News items April 2007

Help required on the history of Hitchin Band

Heather Milsom is collecting information on the history of Hitchin Band, our local brass band. It’s existed for at least 137 years but much of its history is unknown.

Heather says “The earliest records we have are a newspaper cutting in November 1870 saying that the band took part in a procession for Guy Fawkes, and photographs going back to around 1900. We know the band lost one player during the First World War, a W Claydon, and after the war a new conductor took over, J W Shrive.”

Some band members in 1900 were Arthur Gray, D Rudd, Albert Instrich, E Kirby, G Smith, H Moulden, G Pateman, H Hunt, W Ansell, A Theobalds, William Kitchener, A Males, J Cheshum, F Steeley, W Day, W Gray, Upchurch, and W Chalkley.

In 1927/1928 members included A Brice, W J Theobalds, F L Bullard, H Cherry, J Currell, A Males, G Cook, A Mansell, W Northwood, O B Upchurch, and G Kitchener.

Heather’s discovered that between 1927 and 1934 the band president was R Delmé Radcliffe JP, but says, “We then have a large gap in our knowledge until 1981. Any information that could help us research the band history before 1981 would be appreciated.”

Can you help? If so, contact Heather by

Caldecott Centre

Peter Guthrie of Hitchin Youth Centre appeared in a half-hour programme on Anglia television at 6 pm on 20 May. The programme showed old film of the Youth Centre in the 1950s and contained interviews with Peter and three other ex-club members. There was also film of the Queen Mother’s visit to the (now demolished) Caldecott Centre in 1969.

Open letter to North Hertfordshire District Council

The Hitchin Society, Hitchin Historical Society, Hitchin Forum, The Triangle Residents’ Association and Keep Hitchin Special have sent a joint letter to John Campbell, Chief Executive of North Hertfordshire District Council, expressing “in the strongest possible terms [their] concerns about the approach of North Hertfordshire District Council towards Hitchin”. The text of the letter is available as an Adobe Acrobat document below.

Download the open letter here.

If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader, get it here.

One of the signs, protesting against the
proposed closure of public toilets at Portmill Lane

Anonymous protest

Late on Sunday 1 April, a series of malicious signs appeared at various locations around the town, purporting to emanate from North Hertfordshire District Council, but in fact anonymous and critical of the council by misrepresenting its policies. They were featured on local television news on Tuesday 2 April, by which time most had been removed. The actual perpetrator(s), hiding behind a mask of anonymity, remain unknown.

Hitchin Historical Society’s website is launched

As part of the celeberations for its thirtieth anniversary, Hitchin Historical Society launched its first ever presence on the web at its Annual General Meeting on 22 March 2007. Members will be able to contribute via the message board and will be able to submit content for the site, including pictures and text.

This page was last updated on 1 July 2007