Sawston Village History Society

Guided Tour of Cambridge with Robert Hill

Robert’s slide show presentation of assorted views of Cambridge and its colleges provided much interesting comment and a stimulating prelude to the festive buffet, provided by the members.

Robert joined the Cambridge Blue Badge Guides in 1971 and was required to undergo considerable training before he was allowed out on the Cambridge streets with tourists. The first Blue Badge Guides started in the early 50s, when there were sufficient tourists visiting Cambridge to justify enrolling a corps of Guides. Now there are about 120 regular Guides. As a teacher at the Leys School, Robert was often asked to take students on a walking tour of Cambridge, so he had already built up quite a fount of information when he joined.

We were treated to a show of around 60 slides views, some of which had the audience guessing. Most, but not all, were views visible from a street. These included some of the college gardens, many of which have free access, such as Clare and Pembroke gardens.

This very enjoyable slide show was followed by the equally enjoyable buffet.

The Sawston Community Archive Group (SCAG) now has a strong nucleus of members drawn from the Society, but is also open to non-SVHS members. Our mission (as they now say) is to create a digital archive of anything relating to Sawston, under the auspices of the Cambridgeshire Community Archive Network (CCAN), web site: www.ccan.co.uk. We usually meet at the Sawston library (for times please contact Liz Dockerill on 835127) for on-line archiving sessions.

Our archivist, Bryan Howe is at the Sawston Heritage Centre in the Sawston Parish Council Office, Link Road on Monday mornings. Bryan is very amenable to arranging an alternative time to view the archives, if necessary, just ring him on 01223 833963 to arrange a mutually convenient time.