< Thread W8 Thread W9 (94 replies so far) Thread W10 >
Replies 61-80
<< replies 1-20 << replies 21-40 < replies 41-60 replies 81-94 >
61st REPLY
NAME: James (Jas) Cowen
.jpg "James Cowen gallery")
Then & NowDATE: 19 November 2014
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
Wonderful, Stephen [reply 59], such great interest still in band equipment and using a camera to spy on it. I must admit when last in Borehamwood I couldn't help myself going over the old Red Road stone farm bridge with my wife to watch the trains rush by. Of course they are not pulled by the old great steam engines now, so often double-headed then, but it was still quite nostalgic. Of course the footbridge down there has long gone and never yet been replaced. Interesting that in regards to the Thatched Barn old photos may be seen on the internet of the days when swimming galas were held there reminiscent of Hollywood in the '20s. This was before my time but I do remember dancing at the Thatched Barn, including at my cousin Caroline's wedding to John Addington in 1966 at the time of my 21st birthday, when all sorts of music was played, both traditional ballroom and modern rock and roll, twist etc.
I also went on my 23rd birthday with one of my lodgers, Jim Culham. There was no music on that night but the meal was much enjoyed. Unfortunately the amount of cash I had was not large and the bill including the service charge was mounting despite my trying to persuade Jim to have no dessert. When no waiter came with the bill we got up to go and the waiter rushed over to say "But what about the bill, sir?" I then said "Do you accept postage stamps in payment?" He said "Certainly, sir." It is the only time I have paid for a meal partly in postage stamps.
DATE: 21 January 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1944-1951
Can anyone out there help me? I am trying to discover when, during the war, bombs fell on Stuart Road, East Barnet, where it meets Churchill Road? Barnet Museum has no record of bombs ever falling there, similarly County Hall. Yet my friends and I enjoyed many a happy time playing on the site of the bombed houses. Was it all an illusion?
Then & NowDATE: 21 Januuary 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1954-59
Michael, you may already have seen this website. It maps three bombsites along Churchill Road but none at the junction with Stuart Road. It does, however, map one at the junction with Cedar Avenue, not all that far away. Anyway, it's a fascinating site and I'm sure many contributors will be interested in it.
64th REPLY
NAME: Nick Dean
.JPG "Nick Dean gallery")
DATE: 22 January 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1964-71
Thanks for the link to the fascinating website about wartime bombs. This reminded that the late Labour politician George Brown lived in East Barnet in the late 1930s, but when war broke out decided that it might be safer to move a bit further out to Potters Bar. However, as he records in his memoirs, "The only thing that had ever happened in Potters Bar was that a Zeppelin had been brought down there ... What happened to us was that all the bombs and doodlebugs that couldn't quite reach Barnet came down in Potters Bar, including our house and garden" (In My Way, 1972).
65th 
REPLY
Then & NowDATE: 22 January 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Inmate 1956-63
Is it possible that Michael Vinson's bombsite [reply 62] was caused by either a V1 or V2 rocket? These 'vengeance weapons' began falling into London in June 1944 and continued until the Allies overran the launch sites in 1945. According to records that I have seen, six V1 flying bombs landed in East Barnet and one V2 rocket. Friern Barnet received one of each and Barnet four V1s and one V2. When I was just 10 days old, in January 1945, our house in Tottenham was badly damaged when a V2 landed abut 200 yards away and all the ceilings fell in. I was saved because my mother had placed a 'shove ha'penny board' over my cot.
Click image to enlarge
66th REPLY
NAME: Martyn Day Then & NowDATE: 25 January 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Inmate 1956-63
Referring back to George Brown's recollection of the war (Reply 64) the records referred to in my reply above also indicate that one V1 and one V2 landed in Potters Bar....and while we're about it, Southgate received six V1s and four V2s while Enfield next door got twenty V1s and nine V2s. This photograph shows the damage left by the V2 that nearly did me!
DATE: 25 January 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1944-1951
I am most grateful for the rapid response to my enquiry. I know about the V.1s and V.2s and the other bombs that fell in the vicinity but the official records are silent about the bombs that fell on Stuart Rd/Churchill Rd. I was about 6 when we moved there in 1940 prior to the Blitz. I am sure that at that time the houses were already demolished. Then the Luftwaffe had been ordered to avoid civilian targets and to concentrate on the destruction of Fighter Command. I guess that a returning bomber after attacking fighter stations at say, Duxford or North Weald, had to jettison unused bombs and did so over Oakhill Park and missed. But when was this? Someone must know.
