I (pretty much) met my late wife at Cambridge - it was largely folk and roots then, always a good vibe, there was an unofficial "main stage 6" near the children's play area - and you could recline your kids in sleeping bags in the club tent in the evening and almost all the booked guests would pop in and do a slot. That was probably '72.

We went religiously for years. In I think 1980 Jacqui had to stand between a group of German bikers and our stepdaughter to prevent untoward harassment (I was elsewhere on site at the time and unaware), and I think that was also the year a bunch of punk-poet fans unscrewed one of Eddie's legs at the knee when he objected to them stopping his whole family sleeping at 3 am - in the "family area". We were on one of the Anglia TV specials about the fest one year - probably 1990 - Rachel belting out "Whip Jamboree" for all she was worth.

We did try going back twice in the mid 90s but it was very pop and country - might have been one of the Kinks headlining one of those years. The friendly onsite vibe was gone and a disabled friend punched out the local MP (from his wheelchair) when the MP stood in front of our friend in the disabled viewing area. I think that was the year the club tent emptied when John Kirkpatrick played it - he was his usual brilliant self but those present (self excluded, and I'm not a squeeze-lover) had no appreciation for him.

I've never been to Whitby but I am unlikely to go to Cambridge again.