Cambridge Edition December

Cambridge DECEMBER 2014

Cambridgeshire’s quality lifestyle magazine www.cambsedition.co.uk

EDITION

INSIDE THIS ISSUE...

ARTS

B M A C RY E V A

CH E G RID

!

S A M RIST

FREE MAGAZINE

CULTURE

MILL ROAD WINTER FAIR

NIGHTLIFE

Christmas

Gift Guide THEATRE GUIDE

Cambridge

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CONTENTS

DECEMBER 2014

19

68

5 • FIVE THINGS TO DO Our pick of the best things to do in Cambridge this month

7-10 • NIGHTLIFE Fill your long evenings will comedy, live music and a Christmas cocktail or two – here’s the best of what’s on after dark 13 • MUSIC BLOG Gigs guaranteed to get your toes tapping and hips wiggling this month 14-17 • THE CAMBRIDGE SOUND We take a look at the best local ‘ones to watch’ for 2015 19-25 • ARTS & CULTURE What’s on at Cambridge’s wonderful museums, galleries and theatres 27-29 • FESTIVE THEATRE We round up the best of this year’s crop of festive family shows

71

51-71 • FOOD & DRINK All the gastronomic happenings and news from Cambridge’s foodie scene, recipes for a Christmas feast and Nicola Foley tries the burgers at Rhode Island...

72-73 • LISTINGS Your essential ‘what’s on’ calendar for December 75 • COMMUNITY NEWS Community news and charitable events from your local hub 77 • INDEPENDENT OF THE MONTH We talk celebrity customers and how to get ahead with a hat at Laird Hatters 85-89 • GIFT GUIDE Gifts for him, her and for the little ones from our favourite Cambridge stores

31 • NORTH POLE Bringing the Arctic,to Cambridge, get your (ice) skates on

90-92 • A VINTAGE CHRISTMAS Ruby Truelove from burlesque and cabaret club Neon Moon shares secrets for a decadent festive season

32-34 • MILL ROAD WINTER FAIR What to expect from Cambridge’s huge, cockle-warming community gathering

94-97 • FASHION Sultry black number or sparkles galore?

How to dazzle this party season

39 • THE ANTI-CHRISTMAS GUIDE Ugh, sick of mince pies and enforced jollity? This one’s for you 40-41 • NEW YEAR’S EVE Your guide to the most glittering celebrations in the city 43 • FAMILY Ideas for family fun this December 44-45 • CHRISTMAS FAIRS Don’t miss out on these local Christmas markets and craft fairs 46-47 • COMPETITION In our biggest giveaway of the year, win a Christmas hamper worth over £1,200!

98-99 • BEAUTY What to buy the make-up lover in your life this Christmas 101 • BEAUTY NEWS The latest findings and beauty events near you 103 • EDUCATION Friends’ School talk dodging modern distractions for a peaceful, productive learning environment 107-113 • BUSINESS Looking back on a year in Cambridge’s tech cluster & pension advice from Payplus

Welcome

Hello and welcome to our Christmas edition! The local events calendar is always bursting at this time of year, so whether you fancy enjoying a rooftop carol service, exploring a traditional Christmas market, glugging cocktails at a Prohibition era-inspired party or getting glammed up and dancing the night away at a decadent winter ball, we’ve got the low-down on the best of what’s happening in your city this month.

First up, if you’ve not visited Parker’s Piece recently, I recommend you mosey over pronto, as it’s been transformed into a sparkling winter wonderland complete with huge ice rink, funfair rides and street food collective that features the cream of the Cambridge foodie crop – turn to page 31 to find out more. There’s also, of course, the lovely Mill Road Winter Fair to look forward to on 6 December. Cambridge Edition is proud to partner this vibrant community event for the third year running (our stall will be located in the marquee at Donkey Green if you want to come and say hi!), which offers everything from a carnival-style parade to a huge food fair, as well as live music, stalls and plenty of mulled wine and festive spirit.

In need of some inspiration for your Christmas shopping? Our Independent Gift Guide, beginning on page 85, is packed with ideas for perfect pressies, all from Cambridge’s wonderful indies. Fed up of all the baubles and Bublé already? Check out our Anti Christmas Guide on page 39. See you on the other side!

NICOLA FOLEY, EDITOR FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: @cambsedition

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/CambsEdition

CONTRIBUTORS

EDITORIAL Editor Nicola Foley 01223 499459 nicolafoley@bright-publishing.com Features editor Jennifer Shelton 01223 499463 jennifershelton@bright-publishing.com

Alex Rushmer, Angelina Villa-Clarke, Daisy Dickinson, Charlotte Griffiths, Jordan Worland, Ruthie Collins, Robin Mead, Ruby Truelove, Stella Pereira, Anna Chaudhri, Wesley Freeman-Smith, Tom Kruczynski, Tom Simkins, Tim Willett, Lautaro Vargas

Sub editors Lisa Clatworthy & Hannah Bealey

DESIGN & PRODUCTION

ADVERTISING

Designer Emily Stowe 01223 499450 emilystowe@bright-publishing.com

Senior sales executive Claire McGrath 01223 499461 clairemcgrath@bright-publishing.com

Ad production Lucy Woolcomb 01223 499468 lucywoolcomb@bright-publishing.com

Sales executive Lauren Widdowson 01223 499451 laurenwiddowson@bright-publishing. com

PUBLISHING DIRECTORS Andy Brogden & Matt Pluck 01223 499450

www.bright-publishing.com

CAMBRIDGE EDITION MAGAZINE • Bright Publishing Ltd, Bright House, 82 High Street, Sawston, Cambridgeshire CB22 3HJ 01223 499450, www.cambsedition.co.uk • All rights reserved. Material contained in this publication may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior permission of the publishers. • Views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of Cambridge Edition or Bright Publishing Ltd, which do not accept any liability for loss or damage. • Every effort has been made to ensure all information is correct. • Cambridge Edition is a free publication that is distributed in Cambridge and the surrounding area

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5 THINGS TO DO

5

thingsthistomonth do MILL ROAD WINTER FAIR Head down to Cambridge’s most cosmopolitan street for one of the biggest community events in town: the Mill Road Winter Fair. Taking place on 6 December, it sees the whole street turned into a bustling fray of shoppers browsing gift stalls, food markets and more. There’ll be live musical entertainment and dance, plus the parade, which is always a brilliant spectacle of sound, colour and costume. Read more about the Fair on page 32. www.millroadwinterfair.org

CAROLS AT KINGS Listen to soaring carols performed by some of the finest choristers in the country at the spectacular King’s College Chapel – surely the highlight of Christmas in Cambridge. A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols is broadcast live on BBC Radio 4 at 3pm on Christmas Eve, though to be in with a chance of attending you’ll need to join the queue before 9am. In past years, singers have performed carols outside to warm up the crowds, and entry is free. www.kings.cam.ac.uk

VARSITY ROOFTOP CAROLS

SEE A CHRISTMAS SHOW Raucous panto or twinkling ballet? Make time in your festive calendar to fit in one of Cambridge’s spectacular Christmas shows.

There’s panto over at the Arts Theatre (it’s Aladdin this year), an Around The World in 80 Days family adventure at Cambridge Junction, not one but two Russian ballets at the Corn Exchange and lots more besides. See page 27 for our pick of the very best this year.

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Head to The Varsity on 15 December for a Christmas show with a twist as the luxurious boutique hotel hosts a carol concert at its stunning rooftop garden. The event, which runs from 7pm, will feature an evening of choir and congregational carols against the beautiful backdrop of the Cambridge skyline , complete with festive drinks and mince pies. www.thevarsityhotel.co.uk

VINTAGE CHRISTMAS SHOPPING Judy’s Affordable Vintage Fair returns to Cambridge on 7 December, a perfect chance to pick up some Christmas gifts.

For the entire day, the Guildhall will be stocked with rail upon rail of gorgeous garments (hello, Christmas party...), hats, scarves, jewellery and a splash of homeware, all completely different from anything you might find on the high street. So, if traipsing through department stores is dampening your Christmas cheer, get this date in your diary. And did we mention there’s a vintage tea shop too? www.judysvintagefair.co.uk

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NIGHTLIFE

DOWSING CHRISTMAS COCKTAIL

BASEMENT JAXX After a four-year break, legendary dance duo and Brit Award winners Basement Jaxx returned with a new album, Junto, this autumn.

Blending carnival vibes, bouncy beats and absorbing genres in typical Jaxx style, it’s been a triumphant return for the twosome.

Even in an era where electro-dance seems to be in permanent residence at the top of the charts, they’ve been showing newcomers how it’s done – and we’d bet that this month’s Corn Exchange gig will be as lively and fun-packed as ever.

Formed in Brixton in the early 1990s, Basement Jaxx, aka Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe, started out hosting a club night in Brixton, Rooty (which would later be used as the name of their second album), before going on to dominate the charts and festival circuit.

Highlights included hits like Red Alert, Romeo, Oh My Gosh, Bingo Bango, Where’s Your Head At and Rendez-Vu, to name just a handful, but it’s live on stage, with all the colour and energy they bring, that they really shine – and we'd put money on this being a total corker of a gig.

See them in Cambridge on 8 December. Tickets are £27.50. www.cornex.co.uk

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Warm your Christmas cockles this month with an evening in the company of Dowsing Sound Collective, Cambridge’s coolest choir.

After a rollicking festive hootenanny last year, which saw over a thousand people singing their socks off to The Pogues’ Fairytale of New York, the group is returning to the Corn Exchange for another riotous Dowsing Christmas Cocktail on Sunday 14 December.

Featuring over 120 singers and instrumentalists on stage – including a string quartet, Irish whistle, funk brass, banjo and Eigenharp, along with drums, bass, lead guitar and a grand piano – the collective is made up entirely of people from Cambridge, and in the last year alone has collaborated with Basement Jaxx and legendary songwriter Boo Hewerdine.

As ever, the set list is brilliantly eclectic, leaping joyously from retro winter classics and Christmas favourites to contemporary party hits (think Mumford & Sons mixed with Jamiroquai, and a bit of Dolly Parton thrown in for good measure).

All gig profits will go towards The Dosoco Foundation, a project set up by the Dowsing Collective last year, which has already donated just under £3000 to support music-related projects doing social good in Cambridgeshire, and tickets start at £17.50. VIP tickets, which include great seats, a free cocktail, and entry to the post-show party, are also available at £38.50. www.cornex.co.uk

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NIGHTLIFE

FRANK SKINNER It’s a while since we’ve heard from Frank Skinner, who’s returning to the stage for the first time in over seven years, this time sporting a decidedly more grown-up look than the laddish footie enthusiast of yesteryear.

It’s not just the comic’s appearance which has had a clean-up: Skinner claims that his whole routine is less smutty these days. That’s not to say that the funnyman has lost his ability to get a crowd roaring with laughter, riffing on everything from fame to multiplex snack food in this new show, Man in a Suit (in case you’re worried he’s gone a bit vanilla, we hear there’s still a good wedge of near-the-knuckle gags too).

Frank Skinner is at the Corn Exchange on 12 December, tickets are £30, starts 7.30pm. www.cornex.co.uk

NEON MOON PRESENTS NARNIA Have you experienced the sumptuous world of the Neon Moon club yet? After a decadent Halloween bash at The Guildhall, they’re back this month with a Narnia-inspired ball at their usual haunt, Anstey Hall. This month’s event, which will feature a sparkly concoction of burlesque, cabaret and dancing, takes place on 27 December (aka smack-bang in the middle of Christmas limbo and the perfect time for a spot of glamorous partying) from 8pm-1am. Tickets are £30. www.theneonmoonclub.com

SHINDIG Innovative gig promoters SHINDIG finish off their 2014 programme with an ambitious live show, held in St Paul’s gloriously revamped church on Hills Road. Inviting bands to bring their theatrical side to the fore, Fuzzy Lights perform a thunderous live soundtrack to an undisclosed independent film, whilst ambient-folk outfit Lost Harbours also plan visuals – current bets are that it’ll be stunningly atmospheric too. Based around a series of threes, the fates will surely be looking kindly on this one.

The line-up is completed by a dance collaboration from The Shadow Committee, previewing segments of their upcoming Edinburgh show with help from a local artist/coffee shop manager. The full picture will remain veiled until the night, so as to best preserve the sense of intrigue... Fans of instrumental music and highly charged ambience can find out what they’ve been missing on 5 December, 8pm. Tickets £5.50. www.tinyurl.com/shindigdec2014

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NIGHTLIFE

now

booking

ROYAL NORTHERN SINFONIA

ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN Cult band Echo and The Bunnymen visit Cambridge this month as part of a new UK tour which will conclude in their home town, Liverpool, next year. It’s news that will come as music to the ears of the many ardent fans of the group, which is still very much going strong, having released their 12th album earlier this year.

Formed in 1978, Echo and The Bunnymen have an illustrious career’s worth of classic tracks to draw upon, from iconic hit The Killing Moon and the majestic Heaven Up Here right the way through to orchestral-rock masterpiece Ocean Rain.

They're widely regarded as of the most seminal British rock bands of recent history, and this month’s gig, which takes place at Cambridge Junction on 3 December, is sure to be a good ’un. Tickets £27.50, doors 7pm. www.junction.co.uk

23 January 2015, Corn Exchange, from £28.50 Join the internationally acclaimed ensemble for their first performance at Cambridge Corn Exchange, where they'll be treating audiences to a rich and varied programme. www.cornex.co.uk

REGINALD D HUNTER 2 May 2015, Corn Exchange, £26.50 American comic Reginald D Hunter returns to the UK in 2015 with a brand new 45-date tour following a hugely successful year filming and performing around the world. Catch him at the Corn Exchange in May. www.cornex.co.uk

BELLE & SEBASTIAN

RODRIGO Y GABRIELA Acclaimed acoustic rock duo Rodrigo y Gabriela will be bringing their unique Mexican-inspired musical stylings to Cambridge Corn Exchange this month as part of a string of UK shows.

Blending world music, jazz and metal, the twosome’s captivating sound defies easy classification, fusing genres and styles. One thing is unarguable, however: Rodrigo y Gabriela put on a damn fine live show that demonstrates their instrumental virtuosity and fiery energy – as those who caught their exhilarating Glastonbury performance this year will attest.

Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero have been playing together for more than 15 years, having found kindred musical spirits in one another as young thrash metal fans in their native Mexico City. Fast-forward to 2014 and they’ve sold in excess of 1.2 million albums, created scores for blockbuster movies and played sold-out gigs around the globe. Catch them doing their thing on 1 December, tickets from £27.50, starts 7.30pm. www.cornex.co.uk

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7 May 2015, Corn Exchange, £27.50 Kooky Belle and Sebastian are in town next spring in support of their ninth album, Girls In Peacetime Want to Dance, to be released in January.

Purveyors of the finest wistful indie pop, they visit Cambridge in May as part of a small 12-date tour and, with their huge cult following, early booking is recommended. www.cornex.co.uk

CAMBRIDGE FOLK FESTIVAL 30 July-2 August 2015, Cherry Hinton Hall Tickets for the 2015 Cambridge Folk Festival go on sale on 1 December. Get in quick to secure your place (they're selling out increasingly fast these days), or pick up a ticket as the perfect Christmas gift for the folk-lover in your life! www.cambridgefolkfestival.co.uk

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NIGHTLIFE

RUSSELL HOWARD

DAVID GRAY You’ll probably remember a good few of the tracks from David Gray’s huge White Ladder album. Selling some seven million copies (making it the fifth bestselling UK album of the noughties), it topped the charts back in 1998 and spawned hits including Babylon, This Year’s Love and Sail Away. As well as providing an indisputable soundtrack to the era, Gray is often also credited for sparking a singer-songwriter renaissance. While that was the release that made his name, it was in fact his fourth album at that point, and he enjoyed a further two number one albums with White Ladder’s follow ups, A New Day at Midnight and Life in Slow Motion.

2014 saw the singer-songwriter release his tenth album, Mutineers, in which, by his own admission, he’s exiting his comfort zone. His first album in over four years, it sees him collaborating with DJ-minded producer Andy Barlow, exploring a fresh sound.

Catch him at Cambridge Corn Exchange on 2 December, tickets start at £32, 7.30pm. www.cornex.co.uk

Star of BBC Three’s award-winning Good News show, mischievous Bristolian Russell Howard has become a household name across the country in the last few years.

Utterly uncynical but cheeky enough to remain hilarious, the comedian combines feel-good tales with good old-fashioned filth. He’ll be in Cambridge on 13 December, trying out new material and warming up for the autumn stint of his sold-out arena tour. Tickets £30. www.cornex.co.uk

FLIM FLAM

BEANS ON TOAST

We’re always happy to hear about a new club night in Cambridge and this one looks set to be a good’un.

Launching at the Portland Arms on 13 December, Flim Flam is promising an energetic and colourful night featuring Cambridge DJ Two Deck Charlie, as well as appearances from the Cambridge Lindyhoppers and some of the Neon Moon posse. Musicwise, it’s all about electro swing, the good-time genre which brings vintage swing bang up to date by splicing it with contemporary influences such as hip hop and house.

Tickets are £4 or £5 on the door and the event runs 8pm-11.30pm. www.theportlandarms.co.uk

Having stormed the Portland Arms last year, Beans On Toast (aka Jay McAllister) is back in town this month for a show at Cambridge Junction. This Glastonbury veteran offers up a blend of drugs ballads, odes to life’s simple pleasures, protest songs and a hefty serving of gruff social commentary. His tracks, which matter-of-factly cover everything from gun crime to global warming, are funny, thoughtprovoking and clever, making him a deserving candidate for the title of this generation’s Billy Bragg. Catch him on 4 December at 8pm. Tickets cost £10. www.junction.co.uk

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MUSIC

Jordan Worland from local music website Slate the Disco selects his must-see gigs in Cambridge this month hristmas festivities don’t stand in the way of live music in Cambridge this month, so if you’re fearful of hearing Wizzard, The Pogues and Bing Crosby one too many times, here are our picks of what to catch instead this month.

Our first pick, duo Rodrigo Y Gabriela, bring a Mexican flavour to the Corn Exchange on 1 December. This year's Glastonbury Festival saw the pair playing the main stage, following two sold-out back to back nights at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The Aztec hammerers wowed crowds with a set based on their stellar album 9 Dead Alive, which was released earlier this year. Before they became the most visible flamenco duo of the early 2000s, Rob and Gab were combining their talents in a metal group.

Bill Ryder-Jones, who boasts a collection of cinematic songs that fuse exquisite strings and sublime orchestral movements with emotive, vocal-led pieces, plays The Portland Arms on 2 December.

The show is co-headlined by Saint Saviour, an artist who came to prominence as the frontwoman for Groove Armada’s Black Light record and subsequent live shows, but who, as a solo artist, boasts a far more intimate and alluring sound, based principally on an incredible vocal.

Ivor Novello award-winning songwriter Mike Rosenberg, the man who is better known as the multi platinum-selling Passenger, is in Cambridge this month.

Passenger’s Whispers tour show at the Corn Exchange on the fourth has been sold out for some time, but if you’ve already got tickets you’ll be in for a rousing and moving show led by that unmistakable voice.

Undoubtedly one of the must-see shows of the year is Basement Jaxx at the Corn Exchange on 8 December. With the release of their seventh studio album Junto earlier in the year, it’s no surprise to

see the masters of dance dusting off their legendary live show for another tour. We’re just thankful that this time they’re bringing the show to Cambridge. Showcasing a back catalogue of dominating house sounds, while always remaining cheerfully inventive, this gig promises to be a great night out.

Always so welcome in Cambridge and never one to disappoint, Beans On Toast will play the Cambridge Junction J2 on 4 December, as part of the tour to support his new album. Marking the release of his sixth studio album with Xtra Mile Recordings, as is traditional on his 1st December birthday, The Next Album Tour

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2014 will be an unforgettable experience as the singer, storyteller and guitar player’s self-deprecating nature goes a long way towards breaking down the barriers between musician and audience, creating a real sense of equality throughout.

