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Sportspace - Hemel Hempstead
 
 
Thursday, 9th September 2010

 
PART 10

THE FIRST RESIDENTS COULD GO TO THE LUXOR CINEMA, WHICH WAS IN MARLOWES
THE first four families of Hemel Hempstead’s new town moved into their homes at Adeyfield on Wednesday, February 8, 1950.
First to arrive were Mr and Mrs J. Ellerby of Derby Avenue, Harrow Weald with their two children. This was the first time they had had their own home in 15 years of married life, and despite the mud which constituted their garden at the time, and the building work all around them, Mr and Mrs Ellerby were “overjoyed” with their house.
Mr and Mrs B. Adams were next to arrive. They came from Wembley and had been living in rooms. Mr and Mrs S. G. Neal with their three children had been living in a three-roomed flat in Acton and Mr and Mrs R. Fee, the fourth family, had been living with their in-laws in Willesden.
All the men were bricklayers working on the new town and would be working “close to home.” Mr Ellerby had, in fact, worked on his own new house.

They were greeted by a posse of VIPs including the Mayor, Councillor White, Lord Reith, the chairman of the development corporation, officials from various London councils and Sir Thomas Sheepshanks, the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Town and Country Planning.
In welcoming them, Councillor White asked them to have patience as the town might seem “a little dreary” at the moment In the summer it would be very different, he promised.
He continued: “The people of Hemel Hempstead are not so bad when you get to know them. They are sound happy people and once you know them you are assured of their friendship.
“In three months time when the chestnut trees are out, when the hawthorns are in bloom and the may is in the hedges, and when you see the bluebells in the wood, you will say there is no lovelier spot in England than Hemel Hempstead.”

Mr W. O. Hart, general manager of the development corporation, said that although four houses was not much, it was only a beginning and by the end of the year they hoped to have started work on 700 houses and to have completed 200.
In April Lady Davidson, Hemel Hempstead’s long serving Conservative MP who had just topped the poll with a record vote in the March 1950 general election, visited the first new town tenants.
A tall lady in a tweed costume with a charming smile and hand outstretched to welcome them to Hemel Hempstead, she knocked on every door.
Inside each house she was interested in the various layouts of the rooms and the different methods of furnishing. She always asked to see the kitchen and won the admiration of the housewives with her understanding of their wants and difficulties.

Her first call was at 2, Homefield Road, the home of Mr and Mrs G. A. White and their two children from Chingford.
Mr White was district senior clerk with BEA and was working on the hard and stoney ground in his garden when Lady Davidson called. She sympathised with him and said she hoped to see the results of his labour the next time she visited.
Mrs White told her the houses were “so lovely and light.”
Then Lady Davidson went next door to see Mr and Mrs Ellerby. Mr Ellerby assured her the houses were well built - “you won’t find any built like them anywhere!”
Mrs Adams paid a genuine tribute to the helpfulness of local tradespeople and others who “put themselves out to be kind to us.” Mrs Adams said the children loved the house and the whole family were looking forward to the summer.
Lady Davidson said the estate was built in a “very healthy part of Hemel Hempstead” and the Gazette report commented “Mrs and Mrs Adams’ bonny son and daughter certainly bore out Lady Davidson’s high opinion.”

In July 1950, at the Greenhills Club’s first gala Day, the under-six months section of the baby show was won by eight-week-old Paul Adams, who was the first baby to be born in the new town. His mum was Mrs Moira Adams.
It was earlier in 1950 that the government circularised local authorities in London urging them to draw up lists of residents who would like to move to a new town.
But if it seemed as if the new town was moving on apace, the great tea row of August 1950 put a spanner in the works!
Mr E. A. G. Owen and his wife Ethel, who had been serving workers on the new town estates with tea and food from their mobile canteens for more than a year, were banned from the sites by the development corporation who set up their own canteens.
Mr Owen and his wife Ethel of South Hill Road, Hemel Hempstead had given up their jobs - he at Bovingdon airport and she at the Red Tiles Cafe - after setting up their business.

They had the backing of the workmen who claimed they “couldn‘t get a decent cup of tea.” The corporation’s tea was said to be “stewed in urns” whilst the Owen’s was freshly brewed The following week between 50 and 90 bricklayers walked off a site in Longlands and returned to their homes around the country. It was said to be over a wage dispute, but could the tea have played a part?
The row rumbled on and a month later Mr L. N. Tame of Glenview Road, Hemel Hempstead wrote to the Gazette about the corporation canteen. His roast beef was tough and cold on a cold plate, the cabbage tasted of metal tan and was uneatable, and the potatoes included “passovers” from the previous day. View older pages
 
 

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