Category: by Helen
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Our first student production, performed by University of Lincoln undergraduates at Lincoln Arts Centre, May 2026. All photos by Brian Sayle. It’s been an extraordinary weekend, watching a full production of our musical by student performers, stage managers, designers and theatre technicians, all studying at University of Lincoln. Over Spring term 2026 they took Hertha…
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Girton College Fire Brigade in 1889. Image courtesy of the Mistress and Fellows of Girton College, Cambridge Click here to read this wonderful article by journalist Katy Prickett of BBC Online Cambridgeshire, all about our musical and the real women of STEM history who inspired it! We’ve been totally overwhelmed by the response to Katy’s…
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While researching Hertha Ayrton for The Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade, we’ve uncovered dozens of places, buildings, artworks, streets, awards, fellowships – and more – that have been named after or inspired by her. So we’ve created a map to collect together everything we can find today that reflects Hertha’s life and legacy, and the…
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Annie Maunder with the solar camera she invented at a 1900 eclipse in Algiers, taken by her stepdaughter Edith – and her photograph of the sun’s corona taken during a 1901 eclipse in Mauritius. Today is astronomer Annie Maunder’s Birthday. Born as Annie Scott Dill Russell in 1868 in Strabane, County Tyrone – now part…
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A few days ago we got an email from Dr Ricky Carvel at the University of Edinburgh. He told us that a teaching room in the School of Engineering’s brand spanking new building has been named after Hertha Ayrton – physicist, inventor, suffrage campaigner, Marie Curie’s penpal, and the main character in our show. The…
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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…