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March stories
March is a town of repeated journeys, and every regular journey gathers a story.
The railway, Market Place, museum collections, nights out, bike meets, work and family routines all offer ways into March without needing to become a historian first.
Start here
Start at the station, then walk away from the obvious story.
March & District Museum presents the town's history through collections, audio points and interactive material. March Library's local-studies holdings add historic newspapers, plans and Ordnance Survey mapping. Together they make it possible to trace change, but the strongest story may still begin with a personal question: who met you at the station, what journey became routine, what happened after a shift, or where your friends went when there seemed to be nothing to do.
Common Ground already uses a 1958 station photograph as a memory prompt. The point is not nostalgia for its own sake. Put an old image beside your own experience and ask what the camera could never have recorded.
Railway town, personal journey
Stations are full of waiting, leaving, returning, work, school, first trips and people seen repeatedly without ever knowing their names.
Which March station journey would you tell if you only had two minutes? →Market Place and changing town centre
A market square is public space, but memory makes it personal through shops, errands, meetings, protests, celebrations and ordinary Saturdays.
What has changed around March town centre that you still mentally put back? →After dark
Soul, reggae, pubs, social nights, car culture and community events create a very different archive from daytime civic photographs.
What March night, venue, playlist or gathering deserves to be remembered? →Work and the route home
Shift patterns, farms, factories, shops, offices and delivery work shape when people see the town and who they meet.
What did March look like at the hour you usually travelled to or from work? →Six ways in
Choose the line that makes you remember something.
Do not worry about the final format yet. Follow the prompt that produces a specific person, place, scene, sound or object.
Useful local sources
Check the record. Keep your own voice.
These are independent archives, museums, councils or cultural sources. Common Ground links to them for research and does not claim ownership of their material or endorsement by them.
March & District Museum
A town-centre museum focused on March community history, with displays, audio points and interactive elements.
Open source ↗External sourceFenland Collection: March resources
March Library holds local newspapers, historic mapping and town plans within the wider Fenland local-studies collection.
Open source ↗External sourceHistoric England: Fenland
The Fenland heritage hub includes historic photography that can help place March memories alongside visible change.
Open source ↗What brought you here?
Choose the next step that matches your reason for visiting.
You do not have to join the programme to use these local story resources. Read, make something, refer somebody or support the work in the way that is useful to you.
Take one detail into the Story Lab and turn it into a usable starting point.
Open Story Lab →02I might want to take partCheck whether the free Fenland programme fits you and what participation involves.
See participant information →03I know someone this could suitShare Common Ground with a Fenland adult who may enjoy making a story of their own.
Refer someone →04I want to help the programmeOffer practical support or an optional contribution around the funded core programme.
Support Common Ground →Questions people ask
Useful answers, without pretending every story has one right method.
Where can I research March, Cambridgeshire history?
March & District Museum, the Fenland Collection at March Library and Historic England's Fenland hub are useful starting points.
Can I use March railway history as a story prompt?
Yes. Start with a journey or memory rather than trying to summarise the whole railway history, then use archive material to add context.
Are nightlife and car stories suitable for Common Ground?
Yes. Contemporary culture is part of local life and can become a strong digital story when it is specific and personal.
Make something from it
A search can become a story in one click.
Take one specific detail into the Story Lab. If you live in Fenland and want time, workshops and support to develop the work, explore taking part in Common Ground.
