Into Long Field

Hatfield Road looking west with the cemetery on the left. c1914. The gap at the distant flag at half
mast is where the Social Club is today, and the nearest flag is the final shop before St Paul's Place.
COURTESY ST ALBANS MUSEUMS

At the beginning of the previous post is an early 20th century postcard view of the north side of Hatfield Road looking east from Cavendish Road towards St Paul's Church.  Today the first photograph is a similar view but taken from St Paul's Church looking west; again noting the unwidened road.  The subject of the foreground shop on the right will be the topic for the next post, and the space with the flag at half mast will be described later in this post.

As we walk along this section of Hatfield Road we pass an apparently undistinguished row of shops (even more in the days before Tesco Metro arrived).  These are the houses which were planted on the other side of the hedge referred to in the previous post, in Long Field.  But when we look at the aerial photo we can discern a little more order as the separate buildings are more obvious.

Laurel Road is the side road on the far left.  An excellent view of the former rear gardens and part
of the St Paul's Place development.
COURTESY GOOGLE EARTH

Starting from the hedge (to the left of the Jamie Mosque gateway) is a terrace of four homes, the two end ones including carriage drives.  The left drive has first floor accommodation above it, but the one on the right is open.  Although it is not certain who was responsible for building this group in 1898 or 1899, all four were owned by Thomas Martin of Fishpool Street in 1910, according to the Valuation Office records.  Evidence of the original ground floor bay windows is visible, and as with the rest of the properties in this section of the road, the narrow front gardens are now paved.  Brick arched first floor window lintels remain the only form of decoration other than the ground floor bay tops.  These four properties were  converted to shops within two years of occupation: respectively a confectioner, draper, china & glass dealer, and grocer.  They all remained good examples of everyday shops until the 1960s, when trades changed to become "the tyre place", a motorcycle retailer, wholesaler and turf accountant.  With its extensive rear buildings the first two properties are now the Jamie Mosque and Bangladesh Centre.

The four properties beginning with the Jamie Mosque top left.

The gap I referred to in the first photo above comes next in the street, numbers 85, 87 and 89.  The Methodist Mission had been forced to leave the property it shared with Edwin Lee's shoe factory in Cavendish Road, when the latter removed to Grosvenor Road in 1898. At the rear of the mission's newly acquired site it quickly  erected a marquee and then set about putting up a building similar in style to the later Nissen huts made of corrugated iron on hooped frames.  When the church moved again to Glenferrie Road the Camp Liberal Club moved in and within eight years had created the building we see today.  The gap in the top photo indicates it to have been taken before that rebuilding had begun.  The club entrance, now blocked up, was in the centre. Two shop units were incorporated, one on each side of the centre entrance.  These would have been intended to provide income for the club, but from my memory I can only recollect one shop trading from here.

The site of the former Mission.  The present building designed with a central entrance for the rear
and upstairs club, and separate shop units on the left and right.

Numbers 91 and 93 were added to the street in 1900 as a pair of semi-detached homes, called Ashleigh and Lyndhurst; only being converted to shops in c1906.  As shops they are only small units, today specialising in cultural fast foods. But during their time have served the public with shoes, children's clothes, jewellery, dairy products, hire centre and a turf accountant.  George Haines, a gents outfitter, also traded from here before requiring more space and moving a few doors along the road.

Semi-detached pair, remaining as houses until c1906.

Finally, we pass Tesco Express which is identified on the fascia as 95 and 97, but in fact has absorbed the former number 99 as well, all of which was a wide plot purchased and developed by Ben Pelly.  Although he was an ironmonger, he was best known as a household supplier, specialising in wallpapers, glassware and china.  Number 95 on the left began as the family domestic quarters, although they later  removed to Brampton Road and this property became the Fleetville branch of Midland Bank.  The family shop began as a wide single-storey sales area, but was later converted into a full-height building with an impressive recessed frontage.  Pelly's closed in the mid-60s, with Securicor and Coral Press taking over.  

Former Ben Pelly shop, now Tesco Express, and the first accommodation for St Peter's Rural Conservative Club.
COURTESY GOOGLE STREETVIEW

One more building in the row, number 101 and developed by George Hale, was acquired, or rented, by Mrs Pelly and was initially used as a meeting place for the St Peter's Rural Conservative Club, before it moved to a more spacious headquarters nearby.  For a short period Percy Hall used the ground floor as a hairdressing saloon, before George Haines, the gents' outfitter transferred as mentioned above.  In recent times it has been well known as the Pet Shop/Petacare and a charity shop.

So, by breaking down the groups of traders by building, which we have been able to identify in the aerial photo, it has been possible to make sense of this lengthy row of occupants.  Next time we will focus on just one occupant, the one which used to be on the end but has not been present for the past sixty years.

Another Field Built Over

In recent posts we have explored how the Farm Field of St Peter's Farm came to be the beginning of the new east end of St Albans.  So far we have reached Laurel Road as new building occupied Farm Field, reaching the more level ground at the top of the hill. The depth of the development plots increased modestly as the fields lined up along the road to Hatfield: Long Field, Great Long Field and Long Moody, the names which applied during the mid 19th century and are recorded on the tithe maps.  At the northern end of these fields was an ancient track which had connected rural habitations directly with their parish church of St Peter.  The track was developed into Brampton Road.

The group of three pedestrians are crossing at the Laurel Road junction on the left.  An unwidened
Hatfield Road still produced a line of telephone wires.  The cycle shop and F W Fox, chemist
at the Laurel Road corner.
COURTESY HALS

We had reached Laurel Road but in 1901 there was still some level frontage space before the hedge between Farm Field and Long Field is reached.  Beyond the hedge no time had been lost in building along Hatfield Road, but a closer look at this line of buildings will wait for another time.  Today we will look at what was built between Laurel Road and the above mentioned hedge.

Just as on the western side of Laurel Road a cycle maker's shop with domestic premises beside it, now, on the eastern corner of Laurel Road was built a shop also with domestic premises next door.  It was not surprising as corner shops could be seen by approaching potential customers more easily.  It is likely both shops had cellars; we know the cycle shop had one as the Herts Advertiser reported it flooded almost to its ceiling on one occasion during a period of extremely wet weather.

This image shows the line of four properties.  On the corner is recently Laurel House.  The former
domestic attachment is now the Mediterranean Boucherie; Peri-Peri followed by the unconverted cottage.  We wonder whether the first floor bay window is itself a conversion.
COURTESY GOOGLE STREET VIEW

It is possible that both corners were put up by the same builder; although both structures have been much altered and look very different along their sides, there are several clues which suggest they were originally identical.  One of the timbered gable ends has been covered only in recent years. So, who occupied the eastern corner?  We have already met him: Mr Frederick Fox, chemist.  He traded from here for a decade before moving down to Alexandra House at The Crown corner, although he retained his ownership of his former shop and the house next door.

Retro Balaggoynje still has the original shop window sections, while Taylor's Pharmacy has lost
theirs; both retain diagonal entry doors; and in this image both show the timbered gables, now
lost on the right building. 

Frederick Fox was followed by Mr William Lupton, grocer. But for much of its history it served as a ladies' hairdresser and today is a restaurant.  As with the domestic quarters on the west side, the house next door was converted to a shop after a few short residential years.  Most of this time it was the trading base of Mr R G Nelson, previously at the farm homestead carrying on his outfitting business.  Finally, mirroring the block west of Laurel Road were built a pair of cottages; one of which was converted to a shop and the other remains domestic to this day.  In the west the cottages which became a doctor and dentist had a shared beam-topped porch and plain lintels above the window bay. The doors-adjoining porches on the east side are round-topped and the window bay lintels are decorated, as are those on the first floor.  In another connection with the western cottages, all of the window cills have bracketed supports. Incidentally, the cottage's original short tiled path from the front door to the fenced street boundary is still laid in position.

The narrow projecting wall supporting the blue blind hides part of the decorated door arch of the neighbouring cottage; and the otherwise steep step on the threshold has been lessened by a
second step down onto the pavement.  The field hedge would have been between the house and
the next on the right. 

The first of the former cottages has since been converted into a shop; we notice the right return wall of the shop obliterated part of the neighbouring property's porch feature! So, was this to be a specialist shop?  No, but it gave Mr Lupton's customers a place to purchase their provisions after he had moved out.  For a short time in the 1970s it was a shop window for St Albans City Coaches, no doubt at the height of the company's private hire and holiday travel business.

The aerial view allows us to see the angled property boundary on the former hedge line. Behind
the frontage buildings the hedge line is now a narrow drive next to the long narrow building.
COURTESY GOOGLE EARTH

We have now reached the field edge, so where is the hedge?  Of course, that disappeared as the buildings went up, but using an aerial view we can show where it was.  All of the property common boundaries are perpendicular to the main road – except here, where the right boundary of the remaining cottage is angled eastwards.  That's where the hedge was.  If the same developer had been at work there would not have been a problem, but because they were different owners, each had to respect the existing legal boundary, which in this case was a hedge.

In a forthcoming post we will find out how the cattle were removed to make way for more of Hatfield Road's mile of shops.  We have now reached Long Field.

A Boundary Road

Hatfield Road passes St Peter's Farm and bends right
after passing the pond in 1879.  This is pre-park and there
is no sign of Clarence Park Road.
COURTESY HALS

In the previous post we noted the impressive little corner building, Alexandra House, which became home to Barclays Bank until the late 1960s.  So far, however, we have only explored part of the former open space which was the frontage of St Peter's farm homestead and its cottage.  Land agent Dorant retained control of the corner plot for later development, and before proceeding further we need to ask questions about this corner, for until 1894 or thereabouts there was no corner, merely a bend in Hatfield Road.  In designing the layout of Clarence Park for John Blundell Maple a wide residential boundary road was created and along it a number of villas were proposed.  No doubt the intention was to claw back some of the expenditure on the park through these plot sales.  We'll return to the history of Clarence Park Road and Upper Clarence Road – as they were named – on another occasion.

The 1897 map shows Clarence Park Road and the park
 laid out, but no development surrounding the farm.
COURTESY NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND

If you have visited the park and left via the Clarence Road gate you might have taken in the view on the opposite site of the road (photo below).  This is what you would see: a 1920s detached dwelling to the right of Clarence Park Mews, with a gap-filling post-WW2 home on its left.  Thereafter begins the line of large villas.  The Mews was originally the cart entrance to the farm's barns and stores.  These survived and were rented out for furniture and other storage and in recent times have been converted for residential use.

View across Clarence Road, the space between the two houses was the
former farm cart track leading to the barns, now Clarence Park Mews.

Clarence Park Mews.

The space between the farm track and Hatfield Road was made available for development and three terraces of homes were built; each terrace had hung tiling at first floor level, arched front porches, and the end properties in each terrace slightly projecting with their front doors set back.  There were occasional references in the press  to the benefits of occupying a home opposite the park.

The Valuation Office records for the period up to 1915 show the block of land with their houses owned by W J Elliott of Chequer Street.  William Jermyn Elliott, born in the West Indies, was a piano dealer, whose shop was at 20 Chequer Street.  I am not certain whether he was also the developer of 2 to 30 Clarence Park Road or whether he acquired the estate after completion as an investment.  Today they remain largely as built, even showing evidence of small cellars and one or two original paths. A few still maintain little decorative front gardens, but most have utility gravel or pavers, bins, and car parking for small vehicles.

The terraces viewed from the park
(above) and from the road (top).

To the Hatfield Road end of the first terrace was added Alexandra House, which incorporated number 2 Clarence Park Road.  As an end of terrace dwelling it looks rather different from those on the ends of the other terraces.  Alexandra House consisted of a house and two shop units.  When the paint was hardly dry in 1903 the left shop was rented by chemist Frederick Fox who, for the previous nine years, had plied his trade on the corner of Laurel Road.  It seems likely Mr Fox saw the location of Alexandra House as not only closer to the homes in Stanhope Road, Clarence Road and Granville Road, but the wider corner location giving more visibility, even though he was moving further from the growing district of Fleetville itself.  Herbert Pike open his chemist shop between Sandfield and Harlesden roads after Mr Fox had moved downhill.  When Mr Fox retired from the corner the business was taken on by chemist partners Shields & Warren who remained until the 1970s, since when it transformed into a bridal shop.

The two retail premises and flat above.  Part of the bank premises appears to have included a basement.  The first
floor hung tiles from the terraces continue around the frontage.
COURTESY BARCLAYS ARCHIVE

The more prominent building with block facing is undeniably a bank which you would recognise as such even without the sign.  Opened just before WW1, it became the first such service in the Fleetville district.  Barclays moved further eastwards to the corner of Sandfield Road c1970, by which time all of the major banks also  had a presence here – before all of them left the district again. None of the new-style banks have arrived in their place either.  The Crown Barclays has had many transformations since, and is now a money transfer business.

So, in a period of fifteen years the wide frontage of the former farm's green space had been replaced by houses and shops; a period during which the whole of Fleetville between the Crown and the Recreation Ground and its parallel roads had been developed.

New Home in Hatfield Road

Last week we discovered the laurel shrubbery behind St Peter's Farm and the consequent naming of the short cut-de-sac.  This week we will find out what filled the space between Laurel Road and Clarence (Park) Road as the development estate got under way From 1899.

Alexandra House on The Crown corner.

Corner plots with a commanding presence often attract a premium price.  In this case the corner plot, with a view across the wide Crown junction and its new commuter houses in Stanhope Road, was snapped up by land agent Dorant and left as an open space for another ten years before becoming a residence, a shop and the district's first bank.  It was named Alexandra House.  Its boundary was where today's bus stop is located. But to start with the farm house and its cottage retained a view from its slightly elevated position over the Crown junction.  There was an open green with a path from the front door leading down past a pond towards Hatfield Road.

The green was now potential development land and the first block to be built on the green was an impressive terrace of four houses, with first floor hung tiles. This was Clarence Villas. The end homes had recessed front doors while the centre houses opened onto a minuscule front garden, still visible as the tarmac covering behind the footpath.  For the first decade there appeared to be no attraction in converting these cottages into shops.  After all, there were already established shops opposite, purpose-built retail premises newly opened in Stanhope Road, and the prospect of a post office and grocers replacing the former toll building.

Clarence Villas converted to shops

But the increasing popularity of this corner eventually led to  conversion of Clarence Villas to shops.  From west to east, the first was a garden produce shop (which might have meant a greengrocer), then a tailor, and for much of its life a cleaners. The second began as a jeweller but was well known as a greengrocer for much of its life. The third premises was a confectioner for all of its 20th century life, except for its first year when it sported the name many St Albans people were familiar with, Saxby Bros, a delicatessen.  The fourth house became another well-known name. Goody's (then taken on by Bugler's), the baker's and caterer's.  It was probably Clarence Villas  which established Hatfield Road as a shopping street, but it was beaten to change by the next block.

Three converted houses on the hill

It is believed the remainder of the green was also to have been built on straightaway, but the agents took a further three years to negotiate a sale agreement for the second block; these three properties were to be constructed on the hill itself.  They also began their lives as houses with bay windows, but were successful in conversion to shops before those at Clarence Villas – quite a coup for the time.  First was another confectionery, later becoming a hairdressing salon, then Mack's Store and finally a laundry.  Frederick Butler, a son of Ephraim Butler the butcher in St Peter's Street opened in the third premises in 1906, remaining there until the mid-seventies.

Showing the frontage as intended

To gain an insight into how the early houses were shown to the street, we can walk to the block after the entrance drive to the farmhouse, now the Conservative Club. The first two of three have remained a dentist and a doctor, and the slightly higher paving still in place was the original front garden.  The third property, now the Chicken Shop, originally the third of the trio, would also have had a ground floor bay window.  As a shop it began as Lupton's grocery  before becoming a picture framer and art shop – there are still many people who recall Mrs Young who ran the shop, having taken over from Harry Giddings.

Enamelled streetplate from 1906

Before moving on we may spot an original blue street plate fixed to the front wall of the dentist, although tree foliage hides it in season.  These plate were made by St Peter's Rural Council and reveals where the city boundary used to be until 1913, otherwise a street plate would have been installed on a property at the foot of the hill.

We have now reached the corner plot with Laurel Road, constructed in two parts, firstly the residential section for the corner shop owner, which was only converted to a fruiterer's shop in the 1930s, and the corner shop itself.  This was Arthur Hitchcock's cycle maker's until the mid-thirties, and then Mr Henderson's secondhand shop until conversion to Thresher's wine shop in around 1960.

From Laurel Road corner looking westwards

So that we don't lose our way, today the first block (Clarence Villas) are Ace Balloons, Menspire, The Carpet Store and Nino's.  The second block are Grill 'n' Fry, Launderette, and Madina General Stores. At the top of the hill are St Albans Dental Clinic, Doctors' Surgery, The Chicken Shop, Clarity Yoga Shala, and Thai Massage.

Laurel

The ladder roads on the north side of Hatfield Road, those between Harlesden and Blandford, are well-recalled by name, but there one other less well remembered street, although it leads nowhere except the ends of one or two Clarence Road rear gardens.  This is Laurel Road, one of those development roads which was intended to squeeze in a few extra small homes in an awkwardly shaped section of the site close to St Peter's Farm.  Although there is no remaining evidence for the street name, it is possible to search for it.  All we need is to return to the period prior to the development in the late 1890s.

Hatfield Road passes the farm in 1872.  Clarence Road will later be laid just
to the left of the pond; the shrubbery is to the right of the farm buildings.
COURTESY NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND

So clear all homes and shops from your mind – even the 1880s Cavendish estate. Stand, in your imagination, at the top of the hill in Hatfield Road and look down  towards what is now The Crown junction.  Here was yet another broad stream valley with its lowest ground from right to left into Camp Road.  Apart from a tiny turnpike toll building only one pair of buildings would be visible: St Peter's Farm and the adjacent St Peter's Farm Cottage.

Laurel Road c2012.  The houses in the background front onto Clarence Road.

They are still there in the form of the Conservative Club and Clarence Mews, the latter being a gated conversion of former farm outbuildings accessible from Clarence Road, opposite the main park entrance.  The farm buildings are not ancient in the sense of most farm homesteads; it appears that this was a farm holding created in the early 19th century.  But when built the land owner still felt it important to lay the homestead foundations on slightly elevated  ground on the eastern side of the valley referred to above – today we walk this valley side in front of the shops from the Crown corner towards Laurel Road.

With a change of tenancy in 1878 the farm buildings were advertised on the farm estate plan, along with its fields.  When the farm was sold in the late 1890s, there remained two homes available to sell or let which were already there, the farm and farm cottage.  The opportunity was taken to provide a name for this pair, and so they became known as Laurel Bank after the shrubs and trees growing behind the farm, as shown in the 1872 map.  It is from this landscape feature that the little road at the top of the valley side was named.

Estate map St Peter's Farm, 1878.  The owner has named the farm Ardounie
COURTESY HALS

The street directories at the time show that the first occupants were Mr G Mead (farm) and Mr H Pearce (cottage), but they was quickly followed by Edward Hansell, an architect and surveyor.  It is therefore possible that Mr Hansell was involved in the residential developments then being laid out along Hatfield Road.  Once most of the estate had been completed Laurel Bank became available once more and Mr Raymond Nelson, a draper and outfitter, lived and traded from the premises until the Conservative Club acquired the former farm c1946.

Hatfield Road in lower part of view; Clarence Road upper left; former farm and cottage behind the hedge in Hatfield Road.
Former outbuildings converted into a square Mews arrangement.  Laurel Road on right.  Former shrubbery between the
farm and Laurel Road.
COURTESY GOOGLE EARTH

While that may explain the naming of Laurel Road and its connection with the former farm, there is another name which is revealed in the 1878 farm estate map.  For while the Ordnance Survey map from six years earlier labels the buildings as St Peter's Farm, the farm estate map identifies the homestead as Ardounie.  This name is listed in the reference work Fairbairns Crests, although its specific connection with this location is unclear.

Next time we'll explore those homes and shops which filled the space between the newly laid out Clarence Park Road (as originally named) and that little Laurel Road at the top of the hill, passing the old farm on the way.

Useful Retail Trade

Near the junction with Sandfield Road this Hatfield Road premises was built c1905 and occupied by builder and joiner James Andrew.  You may recognise the familiar features of the frontage, which, apart from colours, has changed little.  Today it is part of SK Carpets, and for more than half a century was P H Stone, newsagent. There is no evidence for this but it is likely that Mrs Andrew and daughter looked after the shop and are shown in the photo.

James Andrew's first shop at 157 Hatfield Road.

The same premises (on the right) in 2012.

Mr Andrew, having arrived in Hatfield Road, lost little time in acquiring a plot opposite for use as a yard for his building work.  I can't be certain he may also have built what was originally a semi-detached pair, named Surrey House and Troon House.  They were early enough which, together with the yard, was numbered in the initial Post Office  sequence.  As with most of the early homes along Hatfield Road they remained purely residences for a very short time before the benefits of retail trade became irresistible.  The facts appear to show the closure of the shop on the north side at about the same time as the righthand premises were opened as a shop on the south side.  James Andrew himself may have converted it so that all of his business was on one site.

Although keeping the building yard until about 1930, he gave up the shop around 1925.  Harry Tuckett, whose father had been a manager at Hallam's ironmongery shop on the corner of Chequer Street and High Street, took over the shop.  His older brother Bertie had been running the New Camp General Stores since 1910; this is the shop which itself became an ironmongers under John Dearman, and latterly Dearman-Gomm's, now closed.

Meanwhile Surrey House next door to the Hatfield Road ironmongery was also quickly turned into a shop for drapery; at first by Deekin & Watson.  But as soon as Harry Tuckett secured Mr Andrew's former premises, Harry's sister, Edith ran the drapery business next door.

When Harry died in 1952, Leonard Reed purchased the ironmongery and Gladys Cox turned the drapery into an outfitter's.  In competition with the nearby Handy Stores, Leon Reed not only added timber sales in the former outfitter's shop, but also added  extensions to the left and right to further expand his product ranges. However, the arrival of DIY warehouses made small ironmongery shops untenable and by the 1990s both Reeds, Handy Stores, and another useful shop, Blackstaffe's, had gone.

The original houses, Surrey House and Troon House: the drapery on the left and Tuckett's on the
right.  Mr Reed's two extensions on a day following final closure.
COURTESY DIANA DEVEREUX

Access to Mr Andrew's builder's yard was to the right of the extension.  Behind the red car is the 1960s block Grimsdyke Lodge, built by Grimsdyke Developments Ltd, and formerly a detached house and lock-up garage plot.  COURTESY DIANA DEVEREUX.

While we have the opportunity of investigating the 1990s photo with the red car we can take a peep beyond to the Grimsdyke Lodge flats, a late 1960s development.  At the far end was a 1930s detached house lived in for most of its time by Mrs Bell.  A large area to the right and presumably intended as a garden, was used as a rather untidy group of car lock-up garages.

Scrutiny of the Valuation Office records indicates the owner of the lock-up garages was C H Lavers, 12 Alma Road.  The record is dated 1953, but Lavers may well have acquired the site at the same time as it had purchased its timber yard (now Morrison's petrol station and car park) in c1925.  This date coincides with the withdrawal of James Andrew from trading in Hatfield Road.  Which neatly returns us to our starting point.

Except that we've not discovered what was built more recently.  Well, this: the Richmond House development and its bike shop!

Not Easy to Smile

This Friday and Saturday is the 75th Anniversary of VE Day, Victory in Europe, in the closing stages of the Second World War.  8th May for most of us, but we should remember that the communities in the Channel Islands would have to wait a further 24 hours before being freed from enemy control on the 9th; every year since the islands have commemorated Liberation Day.

Preparing for VE Day at Pageant Road
COURTESY ANGELA EMERY

We had all been anticipating this date;  a similar experience every young child has from early December, waiting impatiently for Christmas to arrive.  With many staple foods in short supply householders had been saving a little at a time against the ration, and food and drink which would last for a long time, tins, powders, drink would be brought out in readiness for a celebration on the day. 

VJ Day street party in Elm Drive
COURTESY JENNY BOLTON

Most of the surviving film we will see on television this week  focused on the mass gatherings in city centres, but more people enjoyed themselves in their localities with their families and  children at street parties.  We know of such parties in Burnham Road, Castle Road, Woodland Drive, Cavendish Road and Longacres, but there are also likely to have been others.  Pianos, wireless radios and gramophones to provide music, chairs and tables borrowed from homes, local churches, and schools and other community buildings; food and drink pooled from home kitchens and brought to the centre of the parties in closed roads; and whatever decorations, bunting and messages could be mustered in the hours beforehand.

These were the brief days of huge relief after six years of everyone's world being turned upside down.  Men serving in the forces, many of whom not returning, families sent to where the war-footing work was; families broken with children evacuated – mums too;  shortage of most materials, including food, and therefore ongoing management of ration books and points.  Many contended with other adults or children billeted in our homes; the frequent fear of being bombed and alerted perhaps in the middle of the night by sirens; living a transient life in shelters.

Bomb damage Selwyn Estate 1944
COURTESY HERTS ADVERTISER

On VE Day the over-riding feeling was relief, all of that was now in the past.  It was over.  Except that it wasn't.  Life wasn't going to return to the peaceful and normal pre-war days.  Rationing would continue until 1954; troops would only return gradually, battles had still to be fought,  the economy was bankrupt, we were persuaded to save everything we could.  Bombed out towns and cities had to be re-built, housing was in acutely short supply, and most products from factories were reserved for export.

Yes, over time, our lives did improve and there was a new normal, moulded gradually over a generation.  On May 8th and 9th 1945 we could relax and look forward, although tens of thousands of families would be commemorating a loved one lost, perhaps with a candle in the window.  It was a brief interval before preparing ourselves for repairing and moving on.

This is a story for our times too; we are again looking forward to that brief interlude, a candle-lighting moment, before preparing ourselves for repairing and moving on.  May 8th and 9th will have more resonance to us this year than on any previous occasion.