Just what did Welwyn Garden City residents get up to in their spare time during 1920-1970? Did you join or set up a local club or society? Were you into sports, arts, music, languages, debating, socialising? What did you collect, get active with or play at? These are some of the questions about life in Welwyn Garden City over the years that the Heritage Trust is asking members of the public to help them answer.
The Welwyn Garden City Heritage Trust is celebrating - our third bid for lottery money has been approved! The Trust’s new project ‘Play’ is all about the leisure activities of the town’s residents during the period 1920-1980. “Ebenezer Howard described a garden city as a place where people can Live, Work and Play” explained the project manager Tony Skottowe. “The Trust has already done a ‘Live’ project on housing and another on ‘Work’, which led to our book ‘Where Do You Think We Worked? - a timeline of WGC industries’.”
Above: Bill Evans winning the 1 mile race at Murphy Radio sports day in 1951.
Waterstones is now selling Trust books! You now have another option of where to get our books as Waterstones in WGC now stocks all three. You can walk into the Howardsgate store and pick up the brand new QEII book, the industrial timeline or 'Garden Cities - The British Example'.
'The QEII - A Hospital’s Story' has arrived. Written by Trustee Angela Eserin it begins with WGC’s Cottage Hospital and the long struggle to get a new general hospital for Welwyn Hatfield.
The Trust's Garden Cities book can be purchased directly from us (by collection or post). 'Garden Cities - The British Example' is also on sale at WH Smiths in the Howard Centre, WGC; Huttons in Marsden Road, WGC; Gardners Books, Whittle Road, Eastbourne and Davids Bookshop, Letchworth. The Trust is currently researching other possible outlets following the closure of The Bookshop in the Howard Centre on 6th March 2014.
The Trust has had a wonderful donation to its archive from Althea R whose stepfather worked at the Welwyn Stores. It includes a letter from George Bernard Shaw concerning the promotion of one of his books.
The Garden Cities book published by the Trust is now available to purchase. It retails at £16.99 (+ postage and packing if required). It is also in stock in The Bookshop (in Howard Centre), W.H.Smiths (in Howard Centre) and Huttons newsagents in Marsden Road.
The Where Do You Think We Worked? project has resulted in some unusual artefacts being loaned to the Trust to be photographed or scanned.
Roche Products Ltd, which acquired its Welwyn Garden City site in 1937 and opened its factory in 1938, has kindly donated a collection of 18 photographs to the Where Do You Think We Worked? project from its archive.
Many people remember the name of Cresta Silks the company that originally started with a factory in Broadwater Road in 1929, then moving to Howardsgate in 1938 before settling into the Welwyn Department Stores in 1954.
The Trust has received a collection of photographs of the iconic Shredded Wheat factory - including its construction, staff working and advertising material. A few of these images are shown below...
The two interpretation boards recently installed at Handside and Peartree, funded by a grant from County Cllr Malcolm Cowan, were officially unveiled on Monday 7th January on a cold damp afternoon.
Two new interpretation boards have been installed in the town. Funding was principally from the budget of Councillor Malcolm Cowan with associated costs paid for by the Welwyn Garden Heritage Trust.
The Trust has recently issued the DVD "Welwyn Garden City - A Brave Vision".
Produced by Angela Eserin, Steve Sullivan and John Watson and directed by Maggie Clarke it has a running time of approximately 55 minutes and was previously only available on video format.