My Town

A Memory of Waltham Abbey.

I call it my town because it is, it is everybody’s town that lives here.
My wife Patsy and I moved here very recently, in October 1999, this was after visiting the town in previous months, we found the people warm and welcoming, where please and thank you are the norm, this was unheard of back in north London, where we lived in a 2 bed semi off Hornsey Rd N19. Waltham Abbey is like old England, separated from the rest of England by a thin strip of green belt on all sides.
I can remember coming home every day after working in London, coming over the brow of the hill on Stewardstone Rd seeing the town spread out in front of me, the Abbey standing proud in the forefront, sadly now that view is lost due to the warehouses on the Meridian estate.
We quickly assimilated ourselves into the community and the town way of life, meeting great people, and great personalities and we both love it, as do our two daughters who both moved out to be with us.
After only 4 years I was offered the opportunity of standing for election for the town Council, and won, this was my opportunity to give something back, and I hope I have, I only want to help my town and its people to improve their lives and the services they rely on. More recently I have been elected as a District Councillor and sit on Epping Forest District Council, representing my town.
But looking back, our best memories are when driving from our home in London to visit the town on Saturdays in the summer of 1998, and after looking round the Abbey, we would walk up the path with its stalls of paintings and drawings flanked on both sides, then through the opening that separates the Welsh Harp pub from Philpot’s tea room, out onto the square, with its market in full flow, happy smiling faces, shouts from the stall holders to come and buy their wares, then turning back to look round the square, the old beams and plastered walls of the pub, the streams of flowers cascading down from hanging baskets, the sun glinting on the polished sign above the door, the welcome you would get from the bar staff, knowing you were just a visitor, that is what I remember, the real feeling of being welcomed.
Well that welcome worked and we moved here, the people we met when visiting are now our good friends, the Abbey gardens with its flowers and lawns are now our gardens, the historic Abbey is now our Abbey. I still work in London, and can't wait to get home, that is how much the town has had an impact on my life.
The Welsh Harp pub where we would have a drink and lunch became our local, all those strange smiling faces are now friends. that is what I remember.
Now I am the landlord of that pub, that is how much I love this town, I stand behind that counter and welcome people as I was welcomed 10 years ago, they thank us for the drink or the lunch we have served them, but I thank them, it was our pleasure to welcome them, and hope they come back to visit our town again.
Why don't you come and visit us, lean on our bar, see our Abbey and walk in our gardens, have a tea in the tea rooms, or a meal in one of the many small cafés, have a drink in my pub, or a meal, but do come, and see what made me move here, and I will say to you, welcome to My Town.

     

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