Auction closes soon!

Don’t miss out on bidding in the PACT/Norfolk Street Summer Event charity auction! There are 20 lots including swimming passes, massages, snooker memberships, motorcycle training, a gallon of ale and much more! For details of the lots and rules, see the previous post. To bid, email your name, bid and lot number to auction@pactcambridge.org

You can also bid in person at our AGM at the Squeaky Gate on Norfolk Street at 7.30pm on Tuesday 9 July – we hope to see you there. Good luck bidding!

Round up of the Summer Event 2013

On Saturday 22 June, Petersfield Area Community Trust held our annual PACT/Norfolk Street Summer Event. For the second year, Norfolk Street was closed to traffic for what is a growing celebration and showcase of the Petersfield area. See our gallery below for a taste of what the day offered – also see photos of our carnival parade workshops. The charity auction is still open until 9 July – so get bidding!

The day saw dance, sports, art, music, international food, and ended with a colourful and noisy carnival parade. Holding out against some early showers and gusts, the day started with a bang – well, quite a few bangs – from the vibrant Chinese lion dance!

Coton Morris Men livened things up:

The sun soon shone out, and Fruity Clavé samba band got us ready for our carnival parade with a performance and workshop:

For our 140-character takes on the event and its run-up, see the Twitter hashtag #pactsummerevent

Cambridge News’ Adam Luke gave online coverage of the event, and Cambridge 105’s Ceri-Ann Littlechild (also the Mill Road Co-ordinator) visited and reported for their Summer in the City programme (podcast, listen from 29:50-33:05 for an interview with PACT’s chair and event coordinator Anna and 43:25-49:10 for an interview with the Eco-Salon).

Mick Brown made a video montage of the day to the soundtrack of the Coton Morris Men:

Special thanks go to:
* FLACK’s volunteers for making our beautiful signposts
* Janek Dziewulski for his continued support, helping apply for funding, sorting PACT computers, and more.
* Jill Fordham for coordinating our artistsPoster for PACT/Norfolk Street Summer Event 2013 by  Lily Bracey
* Lily Bracey for designing our winning Summer Event poster this year (see right)
* Matt Hodgkinson for being responsible for PACT’s social media presence, and other unsung jobs
* Nick Ellis for our fabulous event Map
* Philly Owles for being a superb Treasurer, steward of PACT Summer Event’s finances (and PACT in general), and for marshalling set-up and loaning us the use of her garage for temporary storage
* Siâna Chalkley-Robinson for galvanising our awesome group of stewards
* Simone Chalkley for organising the fabulous carnival costume workshops over the two weekends preceding our Event, for coordinating the carnival parade itself and marshalling set-up!
* Definitely not least, Anna Lindsay for coordinating such a successful event!

Funding:Cooperative funding
* Cambridge East Area Committee – the bulk of our Summer Event funding
* The Cooperative membership community fund for Cambridge & East Anglia – supported the PACT/Norfolk Summer Event carnival parade
* Anglia Ruskin University – contribution towards the Summer Event

Stewards and helpers: Chris Vandriel, Daniel Gordon, David Chandler, Emon Miah, Jan Dziewulski, Jane Hellings, Janet Simpson, Kevin Blencowe, Lesley Tubb, Lindsay Percival, Lynne & Kenn Martin, Mary Owles, Mohon M, Mostyn Maltpress, Philly Owles, Richard Harvey, Ross Shelley-Pilsworth, Seb K, Shipon Miah, Suraiya R, Theo T, & Connor.

Photographers: Steven Lee, Alex, and Will Bowles

Other stars of the day: Andy Bowie Jazz Band, Anthony Paul & his Fruity Clave samba band, Anupma Wadheera, British Science Association with Dr Rose Spears, Cambridge 105 local community radio and Ceri-Ann Littlechild, Cambridge Community Circus, Cambridge Constabulary, Cambridge Edition, Cambridge Evening News, Carisma Kickboxing, CB2 Café, Chinese Lion Dancers (Wendy & Co), City of David Choir, Claire Cooper, Mayor of Cambridge Cllr Paul Saunders, Coton Morris Men, Dawn (Facepainting), Dolores Maher (artist), Dhruvi (mehndi), Elaine Shortt, Elite Sports with Alex, Ellis & Connelly, Emily Fowke (artist), Fairytale Marquees, Farhana Begum-Miah (mehndi), Feel Free Dance, Cambridgeshire Fire Service with their fire engine, Helen Imogen Field (artist), Hilary & Beverley of Oblique Arts (the ‘Eco-Salon’), Hungarian Chimney Cake stall, Irene Wilkes (artist), Irie Caribbean Food, Jack’s Gelato, Junkyard Stilties, Kazna crafts, Kinnerz Dance, Kirsten Lavers (artist), Lanie Fowke (artist), Local Secrets, Monica Smith (artist), Peter Lee, head Tony Davies for the St.Matthew’s Primary School tour and lending us their sound system, Norfolk Street Bakery stall, Norfolk Street Deli, Olga Mielczarek (cake), Olga Plocienniczak, Ozy Ozcan, Salus Wellness Clinics (who collected donations to PACT in exchange for taster treatments including very welcome massages), Siâna Chalkley-Robinson (hula hooping), Squeaky Gate performers, St John Ambulance with Jan Dziewulski, Rob Rescorla, St.Matthew’s School Choir & teacher Emily Barratt, St. Matthew’s Primary School pupils for their origami flowers and animals, Tangueando.net with Costa and Flo, The Banner Stall with Lanie and Emily, The Box Café, The Map Project (Hugh Chapman & Sa’adiah Khan), Tribal Bellydancers (Tracey), Zhonghua Calligraphy and Chinese culture stall – and all the businesses who donated prizes to our tombola and charity auction!

