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Mrs Hinchcliffe's Memories of Old Arbury, Chesterton and Vicarage Terrace Part 10: The Monkey Walk, Bilious Attacks, 'The Beaky' of Gwydir Street, The Charleston and High in the Sky over Arbury...

Mrs Grace Hinchcliffe (1910-1998) was Andy's grandmother and shared many memories for the Arbury Archive in the 1980s. This is the tenth part of her recollections, spanning the mid-1920s to mid-1930s. The photograph above shows her, the young Grace Brett, in 1928. Mrs Hinchcliffe remembered a Sunday afternoon ritual much enjoyed by local youngsters in the 1920s: 'The Monkey Walk! On nice Sunday afternoons, in the spring or summer, we'd put on our best dresses or suits and walk round and round Sidney Street, Petty Cury, Market Hill and Market Street - girls in one direction, boys in the other. We'd go in twos or threes and it was all very innocent and fun. We weren't really hoping to find our Mr or Miss Right - we were just being young peacocks!' Mrs Hinchcliffe's cousin, Mrs Muriel Wiles, described a similar ritual at the bandstand on Christ's Pieces [ here ]. Back to Mrs Hinchcliffe's recollections: 'It was exciting being young. There were lots ...
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Arbury Snippets 8: The Jackdaw Visitor at the Arbury Adventure Playground, the Arbury Carnival, King's Hedges School Memories, A Brain Teasing Map and a Question...

THIS IS THE GREATEST SHOW! The 2025 Arbury Carnival has a circus theme and will take place at Arbury Town Park, Campkin Road, on 14 June. For this spring edition of Arbury Snippets , we focus on the approaching Arbury Carnival, the return of our Arbury Guru, a winged 1970s visitor at the Arbury Adventure Playground, an early 1980s visit to King's Hedges School, and insights into local life from other long ago Arbury children. We also answer a question and feature a little brain teaser... Lovely account of a feathered visitor to the Arbury Adventure Playground on the Nun's Way recreation ground from August 1974 . The Arbury Adventure Playground, which opened in 1973 on the Nuns Way Recreation Ground, was a much appreciated feature of local life for many years. Schoolboy Nicky Wright gave his views on the playground in 1980 for the 'Arbury 1980' project of the district's schools - Arbury, King's Hedges, St Laurence's and the Grove: I like it because you can pl...

Things Called Arbury In Cambridge...

How many things that are, or have been, called 'Arbury' in Cambridge and its immediate environs can you think of over the years? Most 'Arbury' things are clustered north of Arbury Road - one of the most historic Arbury areas in Cambridge, although, nonsensically, part of the "King's Hedges" electoral ward. Check out King's Hedges on the map. That's right. It's north of the guided busway/railway line and was a fifty eight acre farm. A lot of the land north of Arbury Road, and a swathe of land to the south, were known as the Arbury or Harborough Meadows, North Arbury/Harborough Furlong, etc. Harborough is a variation on the Arbury name.  We put our thinking caps on, and came up with: 1) Arbury Road: This road connected the Milton/Ely Road with the Histon/Cambridge Road until the late 1970s when a new road was built across the Arbury Meadows/Manor Farm by the iron age Arbury Camp at the time of the A14 development. The new road connected Arbury Ro...

Arbury Court - Part Of The 'Centre' Of The Original Arbury Estate...

A view across Arbury Court, looking towards Arbury Road, in 1976. Arbury Court is part of the 'centre' of the original Arbury Estate in Cambridge. The Court, with its pub, supermarket, hardware store and post office, chip shop, newsagent, TV shop, greengrocer, hairdresser, chemist, supermarket and branch library, is part of the 'hub' of the estate. The historic Arbury district. The Arbury or Harborough (the names were variations on each other and interchangeable) Meadows and Furlongs covered land north of Arbury Road, and included a swathe of land south of the road. Arbury Road ran from Milton Road to the Histon/Cambridge Road until the late 1970s. The Manor Farm was formed in the years following the 1840 Chesterton Enclosures. Orchard Park (originally Arbury Park and, before that, Arbury Camp Farm) features the outline of part of the Arbury prehistoric settlement at Ring Fort Road. We've inserted the sites of Arbury Court, Arbury Town Park, the Guided Busway, and t...

1977: A Dunkirk Boat For The Arbury Adventure Playground - The Arbury Noah's Ark!

Thanks to Mrs Summers who sent us this  Cambridge Evening News  article about an exciting addition to the Arbury Adventure Playground on the Nuns Way Playing Field from August 1977.  Veteran of Dunkirk Heads for Children's Adventure Playground A gallant little craft with a heart of gold is set to leave her peaceful retirement berth on the waters of the Cam. She is not exactly beautiful, but to shell-shocked troops on the wartime Dunkirk beaches she was the answer to a prayer. In 1940, Goldfin was one of the flotilla of little boats the nation took to its heart after that epic rescue. Now she is destined for another "battleground" - the Arbury Adventure Playground in Cambridge. Her owner, Mr Jeffrey Perkins, couldn't bear the thought of his former personal carrier suffering the indignity of nautical senility. He has spent much time and money restoring her over the last ten years. So he gave her to play leader Bob Asby to be brought back to life by the under-fives [unde...