Meeting reports 2022

A talk by Helen Harwood. This talk coincided with a week-long period of snow and ice, which was so bad we had to cancel. Helen Harwood was able to come in January 2024 to give her talk.

A talk by Alan Osborne The Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company was fondly referred to by its hundreds of employees in the second half of the twentieth century as “The Scientific”. Before that it was called “Horace’s Shop”. Its founder was Horace Darwin, the ninth son of Charles Darwin, whose interest in science had led his father to convert what had been the family’s schoolroom into a customised workshop.

Michelle Bullivant, our talented local landscape archaeologist, gave us a very interesting talk at our July meeting to reveal the centuries of history relating to the site.

A talk by Jonathan Spain This talk concentrated on the horticultural, social and economic aspects of fruit growing during the 19th and 20th centuries. This could also be called the rise and decline of growing apples and pears, in particular.

A talk by Dr Maureen James

Pye had been the premier employer for many years in this region with over 7,000 employees in its heyday. Only a handful of the audience had worked for Pye, but everyone knew somebody who had.