Laura Stevenson is undertaking her first full band tour for three years this month, including a date at The Portland Arms on the 16th. The tour follows Laura’s recent album, Wheel, which was produced by Kevin McMahon (Swans, Titus Andronicus, Frightened Rabbit, Real Estate) and features strings from Grammy award-winning Rob Moose.

We finish with our gig of the month, a triumphant homecoming show for Lonely The Brave, one of the breakout bands of the year. Having released their debut album The Day’s War to massive critical acclaim and a place at number 14 in the UK album charts a few months back, Cambridge quintet Lonely The Brave play at the Junction on 13 December. Support on the night comes from Sam Duckworth of Get Cape Wear Cape Fly fame, along with Cambridge’s next exciting breakthrough act, Bloody Knees.

Tell us about your gig at www.slatethedisco.com

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CAMBRIDGE SOUND

THE CAMBRIDGE

SOUND

15 0 2 n i h c t a W Ones to

this month In a special edition of our regular Cambridge Sound feature, we speak to the movers and shakers on the local music scene to get their predictions on which Cambridge acts are destined for big things next year

tom adams Wesley Freeman-Smith Wesley Freeman-Smith is a promoter, writer and artist living in Cambridge.

In 2012 he founded SHINDIG, a monthly night of music, alternative performance and entertainment Tom Adams is who I’ll be placing my bets on in the ‘Most Likely To...’ competition.

In various guises, Tom has been creating captivating sounds for a number of years, spanning everything from post-rock to free jazz, and after some time out up north he’s settled down in Cambridgeshire with every intention of making it in music. So far, he’s off to an amazing start. Noted for his use of live looping and digital manipulation, Tom’s recent release is his first solo endeavour – a glorious singer-songwriter record composed of piano, guitar, found sounds, and a golden falsetto voice you could soothe a bear with. If anything, his music is even richer live.

Improvising passages with enviable ease, constructing ambient segues at a whim, and backed by nothing other than the expansive Icelandic landscapes projected behind him, Tom Adams is the antidote to staid live performances in electronic music. Having already gained an impressive following from dates across Europe, his music is eminently sincere, musically adventurous, and liable to win even more fans in the years to come. For fans of Jeff Buckley, Nils Frahm and Jon Hopkins.

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CAMBRIDGE SOUND

lunacr e

Jordan Worland Jordan Worland, the author of Edition Edition’s ’s monthly Music Blog, is the founder and editor of Cambridge music website Slate The Disco

Tim Willett

young son

© Matthew Smith

© Conor Chignoli

New Cambridge five-piece Lunacre are my pick for 2015. They’re a band who have recently relocated to Cambridge after finishing university, to continue their music (sound familiar?!). They’re an outfit who have been busy behind the scenes for a while, learning their craft in other bands and fine-tuning their new sound together until they’re completely happy to unveil it, and 2015 is going to be their year to share. Off the back of a couple of live shows and a few tracks online, they already have management and labels interested.

Their music sways from the moody to the vibrant, showing aspects of alt rock, trip-hop and electronica; they’ve created something reminiscent of an upbeat Vondelpark, with electronic pulses, experimental rhythm patterns and glorious, dreamy melodies. Lunacre are one of the most exciting acts to surface from Cambridge in a while.

Tim Willett is a music promoter and presenter of The New Music Generator on Cambridge 105 When you know as many local artists as I do and the editor in chief of Cambridge Edition asks you to pick just one you think will have a successful 2015, it’s not an easy choice! I have a good feeling about the band I’ve plumped for, though; they’re one of a handful of very exciting new prospects to emerge in the scene over the last few months, and so next year the world is their oyster.

Young Son describe themselves as indie rock, but there’s much more to them than that. A lot of thought, precision and practice goes into their sound – this backed up by the fact that their first live gig was 18 months after they formed, that time spent painstakingly perfecting a debut set. If you want a comparison, Foals would be the closest, but there are other genre elements, including jangly pop and 21st century blues, intertwined through their repertoire. See them live and I defy you not to be transfixed, whether it be by Edward Capstick’s haunting vocals or Mark Hatcher and Maurice Smith’s atmospheric guitar riffs and synths. Jonathan Starnes (bass) and Andrew Foster (drums) complete this five-piece.

All the ingredients are there for this band to go on and make a real name for themselves.

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CAMBRIDGE SOUND

Tom Kruczynski Tom Kruczynski, a regular author of The Cambridge Sound feature, is a local musician and champion of the Cambridge music scene Turning our gaze to the world of dance music, all eyes were on Hugh Hardie (AKA Hugh Griffith) this year. As co-founder of the popular Milk 2 Sugars club night, Hugh is well known on the Cambridge clubbing circuit, but he’s also been making a substantial dent in the drum and bass scene this year, rubbing shoulders with some of its biggest names. A pilgrim of the liquid sound pioneered by the likes of London Elektricity and High Contrast, his compositions fuse melancholic lyrics and soaring melodies with gritty but uplifting basslines. With two of his tunes, Tearing Me Apart (ft. Kyan) and Kyoto City featured on Hospital Records compilations this year, as well as being invited to play Brixton Academy for their We Are 18 party, he’s clearly caught the attention of the big boys, and within drum and bass there isn’t really a better measure of success than being involved with Hospital.

An exclusive deal is a strong possibility, so it looks like Hugh may well be following in the footsteps of Cambridge-based drum and bass royalty Nu:Tone and Logistics (AKA Dan and Matt Gresham).

Hugh Hardie

Nicola Foley Always with an eye on up-and-coming local bands, Nicola Foley is the editor of Cambridge Edition magazine and a keen gig-goer I first got wind of Sivu, real name James Page, a few months ago when he released his debut album, Something On High.

High. While technically no longer a resident of Cambridge (he now resides in the big smoke), he grew up around here and cut his teeth in the local music scene, playing with a crop of bands.

Counting Alt-J, Wild Beasts and Bombay Bicycle Club among my favourite current bands, Sivu’s idiosyncratic brand of indie-pop, which blends delicate vocals with fluttering beats and gorgeously textured, dreamy soundscapes, is right up my street.

Described by the Sunday Times as ‘a huge promise’ and The Guardian as simply ‘heavenly’, the praise has been coming in thick and fast for Sivu, who’s now garnering airplay and support from Radio 1, 6 Music and XFM amongst others. For a quick taster, check out Better Man Than He on YouTube: not only an irresistible slice of alt-pop, but also a very cool video, which features Sivu singing inside an MRI scanner with mesmerising results.

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sivu

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toy

© Tom Calton

sparrows Tom Simkins Tom Simkins is a presenter and producer for local new music radio show BBC Introducing Cambridgeshire, Cambridgeshire, broadcast every Saturday from 8pm It’s an exciting time for Cambridgeshire music. The emergence of acts such as Sam Smith, Mallory Knox, Deaf Havana, Clean Bandit, Nick Mulvey, Lonely the Brave and Sivu on national radio has proved that artists from our county can make waves in the mainstream.

As someone who has a passion for local music, I am constantly amazed by the quality and quantity of the music coming out of Cambridgeshire. One act that has caught my eye over the last year is Toy Sparrows. I was instantly hooked by their track Wings.

Toy Sparrows is made up of Leanne and Chris, who come from completely different musical backgrounds. One is a huge pop fan and the other grew up on rock. However it’s those different influences, brought together within their tracks, that give Toy Sparrows the special something that makes them stand out from the crowd.

Despite the fact that the duo are in the infancy of their career, their debut EP, Moments and Memories,, is an accomplished record. It blends great pop sounds with an electronic edge and charming lyrics showcasing maturity beyond their years. Already with interest from the States this early in their musical journey, Toy Sparrows are definitely one to keep your eye on for 2015.

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ARTS & CULTURE

We explore the arts and culture scene in Cambridge, showcasing some of the many exciting exhibitions and shows taking place around the city

NOT UNTIL WE ARE LOST Don’t get us wrong, we love a bit of Christmas sparkle. But if you want an antidote to the usual pantos and naff Christmas pop songs (we’re looking at you, Noddy), Cambridge Corn Exchange may have your solution. Their big show this month, Not Until We Are Lost, is an acrobatic spectacular with no fake snow in sight but plenty of magic and wonder.

The show, created by Ockham’s Razor, will see the Corn Exchange transformed into an industrial playground of swinging metal, Perspex boxes and balance beams, across which performers play out six stories exploring the emotions of being lost and found.

“Even if you’ve been to the venue many times before you should get a very different experience,” says Charlotte, artistic director at Ockham’s Razor. “It’s a promenade piece, so the audience is on stage and the set is all around them. It makes it very immersive and lets people read the faces of the performers and see the sweat on their brow. When the audience are that close, they really get a sense of the performers

clinging on to each other and that they could at any moment fall.”

The title comes from the Henry David Thoreau quote, “Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves”. The show comprises six small routines which explore different aspects of being lost.

“It appeals to all ages and people are drawn to different moments within the show depending on where they are in their lives,” says Charlotte. “There’s a piece where someone is lost within a tower and entwined in paper, which has almost a fairytale forest quality to it. That really touched one woman whose teenage daughter had run away from home, as it made her recognise what her daughter was going through.

There’s a piece with someone in a tower and that has really spoken to people who have felt cut off in some way. But some people just love the mad swinging! There is a joyful, childlike quality to a lot of it too.”

Of the striking set, the huge swinging metal wall is likely to be the most showstopping feature.

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“It is really visually powerful and the movement that happens around that is thrilling,” says Charlotte. “But there are delicate and gentle moments as well.”

Music is another important part of the experience, featuring an on-stage local choir performing with a world-class harpist, who move with the audience around the room.

“We wanted to have the singing coming from all around. The music is written by Graham Fitkin, a really brilliant minimalist composer, and will be performed with just harp and voice.

It’s so atmospheric.”

Charlotte adds: “We hope that, in this familiar space, audiences can share in that experience of being lost and finding themselves. It’s aimed at everyone, even if you have no experience of contemporary dance or physical theatre.

It’s very accessible. And it’s got its own magical atmosphere. If you’ve had enough panto, this is a good antidote!”

Not Until We Are Lost runs 18-21 December, various times. £10.50-£17.50. www.cornex.co.uk

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ARTS & CULTURE

CHRISTMAS AT THE FITZWILLIAM This year, combine a Christmas concert with a visit to what’s surely Cambridge’s most beautiful museum. On 11 December, the Granta Chorale will perform their annual Christmas concert in the opulent surroundings of the Fitzwilliam Museum’s Gallery 3.

Find a seat and enjoy the performance together with a glass of wine, letting your gaze wander over wonderful portraits by Gainsborough and other 18th century artists.

Formed in 2007, the Granta Chorale is a small chamber choir made of voices from around the Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Herts and Essex areas. They perform a variety of music from the Renaissance to the present day, much of it a capella. Get there for 7.30pm; tickets cost £14.50-£17.50, including a glass of wine at the interval. www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk

BYARD ART

BRUSSELS PHILHARMONIC For a lively evening of music, head for the Corn Exchange on 3 December, where Brussels Philharmonic will be performing works by Beethoven, Borodin and others. Soloist Noriko Ogawa, who delighted Cambridge audiences last season, makes a welcome return to play Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3, a piece bursting with emotional colour and expression. Also on the bill are Beethoven’s spirited Polovtsian Dances and Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3, which was made into the pop song, If I Had Words in 1977. The organ soloist for this magnificent symphony will be Oliver Condy, editor of BBC Music Magazine.

A pre-concert talk takes place at 6pm at the Cambridge University Press Bookshop, before the concert gets underway at 7.30pm. Tickets £28.50-£38.50. www.cornex.co.uk

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Byard Art’s Christmas Cracker exhibition is in place at their lovely gallery on King’s Parade, running until 5 January 2015.

Visitors will have access to a constantly evolving display of original paintings, sculpture, ceramics, mixed media artwork, limited-edition prints, craftwork and handmade jewellery by over 50 artists and designer-makers – ideal if you’re seeking an original gift for the art lover in your life.

Contributors include abstract painter Charlotte Cornish, Beckie Reed, who paints striking, moody scenes of nature, and Jack Frame, who also takes his inspiration from nature. On the bill alongside them are sculptors Laurence Broderick, Joanne Cooke and Lucy Kinsella, mixedmedia artists John Tordoff and Vanessa Stone – who have both appeared on the Cambridge Edition cover – and printmakers Anne Gourney, Simon Tozer and Mandy Walden, whose fun depictions of coastal life we love.

The price range caters for all budgets, there are gift vouchers available too, and the friendly Byard staff are always on hand to advise if need be. www.byardart.co.uk

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ARTS & CULTURE

THE 24 HOUR PLAYS To experience a play where just about anything could happen, get along to The 24 Hour Plays on 1 December at the ADC Theatre. Talented actors and writers from the Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club, the oldest student drama society in Cambridge, will assemble the day before to come up with ideas, gather props, brief the tech team and rehearse the play, ready to present to an audience 24 hours later.

Whether the play is finished or not, the curtain will go up at 11pm on what should be a raw, fresh and completely unique production. It may not be polished, but it’s bound to be an exciting and involving experience for those both onstage and off, encouraging the creators to push themselves to their limits and rise to new levels of creativity. If anyone’s up to the challenge, we reckon this lot are.

Tickets are just £6/£7. www.adctheatre.com

BBC SINGERS Professional chamber choir the BBC Singers are experts in all fields of classical music, from Byrd to Birtwistle, and will be returning to a traditional favourite for their December concert at Saffron Hall. They will take to the stage at the speciallybuilt, acoustically sophisticated concert venue on 20 December to perform Handel’s Messiah, conducted by David Hill. With its electrifying drama about the birth of a new life, its famous arias and its rousing Hallelujah chorus, Handel’s Messiah has deservedly become a beloved Christmas institution.

The BBC Singers have worked alongside some of the most well-known composers of the 20th and 21st century and have made a name for themselves as one of Britain’s most accomplished and versatile professional choirs, acclaimed for the rich beauty of their sound. The Singers are accompanied by Norway’s oldest orchestra, the Norwegian Wind Ensemble, a virtuoso woodwind and brass orchestra founded in 1734.

Starts 7pm, tickets £12-£30. www.saffronhall.com

ROBERT NEWMAN Cambridge graduate and comedian Robert Newman takes on one of our city’s favourite sons, the great Charles Darwin, in his new show: Robert Newman’s New Theory of Evolution.

Needless to say this activist/stand-up’s show features far more than just jokes, also offering ideas and information. As he explains: “Natural history is so full of freaky facts that when you tackle the complexity, you find that there is a wealth of detail, oodles of oddity which lend themselves to comedy.”

Ponder over DNA, democratic buffalo and altruistic vampire bats as Newman asks: does co-operation drive evolution more than competition?

Takes place 1-2 December, Cambridge Junction, 8pm. Tickets £11-£13.50. www.junction.co.uk

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ARTS & CULTURE

© Louisa Taylo r

THE ART INSIDER

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Hunt for a great party outfit at new burlesque shop, Quiver

© Daisy Dickinson

t’s December, the most wonderful time of the year, apparently. With any luck, we’ll be spending Christmas Day in sunglasses and Speedos, going on all that inappropriate Indian summer heat we had recently. So when off to the beach this New Year’s Eve, pack Cambridge author Menna Van Praag’s new novel The Dress Shop Of Dreams, which you can pre-order for its 30 December release at www.mennavanpraag.com. Be sure to read it in front of a roaring fire (or lapping waves) for a renewal of optimism and belief in magic, perfect for those yearning for literary fiction full of love and transformative soul.

I also love the new book by Sofka Zinovieff (whose beautiful sister I went to school with here in Cambridge), The Mad Boy, Lord Berners, My Grandmother and Me. Zinovieff’s mesmerising family history and account of the 18th century Oxfordshire country house Faringdon in its glory years – from colourful dyed birds, to visits from the likes of H. G. Wells, Gertrude Stein, Siegfried Sassoon and Dali – has been blitzed by the broadsheets, with reviews in The Guardian and The Spectator and a feature in The Telegraph, and it was made Book Of The Week by The Literary Review.

A must-read for fans of British bohemian aristocracy with a radical twist.

Coquettes hunting for a festive party outfit should head for Quiver, a new burlesque shop on Newnham Road, perfect for Cambridge’s burgeoning burlesque scene. Expect feathers, theatrical costume (for guys and girls) and a treasure trove of pressies for steampunk and corset lovers (www. quivercompany.co.uk).

Mill Roaders have long picked up their vintage costumes from The Old Chemist Shop, next to Limoncello and very close to Hope Street Yard – and it’s very convenient for popping in to get your artwork pressies framed by Cambridge artist Neil Christie at the Makers Gallery (also buy some of his own work – often nudes, visceral and

a cey Emin.

U p St ra ight, by Trto by, cou rtesy Photo: Ben Wes of White Cu be

The Old Chemist Shop is a treasure trove of unusual gifts and vintage clothing raw, infused with energy and technical brilliance). Plus, of course, there’s the Mill Road Winter Fair on 6 December – a fave fixture in the Cambridge calendar. I’ll be there with our art installation supported by the Arts Council, The Women’s Room, from Sa’adiah Khan, which is on tour around the city facilitating discussion between women (come visit us at Romsey Mill!).

I’ll also be off to Tracey Emin’s The Last Great Adventure Is You in London this month at the White Cube. Emin ruffled feathers for her comments on being an artist and motherhood in November’s Red magazine: “There are good artists who have children, of course there are, they’re called men”. In response to this comment at my talk at Cambridge’s first ever Women Of The World Festival last month, someone actually hissed in the audience.

Yes, hissed. Oh dear.

Whether you agree with Emin’s comments, or not, they’re a wry nod

to sexism in the art world, so it’s this behaviour that such fury could be directed at. I’ve been grilled at VIP events at galleries before, just for turning up with a buggy totally approved by organisers: ‘This is the VIP launch, you know’, ‘Yes, I know – I am on the list’. But check Turner Prize winner Laure Prouvost – whose sculptures you can see at Bourn’s Wysing Arts Centre – famously accepting her prize on stage with her baby last year; or acclaimed Cambridge ceramicist Katharina Klug, who had a beautiful baby girl this summer (congrats Katharina!) and is an inspiration: just two of the thousands of fantastic artists here in the UK who have children – and are women. Let’s start giving them the respect they deserve (check out Mamaphonics: Motherhood and Creativity by one-time Cambridge resident Bee Lavender for more on mothers in art).

Have a fantastic December, and enjoy all your last great adventures – yourselves!

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ARTS & CULTURE

HARK THE HERALD One of the most special Christmas concerts in the area (and you might just get a ticket for this one), Ely Cathedral’s Hark The Herald concert combines the soaring voices of the Cathedral Choirs and Ely Sinfonia with a truly breathtaking setting. Gather in the twinkling light of the Cathedral’s towering 30ft Christmas tree and sing your heart out to classics like O Come All Ye Faithful and Hark, The Herald Angels – we can’t think of a much better way to get in the mood for Christmas.

The concert takes place 22 December, 7.30pm; tickets cost £7.50-£20. Add another £10 to include an interval drink and canapés in the Lady Chapel. Call the box office, collect in person or book online. www.elycathedral.org

SALVATION ARMY CHRISTMAS CONCERT

THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL

Get into the Christmas spirit with a concert of festive music – for a good cause – taking place at West Road Concert Hall on 7 December. The Cambridge Salvation Army brass band and choir will be joined this year by young talent Charlie Green. In 2008, the ten-year-old Charlie impressed the Britain’s Got Talent judges with his sophisticated voice and the winning charm of his rendition of a Frank Sinatra classic.

After the show, he landed a record deal and released an album, and has since toured the US and Asia. Now, all grown up, he’ll be singing from the heart at what’s sure to be an uplifting celebration of music, hope and Christmas cheer.

