I am finally on the last bit of writing up the background history for the War Ditches site. I will spend the rest of the week (& prob some of next week!) getting it ready to hand over to Oxford Archaeology East, who'll then hand it over to the Wildlife Trust. I'm not going to say too much about it all yet as when it is finished I'll be adding some great stuff about it all on here, so watch this space!
I have mountains of great stuff to to add to History Pin and to Cambridgeshire Community Archives Network, literally thousands of photos, stories and clips! So I've a lot to do there as well. Everything I add to those two site is also added on this website under Michelle's Archives so you can make comment and I can add more detail to the item when I get the chance. My main priority now, is to just get the pictures etc. uploaded to the websites. All of the information I add gets copied to the Cambridgeshire Collection for archive and so the public can access the hard material too. Let me know if you would like to add anything yourself and I'll give you a hand :)

I went to the overall CCAN (Cambridgeshire Community Archives Network) committee meeting in Little Downham, this morning. A lot was discussed and we have great plans for getting our groups together and working on new and exciting ways to keep our archive groups active and interesting. Look out for news on here of events coming up later in the year for groups to part part in, including workshops, training and support! On another note we are very pleased to tell you that CCAN has been nominated for an high profile internet award and has been shortlisted!!!! More news about this coming soon :)
The Cambridgeshire Community Archive Network (CCAN) currently has 48 digital community archives. So far groups have added over 25,000 fascinating records. Explore further by visiting our website www.ccan.co.uk
CCAN Groups are created by people like you and it doesn't cost anything for you to add your material, just get in touch!
If you would like to contribute to any group then click the ‘Apply to be a Contributor’ button to the left of the home page of any of the groups.
You can then begin adding your material to the digital collection. Your contributions will not immediately appear on the site as all contributions are moderated before the site is updated to prevent unsuitable material being published.
CCAN digital collections are created and owned by the communities themselves. Any material added to CCAN collections become available in a digital form on the internet as a not-for-profit educational resource.
The site accepts uploads of images, text, audio (shot sound bites of oral history which can stand alone or be attached to photographs) video and hotspots. Hotspots are a feature allowing information tags to be added to records and links to be made between records.
Should you encounter any difficulties please use the ‘Help’ icon at the top of all pages. If you need further help please contact the group contact found on the Home page or for technical assistance email at support@ccan.co.uk .

We had a lovely group meeting last week for Cherry Hinton Community Archives and I am pleased to announce that Cherry Hinton Archives will be working in association with History Pin with archived material being uploaded over the next couple of months. This will mean you can benefit from seeing many of our pictures in Google Street View and you'll be able to add comments to our various archive pictures and stories. If you have anything you wish to add to either Cherry Hinton Community Archives or History Pin and would like some help, please feel free to get in touch with us or use the 'contact me' page of this website :)
I am also pleased to formally announce our association with the Cambridgeshire Collection, who have been involved with the CCAN project from the start. All of our pictures, stories, audio, video etc. will be shared with the Cambridgeshire Collection as a long term archive availble to the public.

NEWS FLASH!!! NEWS FLASH!!!

I am pleased to announce that I am now working in co-ordination with We Are What We Do & Google on a fantastic new project called 'HISTORY PIN'. I am so pleased I have been one of the first people in Cambridgeshire to trial this project and have already added history photos and stories to Google Maps via HISTORY PIN. See below for the OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE!

I will be working with the project both as an individual and in co-operation with Cambridge Community Archives Network (CCAN). The official launch of the project is next week - I will keep you posted on how that goes, how you can be involved and how you can help record Cambridgeshire's past on this world wide platform :)

Social movement WE ARE WHAT WE DO has joined forces with Google to create Historypin – a digital time machine that creates a new way for the world to see and share history.

Using Google Maps and Streetview technology, Historypin aims to become the largest user-generated archive of the world’s historical images and stories. Its growth relies on archives and the public to dig out, upload and place their old photos onto the site. Uniquely, Historypin allows users to layer their old images onto modern Street View scenes, creating a series of windows into the past.

