Here you can see a list of the most recently added comments on this site. You can add your own comments at the bottom of any page on the site.
Hello – I was at the home in the 50’s left in 1955 when I was 16 – lived in Fernes House next door to Barlow house. I remember Sister Cora Rhodes very well. My maiden was Brenda Poynton and my Sister Pat was also at the home not in the same house. I would love to make any contact with maiden names – Sheila Cosgrove, Ann Quinn went to the Grammar School in St Albans. Also would love to make any contact or info with maiden names Hilary or Heather Baxter. I went to Highfields School and the cookery teacher took me under her wing.
I remember Mr Shutt very well and I used to deliver the post on my bike down Ambrose Lane. We used to sing a song called ‘There is a misery down Ambrose Lane’.
Would love to hear from anyone about this time I live in London. Brenda Adams – my maiden name was Poynton
Eric Meadows was my Uncle. As a child, my brothers and sister spent many a summer holidays at 8 Orchard Avenue in Harpenden, where Eric and my Aunt, Jane, or Muriel (Mibs), lived from the 1970s onwards. I have fond memories of playing in Rothamstead Park, posing for family photographs in their sitting room and garden, or going for walks with Eric (rather more route march than leisurely stroll).
I helped care for Eric during the last few months of his life, and had the responsibility with my cousin, Helen, of collating his archive of photographs and slides, most of which went to the Bedfordshire Library’s County archive. I still possess a large number of Eric’s black and white prints of the Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire countryside and copies of all his books.
Thank you Rosemary for the information about the history of Ardgower (or Ardgour), which was very interesting. Was it recorded in Kelly’s as a boarding house in 1931, and if so, do you know if either Jonathan Hardy or his wife Dorothy were still living there?
Ed: The Electoral Registers for 1928/1929 for 70 Station Road include: HARDY – Dorothy, Mary Hannah, Jonathan (in that order so was this Jonathan a son not the husband?*) But there was no entry for 1930 and in 1931 Tom and Millicent REES had been there before moving to Leicester. There were no electors there in 1932. In 1933 there is just one name, Jackson, so maybe this was no longer a boarding house.
Hello to all. I’m a former Aylesford House student who was there during its transition to Hardenwick. Would love to hear from former classmates. Sherwood Peers B.Sc.,Dip.Ed. 1965-1967
Ed. Sherwood also asks ‘is there a website for former Aylesford House/Hardenwick School students? I would appreciate any information you can pass on to me If you have links to a relevant website, facebook etc if you pass them to us via contact us, we will forward them to Sherwood.
My name is Angus Desprez I was at Field House around 1970 – 76 and went to Round Wood Junior School; does anyone remember me?
So wonderful to hear of the subsequent stories from my compatriots some four and a half years later. Brought back so many good and not-so-good memories confirming the basis of many issues experienced there which have, to some extent, remained hidden. The subsequent letters have helped immensely, thank you one and all! We have, since then, sold our business in Napa Valley, CA, bought a log home near Sandpoint, Idaho, and recently moved to Saranac Lake, in Upstate New York, close to Lake Placid. A peripatetic life for sure! I too had dyslexia which combined with bad asthma, didn’t help my academic life. Fortunately, I was good at sports which helped my limited self-esteem. We now have five Labradoodles, two of which will be bred next year as part of our semi-retirement. My email address: silvercup22@gmail.com Always a pleasure to hear from you Keith Sammels, Martin Underwood, Keith Burgess, Edmund Worthy (loved your towel needs at my parent’s pub!! And Rod Terrett, yes, it was Andrew Ritchie, my best friend at the time, Nick Stevenson, a great letter! Wishing you all good health during these challenging times. Both my wife Rhoni and I have had our booster shots. Highly recommended of course. Much love, David
Jonathan Hardy is indeed listed at Ardgower (70) Station Road in Kelly’s Diectories for 1928 and 1930, but by 1931 it had become a Boarding House. Ardgower had been built by William Sparrow as Irene, and was for a while an ink factory.
Thanks for sharing the information about Crown House, formerly the Crown & Anchor pub. As mentioned, Jonathan Hardy (my great uncle) lived there for quite a few years from the 1930’s to 1951. He had previously lived at Ardgower in Harpenden, and had an insurance brokers business in the town. Does anyone have any recollections of the family and the brokerage business?
These diaries have been scanned and are available online on the e-RA website (electronic Rothamsted Archive): http://www.era.rothamsted.ac.uk/eradoc/books/6
Cpl. Henry Barnes was my mother’s uncle. He went by the nickname of ‘Punch’. His brother, my Grandfather, was Eric Albert Barnes, also of Kinsbourne Green. Eric also fought for his country in WW1 and thankfully survived to return to his family, living in Kinsbourne Green until 1970. Thank you for taking the time to publish this article about those brave soldiers who are named on the Memorial.
