Melbourn and District u3a

Local history expert Honor Ridout will give us a whistlestop tour of local history stretching across the millennium of Cambridge's existence, touching not least on town-and-gown relations. Honor Ridout is the Chair of the Cambridgeshire Association for Local History, a former City Tourist Officer, and author of a book on Stourbridge Fair - more on this below. 

Did you see the mural in the Elizabeth Way underpass, Cambridge about Stourbridge Fair?

Random fact: In medieval times, Stourbridge Common was the site of one of Europe’s largest fairs – a bustling centre for shopping, eating, and revelry, offering temptations of every kind. The fair grew over the centuries to become one of the largest and most important in Europe. The first mention is from 1211 when King John granted a charter to the Leper Hospital to raise money by holding a fair. The last fair was in 1933, opened by the then Mayor of Cambridge. By the end, it had dwindled to a funfair, but in previous centuries, Stourbridge Fair (see wikipedia) was the big event of the Cambridge year. Early on, it made Cambridge quite a prosperous little town. Read lots more about the fair here. On Saturday September 6 there was a small annual ceremony to commemorate the fair.