Current Events - Summer visits 2022

The arrangements for each of our visits will comply with Covid 19 regulations in force at the time. Only members can book so for obvious reasons only part of the information is shown below. It is not too late for you to join the Society when full details will then be released to you to enable you to book. Should it be necessary for any to be cancelled, then refund of the booking fee will be made without delay.

For details on our very modest subscription rates and how to join please visit our Join Us page. The larger our membership the more influence we can bring over matters of concern.

	Hidden gems of the Minster Precincts - May - cost £9.00 per person Minster Precincts visit is now fully booked. To take place on one Wednesday in May assembling at 2.00pm. Price includes afternoon tea at Becketts Tearooms. This tour will be led by our committee members, Henry Mansell Duckett, Toby Wood, and David Turnock. We will progress around the Minster Precincts (with, we hope, entry into the Knight’s Chamber) and then pass through the cloisters to Laurel Court and the Almoner’s Hall (see left). We will return around the back of the Cathedral viewing the heritage buildings and gardens enroute. Henry will guide us through the history and architecture of the various buildings, with Toby explaining the significance of the blue plaques that we will encounter along the way. We will return to the Precincts at 3.30pm for tea and cakes, to be provided by Beckett’s Tearoom. At 4.00 pm, David will lead us across to the Northminster development sites and the Stanley Rec, so that we can see for ourselves the enhanced views of the Cathedral that are currently available following demolitions. He will then outline the impact that the tall new buildings will have on those views for the indefinite future. The visit will end at approximately 4.45pm. Members may also wish to take in the Cathedral’s Gift Shop, which has had a full makeover.

	Southwick Hall - June - cost £18.00 per person Southwick Hall visit is now fully booked. To take place on one Wednesday in June assembling at 2.00pm. Price includes afternoon tea at the Hall. Southwick is situated approximately three miles north of Oundle and twelve miles from Peterborough. Southwick Hall has been the manor house and family home of just three families over the past seven centuries. It is Grade 1 listed and displays a fascinating mixture of architectural styles, having been adapted over time in the light of changing requirements and fashions. The Hall is currently open only for group visits. Our visit will commence with a guided tour of the Hall, including a number of exhibitions, which will last until approximately 3.30pm. We will then take tea, provided by Hannah’s Tempting Treats, either in the Dining Room or on the lawn. At 4.00pm, we will progress to St Mary’s Church (five minutes’ walk) to view in particular the stunning memorial to George Lynn (d. 1758) by Roubiliac. We will return to the Hall at approximately 4.45pm where we can view the Bygones Museum and enjoy the extensive grounds. The visit will conclude at 5.15pm. Please note that the Hall has no lift. One of the staircases is very steep but there is an alternative route for visitors who can manage normal stairs. For those with an appetite for more, we hope to arrange for Fotheringhay Church to be opened for us at 5.30pm. With restoration works completed, it can now be viewed without scaffolding for the first time for several years.

	John Clare's Helpston - July - cost £12.00 per person To take place on one Wednesday in July assembling at 2.00pm. Price includes tea at the John Clare Cottage. Our visit will begin with a brief tour of the church, also taking in John Clare’s tomb and the memorial erected in his honour in 1869, five years after his death. We will then move on to the John Clare Cottage, the poet’s home for his first forty years. The Cottage was purchased by the John Clare Trust in 2005 to preserve it for future generations. It was then restored using traditional building methods to create a centre where people can learn about the poet’s life and works and how rural people lived in the early nineteenth century. Some of the rooms have been returned to a style appropriate to that time. The gardens have been remodelled and planted with varieties that would have been familiar in Clare’s lifetime. At 4.00pm we will take tea in the Cottage Café. The visit will conclude at 4.45pm. Please note that the Cottage itself contains an authentically steep staircase.