From the late 1950s until about 1967, I lived at number 38 Springfield Crescent, with my mum, Marion, my dad, Donald, and my sister, Fran. I remember our garden having a variety of old apple trees in it. I played with Clive Edgerton, and his sister Lynn, and found their house and grounds exciting to play in, not least because they had a tree-house!
Pyramidology V is out, as mentioned in my Comment in September – below. Here is the link:
https://www.authorhouse.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/801101-the-great-pyramid-and-connections-with-the-bible?fbclid=IwAR3gAQZah9frrd2wG2QAMZCDZNuUaf0DczlJFtgMo8JBIoPhpm_vnOKK7-I
My father Peter Charles Thomas Jones who lived in Harpenden until 1962 was a stalwart of the Harpenden drama league and was directing performing and even writing his own musical play “Honey and Cream”
I was in the NCH Harpenden in the 1980s. I and my brother and 3 sisters were all in different flats and were there until we got fostered. We were called the famous five in the Luton News and it would be good to hear from people who were there.
Ed: Barbara, do you have a copy of the Luton News report?
Thank you, David. I attended this Methodist church as a child and then teenager in the 1960’s. My parents would always give me a thrupenny bit to put in the collection plate. Back in those days even younger children dressed up for church, usually a sports jacket and tie. Part way through the service, we would troop across the street to Sunday School in either the tin-roof old church or the brick addition on the back of it. I can remember passing a number of scripture exams. Around 1970, Paul and Glenda Davis organised a Sunday evening meeting for older teenagers at the church that was called SEYG (Sunday Evening Youth Group), usually held at their home in Highfield Avenue. I have fond memories of the Southdown Methodist Church.
A wonderful insight into Harpenden’s history and my ancestors, the White family, who lived there. Olivia Bessie White married into the Ackroyd family and through the Harpenden history society I have been and to trace living members of this family. Thank you.
I went to Roundwood JMI School in the early 1970’s, and there were a number of children from Field House at the school. There was a Dawn Richardson in my class for a couple of years, and then there was a Sharon Keenan who came new to the school after summer half term in 1973, but by the following September she’d left. I was always pally with Dawn, & we found each other on Friends Reunited, and we interact on Facebook. She has 3 adult daughters and several grandchildren. Obviously it would be totally inappropriate to find out why she was in Field House. Sharon always seemed a bit of a sad little girl, and I often wonder what happened to her
I too have very bad memories of Mr Reece, who walked up and down the rows hitting me on my head. Miss Erskine taught us the times tables by rote and I will forever be grateful. A rather grumpy male teacher taught handwriting. I don’t remember any woodwork. I was a pupil from 1952 until 1959. The teacher in my first class was Miss Anstey and I fell in love with her on my first day!
About subsurface water resurfacing at South Mymms: Before the Anglian glaciation, the proto-Thames flowed up the Colne valley, through the Hatfield area and along the middle Lea valley in the Hertford / Ware area. Despite having been blocked, there is still a general flow of water through the chalk along the old course, although not an actual subterranean river. The water that disappears at Water End near North Mymms joins this system, and re-emerges mostly around the springs between Hertford and Ware that feed the New River. This was found by tracing the pollution plume from an old chemical factory in Sandridge, in the lower Harpenden dry valley, it was found that groundwater here also flows under Hatfield towards Hertford. In this area of Hertfordshire, we find that surface and groundwater can flow in different directions.
Harold Hickmott received a gold watch for long service on 5 May 1951. His great grandson Steve Allen commented on Old Harpenden Facebook page in 2015 that he still treasures this award.
Hi can you email me your memories of my dad please, l_empson@live.co.uk
I’m delighted to have been successful in purchasing The Lacrosse Girl by John Frye Bourne at auction, in May 2021. The painting will be much enjoyed here in Edinburgh, further to receiving minor conservation treatment – bringing back memories of times on the lacrosse pitch!
Do you have pics of the area before Wimpey Estate? I use to live at 64 Townsend Lane and can remember before the houses were new build houses at 61, 59& 57, there was a large Edwardian House across the road.
Ed> Unfortunately we do not have any photos of the Townsend Estate, nor of the Edwardian house, Somerled, which you mention. However, we did receive an enquiry in 2018 about this house, from a nephew of Charles Goodall, who had lived in Somerled from 1928 until he moved to Leeds after the war. The house seems to have survived (becoming 71), still recorded in the last Kelly’s Directory which was published in 1974. Hartwell Gardens was developed at this corner by 1982. It is such a pity that no-one seemed to keep a photographic record of houses destined for demolition. This is still happening. The main part of the estate had been Claygates Apple farm.
Does anybody know James Crow? He lived at Harpenden and went to Manland Junior school 1969 -1971 which is when I met him. A lovely boy with a beautiful singing voice.
You can also see a list of the latest pages added to the site.
View latest pages