68th REPLY
NAME: Martyn Day Then & NowDATE: 26 January 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Inmate 1956-63
I am afraid that this isn't going to answer any of Michael's interesting questions. The 'Bomb Site' website that I think he may have been referring to only covers the time of the London Blitz, 7th Oct 1940-6th June 1941, so will not record any bombs dropped before those dates. He is right about the Luftwaffe trying to knock out Fighter Command but in the case of unwanted bombs dropped in East Barnet the target that they were probably after was Fighter Command HQ at Bentley Priory, just up the road in Stanmore.
Actually, it was I (Vic) who referred to the 'Bomb Site' website [reply 63] and I'm afraid I failed to spot that it only covered the Blitz. Amazing project, though.
DATE: 16 February 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1948-1953
[Reply to W7/16]: 2 Oakwood Avenue. IMD. Could this be the same house occupied by Mr Carpenter who made ice cream and sold it very locally from a three wheeler motor cycle van? Later, perhaps in severe petrol rationing, he sold it from his house. We would go into the hall with our old pennies after school for a cornet from a container of ice cream. Was the canister in a salty bath to keep the cream cold?
70th REPLY
NAME: James (Jas) Cowen Then & NowDATE: 18 February 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
Yes indeed, Alan. It was the same Mr Carpenter. I wonder how old he was when selling both sweets and ice cream from his house? I used to think of him as being a very ancient guy but of course everyone over 21, when we were young, seemed old.
I do not actually recall having any of the ice cream, as opposed to buying the sweets, but I do recall very fondly Hanson's vanilla ice cream sold from Hanson's shop and café in Shenley Road. I used to take our pudding bowl down there often and return with many scoops of the ice cream. I have only once tasted ice cream as delicious as this and that was from an ice cream machine in an Ibiza hotel, where we have stayed several times. Hanson's ice cream is thus not unique but it was very near being so. Mary Hanson continued to run the place for some time after Mr Hanson's death and though the shop has long been sold for its current use I saw Mary a few months ago working as a volunteer in the Elstree and Borehamwood Museum in Shenley Road, which is on the top floor of the new library.
71st REPLY
NAME: James (Jas) Cowen Then & NowDATE: 21 March 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
I have ticked another three of my local Borehamwood to do lists last Friday. I travelled with my wife around Borehamwood on the 292 bus, which still pursues the same route as 50 years ago, except now you get on at the front and off in the middle and it is announced to you what stop you are at. Now I have recently travelled on the 107 and 292 buses. There is just the 306 bus to go! I also visited the old Links club, which is now the Maxwell Road Leisure Centre and did a tour around the building to note the changes as well as enjoying looking at the notice board of the centre through the years including 1963 and after, when I was last there. I also went to my old house at 5 Oakwood Avenue and talked with the present owners of both 5 and 2 Oakwood Avenue. Robert Nutley of no 2 still has a jar of silver 3d bits from the Mr Carpenter era.
72nd REPLY
NAME: Nick Dean DATE: 14 May 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1964-71
I'm not suggesting that further verification was actually needed about the 358 'bus. However, recalling as I did the references in replies 40 and 43, it was satisfying to see in black and white (literally), in a 1966 episode of The Avengers just shown on the True Entertainment channel, John Steed tracking an evil ventriloquist who was travelling on a 358. The destination was clearly shown as Borehamwood (no doubt Drayton Road, though that bit was more hazy), via London Road, London Colney and Shenley.
73rd REPLY
NAME: James (Jas) Cowen Then & NowDATE: 01 June 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
In regard to the old 358 buses the service route is now run by the 658 bus service, which runs mostly hourly during the day from Borehamwood to St Albans via Shenley in what seems to be the old 358 route. I know it exists as I have passed some of the buses when visiting the area in recent days. Some of them go from Borehamwood Tesco's and some also from Borehamwood and Elstree railway station. If my Dad was going to Shenley today, as he used to go to work when I was at QEs, he would either have to take the 7.24 or the 9.09 from Tesco's arriving in Shenley either 12 or 14 minutes later and would return either on the 18.01 or 19.17 buses from Shenley. In regard to the particular episode of The Avengers on the True Entertainment channel I regret that I did not see it but have watched some episodes and wallowed a little in the nostalgia of watching them originally so many years ago. It is quite marvellous how many old favourites may be seen anew on various outlets.