Starts 6pm; tickets £10. www.westroad.org

Who doesn’t love a good gossip? This month, slip back to the 18th century with BAWDS and the Combined Actors of Cambridge as they present The School For Scandal. Behind their polite veneer, the decadent drawing rooms of Georgian London are abuzz with rumour and scandal, especially when Lady Sneerwell and Sir Benjamin Backbite are involved.

Written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, the play was first performed in 1777 when a reputation could be undone forever in the course of an evening. Expect wild comedy and even wilder wigs.

Runs 9-13 December at the ADC Theatre; 7.45pm, tickets £7-£12. www.adctheatre.com

GAME OF IMPROV We’ve all heard of improvisational theatre, and unless you’ve been hiding on the moon for the past year you’ll surely have come across fantasy phenomenon Game of Thrones in some form or another. Well, those smart bods at The Cambridge Impronauts have decided to meld the two together and present Game of Improv (see what they did there?), taking place at the intimate Corpus Playroom.

It’s whispered that this band of merry players come armed with no material but a ready wit and a desire to make you laugh. They’ll be taking audience suggestions to construct five hilarious impromptu plays, based on fantasy epics like Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, comprised almost entirely of unexpected twists and turns. There’s a good chance of songs, too.

See the guys and gals who have been praised as “genuinely fantastic” and bestowed five stars by The Tab, 2-6 December, 9.30pm. Tickets £6-£7. www.corpusplayroom.com

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ARTS & CULTURE

NOT ABOUT HEROES As thoughts turn to the centenary of the First World War, Cambridge’s Mumford Theatre stages a poignant production of Not About Heroes.

This unforgettable story follows two of the finest Great War poets, Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, who met in 1917 at a hospital in Craiglockheart where Sassoon was recovering from a head injury and Owen was experiencing shell shock, and awaiting his return to the Western Front. Friends and poets, they captured the emotion and grim reality of the battlefield in both their letters and their poetry.

The play, by Stephen MacDonald, was first performed in 1982 and is narrated through a series of flashbacks by Sassoon, who survived the war.

See it on 1 and 2 December, 7.30pm; tickets £8.50-£12.50.

Suitable for ages 13+. www.anglia.ac.uk

FATAL CONSEQUENCES: DISASTERS OF WAR Get a glimpse into the Chapman Brothers’ journey of ideas through war, the genesis of life, artistic creation and death via the collection of remarkable and intricate prints on display at the Fitzwilliam Museum this month.

The Chapman Brothers, whose art and sculptures are often designed to shock, also create prints and etchings. This exhibition displays around 100 such works, inspired by Francisco Goya's etchings of the cruelty and suffering of the Spanish Peninsular War. This exhibition will be the first time the prints have been brought together, and it shows how the Chapmans' ideas and techniques evolved over time. Many are white on black or black on white – with some, intriguingly, printed onto the pages of children’s books. A few sets were even modified again by hand colouring. These are shown alongside eight prints from Goya’s original series.

Fatal Consequences is part of a sequence of exhibitions at the Fitzwilliam Museum marking the centenary of the First World War, and in this case also marking the 200th anniversary of the Spanish Peninsular War. Two of the Chapmans’ mannequins and a print showing how they relate to the Disasters of War prints are on display in the concurrent Silent Partners exhibition, also at the Fitz.

Fatal Consequences: The Chapman Brothers & Goya’s Disasters of War runs until 8 February 2015. Admission is free. www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk

ANGLIAN POTTERS The 18th Anglian Potters Christmas Exhibition is currently underway, running at All Saints Church, Cambridge until 14 December. During this year’s event, visitors can cast their eye over a fabulous selection of thrown and hand-built work, domestic ware, sculpture and jewellery, all created locally by skilled craftspeople and artists. Pieces are available to purchase, with prices ranging from just a few pounds to several hundred, and with so many artists exhibiting, there’s bound to be something to your taste. Many AP members also work to commission, so if you are looking for something extra special and personal, make sure to ask one of the volunteers for details.

Exhibition co-organiser Christine Pike says: “We are so fortunate to have this beautiful venue to exhibit our work. Seeing all the pots displayed and gleaming under the church lights really marks the beginning of Christmas for me.” Open Monday-Saturday 10am-4pm and Sundays 12.30-4pm. www.anglianpotters.org.uk

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THEATRE WORDS JENNY SHELTON

FESTIVE THEATRE Get ready for sparkles, songs and festive cheer: here’s our pick of the best Christmas shows in Cambridge this year!

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS Stampeding elephants, runaway trains, dashing gentlemen and Indian princesses…

New International Encounter (NIE) invite you all on a Christmas adventure of a lifetime as they stage Around the World in 80 Days. Taking place at Cambridge Junction, it’s promising music, excitement and BIG moustaches as it lands in town on 8 December.

“The idea of an epic journey around the world really worked for us, being an international theatre company,” says artistic director and performer Alex Byrne.

“I really like the adventure and travel element of the story. We’re basing the set around a classic English look, then bursting out of that will come all sorts of different styles and feels. That late-Victorian opulence is lovely to play with, and that period in history is very interesting. It’s when the rest of the world opened up in many ways, so there’s something beautiful in that. Plus, who doesn’t love dressing up in great costumes?”

Taking us through the story – which is based on the book by Jules Verne, first published in 1873 – Alex explains: “Phileas Fogg is an enigmatic English gentleman who accepts a bet to travel around the world in 80 days. He sets off with his French manservant and they head around the world going east, through Egypt, India, Japan and across the Pacific to San Francisco, across the States and back to London. It’s also a chase, as the police are after him for robbing the bank of England…

“Along the way he picks up various other travellers, including an Indian princess. So the story might have a romantic finale. And because they’re hoping to be back from their travels by

Christmas, we might even have a bit of a Christmassy ending too.”

NIE was last in town with the beautiful, big-hearted Hansel and Gretel, and once again they’ll be using live music, performed on stage by the actor-musicians.

“Music plays a large part in telling the story, and describing each of the different places they visit, so we’ve been looking at

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instruments from around the world.

Then there’s all the different means of transport, so we’ve got boats, trains, rickshaws, a wind-powered sledge… it should be a really exciting show.”

Runs 8 December until 4 January, at various times. See online for times; tickets are £10-£14. www.junction.co.uk

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THEATRE

ALADDIN AT THE ARTS THEATRE Christmas brings out the best in some people and the downright daft in others.

This is certainly true of one familiar face who spends most of the year living quietly with his wife and daughter, except for six weeks in winter when he dresses up in tights, wigs and full make-up to entertain the Cambridge masses.

This December, Matt Crosby returns as Dame for Cambridge Arts Theatre’s traditional annual pantomime, Aladdin.

“I’m really excited about this year’s show,” says Matt, who co-wrote the script along with the Arts Theatre’s Al Morley.

“And the costumes are going to be really sublime too.”

Telling us about Widow Twankey – surely the Lear of pantomime roles – Matt explains: “She’s looking to meet someone the old-fashioned way: through alcohol and poor judgement. She works in the laundry with her two sons, Aladdin and Wishee Washee. They’re a hard-working family, but Peking is in a bit of financial turmoil. Richard Earl is playing the emperor and Stephen Beckett’s back as the baddie.

And we’ve got a genie who’s six foot something, so I don’t know how he fits in the lamp…”

This year will be Matt’s tenth at the Arts Panto. Starting in the Silly Billy role alongside Michael Fenton Stevens, he graduated to Dame three years ago and hasn’t looked back since. In fact, we hear he rather enjoys getting into a bra and bloomers every December.

“I love the costumes, and I actually quite like wearing the female body,” he admits.

“Last year, I’d quite happily sit, in between scenes, just in my little fleshy fat suit, quite comfortably. What a hideous sight!” he laughs. With so many costume changes, Matt has his own wardrobe assistant to ensure swift transitions. “Some of the

ALSO IN CAMBRIDGE: CINDERELLA Everyone’s favourite fairy tale gets the panto treatment at Mumford Theatre, 19-21 December. Expect comedy costumes, silly songs, fabulously wicked step-sisters and plenty of ‘he’s behind you!’ moments.

Various times; tickets £7.50. www.anglia.ac.uk

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changes are so quick!” says Matt. “The costumes are really heavy. My wardrobe lady would give me a quick breather, then go ‘One, two, three!’, and do it as fast as possible so it wasn’t too traumatic.”

Recalling his first ever show, Matt says: “I remember the slosh scene had a rocking deck, and Mike and I going up and down… then afterwards, sitting in dressing room number five, rocking backwards and forwards. We had to take tablets for motion sickness. I thought, ‘I’ve got five and a half weeks of this, I don’t know if I can go through this every show!’.

“That was my first year – I was thrown in right at the deep end. I didn’t have a clue – well, I still don’t. I’m flattered I’m still invited back, to be honest.”

You’ll have to wait until 4 December to find out exactly what’s in store, but Matt assures us there’ll be all the expected popular culture nods, songs and silliness.

“It’s a family show so you’ve got to entertain everyone: mums, dads, grandparents and children. And it’s a university city, so you’ve got to pitch it right. Stephen Hawking comes to see us every year, which is amazing. He always enters halfway through, with his entourage, and you can always see him.”

If it’s good enough for the best mind in the world, well, that’s good enough for us.

Aladdin runs 4 December-11 January, see online for times and prices. www.cambridgeartstheatre.com

THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES

For a kooky take on panto tradition, SOLD OUT we hope you've got tickets for the now sold-out The Emperor’s New Clothes at the ADC. Emperor Wilf loves clothes. When he hears of an outfit to help him impress his kingdom, he wastes no time in getting one… 26 November to 6 December, see times online. £9-£14. www.adctheatre.com

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THEATRE

THE NUTCRACKER AND ROMEO & JULIET Start 2015 in magnificent style with a trip to the ballet. The brilliant Moscow City Ballet will be performing two of Tchaikovsky’s ‘big story’ ballets on 2, 3 and 4 January at Cambridge Corn Exchange. One of the most respected classical companies in the world, Moscow City Ballet is made up of gifted young dancers accompanied by a sublime live orchestra.

On 2 and 3 January, the Ballet will present the classic Christmas story of The Nutcracker, which features some of the composer’s best-loved scores, The Waltz of the Snowflakes and Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. The story whisks audiences away into a land of magic and sweets, where the brave Nutcracker must do battle with the fearsome Mouse King. This production, which has already gathered rave reviews, is directed by Smirnov-Govolanov and stirs in contemporary choreography to create a fresh interpretation of this family favourite.

Show times are 2.30pm and 7.30pm; tickets £27.50-£37.50 (£17.50 under 16s).

Then, on 4 January, Shakespeare’s beautiful tragedy Romeo & Juliet is brought to life through music and dance in a powerful production also by Smirnov-Govolanov. Watch the story of two star-crossed lovers play out against Sergei Prokofiev’s dramatic score, while beautiful costumes and a sophisticated set depict the lavishness of Renaissance Verona.

Takes place at 5pm, prices as above. www.cornex.co.uk

CAMBRIDGESHIRE MUSIC CHRISTMAS GALA Cambridgeshire County Youth Orchestra will join members of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on 23 December to present a programme of festive music.

Tap your toes to Sleigh Ride, White Christmas and other favourites. The show also features a special guest narrator… www.cornex.co.uk

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A FROZEN CHRISTMAS Hear songs from Disney’s Frozen performed on a huge scale at Cambridge’s West Road Concert Hall.

Prime Brass will be taking epic hits from the movie, including Let It Go, and giving them a brass band twist to create a Christmas concert. 14 December at 5.30pm; all tickets £7.50. www.westroad.org

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NORTH POLE

NORTH POLE CAMBRIDGE RUNS UNTIL

5 JANUARY 2015

GET YOUR

SKATES ON!

You don’t have to book an Arctic cruise to go to the North Pole this Christmas: head down to Parker’s Piece to experience a fun-packed winter wonderland... ou might already have spotted the ice rink and funfair which has set up in the heart of our city on Parker’s Piece, bringing a little winter magic our way.

North Pole Cambridge is open now until 5 January and features a 600m2 open-air ice rink (bigger than in previous years) with a viewing platform and a café for that obligatory post-skate mulled wine. Plus, this year, Ice Box Entertainment has invited Cambridge’s favourite street food vendors from foodPark to create a pop-up market, ensuring that there’ll be plenty of delicious edibles on hand – from hot sausages to Vietnamese fusion buns – to get you warmed up. The street food market is open all day Saturday-Sunday, then for lunch 122.30pm and 5-8pm Monday-Friday.

Says Richard Elmer, MD at Ice Box Entertainment: “We’ll have wood-fired pizzas, burritos and Christmas favourites such as roast pork and stuffing rolls.

There’s also an Airstream caravan coming along to serve cocktails.”

Don’t just gorge on gourmet burgers all night: there are lots of rides and games to enjoy too. Traditional funfair staples – including a helter-skelter and beautiful carousel – will be joined by the likes of bungee trampolines, penguin bumper cars and even a mini ski slope.

“What we wanted to create was a real destination for people from Cambridge and the surrounding area,” says Richard.

“This is the biggest, longest-running event of its kind in the district: it’s got the ice rink, street food market,

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and a range of roughly 15 rides to suit everyone from two-year-olds up to adults wanting something a bit extreme.”

He adds: “Open-air ice skating, especially at night, when all the lights are out and there are Christmas carols playing, is one of those wonderful experiences that gets everyone in the mood for Christmas. I think it brings out childhood memories in people and gives everyone the opportunity to experience something they only get to do once a year.”

North Pole Cambridge is open 11am-9pm Monday-Friday (8pm last skate) and from 10am on weekends. Closes 7pm New Year’s Eve; closed Christmas Day. Tickets are £7.95-£10.95. www.northpolecambridge.co.uk

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MILL ROAD FAIR

IS A PROUD PARTNER OF MILL ROAD WINTER FAIR

WORDS JENNY SHELTON IMAGES ADAM CASH

Ten years old this December, the Fair has gone from strength to strength and is now an unmissable festive jamboree for the people of Cambridge and beyond eople of Cambridge! Be lured by the jingling of bells, the sounding of horns and the smells of delicious street food on 6 December, as Mill Road hosts its much-loved annual Winter Fair.

Taking place between 10.30am and 4.30pm, the huge community bonanza sees the whole road closing to traffic to make way for over 120 market and food stalls, street entertainment, crafts and much more.

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This will be the Fair’s tenth year, and it has flourished considerably since those early days, as chair of the Mill Road Winter Fair Committee, Andrew Philips, recalls: “The fair has come a long way from the original fair in 2005 when only 40 venues participated and cars whizzed up and down Mill Road. Now the road is closed to vehicles annually from East Road to Coleridge Road and opened to parades, eating and all kinds of activities taking place on this vibrant street.”

The Fair will launch officially with the colourful Winter Fair Parade, which sees 100 local people – from schoolchildren to professional musicians and performers – parade the length of the street to get everyone in the party mood. It sets off from Coleridge Road at 12.15pm and has a bicycle theme this year in honour of the recent Tour de France. It gets busy, so make sure you’ve already nipped in and grabbed your burger or falafel by then, so you’re ready to stand back and watch!

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MILL ROAD FAIR

FOOD Scores of Cambridge’s best-loved food and drinks companies will be represented at the Mill Road Winter Fair, from street food vans to chocolatiers and everything in between. Anyone in doubt that Cambridge is a cosmopolitan city need only look at the diversity of food on offer, including Greek food from Borakis, Indian home cooking from Cadwin Curries, authentic Keralan cuisine from The Rice Boat, GoGo Gogi Gui’s exciting Korean BBQ burgers and gourmet scotch eggs from This Little Piggy.

Craft beer connoisseurs should hunt out Jolly Good Beer, who will be showcasing their latest and bestselling ales from some of the UK’s top small breweries.

Lots of their beers are veggie friendly and gluten-free, too.

Find Caffe Mobile for delicious fairtrade coffee and home-made cakes, or hunt down Cambridge Street Bakes for cute, seasonal iced biscuits and gingerbread houses. Meanwhile the Gourmet Brownie Company makes brownies in ten (yes ten!) different flavours. They also do gift jars (just sayin’). Then there’s the Gwydir Street Food Market, a must-visit for all foodies.

MUSIC Music is an enormous part of the Fair, and there’s a whole list of performers scheduled to join in on the day. Join Allotment for some acoustic fun, watch the Cambridge Morris Men or join in with the Cambridge Lindy Hoppers,

As well as a colourful parade, there'll be live music, activities for kids and a diverse array of food stalls who’ll be showcasing their energetic moves in Romsey.

Favourite local duo Ain’t Misbehavin’ will be making an appearance, as will Fruity Clave, described as ‘a spicy little percussion ensemble’ and Cambridge rock royalty The Della Portas, who play music from the 60s to the modern day. We like the sound of The Misspent Ukes, who play anything and everything on ukuleles – and what could be more Christmassy than listening to the Cambridge University

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Brass Band with a cup of mulled wine?

Cambridge 105 will also have stages at Donkey Common and Hope Street Yard, and if you don’t want to go home, the party continues at the Salisbury Club once the Fair has been packed away.

CHILDREN’S ACTIVITIES Hear stories at St Barnabas, visit Santa’s Grotto and venture into a Winter Wonderland at Railway House (through the gate on the south side of the bridge,

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MILL ROAD FAIR

SATURDAY 6 DECEMBER

10.30AM-4.30PM

opposite HQ). Here, there’ll be games, music, refreshments and entertainment for kids. Then pop into St Philip’s, where there’ll be a mini craft market and lots of things to make and do – plus a puppet performance and free sweets! Budding scientists can watch explosions with CHaOS at the Salisbury Club, 11am-4pm.

And anyone can join in with building a coin picture on top of the bridge after the parade until 3.30pm. If you have any loose change lying around, bring it along in the name of art and turn it into something beautiful. The aim is to build the words ‘Mill Road Winter Fair’ in coins, including the star logo.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS Watch as firefighters from Cambridge Fire Station pull a 14-tonne engine down Mill Road to raise money for The Fire Fighters Charity and the Burns Camps Charity.

Takes place 10.45am from East Road.

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Whatever you’re into, you’re bound to find something inspiring Cambridge Cheer Academy will be performing at Petersfield at 2pm; hear about life in years gone by on a Mill Road History Tour (11am-1pm); meet singing groups; dance; try out bikes and hear stories – whatever you’re into, you’re bound to find something inspiring.

Don’t forget to browse the many craft and gift stalls: there’ll be several in the Donkey Green Marquee, the Co-op Car Park and Ditchburn Gardens. Oh, and we’ll be in the Donkey Green Marquee too. Come and say hi – we’ll be giving out magazines and treats and we’d love to meet you! www.millroadwinterfair.org

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ANTI CHRISTMAS

THINGS OF

LAST GANG’S

CAMBRIDGE

Take refuge from the frantic Christmas shopping and instead join an irreverent pub quiz, taking place at Cambridge Junction on 19 December.

Things of Cambridge: A Pub Quiz is hosted and performed by Tom Roden of New Art Club and promises a night centred on our own fair city. The show considers the usefulness of knowledge and the value we give to things, with questions ranging from the hypothetical to the personal via heaps of trivia, and includes real artefacts from Cambridge’s museums and farcical prizes. Bring your friends and prepare to be tested. Cheating is very much encouraged.

Takes place 8pm; tickets £11. www.junction.co.uk

ANTI-

CHRISTMAS IDEAS Christmas overload?

If you’re tiring of the constant baubles and Bublé allow us to offer up some alternatives…

ALTERNATIVE CHRISTMAS MARKET Say ‘humbug!’ to the high street and escape the Christmas songs being blasted from every shop; turn to the Last Gang’s Alternative Christmas Market. Taking place on 7 and 8 December at the Blue Moon pub on Norfolk Street, it will feature cool clothes and accessories, posters, cards, comics and cakes, all with a punky or alternative vibe. Stallholders include Pink Apple Jam, Ogl Doll, Cambridge Rollerbillies and Steampunkalooza, plus the Last Gang Emporium, which sells clothes for rockers, metalheads and vintage fans.

