TRH Team

Right. Get fell in! Atten-shun! Right dress! Eyes front. Stand at ease. Stand easy.

In the June 2009 issue of Village News I related some condensed extracts from the memoirs of Edward Bell, a Tring man and engineer who worked for 49 years on the local stretch of the Grand Junction Canal.

A hundred years of the Half Moon pub in Wilstone were represented when family members of previous publicans visited recently.

A request in the April 2009 Village News from Professor Timothy Peters regarding information on the Wendover Arm and the Woodhouse family, caused me to look through some old articles about the Grand Junction Canal.

Last Autumn Teresa and I attended a fund raising talk showing recently discovered photographs. Tring’s local history exhibition was the target. A local politician was the speaker. The photographs were wonderful, but the jokey, sarcastic remarks about Tring families got very irritating. In fact I had to have a word.

Time brings changes, some for the better, others less obviously so, and some even for the worse.

‘Scoop’ was the magazine published by the children at Long Marston school, every term, in the 1940s. We have obtained copies of the magazine which provides an insight into the effects of the bombing of the school as well as the thoughts from children that were evacuated from London to Long Marston during the war.

When looking for sources to put together the timeline for our new website, we took more from this book than any other. The Long Marston and Puttenham Horticultural Society deserve great credit for putting it together.

Most of the early work on our new local history website – Tringruralhistory.co.uk – has focused on the 20th century and in particular World War II. A number of stories mentioned the use of the local Airfield by the American Airforce and the impact on our communities at the time.

A short history of the Millhoppers nature reserve by John Noakes

There is good news and bad news with regard to this review. The good news is that the book is available in digital form on the Internet; the bad news is that this makes a fully considered review more difficult because it is not possible to see the book bound, in colour and complete form. This is in contrast to our earlier review of John Painter’s beautifully presented book on the same subject.

We have a thriving well equipped group of about 70 members who take part in varied activities designed to help them develop and challenge themselves.

I first heard of this book when visiting Tring Local History Museum. I asked for any material on Long Marston, Puttenham or Wilstone and this was one of the items they produced for me.

This article is based on an interview with Michael Glasser, a long term resident of Wilstone who has fond memories of the village during and after the Second World War. The conversation also covers the growth and eventual closure of the family’s poultry farming and animal feeds businesses, which were a feature of the village during the latter part of the twentieth century.

This article follows on from our website’s recent review of Pat Carty’s book – Secret Squadrons of the Eighth – by interviewing the author and finding out more about the motivation that led to such a well-researched publication. The interview with the author also leads to some interesting new facts about the occupation of Cheddington Airfield during the Second World War.

After sharing memories with two residents of Puttenham, one person stands out as a character and a benefactor to the village. We therefore decided that this person, Joan Newman, who died over twenty years ago, deserves a separate tribute, based on the facts that we have been able to establish.

This is the first of a number of book reviews to be posted on Tringruralhistory.co.uk; yet another example of our desire to share local history. The reviews are intended both to share knowledge and to encourage others to read the chosen books.

This article follows an interview with Mike Atkin and not only covers the life of an enthusiastic contributor to the community of Puttenham but also describes the way in which his father’s move into this area during wartime was the start of a well-known and successful local business.

This month the Agricultural Story Line gives one very personal insight into how the tragedies of war affected a small farming community in 1914

I was discussing various tales I had heard about the old railway line from Cheddington to Aylesbury. “Well,” says Margaret Stearn of Boarscroft Farm, “you know that Karen is related to the last Station Master!”

This article covers an episode in the history of Long Marston that doesn’t go back as far as some other recent interviews; it covers the time in the 1990s when the Queens Head became well known as ‘The Curry Pub’, attracting people from far and wide to the village. The landlord from this time – Simon Sturt – shares fond memories of his time as landlord.

Wilstone today is a thriving village. Its people generally have a good standard of living and enjoy quite a comfortable lifestyle. However this has not always been the case.

Do you recognize anyone in these delightful pictures taken at Long Marston School in the late 1930’s?