I am pleased to announce that we have another new Cambridgeshire Community Archive Group (CCAN). The beautiful village of Elton in the very far north west of Cambs has joined our brilliant community archives network. They have a very good village society and have a wonderful heritage project on the go, with exciting events such as their very own ‘Big Dig’ and the involvement of the whole community and village school is something to be admired. We are really looking forward to seeing the Elton CCAN group additions to the CCAN website.

CCAN is Cambridgeshire’s online community archive, a place to see old pictures, photos, written and recorded memories, pod-casts and video clips along with living history as groups record their activities from today for the history of tomorrow. If you would like to know more or get involved please Contact Me and I will help you.

We had a fantastic CCAN (Cambs Community Archives) AGM this year. Held in the conference room, in Cambridge Central Library, right next to the Cambridgeshire Collection. So many people turned up we were in danger of spilling out in to the main library! It was brilliant to see so many of you there and we all felt very proud to be part of such a great and worthwhile project. Well done to everyone involved in CCAN for making it such a strong and inspiring group. We look forward to welcoming along more groups and people and I can’t wait to see what archives and tales you all add over the next year! Many thanks too for Chris Jakes who gave us an excellent talk on the work and use of the Cambridgeshire Collection, we are very pleased to work in partnership with such a great resource.

I had a nice time visiting the very active St Neots Community Archives Group the other week. This is a great CCAN group, very busy and full of ideas and upcoming projects. The St Neots CCAN group includes adjoining parishes such as Yelling, Eaton Socon, Wyboston, Staploe and Paxton to name but a few. The group met for their meeting in the St Neots Musuem which is well worth a visit if you are ever that way. I am particularly fond of this museum as it is home to a life size wall chart depicting my relative, James Toller, The Eynesbury Giant. There will be more, coming soon, about him in the Michells's Archives section of this website)

St. Neots Community Archive has been set up to collect information about the past from the above-mentioned parishes and the surrounding villages. If you have any pictures, old maps or interesting stories that you would like to be included in the St. Neots Community Archive, please contact Pam Ostler at St. Neots Museum or Sue Jarrett at ccanstneots@gmail.com

If you would like further details of how to have your own CCAN site then please get in touch with me using the 'Contact Me' form :)

I have been helping out with a fantastic new project in Stilton, Cambs. Can't say too much yet but over the year I will be able to let you know all the exciting things planned! I had been meaning to go to Stilton for a long time, I always thought I'd take an afternoon drive out there to visit and buy some Stilton cheese and then go on to Melton Mowbray to get a pork pie and then find another local foody place, just for fun. When I finally managed to visit Stilton a few weeks ago I was surprised how close of the A1 it was. I had always noticed the signs for it on the A1 when going up towards Peterbourgh but thought that it must be several miles away when in fact it is right next to the A1. When you enter Stilton - which is in Cambridgeshire - you immediately take note of the impressively wide main street, which you'll soon realise was the original 'A1' or rather the Great North Road. It definitely has the 'Roman Road' look and feel about it but most likely goes way back, as a routeway, into prehistory. The current A1 is a bypass to Stilton. The next thing you'll notice are the wonderful old and impressive building lining this road. Several of which were very large coaching houses for weary travellers of the past to take rest.
I had a lovely meeting with the Stilton history expert in one of these, now restored, coaching inns, where we discussed all the exciting plans for the upcoming projects in Stilton including Stilton CCAN, Stilton Cheese, Films and Heritage Centres :)
One of the rooms we had coffee in was called the Turpin room, where the famous Dick Turpin, Highway Man, is reputed to have stayed.
We of course had to eat lots of different Stilton cheeses!!!
More news on this to follow in time :)

We have been donated some amazing old photos of the village and members of the Cherry Hinton Archives group have been busy getting them scanned in and uploaded to our CCAN site. We have also got a brilliant set of cine films which show various parts of Cambridge and Cherry Hinton in the 1960’s which we are having transferred to DVD. More news on that as we progress.

Here's just a couple of those pictures:

We, like many of the counties CCAN groups still have lots and lots of photos and stories to upload and continue to build a fantastic community record of life and history in our villages. If you have any memories, stories, pictures, photos and/or ephemera to share we’d love to hear from you. We don’t just want old photos though, all CCAN groups are also a ‘living memory’ and we record current history too. Things like changes to buildings, local events, news and updates on our areas. We also carry out voice recordings, oral history, make pod-casts, videos, DVD’s, books and much more!

Most CCAN groups have regular open meetings that you can attend and bring along your contributions. You don’t have to part with your pictures if you don’t want to either as all groups will scan in you items and give them back to you if you wish. To find out more or to get involved Contact Me or visit www.ccan.co.uk

Last week I visited the Soham CCAN (Cambridge Community Archives Network). They are a very active lot with their history in Soham! They are several history related groups and even the museum which will soon have a home and all the groups are linked one way or another. The Soham CCAN group have been working on some great research projects such as the evacuees, the Jewish School and they have been busy collecting and recording oral history around the town. I really enjoyed my visit to the group as not only were they a lovely bunch but I also used to live in Soham and I always enjoy my visits back there :)

We had our CCAN (Cambridgeshire Community Archives Network) executive committee meeting yesterday and some really positive things came out of it. CCAN has made such a big difference in moving forwards the digital capture and recording of archives in the county and we are looking forward to some great new CCAN groups joining us over the next few months.

Our AGM is coming up to which all CCAN groups are invited to come along and if they wish, bring a display. The AGM will in the conference room of the Central Library Cambridge, which is on the third floor right next to the Cambridgeshire Collection and opposite the café. The AGM will start at 2pm, on Thursday 7th April 2011, and Chris Jakes from the Cambs Collection will be giving us a talk on archives – and you will get chance to network with other CCAN groups from across the county, catch up on CCAN news and show off some of the things your groups have been doing. Look forward to seeing you there!!!

