The definition of an urban explorer: the study of parts of civilization that are normally unseen or off-limits, such as abandoned structures, drains, sewers, tunnels, etc.

UrbanX writes…

How often have you looked at the urban environment in Ely? I mean really looked, not just at the tourist trail of our beautiful Cathedral, Oliver Cromwell’s house, or Ely’s fabulous riverside views, but the truly hidden gems that abound within this ship of the Fens? I started really looking at our city during the balmy evenings of last spring, when the sky finally kicked off its winter overcoat and Ely sprang into consciousness. It was during this time that, whilst mulling over thoughts about the transient nature of architecture and sociological history, fate led me to my great discovery, the art of urban exploration.

Station House, Fordham © UrbanX 2008

Urban exploration is about pushing the boundaries of art and life, pushing oneself to discover new places and capture them for posterity. Photography allows us to document the beauty of these hidden landscapes, to revel in their richness and to contemplate their former states, before they fall into oblivion and out of our reach forever.

They didn’t come home © UrbanX 2008

Where do you imagine the nearest underground emergency centre, complete with air-locks, and a BBC studio to be? London? Cambridge? Lynn Road? How far would you have to travel, or how much would you have to pay, to sit in a chieftain tank? Answer: a 20 minute drive, and free if you know where to look.

Urban X © UrbanX 2008

We should look beyond those buildings that we’re supposed to find outstanding, leave that tourist trail behind, steer clear of those red ropes that lead to the ultimate gift shop. In fact, keep that map with the light brown signs firmly in the glove box. Make you own sights of historical interest; choose your own history. Beauty is all around us, to be found in dilapidation and despair as equally as it is in golden spires and ornamental carvings.

Have you ever given the old factory opposite Tescos a second glance? Do you wonder what lies within? A vast industrious cathedral of hoppers, labyrinths of conveyors, lit by an almost ecclesiastical light shining through the roof lights. The walls of the staff room are festooned with photos of bygone Christmas parties, slowly bleached by the light of the sun. Rows of worker uniforms are strewn from their pegs by vandals. One cannot help but wonder how much time will pass before this building is either torn down by developers or torched by cowardly arsonists. And when that time comes, these memories, these small fragments of life and hope within the lives of the ordinary working man and woman, will be lost forever within the ravages of time and history. Unless, that is, we document them first. Welcome to urban exploration. Trust me, it’s addictive.

Seclusion © UrbanX 2008

To see some of UrbanX’s photographic work first hand, please come along to the Cambridge Open Studios exhibition this July.

Reflections © UrbanX 2008

All photographs remain the copyright of UrbanX 2008

The Council informed the public last year that the building was coming up for a scheduled refit of it’s roof in May and the building would need to close to protect the public for a period of up to six months.

The repair work will coincide with the end of the District Council’s contract with Eliance who currently provide the catering and exhibition facilities at the Maltings. The Council is currently looking into the various options for the future of the building but has confirmed that it will continue to house a cinema when it reopens.

The Maltings, built in 1868 for the brewery of Ebenezer William Harlock, is a grade II listed building. The work which is set to begin next week will include reinstating an original pattern on the four slopes of the tower roof using a combination of traditional details.

Councillor John Humphreys, Chairman of Asset Management Committee, said: “We tried to give people as long a warning as possible about the closure of the Maltings in October last year as there are so many events which take place at the building. People have been very understanding about the need to get this work done and it will begin immediately to repair the roof.

“We hope to reopen in six months but obviously this will depend a lot on what the contractors find and the weather. We have though made the promise that when the building reopens it will still have a cinema and will be available for community use. I would like to stress that the building as it stands is perfectly safe and any work will be in keeping with the historic character of the building.”

The day, to celebrate the humble eel, brings together a whole range of activities from eel throwing (don’t worry they are handmade toys) to 17th century re-enactments to highlight Ely’s heritage and historic association with the eel.

