Following a similar appeal for information at a local history event at Oxhey Library a couple of years ago, I was told that the stained glass windows were damaged whilst being removed. They were apparently sent to a stained glass expert in Bushey – thats all anyone seemed to know.
John, your recollection of events is better than mine! My apologies. I stayed at Trewins until 1970. Many years later I wrote a light hearted piece for the Watford Observer Nostalgia column. It was published in March 2002. There were many happy times in the old Trewins, though I suspect from this distance there is an element of ‘rose tinted spectacles’.
I remember Basil Whitworth. He used to drive around Oxhey Estate in a small, beige coloured car. I think it was a foreign model with a rear mounted engine. Was the registration number MXY 23? Why should I remember a detail like that after all these years? He used to regularly drive past our house in Little Oxhey Lane on his way from his home in St Georges Drive to the Church. There was no vicarage at All Saints Church in those days.
I am trying to remember who succeeded him. Was it Robin Osborn followed by Edward Charles and then by the inspirational Alan Woodland? Curates I recall were Pat Maddox and Maurice Horsey. There may have been others.
Ian Shave is not quite correct, as I met him on several occasions during my time (two months in 1961) at TrewinBrothers, Queen’s Road, Watford, where Ian worked full-time since leaving school over two years earlier. I was just filling in time during a gap year, before taking up a temporary teaching appointment at Clarendon School in January 1962. I believe Ian had already been made up to Section Manager by the age of 18! He mentions Bob Frewin, whom I recall at All Saints since the mid-fifties and as a manager, also at Trewins. He was involved in the initial running of the Clarendon Youth Wing (South Oxhey Community Association) when it opened in September 1963, in which I was briefly employed in the evenings on a voluntary basis (with permission from Clarendon School, where I was employed as a supply teacher) before I returned to my studies at Bristol University.
Happy days, to be sure. John Swain (“Never knowingly undersold!”).
I have just stumbled across this page. What a sorry set of pictures. In happier times I was married there in 1970. The Junior Service John refers to was the start of the very successful youth group All Saints Young Peoples Fellowship, which met in the ‘tin hut’ on the other side of the railway, through the tunnel. It was led by Bob Frewin, assisted by Jean Foster and Marilyn Sharp.
I seem to recall that John Swain and I sat at desks next to each other in the fifth form at Watford Grammar School. I haven’t seen him or Peter Treble since I left in 1959. I think Peter hoped to join the Royal Navy.
If anyone from ASYPF remembers me, it would good to hear from you
Some great images here, Neil. How is it that you are always on hand to record the destruction of some of South Oxhey’s finest buildings? Joking apart, these pictures revive memories of times spent at All Saints throughout the 1950s, including my Confirmation on March 31st, 1957, and my appointment by Rev. Basil Whitworth to become a Leader at the Junior Service (Sundays at 10.30 am), which involved ringing the bell in Oxhey Chapel in 1958, with fellow leaders, Ian Shave and Peter Trebble (all three of us were pupils at Watford Grammar School for Boys).
By John Swain (23/08/2012)
Copyright Hertfordshire County Council. All rights reserved.
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Does anyone know what happened to the stained glass windows by Agnes Charles and Vera Brookman?
Following a similar appeal for information at a local history event at Oxhey Library a couple of years ago, I was told that the stained glass windows were damaged whilst being removed. They were apparently sent to a stained glass expert in Bushey – thats all anyone seemed to know.
John, your recollection of events is better than mine! My apologies. I stayed at Trewins until 1970. Many years later I wrote a light hearted piece for the Watford Observer Nostalgia column. It was published in March 2002. There were many happy times in the old Trewins, though I suspect from this distance there is an element of ‘rose tinted spectacles’.
I remember Basil Whitworth. He used to drive around Oxhey Estate in a small, beige coloured car. I think it was a foreign model with a rear mounted engine. Was the registration number MXY 23? Why should I remember a detail like that after all these years? He used to regularly drive past our house in Little Oxhey Lane on his way from his home in St Georges Drive to the Church. There was no vicarage at All Saints Church in those days.
I am trying to remember who succeeded him. Was it Robin Osborn followed by Edward Charles and then by the inspirational Alan Woodland? Curates I recall were Pat Maddox and Maurice Horsey. There may have been others.
Ian Shave is not quite correct, as I met him on several occasions during my time (two months in 1961) at Trewin Brothers, Queen’s Road, Watford, where Ian worked full-time since leaving school over two years earlier. I was just filling in time during a gap year, before taking up a temporary teaching appointment at Clarendon School in January 1962. I believe Ian had already been made up to Section Manager by the age of 18! He mentions Bob Frewin, whom I recall at All Saints since the mid-fifties and as a manager, also at Trewins. He was involved in the initial running of the Clarendon Youth Wing (South Oxhey Community Association) when it opened in September 1963, in which I was briefly employed in the evenings on a voluntary basis (with permission from Clarendon School, where I was employed as a supply teacher) before I returned to my studies at Bristol University.
Happy days, to be sure. John Swain (“Never knowingly undersold!”).
I have just stumbled across this page. What a sorry set of pictures. In happier times I was married there in 1970. The Junior Service John refers to was the start of the very successful youth group All Saints Young Peoples Fellowship, which met in the ‘tin hut’ on the other side of the railway, through the tunnel. It was led by Bob Frewin, assisted by Jean Foster and Marilyn Sharp.
I seem to recall that John Swain and I sat at desks next to each other in the fifth form at Watford Grammar School. I haven’t seen him or Peter Treble since I left in 1959. I think Peter hoped to join the Royal Navy.
If anyone from ASYPF remembers me, it would good to hear from you
Some great images here, Neil. How is it that you are always on hand to record the destruction of some of South Oxhey’s finest buildings? Joking apart, these pictures revive memories of times spent at All Saints throughout the 1950s, including my Confirmation on March 31st, 1957, and my appointment by Rev. Basil Whitworth to become a Leader at the Junior Service (Sundays at 10.30 am), which involved ringing the bell in Oxhey Chapel in 1958, with fellow leaders, Ian Shave and Peter Trebble (all three of us were pupils at Watford Grammar School for Boys).