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Sportspace - Hemel Hempstead
 
 
Thursday, 9th September 2010

 
Part 18

Pupils help move into the new Adeyfield School
ONE of the early new town problems was that of a shortage of school places. The post war economic crisis had meant money for new schools was in short supply and the new Conservative government that came to power in 1951 had put an embargo on new starts until the spring of 1952.
For the new town of Hemel Hempstead, with new children now arriving almost daily, the problem was getting critical.
In the spring of 1952 Labour organised a meeting on the education ‘cuts’ at Maylands School - the only new town school then completed. One mother complained her child had no paper to draw on and it was said that 31 per cent of all classes had more than 40 children.
In Adeyfield in early 1952 some children were being taught in huts and canteens and Maylands School, which was intended for primary school children, was catering for some of secondary age.

Children from the new town area were being transported around the town to schools that could fit them in. For instance, new town children attending South Hill School planted trees on wasteland in Windmill Road. Each tree had a tag with the pupil’s name on it.
At Leverstock Green School the headmaster Mr Walter Ayre had was using the village hall as a temporary classroom.
It was a situation that was to get worse before it got better. The new secondary school in Adeyfield was supposed to open early in September 1952, but the 200 pupils due to start there were given an extra two weeks holiday because the few classrooms built weren’t ready.
Some of the children pitched in and helped with the transfer of desks and furniture from the temporary base at Maylands School.
Headmaster of the new Longlands School - it was later renamed Adeyfield - was Mr A. C. Pierson.

By November an extra £20,000 was voted through for Longlands School to provide four new classrooms and one practical room. The school wasn’t ‘officially’ opened until July of 1953 - the ceremony being performed by Ronald Gould, secretary of the National Union of Teachers - but it quickly won a repute as a forward-looking institution.
In that first year the school made a film which starred 15-year-old pupil Michael Kelly as an intruder who robbed the headmaster’s study.
It was part of weekly lessons on film appreciation introduced by Mr Pierson.

Overcrowding at West Herts Hospital was a problem, too, and the house committee warned that if much needed developments did not take place there would be a “dislocation” of services.
The average in-patient stay had been reduced to 12.6 days from the 16.75 days of 1948. In September 1952 one ward had to be closed because of a shortage of nursing staff and an appeal went out to young ladies coming to the new town to sign on as student nurses.
On the brighter side, a new amenity in 1952 was the first new town pub, the New Venture, which opened on Boxing Day. The powers that be had already decided that the number of pubs in Hemel Hempstead before the new town would still be sufficient for expanded population, so the opening meant the closing of two by Benskins - The Saracen’s Head in Adeyfield and the Halfway House in Marlowes.

The tenants of both had been offered other pubs in the St Albans area. Mr W. A. Smith had been landlord of the Saracen’s head for 25 years, but both he and Mr A. Mead at the Halfway House said they had been treated fairly by the brewery and development corporation.
Licensee of the New Venture was Mr George Standbrook, a Middlesex County table tennis player who had been in the licensed trade for 24 years.
The Gazette reported that unusual features of the new pub were alcoves in both the public and saloon bars and two verandas, one overlooking a lawn and flower bed.
The decoration of the public bar caught our reporter’s eye too - two yellow walls, a pink wall, a blue ceiling and a multi-coloured background to the bar!

Racing start. The first ever event in the new public Gadebridge Park

Another new public amenity was Gadebridge Park. The Gadebridge Estate was owned by Sir Astley Paston Cooper. Gadebridge House itself was a school, but Sir Astley made the decision to sell after the development corporation’s plans for the Warners End neighbourhood were made public.
Warners End would swallow up hundreds of acres of the estate - mostly farm land, including the 300 acre Home Farm - but virtually excluded the part known as Gadebridge Park.
The council decided to buy the park in three stages, with the first being the area behind the High Street and the second an area stretching south from Gadebridge Lane to the iron bridge. The purchase of the park would not mean it was all open to the public immediately, as much of the land was tenanted, but the tenants’ goodwill in allowing public access was expected to continue.
All 100 acres would cost the council a total of £14,500, it was reported. The second part was bought in 1953, and the school and its grounds, where new houses stand now, was fenced off.
The public park was “christened” with its first event in February 1953 - a race in the snow between Hemel Hempstead Cycling club on their bikes and Greenhills Athletics Club’s runners. The race took place in the snow and although the cyclists’ Charlie Price led the field through the river, the runners were the winners.

The social and political life of Adeyfield was now really taking a hold. The Adeyfield Residents Association held its first annual meeting, electing Mr Frampton as chairman, and 150 gathered at Maylands School for the formation of the 1st Adeyfield Scouts and Cubs, but only a third could join as there was a shortage of leaders.
Derek Bartaby from Kings Langley took charge of the scouts and Miss Mason and Mrs Humphries took on the cubs. View older pages
 
 

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