Villagers have roamed the 4.5 acres of Long Meadow and the 11 acres of Croft Close Set-Aside on Abbey Farm since the earliest records. The area has been at the core of early settlement for thousands of years.

A campaign to identify rights-of-way was gathering momentum last year when it was announced that the 39-acre Abbey Farm estate was to be put on the market. There was an extraordinary reaction from local people. Social Media interest led to an enquiry as to the extent to which local people were willing to pledge money for purchase – this had a great response, and although there is a long way to go to reach the total amount needed, this was enough for a group of local people and Histon & Impington Parish Council to set in motion a path to secure the land for the village in perpetuity. Subsequently the successful bidder was prepared to sell Long Meadow and Croft Close Set Aside and Long Meadow to the community on the same day that they purchased the whole estate.

The Abbey Field Task & Finish Group was formed. As it was clearly necessary to move quickly, the Jenking family very generously raised the money through a bank loan intended to be short term. The land has now been leased by them to the Histon & Impington Parish Council for land management and insurance purposes. But the long-term future is not yet secure.

There now remains two urgent tasks.

• To raise the money to secure the land. A new charity is being formed – the Histon & Impington Green Spaces Charity – to fundraise and purchase the land from the Jenking family. There is a finite window of opportunity to do this.

• To manage the land in a secure and safe way for the purpose of conservation and public access. For this reason, a Transitional Management Committee has been formed which has taken over from the Task & Finish Group. This is a temporary arrangement.

The final vision is that the new charity will own the land and will, later this year, delegate the management to a new organisation of supporters or “Friends”. The members of this organisation will be the hundreds – we hope – of people who care about these special places and want to help acquire and conserve them by contributing financially and/or with their skills and time. So, the two pillars of the structures going forward are planned to be:

• The Histon & Impington Green Spaces Charity which will be a Charitable Incorporated Organisation. It will have six Trustees – three nominated by the Parish Council and three by the community – and no other members. Their responsibility is to be the long-term custodians of the land, ensuring that it is always managed in accordance with the original vision of conserving nature and heritage while enabling people to enjoy these much-loved places. The involvement of the Parish Council brings long term assurance. The involvement of the community reflects the grass roots involvement in the funding of and engagement with this land.

• A new Friends organisation which will be an “unincorporated association” and will form a committee recognised by the Charity Trustees to manage the land. Some may wish to be members to provide general support and hear about developments. For others there is an opportunity to become involved – on the committee which will manage the land, or in running the Friends organisation, raising funds, volunteering in the field, or taking advantage of educational events. Some may be prepared to be nominated Trustees of the new charity.

As of June 2021, the journey is perhaps at the halfway point of securing the land for the long-term benefit of local people – for conservation and biodiversity, public access, education and hands on volunteering opportunities and the preservation of a heritage landscape. The pieces are all in place and it is now up to the community of Histon & Impington to come together to raise the rest of the funds necessary for the land to be transferred to the local charity. At the same time, would-be members of the Friends organisation can get that body up and running, both to help the fund-raising and to start the practical work of looking after Croft Close Set Aside and Long Meadow.