November 2008

The Delmé-Radcliffe Papers - appeal for £100,000+

The Radcliffe family owned Hitchin Priory from 1548 to 1965. Their archive, which contains material crucial to the history of Hitchin and beyond, has been loaned to Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies (HALS) in Hertford since 1949. These papers are now up for sale, and an appeal to raise the money to buy the papers was offically launched by the Hertfordshire Heritage Fund at Hitchin Priory on 8th October.

The Hitchin Historical Society has pledged £5000 to the fund, and a presentation was made to County Archivist Sue Flood (pictured) at the appeal launch. Leaflets about the appeal are available at Society meetings.

Old Hitchin on Film

There are no outings to report now until the spring, but you may enjoy a brief resumé of Richard Whitmore's presentation 'Old Hitchin on Film', a film show watched by over 130 people at last month's members' meeting. He was helped by Douglas King, Stephen Bradford-Best and Tim Ray.

The film was presented in ten parts, none very long but each one fascinating. The first part was from 1948, Hitchin Ciné Society's first film , 'Brussels Rendezvous'. This rather quaint piece of film traced the journey of a crop of Brussels sprouts from a field near Charlton to the dinner table, via Hitchin railway station and St Mary's Square market.

Films of a 1943 war-time visit by the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester to Geo. W King's offices in Walsworth Road and the estate of Col. J F Harrison at Kings Walden followed, then two scenes of the preparation of the Priory grounds for a fete in 1951, and crowds at the 1951 General Election on the steps of the Town Hall.

After an interval with light refreshments, members watched a sequence of Hitchin scenes filmed by member Stephen Bradford-Best's father George around 1950, including the Boxing Day meeting of the Hertfordshire Hunt in St Mary's Square, and the Queen's visit to the Hitchin Pageant.

Very popular was the film created in memory of Reginald Hine, to whom this part was dedicated, which covered his 'Tales of Tilehouse Street'. The original had no sound track and Richard Whitmore has written and recorded a new commentary which incorporates the best of Hine's anecdotes as well as new information.

Two more items before the evening ended. The first was a 1961 film showing the remarkable collection of smoking pipes displayed in cabinets in F G Shillitoe's Hitchin office at 14 Tilehouse Street. Mr Shillitoe was a solicitor and coroner, and his collection made an appearance in a Pathé Newsreel shown at our cinemas up and down the country.

The final item was film of the opening of the Queen Mother Theatre in 1983. This contained previously unseen footage of the Queen Mother's visit to open the Bancroft Players' new theatre, the only one in the country to bear her name. The unveiling of the plaque appeared on the BBC's early evening news that day, but very little of her speech and her tour of the theatre was used. Richard, who was then a newsreader at the BBC, managed to persuade a kind BBC picture editor to compile this brief but evocative record of the day.

Steaming Ahead

Our chairman, David Howlett, spent some time last month learning to drive a steam engine on the Bure Valley Railway in Norfolk. His wife Bridget snapped this photo of him. Now you know what he gets up to in the day time!

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This page updated 4th November 2008