Burwell House
- A giant hello
A big day on March 18th, with the unveiling of Ed, our giant sculpture. Designed by children from Bury Primary School, built by sculptor David Swinton and unveiled by Cllr John Powley on a fabulous day with 100 guests, a giant cake and a comedy moment provided by Alfie the cat.
Named Ed after Edward Ball, local MP and occupant of Burwell House during the 1850s, the sculpture has many references to Burwell House, including fox ears, a clunch scalp, Burwell white brick teeth, leafy eyebrows and a TV aerial on his shed pointing to the TV studio, we are delighted by the big difference he has made to what was a fairly uninspiring part of the garden up until now.
We had great press coverage of the event, and have (to date) been featured in 5 local papers - the Cambridge News, the Cambridge Weekly, the Ely Standard, the Hunts Post and the Burwell Bulletin.
For more pictures of the big day click here
- Perfecting the pond
After slowly getting more and more...er...empty... over the autumn and early winter, we have decided that it's time to reline our pond. Designed originally as a formal (and vertical sided) pond, we have taken the opportunity presented to redesign and landscape the area, to create a far more wildlife friendly pond habitat, with sloping sides (much better for frogs and newts), natural planting and plenty of habitat piles for creatures to hide in.
It's not yet finished (we'll upload photos when we have) but already 3 Mallard ducks have taken up relatively permanent residence.
- Moving on up - 1
After 3 years as Deputy Head of Centre, and 6 months as Acting Head, James Dawkins has now been appointed as permanent Head of Centre as well as Deputy Head of the Cambridgeshire Environmental Education Service (CEES).
- We Tweet
Not often - but if you'd like to follow us - go to Twitter.com and search for Burwell House. We'll try to keep people abreast of what's been going on at the house and of any other nice things we find.
- Fond Farewell
After 4 years as our fab cook, Jackie has moved on to pastures new. We and the hundreds of customers she served will miss her cheery smile and her mean chicken pie.
- Moving on up - 2
After 4 years here working as a kitchen assistant, congratulations to Clare, who has been successfully promoted and is now working as our cook. She makes the best Yorkshire puddings in the kingdom and we're having to upwardly extend our ovens to cope.
- Mandeville - a new look
For many years our Mandeville room (the one with the tuck shop on the side) has felt like rather a spare part. Sort of a spare lounge, sort of an extra space. It didn't really know what it wanted to be. So, over the last few months Gary has been very hard at work making changes. The carpet has gone and has revealed beautiful original floorboards. The room has been decorated too, giving it a much fresher look, and purchase of some new furniture has given the room real purpose - more of a classroom space than a lounge space, but with flexibility to become whatever groups need - a small hall, a dining room, a classroom or an extra lounge. We're delighted with the way it looks, and with some Victorian evidence we uncovered during the work, and the first lucky customers to use it have found it a huge improvement.
- Holiday activities
We plan to have Easter Holiday Activities running on Tuesday 13th April. These will be open to all in Year 3 - 6, and have been locally publicised already. For further details, give us a call on 01638 741256