If you would like to know more about how to get involved with CCAN just use the Contact Me form, leave your name and number and I will get back to you.

I had a lovely time yesterday as I met up with the Histon and Impington Village Society History Group to tell them all about CCAN, I was treated to a lovely dinner before hand by  Eleanor Whitehead, and enjoyed seeing a few familiar faces. Cambridgeshire is blessed to have so many great communities and such a wide variety of history groups. I love getting out and about to visit them. If you would like to know about a history group in your area why not visit the Cambridgeshire Association for Local History website,  where you can find details of all the great Cambridgeshire history groups and societies!

www.calh.org.uk

I've had a lovely time visiting many of our CCAN groups over the last couple of months and it's great to see what a fantastic community we have become - all collecting, archiving and sharing Cambridgeshire's history. There are so many exciting plans for 2011 for CCAN and we've had a brilliant year this year.
On my History and Archeology page in the CCAN section you'll find news and updates along with featured groups, here's just a snippet from the Cam-Mind CCAN group:
Our archive group meets once a month and we currently have 22 pages on the CCAN site dating back to 1908 and right up to what is going on now at Cam-mind.  Joining CCAN has given us the opportunity to make available all the old newspaper articles relating to the very beginning of our organisation when the Association for the Care of the Feeble Minded was formed by Darwin’s daughter in law – Ida and Mrs FA Keynes (wife of the famous economist), as well as preserving current documents for everyone who has an interest in our work.
why not click here to read more

MEMORY WALLS at Libraries across Cambridgeshire from 1st -19th December 2010. Why not pop along and add your memories of the High Street and shops!

For more details of all the events listed below please Contact Me

Cambridge CCAN Group & Chesterton Local History Group – will be supporting the High Street History Memory Wall at Arbury & Milton Road Libraries 1st-19th December 2010

Cambridge CCAN Group & Barnwell & Fen Ditton Local History Society - will be supporting the High Street History Memory Wall at Barnwell Library 1st-19th December 2010. Holding Various face to face support sessions over the project period.

Cambs CCAN Group & Buckden Local History Society – will be supporting the High Street History Memory Wall at Buckden Library 1st-19th December 2010

Cambs CCAN Group & Burwell History Society – will be supporting the High Street History Memory Wall at Burwell Library 1st-19th December 2010

Cambridge CCAN Group & Cambridgeshire Collection – will be supporting the High Street History Memory Wall at Cambridge Central Library 1st-19th December 2010

Cambs CCAN Group – will be supporting the High Street History Memory Wall at Bar Hill & Cambourne Libraries 1st-19th December 2010

Chatteris CCAN Group – will be supporting the High Street History Memory Wall at Chatteris Library 1st-19th December 2010. Chatteris CCAN will also be at the library on the 3rd December to help support people who have something to contribute.

Cherry Hinton CCAN Group – will be supporting the High Street History Memory Wall at Cherry Hinton & Rock Road Libraries 1st-19th December 2010

Cambs CCAN Group – will be supporting the High Street History Memory Wall at Comberton Library 1st-19th December 2010

Cottenham CCAN Group – will be supporting the High Street History Memory Wall at Cottenham Library 1st-19th December 2010 (see also the notice above)

Ely CCAN Group - will be supporting the High Street History Memory Wall at Ely Library 1st-19th December 2010

Cambs CCAN Group & Great Shelford Oral History Group– will be supporting the High Street History Memory Wall at Great Shelford Library 1st-19th December 2010

 Hilton CCAN Group & Hilton Village Digital Archive - will be supporting the High Street History Memory Wall at St Ives Library 1st-19th December 2010

Cambs CCAN Group & Histon & Impington Village Society – will be supporting the High Street History Memory Wall at Histon Library 1st-19th December 2010

Huntingdon CCAN Group – will be supporting the High Street History Memory Wall at Huntingdon Library 1st-19th December 2010

Linton CCAN Group & Linton & District Historical Society – will be supporting the High Street History Memory Wall at Linton Library 1st-19th December 2010

Cambs CCAN Group – will be supporting the High Street History Memory Wall at Littleport Library 1st-19th December 2010

March CCAN Group - will be supporting the High Street History Memory Wall at March Library 1st-19th December 2010

Papworth Heritage Centre CCAN Group CCAN Group – will be supporting the High Street History Memory Wall at Papworth Library 1st-19th December 2010

Ramsey CCAN Group – will be supporting the High Street History Memory Wall at Ramsey Library 1st-19th December 2010. Holding several linked events and sessions over the project period.

Sawston CCAN Group – will be supporting the High Street History Memory Wall at Sawston Library 1st-19th December 2010

Sawtry CCAN Group – will be supporting the High Street History Memory Wall at Sawtry Library 1st-19th December 2010 – Sawtry CCAN Group will also be holding face-to-face memory gatherings at Sawtry Library on the 8th December 2pm-5pm and on the 14th December 4pm-7pm

Soham CCAN Group - will be supporting the High Street History Memory Wall at Soham Library 1st-19th December 2010

Cambs CCAN Group & Warboys Local History Society – will be supporting the High Street History Memory Wall at Warboys Library 1st-19th December 2010

Cambs CCAN Group & Old Willingham Society – will be supporting the High Street History Memory Wall at Willingham Library 1st-19th December 2010

Wisbech CCAN Group – will be supporting the High Street History Memory Wall at Wisbech Library 1st-19th December 2010

Cambs CCAN Group – will be supporting the High Street History Memory Wall at Whittlesey Library 1st-19th December 2010

Yaxley CCAN Group – will be supporting the High Street History Memory Wall at Yaxley Library 1st-19th December 2010