Takes place 12-4pm, entry is free. www.facebook.com/LastGangEmporium

52 DAYS TO

TIMBUKTU

SCROOGE’S CHRISTMAS

Hear A Christmas Carol told anew at the ADC this month by Infusion Physical Theatre. Scrooge’s Christmas – a dark tale of spooks, death and destiny based on the Dickens classic – will be retold through mime, dance and circus. When Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his business partner, he is warned of the fate which awaits him unless he changes his miserly ways. Spirits’ visits will be portrayed through dazzling acrobatics, performed by local artists.

15 and 16 December, 7.45pm; £10/£12. www.adctheatre.com

Artist Tim Oelman is currently presenting an exhibition of his Moroccan-inspired paintings, providing a warming break from the Christmas hustle and bustle. The title, 52 Days to Timbuktu, is taken from the painted sign in Zagora, Southern Morocco, indicating the time taken to travel by camel to the Malian city of Timbuktu. The exhibition uses images of travel, from the woven art of Morocco to the mud cloth and architecture of Mali. The works display a common preoccupation with sign, symbol and pre-classical culture.

Until 12 December at the Alison Richard Building, weekdays 9am-5pm. Free entry. www.arbpublicart.wordpress.com

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THE ANTI-

CHRISTMAS PARTY

The Portland Arms hosts its annual anti-Christmas shindig on 29 December.

If you’re tiring of tinsel and have had your fill of sprouts, this party promises a break from the baubles by playing really good live music from some of the venue’s favourite bands. It’s presented by indie record label and music promoter R*E*P*E*A*T, and ticket prices go towards Love Music Hate Racism. 8-11pm; £5. www.theportlandarms.co.uk

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NEW YEAR’S EVE

NEW YEAR’S EVE IDEAS Count down 'til midnight and see in 2015 in style at one of these glamorous new year's celebrations HOTEL DU VIN

THE WILLOW TREE

©BlackCravat

See in the new year in style at classy hotel and bistro Hotel du Vin. On 31 December, the Trumpington Street venue will host a sophisticated black tie event with live music, great food and plenty of sparkling tipples. The hotel’s top chefs will lay on a superb four-course dinner with canapés, coffee, and a full breakfast in the morning, should you opt to stay the night. From £205 per night for a classic double room based on two people sharing, or £129 per person for the evening. www.hotelduvin.com

Fall under winter’s spell at the beautiful gastro pub in Bourn which is hosting Once Upon a Midnight this 31 December. Fizz, feasting and fun is promised, and you can expect entertainment from some of the Willow Tree’s friends in highly glamorous places. Once you’ve enjoyed your gourmet dinner, twirl on the dance floor ’til the small hours. The dress code is fairy tale and folklore, so get inspired by ice maidens and princes, woodland creatures, or whatever else your imagination conjures up.

Doors open 7.30pm, five-course dinner at 8pm, dancing from 11.30pm and carriages at 1.30am. £90 per person. Magical coach and mouse footmen not included. www.thewillowtreebourn.com

LA RAZA

Classy drinks spot La Raza will turn into a sultry 1930s nightclub for a Prohibition party this New Year’s Eve. Enjoy cocktails and canapes, then shake and shimmy to a live band, 7-10pm. The band performance will be followed by a resident DJ, who’ll be playing tunes to get you dancing ’til the wee small hours.

Dress code is vintage/Great Gatsby: think trilbies, headdresses, flapper dresses and sparkles. Keep on dancing until 2am. Tickets are £7 in advance, £10 on the door. www.laraza.co.uk

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20/11/2014 16:54

NEW YEAR’S EVE

D’ARRY’S

THE THREE HORSESHOES Indulge in style at the Three Horseshoes in Madingley, which is hosting a special New Year’s Eve dining extravaganza. The meal will consist of a ten-course taster menu, bursting with the kind of innovative, decadent dishes that the restaurant is famous for. A glance at the menu is enough to get any gourmand’s mouth watering, and from the Jerusalem artichoke crisps with porcini puree to the roast fig and moscavado ice served with cream and milk gel, this promises to be an evening of fascinating culinary flair which will see the new year in fabulously.

Tickets are £60 per person, with champagne and coffee included. threehorseshoesmadingley.co.uk

For a chilled-out New Year’s Eve, opt for dinner at d’Arry’s on King Street.

Chris Newman, Stella Hensley and Art Toper will be contributing their velvety vocals, gorgeous guitar and keyboard wizardry for you to dance the night away to. A three-course meal will be served at 7.30pm, with music starting at around 10pm and taking you through to 1am. Tickets are priced at £65. www.darrys.co.uk

THE HIDDEN ROOMS

Discover something different this New Year’s Eve and gather your friends for an underground party at Cambridge’s Hidden Rooms on Jesus Lane. Their event this year is called Elegance, and music will be along the lines of classic funk and soul. Dress code is elegant and impressive, so pick out your glad rags and head down from 7pm. Tickets £10 (buy six advance tickets and receive a complimentary bottle of Prosecco on the night). www.hiddenroomsonline.com

LOLA LO

Spend a sumptuous evening at Cambridge’s Tiki club, which will be transformed into a red velvet house of bohemian delights as Lola Lo hosts Moulin Rouge! The most celebrated cabaret show in the world, which inspired Baz Lurhman’s fantastical film, Moulin Rouge! (meaning ‘red windmill’) has become synonymous with decadence and pleasure. Cast aside your inhibitions and be tempted by Lola’s very own can-can girls, or book a VIP table for you and your party to enjoy this night of celebration in style. Runs 9pm-3am; tickets are £10. www.lolalocambridge.com

HOTEL FELIX

Love live jazz and great food? Head for Hotel Felix this New Year’s Eve, where you’ll enjoy a fabulous three-course meal at the stylish Graffiti restaurant (includes a glass of fizz on arrival, coffee and petit fours), then dance the night away to the sound of a local jazz ensemble.

Situated in spacious grounds a short drive from Cambridge city centre, this boutique four-star hotel is set in pretty grounds with 52 luxurious bedrooms and an award-winning restaurant, orangery and bar.

If you’re staying the night, why not take a morning stroll along the Backs or potter around Cambridge on new year’s day? The hotel has ample free parking, so there’s no need to rush off. Then head back to Hotel Felix for afternoon tea in front of the roaring fire. A perfect start to the year!

Tickets for the New Year’s Eve Dinner are priced at £70 per person. www.hotelfelix.co.uk

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FAMILY

CHRISTMAS CRAFTS

for children

Pull on your boots and winter coats and head out of the city centre to Wandlebury Country Park just south of Cambridge, for a day of festive crafts and fresh air.

Get back to nature and help your little ones as they make beautiful rustic Christmas decorations, wreaths, garlands and table centrepieces, using natural materials found in the park.

Experts will be on hand to provide guidance, but all children must be accompanied by an adult. It’s a popular event, so make sure you book in advance to secure your place.

There will be two sessions during the day, one at 11am and another at 2pm, 20 December. £5 per child (£4 members) and accompanying adults go free. www.cambridgeppf.org

Rapunzel

Kids, you know Tangled? Well, find out more about the story it was based on at the Mumford Theatre, where Proteus Theatre Company is performing Rapunzel.

Locked in a tall tower with her overbearing mother, Rapunzel has another problem: her hair. It’s crazy long, it’s got a life of its own, but it sure makes for an entertaining story. Come and see this foot-tapping, high-flying musical show, featuring puppets, gravity-defying actors and plenty of laughs.

Takes place 14 December, 2.30pm and 5.30pm. Tickets £7.50-£10. www.anglia.ac.uk

Pinocchio

Everyone’s favourite little wooden boy comes to life on stage at the ADC Theatre this month in a brand new production of Pinocchio Pinocchio! Cheer, laugh and gasp as our hero outwits the evil Magnifico in this fastmoving musical adventure. He’ll be joined by friends Whinnie the horse, Frankie the flamboyant housekeeper, a rather clumsy Blue Fairy, Barbie and Ken (hmm, we don’t remember those two from the original…) and the voice of reason, Jimmy da Cricket!

Pinocchio runs from 19 to 20 December with showings at 2.30pm (Saturday only) and 7.45pm. Tickets cost £11-£14.

Note: This isn’t the ADC/Footlights panto – see our Festive Theatre Guide for details of The Emperor’s New Clothes. www.adctheatre.com

THE SNOWMAN

family concert

One of the most beautiful and moving Christmas tales of all is told live on stage this month in what’s already proving a coveted ticket for families in the Cambridge area. Join composer Howard Blake, The Goldfield Ensemble and children from Stapleford and Shelford primary schools as they present The Snowman. The story of the boy and his magical adventure will be narrated by Blake himself, with the children’s choir performing the song, Walking In The Air, along with other Christmas music. There won't be a dry eye in sight. The concert takes place in the stunning St Andrews Church in Stapleford, 6 December. Tickets from £12; shows at 2pm and 4pm. www.staplefordgranary.org.uk

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CHRISTMAS

Wrap up warm and pay a visit to one of these lovely local Christmas fairs for unique gifts and festive spirit galore ST NEOTS CHRISTMAS WONDERLAND For a free afternoon of family fun, head along to The Priory Centre, St Neots, on 6 December. From 1pm to 4pm, get stuck into Christmassy craft activities and games. There’s also a carol service on the 14th at 6pm. www.thepriorycentre.com

BLACKTHORPE MANOR BARN Always a reliable source of tasteful baubles and festive goodies, Blackthorpe Manor Barn near Bury St Edmunds is open throughout the Christmas season.

Situated down a country lane, this medieval thatched barn is a centre for arts and crafts and really comes into its own at Christmas. Pick up your wreath, wrapping paper, make-your-own-cracker kits, vintage-style garlands and tree decorations, plus chocolates, gingerbread men and other stocking fillers. There’s a mix of styles, from Nordic Heartland and Woodland Twilight to Vintage Christmas, as well as products made in Bethlehem. And don’t forget to stop by the café, either. www.blackthorpebarn.com

DEEPDALE CHRISTMAS MARKET

WOOD GREEN CRAFT & FOOD FAIR

Take a day trip to the beautiful North Norfolk coast and visit the Deepdale Christmas Market, one of the largest of its kind in the area featuring 90+ stalls in three festive marquees and the beautiful St Mary’s Church. Pick up decorations, food and gifts galore and be entertained as you shop by live musicians, brass bands and choirs. Takes place 6 and 7 December, 10am-4pm. Free entry and free parking. www.deepdalefarm.co.uk

Enter the huge indoor arena at Wood Green’s Godmanchester centre on 13-14 December and find yourself immersed in a festive frenzy of crafts, gifts, jewellery, foodstuffs and more. The Christmas Craft and Gift Fair takes place 13-14 December from 10am to 4pm; admission £2.50 (children go free). www.woodgreen.org.uk

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20/11/2014 17:00

CHRISTMAS

SAFFRON WALDEN CHRISTMAS MARKET The beautiful Essex town of Saffron Walden could hardly be more perfect for a Christmas market if it tried. On 5 December, the winding Dickensian streets will come alive with market traders selling everything from handmade wreaths to mulled wine and hot food, while the Town Hall will house a host of local crafters selling their wares.

Most shops stay open until 9pm so there are plenty of opportunities to pick up that perfect gift. www.visitsaffronwalden.gov.uk

DUXFORD ADVENT MARKET You don’t need to jet off to Germany to browse round a traditional German Christmas market, thanks to the Duxford Advent Trust, which will be setting up a wonderful craft and food fair at the village’s medieval church. The venue will be splendidly bedecked and there’ll be glühwein, delicious food, handmade crafts and entertainment, plus a visit from Santa, who’ll be taking orders from his grotto. Takes place 4-8pm, 6 December. www.duxadvent.com

ALL SAINTS MARKET Cambridge’s favourite craft market – always a great place to go for a tasteful, handmade gift – gets a festive spin this month. Situated in the centre of town, it’s always a bustling hub of activity, full of rosy-cheeked shoppers wrapped up against the cold: the antidote to racing round a clinical department store. Even more traders than normal will be out in force selling their wares every Saturday until Christmas Day. Expect jewellery, cards, bowls, badges, sculptures, toys and more.

Entry is free and it runs 10am until 4.30pm Saturdays. www.cambridge-art-craft.co.uk

LAVENHAM CHRISTMAS FESTIVAL If you’ve not yet happened upon the pretty Suffolk village of Lavenham, now’s your chance. On 5, 6 and 7 December, the winding streets will be aglow with the twinkle of Christmas lights for the annual Christmas Festival. Visitors from all over the area will flock to begin their Christmas shopping in this magical setting. On Friday 5th, meet Father Christmas as he arrives on his sleigh at 6pm, then enjoy live music from the 60-strong Funky Voices Choir as you explore stalls selling crafts, gifts and locally sourced food (until 8.30pm). Saturday and Sunday will see an even bigger array of craft and food stalls in the Market Place from 11am until 5pm (4pm Sunday). Take a lantern-lit guided tour of the village on Saturday at 4.30pm, then at 1pm on Sunday there’ll be carols in the village hall. www.discoverlavenham.co.uk

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COMPETITION SCUDAMORE’S ANNUAL TICKET

DINNER FOR TWO AT THE RIVER BAR STEAKHOUSE

WORTH MORE THAN

£1200!

SANCTUARY TIN OF TREASURES

THE BIG EDITION

SIX TICKETS FOR NORTH POLE CAMBRIDGE A fun and festive family experience like no other is up for grabs, as we’re giving away six tickets to North Pole Cambridge. The attraction, which runs until 5 January, will see Parker’s Piece transformed into a winter wonderland, offering not just a huge outdoor ice rink, but a host of stalls, food and drink and fairground rides (total value £65.70). www.thenorthpolecambridge.co.uk DINNER FOR TWO AT THE RIVER BAR STEAKHOUSE One of Cambridge’s most highly regarded restaurants, the River Bar Steakhouse & Grill is located on the

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river at Quayside, a picturesque location which offers breathtaking views of the city. The menu boasts a delectable range of steaks, using the finest prime beef aged for 28 days, as well as an excellent range of fresh fish, great vegetarian dishes and home-made puddings. Our lucky winner will receive a dinner for two, to include starters, mains and desserts and a bottle of house wine. www.riverbarsteakhouse.com BETTER HEALTH & FITNESS MEMBERSHIP The highest value prize in this year’s bundle, we’re giving away an annual membership from Better Health & Fitness worth £385. The membership can be used at all three of Better Health &

Fitness’s Cambridge locations (Parkside Pools & Gym, Abbey Leisure Complex and Cherry Hinton Village Leisure Centre) and includes full, anytime access to the gyms, pools and exercise classes. www.better.org.uk MURAD PRODUCTS Pamper yourself with a selection of Murad treats including Murad’s Celebrate Radiant Skin Christmas Gift Set. Designed to restore skin’s natural radiance and give you a glowing complexion, these anti-ageing wonder products harness the rejuvenating power of vitamin C to lighten, brighten and improve radiance, whilst antioxidants help restore, renew and protect from further damage. Set contains Essential-C

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21/11/2014 17:21

O

O

Y IN CK L W !

LU IL IS W TH

L

ER

AL

AD

NE

RE

F

BETTER HEALTH & FITNESS MEMBERSHIP

6 TICKETS FOR NORTH POLE CAMBRIDGE

BEARY NICE BEAR

MURAD GIFT SET

CAMBRIDGE UNITED PRIZE PACK

Cleanser, Advanced Active Radiance Serum, Intensive-C Radiance Peel. The winner will also receive the AHA/BHA Exfoliating Cleanser and Rapid Collagen Infusion (total value £171.50). www.murad.co.uk SANCTUARY TIN OF TREASURES Make every day a little more luxurious and indulge your senses in the simple pleasures with a quick pampering treat each morning. This tin of Sanctuary goodies contains Body Wash, Body Lotion and Body Scrub (worth £14). www.sanctuary.com A BEARY NICE BEAR It wouldn’t be the Edition Christmas giveaway without a cuddly toy! The

lovely people at Beary Nice Bears are giving our lucky winner one of their beautiful, vintage style bears. The winner will be invited to choose the material and colour of their bear, as well as getting the option to add a personalised message or name on the foot (value of £40 plus). facebook.com/cambridgeteddybears CAMBRIDGE UNITED PRIZE PACK Our local footie team are feeling generous this Christmas and giving away a fantastic prize pack for the whole family. The winner will receive a family ticket to a home league game (two adults, two children), a signed football, a signed home shirt and one signed team photo (total value of £304). www.cambridge-united.co.uk

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SCUDAMORE’S ANNUAL TICKET There can be no activity more quintessentially Cambridge than enjoying a leisurely punt down the River Cam, and our lucky winner will be able to enjoy this, as well as canoeing, kayaking and rowing, every day, for the whole of 2015!

We’re giving away the fantastic Pepys Annual Ticket from local faves Scudamore’s. The prize is for two people to share and is worth £275. www.scudamores.com TO BE IN WITH A CHANCE OF WINNING Enter online at www.cambsedition.co.uk

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FOOD DRINK A N D

GET THE INSIDE TRACK ON CAMBRIDGE'S FOODIE SCENE WITH EDITION'S MONTHLY SUPPLEMENT

Restaurant review DELICIOUS RECIPES

New openings CHEF'S CHRISTMAS TIPS

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FOOD

WORDS ALEX RUSHMER

FESTIVE FEASTING MADE EASY

FORGET STRESSFUL SLAVING OVER A HOT STOVE: ALEX RUSHMER SHOWS YOU HOW TO HANDLE THE ALL-IMPORTANT CHRISTMAS DINNER LIKE A PRO

elegation. Delegation.

Delegation. There is no more suitable meal at which the principles of a working professional kitchen should be applied in the home than Christmas dinner. There is enough to do on Christmas Day without one poor soul getting bogged down in the seemingly epic task of preparing, cooking and serving the Roast of the Year. And that’s before we even begin to think about the clearing up.

Even for a full-time chef, the prospect of cooking the most important meal of the

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season for family and friends can be a little daunting: the weight of expectation alone can be intimidating enough before the potato peeler has even left the drawer.

The answer to this annual conundrum is to break down the meal into small, manageable tasks and assign these to a number of different people over the course of the few days and hours before everybody sits down, in the same way a working kitchen does. Over the course of a week, I put together four different menus (a lunch menu, a tasting menu, an à la carte menu and a Sunday lunch menu), each of

which changes three or four times over the same period of time.

Purees, sauces and braises are made in advance in batches to last four or five days.

Vegetables are blanched and shocked in iced water to last a couple of days. Potatoes are turned into chips, mash and rösti 50 portions at a time, twice a week. Partridges and ducks arrive with similar regularity and are all prepped in one fell swoop. And the meat for Sunday’s award-winning roast lunch comes in on Friday to be prepped over two days, in time to hit the oven at about eight o’clock on Sunday morning.

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20/11/2014 17:07

FOOD

While the scale is different, the home cook (especially one for whom the prospect of cooking Christmas dinner is terrifying enough to ruin the festive season altogether) can learn from these systems and principles and take solace from the fact that even in a restaurant kitchen, very little is done at the last minute: rather it is a case of reheating, finishing, keeping things warm or finding ways to make the chaos of a busy service a little easier.

If you’ve ever wondered why terrines are a popular menu item, now you have your answer: they are easy to prepare in large quantities and even easier to serve, especially when the chef has to think about cooking a panful of scallops, searing a fillet steak, finishing a sauce, cooking a pan of vegetables for a garnish and adding just enough stock to a risotto before enriching it with butter and Parmesan (but off the heat so it doesn’t split or overcook). And then getting it all onto plates and into the dining room to the right people at the correct table, at the same time as concentrating on the next eight peoples’ main courses and the starters for table five.

All this seems a far cry from turkey, devils on horseback, cranberry sauce and sprouts, but the overriding message is clear: make your life as easy as possible and spread the work over an extended period of time, rather than trying to keep 15 different balls in the air at once. Not only will the stress levels be considerably lower, but the results will be far better.

So, in the spirit of sharing and giving, here are my top five tips for cooking the best Christmas dinner. Ever.

