Crick and Watson, together with Maurice Wilkins, won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their discovery of the structure of DNA. This was one of the most significant scientific discoveries of the 20th century.

Darwin, of course, went on to significantly challenge a God fearing nation about evolution. For more information about Darwin why not come along on our Simply Social Darwin Tour on Saturday 9^th May.

We ended our tour in Trinity College Chapel with a look at statues of some famous Trinity men, including Newton. However, prior to this we had a quick look at the latest scientific instrument to grace this University Town, the new clock at Corpus Christi, called the Time Eater, its creator, John Taylor said he wanted to make timekeeping more interesting – and this he certainly has done. It is an intriguing work of art that challenges ones perception of time.

Starting at the Michael House Centre we first visited Great St Mary’s church. Known as the University Church, Great St Mary’s dominates Cambridge’s ancient market place. There was a church here in mediaeval times, but the present building dates from a thorough reconstruction, financed by Royal donations, between 1478 1536, although the tower was not finally completed until 1608.

The Church was used for University lectures, exams and other ceremonies and events.

Then onto Market Street and Holy Trinity Church.

The first church recorded as Holy Trinity Cambridge was set beside the old roman road and was nothing more than a small thatched and timbered building of no great aesthetic or architectural merit. This however burnt to ground in a ragging fire in 1174.
In 1189 a new Holy Trinity began rising from the ashes of its predecessor, this time, as the record goes, ‘of hard stone’. In 1350 parishioners, poor though they were, were able to raise the funds necessary to widen the nave and add two aisles to their church, north and south.

In the Reformation Period 1550-1750 Holy Trinity saw great growth. In c1620 a series of sermons were preached ‘at 1 of the clocke’ every Sunday by Richard Baxter, these were designed to appeal to members of the university and public alike. So many students began to desert Great St. Mary’s, for Holy Trinity that it was made out of bounds them. In 1616 a gallery had to be erected along the north side of the nave across the arches to accommodate the increased numbers.
Between the years of 1782-1836 Holy Trinity Church was to be the centre of revival of spiritual life in Cambridge. The ministry of Charles Simeon in Holy Trinity began when he was appointed vicar by the Bishop of Ely against the wishes of the churchwardens and congregation who disliked the earnestness of his manner and the evangelicalism of his message. When Simeon proposed starting an evening service the wardens actually locked the church doors against him. This kind of opposition continued for a number of years, but he never flinched and gradually the response to his ministry was so encouraging that he erected a gallery in the south transept at his own expense. He ended his life as the best known ‘character’ in Cambridge, his funeral in Kings College Chapel being attended by some two thousand people.

We then headed to a Church that I have never visited before.  St Andrew the Great.

In the days when Cambridge still had gates, this was known as St Andrew without Barnwell Gate. Today there’s no gate, but St Andrew still guards the entrance to Petty Cury and Sidney Street, the two main shopping roads. The Church was declared redundant in 1984, but after ten years of speculation (which saw plans to turn it into shops or the Tourist Information Office) the congregation of Holy Sepulchre moved here.

Inside the church is a mural monument to Captain James Cook, the circumnavigator of the world, d. 14 Feb. 1497; his son Hugh, of Christ’s College, d. 1793; and to James Cook, commander R.N. d. 25 Jan. 1794; the deaths of his son Nathaniel, midshipman H.M.S. Thunderer," lost in a storm 16 Oct. 1780, and of three other children, who died in their infancy, are also recorded; his widow Elizabeth, who died at Clapham, 13 May, 1835, was also buried here.

St Andrew’s is a Victorian building - the medieval church was demolished in 1842 and rebuilt to a plan by Ambrose Poynter (who also built St Paul’s on Hills Road and Christchurch on Newmarket Road).

Finally we visited St Botolph’s Church, at the intersection of Trumpington Street and Silver Street.

The Church is dedicated to St Botolph, a seventh century abbot in East Anglia, who is the patron saint of travellers. The most famous place named after him is Boston in Lincolnshire – “Botolph’s Town” – a place which gave its name to Boston in Massachusetts.

The church was by the south gate of medieval Cambridge, through which travellers from London entered the town. It was also the first church reached by travellers from the west who crossed the Cam where Silver Street Bridge now stands.

Norman and Saxon churches stood on the site prior to the existing church, which was built in 1350.

The pulpit is over 300 years old; the lectern was made and given to the church in 1875 and the pews for the congregation in the nave were installed in the late 19th Century.

Queens’ College have been the patron of the living since the 15th Century. The college was founded through the initiative of Andrew Doket, a 15th Century Rector of St Botolph’s.

The Chancel was rebuilt in the 19th century by the Victorian architect Bodley. Bodlley also designed the lectern, which was given to the church in memory of the Cambridge builder Kett.

There is a memorial to Darwin by the vestry door. Darwin’s family were parishioners of St Botolph’s.

