"...the girls were at the school next door so I’d go and spend an afternoon weighing babies and they’d come and pick me up from the clinic"
Barbara Metcalf discusses the differences between living in London and Stevenage, as well as how important friends are in a new town.
Barbara Metcalf discusses how GPs have changed over the years- both in new locations and new builds
"And I think the main problem then seemed to be financial almost for them"- Barbara Metcalf discusses volunteering for the Citizen's Advice Bureau
Barbara Metcalf talks about how her and her neighbour were able to volunteer as they were able to look after each others children.
A group member describes details of her household's expenditure in 1969.
A member of the group recalls her diary entries, detailing a series of meals eaten in 1966!
Clare Marsh talks about her exhibition in Stevenage Museum spring 2015
Technical issues at Stevenage Carnival
We had no choice they said “if you want a house you’ve got no. 76 or nothing so we took no. 76 which was 3 bedroom semi-detached.
They went to Welwyn. They went to Luton. They went to Hitchin, Letchworth, Walkern, Watton at Stone. I know the, the only one I know who stayed in Stevenage was the director of Chauncey House
I know the Cine Club did, met in the canteen in Boots in the town centre because the, they had a big, in those days they had a big photographic centre and the man who ran it was very keen on getting business and so he was quite happy to be there as a member, opening up for us ...
Hilltop Community Centre and Public House was at the centre of its local Community. Donald Hodson described more about what was on offer there:
... the whole site was covered it was also very muddy and when Evelyn Denington saw the site, she was pretty horrified because it just didn’t correspond with her idea of what a nice tidy new town should look like ...
...the local families in Bandley Hill decided that they needed a place for their children to play, which wasn’t just formal swings and roundabouts type of playground, but a place where the children could determine their own play ...
Claxton was motivated to create Stevenage as a safe and comfortable place
Gerald Model came to Hatfield to set up a new Chiropody practice. He comments on the changes he saw, living in the Roe Green area of Hatfield after he moved to Hatfield from St Albans in 1959:
St John’s church opened in Hatfield in the 1960s after a series of fundraising activities including the sale of shilling brick cards for the church building fund. Jessie Axford describes more about the Church and worshipping there:
First Christmas in a new house in new town Hatfield in 1960
Occupancy rates are calculated on old data and censuses, but people can't be expected to keep living the same way forever.
“the level of accessibility to the shops is such that nobody needs to hurry, and indeed when you watch people moving around the town centre, they’re not dashing around, they are moving quite leisurely around”
Lillian Cowdery discusses the kinds of provisions that were put in place for the elderly in Stevenage- Including an annual Christmas gift.
“the doctors used to go into houses and if they wanted me to visit anywhere in particular they’d say to the husband “you’ll see her car, it’s a red one”. They used to know where I was, I used to laugh at that. I’m too well known I said.”