Bushey memories
Here are memories of Bushey and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Bushey or a Bushey photo.
"The American University"
The school was converted for use as the campus for The United States International University in Europe. I was fortunate to be working as a Careers Advisor in nearby Watford whilst it was operating as a university and so I had wonderful opportunities to go inside. I can recall the Dean showing me around and encouraging me to play the organ in the chapel! The old school housed a university library and student bedrooms for young people from all around the world to "live-in". Sadly neither the school nor the university survived. We can still see the old school in all its glory as the location for so many old films produced at the nearby Elstree Studios. Nowadays the site is empty and awaiting the decision of the council planners for a massive housing development. This is so sad as the location lends itself so well to its original purpose of education.
Amazing Memories
I attended this beloved school from Sept.1979-May 1980. It was called International University High School or I.U.H.S school. It was a co-ed back then. I was 15-year-old Canadian boy and was dropped off there by my father. Great memories of the grounds, sunny, foggy, and at night. The girls never walked the grounds or into town alone. I sure grew up fast. The whole after dark experience (walking around the school at night) was right out of a Sherlock Holmes (except no hound) / Dracula movie. I worked part time in the kitchen for extra money. I remember having access to the tunnels down below, thus taking the girls for stroll and a scare. Ye olde battery dying trick! I used to always bang my head on the pipes as the ceilings were low in the tunnels. I will always remember my brief stay in beautiful Bushey, Hertfordshire. ... Read more
1984-1986
I attended the high school and college. Very fond memories of the campus and all the people I got to know. Sorry to hear it closed down.
Windmill Lane 1950s
As an infant and small child I lived in Windmill Lane, Bushey in the 1950s.
I recall every time my parents drove past the Masonic Senior Boys School looking at it and being totally fascinated by its incredible buildings and thinking how great it would be to actually see inside. I never got the opportunity unfortunately and nowadays when I visit my aunty who still lives in Bushey I glimpse the old school with fond memories.
Memory For Bushey
I was born in Watford but lived in Bushey from 1964 to 1984 (I now live in Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland). I went to Bushey Meads school from 1966 to 1973, and have fond memories of a rural village on the edge of London. As a boy I recall getting my hair cut in Glencoe Road where the barber also repaired TVs. In later years I would get my Harley Davidson MOT'd in the lawnmower shop at the top of Rudolph Road. Two things I miss about Bushey...the chiming bell of the Masonic School and the light aircraft flying over our house to Elstree Aerodrome.
Bushey 1935 - 1955
We found a telephone when I was ten. The family moved to steep Ashfield Avenue in 1935 and there, in the hall by the front door and sitting on top of a little triangular table that fitted snugly into the corner, was a telephone. The only telephones we had ever used were either the bright red public ones on the street or in one or two friends' homes. We called the house 'West View'; the Google Street picture today still shows the remnants of the white painted patch on the brick wall where I had painted the name in deep red. The road ended at the bottom of the hill, just beyond Somers Way; a five-barred gate led into the field beyond. For more about Bushey and my doings there, go to my website, www.paulwigmore.co.uk and click on 'Monday'. Welcome!
Masonic School Memoriy From 1951-54
I went to the Royal Masonic Senior School from 1951 to 1954. The school Cadet Force, 1st Cadet Battalion London Rifle Brigade was quite a force to be reconed with. I for one have strong memory having been in the force band as a bugler (later a leading bugler), having to play last post at the end of parade on a Friday afternoon. It was also a big thrill when the school combined military and regimental bands were first into the arena at the Royal Tournament at Earls Court on 23 June 1953, playing the opening for the Duke of Norfolk. Having attended the school I had no choice of service when I was called up for National Service (the recruiting sergeant knew all about it) but it put me in good stead for basic training and thereafter in the army and later on in the police training school.
Beautiful
I went there briefly. I have fond memories of the The Red Lion Pub and exploring the underground tunnels, that were boarded up. The fog every morning helped me to sneak back in when I had stayed the night out.
I attended the American high school.
Paul
Miss It!
I graduated in 1986 from the High School - maiden name of King - and I am so sad to never be able to go back and visit - such amazing memories!
When friends' reunions come up I wish I had one too.
International University High School
I graduated from the International University High School in 1983. It would be great to hear from anyone else who was there at that time.
Bushey Pond is Still There in 2006
This 1953 view of the pond is instantly recognisable as so little has changed in the 21st century! I lived just down the hill in Oxhey Village between 1981 and 2006 and would regularly walk up to Bushey by this pond. In earlier years I would walk with my young son David and feed bread to the ducks. At one time there was a small duckhouse in the pond and it was so lovely to see families of ducklings. The parish church is behind the pond and there is a narrow path through the steeply sloping churchyard that eventually leads you to Attenborough Fields and a pleasant stroll through the meadows back to Oxhey Village. I have done that so many times with my family and really enjoyed these walks - particularly on a summer evening.
