Sarratt memories
Here are memories of Sarratt and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Sarratt or a Sarratt photo.
Deadman Ash Lane
My oldest friend lived in Sarratt, went to Durrants School. We have been friends for 50 years. She lived on the lane named above. We both now live in the States. Her name is Pat Baker, mine is Liz Blades.
Memories of Hertfordshire
Langleybury School
Sadly, Langleybury School is no more. I had the good fortune to work for the school starting in 1989 and I continued until its closure many years later when it was merged with Francis Combe School in nearby Garston.
My role was to provide careers guidance to students from the age of 14 upwards and this included tracking many of the youngsters as they had their first taste of employment on work experience in "Year 10" for an entire week during each Summer Term. Most of my work in the rest of the school year was getting to know my students with individual interviews held in the school's "mansion" - an architectural gem dating from the late eighteenth century. Cold and draughty in winter, but inspiring surroundings! At the end of the school drive was a smallholding run by the school to provide students with the practical work needed for their environmental studies. Langleybury School was unique in both character and setting but sadly it... Read more
Life at Langleybury
We were privileged to have lived in Langleybury house from approx 1970. My two boys were born during our time there. We lived both on the top floor of the mansion and in the stable block after the birth of my second son. It's only recently that I have started to look into the history of the building and would love the opportunity to have a nostalgia trip to look around. It was a wonderful old house and during the school holidays, we would have the grounds practically to ourselves. Amazing for children. Seeing photographs of the inside of the place brought back my time there vividly. That grand old staircase. The only thing I don't remember is the cellar - maybe it wasn't accessible at that time. I also seem to have a vague memory of the mention of a message in a bottle. A lot of life has happened since those days but Langleybury remains a very happy memory. I have subsequently discovered, having started to research my family... Read more
Kings Langley Common
In 1946 we left Kings Langley, my parents having lived there since 1936. I arrived in 1937, so can claim to be partially raised there. I must have passed the village pound many times without realising what it was. My home was further up on the left in Common Lane, a house called Merrow Down. I liked it there and liked playing on the common. In winter it was a super toboggan run and everybody turned out to take part. I do know that in one of the cottages to the right of the picture lived a family called Cox. We knew lots of people and 3 doctors were friends of my parents, these being Doris Brown who lived at Langley Common House, Richard Mawson, and Dr Fisher. We also knew the Dean family, who owned Toovey's Mill, Peter Stanley, a dentist,and the Buchanan-Smith family. Mr B-S was a tester for Scammel Lorries. I believe Mill House is still intact. I can remember it being occupied by a family from... Read more
Miss Ovaltine
My Mother Joan Simmonds was chosen to be Miss Ovaltine. She was dressed in a costume which is very similar to the famous one which adorns the front of the Ovaltine, and was used on the front of the tins for a while. She was put into a horse drawn cart in this costume, but I am not sure what the occasion was. Her two sisters, Freda and Frances also worked at the Ovaltine. Does anyone have any memories of this please?
Top End of High Street
The shop at the top left (now the Chinese Takeaway) was, I think, Wards the Greengrocers, the second shop down was Graingers the Newsagents (now Pendley Estate Agents). The newsagents was run by Mr & Mrs. Gadd, who lived above the shop. The garage was used to dispense the daily newspapers to the paperboys. There is also a brick built well in the back garden (who used it I don't know) as this was originally a field. The community well can still be found, capped off, in the cottages opposite. Wards moved further down the High Street into what is now Wilsons Estate Agents. Graingers moved to the top of the road into what became the Travel Agents (now demolished). Mr. & Mrs. Gadd retired to Dudley House and have since passed away. The shop down from Graingers was Jaynes the Hairdressers (now Ameyzoo the Exotic Pet Shop) and owned by Mrs. Williams and later by her daughter Amanda. At some point they sold antiques from the back of the... Read more
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