SEIZE THE DAY Spring Equinox 21 March
CONCERT Grantchester Village Hall, 7-9.30pm; SINGING WORKSHOP Grantchester Village Hall, 2-5pm
News and Events
Talk: Threats to the river Cam and what we can do about them
Friends of the Cam occasionally make presentations, including to community groups and students. Recent talks have included those to local Women's Institutes, Friends of Midsummer Common, University of Cambridge Student Environment Group and Anglia Ruskin students studying the rights of nature. We welcome invitations to speak. The attached presentation on Threats to the river Cam and what we can do about them will give some idea of content. Please feel free to quote, with acknowledgement.
Friends of the Cam's River Festival in Robert Macfarlane's 'Is A River Alive?'
Robert Macfarlane writes about his experience of Friends of the Cam’s river festival and declaration in his new book ‘Is A River Alive?’
Friends of the Cam co-founder stands for Chancellor of Cambridge University
One of the co-founders of Friends of the Cam, Tony Booth, stood for Chancellor of Cambridge University (Film explaining why here).
Rob Larter on The changing West Antarctic Ice Sheet and its implications for East Anglia
We were pleased to host Rob Larter on May 21st 2025, who spoke about how the West Antarctic Ice Sheet change is the largest source of uncertainty in future sea-level rise predictions and how accelerating sea-level rise impacts coastal erosion and the risk of coastal flooding events around East Anglia. A copy of Rob's slides can be found here. He highlighted how a relatively small rise in sea level has a disproportionate effect on the recurrence interval of extreme high wate
Cam River Rights Festival
HOLD THE DATE: The 6th River Rights Festival will be held on Jesus Green on Sunday 21st June. More details coming soon!
Challenging the Cambridge Growth Company
The Federation of Cambridge Residents' Associations (FeCRA) hosted Peter Freeman, Chair of the Government’s new ‘Cambridge Growth Company’, to explain what his vision for the growth of Cambridge means for its infrastructure, water and housing, and this was an opportunity for us to question him directly. Friends of the Cam challenged the appropriateness of growth in our dry, increasingly hot, and water stressed region, which is also threatened by flooding from sea level rise.
Challenging the Growth Machine in Cambridge
The Financial Times' 'long read' ‘Can Cambridge be a model for kick-starting the British economy?' featured Friends of the Cam steering group member Wendy Blythe stressing the problems that the growth proposals will cause for the river and local communties.
Challenging the Fixed Bus Way through Coton Orchard
Friends of the Cam are objecting to the plan to build a costly, unnecessary, fixed dedicated bus route from Cambridge (Grange Road) to Cambourne, via Coton, destroying a traditional orchard of national importance in the process. Friends of the Cam presented evidence to the Inquiry on September 30th. The case for the busway is being made by local County and District Councils, and the Greater Cambridge Partnership.
March for Clean Water, Sunday 3rd November
Friends of the Cam is a member of the coalition organising The March for Clean Water. We joined other groups from Cambridge and across the country on Sunday November 3rd to demand clean, plentiful and healthy water in our rivers and seas for all species, including humans, and to end the profit driven pollution which drives water companies.