A Big Issue brought to a royal palace

Eamonn Kelly, who sells the Big Issue on Trinity Street in Cambridge, was recently invited to the residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury to speak about the impact of modular housing. Cambridge homeless charity Jimmy's moved Kelly into a small prefab home in 2022. He described the importance of modular homes as both "a place to live" but also through giving people an "identity". Whilst living in the modular home, Kelly received a visit from the Prince and Princess of Wales, and an invite to speak at Lambeth Palace on the 22nd September. He has since been moved into a council flat. Mr Kelly, who has previously struggled with addiction, said that by working with the drugs and alcohol team in Cambridge, he hopes to help others who were “less fortunate”.

Cambridge curry celebrated

Two Indian restaurants in Cambridge are in contention for the top spot as best Indian restaurant in the country in the Ninth Asian Restaurant Awards. Over 100 restaurants and takeaways have been nominated this year by the awards’ panel of judges and the public's popular vote. This isn't the first time the two chosen Cambridge restaurants have received renown. Navadhanya, one of the two, on Newmarket Road, has previously been named in the British Indian Good Food Guide. Royal Spice, which has just opened a new location on Chesterton Road, has been ranked as Cambridge’s number one Indian/Asian restaurant on TripAdvisor at the time of writing. The winners of the awards will be announced on September 15 at The Manchester Deansgate Hotel.

River retreat

A witness' video of a man being pulled out of the River Cam by two police officers before being arrested has been circulated online. The arrest took place at Midsummer Common just after 11am on Friday (29/08). The individual, who lives in Cambridge, was arrested on suspicion of burglary, two counts of shoplifting, and common assault. He remains in custody at Parkside Police Station. A police spokesperson said: “A man in his 20s from Cambridge was arrested at 11.12 am this morning (29/08) in Midsummer Common.” They added, “He remains in custody at Parkside police station”.

Clearer lens for medical research

Cambridge is set to host a new total-body PET (positron emission tomography) scanner as part of a nationwide initiative. The scanner, one of only a few in the country, will form part of the National PET Imaging Platform, the first of its kind in the UK for drug discovery and clinical research. The scanner was funded by a £5.5m investment from the UKRI Medical Research Council (MRC). It is designed to increase the accuracy when detecting, diagnosing, and treating a range of conditions in patients and to carry out pioneering research and drug development.