Blog

St Theresa's Primary School Visits

We had a visit on Tuesday from Year 5 at St Theresa's who had fun with our model railway, old games, maps of the area and other historical delights. Here we have shots of School staff and Museum volunteers showing the pupils how Borehamwood was in the not so distant past :

School Memories

On #MemoriesMonday we return to the thoughts of schooldays. Our next Exhibition, Six Of The Best, will be opening in March and will cover all the schools in Elstree and Borehamwood over the years.  So we need your input - your memories, your memorabilia, and anything associated with your schooldays. Tomorrow our regular Reminiscence meeting, Going Down The Village, will cover this topic, and we hope to pick up lots of memories. Perhaps you can make it to 96 Shenley Road at 10.30 am?

In the meantime, here's three pupils having a look into the pond at Lyndhurst School :

Our Ten Year Celebration

Would you believe we have been open in 96 Shenley Road for 10 years this weekend?  So of course we needed to get out the balloons and the banners and congratulate ourselves on this achievement. Choosing a quiet time when the library is closed we laid out the cakes and the coffee, and had to take a photo or two. Our group shot shows many of the current volunteers, while the other shot shows Ruth, who controls us on behalf of Hertsmere, with Peter our computer wizz who didn't make the group shot. And our doorway explains all.

Parkside School Visit

We had a visit from 27 second-years from Parkside School last week. Our Museum Manager Dave explained all the changes to this area from the coming of the railways in the 1860s.  Two volunteers, Helen & Audrey, dressed in their Victorian finery to show groups of the children the changes to the maps, and to the local shops including Hanson's, of course. The latter display is from our current Exhibition, Your Museum @ 10, and many of the children dressed up as well. A bit of fun along with the facts!

Half-Term Blues

Half-term may be over, but here's a photo for #MemoriesMonday of the start of a brand new term at a brand new school. The opening ceremony at Borehamwood Grammar School on 31st October 1956, nearly 70 years ago. Is that you in your new blazer or tunic? Can you remember the names of the teachers in the photo?

The Friends Visit The Bow Street Museum

After our last Friends talk by Vicki Pipe from The Bow Street Museum in March, she kindly invited us to visit the Museum in Covent Garden. Here are a few shots of us during the visit and there will be more and a write-up in the next Friends Newsletter which will be with you shortly.

Make sure you visit the Museum next time you are in the area! Visit their website here.

Friendship Centre Visits Us

We were visited yesterday by a large group from The London Friendship Centre who spent a long time studying our latest Exhibition, Murder, Mayhem & Mystery and examining our local history displays. It was excellent to meet them all and their great interest in all things local be it history, shops and restaurants.  Hope they'll return for our next Exhibition. Thanks for coming in!

Check out their website for more information about the Centre here

2023 Flower Festival

This is our contribution to the Civic Festival with the display of flowers in All Saints Church. Celebrating 10 years at 96 Shenley Road, the beautiful arrangement was created by volunteer Maureen Corman. Open daily 11am to 1pm until Monday 19th. We do hope you can visit the Festival.

'Going Down The Village'

Our regular Reminiscence Meeting is on tomorrow at 10.30 am in 96 Shenley Road in Meeting Room 1.  This time we are exploring the Post War development of Borehamwood. We'll have photos of the area from the time during our presentation and hopefully your memories will come flooding out - and, of course, free coffee and biscuits! Everyone is welcome.

Friends Visit From Bow Street

Vicki Pipe from the Bow Street Police Museum paid a visit to the Friends of the Museum for a fascinating talk this week. Taking us through the founding of the Bow Street Magistrates Court, the growth of the Bow Street Runners, and their eventual merger with the Met, we received a complete history of policing in London in the 18th Century and up to the closure of the court in 1992.

Although our current Exhibition, Murder, Mayhem & Mystery, concerns local stories, the Bow Street Court and the Runners were involved in at least two of our cases - the murders of Martha Ray in 1779 and William Weare in 1823.

Here's some feedback from a couple of happy Friends :
"An excellent talk and a really enjoyable evening."
"The talk on the Bow Street Runners was excellent : informative, well presented and enlightening."

You must visit the Bow Street Police Museum - full details here