5

TOP

TIPS:

1. GIVE UP ON TURKEY – or at least give up on cooking a whole turkey. You may lose the majesty and ceremony of the carve, but the results are far superior. Instead, break down the turkey into legs and breasts and brine them all in a 7.5-8% salt solution for 18-24 hours, before rinsing in fresh cold water for a couple of minutes and drying. The legs can be slow cooked, even braised, in advance (which in turn will give you a terrific stock for making gravy along with the bones and giblets), and the meat picked off them ready to be quickly reheated, whereas the breasts will take no more than an hour to cook, freeing up the oven for more important items like potatoes and vegetables.

2. PREPARE THE VEGETABLES IN ADVANCE Sprouts can be peeled, blanched in boiling, salted water and shocked in ice water a couple of days prior to the 25th. Carrots can be brought to the boil and also shocked in

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cold water, leaving you with little more to do than put them in the oven at the same time as the roasties.

3. PREPARE THE POTATOES A COUPLE OF DAYS BEFOREHAND Peel and parboil the roast potatoes on the 23rd or 24th and leave them to steam dry, before covering with cling film and leaving in the fridge. All that remains is to roast them in goose fat for 45 minutes.

4. COLD STARTERS SERVED FAMILY STYLE ARE A LIFESAVER Smoked salmon, prawn cocktail, cured meats, oysters and pâtés all fit the bill and ease the pressure on the cook.

5. DELEGATE We finish where we began – assign tasks, especially simple, menial ones like peeling vegetables, to others, leaving you to do little more than adorn your head with a paper hat and bring the whole lot together with quiet, confident and deft aplomb.

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FOOD

FOOD NEWS A MONTHLY ROUND-UP OF GASTRONOMIC GOINGS-ON IN CAMBRIDGE AND THE SURROUNDING AREA

CHRISTMAS AT CAU Fed up with roast turkey, sprouts and cranberry sauce? Make a beeline for CAU on Bene’t Street this month, where they’ll be serving up a festive menu with an Argentinean twist. Perfect for a dinner with friends and family or a staff Christmas outing, the menu features a host of CAU classics such as Yerba smoked beef and tapa de cuadril, alongside seasonal specials like pumpkin risotto and a Christmas pudding sundae.

Priced at £23 for two courses or £29 for three, there’s an extra incentive to book as CAU are offering a £40 voucher for the organisers of groups of ten or more. www.caurestaurants.com

LINTON CHRISTMAS MARKET Stock up on some festive essentials on Saturday 13 December at the Linton Christmas Market, which will be serving up an array of food, gifts and entertainment from 10am. Taking place in Linton’s quaint market square (just down the road from one of our fave indies: café and shop the Linton Kitchen), the event will feature a host of local food and drink producers, who’ll be offering cakes, lunches, homemade soup, mulled wine and plenty more treats.

Steak & Honour will be opening the hatch to serve up their gourmet burgers, and there’ll be stalls selling all sorts of Christmas gifts, plus carol singers to get you in the festive spirit.

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FOOD

HAVE A CRAFT-TEA CHRISTMAS! We love the sound of this crafty afternoon tea taking place in Cambridge this month. Two friends, Kate Hansford and Cat Mackenzie of DaphneRosa and The Teatime Treatery, are putting on a fun Festive Craft and Afternoon Tea event on the 13th of the month, inviting people to join them making beautiful fabric Christmas wreaths, as well as feasting on cake.

Kate will be providing hands-on tuition with the wreaths, and all materials and equipment will be provided – plus some examples. No experience is necessary.

Alongside the crafting, Cat will be serving a delicious Christmasthemed afternoon tea using The Teatime Treatery’s beautiful vintage china. Munch your way through sandwiches, scones and cakes and warm up with a mug from the luxury hot chocolate bar. The event takes place at The Centre at St Pauls, Hills Road, running 12-3pm. Tickets are £45 and should be booked in advance. Search Kate and Cat's Craft-Tea Christmas on Facebook for more details.

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THE ARCHITECT OPENS In a great bit of news for the local dining and drinking scene, this month sees a new addition to Cambridge’s foodie landscape in the shape of The Architect on Castle Street. Located in the premises which some may remember as the County Arms, the Architect is the latest venture from the team behind The Alex on Gwydir Street, which itself has been transformed into one of the hippest drinking spots in the city in a matter of months.

Like its sister pub, The Architect sports a vintagey, industrial-style interior, with mismatched furniture and lots of quirky touches. Large tables lend themselves to communal dining, and drinks-wise you can expect a great selection of craft ales, including lots of appearances from top local breweries.

The big idea is to create a city centre pub which feels truly local, with welcoming staff and a sociable atmosphere, as well as serving up consistently excellent food.

We love the food concept, which centres around a ‘chicken shop’ menu from which you can order a whole, half or quarter rotisserie roasted free-range chicken, accompanied by tasty sides including sweet potato fries, chilli butter and the ‘hardcore’ house slaw. You’ll also find elegant pub grub dishes such as slow roast pork belly (served with champ mash, black pudding and cider gravy), crab and prawn linguine, and chickpea and cauliflower curry (with basmati rice and cucumber and mint yoghurt). There’s a selection of sharing options too, such as the Mediterranean mezze and a ham and cheese fondue, which comes with irresistible sounding ham fritters and onion chutney, as well as sandwiches and other light bites.

Sundays meanwhile will offer up seriously good roast dinners.

There is a host of brilliant-sounding events planned too, with a monthly supper club starting in January and the ‘Meet Market’ singles night launching on Valentine’s Day (promising a heady combo of cocktails and 80’s classics).

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FOOD

A certain area of Cambridge is undergoing a foodie renaissance at the moment, with exciting new eateries opening up at every turn. We’re talking, of course, about Bene’t Street – nicknamed Meat Street thanks to its growing number of hearty ‘meateries’.

THE PINT SHOP Charcoal-grilled steaks, slow-cooked lamb and spit-roasts are the name of the game at The Pint Shop on Peas Hill, always packed to bursting with good food and beer connoisseurs. Their vision on opening in 2013 was to recreate the original beer houses of old, where you could grab a proper pint and some rustic, hearty grub – and we think you’ll agree it’s succeeded.

SMOKEWORKS A recent addition to the meat-eater’s map arrived earlier this year in the form of Smokeworks. Owned by Cambscuisine (who also have the Chop House further down the road), Smokeworks is a supertrendy dining spot with industrial interiors and a menu filled with slow-cooked, smoky feasts. If you’re in the mood for winter barbecue flavours, look no further.

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CAU In 2013 the old Lloyds Bank was put out to grass to make way for CAU, the ultra-modern Argentinian steakhouse, whose modern vision of the traditional steakhouse has already given it a good name amongst the carnivores of Cambridge. The vibe is decidedly South American – think sharing plates, bottled beers and specialty cuts to suit all appetites – while the décor incorporates eye-catching blue skies and clouds to create a sunny escape from the chilly street outside.

BREAD & MEAT The latest addition to Meat Street, which opened its doors in October, is Bread & Meat. It’s located in the old Bene’t’s Café on Bene’t Street, and serves up mouth-watering roast meat sandwiches in a vintage-inspired setting. It’s run by Simon and Michelle Cheney who are already delighted with the response to their venture.

“We are loving Bene’t street; we have great neighbours and a real sense of community,” says Simon. Specialities include traditional porchetta (“a rolled middle of pork, served with fantastic crackling and a fresh salsa verde”), rare topside and excellent brunch offerings.

“For our vegetarian customers, we make focaccia every day and create an amazing roasted vegetable sandwich with rocket pesto – far from ordinary!

Our slaw is pretty amazing too!”

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FOOD

FESTIVE CINEMA SESSIONS

Stylish Thai restaurant No.77 in Caxton, run by the team also behind The Willow Tree, Bourn, has a fun programme of festive screenings going ahead this month, as well as some foodie treats to get you well and truly in the festive spirit.

Using their iconic vintage cinema seats, they will be inviting diners to enjoy a quirky cinema experience – free to anyone stopping by for food.

A family film will be shown at 3pm, followed by a vintage favourite at 8pm.

On the programme are such cinematic classics as Miracle on 34th Street, It’s A Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, White Christmas and Meet Me in St Louis, while family films include Frozen, Happy Feet, Elf, Santa Clause and The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Films will be shown every Sunday in December, with the sumptuous cinema seating up to 30 people. Thai popcorn, ice cream, mulled wine and hot spiced cider will be available.

No.77 is also open for Boxing Day lunch and dinner, serving up a Thai feast and drinks – including Thaiinspired cocktails and local ales. Or, get your friends together for their New Year’s Eve Night At The Movies event, 7pm-2am, which includes fizz on arrival, DJ and dancing (with music from the movies). Dress code is sequins and bow ties. www.77cambridge.com

CHRISTMAS DINNER & WINE TASTING Which wines go best with Christmas pud? Or turkey and sprouts? Not sure?

Well, the solution to your Christmas wine list dilemma is on offer at Cambridge Wine Merchants. They're inviting you to their Christmas Dinner Tasting on Monday 1 December.

At their Bridge Street branch, they’ll present nine winter-weight wines perfect for the time of year. New chef Gareth (formerly of the Chop House and The Tickell Arms) will provide a selection of festive food to perfectly match each wine, dessert wine and port. 7pm for a 7.30pm start; tickets cost £25. www.cambridgewine.com

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FOOD

RHODE ISLAND EVENTS If you’ve not yet paid a visit to Rhode Island, Cherry Hinton’s achingly hip American-style burger joint, December is a great month to stop by. They’re celebrating their first birthday from the 5th to the 7th of the month, offering some special treats for customers. As well as kegs of craft ale from local suppliers Jolly Good Beer, there will be live music and gift bags to take home. Stella Pereira (the uber-talented lady behind this month’s recipe on page 64), is teaming up with Adilia Frazao from Norfolk Street Bakery for an extra special pop-up bake sale.

Fast-forward to New Year’s Eve and the restaurant is planning a dropin outdoor foodie event featuring a hog roast, craft beer and mulled wines and ciders, ideal for those looking to avoid the stresses and expense of your typical NYE on the Cambridge tiles…

Turn to page 71 to read our review of Rhode Island. www.rhodeislanduk.com

CHARLIE’S COFFEE COMPANY The city centre might have seen a spate of new foodie openings recently but it’s been quieter on the Grafton Centre side of town for some time, making the news of the arrival of Charlie’s Coffee Company even more welcome. Located on Burleigh Street, this new café opened last month and has already been drawing in plenty of nearby workers and hungry shoppers.

There is a tasty selection of sweet treats, as well as proper coffee, whilst the funky interior, which features chandeliers, squishy sofas and even a spot of faux grass, gives a hip feel.

The food on offer has an Italian flavour, with sandwiches including the Caprese (basil, olive oil, buffalo mozzarella, Parma ham, sliced tomato) and the ‘Spicy’ (N’Duja sausage, pepperoni, chilli oil, rocket, mozzarella and tomato sauce). The real draw though is the range of authentic home-made pizzas, dripping with mozzarella, fresh out of the stone-bake oven. As well as the usual faves like margherita and Marino, we’re intrigued by the Full English Pizza (with egg, bacon and double cream) and the dreamy looking Nutella pizza slice which comes slathered in melty chocolate.

Search Charlie’s Coffee Company on Facebook for more info.

ZARA SHORTLISTED FOR TOP AWARD One of our very favourite curry houses, Zara Indian Cuisine in Great Shelford, is celebrating after recently being shortlisted to win the Best Restaurant category in the prestigious British Curry Awards.

The awards, which are now a decade old, pay homage to the nation’s favourite curry restaurants, culminating in the winners being announced at a star-studded London bash.

A pioneer in the UK catering and hospitality sector, the British Curry Awards are eagerly anticipated by those in the industry, with receiving an accolade a lifelong ambition for many restaurateurs.

As Prime Minister David Cameron said at the event last year, “These awards have become a fixture in our national life. They are, as I put it, the Oscars of British curry. I’d like to say a big thank you to all of you who work in this great industry – 10,000 restaurants up and down our country, three and a half billion pounds worth of turnover, two and a half million customers every week. I reckon that is about 31 million chutney trays, 62 million naan breads, 160 million poppadoms. As we say in Westminster, a light lunch!”

The winners will be announced on 1 December, good luck Zara! www.zara-cuisine.com

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FOOD

CHRISTMAS AT BURY LANE Get your turkey order in, meet some real reindeer and have breakfast with Santa at the Bury Lane Farm Shop this festive season. The much-prized establishment off the A10 at Melbourn is known for its quality, home-grown and locally-sourced produce, including the traditionally reared turkeys. Goose, duck, large chickens, Cambridgeshire beef and game – including pheasant, partridge, venison and rabbit – are also available to order. And don’t forget to stop by for your pigs in blankets and Boxing Day ham. In fact, if you order your turkey before 7 December, you’ll be in with a chance of winning a £100 luxury hamper of Bury Lane treats.

Love the smell of a real Christmas tree?

Bury Lane’s got a huge selection of pine trees and tree decorations to choose from, plus some tasteful artificial trees. Most exciting of all is Bury Lane’s Reindeer Evening, on 2 December. A beautiful herd from the Cairngorms will join Father Christmas at Bury Lane, offering customers a chance to see these enchanting creatures up close. See them 5.30-8pm; £5 adults, £3 children (advance) with proceeds going to the Countryside Restoration Trust.

If you miss the reindeer, fear not: you can take the little ones to visit Santa in his grotto each weekend up ’til 21 December.

There’s also Tea with Santa on the 18th and Breakfast with Santa on the 19th and 22nd including a buffet tea/breakfast and gift plus a drink and a mince pie for you. www.burylanefarmshop.co.uk

SUPPER CLUB DOUGH& PASTA Joining the ever-growing array of Cambridge supper clubs, Dough&Pasta, which creates authentic Italian feasts, hosted its debut event last month at the Six Bells pub. The meal featured such delicacies as polenta with Gorgonzola, pizzoccheri and chocolate salami for dessert, a menu typical of the organisers’ passion for lesserknown Italian cuisine.

Dough&Pasta is the brainchild of Davide and Tiziana, two foodie-minded Italian friends who were encouraged by impressed friends to share their food with more people, leading them to the idea of hosting pop-up dinners, open to the public. A scientist and an architect respectively, the pair apply their knowledge and creativity to their food, creating imaginative meals which showcase lots of interesting regional Italian dishes.

The plan is to run two events per month in Cambridge, at various locations around the city such as cafés, pubs and other secret venues, with the next planned for January – keep an eye on the website for more details. doughandpasta.weebly.com

TA BOUCHE ROASTS Stylish cocktail bar and restaurant Ta Bouche in Ely (sister venue of the well-loved Market Passage nightspot in Cambridge), has added to its offering of pizzas, burgers and light bites and is now serving up tasty Sunday roasts. Available 12-4pm each Sunday, the Ta Bouche roast starts at £11.95 (with plenty of options for customising and second helpings if you’re so inclined), and includes Yorkshire puds, honey glazed carrots, braised red cabbage and of course, a choice of top quality meats. There will also be a nut roast on offer for the veggies. www.tabouche.co.uk

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FOOD

SUCCESS FOR CAMBRIDGE COLLEGES AT ENVIRONMENTAL AWARDS

AWARD WINNERS

College dining has been an integral part of Cambridge University life for centuries – a tradition that conjures images of Harry Potter style halls and grand, plentiful feasts. But caterers at the University have embraced the 21st century by adopting a variety of eco-friendly practices, many of which are unique to Cambridge, and which were recognised at an awards ceremony at Trinity Hall in October.

Now in their fourth year, the University of Cambridge Catering Managers’ Committee (CMC) Environmental Awards help promote environmental and ethical awareness across the catering departments. The awards were judged by Bev Sedley from Cambridge Carbon Footprint and Ann Mitchell from Transition Cambridge.

Ann explains: “Our food footprints make up around a quarter of our personal carbon footprints and we all need to change our approach to buying and sourcing food to help in the battle against climate change.

Food miles is part of the problem, but there’s also the type of foods we eat.”

Beef, for example, relies on the large-scale production of grain, which in turn incurs deforestation in order to grow the grain. Hard cheese, Ann explains, is another carbon-unfriendly product, due to the amount of milk required to produce just a small slice – unlike soft cheeses which require much less.

“Many Cambridge Colleges have taken this on board and are doing their best to reduce their ‘food footprints’,” says Ann. “What is particularly encouraging is that colleges learn from each other’s best practice, so that environmental standards are improving year on year.”

As such a major establishment not only in Cambridge but the world, it’s hoped the University’s practices will blaze a trail for others to follow. Practices include serving made-to-order meals to reduce food waste, offering vegetarian and vegan alternatives, implementing solar panels and even using the energy from dishwashers to heat cold water.

The University also uses local food suppliers with high environmental standards including Cobs Organic Bakery, The Cambridge Distillery, Cheese+ from Papworth – which is preparing to launch Duke and Duchess-inspired cheeses – and Radwinter Wild Game Company, a husband and wife team who supply the Chop House restaurants.

Kevin Keohane is chairman of the CMC Environmental Committee and catering manager of Christ’s College. He adds: “We’ve got so many young people coming in who are with us for three or four years and will hopefully notice what we’re doing, then take it away to wherever they go.” The gold award winners were Christ’s College, Clare College, King’s College, Sidney Sussex and Trinity Hall.

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RECIPES

WORDS STELLA PEREIRA

Stella Pereira is a cook, cake designer and artist originally from Portugal and living in Cambridge. Visit her website at littlecakepot.com

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RECIPES

Roast Brown Butter Apples, Bourbon Pork & Roots Ingredients • 500g baby carrots • 500g potatoes, cubed • 3 apples, 2 peeled and halved, 1 halved and roasted • 50g butter • 300g shallots • 500g Brussels sprouts • 100g dried figs, finely sliced • 100g walnuts, chopped roughly • 5 tbsp olive oil • 3 whole cloves garlic, 2 crushed, 1 sliced • Orange peel • Rosemary • Thyme • Honey • Olive oil • 100ml water • Sea salt • Cracked pepper Overnight marinade • 1.5kg pork joint • 3 cloves minced Garlic • 2 bay leaves • 1 lemon, Juiced • 240ml bourbon • Pepper

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Step-by-step guide Marinate the pork with garlic, lemon, bourbon, pepper and bay leaves. Do not add salt at this stage. Cover and keep refrigerated overnight. On the following day, pat the skin dry. Rub with salt and score the skin, exposing the fat. You could ask your butcher to do this.

Drizzle a large pan with olive oil and add one of the crushed garlic cloves. While still cool, place pork in pan, skin side down first. Seal the meat, turning on all sides.

Once nicely browned, place in a roasting pan. Deglaze the pan with the bourbon marinade and pour into the roasting pan. Roast in a preheated oven, at 220°C for 20 minutes, then reduce to 160°C (if in a fan-assisted oven; use 180°C for conventional oven).

Now for the vegetables

Slice carrots lengthwise. Blanch in lightly salted water with the peel of half an orange, for no more than five minutes. They will later cook further in the oven.

For the apples

To a medium-sized pan, add 50g butter and place over moderate heat. Swirl the butter as it begins to melt. Initially, it will bubble vigorously, after which it will begin to turn golden. When the butter has a honey tone, remove from heat and add apples, flat side down. Baste with brown butter and set aside.

For the potatoes

Scrub and wash potatoes. Place in a medium-sized pan half-filled with lightly salted water. Boil for 10-15 minutes. Allow to cool slightly. Once manageable, peel and cut into quarters. Score surface with a fork so you get extra-crispy roasties. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sprigs of fresh rosemary, along with a clove of crushed garlic. Season with cracked pepper and sea salt. Set aside.

30 minutes into roasting, add shallots and apples to the roasting pan. Baste regularly, at 10-15 minute intervals. Do not baste the crackling. 40 minutes into roasting, move the roasting pan to a lower oven shelf and add carrots drizzled with olive oil, thyme and honey, seasoned with cracked pepper and sea salt. The potatoes also go into the oven at this point.

