Join Local Studies Librarian Mary Burgess for an insightful journey into Cambridgeshire’s rich gardening history. From the designs of Capability Brown to the local legacy of Unwins Seeds, discover how the county’s gardens, from grand estates to local allotments, have evolved over the centuries. Don't miss this fascinating look at the roots of gardening in Cambridgeshire!

Biog: Mary Burgess is a local history researcher and author. She writes and publishes books on Cambridge’s history and also gives talks.

Her day job is working at the Cambridgeshire Collection, Cambridgeshire’s local studies library.

Many people - including those who research their own family history and even some historians - have mistaken ideas about marriage, family formation, and mortality in the British past. This talk will correct some of these assumptions and discuss why it is so tempting to believe them.

With the help of lots of images - source material such as censuses and parish records, family photographs, maps, and some straightforward (and carefully explained) graphs - the talk will put family and local population histories into a broader temporal and geographic context.

Alice Reid has lived in Cambridge for 30 years. She is Professor of Demography at the Geography Department, University of Cambridge, and Co-Director of Campop (the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure). Most of her work examines geographic and social differences in population processes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but the talk will draw on a wider body of work from Campop's 60 year lifetime.

The story of a house build

If you’ve ever considered building a house, this talk is for you.

It follows the story of two novices as they navigate the process, from first architects’ sketch to moving in. It will cover, the main phases and the timescales involved, what decisions need to be made along the way. The talk will contain numerous photos and a few videos of the whole development sequence. Inevitably, with hindsight, there are things we would have done differently and lessons we learnt from the whole experience.

BIOG

Tim, Moira and their family moved to Impington from Landbeach almost thirty years ago. Since then they have been involved in various village activities, most notably the bi-annual Open Gardens, plus the tennis and cricket clubs. Tim regularly contributes photos to the several village Facebook groups. Since retiring he has become an active member of U3AC (the University of the Third Age in Cambridge), recently competing a three-year stint as Chairman of Trustees.

In this talk we will tell the story, via slides and video clips, of how Pye, from humble beginnings in a garden shed in 1896, became the UK’s biggest electronics company and how 100 years later it had disappeared.

With its HQ in Cambridge, at its peak it employed over 7,000 staff in the Cambridge area, and around 33,000 worldwide.

We will talk about its key people, and its main achievements, companies and products and describe what it was like to work there.

Free for members Coffee and Cake

Free for members Coffee and Cake

The society is thrilled to be hosting the annual Cambridge Association of Local History (CALH) conference this April. The focal theme will revolve around the History and Heritage of Histon and Impington with a schedule of 100% new talks that will engage both members as well as attendees from across Cambridgeshire.

• Discounted tickets for members and associate members at £10.00 for the entire day, including refreshments of tea, coffee and cake. Lunch is not included.

• We are happy for people to attend for part of the day.

• Non-members are also welcome to attend for a ticket price of £15.00.

• Tickets released for Non Members on 25th February 2024

• For those not used to booking with eventbrite zip code refers to post code

Book HERE using our Eventbrite page or phone Wendy on 07956 720023

Free for members Coffee and Cake