	Remarkable Ramsey - August - cost £15.00 per person To take place on one Wednesday in August assembling at 2.00pm. Price includes tea at the Ramey Rural Museum. In the middle ages, Ramsey’s great abbey vied with that of Peterborough for top ranking in the monastic premier league. Alas, all that remains visible is the parish church, which began life as the abbey’s infirmary, and the Abbey Gateway now in the care of the National Trust. However, the village has other distinctive features and we will be covering two of them in this visit. We will begin with a guided tour of the Ramsey Rural Museum which was founded by volunteers in 1977. Their concern was that the area’s traditional agricultural heritage was in danger of being obliterated by the spread of modern farming methods. Since then, the Museum has gathered an extensive range of agricultural, domestic, and retail exhibits which are well displayed in several buildings, one of which dates from the seventeenth century. A relocated Fenland cabin will generate instant nostalgia in anyone brought up in the post-war countryside! At 3.30pm, we will be treated to a cream tea in the Museum café. At 3.55pm, we will move on to the Ramsey Walled Garden, which is about 400 yards away from the Museum and accessed via a level grass path. (Our cars can remain in the Museum car park). The Walled Garden extends to about one acre and was created around 1840 to serve as the kitchen garden for the adjacent stately home. The house was turned over to school use in the 1930’s and afterwards the Walled Garden fell out of production, declining into a state of complete dereliction. Only in 1996 did another band of volunteers begin the daunting task of restoration, which is now well in progress, including the construction of a new glasshouse. After hearing the restoration story and viewing the garden, we will be able to inspect and purchase plants, produce, and preserves (possibly including mulberry jam). This visit will conclude at 5.00pm.

Completed talks

13 September 2021 7.30pm - Peterborough Exciting Developments 2021

with Tom Hennessy, Director, Opportunity Peterborough

Opportunity Peterborough (OP) is the private not-for-profit company wholly owned by the City Council that, since 2010, has been charged with leading the city’s economic development and inward investment activity. This involves marketing Peterborough and working with incoming businesses to make their arrival here as smooth as possible, but also supporting the growth and development of existing local companies.

OP’s highly professional website sets out the many factors that continue to drive our city’s growth, but positive outcomes cannot be taken for granted and need to be nurtured. We have seen high-profile losses, such as Thomas Cook and John Lewis, as well as many gains, while much modern office space that could have provided job opportunities is also being lost through flat conversions.

Where then should Peterborough’s future economic growth be sought? OP lists six high performing sectors – advanced engineering and manufacturing, agritech, food and drink, digital and creative, energy and environment, and financial services – as being our city’s areas of strength. The creation of our own university campus and the refreshing of many of our public facilities through the Towns Fund programme should also help OP to attract new private investment.

In this talk, Tom Hennessy will outline for us OP’s vision and strategy. Tom joined OP in 2014 and became its Director three years’ ago. He also serves as a director of City Culture Peterborough and as a governor of City College. His educational attainments include an MBA from the University of Plymouth and an MSc in Development Management from the Open University.

11 October 2021 7.30pm - Cambridgeshire Historic Churches in the Peterborough area and the work of the Trust

with David Stazicker, Trustee of the Cambridgeshire Historic Churches Trust

The main aim of the Cambridgeshire Historic Churches Trust is to provide financial assistance to the parishes of Cambridgeshire, when they undertake repair projects affecting the fabric, fixtures, furniture and ornaments of their historic churches and chapels.

Buildings belonging to any Christian denomination are eligible, provided they are likely to remain in use for public worship and be properly maintained for the foreseeable future. Grants and loans are available for the repair of an eligible building and its building services, including rewiring and heating projects.

Since its formation in 1983, the Trust has provided parishes with £3 million in concessionary loans and over £1 million in grants. The Trust also seeks to promote interest in the heritage of these places of worship and the central place they play in local communities.

