ANN - MY LOVE FOR WHEATHAMPSTEAD

My love for Wheathampstead started, when in 1974 whilst attending Townsend Girls School, I was involved in a Project for my Secondary School assignment. I chose WheathampsIead, a village 6 miles away but one that I had never visited.

My love for Wheathampstead started, when in 1974 whilst attending Townsend Girls School, I was involved in a Project for my Secondary School assignment. I chose WheathampsIead, a village 6 miles away but one that I had never visited.

I fell in love with it, the scenic Mill and River Lea running through the centre and then continuing under the bridge and on through the beautiful Meads, splitting the open fields in two. The historic Bull Inn, quaint shops, and friendly, helpful villagers that obviously proud and happy to live there.

I left school, went to live in London working as a trainee Hotel Manager for the Hotel Piccadilly whilst also attending Westminster College for 2 years. During this period, I learnt to enjoy city life before returning home to live in St Albans.

One night when at my Badminton Club I saw an advert to take part in a Free-fall parachute jump in Hereford. This was late 70`s long before it became a normal popular pass-time. My friends and family thought me mad, however that spurred me on - I was a fearless 21-year-old.

That week in May I started a new Job in the C-met Hotel, bought another car, and met my future husband during our introduction to Free-falling. He lived 220 miles away in Wheathampstead - what a coincidence. Two years later I too moved to Wheathampstead and have been there ever since. I try to be involved in village life and when our daughter was at St Helens School it was suggested that an After-School Club should be set up for the Beech Hyde and St Helens. This was formed, called WASPS (Wheathampstead After School Play Scheme). I was elected Chair and was 5 years in that role. I am pleased to say it is still very successful 25 years later, even running a Holiday Club as well. Many of the staff we employed at the start are still there.

My career and family needs took over for many years so I had less time for village activities but I still walked across the Marford playing fields enjoying the local scenery - only 5 mins walk from home - I can see horses, sheep, cows, Shetland ponies, geese, ducks and even the odd grass snake. The beautiful clear river, usually on sunny days, full of children playing and the occasional dog cooling off. It is a picture I treasure.

In the last 5 years I have worked at Bradford and Howley part time as a viewing expert, giving up the full-time career that I had, which has allowed me time to rejoin village life.

I have been President of Wheathampstead W.I for the past 4 years. We have over 40 members enjoying excellent talks and trips to the Theatre. As we have our own hall (the Mead Hall) which we also let. This takes up quite a bit of our time, ensuring we are complying with all legislation and maintaining the Hall to a high standard. Last year I had to oversee the largest project yet, having the hall’s outer walls re-cladded in Pvc, having been built in 1919 of wood the building duly needed our attention. I am pleased to say that it looks smart and hopefully will last another 100 years.

I have been Chair of the 1st Wheathampstead Scouts group for 1 year with over 100 girls and boys in Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Explorers, all who come from the village. The clubs are run by excellent volunteers. We have another 100 on a waiting list, unfortunately we do not have enough volunteers to open new groups, but we are working on it.

The skills children gain from these groups are life long and I am proud to be helping them achieve these. Last week there was a Zoom meeting for all Scout groups across the country, 9200 attended the meeting, fantastic in this difficult time, many groups are holding Zoom meetings to interact with the children.

I have always been interested in the property market, in my project a house on Granary Close sold for £18,100 in 1974 there is one for sale now £525,000 - good investment.

Our village offers so much for all, beautiful and varied walks with several cafes offering pavement seating and sandwiches for travelers, lots of clubs for all ages, Community Group who help all those in need. Several excellent restaurants, pubs, and shops.

We have two churches for the two major religions, the oldest being St Helens Church 13th Century. We also have two Primary Schools and one private school for girls and an excellent large Doctor's Surgery.

In my School Project, which I mentioned at the beginning of this article, I said that the inhabitants are very proud of their village, seeped in history with extremely beautiful countryside and this brings in many visitors to this quaint village. This was true then and continues to be true now.