Cambs Times and Wisbech Standard January to March headlines

JANUARY

The biggest story of the early months of the year was the hare coursing incidents across Fenland that hit over the weekend of January 25.

The scale of the hare coursing event was unprecedented, with incidents reported in Manea, Chatteris, Wimblington, Doddington, Welney, Ely, Fordham, and Prickwillow.

It led to a public meeting on the Monday, where the local policing commander Superintendent Ben Martin, issued a major apology to the public for the police's poor response to calls for help during the ongoing incidents.

One farmer told the packed meeting held at Manea Royal British Legion Club that he and his family had been trapped in their farmhouse by a gang of up to 80 men.

The Neale-Wade Academy was making headlines in January and February, firstly with Ofsted announcing it was making progress and secondly after the school announced it was closing its sixth form. (Image: Active Learning Trust)

Local MP Steve Barclay and the Police and Crime Commissioner Darryl Preston, together with councillors, were also in attendance.

The incident and its reverberations were felt throughout the year, with arrests and prosecutions of those involved being reported by police almost on a monthly basis.

2025 also began with bad news for swimmers as a popular pool in one Fenland town remained closed for two months.

What started as a routine closure on December 16 for maintenance of the site led to an extended closure as "unforeseen work" was discovered.

Manea Fire Station was announced to be once again at risk of closure. (Image: Steve Barclay)

The reopening date was put back not once, but twice, before it finally reopened on February 25.

There was good and bad news for one Fenland school following a monitoring inspection by Ofsted at the start of January.

In a report published at the end of that same month, the Government's education watchdog said the Neale-Wade Academy in March, which had previously been rated as 'requires improvement', was making some progress.

However, the inspectors found that children with special needs were struggling, and that there were still "gaps in pupils' knowledge".

Stonea Bridge - the country's second most bashed bridge, started the year by being hit. (Image: Cambridgeshire Police)

The report did find the school had a "raised behaviour expectations", that absences had been cut, and there was a more settled staffing team.

It added: "There is now a clarity about what pupils should learn and when, including in the sixth form.

"Teachers check routinely for misconceptions, and they ensure that, in most cases, pupils do not move on to new learning without the required prior knowledge."

However, the report found that while "pupils have mostly begun to learn more successfully than at the time of the previous inspection, there is not yet sufficient depth of learning".

The new year also started with a bang for one of the UK's most bashed bridges.

Network Rail confirmed rail passengers "experienced delays" after a vehicle struck the railway bridge in Stonea on January 28. 

Work started in March on Fenland's first pump track. (Image: Fenland District Council)

It came after Network Rail named the two-metre-high bridge on the Sixteen Foot as the second most struck, with 17 reported incidents in 2024.

FEBRUARY

February brought news of a tragedy as police launched a murder investigation following the disappearance of Christchurch woman Julie Buckley.

It would be months later that her body would be discovered buried in a field off Blue Lane in Wimblington.

Karl Hutchings, also from Christchurch, was charged with murder in connection with Julie's disappearance, and later in the year, he would appear before Cambridge Crown Court, where he admitted killing her.

A murder investigation was launched after Julie Buckley went missing from her home in Christchurch. (Image: Cambridgeshire Police)

The Neale-Wade Academy was also back in the news this month when it announced it would not be running a sixth form from September this year, with the then current cohort being the last to take their A-levels with the school.

The March school blamed low interest from potential students for the decision, which prompted local MP Steve Barclay to step in to try to convince the Active Learning Trust, which runs the school, to change its mind.

Parents were fuming over the decision, which they claimed left their children with no choice but to travel for sixth-form study.

MARCH

March arrived with the news that Manea fire station was once again under threat of closure.

Mrs Bassett was lucky enough to win her height in Easter eggs in a charity raffle run by Tesco in Chatteris. (Image: Tesco)

The village's parish council announced it was "very concerned" that it could be at risk after Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue put forward proposals that would see it redirect resources from the on-call stations at Manea, Sutton, and Kimbolton to hubs in Ely and St Neots.

Cllr Ben Bonos, the council’s chair, argued the village needs its own fire station largely because response times from the next nearest locations will fall outside of the fire service's own 12-minute target.

March was also the month when construction started on Fenland's first-ever pump track in West End Park, March.

The £100,000 project was made possible thanks to £50,000 of funding from Mick George and £50,000 from the Youth Investment Fund.

It also followed a dedicated campaign by community group, The Wheelz Project, who worked closely with local young people to bring the idea to life.

Finally, March saw one lucky woman win her height in Easter eggs after winning a raffle run at Tesco in Chatteris in aid of Cancer Research and Addenbrookes Charitable Trust.

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