HI Friends is running a Wellbeing Festival from Saturday 22nd April through until Monday 8th May. The programme will include 34 different activities, events and workshops focused on all aspects of wellbeing.
A full programme of events is available here.
On Wednesday 29th March, the Mothers’ Circle will have a one-off change of day and venue. It will meet on Wednesday at 10am instead of Monday at the Community Centre on Kay Hitch Way, just down the side road next to Firs House GP surgery.
For those who don’t know, this postnatal group is open to mums and their babies and offers a supportive space to talk about motherhood and connect with other local mums. Email ren@hifriends.org.uk to book a space.
More than 500 visitors to Histon Manor last Saturday were treated to carpets of snowdrops and a first glimpse of the new Monet-style bridge recently installed over to the island.
Owners Katherine and Rob Mann had originally offered free tickets to 200 visitors to walk around the grounds in addition to 100 tickets for tea and cake in the main kitchen.
But they were so moved by news of the earthquake in Syria and Turkey that they opened the grounds to all to walk around, in a fundraising effort for disaster relief.
Proceeds from the tea and cake tickets bought prior to the earthquake were allocated to HI Friends, with £577 going to support the Holiday at Home initiative and the Community Play Therapist, who mainly works with children in the village primary schools. Donations on the day, collected in a bucket at the entrance, totalled an astounding £1,842.58, which Katherine and Rob are matching, so £3,685.16 has been transferred to the DEC Earthquake Appeal.
A team of volunteers helped in the grounds and kitchen, and a dozen bakers produced a spread of cakes for the guests. Katherine paid tribute to their efforts, saying: “This event wouldn’t have been possible without the team of volunteers and cake bakers. A huge thank you to all.”
She continued: “We cannot thank everyone enough for being so generous. We are so glad that everyone enjoyed the day and the comments about the snowdrops were heart-warming. It has spurred us on to keep working on removing the ivy in these areas so that hopefully even more will come through for next year! A date for next year’s event will be announced in early January 2024.”
The Histon and Impington Wellbeing Team are holding a Family Hub session on Saturday 25th February between 11am-12pm at the Saint Andrew’s Centre.
It is a space for an hour of wellbeing craft activities for school-aged children, and time to chat and relax for parents.
For more information contact Sophie Howell sophie@hifriends.org.uk
Hope Again is a local group-based bereavement support programme starting on 23rd February from 2pm at the Methodist Church Hall.
The Spring programme runs for 6 weeks on Thursday afternoons.
For more information, Tel. 07707 263353 or email HABG1@icloud.com. A registration form on the website should be completed.
Following the very successful winter opening of Histon Manor gardens in 2022, which sold out within 24 hours, owners Katherine and Rob Mann, are repeating this event on Saturday 11 February from 10am to 3pm. All proceeds will go to HI Friends charity.
The snowdrops, which were magnificent in 2022, are dotted along the banks of the moat and in the woodlands. Visitors will also be able to see the newly installed Monet-style bridge leading onto the island.
There are two types of ticket:
Tea and Cake and entry to the grounds: 100 tickets are available at £6.00 per ticket which will include a slice of homemade cake and tea or coffee served in the Manor House kitchen. These tickets are for hourly slots for the refreshments to enable everyone to be able to sit down and relax in the beautiful kitchen. Visitors are welcome to spend as long as they like walking around the grounds. Children under 7 are welcomed free of charge with each accompanying adult.
There will also be 200 free tickets for entry to the grounds only, which will not include refreshments. No ticket is needed for children under 16. As these tickets are free of charge, there will be a bucket for donations towards HI Friends.
Click here for tickets to the Winter Walk at Histon Manor. Thanks to Edd Stonham for use of his ticketing system which maximises the proceeds going to HI Friends.
To volunteer at the Winter Walk event or other events, email histonmanor@gmail.com
The popular HI Friends Christmas Tree festival has played a part in helping to provide some much needed warmth for those in need this year thanks to many hours of hard knitting by the Histon & Impington Women’s Institute (WI).
One hundred and twenty beautifully created bobble hats, hand-knitted by the 64 members of Histon and Impington WI formed their entry to December’s festival. These have now been donated on their behalf by the Daily Bread Co-operative to organisations such as Wintercomfort and The Lockon in Fair Street, both of which work to provide warm winter clothing for the City’s homeless and rough sleepers.
Speaking to HI HUB about the project, organiser Sophie Howson said:
“As a WI we decided that it would be lovely to have a project that would help others and the Christmas Tree Festival was an excellent vehicle. The members were very enthusiastic and many learned, or re-learned, to knit together and make hats and colourful pom-poms for the project. We have future projects planned now as it has been a really excellent and fun thing to do with a philanthropic outcome. We always want to encourage more members to the WI and would love to see some new faces at future meetings”.
The next branch meeting is at Histon Methodist Church Hall at 7.30pm on Thursday 18th February and new members are very welcome. There will also be an illustrated talk on ‘Literary Cambridge’ by Peter Hains on Thursday 19th January. Full details here.
Get in touch, or find out more, by emailing hisimpwi@gmail.com
A Multi Skills clubs runs on Fridays from 4.15 – 5pm at Histon and Impington Recreation Ground.
Aimed at children in Reception to Year 2 to learn and enjoy playing sports based games.
Email george@kickstartactivelife.co.uk for more information.
HI Friends are holding an open morning for its Rec Monday Club at Histon Recreation Ground on Monday 21st November from 10am.
This is an opportunity to try out the different sessions and meet the Pos+Ability leaders.
For more information call Paul on 07772 437789.
The”Forget-me-not Journey” Support Group meets at the Salvation Army Hall in Impington Lane fortnightly on Tuesdays from 2-3 pm.
It is a warm and friendly mutual support group for those living with dementia or memory loss and those who journey with them.
Light refreshments are provided.
For more information, please contact Jan jan@hifriends.org.uk (Group Leader)