Gwydir Street Friends

About

Gwydir Street Friends is a network of residents, which aims to enrich community life in and around Gwydir Street, Cambridge (UK) by taking an evidence-based approach to identifying the community needs and wishes of all Gwydir residents and where possible fulfilling these through a non-political, non-hierarchical collaborative effort. 🌱

Follow us on Instagram @gwydirstreetfriends #gwydirstreet

Drop us an email at friends@gwydirstreet.co.uk

The group’s current goals are to:

• Encourage friendship and exchange in the local community
• Provide an open, online platform for Gwydir residents to communicate with each other and share & exchange ideas for the community
• Host monthly, in person, community meetups on the #secondwednesday of each month
• Hold a community street party, by and for all Gwydir residents, for as long as it continues to receive the overwhelming support of residents
• Facilitate the sharing of resources between residents (e.g. tools, plants, surplus food etc.)
• Identify and provide support to households at risk of isolation (e.g. providing friendship or self-isolation support)
• Support street-greening efforts and activities enhancing local biodiversity

Membership

Participation in Gwydir Street Friends is free, inclusive and open to anyone who:

• lives in Gwydir Street, Upper Gwydir Street, Gwydir Cottages, or Gwydir Mews
• has since moved away from Gwydir Street, but wishes to remain a participant
• lives in the surrounding area, is nominated by an existing participant and receives majority approval from the group via an open vote
• is a carer for someone who fulfils any of the above criteria

If you would like to join, email us at friends@gwydirstreet.co.uk

Community Summer Street Parties

Gwydir Street have been holding parties on the street for the local residents for many years, including for Jubilee and coronation celebrations and in 1945, when the end of the war was celebrated.

Gwydir Street History

Gwydir Street Friends is collaborating with Historyworks and the local community to capture, share and celebrate the story of Gwydr Street and the local area as part of the community-led intergenerational cultural heritage project This Is Our Street!. The online archive is hosted at Capturing Cambridge and on The Edkin's website.

Gwydir Street is home to David Parr House - a preserved terraced house containing an extraordinary secret world of an Arts & Crafts Worker's home. The house is open to the public for guided tours in small groups.

Did you know this area used to be known locally as Sturton Town? Please enjoy these wonderful video tours that Helen Weinstein of Historyworks has made featuring Gwydir Street and the local area!

Walking tour about how our neighbourhood came to be.

The experience of residents during World War Two.

Street Greening Initiative & Window Box Competition

Gwydir Street Friends and Ainsworth Area Residents’ Association are part of a street greening pilot project run by Cambridge City Council, which aims to increase the number of window boxes and hanging baskets in the local area, promote biodiversity, foster community links and make the area more vibrant.

Gwydir Street residents are invited to bring the street to life with plants and join the community with an annual window box competition!

Hedgehog Highway

Gwydir Street became Cambridge's first official Hedgehog Highway in 2019!

Read about our hedgehog highway on the Cambridge City Council's Local Nature Reserves site.

Listen to our interview about Gwydir Street Hedgehog Highway with Cambridge 105 Radio.

Join us to help save our local hedgehogs by linking our gardens and greenspaces and making them more hedgehog-friendly.

Festive Windows

The Festive Windows project has been brightening up Gwydir Street each winter since 2020, with new illuminated window displays unveiled each day in December!

Find out more about the project in Cambridge Independent's coverage of the festive window displays in 2021.

Check out Jo Edkins' photo archive of the festive window displays.

Check out these other local websites