*Coconuts Appeal*

*Coconuts Appeal*

Do you have connections with any of these families who lived in the Barnwell area of Cambridge before and during World War I? Bilton, Blunt, Bull, Cash, Codling, Cook, Coulson, Deards, Franklin, Furniss, Golding, Hancock, Maltby, Mathews, Newman, Patman, Sainty or Saintey, Smith, Thurston, Wilderspin, Whybrow.

100 Years of Coconuts (the heritage bit of Cambridge United supporters’ trust CFU) is trying to find out what became of the young men who played for Abbey United in 1913/14. It’s part of a research project examining everyday lives in working-class east Cambridge during the Great War.

Trouble is, we haven’t got any first names to go with those family names, and only two initials (H Cash and G Smith). Tracking these people down ain’t easy.

We would love to hear from you if you’re related to, or have other connections to, any of those names.
Even better if there are stories in your family about an ancestor playing for Abbey.

If you could post on here or email 100yearsofcoconuts@gmail.com, we would love to hear from you. Many thanks.
The photos: women workers at the Newmarket Road gasworks during the war (thanks to the Cambridgeshire Collection) and 11th Battalion Suffolk Regiment recruits at Melbourn Place School in 1914 (thanks to curme.co.uk).

Cheerio
Harry