1941: On this day, 814 20-year-old city girls responded to their call-up papers - although some forgot their registration card! Many of the girls had come with their mothers, while others had their boyfriends for company. Some are described as arriving 'with an army escort on either side'. Quite a few perambulators are also recorded as being parked outside the building. (Gray, David, Peterborough at War 1939-1945, David Gray, 2011)
Taken from The Peterborough Book of Days by Brian Jones, The History Press, 2014.
On the 22nd November 2001, a fire started that could have destroyed Peterborough Cathedral. A small votive candle, usually used as a symbol of hope and peace, was left nestled in a stack of chairs in the North Choir Aisle. Soon the plastic seats began to turn to flames and a fire raged, while the near-900-year-old building filled with smoke. Due to the vigilance of verger Nigel Long, emergency services arrived soon and extinguished the fire, averting a major disaster. And in the aftermath the next morning it was discovered that there was some damage to the physical structure of the church at the east end of the north aisle, where the window had lost most of its glass. Some carving was destroyed and the screen behind the organ was charred. Much of the Cathedral was coated in soot, forcing a clean-up operation that would take two years to complete. About 200 tonnes of scaffolding was moved in and out and artwork was uncovered for the first time in centuries, such as a number of patterns and a shield on the ceiling near the West Entrance, while all 5,000 pipes of the organ were also disassembled and cleaned.
References:
The Telegraph 24 November 2001
BBC News 22 November 2011