Mum’s Memories
of Arlesey
by Clive Lombari
Mum was born Hospital Road and lived there from 1928 to 1933.
She attended the Arlesey Siding school next to the Three Tuns pub,
and went to the Cosy Cinema for entertainment. The cosy Cinema was a
corrugated iron building at the end of Hospital Road. This shook when trains
went passed and blocked out the sound of the film. Across the beautiful
Victorian railway bridge, was a common where cows grazed and went down
to the river to water and cool down in the summer. It was also a place for ball
games and walks over to Henlow Camp. Mum also went for walks to Arlesey
Pits as it was called then. There was an old Post Office in the High Street
where you stepped down from the pavement to enter the dark interior, and
they sold clothes upstairs.
Most of the kids were clothed either here or at the Co-op.There was also
the baker’s where you could watch the dough being kneaded by a fascinating
machine through the window. The cottage where she lived for almost 5 years
had, at that time, only gas laid on, no water and no electricity. They used
a combination of gas lamps and oil lamps . Water had to be drawn from a
stand pipe in the back yard, one of two that served the whole terrace. All
hot water was heated on the gas stove, whether for a cup of tea or a bathe
in the galvanised bath in front of the fire. The toilet was across the yard and
in winter continually had it’s lead pipes burst. The stand pipe also had to be
thawed out in very cold weather. Next to the toilet was the wash house where
a wood burning boiler was fired up to do the weekly laundry. Hard work for
her mother, Polly but for Alma with no responsibilities, it was among the
happiest days of her life.
Her dad Herbert worked at the nearby London Brick Company.It had
several tall chimneys, none of which were illuminated during the war. One
night I remember hearing a plane circling round and suddenly a terrible
crash as it struck one of the chimneys. We learned later that it had been a
Halifax practising dropping supplies at low level in Henlow. It was completely
destroyed by fire which set off ammunition that she could hear from where it
crashed in the common. Sadly all 13 crew perished.
They later moved in with Herbert’s dad, Big Jim, who lived in the Gothic
Farm House that was at the bottom of the yet to be built Lynton Avenue. One
day her little brother George got out and was found cuddling the huge shire
horse’s leg. This obviously frightened them, but she said the horse stood
dead still and never moved a muscle, as if he knew it was a toddler down
there. Herbert, Alma’s dad, then bluffed his way into the Foreman’s job at
Arlesey London Brickyard. They the got the foreman’s house at the brickyard,
handy for the pub. I remember mum telling me she always wanted to go with
her older brothers and sisters, but being the smallest they used to put her in
an empty clay carrying truck and start it rocking up and down. By the time it
stopped and she could jump out they were gone.
I remember my brother and sister doing similar to me, go and get your
wellies on, they said, and when I came back out they were gone. They lived
at the Brickyard until the family got a council house at St Peters Ave when
Alma was 10 .
That would have been 1938. The war then started and Arlesey was filled
with London overspill. The classes got so large that St Peters hall was used
as an extra classroom. Mum used to tell me she went here, and she never
got taught much ‘cos all they did was sing songs all day long. That was
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September 2014
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Above: Mum, Alma
Left: Dad, Peter Lombari
Below: School Jubilee Celebrations with
the party helpers. 1935
her story anyway. They had a greyhound dog called Whitey who helped
supplement the family of seven’s budget by catching rabbits over the fields
around the lake and the sandpits. Rabbit stew was supposed to be very
tasty. All the gardens were cropped to make the cost of living a bit cheaper.
She used to keep chickens for eggs, that was quite common as well; then
you could eat the chickens when the laying stopped. There were even gas
lights at St Peters Ave in 1938, outside toilets and no washing machines.
The schooling was very limited because of the very large classes, due to the
children evacuating London during the war. Alma left school at 14.
There were loads of jobs in those days, you could walk out of one job and
start another the next day, as all the factories needed labour. Mum used to
bike to work at Letchworth as did most people. Met dad at a dance in the
W.I. hall. Dad was a prisoner of war. He had to go back after war. When dad
was allowed back he lived at the vicarage with Mr Bevan the vicar. They
got married and lived at 2, St Peters Ave with Herbert and her mum, Polly,
her brother, George, her sister, Daise H[