Starting at 10.30am, a carnival like procession led by ‘Ellie the Eel’, Ely’s Samba Band and 10 Town Criers will start from Cross Green next to the Cathedral and head along part of the City’s Eel Trail Heritage Walk, down to the Waterside. The procession will end in the Jubilee Gardens where a whole host of eel related events are planned.

Along with eel throwing, there will be puppet making, pottery making and tanks of real eels for everyone to learn about.

Tracey Harding, Tourism Team Leader at East Cambridgeshire District Council said: “The day is all about celebrating Ely’s culture and traditions and encouraging awareness and use of the Eel Trail. We hope to continue to build on this unique event each year and involve more and more businesses and organisations and further raise the profile of the Isle of Eels.

“This year’s procession sees the return of 10 visiting Town Criers in all their finery, as part of Ely’s Town Crier’s competition. The criers will gather on Palace Green for the first cry of the day at noon. Eight judges have been carefully selected from the local community and each one has a particular criteria to judge the criers performance on. The second cry of the day will be held in Jubilee Gardens at 3pm and the winners will then be announced.

“The eel throwing competition is also back and expanded to include adults as well as children this year. Based on wellie throwing, children and parents can battle it out to see who can throw the handmade eel toys, who all have their own names, the furthest. Last year, the winner threw over 17metres, is there anyone in East Cambridgeshire who is ready to take up the challenge? Or even try some smoked and jellied eels or make their own eel catching basket?

“Whatever the weather, Eel Day is always a success as it is so vibrant, colourful and extravagant but all about the humble little eel.”

Ely Lions, who have worked closely with East Cambridgeshire District Council and ADeC to bring Ely this annual event, will be out in force helping steward the procession as well as manning their traditional tombola.

For further information about the day, contact Tracey Harding, Tourism and Events Officer at East Cambridgeshire District Council on 01353 662062 or check out the website at www.eastcambs.gov.uk/tourism.

Offenders, who were believed to have been armed with a shotgun, struck a blue Group 4 Securicor van in the city just after 4pm.

Police cordoned the area off with trolleys and a helicopter was deployed to search the local area.
The offenders made off in a black Subaru, which was dumped in Potters Lane, near Angel Drove.

They exchanged the Subaru for a BMW and drove off along the A10 towards Cambridge.

When they were south of Stretham, near Gullivers Restaurent, they collided with another vehicle, but they pulled away and drove straight off.

Detective inspector Adam Gallop said: “If anybody was driving behind this BMW or saw the drivers or their direction of travel please contact police at Parkside police station.”

Courtesy of Cambridge Evening News.

It was good to welcome you all to the local communities of Ely and Cambridgeshire, and we hope we helped you re-establish some historic family links with Harrow School, the University Boat Clubs, Ely Cathedral, Glenalmond College and St Ninian’s Cathedral.

From time to time I am sure we will find good reasons to meet again, and I urge our younger members to plan ahead for another memorable party on the 10th June 2029, at a venue of their choosing.

To read the full chronicle please read this PDF file or to download click link below.

If you go back several decades you may be surprised to learn just how industrious Ely was. It had a well renowned brewery, ‘Ely Ales’ and Ely was also had a major Sugar Beet Factory built in 1928 by Joanness Van Rossum (The factory closed in 1981). And for nearly twenty years (from 1939 to late 1958) Ely had it’s own Jam Factory at the end of Bray’s lane. The factory was called St. Martin’s Jam Factory.

Late last year Ely Online received an email from the nephew of St. Martin’s Jam Factory’s managing director (Arthur Strevens). The email read:

“My uncle, Arthur Strevens, was Managing Director of the St Martin’s Jam Factory for many years in the 40s & 50s. My wife was his executrix, and when he died we ended up with various boxes of records and some small artifacts from the factory (Ely & Grimsby). We were reluctant to throw them away in case they might be of interest to local historians, but never got round to doing anything about it!”

