A classful of faces

Fleetville Infants Class 1950 – all forty-six of us, plus Miss Randall of course.

Recently, from New Zealand arrived this photograph, capturing a young class from Fleetville Infants' School in 1950.  Around 45 children and their teacher sat patiently around the side of the small building, waiting for the cue to say "cheese".  Now, what would any Key Stage One teacher today say of the prospect of steering that number of young minds through the early years section of the National Curriculum?  Although a year older than me, there are many children who I recognised, either by name or by face; some immediately, but with others a hazy recognition emerged but slowly.  Anthony, who sent the picture, had identified a fair proportion of the children – with the help of one or two friends who also appear.

This is where the rest of us can help.  As you can see from the version of the picture on the website www.stalbansowneastend.co.uk  – and now sitting on a brand-new page reserved for school group pictures – a few faces are presently unknown.  If you identify yourself, or a class friend, would you let the author know: saoee@me.com  More group pictures will follow shortly.

This used to be Rollings' site; before that it used to be Oakley's

The second photograph was one of many taken on one of those brilliantly blue-skied mornings we are occasionally blessed with.  Down at ground level, however, the space is quite empty.  Here, in Camp Road and next to the Camp public house, had been a large blue warehouse shed, first erected for the wholesale confectioner and tobacconist J B Rollings and Co Ltd, which, until c1970 had its premises in Hatfield Road.  Before that move, the site had been what remained of Oakley's Dairy Unit, whose fields had long since been swallowed up by homes, whose occupants were potential customers requiring milk!  The wholesome white stuff was therefore brought in for processing and bottling.  I am sure there are many interesting stories about Oakley's which have not yet surfaced.  If you have a tale to tell, visited the premises, worked there or retain a clear recollection of the buildings and the dairy operation, do email saoee@me.com This will support the stories already known about the delivery side of the business.  Meanwhile, progress on the redevelopment of this site will be followed with interest.

Finally, twenty-five of us enjoyed a guided walk this week around residential streets in parts of Fleetville north of Hatfield Road.  While a number are regulars on our summer walks, we also enjoy meeting with locals who are joining us for the first time.  Appearing for the first time this year is Laid to Rest in Fleetville.  There is less walking involved but we will sharing brief stories of some former residents who have been 'laid to rest' in Hatfield Road Cemetery.  This has clearly been a popular theme, as by the time this blog appears it is possible there will be no more places left – remember, it is essential to book ahead through Fleetville Diaries.  In which case, look out for the walk appearing again in the FD programme.

Incoming pictures

Among the photographs recently loaned or given to the author are one or two stunning subjects sent in by Darren.

First, are two great studies for J H Stanton and Son, who ran a wood business in Castle Road.  As I understand it, there is a distinction between wood and timber; in that the latter has been cut and prepared for further use, whereas wood has been cut from the tree but otherwise not seasoned and cut to size.  I am sure there will be readers of this blog who will correct me if I am wrong.  In the photograph shown is a stack of wood, and there are logs lying around.  The company also described itself as a wood merchant.

The firm was based at number 84 Castle Road, and also occupied the space where the newer houses on the corner of Burleigh Road are, as well as the yard that later became St John's Ambulance Brigade site, behind the house.

John Stanton came to St Albans around 1907 and lost no time in setting up his trade, although he began by working at one of the many gravel pits in the area.  The company was still in business in 1960, according to the Kelly's Directory of that year.








Next we turn our attention to Peake's, a quality clothing manufacturer in Hatfield Road, opposite Clarence Park.  Neither the firm or its buildings are there now, but  memories of former employees abound.  However, there are too few photos, both of the buildings and the people engaged in their normal working tasks.  Fortunately two pictures were received recently by Sheila, whose mother was employed by the firm in the 1950s.  A larger version of this picture will appear in the group pictures page of the website; you may recognise a relative of yours, and if so the author would be eager to hear from you.


Finally, a postcard tracked down by Andy, arrived in the post.  A wreath forms the pictorial element of the card, but at the bottom is printed:

Established 1797.  Messrs J and J E Watson.   New Zealand Nursery, Hatfield Road, St Albans.

This address covered three different sites.  The main nursery was alongside Lattimore Road on part of what is now Loreto College.  They also had a site where the Cavendish estate was eventually built, and they used land at Smallford.  A definitive explanation of the name New Zealand in the firm's name is still being sought.







At Fleetville Diaries we are looking forward to our next guided walk on Wednesday evening (for details, see the Fleetville Diaries website – it is essential to book as the number of places is limited to 25).  We will be perambulating along some of Fleetville's roads to discover how the developments took place and who lived where.

Finally, the long-standing question of the speedway track at Smallford has at last been confirmed.  The 1937 large-scale Ordnance Survey map shows the track circuit, together with a structure which may have been a modest grandstand, halfway along the eastern side – although "grand" is probably too grand a word for its possible size.  Entry to the site was from Hatfield Road, immediately to the west of the long and narrow Popefield pond alongside Hatfield Road.  The site may still be seen from Google Earth.  Find Popefield Farm; then locate Nottcuts Garden Centre.  In the space between can be seen the distinct shrubby rectangle of the track site.  Perhaps a field walk in Ellenbrook Fields Country Park may reveal some surface evidence of the stand and trackway.

An Olympic event

Torchbearer Farida Ussmane walking her flame past
Queen's Court, Hatfield Road.

I don't know; you wait over sixty years for a key event, and then two occur on the same afternoon.  It was either support Andy Murray in his quest to win a Wimbledon final, or turn out for the Olympic torch as it slogged its way through Fleetville.  As it happened I managed to do both, partly due to a rain delay in SW19.

It was certainly chaotic, and a perfect example of how so many thousand people could, with the accumulated mass of bodies, close roads by occupying them.  Children took the opportunity to play games in the middle of Hatfield Road during the gap between the initial police outriders and the brash and irrelevant sponsor vehicles.  Irrelevant in all other senses than the fact that they paid for this snake of an event.

There has probably never been another event in the history of the East End of St Albans that has managed to bring so many residents onto the streets.  Unless, that is, anyone can remember an earlier event.  From the photos I have seen and the day I remembered, not even the coronation carnival procession on wet June 2nd 1953, which formed up at Oakwood Drive and travelled into the city centre, drew as many people as today.

You probably will never be able to play in the middle
of Hatfield Road again.

Gazebos in front gardens, parties at pubs, hawkers selling flags and self-inflating torches,  chairs on the pavement and groups hanging from balconies.  It was one big messy street party.  But as for the purpose of it all; blink and you missed it.  Farida Ussmane from London, who had the honour of carrying the torch from Beaumont Avenue at least managed to walk her section, which was just as well as we wouldn't otherwise have seen much at all, so hemmed in was her narrow corridor and so surrounded by the athletic muscle men of the police escort.

This afternoon will be a landmark event in the life of this part of St Albans.  Thousands of memories and millions of photos will ensure that July 8th 2012 will become part of our recorded history.  We all witnessed St Albans' own "moment to shine."


There would remain only one further obstacle: the amount of time required to leave Morrison's car park.

The party's over but the crowds linger across Sutton Road.

Larks and a park

An annual event arrives once more all too quickly, and during the week preceding the 24th, all concerned with Larks in the Parks at Fleetville Rec, were scanning the skies and checking weather forecasts.  Although early threats of rain did not, fortunately, materialise, except for a couple of short showers, the wind was rather strong.  But the sun came out and hundreds of people enjoyed themselves.

At the Fleetville Diaries and St Albans' Own East End marquee there was a steady stream of visitors  discovering our exhibition, Best Days of Our Lives, chatting to members, and meeting the author of St Albans' Own East End.  More books were sold and many leaflets distributed.  As important as anything, it was the people we were fortunate enough to speak with which made our day.  Thank you to all who gave a little of their time to call at the stand and meet us.

On Wednesday 27th a number of local people met in the warm evening at Clarence Park for the second of this season's Guided Walks.  On this occasion it was led by author Kate Bretherton, who many will know through her illustrated book The Remarkable Trees of St Albans.

We have to thank Sir John Blundell Maple for the wide variety of spectacular trees he chose for Clarence Park when designing the open space, opened in 1894.  And as you can imagine a number of them are varieties of maples.

Casual users of the park joined us temporarily as we walked the park, and at the end we were all reluctant to leave, choosing to extend our evening's stay with conversation in the cooling dusk.


Our next Guided Walk is on Wednesday evening 25th July.  Titled, Living in Fleetville, we will meet outside the Community Centre.  But I should stress that it is important to book your place as we have placed a limit on the number of people able to join the event.

Anniversaries

June and July are generally busy months for outdoor events and other celebrations.  We hope you can squeeze in a visit next Sunday to Fleetville Rec, where the 2012 Larks in the Parks fun day will be taking place.  As with many other community events, it runs with little funding.  Organisations arrive with their stands, their music, their food and their smiles – and everyone enjoys themselves.  Fleetville Diaries will be present; as will the author of St Albans' Own East End, Mike Neighbour.  Copies of the book will be on sale, as well as a photo exhibition: Green East End.  Diaries' exhibition The Best Days of Our Lives will also be there.

A number of young families at Elm Drive in May 1945.

An outdoor event held 67 years ago in Elm Drive is now featured on the website.  Jenny has sent in photographs of the Elm Drive street party in 1945, celebrating VE Day.  The growing collection of group photos probably proves just how engaging they are, with so many faces to try and remember.  So, if any blog readers have group pictures of any kind – together with any names if that is possible – do get in touch.

Fifty years ago the city council finally completed the land purchases necessary to compete the ring road.  The Ashley Road railway bridge had to be replaced and the pot-holed track that is now Ashley Road made into a proper road.  Finally, former farmland between Cambridge Road and Drakes Drive would become the final link.  Considering that the council was talking about its "circle road" in the early 1920s, forty years to build a road seems some long-drawn-out achievement!

While on anniversaries, here is a minor one, though important to residents at the time.  A spare plot on the corner of Ridgeway and Briar Road was destined to become a block of flats in 1961.  The planning authority did not like the idea, and neither did the nearby residents already occupying their new homes. Without too much fuss, the plan for flats was dispensed with, and maisonettes were constructed instead.

And get ready for the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Baton public house.  Although not built where originally intended in Marshalswick Lane, permission was agreed for a Ridgeway location at The Quadrant.  Until the Baton opened the nearest inns were King William, the Bunch of Cherries and the Rats' Castle.  Cheers!

A railway footprint

There has been much talk in recent months about the proposed High-Speed railway line (HS2), and much of the talk has been from those whose homes are nearby to the proposed route.  Who would not wish to defend their patch?  At the same time those who manage the railways in the UK see the future benefits in this new route.

Midland line looking from Sandridge Road towards Sandpit Lane.  Only two
tracks were laid at first.

Anyone travelling through "our patch" of the Midland line, or peering over one of the bridge parapets, would hardly give a thought to similar debates which raged in the 1860s.  Yet, at the time they would have been major livelihood-threatening issues.  Homes would have been demolished, farmland consumed, and roads and footpaths affected.  The land owners, mainly Earls Verulam and Spencer, plus George Marten, and Thomas and John Kinder would have carefully assessed the value of what they might lose and the compensation they might receive.  Though without a voice, the land labourers would also have worried about loss of livelihood and homes.

Without land owner intervention we might have lost the Beaumont Cottages.  We certainly lost a hovel in Camp Road, near Dellfield.  The building might not have been up to much, but it was home to someone.  We might have lost the little Toll House at the junction of Hatfield Road and Camp Road; but then, it was lost anyway forty years later when the general store was built in its place at the bottom end of Stanhope Road.  In complaining about the earliest proposed alignment, the land owners discovered that a revision brought the tracks perilously close to Dell Cottage in Sandpit Lane.  A further amendment changed the tracks from one side of the house to the other, but fortunately a little further away.  And that is how the Midland Railway was built.  Dell Cottage still overlooks the passing trains.

Dell Cottage, Sandpit Lane

Big land-eating projects are never easy.  Some winners and some losers.  Not just a problem for the builders of HS2, but emotionally for those in that long and narrow stage who play out the drama of their lives in a small portion of it.  Such issues have affected the railways from the start.

Cool street parties

What is it about us Brits?  Not only do we love street parties – including the chance to string up some short lengths of bunting – but we are prepared to enjoy ourselves, whatever the weather.  Perhaps that should be determined, rather than prepared.  There may also be something more to it as well.  Do you think there is a little bit of anarchy involved; our one chance to close the road to traffic and claim the street space for ourselves for the afternoon?

Keeping traffic out wasn't once a problem, when the number of cars were few.  Any day and at most times the street was ours; it was the children's local playground, at least for those children whose parents weren't too particular about the thought of their offspring mixing with others "in the street."  We only had to look through the front window to see who was "out to play."  Most days were street parties, just not the kind organised for us by grown-ups!

If you have organised an East End street party this weekend do let the author know, and it can be added to the Street Party list on the website.  Burnham and Eaton roads, Beaumont Avenue, Woodland Drive are among those celebrating.

While on our guided walk last Wednesday we noticed a new sign in Sutton Road.  The building in question used to be known as Nicholson's and was named Beaumont Works when new in 1900.  Today it has a new nameplate, Beaumont House.  The owner of the factory, Alfred J Nicholson not only purchased the plot on which the building sits, but a considerable amount of land on which the houses in Hedley, Guildford and Maxwell roads have been developed.  Not only that but he purchased, in his wife's name, land on the west side of Beaumont Avenue, including Salisbury Avenue.  This was all on the former Beaumonts Farm, and so the name Beaumont Works, and now Beaumont House, celebrates this name, now long gone as an agricultural business.