Down Your Street, Sara Payne. ISBN 0907115195 II East Cambridge

I've just bought a copy of Down Your Street, Cambridge Past and Present, II East Cambridge. Written by Sara Payne this book came out of the newspaper columns she wrote in the Cambridge Evening News in the 1980s.

The book was published by The Pevensey Press, 6 De Freville Avenue, Cambridge, in 1984.  The book states inside the cover that:

"The major parts of the chapters in this book and most of the accompanying photographs previously appeared in the Cambridge Weekly News, and the author and publishers wish to thank Cambridge Newspapers Ltd for their co-operation"

Inside the book has a chapter for each of 25 roads in Cambridge, in each road there's a little bit of history and some informal interviews carried out with the residents of houses in the road in 1981-1984.  These residents tell stories of the street as they have known it - some of them had lived there decades - adding interesting anecdotes.  There are a generous amount of photos too, not just buildings, but the individual residents either in their homes or at work - photos taken just for the book.

The roads this book covers are:

1. Abbey Road, 
2. Auckland Road, 
3. Maid's Causeway, 
4. Willow Walk, 
5. Orchard Street, 
6. Earl Street, 
7. Parker Street, 
8. Park Terrace, 
9. Regent Terrace, 
10. Mill Road, 
11. Suez Road, 
12. Ross Street, 
13. Catherine Street, 
14. Sturton Street, 
15. Sleaford Street, 
16. York Street, 
17. Gwydir Street, 
18. Norfolk Street, 
19. Willis Road, 
20. East Road, 
21. Grafton Street, 
22. City Road, 
23. Eden Street, 
24. Fitzroy Street and 
25. Burleigh Street. 

These roads are parts of areas known as Barnwell, Priory, St Matthews and The Kite.

I've a few ancestors who lived in those streets, plus, growing up, I was often going to those streets so can really understand the areas they speak of!  I've relatives who lived in Sturton Street in the 60s/70s, I went to college for two years in York Street, my great-aunt lived in Gwydir Street, my mother's great-aunt lived in Norfolk Street and I'd often shop in Mill Road, East Road, Fitzroy Street and Burleigh Street before the Grafton Centre was built!  I used to walk through the Kite area, while it was being demolished, as I walked from Drummer Street to York Street every day for two years!

I'll be writing an index of contents for Down Your Way, but as the writing style of the book is a random walk around and interview with residents it might look a little truncated as I can't give more information away without effectively breaching the copyright.

But I hope my simple index will help some people to decide if there might be a snippet contained in the pages that's of interest to them.  In particular, I'll be listing the photos that are in the book, which is most likely to be of most use!

I've not got the book's predecessor yet, Down Your Street, I:  It's on my wishlist.