Description

Stevenage has seen more changes in a shorter time than most towns this century. In fifty years it grew from a community of under 6,000 people, to become Britain’s first New Town with a population approaching 80,000.

The memories of some of the people who were part of this remarkable transition are recorded in this book. There are recollections, often expressed in vivid detail, of schooldays at the old St Nicholas’ by the Avenue and at Letchmore Road; farming life ; work in the High Street shops; night-shift workers during the Second World War and old-fashioned Christmases, when family and friends gathered to celebrate – and occasionally someone fell through the floorboards!

Equally lively are the reminiscences of those who planned and built the New Town; architects whose designs were all but defeated by the lack of building materials; the problem of the disappearing concrete columns and the one thing that everyone remembers – mud, everywhere.

Those who came to the New Town as young pioneers recall their delight at having houses of their own, with gardens and modern conveniences. Some felt lonely and homesick for families in London, but the abiding memory now is of working together to build a community, caring and sharing.

The book is illustrated with contemporary photographs, most of which have never been published before, which are bright glimpses of life from the century past but not forgotten.

Paperback: 128 pages
Published by: The History Press, 2013
ISBN: 9780752415932
Product dimensions: 23.8 x 16.5 x 0.8 cm