Your Tour Guide
 

Nigel Fenner established Cambridge Sports Tours in 2017 and since then has provided tours and sporting experiences to corporate businesses, language schools, schools and the general public. He is also a regular speaker to local history societies, the Museum of Cambridge, the Society of Tour Guides and the Open Cambridge Festival.

Safety.
Nigel is DBS checked (criminal record check provided by the government) and can provide tailored risk assessments for school groups including up to date precautions for the coronavirus. Nigel has been double-vaccinated plus the booster jab against the coronavirus. 
 

Cambridge Sports Tours holds Public Liability Insurance for up to £5 million for guided walking tours and sports coaching, where this is required.
 

Sporting achievements.

Nigel Fenner was a student at the University of Cambridge where he played football against Oxford University at Wembley stadium, so securing his 'Blue'. Nigel also played for Arsenal Youth.

​He has also played and coached a range of other sports for example winning his oar when rowing for Downing College, playing rugby fly half to Gareth Edwards and as fitness trainer to Ian Botham and Somerset County Cricket Club. Cycling is his current passion, including cycling from Lands End to John O'Groats.

 

Local man - qualified teacher.

Nigel is also related to Francis P. Fenner, who as a local tobacconist and talented cricketer, created Fenner's Cricket Ground in the mid 19th Century.

 

Nigel is a qualified teacher, and sports scientist, who has lived and worked locally for over 40 years mostly for local charities - with young offenders, people with disabilities, and more recently with young people excluded from mainstream education.

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Endorsements.

"This is a talk given by a local treasure and amusing eccentric."
 
"Nigel has a great wealth of knowledge....I really enjoyed his anecdotes and stories, as well as his very informal and engaging style."
 
"Nigel is an excellent guide......He introduces a new way of looking at Cambridge – from a sports history point of view, looking at Town and Gown through his many sporting stories and excellent knowledge of the historical background."

"Nigel is great company...."

"Throughout the tour Nigel was very engaging and encouraged a lot of questions, and friendly banter, from his audience."

"Nigel has a very inclusive and friendly approach and took the trouble to find out what everyone was interested in and wanted to find out about."

"He is also a considerate host, checking on our welfare and needs, on what was a very cold day."

 

 

Boxing, and Town versus Gown tensions – walking tour.

In addition to the creators of the Queensberry Rules being very closely associated with Cambridge, so too was the originator of Muscular Christianity, which had such a profound impact on the development of sport in Victorian England. Others with a boxing link include Lord Byron and Isaac Newton, in a town where tensions between Town and Gown often led to fighting and riots on the street, including the Battle of Peas Hill in the early 19th Century.

2.00 - 3.30pm. Fri 22nd Oct.

Meet on Magdalene Bridge, Bridge Street, finishing on Market Square – just under 1 mile

Cost: £8 per person by cash on the day.

Contact us to book a place.

 

Parker’s Piece, the laws of football and four Cambridge sporting greats – walking tour.

Located close to the centre of the town, Parker’s Piece can claim to being at the heart of the leisure revolution that swept across Britain and the world in the 19th Century. In addition to being ‘the birthplace of the laws of football’, and where the first non-European international sports star learned his trade, Parker’s Piece was also home to four local lads who have made a significant contribution to sport.

The tour also takes in the Reality Checkpoint, providing opportunity to explore the sporting relationships between Town and Gown, and where, in the nearby cemetery a number of key players are buried, many in unknown graves.

2.00 - 3.30pm Wednesday 24th Nov.

Meet on Parker’s Piece by the University Arms finishing at Mill Road Cemetery – just over 1 mile. Cost: £8 per person by cash on the day.

Contact us to book a place.

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Other walking tours planned for 2022

• Theatre, literature and sports

• Football and Camp Ball (local version of folk football)

• Rowing and River tour ( - including an experience of rowing)

• Fenner of Fenner’s Cricket Ground

Just contact us for more details

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