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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

Allum Lane As Was

Today's photo on #MemoriesMonday is another from the Mary Hanson Collection showing a very empty Allum Lane with Nichol Farm at the top of the hill. The entrance to what is now the tip is on the right, and of course it's long before the large houses were built in The Stables  below the Farm. Quite a few memories there.

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.

The House By The Cinema

For #MemoriesMonday this week we raid the Mary Hanson Collection again.  On her walks around Borehamwood Mary took many photos.  Here's a couple from 1975 of the front and back of the derelict house next to the Studio 70 cinema.  Now of course long gone, but whatever happened to the John E Griggs & Sons Ltd on the sign? And spot EMI over the road too.

Visit from The Mayor of Offenburg

We recently had a visit from Marco Steffens, the Mayor of Offenburg, one of our twin towns. Here he is second left with Clive and Elaine Butchins, Museum Trustees and Maddie Hipperson, volunteer extraordinaire in the middle.  Accompanying the Mayor was Charles Kelly former mayor of Borehamwood and current chair of Elstree and Borehamwood Rotary on the left in our picture.

The Plough in Elstree

For #MemoriesMonday this week, it's good to return to this famous local hostelry. Back in the news because of plans to refurbish it and reopen as a pub after 7 years of neglect.  So here are just a few of our many photos of the original Plough over the years. 

First known as The Swan it was established in 1637, and became The Plough in the mid 1700s. Thomas Clutterbuck, brewer of Stanmore and owner of the HollyBush, the Artichoke and the Crown in Boreham Wood, took over ownership in around 1816 when it was occupied by James Pegler.  The inn was a coaching stop en route to and from London, and from about 1830 it became fronted in yellow brick when the present building was constructed. It had many publicans over the years, and became a stop for cars, charabancs and cyclists on Watling Street.

It became the regular for many stars from the studios who lived or rented along Barnet Lane, and Alfred Hitchcock was a well-known imbiber there in the 1930s. After The Plough closed it became an Italian restaurant, but that didn't last either, and it has been closed for too long.  One photo shows local historian Stephen Castle with the horse mounting block still in place outside the pub.  I wonder if any of the pub visitors missed their footing while mounting their horses after a night in the snug!  Let's hope the refurbishment keeps this unique feature.

Elstree Memories

For #MemoriesMonday here's a colourised postcard from around 1905 showing The Chapel and playing field at Elstree School.  No doubt about the game they are playing, but the exact location of the photo is unknown.  And a couple of pith helmets too!

Prince Philip's Visit To Borehamwood

Elliotts Waiting For The Arrival Of Prince Philip

The Royal Helicopter

For #MemoriesMonday we revisit a blog post from the lockdown days when we talked about the visit of Prince Philip to Elliott Automation on 17th May 1963, nearly 60 years ago. We said then that we didn't have any photos of his visit, and that post has prompted the family of the late Roy Naish to kindly donate some photos he took.  Roy worked at Elliotts from 1961 to 1986, and these photos show the Prince arriving and meeting with Sir Leon Bagrit, the Head of Elliott Automation. Thanks again to the generosity of the Naish Family, and please note these images are greatly compressed for the website - the originals are of course in hi-definition.

The Royal Car Arrives

The Duke of Edinburgh and Sir Leon Bagrit

More Memories of Shenley Road

#MemoriesMonday - awhile ago we were asked if we had any photos of the video shop in Shenley Road. And we've found one. Here is a shot of Double Vision next to Hansons in 2000. And on the other side was Khaled Balti House. Anyone got any reviews for us?  Before Tripadviser of course, so we'd love any Memories of the curries and videos.  Ideal combination for a Saturday Night, then and now.