Continues >>

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RECIPES

Roast for a further 20 minutes. If you have a meat thermometer, place it in the thickest part of the joint. The pork is well done at 70째C. If not, run a skewer into the thickest part. It is cooked when the juices are clear with no traces of pink.

Save the roasting juices for the gravy.

Strain fat and add 100ml water to a roasting dish. Strain through a sieve into a small saucepan. Add a small sprig of rosemary and half a roasted apple. Boil until reduced by half.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Strain into a sauce boat.

For the sprouts, remove any darkened leaves, then shred sprouts finely. Finely slice figs and roughly chop walnuts. Wash shredded sprouts and blanch for one minute in boiling water. Set them aside.

Heat two tablespoons of olive oil and a finely sliced clove of garlic over a very low heat. Infuse oil until the garlic is translucent. Toss sprouts, figs and walnuts in the oil. Serve!

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RECIPES

‘Sonhos’ pumpkin fritters Ingredients • 150g cooked pumpkin puree • 3 eggs • 130g plain flour • 180ml water • 2 tbsp butter • 2 tbsp sherry • 2 tbsp sugar

• 1 tsp cinnamon • 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg • Orange zest • Pinch of salt • Oil for frying

Step-by-step guide Place water, pumpkin puree, sugar and butter into a medium saucepan over a moderate heat. Stir with a wooden spoon until all the butter has melted. As soon as the mixture comes to the boil, remove from heat and add all the flour. Mix vigorously until well incorporated and the dough forms a ball.

Turn the dough into a large bowl and allow to cool slightly. In a separate bowl, break eggs and beat lightly. Add in stages to the dough while mixing on medium speed.

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Add the spices, salt, sherry and orange zest. Beat until you have a smooth, glossy paste.

Heat the oil in a deep pan. Meanwhile, place the batter into a piping bag with a large round nozzle. Gently squeeze the batter directly into hot oil. Using scissors, cut into desired sizes as you squeeze out the dough. Carefully turn when golden brown on one side and remove with a slotted spoon once browned on both sides. Drain excess oil on kitchen paper and sprinkle the fritters with cinnamon sugar.

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RECIPES

Port ganache macarons Ingredients • 150g egg white • 1 tsp lemon juice • 40g caster sugar • 340g icing sugar • 200g ground almonds • 100g finely chopped dark chocolate • 30ml port • 70ml double cream

Step-by-step guide For the macarons

Separate the egg whites, cover loosely and refrigerate for 3-4 days. Once aged, remove egg whites from fridge and sit at room temperature.

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Bake in a preheated oven for 15 minutes at 150°C (fan oven). Remove from baking paper and cool them upside down.

Place egg whites and lemon juice in a large bowl. Whisk gently until you have soft peaks. Begin to add caster sugar, one spoonful at a time. Whip until the mixture is glossy and forms a meringue.

In a blender, pulse the icing sugar and ground almonds; sieve into a large bowl.

Add the meringue into the sieved dry ingredients and fold gently until you have a shiny batter that leaves ribbons behind when drizzled.

Place in a piping bag with a large round nozzle. Line a baking tray with baking

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paper and pipe equal-sized macarons, ensuring you leave 1cm gaps between them. Slap the baking tray on the counter to remove air bubbles and allow to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes, or until the macarons are dry to the touch.

For the chocolate port ganache In a small saucepan, simmer the cream and port, stirring occasionally. Break the chocolate into a large bowl. When the mixture begins to bubble, remove it from the heat, pour onto the chocolate and stir until all the chocolate has melted and a smooth ganache has formed.

Allow the ganache to cool slightly and place in a piping bag. Fill the macarons and dust with cocoa powder.

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EATING OUT

WORDS NICOLA FOLEY IMAGES CHARLOTTE GRIFFITHS

RESTAURANT REVIEW

Rhode Island

Ahead of the restaurant’s first birthday this month, we pay a visit to Cherry Hinton’s hip American-style eaterie ’d been itching to try Rhode Island since it opened its doors towards the end of last year.

With the restaurant’s first birthday celebrations imminent (turn to our food news pages to find out what they’ve got in store), it seemed like a good time to venture out to Cherry Hinton and find out if the glowing reviews I’d had from friends were justified (and indeed, if the burgers were quite as huge as I’d heard).

Escaping the chill on a gloomy winter Wednesday, my dining partner and I instantly fell in love with Rhode Island’s quirky, cosy charm. Eateries in Cambridge seem to be becoming increasingly identikit in their interiors, but this place feels genuinely unique – not least because of the incredible hand-drawn comic strips which adorn the walls (owner Aksara is a fan).

Admiring the vintage-inspired design touches and sinking into our booth, we perused the drinks list, bypassing the impressive selection of craft ales and milkshakes in favour of a root beer and a cream soda, which felt fitting for the retro diner style setting.

To start, we opted for the Some Like It Hot fries to share: a mouthwateringly good pile of crispy skinny fries slathered in punchy fresh salsa, jalapeños, home-made guacamole, sour cream, dried chilli flakes and lots of melty cheese. Unbelievably tasty and a steal at just £5.50 for a huge portion.

On the recommendation of the owner, and because I have zero self-control, I couldn’t resist the Dirty Cow burger for my main course. A brioche bun (from local faves the Dovecote Bakery) with a melt-in-the-mouth beef pattie, topped with a towering mass of pulled pork, treacle-cured bacon, pickles, a fried egg and a stack of deep fried onion strings, this gloriously messy burger behemoth

was hands-down the best I’ve had at a restaurant in Cambridge, and just one of a sizeable selection of options.

My dining partner, somewhat more reserved in her choice, selected the Sliders: a trio of dinky mini brioches filled with pulled pork, pulled chicken and home-made slaw respectively, and served up with house pickles and bbq mayo, she deemed them ‘insanely good’ in between eager mouthfuls.

Fighting our food comas and powering on through to dessert, I chose a peach cobbler, which arrived with a creamy scoop of vanilla ice cream. With a hint of cinnamon and ginger and perfectly crumbly topping, Rhode Island’s take on this all-American classic pud was homely and delicious. On the other side of the table, my companion was tucking into an Oreo ice cream sundae, which came served in a cute retro jar and brimming over with cream, chocolate sauce and chunks of Oreo – another indisputable winner (and one which kids will go absolutely nuts for).

Sinking into our booth; happy, full and raving about the brilliant standard of the food, my dining partner and I had started planning our next visit to Rhode Island before we’d even left. There’s a lot to love about the restaurant, from the hip décor to the attentive service and great menu, and it gets extra brownie points for using a crop of fantastic local suppliers like Bacchanalia, Hot Numbers and Mill Road Butchers.

Rhode Island is easy to recommend (as I have been, left, right and centre), so it was genuinely sad that it wasn’t buzzing with customers, on our visit at least, like it deserves to be. It may have a slightly awkward location (for city centre dwellers at least), but it’s such a gem it’s 100% worth the trip – highly recommended.

15 High St, Cherry Hinton, Cambridge CB1 9HZ, www.rhodeislanduk.com

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LISTINGS

WHAT S ON A ROUND-UP OF EVENTS IN AND AROUND CAMBRIDGESHIRE FOR DECEMBER

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2 December

DAVID GRAY Time: 7.30pm Location: Corn Exchange Price: £32-£50 Description: Wondering what ever happened to David Gray?

Well, he’s back with a bang in 2014 with a brand new album, Mutineers, which he’ll be showcasing on a six-stop tour this winter. It’s pretty good, we hear, and he admits he’s pushed himself out of his comfort zone. cornex.co.uk

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2 December

5 December

7 December

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6 December

7 December

SONGS FROM THE SHOWS Time: 11pm Location: ADC Theatre Price: £6/£7 Description: Be whisked away on a musical journey as the Cambridge University Show Choir belts out a selection of show tunes, guaranteed to get your spirit soaring. adctheatre.com

December WINE TASTING Time: 7.30pm Location: CWM Cherry Hinton Price: £20 Description: Take a whistle-stop tour of New World wines with Cambridge Wine Merchants.

Includes produce from small, quality winemakers from Argentina, Chile, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. cambridgewine.com

CLIMATE & FOOD LECTURE Time: 1pm Location: Anglia Ruskin University Price: Free Description: Cambridge Sustainable Food invites you all to a free lecture on sustainability issues surrounding the food we eat. A free, sustainable lunch will also be provided. cambridgesustainablefood.org JIMMY CARR Time: 8pm Location: Corn Exchange Price: £25 Description: The comedian returns with more shockfactor gags and base humour, sprinkled with witty musings, in Funny Business. cornex.co.uk

5 December

DAVE GORMAN Time: 8pm Location: Corn Exchange Price: £20 Description: The man behind Modern Life is Goodish presents a brand new comedy adventure through the everyday, in Dave Gorman Gets Straight To The Point. cornex.co.uk

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5 DEC

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December - January AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS Time: Various Location: Cambridge Junction Price: £10-£14 Description: Embark on the biggest Christmas adventure in the world with the charismatic Phileas Fogg, a Victorian explorer who plans to navigate around the world in 80 days! Based on Jules Verne’s classic novel, and from the creators of sell-out 2011 show Hansel and Gretel. junction.co.uk

10 December

CALDER QUARTET Time: 7.30pm Location: Saffron Hall Price: £5-£25 Description: See four fast-rising stars of the chamber music world at this spectacular, purpose-built concert hall. They’ll be performing a programme of string quartets by Ligeti and Smetana. saffronhall.com

A MEDIEVAL CHRISTMAS Time: 3.30pm Location: Mumford Theatre Price: £7.50-£10 Description: Hear some longforgotten stories and carols and learn about some of the more wacky traditions of Christmases past, plus some that have endured, like kissing under the mistletoe. anglia.ac.uk

ANGLIA ORCHESTRA AND CHORUS Time: 7.30pm Location: West Road Concert Hall Price: £5-£10 Description: The classical world meets 60s pop in this concert, which pays homage to the lyricism of The Beatles in beautiful arrangements of Yesterday, Michelle and Here, There and Everywhere. westroad.org

11 December

CHRIMPROV Time: 8pm Location: CB2 Bistro Price: £8 Description: Join the Cambridge Improv Factory for its sell-out Christmas special, promising Christmas cracker jokes, hilarity improvised sketches. improvfactory.com

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December BASEMENT JAXX Time: 7.30pm Location: Corn Exchange Price: £27.50 Description: Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe, aka Basement Jaxx, bring their irresistible brand of feel-good dance to the Corn Exchange. Get ready to go wild for tracks like Where's Your Head At, Romeo, Bingo Bango and Jump ’n’ Shout. cornex.co.uk

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LISTINGS

IMAGES FROM LEFT TO RIGHT:

Go Around The World In 80 Days at the Cambridge Junction, start your festive tippling with Cambridge Wine Merchants on 3 December, and soak up Christmas spirit on 24 December at King’s College.

11 December

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HEFFERS CHRISTMAS CHRIME PARTY Time: 6.30pm Location: Heffers Bookshop Price: £6 Description: Murder, mystery and mince pies! Meet with like-minded crime fiction fans and discuss your latest read at this festive evening. bookshop.blackwell.co.uk

EZIO Time: 7pm Location: Cambridge Junction Price: £13 Description: An evening of emotive songs by the Cambridge folk act that features not one but two lead guitarists. junction.co.uk

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CONCERTI FOR CHRISTMAS Time: 7.30pm Location: Great St Mary’s Church Price: £5-£25 Description: A traditional yuletide concert featuring music by Bach and Telemann, performed by The Musical and Amicable Society in this beautiful setting. cambridgeearlymusic.org

FROM THE JAM Time: 7pm Location: Cambridge Junction Price: £21 Description: To celebrate the 35th anniversary of Setting Sons, From The Jam – which features original The Jam members – will perform the seminal album in its entirety. junction.co.uk

12 December

FRANK SKINNER Time: 7.30pm Location: Corn Exchange Price: £30 Description: After gaining glowing reviews in Edinburgh, the stand-up comedian, writer, actor and presenter takes his Man in a Suit show on tour. cornex.co.uk

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24 DEC

13 December

CHAMPAGNE AFTERNOON TEA Time: 1.45pm Location: The Jockey Club Rooms Price: £30.95 Description: Sit down to a decadent afternoon tea in the cosy drawing rooms of this exclusive Newmarket venue. Also includes a tour of The Jockey Club Rooms – rich in horse racing history. jockeyclubrooms.co.uk

13 December

RUSSELL HOWARD Time: 8pm Location: Corn Exchange Price: £30 Description: Creator of hit TV show Russell Howard’s Good News, the comedian tries out brand new material ahead of the autumn extension of his sold-out arena tour. cornex.co.uk

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December NEON MOON PRESENTS NARNIA Time: 8pm-1am Location: Anstey Hall Price: £30 Description: A magical burlesque and cabaret party at a stunning venue, transformed for winter into a world of snow queens, ice maidens and wonders beyond your wildest dreams… theneonmoonclub.com

24 December

A FESTIVAL OF NINE LESSONS AND CAROLS Time: 3pm Location: King’s College Chapel Price: Free Description: The world-famous carol concert at King’s is a must for many in Cambridge. Always opening with Once In Royal David’s City, it also includes a new, specially commissioned carol. We’ll see you bright and early in the queue! kings.cam.ac.uk

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NEWS

Communit y NEWS

WINTERCOMFORT CHRISTMAS CARDS Give something back this Christmas by buying your Christmas cards from homeless charity Wintercomfort, which currently has a range of hand-designed cards made by artist and centre user, the talented Steve Ronson. They’re just £1 each or £6 for a pack of eight and feature sweet scenes of carol singing, skating and sledging snowmen. They can be bought online from the Wintercomfort website, which also has details of how to volunteer at their day centre over Christmas. www.wintercomfort.org.uk

RUN, RUDOLPH RUN! Everyone is invited to take part in a festive Rudolph Run in Cambridge this month, in aid of Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust (ACT) and the Rosie maternity unit. Pop on a pair of antlers or a comedy red nose and dash, dance or prance your way round the hospital grounds on 7 December or come along to watch and join in the entertainment on the day, including face painting, live music and more. The route is a gentle 3k or 5k run, open to all abilities, including those with pushchairs or people who just want to walk round. Says Michelle Gray, ACT’s head of community fundraising: “Please join us by taking part in this year’s Rudolph Run on the Addenbrooke’s Hospital site. It is a fantastic event that sees people of all ages get together to raise money to support patient care across Addenbrooke’s and the Rosie.

Register today and help us to make a difference at this special time of year.”

Last year over 100 people took part and raised over £7,000 for various causes throughout the hospital. It’s just £10 to register: simply go online or call 01223 349805. www.act4addenbrookes.org.uk/RudolphRun

CHARITY CAROL CONCERT The James Whale Fund for Kidney Cancer is celebrating the festive season with a Christmas concert on 6 December. The family event will be held at the stunning Sidney Sussex College Chapel, at 6pm.

The Seasonal Celebration will be hosted by TV, radio presenter and chairman of the Fund, James Whale, and will feature the fantastic In Voco Parentis choir conducted by Dr Jon Perry. Lord Jeffrey Archer will also make an appearance, reading excerpts from Twelve Days of Christmas: A Correspondence, by John Julius Norwich.

Says James Whale: “I am looking forward to this concert immensely. It will be such a joyful event at the wonderfully atmospheric Sidney Sussex Chapel and the perfect way to enjoy and embrace the Christmas spirit. Extra special is that we are in the Fund’s home town of Cambridge for a concert that is designed for all the family to enjoy, and we look forward to welcoming one and all.” Tickets £6-£8. www.jameswhalefund.org

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INDIE OF THE MONTH

WORDS JENNY SHELTON

INDEPENDENT OF THE MONTH

Laird Hatters

Jenny Shelton pays a visit to Laird, the esteemed London hatters who've set up shop with a range of stylish headwear on Green Street ats are back. From Duchess Kate to Pharrell Williams, the younger generation is starting to rediscover the distinction of a well-chosen headpiece. You can’t move for trilbies in Shoreditch, and high fashion mags are full of love for the winter fedora.

One couple leading the revival is Zofia and Alex Torun-Shaw, founders of classic but hip hatters Laird London, who this year expanded their business into Cambridge, opening Laird Hatters in Green Street – an area that’s fast becoming a hub of excellent independent stores.

“Hats were once the domain of the older gentleman, the country set and the upper classes – but they have become fashionable once more thanks to actors like Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp,” says Alex.

“A hat really finishes off an outfit and adds character,” says Zofia, who is herself a fan of their City Trilby – especially in beautiful, rich plum.

“It’s probably the most stand-out accessory you can have,” adds Alex. “You can have a nice coat, nice shoes… but a great hat really distinguishes you. As my dad always says, ‘Get ahead, get a hat’.”

The pair set up in Soho six years ago, in the midst of recession, but with an inkling that hats and the economy were on the up.

“I felt that the recession was bottoming out and that it would be a good time to get into retail,” says Alex. “I’d studied at the London College of Fashion, then

found that most millinery courses were geared toward ladies’ hats. I didn’t want to make fascinators and felt there was a niche market in men’s hats, though we also do women’s hats and many are unisex.”

All Laird hats are handmade in England and characterised by their mix of tradition and an eye for what’s red hot in fashion.

The Cambridge shop, with its air of country sophistication, displays caps in tweed, cord and wool, soft rabbit fur or suede fedoras, trilbies, panamas, and even top hats.

“They’re all very traditional in style but we give each one a modern twist, whether that’s through colour or the fabric used,” explains Alex. “The hat-making process hasn’t changed much in 100 years. The hat block I use to get the shaping dates from the Edwardian era.”

He continues: “Laird hats are for anyone and everyone. We sell hats for old men and ladies, as well as students and teenagers buying their first hat. The London shop is

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the same. We also do two or three press loans each week, for GQ, Esquire, Vogue or other glossy magazines.”

Yoko Ono, Keira Knightley and Stephen Fry are already big fans, and prominent designers are actively seeking Alex and Zofia out, including Joshua Kane – head designer at Paul Smith – who has created a new hat with a raised crown and stiffer, sloped rim, exclusively for Laird.

But what about people who don’t think they suit hats?

“Most people are just not familiar with seeing themselves in a hat,” says Zofia.

“But we’ve got all sorts of styles, colours, and brim-widths, so it’s just about playing around with different kinds and finding what you like. It depends on your hairstyle, your size, your colouring… and we can advise on all of that.”

4 Green Street, Cambridge, 01223 356820, www.lairdlondon.co.uk

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NEWS

CAMBRIDGE BID MONTHLY UPDATE

Welcome Merry Christmas from all of us at the BID! We began our celebrations early last month with the Sparkle & Shine Ball, which we're delighted to say was another big success. This month, take a peek at our new website, find out more about Small Business Saturday and check out our Christmas shopping guide. Plus, grab a copy of our new Christmas magazine, out now!

What is the

Cambridge BID? Launched in April 2013, Cambridge Business Improvement District (BID) is funded by businesses and organisations in the city to deliver a range of projects and events that enhance and promote Cambridge and encourage people to visit and enjoy our fabulous city.

Find out more at www.cambridgebid.co.uk Follow us on Twitter at @cambridgebid

The Big Switch On Huge crowds gathered in Cambridge on 15 and 16 November for the Big Christmas Lights Switch On event, marking the start of the festive season – and what a weekend it was!

The fun began at The Grafton Centre on Saturday 15 November with a special appearance from children’s TV characters Ben and Holly, who swapped their Little Kingdom for a day amongst the Cambridge crowds, alongside Santa and his helpers. Heart FM also launched their annual giving tree, where shoppers can donate a gift to underprivileged local children.

Three stages were set up in Lion Yard, Grand Arcade and the Market Square to host performances from local dance, music and theatre groups including Sin Cru hip hop artists, Razzamataz Theatre School, Rock Choir, Abbey Ward Glee Club and last year’s winner of Cambridge Has Talent, Music & Spies.