It was quite exciting to receive 2 steel boxes full of documents, photographs, jam labels & the jam recipes. Most of the documents related to the Grimsby factory but there was one brown envelope full of black & white photographs and fortunately some of these photographs were of the Ely factory.

Although Ely Online doesn’t have much in the way of a documented history of Ely’s St. Martins Jam Factory we are happy to produce some photographs that have not been generally available for decades.

A delivery of ‘Chunky’ marmalade in Westend, Ely.

Arthur Strevens in Ely (1951).

Staff at St. Martin’s Jam factory, Ely (1951).

St. Martin’s Jam factory for sale.

St. Martin’s Jam factory for sale.

Photograph’s From St. Martin’s Grimsby Jam Factory

Unfortunately we do not have any photographs of how the Ely factory operated but we do have images from their sister factory in Grimsby. I can only imagine that the same production-line would have been in operation at the Ely factory.

The Jam

The famous ‘Chunky’ marmalade

One of the many brands made at Ely.

One of the many brands made at Ely.

In Memory Of Arthur Strevens

From ‘The Ely Standard’:

The death of Arthur Strevens, ‘Strev’, which occurred on 29 January, may well bring back memories of the St. Martin Preserving Company factory in Brays Lane, where from 1939 to late 1958 he was the General Manager, and later director of the company. St. Martin’s gave employment to many local people, the number of which fluctuated throughout the year. Employment rose during the fresh fruit season and later when mincemeat was needed for Christmas. Then, later still, it peaked when the famous ‘Chunky’ marmalade was made from imported Spanish oranges.

The late fifties saw the beginning of the ‘take-over’ in the manufacturing and distributive food trades and St Martin’s was acquired. It became part of a larger operation, but market pressures led eventually to the closure of its plants in Ely and Maidenhead. Mr. Strevens finally became the General Manager of the T G Tickler factory in Grimsby and retired in the early seventies.

In 1975 Mr. and Mrs. Strevens returned to live in Ely in Cambridge Road, where Mrs. Evelyn Strevens died in 1992.

There is also an opportunity for those with talent to enter the band competition with the winners appearing on Main Stage 1 to open the festival on the Friday night. For further details see the website.

Tickets are now on sale online at elyfolk.co.uk or by calling 01353 669985.

There will be a cinema at the core of the final arts solution for East Cambridgeshire, the two organisations responsible for arts delivery in the District have announced today.

East Cambridgeshire District Council and ADeC (Arts Development in East Cambridgeshire) have been holding a series of meetings to determine the future priorities for the District.

In the latest meeting, both organisations agreed a cinema was key to the future of arts in the District and would be a major priority in the new arts service for East Cambridgeshire.

Councillor Peter Cresswell, Chairman of the Community Services Committee, said: “Our meetings with ADeC have been very constructive over the last couple of months and we have come to agree on many points. We both realised we could do nothing without listening to what the residents of East Cambridgeshire wanted. They have told us loud and clear that they see a cinema as being vital to the arts in the District.

“Working with ADeC, we have searched across the District to find a suitable venue which could provide a high quality cinema experience. Unfortunately we could not find anywhere that could provide a service that would match the experience many enjoy at the Maltings. Sadly this does mean that there will be not be a cinema in East Cambridgeshire for the six months the building is closed. However, I can confirm today that it is our intention to ensure film goers will be able to watch films at the Maltings when it reopens.”

Jane Wilson, Director at ADeC, said: “Our meetings with East Cambridgeshire District Council have proved to be extremely useful as we put together a business case to deliver the arts in East Cambridgeshire. It has become clear that as well as people valuing the cinema so highly, the public also greatly enjoys the community arts programmes we support and run. In order to continue to provide and fund these services, we have made the very difficult decision to close the Babylon Gallery at the end of its current programme, but we are delighted that we have been able to agree that the cinema at The Maltings will remain a top priority for both organisations when the venue reopens in the Autumn.

