Very pleased we actually got some rain yesterday - have a painting to celebrate. This is "The Cam" donated by the artist Cecille Cranwell to the Collection in 1984.

I was driven around in a motorbike and sidecar when I was a kid, before we got the Reliant Rialto that I later learnt to drive. Dad always refused to take his car driving licence. Haven't got any photos of the outfit digitised, but here's the motorbike.

Headed over to Duxford last week to give a talk. Not sure why Cambs have so many parishes with two churches, but here's St John's and St Peter's. St Peter's is the one currently in use, with St John's looked after by the Churches Conservation Trust

Stock team have sent me some presents - here's the latest new books for the Cambridgeshire Collection

We've just cracked 5,000 sign ups for the Read to the Beat Summer Reading Challenge in Cambridgeshire - time to celebrate! This is Philip Brand with his model traction engine he made powering his gramaphone.

Just getting everything set up for Open Cambridge - we'll be running our tours of the archive store as usual. Bookings will open on Monday 10th August at 10am. Make sure you get in there fast as we'll be fully booked by half ten. The link is www.opencambridge.cam.ac.uk

Just had a donation come in of pictures of March - March Museum have very kindly sent over some of their duplicate photos. Here they are celebrating George VI's coronation in 1937.

Want to learn more about the university life of the new Prime Minster, Andy Burnham? He was at Fitzwilliam College and this book is excellent on their history. Copies available for loan from the Cambridgeshire Collection in Cambridge Central Library.

I'll be at Mill Road Summer Shindig with Bessie the Book Bike on Romsey Rec until 4pm - party continues until 7pm. Come and find us and get a sticker!

It's the monthly #SaturdayLibrarian shift again and don't forget that's it's nice and cool in the Cambridgeshire Collection search room. If you're a bit hot after popping around the shops, do nip in to cool off. I'm repping Newcastle Libraries today with their excellent tote bag.

We're certainly getting into the Summer Reading Challenge mood here in Cambridge Central Library - found this in the staff room this morning. You can learn more about Summer Reading Challenge and Read with the Beat with Luke and Dilly the Dinosaur at www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWEI...

OK, I'm starting to get sick of the heat. Here's the River Cam frozen over in 1963 with people skating to try and feel a bit cooler. We do have air conditioning in the Cambs Collection search room if you want to cool down a bit though.

The Summer Reading Challenge kicks off tomorrow with the first Sign up Saturday. The theme this year is "Read to the Beat" and if you pop into Cambridge Central Library over the summer you might see how my trumpet's been pressed into service.

It's July - Disability Pride Month. The Disablement Income Group was one of the first groups to campaign for a set disability benefit for everybody. This is Daisy Philips, sectary of the Cambridge group being lifted into a coach to Parliament for a protest in 1969 as there were no accessible coaches

What with the opening of Cambridge South train station on Sunday, here's the opening of Cambridge station back in 1845, taken from the Illustrated London News. Things have changed a bit since then but the main station building doesn't look that different.

Everybody keeps talking about the 1976 heatwave, so I went and found what they were printing in the Cambridge Evening News then - here's a couple of journalists cooking an egg in an ashtray on somebody's Mini. Only reached 85F (about 29C) though and took over two hours.

It's scorchio today, so here's Ely swimming pool not long after it opened in 1934. Hope everybody's keeping cool!

We've got a copy of Vox Piscis or the Bookfish here in the Cambridgeshire Collection as well - always a nice tale for our groups touring the Collection as we're only round the corner from Peas Hill where the old fish market used to be.

Interesting to hear the news about the former Mill Road Library www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... Here's what it looked like when it opened in 1896 and in 1980.

The last copy of my Newmarket Road book is for sale in the Cambridgeshire Collection, so run, don't walk if you'd like to buy it. Still lots of East Road and Cherry Hinton Road if you want the set.

Here's Miss Miriam Pratt walking to court in Cambridge in 1913, and here's the house she burnt in Storey's Way. She was a school teacher from Norwich and was caught when her uncle, a police sergeant, found her watch in the burnt house. Sentenced to 18 months in Holloway.

Enjoying my Pharos Tutors course on military ancestors. Here's some chaps from the 1st battalion of the Cambridgeshire Regiment in 1914.

I'm here with the mobile library at Cambridge Pride today - do pop along and grab a book

Helping a local secondary school put more local history into their new history syllabus and it's really giving me a brain workout. Here's T. C. Lethbridge running a dig at Burwell Castle in 1935. This was one of the castles built locally by Stephen during the Anarchy period.

Still time to book a ticket to come along to our local history lecture on Friday at 2pm - Clunch the local stone by David Stubbings in Cambridge Central Library. Book on Eventbrite at www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/clunch-the... This is Mr Durrant's clunch pit in Burwell in the 1920s

We've just updated Picture Cambridgeshire with this month's photos - up to 3399 now. Here's a Ramsey and Muspratt photograph from a production of Poisoned Kiss. Check out the rest of them at cambridgeshire.spydus.co.uk/cgi-bin/spyd...

Went to make a cup of tea and found one of my colleagues had evidently enjoyed themselves at the kid's Lego session yesterday. Not sure we've got enough lego to make a full size one though...

They've pretty much finished knocking down the old Pizza Hut restaurant on the corner of Parker's Piece. Back in 1901, it was Leavis' piano shop. Their son was F. R. Leavis, the literary critic and lecturer at Downing College.

1st June today, making it Pride Month! Here's Herbert Charles Pollitt to celebrate, also known as Diane de Rougy. His alter ego was inspired by Liane de Pougy from the Folies in Paris. He was a student at Cambridge University from 1889 and became the president of Footlights

We're celebrating Rock Road Library's 90th birthday tomorrow (Sat 30th May) from 10am to 2pm. Come along for a range of activities - more details at www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rock-road-... I'll be there with some historic photographs. Here's the inside of the library in 1955.