The Village c1955, Elstree
The Village c1955, Elstree Ref: E103016a
Memories of The Village c1955, Elstree
Celebrating The Royal Wedding Day at The Pubs!
The day of Prince Charles' wedding to Lady Diana Spencer was declared an extra Bank Holiday so the dancers and musicians of Whitethorn Morris marked the occasion by dancing at pubs!
We went to Elstree and had a lovely time at The Hollybush and The Plough, with the women looking splended in their scarlet and blue kit and shiny black clogs. I took my piano accordian to provide dance music and we even got the pub goers to join in!
Elstree & local memories
Read and share memories of Elstree and Hertfordshire inspired by Frith photos.
Suburban Elstree
I lived in Lodge Avenue from 1957 to 1976. It runs off Allum Lane, which was a major road that connected Watling Street to the Railway Station, which opened in 1868. Lord Aldenham, Governor of the Bank of England, lived in Aldenham House (now Haberdashers School) whose South Carriage Drive (double-lined with horse chestnut trees), connected it to Allum Lane and then to the Railway Station. Lord Aldenham’s colleague, the Chief Cashier, Frank May, built a mansion called ‘The Grange’ which was situated on the corner of Deacons Hill Road and Allum Lane, and occupied the land upon which a developer called Davies Estates built a hundred or so houses in the fifties. These are the streets now known as Grange Road, Bishops Avenue and Lodge Avenue. After World War I, a devoutly Catholic Armenian family called the Caramans (who immigrated to Britain after a brutal civil war in their own country), settled in Hampstead and then moved into The Grange, where they established a Chapel for fifty worshippers which flourished... Read more
Whitethorn Morris at Letchmore Heath
The Three Horseshoes is an attractive pub facing the village green and the war memorial at Letchmore Heath, a beautiful place between Elstree and Aldenham just outside Watford. This pub regularly attracts morris dancers and one of the local morris sides is Whitethorn Morris who often perform both there and in the village hall.
The dancers, plus the Whitethorn Band, form up in the narrow road between the pub and the green and as soon as the music strikes up a crowd of villagers and pub goers forms around us to watch the display. The landlord is delighted to have a crowd, the residents are delighted with entertainment and the musicians and dancers enjoy a glorious outing to an attractive village.
Sometimes we choose this venue for our traditional Boxing Day dancing and we have been known to borrow the landlord's broom to clear enough snow to make a space safe for dancing! More usually we dance there on a warm summer's evening and enjoy... Read more
