With the summer holidays beginning, what could you do as an Arbury child in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s? Well, the Arbury Adventure Playground, off Wagstaff Close on the Nun's Way playing field, was a bit of a wow. And you could think yourself lucky you lived in Arbury - it was the only Cambridge City housing estate to have an adventure playground - and all provided by local residents' fund raising and campaigning and council grants to keep it going! Graham Odd, of the Cambridge Evening News , popped in on 23 July, 1979: It is the start of an intensive six-week season at the Arbury Adventure Playground. Between 150 and 300 children will daily pour into the 1.25 acre enclosure off Wagstaff Close. The sound of a bell rose above the bleating of goats and the crowing of cockerels in North Arbury this morning, and a crowd of children gathered to plan their summer adventures. In itself, the idea of an adventure playground is no longer startling. They are dotted all over the country a...

The first edition of the VOICE of Arbury newsletter from November, 1979, gave us an idea. In that first edition, they presented a profile of the then Arbury Community Midwife, Sister Cummings, who arrived in North Arbury in 1966 - and by the late 1970s was also helping to run relaxation sessions for expectant mothers and parenthood classes for expectant Mums and Dads at the Kingsway Clinic in South Arbury.  Inspired by this, we've decided to present some profiles of notable and ordinary Arbury people from across the years, going back to the days of the Manor, Hall and Arbury Camp Farms. We begin with VOICE 's profile of Sister Cummings, Arbury Community Midwife, who had an absolutely essential and highly interesting job. 'I deliver anyone, anywhere!' she said. Her observations about the original Arbury Estate are heartening.