Comments by Alan Crosby, Editor of The Local Historian, about the British Association for Local History’s Publication Awards 2024:

“A lot of really good work is done locally but it never sees any national coverage, it’s never given a wider exposure. This is one way of drawing attention to the fact that local journals have a great deal of value in them.”

Louise Keil won third place in the long articles section with her Henry Lane & Son of Berkhamsted 1798-1945 in The Chronicle, vol.XX, Mar 2023.

Alan continues: “It appeared in The Chronicle which is the journal of the Berkhamsted Local History & Museum Society. The Chronicle is a fairly modest publication, it’s not big and glossy, it’s fairly modest and it has a relatively low budget for a small Society but it produces good work and this is an example of that“.

He goes on to describe Louise’s article about the family that ran our local nursery, an activity that is almost forgotten now but showing how significant it was when it was flourishing.

More information – Flyer

BLH&MS talk on Wed 14 Feb 2024 at 8pm in the Wellcome Great Hall, Town Hall Berkhamsted. Visitors are always welcome @ £3 at the door.
The Red Lion of St Albans, by Jon Mein.
A social history of public houses. The provision of inns across the country expanded significantly over the 18th century in terms of numbers, scale and appointments. Was this the case in Hertfordshire?

The Five Bells in Berkhamsted is said to have been famous – or notorious – for bouts between bare-fisted fighters in the yard behind the inn (from Percy Birtchnell’s scrapbook of published articles).
Good to see the old name restored at The Five Bells restaurant.

BLH&MS talk on Wed 10 Jan 2024 at 8pm in the Wellcome Great Hall, Town Hall Berkhamsted. Visitors are always welcome @ £3 at the door.

The Duke of Windsor and the Nazis, by Tony Eaton.
Dupe or Traitor? A closely-guarded secret of the Royal family.

Hitler with the Windsors (Illustrated London News, 30 Oct 1937)

BLH&MS talk on Wed 13 Dec 2023 at 8pm in the Wellcome Great Hall, Town Hall Berkhamsted. Visitors are always welcome @ £3 at the door.
“Champneys carrot juice or starvation”, by Richard Tregoring.

The many different treatments given over its 90 years together with a brief look at the owners of Champneys before 1925.

“On 11 Nov 1918, Claud Cockburn, then aged 14, covertly threw the keys of the main gate of his school out of an upstairs window to a soldier waiting below… to allow the soldiers being trained locally to break into Berkhamsted School and thrash it in retaliation for the refusal of the headmaster, Charles Greene, to call a school holiday to celebrate the armistice, which had just been declared. Charles Greene… [father of] novelist Graham Greene, supported the war, but he was acutely aware of its terrible cost. Greene, a liberally minded man with great force of character, had had the grim experience of seeing those whom he had just been teaching called up when they reached the age of 18 and, all too often, they were reported killed or wounded a few months later.” (Independent, 9 Nov 2018).

WWI books Berkhamsted in WWI and Men of Berkhamsted: Lest We Forget still available from the Society @ £5 each + p&p.

BLH&MS talk on Wed 8 Nov 2023 at 8pm in the Wellcome Great Hall, Town Hall Berkhamsted. Visitors are always welcome @ £3 at the door.

Propaganda posters of WWI and WWII, by Graham Twemlow.
In times of war the illustrated poster had an important role to play but there was no direction of poster campaigns until 1918.

BLH&MS talk on Wed 11 Oct 2023 at 8pm in the Wellcome Great Hall, Town Hall Berkhamsted. Visitors are always welcome @ £3 at the door.

Arts and Crafts gardens / movement, by Kate Harwood.
Arts and Crafts house and garden, Amersfort Manor…

A movement which flourished in Britain, Europe and America between 1880 and 1920, led by William Morris (1834-1896) in the UK. Hertfordshire has a wealth of houses, gardens, furniture as well as two garden cities built on Arts and Crafts principles.

Northchurch Social Centre has been at the heart of the local community for over 50 years, providing a place for people to meet, learn, play, dance, grow, socialise and flourish!

On Saturday October 14th, the Centre is inviting all local people to its Community Open Day, between 10am – 3pm.

There will be a whole range of activities and things of interest for all ages, including:

• Kid’s play corner, games & stalls
• Cakes & other refreshments
• Quizzes
• Bouncy castle & face painting
• Read about the Centre’s history
• Tombola & charity craft stall
• Your chance to hear about our refurbishment plans & contribute to our ‘Helping Hands’ fundraiser
• Connect with your local community

There is no need to book, and no entry fee – plus all children’s activities are free of charge!

BLH&MS talk on Wed 13 Sep 2023 at 8pm in the Wellcome Great Hall, Town Hall Berkhamsted. Visitors are always welcome @ £3 at the door.

The spy who solved his own murder, by Paul Barwick.

Alexander Litvinenko – we recount the 2006 assassination of ex-Soviet spy with a rare radioactive poison, Polonium 210.