arts – Mill Road Bridges

Community Grants from Cambridge City Council

Could you, or your group, help to improve people’s lives, locally?

Click the image to read the the guidelines and start your application

If only you had a little bit of funding…

Community groups can apply for up to £5,000 grant funding from Cambridge City Council’s Area Committee Community Grants scheme.

Voluntary and community organisations, or groups of local residents, can apply for the grants. But hurry, the deadline for applications is 31^st January 2024.

Get your paperwork in good shape. (You’re getting public money, so you need to show that everything is legit.) And get cracking.

Apply online. Click here to read the the guidelines and start your application.

Grants could be for venue hire to host activities; costs to run activities that benefit people on low incomes; or activities that reduce poverty.

Examples of successful applications from 2023-24

Ainsworth Area Residents’ Association

Provision of mini allotment planters and mural signage for Ainsworth Street community garden plus additional new allotment planter to be located in Ainsworth playpark.
Aims…

Improve urban landscape.
Encourage social connectedness and reduce isolation through engagement in community activities.

Merry-go-Round Toy Library

Twice monthly Toy Library at Ross Street Community Centre.
Aims…

Reduce social and economic inequality for local families via free sessions.
Allow families regardless of income to access safe, good quality toys and equipment at a nominal charge.

The Signal Box Centre

Weekly summer holiday activities for children aged 6-18 years particularly those living in social tenancies.
Aims…

Provide physical and creative opportunities in a structured and positive environment to those who would not otherwise have access.
Reduce social isolation and improve confidence and mental wellbeing through making new friends and playing together.

Successful applications will be for activities which reduce social and/or economic inequality for Cambridge City residents with the most need, taking place between 1^st April 2024 and 31^st March 2025, in a defined area of the city.

Need more guidelines on what makes a successful application? You can read the full list of successful and unsuccessful applications from last year, in the PDFs below.

Need a little more guidance from the Grants Officers? You can contact them by email grants@cambridge.gov.uk or phone 01223 457875.

Mill Road Fringe – Summer Shindig

Poster of this event. The linked PDF is (mostly) machine readable. — Click the poster to read/download a printable PDF version

Mill Road Fringe is hosting a Summer Shindig on Sunday 9^th July 2023 on Romsey Rec, in the from 4-8pm with fabulous live music led by Colonel Spanky’s Love Ensemble.

Come and browse the charity stalls, explore volunteering opportunities, try some yoga stretches with James from Cambridge Yoga Project, discover the natural world with Bushcraft, and have a go at juggling and circus skills with tuition from Cambridge Community Circus.

There will also be pebble painting, outdoor games and plenty of space to set up your chairs and picnic rugs.

Please note: Barbecues are prohibited and there is also now a ban on single-use plastics in all Cambridge parks. Please aim to leave Romsey Rec cleaner than you found it, so please take your litter home.

More information here on the Summer Shindig page.

City Council community grants

Could you, or your group, help to improve people’s lives, locally?
If only you had a little bit of funding…

Click the image to visit the Cambridge City Council Area Committee funding webpage

Fuller details, application forms and a webinar presentation explaining how to apply can be found on the Cambridge City Council Area Committee funding webpage. You can also contact grants@cambridge.gov.uk for further information or phone the team on 01223 457875.

Mill Road Winter Fair is back!

BUT… Your help is needed

Put the date Saturday 3rd December 2022 in your diary.

Mill Road Winter Fair is run entirely by volunteers. Could you become one of the fabulous team of people who give just two hours of their time to help steward on the day of the Fair, Saturday 3rd December 2022?

Click through to Volunteer for the 2022 Mill Road Winter Fair to sign up for a slot on this year’s stewarding rota. Could you encourage a friend to do it with you?

What’s on at the 2022 Mill Road Winter Fair? (Click the question to find the answer.)

Map of Mill Road Winter Fair 2022 showing locations of events, These are described in the what's on link above. — Map of Mill Road Winter Fair 2022

Maths School on Mill Road?

Eastern Learning Alliance intends to open a new free school, Cambridge Maths School, a specialist sixth form centre catering for students across the whole of East Anglia.

This would be in the former premises of the Regent Language School, 119 Mill Road, Cambridge CB1 2AZ, at the western foot of Mill Road bridge.

Unfortunately, this came to our attention only recently, and well after the public consultation event on Wednesday 22^nd June, at the Old School Hall, St Barnabas Church, Mill Road, Cambridge, CB1 2BD. We are, however, in time to inform you about the Section 10 Statutory Consultation, which ends on 29^th July 2022.

