Events – Mill Road History Society

The Working Communities of Mill Road and East Cambridge

Join Mill Road History Society and the Cambridgeshire Association for Local History for a day of talks on the working communities of Mill Road and East Cambridge.

Doors open at 9:30am for a 10am start.

There is a lunch break from 12:15pm to 1:30pm – note lunch is not provided but it is only a 10 minute walk to the Cambridge Leisure Park.

The conference ends at 4:30pm.

Booking is essential for this event as numbers are limited. Tickets can be purchased from our new online shop at https://mill-road-history-society.square.site/ and are on sale now.

If you prefer to book by cheque then please download the form below, fill it in and send it with your cheque to the address on the form. Note there is no need to send the form if you’ve booked online above.

Conference Flier Download

We also now have available the Conference programme and abstracts for you to read.

CALH-MRHS Conference Abstracts Download

09:30 am Arrival, Coffee and biscuits
10:00 am Introduction to the day
10:15 am Working lives in Barnwell, evidence from archaeological excavations on Newmarket Road – Aileen Connor
11:15 am Home Industries and Businesses in Sturton Town in the 19th and 20th centuries – Helen Weinstein
12:15 pm Lunch (please note lunch is not provided)
01:30 pm Railway Cottages and the Station Master’s House – Caro Wilson
02:05 pm Mapping Relief: The Files of the Cambridge Charity Organisation Society – Laura Housden
02:40 pm Tea/coffee and cake
03:10 pm A Chalky Dusting on the Academic Gown – John McGill
03:45 pm Women’s Working Lives in East Cambridge 1900–1950 – Deborah Thom
04:20 pm Wrap up
04:30 pm End

There will also be displays of photos and maps from other historical groups in the foyer for browsing during the breaks.

If there are any questions then please email admin@millroadhistory.org.uk

Date Saturday 12 April 2025
Time 9:30am – 4:30pm
Location St John’s Centre, St John the Evangelist, Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 8RN
Admission £10
Booking https://mill-road-history-society.square.site

Yolande Lyne-Stephens and the creation of a Cambridge church and AGM

Set across the lawns of Downing College, bordering Hills and Lensfield Roads, the ‘Church of Our Lady of the Assumption & the English Martyrs’ although coming late to the city, is now one of its most treasured landmarks. With its huge lantern tower and a spire the height of Ely Cathedral, it is one of the country’s largest Catholic churches and parishes, with a weekly attendance of over two and half thousand people from over forty nationalities.

Providentially, the vast amount of money needed to construct such a huge church, came from an unlikely source – a former ballerina born into abject poverty in the slums of Paris in 1812.

The lecture will explore the circumstances that led to Yolande Lyne-Stephens paying for the entire cost of the church and Rectory, together with all the fixtures, fittings, silverware and vestments, thus creating one of the finest churches of the Catholic revival.

Nigel Kerry has been Organist and Director of Music at OLEM since 1998. He read Theology at Oxford University followed by organ studies at the Royal College of Music with Nicholas Danby. He has performed recitals in such prestigious venues as Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral, St Paul’s Cathedral, the Royal Albert Hall, Symphony Hall, Birmingham, King’s College Cambridge, while being the first organist from the UK to perform at the National Organ and Chamber Music Hall in Kyiv, Ukraine. Like his teacher before him, he is recognised as an inspired and articulate teacher of his instrument. As well as teaching organ at Cambridge University he is a former tutor to the choristers of King’s and St John’s Colleges.

He is currently researching and writing the official biography of the famous 20^th century monk/musician Dom Gregory Murray of Downside.

This talk takes place at Ross Street Community Centre, a fully accessible venue, and is open to all. Doors open at 7pm, The AGM starts at 7:30pm and the talk starts at 7:45pm.

Date 13 May 2025
Time 7:30pm – 9pm
Location Ross St Community Centre, Ross Street, Cambridge CB1 3UZ
Admission £3

Inside The Cambridge Female Refuge

This talk takes place at Ross Street Community Centre, a fully accessible venue, and is open to all. Doors open at 7pm and the talk starts at 7:30pm.

Date Tuesday 10 June 2025
Time 7:30pm – 9pm
Location Ross St Community Centre, Ross Street, Cambridge CB1 3UZ
Admission £3

William Tudor’s Cambridge Circus

In August 1896, William Tudor opened a permanent brick-built circus at the north end of Auckland Road, next to Midsummer Common. Tudor’s New Circus was a successor to the temporary wooden circuses in which he had run seasons on the Common, and it stood on land owned by Barnwell coachbuilder, publican, developer and boatyard owner Thomas Askham.

But who was William Tudor? And who were all the trick cyclists, acrobats, animal trainers, tight-rope walkers, moving-picture exhibitors, and clowns that he brought to Cambridge from 1893 to 1900? This talk will introduce Evetta the woman clown, Alar the Human Arrow, Oscar Dubourg the Man Fish (not forgetting his watery co-star, Lolla the Mermaid), and Funny Fred Hall, the clown who came in 1898 and never left. And you will learn a little about the audience when you meet Frederick Jones, the Cockburn Street tripe dresser who had a memorable night at the circus.

Riki McDonald and Jim Smith have delved into the history of a building that saw a gradual change from circus to variety theatre in its 20-year life as an entertainment venue – there will be more popular entertainment packed into forty minutes’ talk than you can imagine!

This talk takes place at Ross Street Community Centre, a fully accessible venue, and is open to all. Doors open at 7pm and the talk starts at 7:30pm.

Date Tuesday 8 July 2025
Time 7:30pm – 9pm
Location Ross St Community Centre, Ross Street, Cambridge CB1 3UZ
Admission £3