Venues and logistics:
* Alex Wood Hall: costume storage on the day.
* CB2 café: use of premises for Summer Event planning & other meetings, and hosting the Map Project on the day.
* Man on the Moon: use of the community room for our carnival workshops, events on the day.
* The Box Café: use of premises for Summer Event planning meetings, barbecue on the day, agreeing to host our photo competition winners.
* Squeaky Gate Community Room: Squeaky Gate for agreeing to host art on the day; Andy Slaymaker for arranging the picture rail to be put up in time; Ridgeons for providing the picture rail; Mackays of Cambridge for providing the special fittings for the picture rail.
* PA equipment: Colin – for manning the PA system on the green; William Smythe – PA in the Man on the Moon; Cambridge Audio Visual for lending us the PA equipment.

End of an era at the Man on the Moon?

The Man on the Moon, at 2 Norfolk Street, has been a popular pub and music venue in Petersfield for years – music magazine Drowned in Sound has called it “less-than-salubrious, yet fondly regarded”. The pub was taken over by John Nixon in July 2000, after he had been landlord at the White Hart (now the Backstreet Bistro). The pub was formerly owned by Pubmaster and then Punch Taverns.

Man on the Moon pub

Rumours around the future of the pub had been circulating: CAMRA thought it was shut already on 4 June, and on 7 June the news was confirmed – the new lease owners have given John notice to leave by October. John says he was in the process of applying to buy the lease of the pub himself when he was gazumped. John says on the website:
“Some of you may have heard the rumours flying around about the MOTM and I can sadly say they are true. Despite a 9 month long legal battle with greedy property developers & Punch Taverns, the Man on the Moon has been lost, and the doors will close for the last time on Oct 1st. The Moon will leave a hole in the local music scene that badly needs to be filled, We will be back, this time Bigger and Better!! We would like to thank everyone that has played at the Moon and made the past 13 years amazing! Especially Last Gang In Town, Dawn Kelly, Kelly Allen, Bruno Gonçalves, Will Smithe and Lex O’Farrell, thanks for all your hard work!!”

The landlord of the Alexandra Arms, Craig Bickley, says the owner is Beechwood Property (probably meaning Beechwood Estates), and they are planning to improve the pub. Beechwood Estates, also known as Bennell Developments, previously turned the Jubilee pub into houses, and bought the Royal Standard & tried to turn it into houses without success. Despite this history, property consultants Everard Cole told the Cambridge News that “Rumours that the pub will become student flats are simply untrue. The pub may close for a few weeks or months but will reopen as a pub and will remain so in the long term.” They also said on Twitter: “Man on the Moon, Cambridge. New FOT [free of ties] lease offered; experienced operator sought. Full details to follow shortly.”

Cambridge News reported last July that the city council owned the pub, and Cllr Colin Rosenstiel confirmed that “The future of this pub is firmer than most because [Cambridge City Council] owns freehold, on 99 year lease from 1963 for pub use only.” Cambridge City Council, in the ‘Interim Planning Policy Guidance on The Protection of Public Houses in the City of Cambridge‘ (IPPG) of October 2012, lays out criteria before a pub can be lost and classes the Man on the Moon as a “Pub Site within edge of city clusters providing an important city wide economic and local community function”. Regarding any plans for the car park, the IPPG says: “When considering proposals for the development of car parking areas, the Council will require evidence that this will not undermine the viability of the pub, especially in the outer suburbs or village areas or site adjacent to main roads.” Building on the car park is not an option while the pub remains.

The pub has long been part of the Petersfield community. Simon_K on Flickr says of the early days of the pub, “In 1959, work began along East Road on central Cambridge’s first major slum redevelopment. Completed in 1969, with the final addition of the Man on the Moon public house, the scheme was designed as a fresh start, a comprehensive development of two, three and four storey interconnected blocks of flats, maisonettes and houses. The architects were David Roberts & Geoffrey Clarke for the City of Cambridge Housing Dept.”

The landlord before John was Mary Reid, who left in June 1996 to run the Royal Standard. She ran folk nights, which then moved to the Portland Arms. It was refurbished and briefly called The Office from 1998-2000, before John took over and changed the name back.

Although some local residents have had issues with late-night music and drinking, this will be a loss to the Cambridge music scene. Among the tributes and laments, Cllr Richard Johnson said “It will be a shame if Man on the Moon turns into another upmarket gastropub. Camb[ridge] needs pubs & clubs with character”.

John has been generous to the local community, for example letting PACT use his venue for our Summer Events – most recently for our carnival costume workshops. We believe that the Man on the Moon must remain as a pub, and we hope that the new lease owners are sincere in this intention and that the new landlord will keep it as a music venue and asset to the community.