One of the things we love best about the Arbury Archive is that much of it contains accounts of life and people in the area that are now beyond living memory. It is always fascinating to study census returns, old newspapers, etc, for details of people long departed, but they usually reveal nothing, or very little, about character. The handwritten manuscripts, like Gordon Cardinal's The Arbury , seem particularly evocative as they provide a special link back to the writer. Mr Cardinal died in the 1990s, but every time we even glance at the manuscript, his handwriting brings memories of him and his dedication to the Arbury community and its history to life for us. Many interviews took place with Andy and other Arbury Archivists taking notes, and scrawling quotes, and the characters of some of the people who told us their memories also remain strong when reading them. When Andy interviewed Mrs Dora Long, sister of Ernest Sale of Manor Nurseries acclaim in 1983, she made him a couple...

Left: work begins on Campkin Road in 1961. Numbers 1 and 2 Manor Farm Cottages have been demolished, but the intention is to preserve the old trees lining the old Manor Farm Drive. Right: a similar view in more modern times, with the Arbury Town Park and Campkin Road. In 1982, Campkin Road was described as the 'Hauptstrasse of North Arbury' by local journalist Sara Payne. Ms Payne's local history articles in the Cambridge Weekly News were hugely popular and, for each one, Ms Payne visited a street in Cambridge and talked to the residents, collecting their memories for publication and producing a fascinating series of 'Then and Now' style articles. 'Cambridge Weekly News', 1982. Down Your Street followed in the footsteps of a similar series in the local press in the early 1960s - by Erica Dimmock - and both now make fascinating reading. We're starting our look at Campkin Road with material from the 'Arbury 1980' project and accounts from locals...

Back to the Cambridge Weekly News , 1987, to discover more of the story of an ordinary Arbury farming family from the 1880s to the 1920s. The 20th Century has begun, and Richard and Amelia Brett are concerned for their children in a rapidly changing world. The old order changes tremendously at the Manor Farm, as it is sold to Cambridgeshire County Council. But nobody can predict just how much the world is going to change, and 1918 finds the Brett family mourning a son lost in the trenches... The wedding of Louisa Brett to Walter Ashman on 12 September, 1908 (see Part 2), was a grand occasion. In 1986, their daughter, Mrs Muriel Wiles, told me: 'They looked as if they owned the Earth in the photograph! But they didn't. Grandad was a very hard worker and kept the family in as much comfort as he could.' This week's instalment. Click on the image for a readable view and download if wanted to keep. Cambridge Daily News, 1919: memoriam notice for Alfred Brett. Sales particula...

Please click on the image for a readable view, and download if required. Part two of the 1987 Cambridge Weekly News series, written by Andy Brett, one of our blog contributors, way back then! What was the Pumpkin Trick? Rumours mounted after an archaeological dig at Arbury Camp in the early 1900s that Arbury Road was haunted. Was it really Ancient Britons and Romans? Or did The Pumpkin Trick have anything to do with it? Here's our trusty old map of Arbury revealing some of the locations featured in this week's instalment.                                 This photograph of Henry and an Addenbrooke's nurse was taken by Ralph Lord, photographer, of Market Street, Cambridge. The nurse had inscribed it: 'To Mrs Brett, from her boy's friend.' 12 September, 1908 - the future site of the Manor School/ North Cambridge Academy, the Park Meadow at Manor Farm, was the location for Walter and Louisa's wedding photograph...