Our columnist on some of the local stories that caught his eye in 2024.
The strange light over a farm that uses ‘simulated sunlight’ to grow cucumbers, as seen from Padney Road in Wicken. Picture: Alicia BasilShawes
Close encounter of the fen kind: The year got off to a flying (saucer) start as strange lights were spotted in the skies above Cambridgeshire. But what looked like an alien invasion turned out to have a more down-to-Earth explanation: farmers using ‘simulated sunlight’ to grow cucumbers. So less little green men, more little green fruits. (Yes, it’s a fruit – don’t write in.)
83 homes at Darwin Green were demolished because they had ‘faulty foundations’. Picture: Keith Heppell
Bringing the house down: Amidst all the talk this year of accelerating Britain’s housebuilding programme, Cambridge was busy knocking them down. A total of 83 homes at the Darwin Green estate were demolished in January because they’d been built with ‘faulty foundations’. (Oh well, at least it was only the foundations, not anything important.) Meanwhile, the new Histon Road surface was already disintegrating, and the Milton Road revamp was re-revamped because of a ‘design error’. But apart from that, it was all going terribly well.
The General Election defeat put an end to Michael Gove’s dream of building thousands of new homes in Cambridge. Picture: Steve Parsons/PA
Gove-ing, Gove-ing, gone: Speaking of houses, the election of a new government put an end to Michael Gove’s dream of building a gazillion new homes in Cambridge. Which is just as well, as it would have been a massive pain having to knock them all down again.
The Cambridge Don was finally toppled from its perch on Hills Road. Picture: Keith Heppell
Statue, Philip?: A famously hideous statue of (it says here) the late Duke of Edinburgh was finally toppled from its perch on Hills Road, after Cambridge City Council’s planning enforcement team swooped in to take swift action – a mere 10 years after it was put up without permission. Meanwhile, the current Duke of Edinburgh turned DJ when he took to the decks at The Junction. All together now: “Raise one’s hands in the air like one just doesn’t care!”
Corpus Christi porter Lee Peters helps the ducklings inside St Catharine’s College. Picture: Corpus Christi
Where do I send the bill?: In April, the Cambridge Independent followed Corpus Christi porter Lee Peters as he escorted a mother duck and her 13 ducklings from the college to the river. In what has been an annual tradition since the 1960s, the ducks are let out through Corpus’ Golden Gate, then escorted across Trumpington Street, through St Catharine’s College, across Queens’ Lane, into Queens’ College, up some steps, across the Mathematical Bridge and finally onto the riverbank. Which is all very sweet – but surely ducks would feel more at home at Down-ing College. (No? Suit yourselves.)
Nick Hurd with one of the boulders at Owlstone Henge, Newnham. Picture: Keith Heppell
Rock stars: In Newnham, a legend of Arthurian proportions was forged as residents fought ‘the Battle of Owlstone Henge’. OK, so it was actually a petty row over four decorative boulders, which Cambridge City Council claimed were “having a detrimental impact on the quality of lives in Cambridge”. As the conflict escalated, one wag even designated the boulders “an environmental crime scene” – complete with ‘envirocrime’ police tape. But the council eventually conceded defeat to the victorious residents. As of yet, no brown sign marking the site of this historic battle has been erected, but it’s surely only a matter of time.
Aerial view of the CYCLOPS junction on Histon Road. Picture: Greater Cambridge Partnership
Up the junction: A new roundabout on Milton Road proved so complicated, it came with an educational video on how to use it. It’s the city’s second ‘CYCLOPS junction’ – so named, presumably, because users only have one eye on the road, and the other on the instruction video.
South Cambs District Council announced it was ploughing ahead with its four-day week ‘trial’
Friday I’m in bed: South Cambs District Council announced it was ploughing ahead with its four-day week ‘trial’, despite having only made a pittance of savings from its budget. Jeff Membury, the council’s head of transformation, explained that a four-day week could become “the standard way of working as people take advantage of AI”. Which either means robots will be collecting our bins in future – or we’ll be expected to do everything for ourselves on an app. Still, that 20 per cent reduction in council tax bills will be nice, won’t it? Oh wait…
Bypassing the cattle grids on Ditton Meadows. Picture: Kree Pearce
Mooove over, boffins: Cambridge cows bolstered the city’s egghead reputation by working out how to bypass the cattle grids on Ditton Meadows. Maybe they bought an instruction manual from Heifers? (Wow, tough crowd in tonight.)
David Mitchell filming the new BBC comedy Ludwig in Cambridge. Picture: Bav Media
Home screen: Julia Roberts was the latest Hollywood icon to be spotted filming on the streets of Cambridge. The Pretty Woman star was in town to shoot new move After the Hunt. The city also played a starring role in hit new BBC comedy drama Ludwig, starring David Mitchell as a reclusive crossword-setter who assumes the identity of his missing detective twin brother (true story, probably). Throw in Grantchester and Professor T, and it means we now have a vicar, a university academic and a professional puzzler solving crimes in Cambridge. Goodness knows what the actual police are doing – giving Sunday sermons, taking lectures and compiling wordsearches, presumably.
University of Cambridge researchers suggested that serving beer and cider in smaller glasses could have significant public health benefits
Beer goggles: University of Cambridge researchers suggested that serving beer and cider in slightly smaller glasses could have significant public health benefits – a story the great British tabloids reported in their usual careful and considered manner, under the thoughtful headline: “NOW WOKE SCIENTISTS WANT TO SHRINK YOUR PINT!”
Mill Road Bus Gate on Mill Road bridge. Picture: Keith Heppell
A bridge too far: And finally, the saga of Mill Road Sodding Bridge rumbled on, and on, and on, with protests, counter-protests, counter-counter-protest protests, a High Court case that quashed an order, a new order, another consultation, more protests, a quashed injunction, approval, another imminent court challenge and a scandal about a Number Ten adviser getting involved. (That’s 10 Downing Street – not the number 10 bus.) Anyway, I’m sure 2025 will bring lots of opportunities for further exciting developments in the story – a proposal to close the bridge to everyone except people on pogo sticks and Space Hoppers, perhaps? (Don’t give them ideas – Ed.)