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Looking back at 50

Cambridge Cycling Campaign was launched eight years ago, in June 1995, and this is the fiftieth issue of our bi-monthly newsletter. Time for some nostalgia, then, we thought.

I had no idea of the scale of the task before sitting down to write this article, though. We have published more than 1200 articles, containing over half a million words, in around 800 pages – with nearly 3 million keyboard presses!

Constant themes

Not surprisingly, certain topics and themes reappear throughout the various issues. Here are a few examples: the list is very far from complete, but it gives a flavour of the wide range of topics we've covered.

(Numbers in square brackets are Issue numbers).

We have of course reported on a wide range of Cycling Campaign activities, including:

We've reported on local and national policies and strategies (and our involvement in influencing them):

Much of the coverage has been of local traffic-related schemes, because of their effects on, and often benefits for, cyclists. For example:

Some topics have run for longer than others. For example, on Newmarket Road:

There are a number of other cases where our initial requests were immediately declined, only for the work to be done eventually. For example, we asked for Regent Terrace to be resurfaced, and for wider gaps between the bollards by Pizza Hut [20]. The resurfacing happened two years later [33] and the gaps were widened three years later [39]. It's worth persisting.

As well as much constructive criticism, there have of course been very many 'thank yous' over the years. Perhaps most significantly in response to a complete U-turn by the local councils over plans to 'force' (as we described it) cyclists off Grange Road southbound; we awarded the final scheme a 'Golden Bell.'

There have been some lighter notes, too, of course, including:

The Credits

I think we can be forgiven for being proud of this publication. It truly would not have been possible without contributions past and present from many who care about the cause of cycling in the Cambridge area:

In the early days, I spent many long hours at Staples waiting for photocopying of newsletters – so there was probably no-one happier than me when Victoire Press in Bar Hill took over the printing process for Newsletter 16.

Behind the scenes, our teams of envelope-stuffers and deliverers, ably organised by Lisa Woodburn, then complete the process.

We are grateful, too, to Cambridge City Council for a Sustainable City Grant which has enabled us to distribute the Newsletter more widely, in particular to schools, libraries, councillors and council officers.

One of our oddest non-events, reproduced from Newsletter 34:

Mountainous invitation from Belgium

The Campaign gets a lot of peculiar mail. Some of it is deeply junk, like the frequent invitations to buy Viagra by mail (is there something about cycling we don't know?), or how to become millionaires overnight (err – is there something else about cycling we don't know?). But of the cycling related messages, a recent one from Belgium lightened the mood.

'First,' the writer said, 'I have to tell you that we work all together only with friendship and the share of the same passion.' Great, another cyclist! Just friendly? No, there's more. 'Are you eventually interested on becoming our Lincoln, Norfolk and Cambridge's newsletter and website correspondent?'

Ah, he wants something. Correspondent for what? 'This website presents you more than 2,000 of splendid climbs in Europe. We already have 49 correspondents in Europe (but none in Lincoln, Norfolk and Cambridge).'

Geography starts to kick in. 'Our guide Passacol describes those climbs reaching 1,000 tops with all the following data: height of the foot, height of the top, ..., maximum gradient, description of how to reach the foot, what's at the top (nothing or restaurant, TV tower, viewpoint, orienteering table, ...). It's important to know if the pass or the mount can be reached with road-bike or only with MTB.'

'You'll become the manager and real chief of the regional guide of Lincoln, Norfolk and Cambridge, if you desire. All the good climbs (very steep ones, or very touristic ones, or very mediatic ones) will be included by you in this guide.'

I don't suppose we'll get many more invitations to be correspondent for East Anglian mountain climbing by bike. But one can but be optimistic.

David Earl

Looking ahead

So what does the future hold for the Cambridge Cycling Campaign Newsletter?

Well, we would like eventually to include colour photos in the printed version of the newsletter, as we've always done in the web version, but this is just too expensive at the moment.

In recent years, we've broadened the scope of the Newsletter, with series like 'My Way'. We meet to review every issue, and consider ways it could be improved. Please tell us if you have any suggestions – or if you would like to contribute to a future issue.

Clare Macrae