Early Memories

Winter 1943/44

By P W Pugh

  1. The wooden footbridge and platforms of Carpenders Park Station.
  2. Fishing for tiddlers and newts in the pond which is behind the Police Station in ‘Pond Wood’
  3. ‘Wooden Bygones’ near top of Oxhey Drive.
  4. St. Andrews Road when you could drive and park in it.
  5. The Library as it was in 1962 (ie two rebuilds ago)
This page was added on 14/04/2012.

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  • I remember the aircraft crashing in the golf course

    By Colin Butt (21/10/2017)
  • Yes I remember the light aircraft that crashed in a dell at the golf course.

    By Julia Campbell (11/07/2015)
  • I remember Wooden Bygones at ‘Pretty Corner’ as I did some gardening for the Pintos’ in the early 1960’s. Does anyone recall a light aircraft that crashed in a dell on the golf course in the 1950’s? We had to attend St Meryl School as Little Furze wasn’t built.

    By Bill Brown (14/06/2012)
  • Pond Wood – behind the Police Station. Until a few years ago there was a very small pond left in Pond Wood but over the years the vegetation has grown over it. The larger pond which is probably the one you are refering to became part of the playing field at Oxhey Wood School, backing onto Pond Wood and the Police Station. This was shown in very early plans of the area as the Ox Pond. I worked at Oxhey Wood School for many years and when the weather was very dry in the summer there would always be a wet area along the side of the playground. There were many investigations into where the water was coming from but it was decided that it was underground water and probably connected with previous ponds in the area.

    By Susan Waller (20/04/2012)
  • Your description of a larger pond seems to fit in with my memory, did the plan you refer show an island, as some older boys one being David Ferguson built a canoe out of a wooden drinking trough, which capsized as they tried to board it, however, they made a boom from branches which stabilised it and rowed to the island. During the 1940’s we had 2 places to swim, one was an outdoor pool situated in King Georges recreation ground Bushey, which we could reach via the 5 Fields from Carpenders Ave to Merry Hill lane. The other being what was then known as ‘Blackwells’ lake, probably named by the Children who used it, never-the-less, both were extremely cold even in summer.

    By Arthur Hall (20/04/2012)
  • I enjoy these early memories, it stimulates the brain to jog memories. This page has done just that, the mention of a pond at the rear of the ‘Police Station’ surprised me as it is in the area where ‘Blackwell’s Lake’ was, which I thought had been filled in when building commenced. Perhaps, someone out there can confirm if this is the remains of the lake, as I can remember swimming in it, until Mr Blackwells Gamekeeper forbid it.

    By Arthur Hall (19/04/2012)