PART 16, The Queen visits town
Her Majesty arrives at the site of St Barnabas |
She had originally agreed to come to lay the foundation stone for the new church in Adeyfield - it was to become St Barnabas - while she was still Princess Elizabeth, but the death of her father, King George Vl, on February 6, had meant there were fears the visit would not take place - fears that were put to rest on April 1 that year.
The new church was to be the first of those planned for the new town by the Seven Churches Campaign. With money so tight everywhere, the campaign was having a difficult time - in fact St Barnabas itself had to be scaled down.
The motorcade in The Square |
Financial difficulties apart, preparations for the royal visit went on around the town for weeks. It’s interesting to note that despite the great opposition to the demolition of buildings in Marlowes one building, the Marlowes Bridge, which carried the Nicky Line was described as “a ghastly sight.”
It was decided to hide it from Her Majesty by festooning it with flowers and foliage provided by the Hemel Hempstead Townswomen’s Guild, and Leverstock Green and Felden WIs. Labour would be provided by the Hemel Hempstead Manufacturers Association and the Fire Brigade would help!
The Gazette published the Queen’s route on her visit so everyone new where they could get a good view.
She would pass the Bell at Two Waters at 2.55 and then the route was: Two Waters Road, Marlowes, and Adeyfield Road to The Square. After the stone-laying, the Queen was driven along Longlands, St Albans Road, Bennetts End Road, Leys Road, St Albans Road, Homefield Road, Windmill Road, Great Road, Hobbletts Road, Widmore Drive, Swallowdale Lane, Maylands Avenue (it had no name then), Wood Lane End, Masons Road and then out to St Albans through Leverstock Green.
Sunday, July 20 was ‘A Day We’ll Never Forget’ as the Gazette headline put it - for the people of the town. Crowds began gathering along the route early in the morning. The borough council provided seats for as many elderly people as possible and the crowd gathered at the Plough junction was estimated to be over 1,000. Schoolchildren in their uniforms also lined parts of the route despite the heat of the day.
Laying the foundation stone |
In The Square the Queen received a mixed bouquet from two five-year-olds, Lorna Humphries and Lester Pritchard. The bouquet had been made up by Mrs T. St Amand of Windmill Road with flowers and foliage from various members of the Adeyfield Gardens and Allotments Association.
After the ceremony the Queen went on her tour of the new town areas and stopped at the homes of the first four residents (part 11).
She was to have gone into the home of the first tenants, the Ellerby family, but unfortunately five-year-old Dennis Ellerby had gone down with chicken pox and to prevent a royal ‘itch’ mum Daisy Ellerby had to watch from her window as Her Majesty visited the home of the neighbouring Adams family.
The Adams now had four children and the Queen met them as well as nine-year-old Beverley’s goldfish.
The Queen asked to see the garden and was very impressed by the house. Before Her Majesty left, Mrs Adams offered her a cup of tea.
Two weeks after her visit the Queen sent a letter thanking the people of Adeyfield for the flowers.
With many of the new town arrivals finding they had a garden of their own for the first time, the Adeyfield Gardens and Allotments Association was really blooming.
The development corporation provided it with a concrete store in Longlands from where it sold fertiliser and other gardening aids and early in 1952 it had a membership of 250. By the following year this had grown to 650.
FOUNDATION stone laid, it took less than a year for the main work on St Barnabas Church to be completed. It was to have been consecrated in June, just two days after St Barnabas Day, but because the furnishings couldn’t be ready in time it was July 4, 1953 when the ceremony, performed by the Bishop of St Albans, took place.
The church then could seat 200 - it was to be extended - and was the first to be built in any of the British new towns.
But back to 1952 and another momentous moment came in September when the new telephone exchange opened in Lamsey Road.
Many, many people had been on a waiting list to get a phone and the new exchange could cater for 4,000 subscribers, compared to the 1,600 at the old exchange in Marlowes.
There had been some talk about changing the exchange name to Hemel Hempstead from Boxmoor, but it was decided that the Boxmoor name was too well established on the national telephone system.
The Mayor made the first call on a new line at the exchange to Boxmoor 3830, the home of Miss Grayson who told him she had been waiting for five years for a line to become available.
There was still a waiting list, but new town industries would not have to wait to go on the telephone!
1952 (April) also saw the completion of the 1,000th new town house and visiting the town for the occasion was Mr Ernest Marples, parliamentary secretary to the Housing Minister who was later of course to become the Minister of Transport.
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