Today marks the anniversary of the bomb which killed the inhabitants of a house in Cambridge Road in 1940. Hazel Mead and David Royle laid a wreath at the war memorial in the churchyard this morning in memory of the victims.
David Mead was a long-serving member of the Society. His widow, Hazel, our Chairperson, has written a lovely tribute telling us about his life. This was published in the Bishops’ Stortford Independent.
On Thursday 25th May at the Hailey Centre at 7.30pm Tim Howard-Smith will give a talk entitled “Pre-eminent but not remembered: the Malting Families of Sawbridgeworth. In 1769, Thomas Adderley’s brainchild, the River Stort Navigation was completed after just three short years of construction. The immediate impact was an upturn in trade for those… Read More »
Sawbridgeworth Local History Society is looking for additional committee members to help us manage and further develop our programme. Please contact David Royle David.royle1@gmail.com if interested. You can join the Society via www.sbwhistory.com or by contacting Hazel Mead hazelmead404@ btinternet.com.
This is a collection of articles about the Mathams Wood site that look at its history from the fourteenth century manor to twentieth century airfield. Please contribute if you know more!
John Sly has kindly given us access to an article he has written about Sawbridgeworth. It was published in Medal News, August 2010
Our next talk on Thursday 29th September is entitled A 1950s Childhood in Sawbridgeworth and is given by Bob Reed who has some interesting tales of how it was living in Sawbridgeworth when he was a boy.
In order to see the programme it is necessary to click on the title of this post.
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An article by Tim Howard-Smith. The Unwin Family of Sawbridgeworth
We have just added a new book to our shop. It is called The Changing Face of Sawbridgeworth by Harry Speller. It features life in the town in the 1920s and we have had it rewritten with the kind permission of Harry Speller’s daughter, Diana Jones.
It is now possible to see pages from the 1949 Town Guide in our Archive section. One thing that is included, which would not be allowed today, is a list of Residents’ Addresses. You can adverts for several local businesses that are still open.
Dave Mead has written an article about the origins of Nostalgia Day.
There is a new History Group for Pishiobury Park and they have already started investigating the area.
Susi Smith and Elisabeth Waugh have written about the allotments in Sawbridgeworth and High Wych – the history and experiences of current allotmenteers. The book will be launched at the Sawbridgeworth Allotment Show on Saturday 4th September to be held at the Memorial Hall from 1.30pm.
Stan Kempthorne was an inhabitant of High Wych who spent some time in a prisoner of war camp during World War Two.
Theo van de Bilt has written a new article on The Banner of Faith which contained the parish magazine of Great St Mary’s church.
‘The Future of Local Government’: a speech by Mr E. B. Barnard M P at the Shaftesbury Hall, Sawbridgeworth on 14 November 1907
Note Edmund Broughton Barnard OBE JP DL (16 February 1856 to 27 January 1930) according to Wikipedia, was a British Liberal politician, landowner and sportsman. He was an original member of Hertfordshire County Council from 1888, serving on and chairing many different committees and becoming its chairman in 1920 and an Alderman. He was chairman of the County Council’s Education Committee and took a strong stand in favour of the retention of village schools, emphasising their importance to the preservation of village life. Barnard also served on Sawbridgeworth Urban District Council and was its chairman between 1905 and 1907. He died suddenly, aged 73, during a meeting of the Hertfordshire County Council, which he was chairing, on 27 January 1930 in London in the Law Society’s hall.
Theo van de Bilt has been researching people of colour living in the Sawbridgeworth area in the past and he found George Ottea who worked as a butler at Terlings Park in Gilston. He was working there in 1891 according to the census.