty, Human Rights Watch and Freedom from Torture are needed more than ever.

Yet they are all funded by donations and contributions from fundraisers like us, so they remain independent of governments.

BARBARA GRAFTON, Amnesty Ely City