On Sunday, circus performers were spotted throughout the city centre, including jugglers, acrobatic penguins and a few lost polar explorers, then at 5pm the busy Market Square welcomed celebrity guest, former Scotland rugby international player and recent Strictly Come Dancing contestant Thom Evans who stopped to meet and have pictures taken with fans before flicking that all-important switch.

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NEWS

Small Business Saturday The BID are encouraging local independent retailers to get involved with this year’s Small Business Saturday, an initiative designed to support, inspire and promote small businesses, as well as encourage consumers to shop local and support the small businesses in their community.

The day itself takes place on Saturday 6 December, but the campaign aims to have a lasting impact on small businesses long after that date. Find out more and how to get involved at the website. www.smallbusinesssaturdayuk.com

NEW WEBSITE! If you’re planning a trip to Cambridge or know someone who is, direct them to Cambridge BID’s newly revamped website. This all-singing, all-dancing online platform features a handy, interactive map of the city centre, highlighting all the major shops and destinations. You can create your own ‘trip list’, which can be shared with friends, and find out what events are going on nearby. It’s colourful, easy to use and can be found at: www.cambridgebid.co.uk

Check it out!

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Charity Ball is a Sparkling Success Guests tucked in to a three-course meal and danced the night away at Cambridge BID’s annual charity ball last month. The seventh Sparkle & Shine Ball, held this year in aid of the Royal Anglian Regiment Benevolent Fund, took place at The Doubletree by Hilton Hotel and was attended by 120 representatives from city centre businesses.

As well as food and music, there was a charity auction (plus a few games!)-, that raised £4,800 for the charity, which helps serving and former members of the Royal Anglian Regiment and their dependants who are in need, hardship or distress.

Among the prizes kindly donated were tickets to Cambridge Junction's Christmas show, a prize bundle from Cambridge United FC, a hamper from Hotel Chocolat and a champagne balloon flight for two from Virgin Balloon Flights.

The ball, sponsored by CashFlows, was organised by Cambridge BID. Cambridge BID board director Vanessa Burkitt said: “We are proud to support the Royal Anglian Regiment Benevolent Charity. The money raised from last night’s ball and through other Cambridge BID fundraising activities, such as a percentage of ticket sales from The North Pole open-air ice skating rink on Parker’s Piece, will be dedicated to helping the veterans who have given so much for us.”

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NEWS

Christmas Magazine out now!

Cambridge BID have launched a new shopping guide to Cambridge, helping visitors make the most of their time in our city. The Cambridge BID Christmas Magazine is available to pick up for free around the city centre and highlights the best shops, restaurants and must-see attractions. Take a look at the guide to dining out this winter, featuring restaurants, cafés and bars, and find out what events are taking place throughout Cambridge for families, music lovers and culture vultures alike. It also features great gift ideas if you’re feeling stumped. And don’t forget to enter the fantastic competitions for a chance to win great prizes from John Lewis and The Grafton Centre this Christmas.

Christmas Shopping Guide ’Tis the season for dashing around town to find the perfect gifts for your friends and loved ones in time for Christmas – and fortunately, Cambridge has got all bases covered, no matter who you’re shopping for.

Hit the Grand Arcade for a mixture of highend and high-street fashion brands including Ted Baker, Topshop and Kurt Geiger, and be sure to stop in at quirky gift and homeware emporium Tiger. Duck into Lion Yard and pick up some handmade cosmetics at Lush, or spoil the chocolate lover in your life with a trip to luxury chocolatier Hotel Chocolat or Chocolat Chocolat on St Andrew’s Street (their creamy hot chocolates are also the perfect treat for a chilly winter day!).

Leading away from the city on Bridge Street you’ll find exquisite jewellery from Catherine Jones, lovely gifts and ladies fashion at Lilac Rose, or something for the home at Providence.

A ‘clone town’ Cambridge is most certainly not, and for unusual boutiques and independent shops we’d direct you to Ark off the Market Square, Podarok on Bene’t Street, the pretty row of shops along King’s Parade (which includes the fantastic Cambridge Wine Merchants and the Fudge Kitchen), and of course the market itself, which is open daily and sells everything from second-hand books and crafts to fruit, flowers and other local produce.

Mosey over to Mill Road, grab a coffee from one of the great local cafés and have a browse of the gifts and cards on offer at Urban Larder, or stop in at the Old Chemist Shop for one-of-akind curios and vintage clothing.

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GIFT GUIDE

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1. Noble Isle Stocking Filler containing bath and shower gels and body lotion £15 Cuckoo, Burwash Manor 2. Michael Michaud Silver Ginkgo Single Drop Pearl Necklace £95, Podarok, Bene’t Street, Cambridge 3. Pink Ceylon Loose Leaf Tea Gift Set £14.50 The Kandula Tea Company, www.kandulatea.com 4. Gogs Hamper £20 Gog Magog Hills Farm Shop 5. Gin & Tonic Diet Sign £4.99 Gift Smith, Burwash Manor 6. Sawako Furuno Pink Ribbon Helmet £69 BEG Bicycles, Hemingford Grey 7. California Dream by Aubade push-up bra £94, thong £49 Elouise Lingerie, Buckden 8. Avoca Knee Socks £17.95 Cuckoo, Burwash Manor 9. Gisela Graham Ceramic Jug £12.49 The Secret Garden Christmas Shop, Burwash Manor 10. Percy Pug Notebook A5 £7.50 www.designessentials.org.uk 11. Yawn Pyjama Set £99 Boudoir Femme, King Street, Cambridge 12. Embroidered Lotus Purse £12 Petrus, Bridge Street, Cambridge 13. Suede Envelope Clutch £24 Ark, St Mary’s Passage, Cambridge

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GIFT GUIDE

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5 1. Christmas Stocking £8.75 The Secret Garden Christmas Shop, Burwash Manor 2. Obey Temple Socks £12 Dogfish, Trinity Street, Cambridge 3. Feathers tie £26 Podarok, Bene’t Street, Cambridge 4. Cheese Lover’s Hamper £35 Gog Magog Farm Shop 5. Omer Bicycle £650 BEG Bicycles, Hemingford Grey 6. Ministry of Games Trivia Book £4.99 Jacks on Trinity, Trinity Street, Cambridge 7. Quinton & Chadwick Gloves £23 Petrus, Bridge Street 8. Wine Implements Set £16.95 Gift Smith, Burwash Manor 9. Warner Edwards Gin Gift Set £15 The Larder, Burwash Manor

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1. Rose Cottage Doll’s House £119.50 When I Was a Kid, Trinity Street, Cambridge 2. Gisela Graham Wooden Nativity Set £27.95 The Secret Garden Christmas Shop, Burwash Manor 3. Traditional Wooden Train Set £35 Ark, St Mary’s Passage, Cambridge 4. Natural Wooden Noah’s Ark £144.50 When I Was a Kid, Trinity Street, Cambridge 5. Chocolate Tin £5.50 The Larder, Burwash Manor 6. Big Jigs Hobby Horse £20.99 Rocking Horse, Burwash Manor 7. Dinosaur £21 Rocking Horse, Burwash Manor 8. Hello Kitty Christmas Outfit £4.99 Jacks on Trinity, Trinity Street, Cambridge 9. Mele & Co. Musical Jewellery Box £21.50 Rocking Horse, Burwash Manor 10. Matchbox Mouse £16.95 Cuckoo, Burwash Manor 11. Cuddly Snowman £15 Cambridge Toy Shop, Sussex Street, Cambridge

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Eliza Delight © Chris Talbot

Ink Couture © Black Cravat

Neon Moon © Black Cravat

VINTAGE CHRISTMAS

A TOUCH OF

glamour With burlesque and cabaret shows inhabiting Cambridge’s grandest venues, expect the unexpected at every quirky, gorgeous Neon Moon event. Founder Catherine, aka Ruby Truelove, shares her tips for adding a bit of retro sparkle to your Christmas… eing a huge fan of sparkly things and decorating, I absolutely adore Christmas.

It’s a very nostalgic time of year for me too; it’s all about celebrating what you have and enjoying being with your family. What could be more perfect than escaping the cold nip of winter in the air and relaxing

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with a glass of sherry and a mince pie, surrounded by your loved ones?

The festive season is also the perfect time to indulge my love of all things vintage, whether in terms of styling events, my home or myself!

Vintage style is classic and can span many decades, encapsulating lots of different eras, from the late 1800s to the

1950s. The clothes are often very flattering, tailored and carefully made, with much attention to detail. You can choose what suits you and who you want to be without being forced into a trend or niche.

I find inspiration absolutely everywhere, I like to make connections and to think of something amazing and then make it happen! I particularly love vintage

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VINTAGE CHRISTMAS

Experience a luxurious Narnia themed gourmet supper club event at The Willow Tree in Bourn on Sunday 7 December, featuring a five-course taster menu and entertainment from international burlesque star Miss Betsy Rose (booking by reservation only). www.thewillowtreebourn.com

If you want to add a little vintage sparkle to your Christmas celebrations, I recommend seeking out charity shops and auctions, which often have wonderful finds at this time of year as they bring out their stock of old Christmas decorations (think ice skating scenes on a pink glass bauble nestled in your tree, with candy canes and sparkling golden lights). Or, go DIY and string popcorn on stripy cotton to make garlands, or maybe spray bare branches with glitter!

Christmas can be consumed with materialism, but often the best things in life are not ‘things’ at all. Why not try thoughtful imaginative gifts such

Snakes and Ladies © Scott Gilbert

Ruby Truelove © Scott Gilbert

Then, book up for the Winter Wonderland Ball at Anstey Hall on 27 December, where you can rub shoulders with showgirl ice queens and celebrate in good old-fashioned knees-up style enjoying a decadent, glamorous evening reminiscent of the romance of times past. www.theneonmoonclub.com

circus props, children’s fairy tales, tactile costuming, passionate dance forms like tango and flamenco and I obsess about vintage typefaces in my poster design (I’m a complete font geek!).

My inspiration for Neon Moon, which has now been running for four years, is to create a world of delightful escapism and wonder. I am deeply in love with the aesthetic and atmosphere of interesting, quirky and unusual old buildings and it’s my quest to bring these spaces to life in a completely unexpected way.

To the despair of my incredibly patient technical team at Blue Shed Studios, I enjoy taking on the biggest challenges where perhaps the wiring is as old as the building or the staging has to be carried up three flights of stairs – narrowly missing antique paintings that are worth more than my house!

Vintage Home © Black Cravat

December Neon Moon Events

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as a gorgeous vintage photo shoot or a pampering hairdo? Or indeed even a pair of tickets to a nearby burlesque and cabaret show?

Buy a very special sparkly dress or three-piece suit (that you couldn’t wear to the pub) and transform yourself into a vintage muse for the night! An original 1940s brooch will add the finishing touch to a vintage-inspired dress, whilst a grand top hat is a must for the gents.

Then don your treasures and tiptoe up the steps of a glittering mansion on Saturday 27 December and join us for our Narnia Winter Wonderland Ball at Anstey Hall…

Snakes and Ladies © Scott Gilbert

VINTAGE CHRISTMAS

Vintage Top Picks Open the cabinet of curiosities and tiptoe into a world full of unusual and exotic gifts this Christmas…

Why not treat someone to a glamorous photo shoot with Samantha Adamson from Black Cravat or Scott Gilbert Photography? Go for pin-up style in an unusual location! www.blackcravat.co.uk www.scottsofcambridge.co.uk

Betsy Rose © Vintage Rebel Studios

Exuberant, Georgian-inspired corsetry, costumes, jewellery, leatherwork, with burlesque and steampunk influences, all in a resplendent theatrical setting! www.quivercompany.co.uk Whet your appetite with a cocktailmaking lesson at La Raza and you MUST know someone who deserves death by chocolate? Award-winning Romano’s Cakes (01954 212919) are to die for! www.larazaevents.co.uk Treat the lady in your life to a vintageinspired Marcell wave or updo for the party season with Hannahbelles Hair and Jewellery and Primp Powder Pout. www.hannahbelles.co.uk www.primppowderpout.com

The Willow Tree © Black Cravat

Give a gift of artwork with a tattoo from Ink Couture, or maybe a lesson with The Serpentine School of Belly Dance, or book an event with Good Gracious and her snake! www.ink-couture.co.uk www.fusionbellydance.co.uk snakesandladies.moonfruit.co.uk

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Lavish a loved one with treasures, such as vintage jewellery and accessories, from Vintage Home and Wear at The Old Chemist Shop on Mill Road. Go ice queen chic in lace, crystals, feathers and pearls!

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PARTY SEASON SPECIAL

FASHION

GLITTER PLAYSUIT £29.99 CLUTCH £29.99 STOLE £12.99, ALL NEW LOOK, GRAFTON CENTRE & GRAND ARCADE, CAMBRIDGE

MISS SELFRIDGE

Christmas calls for some serious glitz and glamour, and the high street is teeming with pieces to help you dazzle. Opt for a show-stopping sequin dress (we LOVE this spectacular French Connection number), or if you’re not the sparkly dress type, there are loads of sleek jumpsuits around at the moment – check out Zara for inspiration. Alternatively, team an embellished top with a swishy skirt and killer heels, add a (faux) fur shrug or jacket and hey presto: instant glam.

OFF-SHOULDER JEWEL JACQUARD BARDOT PROM DRESS £85 ASOS NEEDLE & THREAD EMBELLISHED COLLAR FOLK PROM DRESS £120 ASOS COSMIC SPARKLE MAXI DRESS £180 FRENCH CONNECTION, MARKET HILL, CAMBRIDGE

DRESS £20 SHOES £14 PRIMARK, BURLEIGH STREET

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FASHION

DEBUT DRESS £130 DEBENHAMS, GRAFTON CENTRE

ELLIS DRESS £115 COAST, GRAND ARCADE, CAMBRIDGE

ENID EMBELLISHED COLLAR TUNIC £179 TED BAKER, GRAND ARCADE, CAMBRIDGE VELVET DRESS £36 TOPSHOP, GRAFTON CENTRE & GRAND ARCADE, CAMBRIDGE

Complete the look DEBUT SHRUG £70 DEBENHAMS, GRAFTON CENTRE

HEART PONY CLUTCH £32 OLIVER BONAS , SIDNEY STREET, CAMBRIDGE

M&S COLLECTION NECKLACE £19.50 M&S, SIDNEY STREET, CAMBRIDGE VIXEN PUMP £38 OFFICE, MARKET PASSAGE, CAMBRIDGE

BURST COLOURWAYS £85 DUNE, MARKET PASSAGE, CAMBRIDGE

LIZA CREPE JUMPSUIT £120 FRENCH CONNECTION, MARKET HILL, CAMBRIDGE

ACCESSORIZE

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FASHION

LARGE OVERCHECK SHIRT £65 JAEGER, TRINITY STREET, CAMBRIDGE

WINTER HOTLIST

ZUPO JACKET £245 REISS, TRINITY STREET, CAMBRIDGE

ETHNIC JACQUARD PATTERN SWEATER £35.99 ZARA, ST ANDREW’S STREET, CAMBRIDGE

CORD JEANS £99 JAEGER, TRINITY STREET, CAMBRIDGE

EPSOM COAT £300 JUMPER £75 LINEA JEANS £60 VIVIENNE WESTWOOD BAG £430 ALL HOUSE OF FRASER

ROSSLEA CAMO CREW NECK TOP £89 TED BAKER, GRAND ARCADE, CAMBRIDGE

INTERLACED KNIT HAT £15.99 ZARA, ST ANDREW’S STREET, CAMBRIDGE

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CHRISTMAS SWEATER £30 NEXT, GRAFTON CENTRE, CAMBRIDGE

OFF WHITE CHECK SCARF £14 TOPMAN, GRAND ARCADE, CAMBRIDGE TYRONE BOOT £79.99 OFFICE, MARKET HILL, CAMBRIDGE

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BEAUTY WORDS DAISY DICKINSON & CHARLOTTE GRIFFITHS

Beautifully GIFTED

nottheninetofive.com

Is there ever a better time to discover gorgeously packaged pampering treats? We’ve picked some of the best beauty products the season has on offer so you can treat your loved ones… and yourself!

For masters of make-up

We all know one: hot on the latest lipstick releases and first to bag the new blushers – so what do you give the girl that has everything? Benefit have come to our rescue here with their Sweet Shoppe Christmas collection. A super-cute assortment of favourites, in the most divine packaging, including Pretty Parfait (£26.90) and Sweet Tintations (£19.50, both Boots).

And if delightful presentation is a must, be sure to check out the Too Faced Christmas range including the Everything Nice palette (£45) and Under the Mistletoe (£27, both Debenhams).

Lovers of glitz will adore MAC’s Heirloom collection of the most beautifully pigmented and packaged lipsticks, shadows and blushers, all encased in serious sparkles – try the Mineralize Blush in Sweet Sentiment, (£23), or the gorgeous Viva Glam Lipstick Bag kit (£29, both John Lewis). Or how about this Gel Polish Professional Kit from Rokit, now £70 at Debenhams, for stunning manicured gel nails at home?

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21/11/2014 10:25

BEAUTY

For clean queens

For spa fans, a facial brush is a brilliant splash-out gift that offers a little everyday luxury in the home. Braun is a trusted brand with some appealing offerings including their new 2-in-1 facial device, the Face 810, which delivers pore-deep cleansing and high-precision facial epilation for radiant beauty (£69.99, Boots).

The Silk-épil 7 7-569 epilator comes with a wet and dry epilator, six attachments and accessories, for £159.99 – and at the time of going to press it’s a cool £99.99 at Boots. For those who love a little colour, the Magnitone Lucid comes in four vibrant colours and has two different settings and a timer built in (£69.99, www.magnitone.co.uk). Serious skincare buffs will love this Fantastic Firming set from Murad, which can be used with a facial brush too. Retailing at £59.50 at John Lewis, it’s collectively worth over £150.

Finally, here are a few pamper packages we couldn’t resist: Sanctuary Spa has a range of delicately decorated gifts including Best Loved & Beautiful (£20), Big Box of TLC (£25) and Pampering Escape (£16), all Boots.

For the teen spirits

A decent brush set makes a long-lasting gift for those becoming a little more adventurous with their make-up, and Pür Minerals don’t disappoint with their cute set (£24, M&S).

Presents that can be enjoyed all year round are electricals like hairdryers and stylers – and just look at these options from Diva Professional Styling. The new Chromatix range has a shiny shade for every personality, but our favourite is the bird design, £99.98 for the styler, and £49.99 for the hairdryer (www.sallyexpress.com). For a scent to bring back summer memories, Marc Jacobs has packaged the Daisy Dream (50ml) fragrance into a sparkling set complete with shower gel and body lotion (£46.99). For a richer winter scene, Lancome’s La Vie Est Belle carries warm, spicy tones of iris and patchouli – perfect for the festive period (£51.99). Both from www.fragrancedirect.co.uk.

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For the boys

Is there a beard-sporting gentleman in your life? Treat his facial fuzz to this Beardy Beloved kit from Men Rock.

Containing a special beard soap, a soothing balm to restore moisture and a wooden brush and moustache wax, it’s a thoughtful gift set that you’ll both feel the benefit of (£29.50, www.mankind.co.uk).

Any Mamil owners are guaranteed to see their beloved’s face light up if presented with this luxurious travel skincare set from cycling giant Rapha.

Included is a bottle of natural shaving cream (for face or legs), a soothing post-shave lotion ‘specifically for road riders’ and Chamois Cream to keep skin in peak condition. What’s more, all Rapha’s products are scented with alpine herbs to instantly transform your chap into King of the Mountains (£30, www.rapha.cc).

The Body Shop’s legendary Hemp Hand Protector not only keeps your hands protected from harsh winter winds – it looks the part too. From £5, www.thebodyshop.co.uk. And finally, for the whiskey connoisseur, Noble Isle are offering a fab hand wash and reed diffuser set named exactly that (£49, www.nobleisle.com).

