NewsMonday 5th October saw a lively morning at Mill Green Museum, when over 30 members of staff, patients and volunteers were invited to a special viewing of the exhibition 'The QEII Hospital... taking a look back'.
Booking is now open for the Fourth Garden City Lecture will be on Wed 13th May 2015 in the Hawthorne Theatre, WGC. Dr Nick Falk whose URBED co-op were the winners of the Wolfson Economics Prize 2014 for proposals to build new Garden Cities, will be the speaker. The event is a joint promotion with the WGC Society.
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.
The Trust is continuing to receive unusual and interesting items to add to it's archive thanks to the kindness of people wanting to contribute to the current 'Where Do You Think We Worked?' project focusing on the early manufacturing companies that operated in Welwyn Garden City between 1920-1960.
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.
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.
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 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.
There are now 145 oral histories in our archive with a team of volunteers continuing to digitally record these personal recollections.
The Where Do You Think We Worked? project has resulted in some unusual artefacts being loaned to the Trust to be photographed or scanned.
A small group of us visited HALS in December and left much better informed and very impressed with the range of resources that are available.
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.
That was how Dennis Lewis described the state of play with the ‘Thanks for the Memory’ programme. Another 23 are listed for collection between now and the end of the year. “Ambitious”, was Dennis’ comment on that
target “but do-able with a bit of luck.”
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.
Absolute delight was how the Trustees of the Welwyn Garden Heritage Trust (WGHT) greeted the ‘fantastic’ news that the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) had approved their bid for £50,000. The funding is to support a broad ranging heritage project in Welwyn Garden City.
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...
A Position Statement by Welwyn Garden Heritage Trust
Following some expressions of concern by residents about the Trust’s position over the Tesco/Spenhill planning application for the former Shredded Wheat site the Trustees decided that a public statement of our position was needed.
Many people have been wondering about the fate of a proposed project looking into the industries that helped shape the history of WGC...
There have been numerous suggestions about what should happen on the Shredded Wheat site, particularly with the ‘landmark’ silos. Obviously the final decision rests with the owners of the site but the planners will take note of local opinion. The WGC Society have been canvassing opinions amongst their members and we thought it made sense to see what you think. At the two extremes the proposals range from demolition to putting a restaurant on the top.