Cambridge Maths School
Section 10
Statutory Consultation Summer 2022
Consultation ends 29th July — Click the image above to read/download the 6-page PDF

The Cambridge Maths School is set to open in September 2023 under the Eastern Learning Alliance, a Multi Academy Trust that is currently comprised of Impington Village College, Chesterton Community College, Witchford Village College, Downham Market Academy, The Cavendish School and Girton Glebe Primary School.
An initial site for the school has been identified on Mill Road in the centre of Cambridge. This is a repurposed language school, with science labs added to the already well-established school. The school will be open to 80 students across years 12 and 13.
It is the intention to eventually secure a larger site for the school to allow for up to 200 students. This site will also be in central Cambridge with similar excellent transport connections. Details will be made available as soon as a suitable site has been secured.
Cambridge Maths School consultation PDF

Mill Road Bridges sees advantages in new specialist facilities for sixth form students, however, there would cause for concern if parents were to be ferrying students to and from the Maths School by car. Whether or not new traffic restrictions are introduced on Mill Road bridge, an additional (say) 40 car movements in and out of the restricted access to this site, would amount to 160 additional vehicle movements each school day.

The academy trust refers to “excellent transport connections” and says:

Because CMS is a sixth form school, students will travel to the school in the same way they would be expected to travel to any other post- sixteen provision they would otherwise choose to attend. The location of the school provides excellent transport links for students travelling to the CMS from across the whole of East Anglia, being only 5 minutes from the Cambridge Station, and so students and staff will be expected to travel by public transport, cycling or walking and will not add any traffic to the area.
Cambridge Maths School consultation PDF

Note that the trust says “students and staff will be expected to travel by public transport, cycling or walking”. This is far from being an assurance that this expectation will be written into staff contracts, nor into the school rules for students.

You can respond to this consultation online, here. Note that the questions are identical to those in the PDF which you can read/download, above.

In the view of Mill Road Bridges, the most important section is the box: If you have any other comments or queries, please list them here. The online box appears to be able to expand to take an extended narrative comment.

You are also welcome to comment (politely) below. Yes, we are aware that an Education Minister recently gave a middle finger gesture to a crowd. We will not permit the equivalent on this website.

Please also note that any comments made here will not necessarily be seen by the Eastern Learning Alliance.

If you have a dream…

… but never thought you could do it…

Cambridge Community Arts, a Cambridge-based social inclusion charity, have just released their part-time, year-long creative courses for adults starting in September 2022. Their course programmes, offered in partnership with Cambridge Regional College, allow you to explore your chosen art form in depth. Course programmes on offer include Photography, Visual Arts, Music for Performance, Music Production, Creative Writing & Drama.

Click the logo above to visit the Cambridge Community Arts website

Some of these courses are based on Mill Road and its side streets, with others in Arbury, Chesterton and off Newmarket Road.

Cambridge Community Arts
CREATIVE COURSES
SEPTEMBER 2022 - JULY 2023 brochure front page — Click the image above to view/download the full 12-page PDF brochure

We bring people together in small groups in the community, to learn and practice all forms of art. They gain in confidence, improve their mental health, make friends and in some cases get back to work”.
Jane Rich, CEO of Cambridge Community Arts

Photo: student painting — Photo: Toby Peters

Why not pop along to Cambridge Community Arts Open Day on Tuesday 12^th July 2022 from 1pm-4pm at Arbury Community Centre, Campkin Road, Cambridge CB4 2LD, when you’ll have the chance to talk to course tutors, staff and past learners to find out more.

Courses are open to adults 19+ who live in the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority area. There is a reduced rate for those on a low income or means-tested benefits. If courses become oversubscribed, Cambridge Community Arts prioritise those with health conditions, disabilities and/or unpaid caring responsibilities.

Full details and application form can be found on the Cambridge Community Arts website or phone 07763 280029.

About Cambridge Community Arts

Cambridge Community Arts helps to build community, connections, and confidence through creativity. It offers creative arts courses in a safe, friendly, and supportive environment and creates healthy creative communities, by improving mental health, reducing social isolation, increasing educational achievements and progressing people towards employment.

Registered Charity no. 1187718

Summer Shindig

Saturday 18^th June 2022, Romsey Recreation ground

The first Mill Road Fringe event of 2022 will be the Summer Shindig which will take place on Saturday 18^th June from 4-9pm at Romsey Recreation Ground, Vinery Road.

Featuring live music, giant games, pebble painting and more, it promises to be a great family evening. Bring your own picnic (no barbecues though please), kick back and enjoy the summer!

Music will come courtesy of some amazing local bands:

Colonel Spanky’s Love Ensemble
The Scissors
The Electron Thieves
Mimsy and the Borogoves.