Sunday 3 December 2017

More Deeply Into Winter

More deeply into the Mill Road Winter Fair, that is. My last post was rather thrown together when I got home on Saturday night, but going through the pictures today I find I've got a lot of portraits and a few activities which I didn't mention. And as it's been rather grotty weather I amused myself by constructing a little collage of details of the colourful event.

But first I should probably introduce you to Mill Road itself. It's where it all started for me, I suppose, because it used to be the site of the old maternity hospital! 

Historically the area is quite distinct from the rest of the city and it shows. It developed after the railway arrived and was built as cheap housing for the working people employed on the railway and the industries that grew up around it.


Nowadays it's most easily described as diverse and very proud of it. I would think you would find most of the nationalities and religions of the world within half a mile of Mill Road.


Dancing In The Street : The Cambridge Swing dancers were there, lindy-hopping their way through the afternoon and encouraging anyone who wanted to to join in. I resisted the temptation.


There were buskers a-plenty and many charities had stalls handing out freebies and collecting money for their causes.


ReSound are a Cambridge-based choir, here singing along with the Lifecraft Singers.


Everyone seemed to be having a good time.


Arco Iris is a community Samba band. Apparently arco iris is Spanish for rainbow, which seems very appropriate. The sound they make though is thunderous, with forty or so enthusiastic drummers!


Allotment are a band who specialise in what they claim to be "traditional independent alternative retrospective acoustic standing-still dance music" and who include a hurdy-gurdy player in their number! 

Left wing politics was also on the street on Saturday.


Grupo Negaça Capoeira demonstrate capoeira, which is a form of improvised, non-contact martial art / street dance. Difficult to describe but it looked like fun.


Louise Eatock who performs under the name of Flaming June.

And Becky Langan who's a very original percussive finger-style guitarist.


Would you care for another dance? Salsa comes to Mill Road.


There were all kinds of other things going on which I didn't get around to: artists opened their studios; a bouncy castle for children; Santa Claus; dozens of food stalls from around the world; market and craft stalls; the local mosque opened its doors; tea and cakes; talks and guided walks; storytelling; face-painting and so on and so on....


It was definitely a bit cold for playing a keyboard though.


Take care.



19 comments:

  1. Oh what a wonderful fiesta...so diverse, and you captured moving people pretty well...a hard task. I always get dancers looking like they're bored rather than moving with a beat!

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  2. Hi John - seems like a wonderful array of goings on - very English and perfect for the Cambridgeshire area - thanks for reminding me of what I'm missing - cheers Hilary

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  3. Everyone is having so much fun dancing! Everything is bright...look at that rainbow mohawk! I guess I think of the British as subdued and reserved...guess not. ;-)

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  4. An eclectic mix which looks wonderful, John.

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  5. It looks like a lively bunch of people!

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  6. Your shots today give a very personal impression of the event. It was obviously a lot of fun!

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  7. What great fun, - and diversity!

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  8. Looks like a great community event and it also looks as if everyone had a wonderful time:)

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  9. Wonderful to see all the smiling faces, John!

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  10. Absolutely love this post John, the variety and diversity is great. Love these kinds of events and of course a little bit of dancing in the street is always welcome I think. Great shots here! - Tasha

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  11. Another event that I missed! Loved the dancing in the street.

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  12. Oh John, you should have got up there and joined the dancers! Years ago when my grandson was about 5 or 6 we were in town and there was a group of Morris dancers inviting people to join them, I did and my grandson was so embarrassed.

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  13. Looks like a great time there! I had to read this out loud to Roger, "traditional independent alternative retrospective acoustic standing-still dance music..." We had a good laugh! Our kind of music.

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  14. Wonderful series of images from the fair John, here and last post. Your first pic from last post was amazing, sooo many people all having a great time.. good to see ☺

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  15. Looks like lots of fun. People smiling, dancing and playing music. What a great way to start off the winter fair. Lots of nice and right colours too. Excellent photos, John. Thanks!

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  16. What fun, somethIng for everyone! I think I would have had to purchase a poem since I've never seen them available for sale that way.

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  17. I like all the smiling faces! Looks like a fun time for all, and you captured some great portraits.

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  18. Gosh, it looks wonderful. There are so many pre-Christmas events round here that they seem to get diluted and not so many people attend. I love those drumming bands, visceral music!

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  19. Colorful winter fun. Reminds me a bit of a New Orleans Mardi Gras---tho slightly more decorous.

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