74th REPLY
NAME: Nick Dean DATE: 12 October 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1964-71
I noted during this week's Strictly Come Dancing that Len Goodman described Jeremy Vine's - or perhaps, strictly speaking, his professional partner's - rather bizarre interpretation of Fred Astaire as "a mix of Hollywood and a touch of Borehamwood".
75th REPLY
NAME: James (Jas) Cowen Then & NowDATE: 20 October 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
I saw this too, Nick, and am glad to see some reference and credit to Borehamwood at last and not just to Elstree. In fact there was also another reference to Borehamwood in the same programme, like the proverbial buses, when none come for ages and then two at once. Reference was made to one couple rehearsing in Borehamwood in the shopping street (Shenley Road). I look forward to seeing if there is more to come, though I doubt it. I hope one day to go and see the show, maybe It Takes Two, on a weekday.
76th REPLY
NAME: James (Jas) Cowen Then & NowDATE: 20 October 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
Alan's reply W21/3 about his discussion in the primary school in Furzehill Road, i.e. Summerswood, takes me back to thoughts of my time there. I do not think that there has been an exhibition about the school at the Borehamwood museum, as there was about Hillside School, which no longer exists as such, now being a Jewish attended secondary school. Yet there should be some praise for the teachers of his and my day, JF Bainbridge, Mr JA Evans, MB Sterrey and E Rogerson. They seemed to be there for ever and I think taught us well. Mr Jepps, the headmaster, also seemed to be there for ever. I did not take any of them presents but some did, spurred on by their mothers. OEs Henry Griffiths and Godfrey Smith are amongst those prompted by their parents. In my 4A year there were 46 in class and if say half were boys (23) then most did go to QEs from the class. Some remained friends at QEs.
DATE: 26 October 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1948-1953
I have many recollections of my primary school, Furzehill Road County Primary, a National Schools building of 1912, burnt down in 1949. I am not sure of the date of this picture but it could be just post-war when film stock was available again and the blast walls taken down from the entrance. Sad that the school had just been refurbished inside and painters were completing the exterior. Word had it that the fire started in the belfry from the residual heat of a blow lamp. The hydrant pressure in the road was too poor to save the place.
<78th REPLY
NAME: James (Jas) Cowen Then & NowDATE: 23 January 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
As discussion has occured about pubs now closed in the Whetstone area in the 98th thread, I thought for ex-Borehamwood OEs an update of The Crown pub situation in Shenley Road may be of interest for those who have not been to Borehamwood lately. For many months, possibly for a year or so, the pub has remained derelict and boarded up. It has now at last been redeveloped as a shopping centre. I noted on my last visit that The Wellington in Theobald Street was still open and of course there are 2 pubs open in Shenley Road including a Weatherspoons at the ex-Grosvenor Hotel end of the road and many cafés, some at least very good. Of course Elstree village pubs have been closed for some time now. Reference may be made to the 'The Lost Pubs' website.
79th REPLY
NAME: Nick Dean DATE: 21 March 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1964-71
The Barnet Physic Well, famously visited by Samuel Pepys in the 17th century, was open to the public on 19 March and attracted considerably more visitors than the organisers, the Barnet Society, expected. Not outstandingly photogenic inside, but here are a few snaps. The well house itself, which looks very Tudor, is definitely mock (1937).
Then & NowDATE: 22 March 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1954-59
Nick, I was really pleased to get those photos. I had to pass the Well House on my daily walk to and from school for 5 years. Even before that, I had a friend in Whitings Road just round the corner. Pepys Crescent and Trinder Road were part of our patch. Even at that age (having been given a little of the history of the well by my father) I was vaguely surprised that it had been surround by a council housing estate in the 1930s (no doubt 1937). In the '50s it was quite a rough estate and the Well House was always in a sad condition. The address on my birth certificate is 1 Wellhouse Lane, that being the administrative address of the Wellhouse (later Barnet General) Hospital where I was born. I always wanted to be able to see inside the mock Tudor structure. Long after leaving the Barnet I read Pepys' diary. Here's the entry for 11th July 1664