Imagine the St Ives bypass, Harrison Way, in a different place, running down Ramsey Road, across Holt Island and Hemingford Meadow to Armes Corner. The Waits becomes a dead end, with only a footpath under the bypass to reach the Parish Church. Day and night, traffic noise echoes from the church spire. No peaceful backwater to feed the ducks, no Holt Island Nature Reserve, no tranquil River Great Ouse or Hemingford Meadow. One of the most beautiful views from St Ives Bridge is gone.
But for our Civic Society, much of what makes St Ives special would have been lost. When eight locals met in July 1968 to oppose the bypass route, they began a lasting force for good, guardians of our town’s unique heritage.
Over the coming year, in instalments published every two months, the first fifty years of the Society will be chronicled through minutes, members’ meetings, newspaper reports, and other sources.
Click the button below to read about the Society’s formation, its first battle and success, and to view original documents and images: