Rescue Mission: the park chalet

 Places, whether they are sites or individual buildings, have their time and then they are gone; disappeared apparently forever and replaced with something else.

In Clarence Park we are fortunate in that these  structures all remain – the cricket pavilion, the entrance lodge; although the smaller cricket stand and the football stands, neither of the latter two were original 1894 structures.

This aerial photo was thought to have been taken c1946.  The cricket pavilion is bottom left, 
although the jumping sand pits appear not to be present.  The triangular grass patch in front of the football field featured the chalet and very close to it was a tree which most children of the
time will remember.

A further little building did not arrive until the 1920s, and yet is no longer part of the park and has not been so for probably fifty years, which may surprise some of us.  The tea chalet, which lay on a grass triangle between the main cricket pavilion and the football ground, was a popular feature of most family visits, whether there was an event taking place or whether children on their own or families had arrived for an afternoon out.

Today the triangle is more difficult to define; a low curved ornamental wall is in front
of where the chalet used to be, and the much-loved tree has surely been taken down for
those now on the triangle are far too young to be the same age as the Chalet.

It is uncertain why the facility closed and was demolished, nor exactly when.  The chalet was certainly there throughout my childhood and my frequent visits with friends or family; cricket matches, sports days, entertainment events and so on.  The original building is thought to be a small bungalow shape with a pitched roof, but at some point had a verandah added around the outside for shaded outside seating as well as including part of the entrance.

Did anyone take a photograph of the tea chalet?  I very much hope so – we've missed it ever since, and nothing else has successfully replaced the service it offered.  Wouldn't it be great if we could present the chalet in its setting on this page.

Meanwhile, one further image which surfaced shows the front verandah of the chalet.  See below:

Overlooking the part of the cricket ground overlooking the cricket pavilion and the tennis
courts, the photographer is seeing the scene though the front verandah of the refreshment
chalet.  
Courtesy Betty Ewens

COVER PICTURES 6

 The name's Nicholson – Alfred John Nicholson

The very first factories to open in the wider Fleetville were all the largest entities where the growing district swept up plenty of potential employees and helped create a relatively prosperous suburb, even though the remuneration rates were at times far from generous.

The Sutton Road factory when it had a front garden.

The frontage looks the same today, fifty years after closure, the benefit of protection under the
listing process.  Behind the frontage are now private residences.

The factory's front door at 3 Sutton Road still looks much the same,

Getting to work was once a challenge after heavy rains when the dip below the rail bridge 
created what was known as the "Sutton Lakes".

The third factory to arrive – from Manchester – was a raincoat factory, although its product range widened as the factory settled into its home at Sutton Road.  Negotiating this road was far from easy, with a very low railway over bridge and frequent flooding resulting from digging into the water table to enable sufficient vehicle height.  Although rail access to the factory was enabled less use was made of the tracks, or rather track, for it was only a single track railway.

Alfred's Manchester career began with the trading of woollen cloth and then the development of a lightweight waterproof fabric.  The move to St Albans came about through his clients' bespoke requirements; many of them living in London.  St Albans was close enough to the Capital and the cost of land further removed from the heart of London brought the unit costs within range.

Copies of a large number of original designs from the company have been retained
by St Albans Museums.
COURTESY ST ALBANS MUSEUMS

Early advertising in the brochure of St Albans' 1907 Pageant which was
printed next door at T E Smith's Fleet Printing Works.

Advertising in the national press in the brochures of the Festival of Britain
South Bank Exhibition in 1951.

Nicholson acquired sufficient land for the factory as well as additional potential sites alongside the railway which he intended to sell on to other employers and thus ensure the railway operated successfully – and to his benefit; although these developments were slow to mature, and were not as productive as he would have liked, resulting in Hedley Road today largely being a continuous row  of residencies today.

However, land Nicholson acquired in Salisbury Avenue bore greater fruit.

Residents today may have wondered about the naming of Hedley Road along which much Nicholson activity developed, including housing for early employees. William Hedley Kenelm Nicholson was AJ's only son.  The family lived in homes, successively in Clarence Road, Lemsford Road and Hall Place Gardens.  He became a parish councillor, a rural district councillor, and once St Albans City expanded to enclose Fleetville, the home of his factory, he ensured his factory was appropriately represented by being a representative on the new body.

Nicholson ensured residents could meet in his factory to discuss local issues, there being no other public room. Apart from political meetings for the Liberal cause, early parent pressure meetings included the urgent need for a school in the vicinity; until 1908 the only school in the new district was the Camp Elementary School.

St Albans' residents became familiar with the Nicholson factory in Sutton Road, but many are surprised by the existence of a second works in Swindon, and further works in Reading and Cape Town.  Through two wars and healthy competition Nicholson's traded successfully for seventy-two years, at times benefiting  from large quantity orders and government contracts.

Nicholson was not the only successful garment company succeeding from special contracts, for Chester Barrie purchased the Nicholson company and its works in the 1970s – just one of a succession of modern amalgamations and takeovers, the latest of which, recently, was Chester Barrie itself.

But the company of Alfred J Nicholson was no doubt proud that its founder helped to give birth to Fleetville, even though it was the firm on the other side of the road, T E Smith printing, which gave the district its name.  That is the reason for its inclusion on the front cover of St Albans' Own East End, Volume One.

Remembering the date

 May 8th 1945                                May 9th 1945

Victory in Europe Day                  Liberation Day

Ever since 1945 annual celebrations have taken place across Britain and the Channel Islands following the sudden relief felt by most people alive at the time.  Huge happiness for the future had arrived; great sorrow as they remembered family members were lost during the Second World War; and tired relief even though some of the difficult times still lay ahead.

In special years commemorations were held in 1950, 1970, then 1985. As the key years lay behind us, and more of us forgot the date until too late, we were beginning to realise for an increasing number of young people the year 1945 and the date 8th May meant little or nothing to them.  Not only had they not been born in 1945, an increasing number of their parents weren't around then either.  More families weren't in a position to talk about the events.  The question turned from being "what did you do in the war dad/grandad?" to "Did anyone in our family know anything about the war?" to "What was this 1945 thing?"

Probably not surprising; after all, no-one today remembers celebrations at the end of 19th century wars and battles, nor even the First World War.

But in St Albans the Herts Advertiser did their best.  All the printing was in black and white on very poor quality paper.  The skills required to produce quality photographs were just not there yet, as you will see in these re-prints below.  In 1945 everyone knew the name of the Mayor (it was Mr William Bird, whose house was in Beaumont  Avenue at the time).  Masses of uniformed (mainly) men standing guard outside the Town Hall with crowds of residents gathered behind.  The jubilation was guarded and restrained.

May 8th 1945 in Market Square; Mayor William Bird gave a formal speech.
COURTESY THE HERTS ADVERTISER

But the fun came in the suburbs with a certain amount of dressing up and instant drama along the streets; everyone seemed to let down their hair.

COURTESY THE HERTS ADVERTISER

In parts of our district families hailing from Guernsey had been living here, having left their island (and from Jersey) just days before the enemy began its occupation of the islands.  So when 8th May arrived and the surrender signed off it was not until the following day, the 9th, that "our dear Channel Islands" could be freed.  So in Britain the date was known as Victory in Europe Day (VE), because that is what it was – though there was a lot more still to do – and tomorrow the Channel Islands will be commemorating Liberation Day, because that is what it was for the islanders.

In Liberation Square, St Helier, Jersey they selected something altogether more permanent in Philip
Jackson's highly symbolic sculpture.  Islanders are daily reminded of their return to freedom.

Islanders in Guernsey carry their reminder of freedom daily in their pockets.

So, friends and families, wherever we are, we'll hopefully have conversations, not just today and tomorrow, but every 8th and 9th May.

Cover Pictures 5

The former T E Smith printing works, Hatfield Road

 We could hardly publish a book all about the city's east end and its best known local area, Fleetville, and not include a photograph of the printing works one mile out of the town's centre.  After all, the building was known as the Fleet Works, and gave its name to the new development around it.  The Fleet refers to the river (sadly below ground and incorporated into an ancient drainage network) and the well known printers' street close to where the owner's home printing factory was based.  The gentleman in question was Thomas E Smith, who brought a significantly larger works to St Albans as colour printing became popular.  Space-hungry colour print works were often built on the outskirts of towns where land costs are lower.

We should add, Thomas Smith's works was not the first to open here; two years earlier another Smith, Orford Smith, began his fine quality  colour works nearby in what was then known as The Camp Fields. Later, the Salvation Army took over the site and it became Campfield Press – but that is another story.  

The T E Smith Colour Printing Agency as shown in the company's own advertising pages inserted into
a publication it had printed in 1907.  The inset illustrated the firm's headquarter building near Fleet
Street where, at the time, most of the country's national newspapers were published and
printed.

The road outside the factory c1914.  Many of the people shown are likely to have been
leaving their shift, walking and cycling along a Hatfield Road devoid of motor traffic.

The red brick factory following the closure of Ballito hosiery mill in the 1960s

All of the currently known and publicly available photographs of the Hatfield Road building were taken by, or for, Smith's themselves and  appeared in a large brochure/programme produced in 1907 for the 1907 Pageant at Verulamium – more than two decades before it became a public park.  Smith's was commissioned to undertake the publication, and naturally it wished to undertake a little publicity for itself.

Thomas Smith, however, was only able to acquire the land because its owners, a partnership between Earl Verulam and the Trustees of St Albans School, required funds to expand the school estate at and around the Gateway.  This expansion was the flint block we see today  adjacent to the Gateway itself.  The Fleet Ville grew on the two arable fields on which the factory was built on the south side and a further field for shops, homes and an institute on the north side of Hatfield Road.

Early photographs of a selection of printing processes within the building c1907. Here a 
rotary press is surrounded by drums of lined up nearby for the work to be done.

One of the machine rooms in the huge compartmented space, designed to limit the damaging
effect of fire.  The company operated its own fire brigade and also gave assistance to the 
neighbourhood of Fleetville.

The backbone of any printer was what was known as jobbing work – a steady stream of small scale
work requiring basic machinery or tools for the production of small quantities of leaflets, forms,
letterheads and so on.

One of the finishing departments was the bindery where multi-page documents are formed into
pamphlets or books.

As with so many commercial enterprises, Smith's was caught up in the manpower and materials issues of the First World War, and although it managed to keep going until 1916 its skilled staff were called to the front, work for the firm was seriously depleted, and the government had a serious requirement for wartime factory space.  The expansive factory was turned over to secret submarine optical research work.

At the end of the war the now government-owned property permitted  Howard Grubb to turn its attention to telescope design and manufacture, which it did until 1925 when it was absorbed into the larger enterprise of Parsons in Newcastle.

Almost immediately two American brothers who had been looking to expand the manufacture of ladies' silk stockings into the UK in order to bypass the heavy import taxes on a number of luxury goods, spied the newly empty building in Fleetville.  The former print and then optical works was acquired and converted into the Ballington Hosiery Mill.  Ballington was the name of the original Tennessee cotton mills, and the name was adjusted to become the brand for the products manufactured in Fleetville: Ballito.  It continued in Peace, War and Peace again until forcibly closed by its new owner, Courtaulds, in 1965.  Although as Ballito new buildings were added post World War Two, three successful businesses thrived in the original 1997 buildings for nearly seventy years before the site was cleared for the St Albans Co-operative Society's centralised supermarket in their own building.

Hundreds of employees were engaged in printing, engineering and hosiery during those times, and brought prosperity to both the city and especially its east end.