Our speaker, David Stazicker, has served as a trustee of the Trust since 2016. He lives in the county, at Mepal, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

8 November 2021 7.30pm - D'Arcy Jewellers, Peterborough's Oldest Shop with David D'Arcy

Many members of the Society will have been saddened to learn of the closure of D’Arcy’s jewellers at no.7 Westgate on August 28th after a trading history of 166 years. As the oldest shop in Peterborough with a distinctive and historic frontage, it had a unique place in Peterborough’s commercial heritage.

There has been a building on the site at least from 1791 and quite possibly earlier, with the jewellers’ shop first being established by Walter Sawyer in 1855. In December 1923, Mr Sawyer rented the property and business to Jack D'Arcy, who had trained as a jeweller in Yorkshire. Since then, four generations of the D’Arcy family have been involved in the management and operation of the shop, which also served in the early days as the family home.

Jack D’Arcy was very involved in the public life of the city, serving as president of both the Chamber of Trade and City Rotary Club. The family has also had a long association with the Society, including taking part in our recent Heritage Open Days two weeks after the closure of the shop

So, until this year, J.W. D'Arcy, remained a family owned and run business, committed to the highest standards of customer service and expertise. Sadly, changing consumer preferences have now brought about the shop’s closure, but we will be privileged to hear about its long history as Peterborough’s premier jewellers, as told by David D’Arcy, of the fourth generation, who has himself served as a director of the business.

13 December 2021 7.30pm - Yule Logs and Boy Bishops, a look at Medieval Christmas Customs

with Chris Carr, Briga and friends

This is an appropriately seasonal look at medieval Christmas customs brought to us by Briga and friends, a local group whose motto is “bringing history to life”. They have been operating for over ten years, offering talks and workshops in settings ranging from the pre-Roman era, through the Roman, medieval, and Tudor periods and including some more modern themes.

Briga and friends are led by Chris Carr. Chris has an MA in Classical Studies and has also studied medieval and renaissance history at undergraduate level. Her particular area of interest is social history: how ordinary folk lived, what they wore and ate, how they kept clean and healthy, and how the major events of history changed their lives. She is a member of the Medieval Sokemen (a Peterborough-based living history group specialising in medieval and Tudor history) and a founder member of The Longthorpe Legion, who re-enact the life of the IX Legion and aim to portray the wider effects of the Romans’ arrival in Britain, appearing regularly at the Peterborough Heritage Festival.

10 January 2022 7.30pm - our Annual General Meeting followed by - Peterborough Bridges with Brian Keegan

From our viewpoint, “crossing the river” is a simple enough exercise and we may hardly notice the bridges as we cruise at full speed along the Parkways. However, for most of Peterborough’s history river crossings were anything but simple, often involving long detours, and then wading through fords, paying for ferries, or entrusting one’s life to primitive bridges of dubious strength.

Over the centuries the bridge builders grew in confidence, so that the resulting structures could be not just useful but also elegant, as with Milton Bridge. During the past two hundred years, iron, steel, and concrete have allowed engineers to construct new crossings on a scale beyond the dreams of our ancestors so that, including footbridges, there are now eighteen river bridges in place between Wansford and Dog-in-a-Doublet, with one more in prospect. In addition, Peterborough has literally hundreds of other bridges over roads, railways, and minor watercourses.

Brian Keegan, former county councillor and long-term active citizen, will be our guide amongst this profusion of local bridges, highlighting the features that are of special interest. Brian is a civil engineer by profession and was for some years the structural engineer responsible for most of the city’s bridges while working for the City Council.

14 February 2022 7.30pm - John Clare Countryside: Enhancing Peterborough's Rural, Natural and Built Heritage

image missing please notify webmaster The John Clare Countryside project was launched in 2019 and is co-ordinated by the Langdyke Countryside Trust. Its objectives are to create and deliver an ambitious and accessible nature recovery programme across the landscapes to the west of Peterborough (roughly forming a triangle bounded by Northborough, Burghley Park and Ferry Meadows). Its programme is to be designed, led, and supported by the residents, landowners, farmers, businesses, and parish councils of the area and it will combine concern with the natural and built heritage including its links through John Clare with literature and the arts.

