There are many things you can expect to see in Cambridge on a Saturday morning. King’s Parade will be packed with tourists, the market will be bustling and STEM students will be reluctantly commuting to dreaded Saturday lectures. What is perhaps less expected is the sight of Bridgemas decorations on University buildings. Specifically, a fully decorated Christmas tree on the roof of Senate House, which was spotted this morning (26/11).

The fully decorated tree, precariously perched on the edge of the building provided a festive decoration for the graduation ceremonies of postgraduates today.

This tree follows a proud Cambridge tradition of decorating unlikely areas in the city for the holidays.

Recently, a skeleton was spotted on the roof of Lloyds bank at Halloween.

More ambitiously, Santa hats were placed on statues high up on the tower of St John’s College Chapel last Bridgemas.

The incident caused a stir within the college. Senior tutor Richard Partington sent an email to the student body, which discussed the considerable cost to the college involved in removing the Santa hats.

The hats were subsequently removed without college intervention.

Many of these incidents have been attributed to the mysterious “night climbers”, a group of students who spend their free time completing daring feats climbing the many historic buildings of Cambridge. The group has existed since the 1930s.

'Cambridge Night Climbing', a book published in 1970 by one of these night climbers under the pseudonym “Hederatus”, discusses the difficulties involved in scaling the Senate House describing it as “a building to be feared”.

This hasn’t stopped others from also placing objects on top of the Senate House. In 2019 a series of pumpkins were spotted on the roof. More impressively, in 1958 an entire car was placed on the roof.

It is unclear whether the same group of “night climbers” is responsible for the latest festive decoration.