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BEAUTY NEWS

BeautyNEWS ESSE CELEBRATES TEN YEARS

Melbourn salon ESSE marked ten years of ‘making people beautiful’ by staging a charity fashion show in November.

Sally Saunders launched ESSE Salon and Retail with just a handful of clients and it has expanded from three to six treatment rooms, to offer a wide range of treatments, classes and health and beauty products.

At the event, models took to the catwalk to celebrate a decade in business by raising funds for Home-Start Royston & South Cambridgeshire.

Sally said: “Over the last ten years the beauty industry has evolved to become more about the overall well-being of the client. Beauty is gradually becoming less about a mythical ideal, but rather about taking care of your health and well-being – celebrating your individuality.

“By staying at the forefront of the industry we’ve enjoyed helping make people beautiful for the last ten years – here’s to the next ten.” www.esse.uk.com

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING EVENING Shop ’til you drop at Y Spa at Wyboston Lakes on 3 December as they host an evening of Christmas shopping, pampering and pure indulgence. Take a look at the latest products and gift sets from Elemis, Murad, OPI and Neom, and discover their latest discounts and offers.

There will be free mini treatments taking place throughout the evening, plus a chance to have a Murad Skin Scanner consultation. Mulled wine and mince pies on arrival, too.

Y Spa is located within the Wyboston Lakes Hotel on the beautiful 365-acre Wyboston Lakes estate, west of Cambridge.

Tickets cost £10, to be booked in advance, and are redeemable against purchase. Takes place 6-9pm www.yspa.co.uk

DERMAPLICITY

SNIFFY WIFFY A local mum has launched Sniffy Wiffy, a range of beauty products with a difference.

As well as smelling divine and leaving your skin feeling supple, smooth and gorgeous, many of the lotions and body scrubs are designed to help women check for early signs of breast cancer.

Sarah Parkins, from Cambridge, hopes to get one of her creams into the hands of every woman in the country and that the labelling will educate women about self-examinations.

“I established Sniffy Wiffy having watched Dr Dawn on Embarrassing Bodies demonstrate the various steps involved in performing a self-breast examination to detect possible early signs of cancer. My first thought was, ‘I’ll never remember all of this!’,” says Sarah.

“On hearing that a good time to do a breast check is when skin is slightly slippery, such as when applying body lotion or having used a body scrub, I had a light-bulb moment and thought that I should label such products with this vital know-how.

I learned how to make the products and chose to do so with as few ingredients as possible, in order to negate the need for a product oozing with chemicals. My mission is to get this vital know-how – which also acts as a gentle reminder to those women who already know how to perform a breast check – into every bathroom in Britain: a huge mission, but one I’m willing to have a good go at!”

All Sniffy Wiffy products are homemade to order using natural ingredients.

Choose from bath and massage oils, body scrubs and lotions, hand creams and gift packages. For every product bought, Sarah will donate a percentage to charity CoppaFeel – including £1.75 for each gift set priced at £25. www.sniffywiffy.com

Make sure you’re looking and feeling your best this party season with Dermaplicity. Since you spend so much time cooking, hosting, present-buying and making sure everyone else feels special at Christmas, the experts at this Newmarket-based skin and laser treatment clinic want to give you the chance to win something just for you!

DermaQuest’s 3D Stem Cell Eye Lift Cream boasts renewing Biotech Marine with restorative gardenia and sea holly stem cells, which illuminate, lift and tone. Worth £69, it could be yours if you win Dermaplicity’s competition. Either ‘Like’ Dermaplicity and their Christmas competition post on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter (@dermaplicity) and retweet one of their competition tweets.

Dermaplicity is Newmarket’s only dedicated skin and laser clinic, offering innovative, medical-grade laser hair removal and IPL treatments, anti-ageing skin rejuvenation, glycolic, retinol and lactic facial skin peels, and cosmetic micro-needling. They are also the official stockist of clinical-grade skin treatment products from DermaQuest and Lira Clinical. www.dermaplicity.co.uk

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EDUCATION

WORDS ANNA CHAUDHRI

Anna Chaudhri, head teacher at Friends’ School in Saffron Walden, considers the key to creating a calm and peaceful learning environment for students ast year at Friends’ School we trialled a mobile-free day because we wished to reflect on the likelihood that in the 24/7-connected culture, we are creating a society where everyone is talking but no one is listening. This year we have decided, after a further trial run, that mobile phones have no place at Friends’ during the school day. This has been welcomed by many parents, and our pupils are surviving very well without them. Technology at Friends’ is embraced as a tool for learning in lessons and in independent study but at breaktimes and lunchtimes we wish the tablets, laptops and iPods to disappear, so that the pupils can get some fresh air and exercise, socialise, talk to each other and build friendships. Old-fashioned stuff, perhaps, but vital to the health and wellbeing of pupils of all ages.

School is a constant in the lives of children. The routines of school are reassuring to young people and they do not need to encounter interference from external sources through constant texting and gossiping on social media during the school day. So often these are factors in the breakdown of good relationships between pupils, and they need not be. Many children today spend a very long day at school, when after-school activities and travel time are built in. They arrive home tired and then need to spend time on homework; many children also engage in other forms of organised activity in the evenings and at weekends. So when do they find the time

for peace and quiet? When do they spend time alone? When are they just left to be?

Many schools are recognising the need to make space within the school day for peace and reflection, through programmes of mindfulness or meditation. In a Quaker school, silence has always been integral to our practice. Friends’ is over 300 years old and is one of seven Quaker schools in the UK. There are two others in Ireland, and indeed all over the world there are well-established Quaker schools. It is a fine, long tradition of enlightened education which encourages self-discipline, tolerance, peaceful interaction and listening.

Each week at Friends’ we meet as a whole school to share a silence of some 20 minutes. It is a powerful experience of communion. If anyone feels moved to speak or share a thought, he or she may do so, but very often we experience a peace and stillness together which words simply cannot, and need not, describe. Each is left to his/her own thoughts. Although this is an expectation of all our pupils and staff, it is something which we all come to cherish; it does not feel like an imposition and it is often a feature of the school which our senior leavers value above all else.

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The habit and practice of silence is reinforced through a Year 7 retreat and a further opportunity in the Sixth Form.

The whole experience promotes a culture of listening and reflection and the courage to share your views and thoughts.

Our pupils are as noisy, boisterous and lively as any others, but we feel that the active practice of silence allows them to grow and develop a true sense of spiritual awareness, inner peace and the capacity to listen.

The respect the pupils have for silence was demonstrated poignantly on Remembrance Day. Every year, and this one was no exception, we invite the pupils and staff to join together at the front of the school to remember the war dead. This happens right in the middle of breaktime and there is no compulsion to attend.

Yet punctually at eleven o’clock, almost everyone came and observed the silence.

The values that we instil at Friends’ School go beyond the sound of a bell.

We give our pupils something special to take with them into the world outside the school gate, something which will last and serve them well in an increasingly uncertain world.

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BUSINESS WORDS LAUTARO VARGAS

A YEAR IN THE Lautaro Vargas, editor of local business website Cabume, reviews the highs, lows, movers and shakers of the last 12 months in Cambridge’s tech cluster echnology companies attempt to bring us the future, but look beneath the surface and you’ll find the ones that do have plenty of history. There is no fast track to success, the Cambridge technology cluster has been a long time in the making, 50 years at least, which is reflected in its largest companies, for whom 2014 has been a momentous year.

The city of Cambridge saw the value of its two newest billion dollar companies tumble, as well as the probable acquisition by a US firm of its second largest technology company and the implementation of rapid cost-cutting controls by its largest software company to counter falling profits.

So no doubt about it, it’s tough at the top. However, in 2014 a new wave of

companies looked to be maturing and on the brink of breaking out of startup mode – in a position to make large revenues and bring in inaugural profits.

New funding opportunities have also appeared while close by on the horizon there slowly approaches a super tanker of such gargantuan proportions that it will, in one fell swoop, become Cambridge’s largest company.

The arrival of what would be Cambridge’s largest company was almost over before it had begun. AstraZeneca (AZ) is in the middle of a £330 million move to the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, but it was suddenly thrown into doubt when the US pharmaceutical behind Viagra decided it wanted to lower its USA tax liabilities by moving its headquarters to the UK via AZ. Acquisitions can stymie the long-term growth of the target company and often lead to ‘efficiencies’, otherwise known as job cuts, but a determined AZ fought off the approach and its Cambridge master plan is still on.

At the other end of the entrepreneurial spectrum to AZ sits the start-up and in 2014 a number of new opportunities emerged for young companies to find funding. Turn over the page to find out about the new investors making waves in the city.

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BUSINESS

THE PERFORMANCE OF CAMBRIDGE’S LISTED COMPANIES A listing on the stock market is viewed as the ultimate exit for a high growth business, providing access to large amounts of capital and free rein to grow – Cambridge’s three largest tech companies by revenue are all on the London Stock Exchange, as are seven of the top nine. However, it can leave a company a little exposed, with trials and tribulations laid bare. Between the start of 2014 and the time we went to press, nearly all Cambridge’s top companies saw falls in share price and their market capitalisation – the total value of its outstanding shares.

Cambridge’s most valuable technology company, chip designer ARM, saw a fifth fall off its share price and its market cap dip below $20 billion; Cambridge’s largest software firm, CAD developer, Aveva, was down over a quarter; Cambridge’s largest listed biotech, the proteins supplier Abcam, was down over 18%; while inkjet’s Domino Printing fell by over 17%.

Fellow inkjet firm and Cambridge Consultants spin-out, Xaar, also suffered a heavy fall in valuation and fortunes, a particularly pointed decline as in 2013 it had become the newest member of Cambridge’s iconic billion dollar club.

However, a meteoric two-year rise based largely on the Chinese building

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trade’s appetite for ceramics stumbled badly when construction slowed.

Xaar had won both the Cambridge Business of the Year prize and the national PLC Company of the Year award on the back of its 2013 performance, but by October 2014 some of its manufacturing plants lay idle and plans were made to cull a fifth of its 800-strong global workforce – 700 around Cambridge. Its market capitalisation had fallen to £190 million.

Online video search and advertising company Blinkx was the other billion dollar newbie, worth over £815 million at the start of 2014, the only Cambridge company born in this millennium to reach a billion dollar valuation.

Nevertheless, a blog written by a former employee and now Harvard Business School professor making refuted claims about how it reached its advertising figures followed by falling revenues and a $20 million negative swing from profit to loss left it with a market cap of around £108 million.

These figures give no indication of future performance and all the companies mentioned other than Blinkx – whose technology was developed at Autonomy – are at least 15 years old, which touches on a Cambridge truism: this technology cluster is high growth,

not fast growth. The hardware and fundamental science typically involved in Cambridge companies is far more expensive and time-consuming than the purely software related work of the cluster in London’s East end.

The figures may be further tempered by the fact that many of Cambridge’s newer and smaller companies performed better in 2014, especially those with a market cap between £50 million and £200 million. The share price of network provider Redcentric was up 23%, Internet TV firm Amino Technologies climbed 48% while Frontier Developments, a company whose roots stretch back 30 years with the creation of Elite in 1984, but which only listed in July last year, saw its shares increase by over 70% (Elite: Dangerous launches 16 December, which should please many).

Then there was the handful of companies listing on the stock market for the first time – and a handful in Cambridge makes it a very good year: Quixant, Abzena, Quartix and, possibly the stand-out firm, Horizon Discovery.

One of Cambridge’s top five listed companies made major gains in its share price: CSR, buoyed by a £1.56 billion acquisition bid by US chip giant Qualcomm, is our story of the year.

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BUSINESS

CSR TO QUALCOMM, CAMBRIDGE’S SECOND LARGEST EVER SALE You’ll need to sell your company for over half a billion dollars now if you want to make it into the top ten largest Cambridge sales following CSR’s (proposed) acquisition by Qualcomm – Cambridge’s second largest tech company is now its second largest exit.

It’s a testament to the Cambridge cluster, which has once more proven that it not only builds great tech, but great companies – over £12.5 billion spent on the top ten acquisitions.

Cambridge Silicon Radio (later CSR) was founded in 1999 by nine former Cambridge Consultants employees with the express aim of fitting all the components needed to make Bluetooth work on to a single chip, something that until then the industry didn’t believe could be done.

CSR proved them wrong and the Cambridge start-up dominated the global Bluetooth market for years, at one point supplying more than 60% of Bluetooth chips in mobile handsets and headsets. It raised $84 million in funding in three years and then another £80 million when it floated in 2004 with a market cap of £240 million.

Falling margins and increased competition in its biggest markets forced a strategy shift into new markets and wireless standards which also included the sale of its handsets division to Samsung for $310 million in 2013. CSR still generated almost a billion dollars in revenues that year and has 2,130 employees worldwide.

In August this year, Microchip Technology came in with an offer for CSR, only to be outgunned by Qualcomm two months later in a deal valuing CSR at £1.56 billion.

CSR has said the deal – a premium of two thirds over CSR’s average share price in the month before the Microchip approach – represents value in the mid-term, but in the longer term it believes it would have been worth more, reigniting the debate about whether Cambridge companies grow large enough.

It will be a shame to see it lose its independence, but the impending arrival across the other side of the city of a company with a market cap almost 40 times larger than CSR’s will soften the blow.

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THE NEW INVESTORS Cambridge is never short on ideas, but in the past it has been criticised for being short on investors above the seed and angel level, making it tough for companies to raise amounts in the £1 million to £5 million range. That is changing however and 2014 saw several large funds created and the emergence of an entirely new way of investing.

Amadeus Capital Partners, the venture capital firm co-founded by Dr Hermann Hauser, raised £33.2 million for a new fund aimed at the brightest young UK technology companies. Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC), which has a £50 million fund it wants to spend over three years on Cambridge companies, made its first investments and urged companies not to sell out too early.

Imperial Innovations, the stock market listed company that originally began to commercialise Imperial College inventions but has branched out to other universities, returned to the public markets to raise £150 million to assist portfolio companies who need at least £100 million over the next year, this just three years after it raised £140 million for investment into Cambridge, Oxford, UCL and Imperial College itself.

Meanwhile, investment company IP Group, focused on university intellectual property, increased its £75 million fundraising to £100 million, and though not dedicated to Cambridge University, it has invested locally through Azuri Technologies.

Finally, a Cambridge start-up itself, Syndicate Room also came of age. This is a crowdfunding service, which allows members of the public to join experienced angel investors in equity funding opportunities that also provide major tax breaks.

The service went live in September 2013, and has seen over £12 million invested. With plenty of opportunity for young companies, it makes sense that some are coming through.

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BUSINESS

POSITION

COMPANIES

PRICE

YEAR

SECTOR

1

AUTONOMY TO HP

£7.1bn

2011

Software

2

CSR TO QUALCOMM

£1.56bn

2014

Semiconductors

3

VIRATA MERGES WITH GLOBESPAN

£870m

2001

Semiconductors

4

CAMBRIDGE ANTIBODY TECHNOLOGY TO ASTRAZENECA

£702m

2006

Drug discovery

5

ASTEX PHARMA TO OTSUKA

£590m

2013

Biotech

6

GENEVA TECHNOLOGY TO COVERGYS

£470m

2001

Software

7

ELEMENT 14 TO BROADCOM

£435m

2000

Semiconductors

8

CHIROSCIENCE TO CELLTECH

£331m

1999

Drug discovery

9

SOLEXA TO ILLUMINA

£312m

2006

Genetics

10

ACAMBIS TO SANOFI PASTEUR

£276m

2008

Vaccines

THE NEW WAVE: THREE STANDOUT COMPANIES READY TO STEP OUT OF START-UP MODE 1. METAIL: A Cambridge and London start-up building a virtual fitting room business based on cutting-edge visualisation technology from Cambridge University closed a $12 million (£7.5 million) funding round in October.

Metail is rapidly taking on the look of a fully equipped, increasingly mature business and will use the money, which comes from the corporate world rather than venture capital, to develop a new mobile platform, bulk up its R&D offering and increase global reach as the company positions itself for a major growth spurt.

2. BICYCLE THERAPEUTICS: This Cambridge sounding drug discovery firm co-founded by the inventor of the world’s bestselling drug, Sir Greg Winter, raised £20 million to take potential cancer therapies into the clinic.

Bicycle’s proprietary bicyclic peptide technology merges aspects of small molecules and biologics work to provide a completely new class of stable and low-cost drug molecule, which is up to 100 times smaller than antibodies and manufactured using simple, economic chemical synthesis.

Having raised £3.75 million at the end of 2012 to start work on its first drug candidates, Bicycle now has £20 million to move bicycle-drug conjugates which are highly selective to tumour-specific targets into clinical development.

3. OWLSTONE: A provider of highly sensitive microchip-based chemical sensors that can detect traces of chemicals present in the air – people’s breath and bodily fluids, pretty much anywhere – is doubling its workforce and has opened a new manufacturing facility to resource two major defence deals from the US and Taiwan.

Owlstone spun out of Cambridge University ten years ago and has finally managed to break into the highly lucrative defence sector, prompting a massive scale up of operations. It is also heavily pursuing its technology’s use in healthcare as a diagnostic aid for lung cancer.

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Keep up to date with tech news from the Cambridge cluster at www.cabume.co.uk

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BUSINESS WORDS ROBIN MEAD

PENSIONS SPECIAL PART I

PLAN NOW FOR PENSIONS AUTOMATIC ENROLMENT Robin Mead from Payplus advises on how to prepare for the mandatory changes being implemented in the UK’s pension system over the coming months ith over 150,000 companies staging next year, and 617,000 companies staging in 2016, now is the time to act – even if you won’t be staging for some time.

Pensions Automatic Enrolment has been introduced because as a society we are living longer and healthier lives. Currently there are four people of working age in the UK for every pensioner, but by 2050 it is estimated that there will be just two.

Alongside that worrying figure is the impact that the recession has had on the number of workers who are paying into company pension schemes, which is at the lowest level since the 1950s.

Pensions Automatic Enrolment is the solution to this issue. This legislation came into effect in 2012 and will apply to all businesses by April 2017. The staging date is the date for Pensions Auto Enrolment duties to begin for each employer/company.

This date is based on the number of employees that the company had in April 2012. Of course, there will be businesses that were set up after this date, which will be enrolled in 2017/2018. The graph provides a forecast of the staging dates.

We have found that although The Pension Regulator is doing a lot to educate and enable companies and, indeed, payroll providers such as ourselves, the response often heard is “that’s a long way off”, or even “that won’t affect me”. This change in legislation will affect everyone, and it’s best to be prepared and to have your plans in place before your staging date – particularly when you may be one of 600,000 companies who need assistance or advice.

Pensions Automatic Enrolment legislation gives employers a duty to manage, communicate, and maintain the enrolment of all job holders. A qualifying

pension scheme must be available to all who are eligible, something which is reviewed

by The Pension Regulator to ensure that procedures are correctly observed.

Eligible job holders are aged 16 to 74 and working or ordinarily working in the UK (excluding the Channel Isles and the Isle of Man) – it doesn’t matter if they are full or part time, permanent or temporary. This includes employees and people who are not employees but are personal services workers, such as IT contractors or carers.

What next?

This article is the first in a series and is a brief overview of Pensions Automatic Enrolment. Initially, we recommend you visit www.tpr.gov.uk and utilise their easy-touse staging-date tool to ensure you know when to start planning. Payplus is running a series of seminars to provide further information, and The Pensions Regulator is supporting these by providing a speaker

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to talk about the legislation; please visit www.ukpensionsautoenrolment.co.uk to find further information and register for seminars planned for February.

In the next issue of Cambridge Edition, we will provide a further look at the employer’s point of view, examining some of the potential issues and looking at what you can do to ensure that your company is compliant and your employees’ needs met. In February, it will be the turn of the employees – do you have any questions that you would like to have answered?

Please email nicolafoley@brightpublishing.com and we will feature your questions in this employee special.

The figures provided are as reported, with thanks, from The Pension Regulator.

See the website for further information and details. www.tpr.gov.uk www.ukpensionsautoenrolment.co.uk

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