Fifteen parish councils are already on board to support the project. Their local communities are drawing up nature recovery plans with the intention that each plan should cover an initial ten-year period. Clear outcomes are to be set out, so that local people can take interest and pride in the progress being made and the targets being reached. They should be developed by local people so that the aspirations reflect what inspires those communities, be it wildlife, tree planting, creating ponds, or community gardens.

To explain the project vision and to describe the progress made so far, we are delighted to welcome Richard Astle, who is a long-term friend and supporter of the Civic Society. After a career in the Foreign Office, Richard moved on to found Athene Communications, which has established a national reputation as a provider of high-quality public relations advice. He has long had a passion for nature and was instrumental in 1999 in founding the Langdyke Countryside Trust which now manages seven local nature reserves in the rural area north of Peterborough.

Following his presentation, Richard has kindly made his slides available and they can be downloaded by following the link.

14 March 2022 7.30pm - The Stamford Canal - the earliest canal in England

In Peterborough, we are only too familiar with development proposals that take several decades to come to fruition, but, even so, it is surprising to learn that the Stamford Canal was first authorised under Elizabeth I in 1571 yet wasn’t completed until 1670. The purpose of the Canal was to facilitate the transport of goods such as barley and coal from the limit of navigation on the River Welland at Deeping St James up to the important town of Stamford. For its time, it was a remarkable and ambitious project, requiring the construction of twelve locks.

The Canal proved successful for close to two hundred years but was dealt a fatal blow by the arrival of the Midland Railway in Stamford in 1848, succumbing to this new competition after only fifteen years.

We welcome to our meeting Ken Otter to chart the difficult birth, successful operation, and ultimate demise of the Canal and to describe the various features that are still visible today. Ken lives close by the former course of the Canal, in Tallington, where he serves as a member of the parish council.

11 April 2022 7.30pm - Developments at Peterborough Cathedral

In Peterborough, news stories about “intractable financial problems” all too often refer to the affairs of our City Council, but they could just as readily apply to the travails of our wonderful Cathedral. For those with responsibility for the care, maintenance, and enhancement of the Cathedral, this limitation in available funds must greatly add to the difficulty they face in advising the Dean and Chapter how best to address the many competing demands arising from such a large, complex, and vulnerable building. There are, too, approval processes of Byzantine complexity in place to ensure, as far as possible, that no missteps are made in carrying out works that may affect the Cathedral’s appearance and structural integrity for not just decades but centuries to come.

Taking on these responsibilities is not for the fainthearted and the Cathedral was fortunate in 2014 to secure the services of Stephen Oliver, our speaker for this meeting, as its Cathedral Architect.

Stephen was born in Hampshire and comes from a long line of builders. He studied for his degrees at the Cambridge University School of Architecture, obtaining membership of the RIBA in 1995. His special interests are in ecclesiastical architecture, the Arts and Crafts Movement, and the use of traditional building materials and craft skills in conservation work. He formed his own practice, Oliver Architecture Ltd, in 2013. Apart from his work for the Cathedral, his firm has also taken on other local assignments for St John’s Church; the parish churches of Castor, Longthorpe, and Sutton; Apethorpe Palace; and Lyveden New Bield.

9 May 2022 7.30pm - A Peterborough university update

Peterborough’s journey towards university status has proved remarkably protracted, but we can now be confident that we are well on our way. Recent years have seen University Centre Peterborough established on the Peterborough College site, and now the first phase of Anglia Ruskin’s ARU Peterborough Campus is rapidly approaching completion and will be receiving its first cohort of students this September. Two further phases of the Campus are under development for completion by 2023 and 2028.

The aim of ARU Peterborough is to work with employers as co-creators in delivering a curriculum which will be led by student and employer demand. It will help to address the known problem of inadequate skill levels across Peterborough, improving the employment prospects of individuals, enhancing Peterborough’s offer for employers, and helping our area to build its economic prosperity.

