In 2006 there was a Government-funded institution called Cambridgeshire Horizons which commissioned a number of reports on the future of Cambridge. This one is their Arts and Culture Programme for the Cambridge Sub-Region. What is there to learn from this piece of contemporary history? You can read the document here This was a period of … More A new concert hall for Cambridge – 2006

…and promptly have their front window smashed after follicly-challenged hoodlums threw a pedal bike through it in a night of violent disorder Mike Petty MBE highlighted this one on Fenland History – pictured below are the group of squatters occupying a former Salvation Army shop at a time of huge social and political division in … More Squatters take over Mill Road shop – 1986

Freda Wilkinson, the Managing Director of Millers Music Centre in Cambridge wrote this opinion piece in June 1965 – and it was spotted here by Mike Petty MBE “The recent controversy about future public halls in Cambridge brings to mind the changes which have taken place over the last 60 years. At the turn of … More Cambridge in need of a new public hall – 1965

Cambridge’s only independent midwife of her era, Gertrude Alice Dorrington, was awarded an MBE in 1957. A cycling midwife who lived in Romsey Town who was ‘never off duty’ – her cycle guarded by patrolling constables when spotted in the early hours, she delivered more than 3,000 babies. So if anyone wants to acquire her … More The Midwife of Cambridge

Could Cambridge and other towns learn from this example from over a century ago? It feels very similar to elements of Capturing Cambridge at the Museum of Cambridge – just an offline version! This article from 1922 is about a project that a girls’ school in Brighton undertook to make the link between local history … More Using local history to teach citizenship – an example from Brighton – 1922

In late 1919, the New Town ward (the residential area bounded by Brooklands Avenue to the south, Hills Road to the east, and Trumpington Road to the west) had a by-election. Bill Few, one of the first Cambridge Labour activists, was the candidate Labour’s candidate was William ‘Bill’ Few – pictured below following his appointment … More Leah Manning on inequality and municipal pride – 1919

Some of you may have seen headlines about a protest outside Great St Mary’s in the Cambridge Independent this week. Others may have noticed a candidate I think from a different party with a similar name standing for election in Abbey Ward. Longtime readers of this blog may also be familiar with the life of … More Cambridge communists complain about traffic lights on Mill Road Bridge – 1983

The economic and political pressures of the Second World War resulted in the further centralisation of a host of functions – yet the publication reminds us today of the importance of local government as a civic institution from a previous era, and the debates on regional government. Following on from my previous blogpost on Elizabeth … More What should post-war local councils be like?

Books from the time set out the dreams You can read Our Towns by Elizabeth Halton here. She would later be known as Lady Pepler after her husband George Pepler, who she married after this pamphlet was published, was knighted. She also served as Conservative councillor on the old London County Council at a time … More What should our post-war new towns be like?

Turns out there was so much concern that the King George Jubilee Trust commissioned a study on it – one published in 1955. It’s worth noting that the House of Lords referred to the Ministry of Education’s definition of ‘youth service’ as a term: “…generally used to denote the promotion by voluntary bodies and local … More What did adults think about children and young people in the 1950s?