The final part of the Arbury Is Where We Live! uploads sees us standing squarely in 1980, looking at life from a child's eye level. Many delights - the little girl who sounded like a fire engine, the Scalectrix-chewing bird, the British Legion Home, the Arbury policeman, the headmaster of King's Hedges School, Dave the milkman, the 'wogglely' tooth... and much more!
The Good Shepherd Church, The British Legion Block of Flats and How Arbury cares for Retired People...
A visit from Miss Samuel... Miss Samuel lived in Arbury for many years and will be remembered as an art teacher by many Manor goers. I last saw her when I was working at Arthur Rank House in the early 1990s - she was then helping out as a volunteer. She recognised me as one of her 'old boys' and we had a very happy reunion.
PC Cavanagh - the Arbury policeman - and a hymn of praise for teacher Miss Quigley.
Strong nostalgic pangs for me here - seeing the 'Voice of Arbury' title, the original newsletter of the Arbury Estate. Much praise was forthcoming for the Arbury 1980 project - from the Cambridge mayor, city and county councillors, the education authority and local residents who shared their memories with the children.
The final page. Out around Arbury - including the Arbury Community Centre (Manor Farmhouse trees in the background), Arbury Court and the Arbury Adventure Playground. The book ends on a second 'Arbury Rules' entry (for the first, see Part One).
During the project, the children were able to peer into a past so distant it seemed staggering, and then return to Arbury in the modern day, look at how it worked, and relate their own experiences.
'We have reasons to be proud to live in Arbury with such a rich history. People have lived here for thousands of years,' as one child wrote back in 1980.
At its best, Arbury is vibrant, community minded and creative. This book now serves as a reminder of the potential of the original Arbury Estate, and the possibilities of living in that area in the modern day.
Arbury is far more than arbitrary (and historically inaccurate) City and County Council electoral wards, far more than a featureless or 'to be reviled' area of 'North Cambridge'.
Arbury Is Where We Live!
This is a lovely blog and I found myself feeling quite emotional reading some of the posts. The Arbury Estate had a strong character right from the start really as the campaigns for facilities from the 1950s onwards show. It is a huge 1950s and 60s housing estate, looking at its various phases is a history lesson in itself, it has character, and council planners have not been very helpful at all over the years. I'm glad to read positive stuff rather than the current snobbish attitude towards the Arbury. Cambridge is a snobby place although it fancies itself frightfully left wing and 'with it'. Thanks a lot.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Claire. When I was a kid I was always very happy to be an Arbury boy, and fascinated by the history as my family lived at the Manor Farm before the estate. My great gran was always telling me stories about the 'Arbury Field' and 'Arbury Meadow' (all the Manor Farm fields had names) and great grandad's 'docky' and getting the washing done and so on. I was very inspired by Sallie Purkis later. She was tremendous. Although she didn't live on the Arbury herself, she really believed in it as a place on the map, based on its history, and the stories of Arbury people as worth telling.
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