Sandy Historical Researchq Group

Sandy Pubs:

We used to have many more public houses in and around Sandy than we do now. At this time (January 2007), some of the remaining few are also under threat. The Group has collected a pub sign from the Stoneaxe in Stratford Road. The pub has long since been demolished but we are in the process of restoring the sign and will be displaying it at future exhibitions.

The 'New Inn', on the corner of St Neots Road and the A1 Great North Road, is now re-opened as an Indian Restaurant, 'The Akbar',

Local Place Names

Michael Rutt, a former member of the Group and long time local resident, has researched some of the local place names and their origins. Click here to read his article.

Book

The Group is proud to announce the publication of its, first book, 'Pictorial Memories of Sandy, Volume 1', which contains 40 photographs of views and memorabilia of the Sandy of Yesteryear. The book is available for Sandy Tourist Information Centre, or directly from the group. Click here for more details...

Forum

Now, you can post your comments & questions about Sandy and its' history over the past 150 years or so. We will try to answer questions posted based on information we have to hand (we do have some gaps however). Please feel free to add to any debate or query about aspects of Sandy life that you find on the forum. Please click here to go there.

Other project updates will appear here as and when details come to hand.

1901 Census

The Group has been collating and analysing all the data contained in the 1901 Census for Sandy & district. As all the originals were handwritten, transcribing the data to a spreadsheet file will take some considerable time. We hope to have some results to show at some point.

Archiving Sandy

Our Group photographer, Pete Messenger, is currently photographing various parts of Sandy, in order to give us an historical view in the future, We are also in the process of compiling photographs from the 1970's, which will give us a snapshot comparison between then and now. We hope to be able to display some of these in the near future.

Local Schools

Laburnum Road Lower School celebrated its' 100th birthday in September 2006 and we hope at some point to have photographs and anecdotal material from this event.

There is also old and new St Swithun's schools to compare and we have some material already which is displayed in the Members area.

We have also made a presentation to Maple Tree Lower School, where we were able to establish a high degree of interest from a group of enthusiatic young students.

Sandy Then and Now

In conjunction with the 'Biggleswade Chronicle, Sandy Historical Research Group was able to feature some of the old views of Sandy versus the Sandy of today, with the new photos being taken by Chronicle photographers. This was published in the Chronicle on February 2nd 2007 and tied in neatly with the publication of our new Book.