Trumpington Meadows Community Volunteers

A newly formed group in Trumpington Meadows is inviting more local residents to ‘come out of hiding’ and join the small but dedicated team working to keep the development looking its best. The volunteers currently carry out litter picking, garden and green-space maintenance, bulb planting, and help identify and tidy small areas of land that appear to be unadopted. In some cases, residents may not realise these patches fall under their own responsibility.

The group is now seeking additional help. Working alongside a team from the council, volunteers have already cleaned verges and car parking bays across several streets in the Meadows. Further activities will take place on an irregular basis and will be promoted via the Trumpington Meadows Facebook page. As a thank-you, volunteers are rewarded with free drinks after events at the local café, which has just had a change of ownership and a change of name to Café Trumpington. These gatherings also provide a great opportunity for residents from different parts of the development to meet and connect.

This new group replaces TMDAG (Trumpington Meadows Delivery and Action Group Ltd), which was established over five years ago to address the many challenges faced by new developments. TMDAG is now being wound up as a limited company, allowing future donations to be spent entirely on community projects rather than administrative costs such as accountancy fees.

Going forward, the group will be self-managed by representative local residents. During its lifetime, TMDAG tackled a wide range of issues and during the COVID-19 pandemic, TMDAG played a key role in establishing the Food Van operation at the local centre, which will continue. It also secured a permanent location and power supply for the community Christmas tree, working closely with Barratt Homes.

Lasting Community Legacy: TMDAG initiated the now-annual Christmas and Chinese New Year celebrations in the local centre, as well as the popular ‘Santa on Tour’ routes - first within Trumpington Meadows and later across the wider Trumpington area. Residents also purchased and painted the Santa sleigh, now housed in the school community area and enjoyed by both pupils and residents alike. Other achievements include improved liaison with the local neighbourhood police team and the creation of the ‘Keep TMSafe’ WhatsApp group, both of which will continue. The group’s efforts were recognised with the Mayor’s Volunteer for Cambridge Award (2020-21), and members were invited to discuss the challenges of new developments with the Chair of the Cambridge Growth Company.

Thank You and Get Involved: TMDAG would like to thank everyone who has supported and contributed to the group over the past five years and wishes the new Trumpington Meadows Community Volunteers every success going forward. Anyone interested in volunteering is warmly encouraged to pass their contact details to Robert 07585 824171 or email Karen, kdlamb64@hotmail.com.