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| Mending and making do en plein air |
Cambridge market has been going since forever, or at least since Saxon times, and had a big fire in 1849. Here's what it looked like in later Victorian times (see other nostalgic photos here) -
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| 1890 - note the fancy fountain, different now |
and nowadays -
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| The view from Great St Mary's tower |
Until his death in 2007, Snowy Farr was a common sight at the market, with his cart full of animals, collecting money for guide dogs and other charities. This 1971 photo shows him with cart at a hospital gala -
Possibly his trademark was the mice on his hat -
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| Snowy Farr in 1979; photo from here |
I visited Cambridge a lot as a child, with my mother, as my great aunt lived not too far away in the fens (I grew up in the Yorkshire Dales so it was quite a big trip for us to make each year). The great aunt used to drop us off in Cambridge outside the Folk Museum, which was once 'closed because of illness' (for some reason this amused us mightily and we always said it whenever we were there, ever afterwards, in a special silly voice). We used to get visitor's tickets for Cambridge Library, which was in the Market Place in those days, and I strongly remember seeing Snowy (had no idea of his name until your post) and thinking, in a way I'm sure I got from my mum, that it was 'very dirty' to have a cat on your head. There was also a woman who walked round with a bucket on her head. Given the choice, I'd have gone for the cat. Nice post. Sorry comment so long...
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