Working together to develop and deliver Historypin, WE ARE WHAT WE DO and Google have shared a commitment to digital inclusion and finding innovative ways of bringing generations together around online tools. As part of WE ARE WHAT WE DO’s current campaign to get different generations talking more, Historypin was conceived as a fun and easy way for old & young to come together to share their history.

WE ARE WHAT WE DO are inviting the archivist community to participate in growing Historypin. Contributers to date include Mirrorpix, London Transport Museum, London Metropolitan Archives, Cambridge Community Archives Network & many more.

Am now covered in big insect bites and calamine lotion from our explore of Sawston spooky, swampy wood on Sunday. That'll teach me to go walking in woods with flip flops on!
I have been back down the cellers of Cherry Hinton Hall this morning to gather up and rescue more of the archives which were discovered there a couple of months ago.
Cambridge International School now rent the Hall building from the council and the teachers and pupils there have been a fantastic inspriation. They have taken real care and interest in their School Building and the history of the site and local area. I went out to visit them a couple of months ago to take them some old maps, records and artifacts relating to the building and site. Also to show the children around the parkland and point out and show them all the lumps and bumps on the ground, telling them what we think is hidden beneath.
While I took some of the children round the park one of the teachers did a history trail in the Hall building which included a visit down the cellers. The children came up from the celler clutching handfulls of interesting old documents from the mid 20th century and paper work which they had discovered down there. There were things like old Folk Festival programmes from the 1970's, Royal Ballet tickets, City Council amenities records and all sorts. I then went down the celler to see where these had all come from and I found there was a very sizable amount of these documents all piled up on a ledge and some in old decaying wooden crates. The cellers, were vey dark - no electricity - and very, very damp, with running water culverts in places. The documents were in need of being removed and examined as soon as possible. So it was agreed that I could go back sometime soon and take the archives out and remove them to the Cherry Hinton Community Archives Group  (CHCCAN) for examination and if appropriate, recording and making public via our website.
A couple of weeks ago both myself and Jon Phillips (CHCCAN) went down in the cellers to begin sorting this lost archive out but not having electricity and the sheer amount which was there, we decided to take a sample of the archive and come back another day with re-enforcements and better lighting!
On Saturday the Cambridge International School was awarded a CYPHA award (Cambridgeshire Young Persons History Award) at the CALH (Cambridgeshire Association for Local History) AGM & awards in Toft, Cambridge. I put the school forward for this award as I was so impressed by the work the children had produced on their local area and the interest they had shown in the history and how the teachers had been so encouraging. You can see more about this on their website and more about the awards at CALH
Today I have been back to the cellers, along with Jon & Nicola Phillips to retreive the remaining archives. This time we had much better lighting (it is very spooky down in those cellers!) and we spend a good couple of hours ferrying the archives out of the celler to my car. There was so much! A lot had, sadly, been so badly damaged by water and had rotted but a huge amount was still fine - there was a lot of old council reocrds from the 1930's to late 1970's. Lots of interest, with things like parks and gardens records, items from the allotment society and records of the Cambridge Festival etc. My car was filled - literally! As so much of the material didn't actually relate to the Hall itself or just to Cherry Hinton village, I decided to give my friend Phillip Sauders a ring. Phillip is a well known Cambridgeshire archivist working at Cambridgeshire Archives (formally Cambrigeshire Records Office). I had a chat about what we had and asked him if I could pop up to Shire Hall to the Cambs Archives so that he could have a look and see if he was interested. He agreed, so off I went, car nearly touching the floor with the weight! (good job I have an old banger). Phillip and one of the conservators came out to the car and had a good look and decided they would be able to take the archives in and sort them out, which was fantastic news :)
Once they have had chance to go through them properly, Phillip will get back to me with an update and we'll see how it goes.
So all in all, I'm very pleased that we were able to rescue these documents before they degraded any further.