To guide us through the development programme for ARU, we are pleased to welcome Mahmood Foroughi, Senior Responsible Officer for Higher Education at the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, who since 2020 has been acting as the ARU Programme Director for all phases.

Prior to his current assignment, Mr Foroughi has undertaken similar roles at the University of East Anglia, Cambridgeshire University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and Swansea University. He is an engineer by profession and holds a Master of Science degree in Estates and Facilities Management from University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

Previous speakers from past years

Our previous speakers and their subjects can be found here.

Summer visits 2021 - now concluded

For details on our very modest subscription rates and how to join please visit our Join Us page. The larger our membership the more influence we can bring over matters of concern.

	Fletton Quays and the Embankment - July - cost £12.00 per person This tour is now fully booked. A walking tour of the area led by members of the committee taking in the various aspects of housing, commercial and hotel development in Fletton Quays. Tour includes four of our blue plaques and the re-installed Mitchell bas-relief and possibly the outstanding repurposing of the Victorian former engine shed. Afternoon tea will be provided. Toby Wood's photo presentation contrasting the old and new faces of this part of the city was circulated in advance to those attendees on email, and this is available for download. Local author and railway historian Peter Waszak gave a presentation about the Engine Shed. Peter wrote an article for Peterborough Local History Society magazine about history of the building, which he has kindly made available to us and is available for download. The following plaques (available on this website) were seen, our original Victorian Railway Engine Shed from 2009, see photo of the building taken at that time when in a very run down condition, and our new blue plaque to the Engine Shed and our plaque to the site of the former East Station.

	Picturesque Peakirk - August - cost £12.00 per person This tour is now fully booked. A get-yourself-there trip with parking at the Village Hall. Trish Roberts will give a talk about the history of the church and village, followed by a talk from Dr Avril Lumley-Prior about the famous wall paintings. Then a scrumptious home baked tea followed by walk led by Dr Lumley-Prior around the tight medieval core of the village. Peakirk Archaeological Survey Team may try to coincide the visit with an archaeological test pit and display on the village green. We will also be able to visit an engineering museum, not normally open to the public. St. Pega’s Church has recently lost its lead roof due to thieves, thus threatening its precious wall paintings. Our visit will give the Society an opportunity to contribute to safeguarding both church and paintings for future generations.

	The Shuttleworth Estates - aircraft, gardens & heritage - September - £36.00 per person Another get-yourself-there trip with ample parking on site The Shuttleworth Estate contains three separate attractions: The famous Collection of sixty veteran and vintage aircraft (1909–1960) and other transport items. The Swiss Garden, an outstanding example of the Regency fashion for creating landscapes in a picturesque alpine style. Shuttleworth House, a grade II* listed mansion, built for the Shuttleworth family in 1875 and set in attractive parkland. In the morning we will receive an overview of the Shuttleworth story with coffee and tea. Then a selfguided entry for the whole day to all three parts of the site. The Aircraft Collection is housed adjacent to the reception area and can easily absorb a full morning’s attention. Most of the aircraft are maintained in flying condition and may be some aerial activity. Lunch is not included in the cost but it can be taken on site at the Restaurant or, for those bringing their own food, at the picnic area. Afternoon, transport by vintage bus from the Collection to Shuttleworth House for a guided tour lasting about one hour. (The House can also be reached by car, having its own car park, or by a pleasant twenty-minute walk through the park.) Afterwards return in the bus to explore the Swiss Garden. Cream tea provided.

Some photos from Fletton Quays and the Embankment visit

Some photos from the Peakirk visit

Some photos from the Shuttleworth visit

Committee Meetings

Committee meetings are normally arranged on the first Monday of each month throughout the year, except January and May which are on the second Monday.

Summaries of the society's talks and accounts of its visits appear in our Annual Report. The contents of our most recent Annual Reports are listed here To obtain a copy please write or email our Secretary.

page last changed 19 May 2022