School Souvenir Video And Dvd
A souvenir video called "The Bushey Years" has been produced using film and photographs taken during the years the school was at Bushey and much much more. For full details and an order form please call 01603 435084 or e-mail to prhibbett@aol.com cost £14 inc p&p
Peter Ibbett Archivest of The Old Masonians Association
Bushey Meads School
I live in Bushey now and go to Bushey Meads School, it's a great school and the food is great, so choose that school, it's great and they give us normal homework and the work is not too hard, it's actually easy....
International University High School
Would love to hear from anyone who attended IUHS in 1978-79. I taught Social Studies in the 8th grade. Mr. Tronguard was the headmaster for the first half year. I was there with my family and all of you students were so kind to my young son, who was only 2 years old. Do you remember John Devine, he was a security guard at the school. He live in Ireland and doing well. I had great memories of the place. It was the schools first year in operation. We had a few problems, well maybe we had a LOT of problems. ..I hope all of you are doing well......Bob DeCoteau
Memories of Hertfordshire
The Bushey Arches Traffic!
I first saw Oxhey in 1956 when I would take the train from Hatch End to Bushey & Oxhey station (as it was called then) on Saturday afternoons to see Watford play football at Vicarage Road in the old Third Division South. The station is just around the corner from this photo. Chalk Hill is no longer a two way traffic road as it has become part of a giant roundabout which snakes around shops and the Bushey Arches railway viaduct. There appears to be a 142 bus travelling down London Road into Chalk Hill on its way to Watford High Street and the Junction station. These days it is all much changed with traffic snarled up in a giant jam at all hours of the day. Just a few yards away by the traffic lights is The Victoria pub. Around the corner is The Railway pub. Nearby is a gents hairdresser - Don's. Little did I think as an eleven year old going to football matches in 1956 that... Read more
Oxhey Infants School
I used to go to Oxhey school which was opposite Bushey and Oxhey station. It had outside toilets and a little bike shed with a bench where we used to play ball against the walls. There was a church (which I think is still there) where we sung hymns and such. Or maybe it was the church hall, too far back to remember it exactly. I used to walk to school from the Bushey Hall Road, a long way for a child of only 6. There used to be a little bakers opposite the school where we were sometimes allowed to buy a cake for breaktime. Hard to believe that was 55 years ago.
Camping at Carpenders Park Farm
Before living in Oxhey I lived in nearby Hatch End and one of our Scout Troop's nearest places to camp for a weekend was Carpenders Park Farm in Oxhey Lane. We would pack everything we needed for a couple of nights camp on to the 1st Hatch End Scout Troop's "trek cart" and then we hauled two miles up Oxhey Lane. Its not until you pull a trek cart with a heavy load that you realise just how long the hills in Oxhey Lane are! A weekend’s camping gear seemed to weigh half a ton. Mrs Brazier answered the farmhouse door and showed us where to pitch in the orchard. The first time I went was with my friends Nicky Orpwood and "Tiddles" (Quentin Tildesley). Although Mrs Brazier let us camp in her orchard she failed to warn us there were cows and one shitted all over our frying pan which Nicky left overnight on the grass! Its hard to imagine pulling a trek cart along Oxhey Lane now... Read more
Happy Times at Immanuel College!
My first memories of Rosary Priory date from the 1950s when I was a teenager living in nearby Hatch End and I recall some of the rather nice local girls attending the Catholic School there.
However, the decades passed, and in the 1990's I found myself working there! I had by that time graduated as a Careers Officer for Hertfordshire County Council and visited Rosary Priory each week in its new guise as Immanuel College - a Jewish High School. The girls (and boys!) there were very bright and ambitious and I really enjoyed my work with them.
Sometimes I would be teaching or interviewing in one of the upstairs rooms - the view from the tower is wonderful on a clear day!
Little Bushey Lane
One set of grandparents lived at the top of Little Bushey Lane, on Elstree Road. The other lived near the bottom of Little Bushey Lane. Whenever I would visit, on school holidays, I had to share my time between them, so I spent many a day walking up and down the lane, passing by the Kings Head in the mid-50s. A.E. Matthews lived on the lane, also, and his eccentricities over his protest of the lamp-post in front of his house were the subject of many a conversation by the adults in my family. I loved the lane, especially in the summer when the trees would over-hang the road and in the fall, when the footpaths would be filled with fallen leaves. Some beautiful memories of my times in Bushey Heath!
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