The paintings highlight the Dutch golden age of painting. This was a period in Dutch history generally spanning the 17^th century, in which Dutch trade, science, and art were among the most acclaimed in the world. The painters of this era have left a profound legacy.

Many genre paintings, which seemingly only depicted everyday life, actually illustrated Dutch proverbs and sayings, or conveyed a moralistic message, the meaning of which is not always easy to decipher in modern times. For instance, a still life might include a skull, an hourglass and a snuffed out candle, symbols which all emphasized mortality. Seasons were often indicated by human activities that were typical for that time of year (skating, sowing, harvesting etc. All walks of life were shown. Today these genre paintings provide many insights into the daily life of 17th century citizens of all classes.

This gallery is well worth a visit. If you wish to hunt for some symbolic clues then I would recommend first looking at the flower painting in the corridor outside the main gallery. At first glance they simply seen ‘pretty’ however, they are full of symbolism – fading flowers, insects and combinations of flowers that seasonally would not be possible.

We followed our visual treat with an indulgent treat. We headed over the road to Hotel du Vin for afternoon tea – delicious. Enormous scones with loads of jam and cream, cakes and a selection of fine teas. All accompanied by lots of laughter as we swapped plans for the subsequent diets that we would soon be on!

We met at Centre at St Paul’s, in Hills Road, where the Church space has been booked to make the most of our voices.  Natural Voice singing tutor Penny arrived and immediately made everyone feel relaxed as we chatted over a glass of wine - to lubricate our voices.

Firstly Penny took us through a relaxation as we shook out any tensions and went aaahhhhh.  Penny then taught us a very short Scottish folk song and to our amazement we were singing.  Once we were familiar with the words we sang it as a round.  The more singing we did the more confident we became and we couldn’t get enough.   We moved onto an Israeli folk song and added a dance to it. 

Now we are all addicted and plan to attend a local singing class, and we have big ideas about setting up a Simply Social singing group.

Literary wise we had an eclectic mix.  Ranging from poetry Pam Ayers to G M Hopkins, a reading from a book of Urban towns in Australia, a Buddhist poem and a poem about the joys of growing older and wiser - and more.  I have included one of the poems as it was so timely:

THE NEW REGIME

Yes, I agree.  We’ll pull ourselves together.

We eat too much.  We’re always getting drunk

It’s not a bad idea to find out whether we like each other sober.  Let’s resist.

I’ve got the Perrier and the carrot grater,

I’ll look on a scotch or a pudding as a crime.

We all have to be sensible sooner or later

But don’t let’s be sensible all the time.

No more thinking about a second bottle

And saying “what the hell” and giving in.

Tomorrow I’ll be jogging at full throttle

To make myself rich successful and thin.

A healthy life’s a great rejuvenator

But god, it’s going to be an uphill climb,

We all have to be sensible sooner or later

But don’t let’s be sensible all the time.

The conversation won’t be half as trivial

You’ll hold forth on the issues of the day

And, when our evenings aren’t quite so convivial

You’ll start remembering the things I say.

Oh, see if you can catch the eye of the waiter

And order me a double vodka and lime.

We all have to be sensible sooner or later

But I refuse to be sensible all the time.

The next Book Club lunch party will be in August.  The Book club meets on the first Saturday of every month. 

So we will be holding our event in February.  Watch the events listings for more details.

As I said this is a very simplistic summary of Mind Mapping.  If you are interested in more then do take a look at the Winning Minds website and let me know as we are planning to hold a further workshop to help us towards identifying our core values.

Cambridge Blue Badge Guide Mary Lockwood gave us another of her fascinating tours of the City centre.  This time we looked at the site of the Barnwell Gate along the King’s Ditch.  This was roughly where St Andrew’s Street meets Hobson Street.  The King’s Ditch was dug to accommodate and flush out waste.  Although given that there was little ‘fall’ it is not clear how successful it was.  Mary’s talk took us beyond the Barnwell Gate along the newly opened Christ’s Lane across Christ’s Pieces and into King Street which was once home to 14 public houses.  We then went to visit All Saints Church in Jesus Lane which a real hidden treasure - the walls are covered in William Morris decoration.  You really must seek out the Church it is so usual.  We ended up at Jesus College where we visited the Chapel.  The Chapel is one of the few remaining buildings that show where the Nuns of  The Blessed Virgin Mary, St John the Evangelist and St Ragegund  - what a mouth full, had once lived.  They were told to leave their premises after the Bishop of Ely discovered that the Abbess was not keeping to her morning prayers and the buildings were falling into disrepair.  However, it seems that the Nuns had a fine reputation for offering hospitality!  The Chapel was rather stunning, as most of the older College Chapels are.  Beautifully carved pews, stained glass and floor tiles.  The College has just had a new organ installed and during our brief visit we were entertained by one of the organists who had dropped by to try out the new acquisition.

Our next historial walking tour is on Friday 19th September when we will find out more about women at Cambridge -’Nasty forward minxes’ as they were known by some.