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Sportspace - Hemel Hempstead
 
 
Monday, 6th September 2010

 
PART 6

THE PROCESSION OF 1948 IN MARLOWES - SEE FURTHER DOWN PAGE
THOUGH the bricks and mortar of the new town were slow in coming and plans were proposed and changed over the first three years there were other developments that were to form an important part of new town life.
It was in April 1947 that at a public meeting it was decided to form a local council of the national Council of Social Services - the forerunner of what we know today as the Dacorum Council For Voluntary Service.
The meeting had been called by Hemel Hempstead Rotary Club and representatives from more than 40 local organisations attended. Mr Eyre Carter from the national council addressed the meeting and said that as Hemel Hempstead was to become a new town there would be more than usual scope for the new local body. A provisional committee was elected for this new body, which included a Mr Remant as the convenor.
The part the CVS was to play (and still does) over the next 50 years in supporting existing and encouraging and helping new voluntary groups and organisations in the new town has been something that has rightly won much praise from all quarters, including the most vociferous critics of the new town itself.

Then in March 1948 came another important community event, the formation of the first ‘community association’ - Greenhills as it became known.
It came about when the Hemel Hempstead Development Corporation compulsorily purchased land in the Adeyfield area for the site of its labour camp.
As part of the arrangement they had to buy the clubhouse and playing field of the Brocks Social and Sports Club (the site of what is now Hemel Hempstead FC.)
With 40,000 new residents coming from London, the corporation was anxious to help build community spirit - “Building a new town is not just about bricks and mortar - a community has to be established of human beings leading full and happy lives,” said Mr Hart, general manager of the corporation - and they held talks with local people about using the clubhouse.

At a public meeting at the clubhouse it was decided to form a community association that would serve Leverstock Green, Adeyfield, Cupid Green and the Bennetts End and Pimlico areas.
Mr K. Bruce was elected chairman with Mr S. Charge as secretary and Mr S. Osborne as treasurer plus an executive committee of 16.
The development corporation said that because of the national economic crisis it would have to charge a reasonable rent, so it was decided that the community association’s subscriptions for the first six months would be 5s for a family and 2s 6d for a single person.
Greenhills was officially opened early in May 1948 and after six months the development corporation was so delighted with the way the club was going, it promised to supply two extra huts, 200 chairs and a new roof for the clubhouse.
Over those early new town years Greenhills was to be the home of entertainment for many of those arriving in their new home from London - everything from baby shows and fancy dress parades to dances and more importantly the chance to make and build new friendships.

With the first of the new townies still to arrive, there was plenty of community spirit in ‘old’ Hemel Hempstead. Thousands flocked to Marlowes and Gadebridge to watch a pageant to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Queen Victoria granting the town a borough charter. Sadly there was a downpour which spoilt things somewhat, but the development corporation filmed the event.
Then as now, there was great enthusiasm for football and a crowd of over 5,500 watched the local derbies between Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamsted that Easter! - Hemel won 3-0 at home and 2-1 at Berkhamsted.
The radio was the big medium for home entertainment and thousands of local people tuned in in the autumn of 48 when Wilfred Pickles’ Have A Go came to Hemel Hempstead. The contestants for the programme at Boxmoor Hall were Miss Pamela Coxhead, Mrs N. Randall, Mr G. Jessiman, nurse Ruth Spira and Mr S. Hancock.
But impending new town development was never far away and in July 48 the development corporation published its revised five-year development plan for the town. The main difference from 1947 plan was that the proposed inner and outer ring roads were scrapped. Marlowes and the central area were not included in the five-year plan with development in the main confined to Adeyfield, Highfield, and Bennetts End.
The plan did, however, include proposals to make Queen Street (to become Queensway), Wood Lane and St John’s Road into main arteries for traffic. There was also a loop road from Alexandra Road to Marlowes through West Herts Hospital.

The Hemel Hempstead Protection Association was not impressed and described a proposal for a double roundabout at Heath Park as “unthinkable.”
Even the development corporation admitted the plan was very complex. It would be re-considered, then submitted to the minister and if he approved it there would be another public inquiry - this, in fact, took well over a year.
The minister did, however, give the immediate go-ahead for work to start to enable the first 124 houses to be built at Adeyfield. Preparation work on the site began in November 1948.
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