We, the people who live, work and spend time in the Kite (one of Cambridge’s oldest working neighbourhoods) are writing to express our support for the Divvy Day grant proposal submitted by Together Culture.

Why this matters to us

The Kite has a long cooperative history. At its heart was the Cambridge and District Co-operative Society, whose store on Burleigh Street served this community for generations. The divvy (the dividend paid back to members for their purchases) was more than a loyalty scheme. It was a practical act of economic solidarity, a reminder that the economy could work for ordinary people, not just around them.

That story belongs to this neighbourhood. And it is at risk of being lost.

Cambridge is changing fast. New development, rising costs, and an intensifying focus on tech and institutional power are reshaping the city, often in ways that leave long-standing communities behind. In that context, recovering and celebrating the cooperative history of the Kite feels not just meaningful, but urgent.

What Divvy Day would do

If this grant is awarded, we understand that it would enable Together Culture to:

•        Create a public community celebration rooted in the history of the Co-op and the dividend tradition of the Kite

•        Gather and preserve oral histories from residents who remember the Co-op, or who connect with what it represented

•        Make that history accessible and alive for people of all ages — including those new to the neighbourhood who may not know it exists

•        Give people a chance to imagine what cooperative economic values might look like today, in their own street and community

Who this matters to

This is not a niche interest. We came together through an oral history event at the Kite Summer Street Party, organised by our beloved local pub, The Free Press, a place that lives and breathes this heritage every day, by gathering community around the simple belief that an economy should be what enables us to live in community. By community, we mean a group of people actively engaged in supporting one another’s wellbeing. Across generations, backgrounds, and very different relationships to Cambridge, the cooperative history of this neighbourhood resonated.

This grant would help us learn more about how the people who lived and worked here did that before us and how we might live that legacy today.

In a city where so much heritage is institutional and exclusive, the cooperative history of the Kite is ours. It is the heritage of working people, of families who budgeted carefully and built community. That is worth protecting and celebrating.