“From July we will be using the space at Babylon Bridge to put on a number of performance based arts events until the cinema reopens.”

Councillor Peter Cresswell, said: “It was clearly a difficult decision for ADeC to close the Babylon Gallery. The District Council will be doing all it can to help ADeC find a new venue to achieve our stated aim of providing the arts service which East Cambridgeshire deserves.”

The Radio Interviews

There was tremendous media interest in the Highpoint concert. Here is a selection of the radio interviews.

Further band and booking information can be found on CA$HBACK’s website: johnnycashback.com

On 8th March we will celebrate Charles Merivale’s bicentenary and recognise the important part that he and his good friend, Charles Wordsworth, played in establishing the Oxford & Cambridge University Boat Race. The annual encounter is now watched by thousands of people from the banks of the River Thames and viewed by a television audience of many millions around the world.

As you can see from the timetable below, a full day of events is planned for everyone to come to, and I am particularly pleased to welcome those members of the Wordsworth and Merivale families who are able to be with us on this very special day.

Our corporate, civic and private sponsors, and the many event supporters, have enabled us to arrange an interesting programme for you, and on behalf of the society, I thank them all for their generosity.

Timetable

• 11.30: Launching the replica 1829 gigs
  @ The Slipway, Waterside
• 12.30: Crews embark
  @ The Cutter Inn, Annesdale
• 01.30: The Bishops’ Boat Race
  @ Ely Rowing Club – Festival Course
• 02.30: Unveiling commemorative tablet
  @ Jubilee Gardens
• 02.45: Boat Naming Ceremony
  @ Jubilee Gardens
• 03.00: Gig into the Cathedral
  @ The Slipway, Waterside via Market Place & High Street
• 04.30: Exhibition of period technology
  @ The Nave, Ely Cathedral
• 04.45: Boat Race Founders Society
  @ General meeting, South Transept, Ely Cathedral
• 05.30: Special Evensong Service
  @ Ely Cathedral

Boat Race Founders Association

A meeting to launch the Boat Race Founders Society will be held in Ely Cathedral before the Evensong service. It has been established with the singular purpose of celebrating the lives and achievements of the race founders on any suitable occasion.

The inspiration for the Society came from the laying of wreaths in Ely and Perth ahead of the 150th Boat Race in 2004 and a ceremony in St Ninian’s Cathedral, Perth, to mark the bicentary of Wordsworth’s birth on 22nd August 2006.

Membership is open to anyone wishing to keep the memory of the founders alive for an annual fee of just £5. Why not come along to the inaugural meeting to find out more?

The History

When they left Harrow School in the 1820s, Charles Merivale went to St John’s College, Cambridge while Charles Wordsworth was a student at Christ Church, Oxford.

It was during a vacation that they got together and came up with the idea of a boat race between the two universities. The first – in which they both rowed – was at Henley in 1829 using heavy clinker-built boats.

On leaving university, Merivale and Wordsworth went their separate ways but both achieved high church office.

Charles Merivale undertook college and university work and in 1839 was appointed select preacher at Whitehall. In 1863 he was appointed chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons. He declined the professorship of modern history at Cambridge in 1869, but in the same year accepted from William Gladstone the deanery of Ely, a post that he held until his death in 1893.

Charles Wordsworth, nephew of poet William Wordsworth, became warden of Trinity College, Glenalmond. In 1852 he was elected Bishop of Saint Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane, one of seven dioceses of the Scottish Episcopal Church, centred on St Ninian’s Cathedral in Perth.

Replicas of the 1829 gigs were built and raced just before the 150th Boat Race in 2004. They are now kept at Dorney Lake, near Eton, but will be brought to Ely for the 8th March celebrations. They will be raced during the afternoon under the auspices of the Rt Rev Dr. Anthony Russell, Bishop of Ely, and the Rt. Rev Michael Hare-Duke, former Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane.