Boxmoor and District Probus Monthly Newsletter Number 2, May 2020 A Message from the Chairman We are now six weeks into our lockdown and, at the time of writing, we don‟t know how long it is going to last. Whenever the lockdown is eased I believe that public gatherings, theatres and restaurants, some of the principle activities of our Club, could be some of the last to have restrictions lifted. In the meantime we have to make the most of it or, to borrow an expression from another time, “keep calm and carry on”. Elaine and I are lucky enough to live in an area where we have a wide choice of places where we can go out for our daily exercise. On our walks we have been able to watch the countryside taking on the glorious mantle of springtime. Wild flowers that were just peeping out five weeks ago have come into bloom and in some cases gone over. The hedgerows are full of blossom and the trees have their new growth of leaves. I have been in regular contact with members of the Committee. We will be holding a video Committee meeting next week, using Zoom. There may not be much Club activity but we still have business that has to be dealt with. To use another well-worn expression, “the show must go on”. I have to thank Andy for putting together this Newsletter and also the many and varied contributors without whom it wouldn‟t exist. I would also like to give particular thanks to Keith, our Care Secretary, who is being kept busy maintaining contact with members who live alone or who have been under the weather. If you can think of anyone who should be added to his list please let him, or me, know. Stay safe and stay healthy. Mike Beavington ------------- 1 A note from the editor Firstly, thank you for the very varied mix of material you have sent in for this issue – start thinking about the next one please. I have tried to credit everybody for their contributions - most of the one liners dotted throughout are thanks to Doug Biddle. We may be in lockdown but it‟s spring outside and a pretty good one too. Members have been keen to share the sights they have seen on their daily walks. Enjoy the photos dotted through this newsletter. Secondly, can I thank Kathy, my wife, for proof reading both issues of the newsletter. Keep safe and well, Andy Cunningham Cowslips in the field behind the gasworks – spotted by Mike Beavington ------------- Congratulations to Jim Adams Heartiest congratulations to Jim who celebrated his 90th Birthday on 15th March just before we all went into lock down. Jim now joins the ranks of the club‟s nonagenarians of whom there are now six. As far as we are aware there are no birthdays or anniversaries to report in May but if we are wrong please let us know. ------------- Bluebells in Hay Wood – spotted by Ian Burton 2 ------------- Life is great. I have lots of friends to send this to, but right now I can‟t remember their names. ------------- A Few Memories of Hemel Hempstead - Pre New Town By Peter Hopes As an original inhabitant of Hemel Hempstead, born in 1936, I have seen many changes demolitions, alterations and redevelopments in the Town mostly very acceptable, but a few not so. I lived in Heath Lane, and used to walk down Anchor Lane to my infants school in Boxmoor, passing the old Anchor Pub mentioned by Andy Cunningham in the first Probus Newsletter. This at the time stood in a narrow lane, without all the development of Crouchfield around it, which at the time was known as “The Cornfield”. I remember a large piece of Hertfordshire Pudding stone standing outside the pub and it was tempting to climb onto it as we passed. At this time there were many small shops in Boxmoor Village and it was a very thriving community, with Mansbridge Bakers, established in 1885 still trading in Cowper Road. Proctors Farm Dairy, that stood at the junction of Anchor Lane and St. Johns Road has long since disappeared and been developed, but it has a soft spot for me, as it was where I had my first holiday job, going around with the Milkmaid in the pony and trap. From the infants, I moved to the junior school St. Johns, now demolished and just a memory, where the Headmaster was W.G.S. Crook, alderman and one time Mayor of Hemel Hempstead, who also I believe was one of the first authors of a book about the Town. At this time May Day celebrations were still practiced on the Moor opposite the school, and I remember the young girls lining up to see who was going to be chosen as May Queen. Of course Boxmoor is still very recognizable as I remember it, which is totally different to the town of Hemel Hempstead itself. The Old Town High Street was the main shopping area, and fortunately it has now been preserved, after a period of dereliction, to very much as it was, with just the names of the shops changing, and most of the hostelries remaining. One incident I recall, was when my brother Keith one morning went on his new bicycle up to Woolworths in the high street and stood his bike against the kerb outside, and then meeting up with friends and walking home with them to Heath Lane. Later in the day he wanted to use his bicycle again but couldn‟t find it, then remembered where he had left it, and hurried back to the town to find it still standing against the kerb - could you imagine that happening today? 3 After the first developments at Adeyfield and the excitement in the Town of the opening by Her Majesty of the Queen‟s Square in 1952 (where my wife Rosina was on parade with the Girl Guides), work began on the new shopping centre in Marlowes. This of course was a huge change to us locals, seeing all the old shops and landmarks disappearing to be replaced by new. But one of the most visual changes was the demolition of the “Nicky Line” viaduct from its site near today‟s Magic Roundabout, which completely altered the view of visitors entering the Town from Watford or Berkhamsted. More recent residents to the locality may not realise the extent of this railway in the town. The line from Harpenden (where it was joined to the main network) entered Hemel from Cupid Green to the Midland station, (opposite the Midland pub), which was quite a large building with marshaling yards and passenger facilities. It is said that the line back up to Cupid Green from the station was one of the steepest gradients in the country, and sometimes trainshad to have more than one attempt to climb the slope. The line then continued over the viaduct to the Heath Park where a small halt was located, then crossed a low bridge over St. Johns Road, crossed behind the Cricket Club (where the embankment has been removed), crossed the A41 also with a low bridge to the Town Gas Works. The plan was originally to join up with the main line at Boxmoor (Hemel Hempstead) Station, but this never happened. If you walk up Roughdown Road towards Roughdown Common to the railway bridge and look in the direction of Apsley, you can still see the rail bed that was prepared for this connection, or you could the last time I looked. A spur on the line from Heath Park Halt continued parallel to Cotterells where a siding existed where all the coal was delivered for the local coal merchants. It was here that I had my other holiday job, filling coal sacks for Masters Bros. and then traveling on an open sided coal lorry helping with deliveries-- so much for health and safety!!! I still think that the Nicky Line would have made a superb preservation line, but sadly it was not to be. I can recommend two books amongst many with interesting photographs: 1. Hemel Hempstead History Tour by Eve Davis 2. Dacorum-within Living Memory by Cathy Shipman & Don Jackson ------------- A Heron by the canal at Boxmoor – spotted by Ian Burton 4 ------------- At my age “Getting Lucky” means walking into a room and remembering what I went in there for. ------------- Not always so cold a war! By Richard Lyne In the early nineteen seventies, I found myself living in Belgrade, capital of what was then Yugoslavia, run at that time by Marshall Tito who was ruling it with an iron fist. Tito had fallen out with Russia and the Warsaw Pact, but Yugoslavia was still, nonetheless, very much a communist country. Working at the British Embassy, we all got used to the manifestations of the Communist Police State – being followed about by men in raincoats and constantly watched. But particularly irritating were the Yugoslav secret police‟s efforts to tap our phones, which they were not very good at! When you were talking on the phone, you would hear a “clunk” on the line and the volume would drop a little. Maybe they didn‟t mind us knowing we were being listened to and it was all part of the Cold War psychological game! One of my colleagues got particularly fed up with his phone being messed about, not least because he was in charge of the vital task of organising the Western Embassies darts league. So, one day he wired up his music centre (vanilla and blueberry in colour – remember them?) and made a pre-arranged call.