Category: by Helen
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Today, we handed in a full first draft of “The Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade” to the Musical Theatre undergraduates at The University of Lincoln, and their brilliant programme leader and director Clare Chandler. Cue epic celebrations! Before they start workshopping it, and we start rewriting it… This seems like a good day to throw…
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Hertha Ayrton Year, aka 2026, has started strong. After months of form-filling, extended arguments with helpdesks, and support from many and various techie types, we have finally convinced Google Maps to put Hertha Ayrton on the map! This mission started last year, when we realised that Hertha’s blue plaque was incorrectly named on Google Maps.…
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Ethel’s own microscope, held at the Lawrence Room, Girton College’s Museum. For updates on future performances, subscribe to our mailing list or follow us on Instagram and Facebook Earlier this year I was asked to write an article for The Linnean Society’s membership magazine, after spending time in their fascinating archives researching one of our…
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Some exciting news from Fire Brigade HQ! We’ve been awarded a generous grant by the Institute of Physics Public Engagement team. Their support means we can run a series of free “Family Physics Singalong” workshops during the summer of 2026. The workshops will sit alongside our very first concert performances of the show, at three…
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One of the central driving forces behind our version of the show’s main character, Hertha, is her powerful sense of justice. She has to do the right thing, whatever the cost. First she feels compelled to form a Fire Brigade, then later in the show she starts a campaign for women at Cambridge to be…
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Girton College Fire Brigade, 1880. Hertha is on the left, holding a bucket. (image via Physics World) Towards the end of the October term of 1878, two Girton students watched a haystack burn to the ground in a nearby field. Together, they wondered what terrible price would be paid by the College and its students…
The Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade 