‘My fair lady’ touch

Watford’s spanking new Cassiobury College of Further Education in Langley Road has much to offer – including classes in window dressing and hairdressing. But steady on, housewives, don’t rush! The classes in coiffure are strictly for those already training in the profession, not for the “do-it-yourself” brigade.

[October 4, 1968]

Football fans have a real problem

Strangers to Watford, who come to see their home team play at Vicarage Road, have great difficulty in finding Watford football ground, according to Alderman E.T. Amey at Watford Borough Council on Monday. “For a stranger it is in rather a remote part of the town,” he said. He was backed up by Councillor Harry Price, who remarked that it was obvious to anyone living near Watford Junction Station that two or three signs were needed. “I can’t think of any other attraction in the town to which people come from miles away,” said Alderman W.C. Lodder.

[October 4, 1968]

An historic era closes

With clockwork military precision, the Royal Observer Corps, No. 5 Group, Cassiobury Drive, Watford, was closed down on Saturday afternoon by Air Commodore D.F. Rixon. Commenting on the sadness of the occasion, Air Commodore Rixon told the Mayor that it was planned to use the building in future for training and special courses. “By increased efficiency, we shall be able to continue to provide that warning and monitoring service without which millions of lives might be lost in the event of nuclear attack,” he said.

[October 4, 1968]

Watford’s cadets get new HQ

Sunday afternoon saw the official opening in Tolpits Lane, Watford, of the new headquarters of the Watford detachment of the 4th Cadet Regiment of the Territorial Army. After assembling higher up Tolpits Lane, the boys, led by the band of Shenley Cadets, and with their ranks swelled by cadets from St Albans, Hemel Hempstead and Potters Bar detachments, marched to the parade ground beside the headquarters for the presentation of the keys.

[October 4, 1968]

Francis Combe School opened

Former Herts Education Officer, Sir John Newsom, declaring Francis Combe’s “reorganised” school open on Thursday, noted that the word “comprehensive” is a dirty word in the county. Chairman of governors, Mrs D. Pratt, said that Francis Combe was the first school in Hertfordshire to be recognised as an all-ability school.

[October 11, 1968]

Now it’s posting by code!

Postal coding, to accelerate sorting and delivery of the mail, will be introduced into the Watford area on Monday. First three characters of the code represent the town – e.g. WD1, WD2 and WD3 for Watford, according to district. The next three characters represent the road, part of a road, or even individual big firm. The postcode renders no one anonymous! On the contrary, it should be added in clear block capitals below the address, and not used as a substitute for it.

[October 18, 1968]

One little pill

It is amazing how a tiny lump of chemical paste has attracted such widespread attention. Since its inception the contraceptive pill has been cited as responsible for many womanly ailments, as a potential danger to morality, and now as the cause of great dissent within the Roman Catholic Church. And, of course, with all this interest it has come to the attention of the film makers. Yes, starring alongside Deborah Kerr and Joyce Redman at the Odeon next week is a tiny little fella called Thenol. He joins the cast when he plays the title pill in “Prudence and the pill”. The film comes from a novel by Hugh Mills, who based his book on a newspaper report that a young girl had been swapping her mother’s birth pills for Aspirins.

[October 18, 1968]

Ovaltine moving from London?

The manufacturers of Ovaltine, A. Wander Ltd, want to close down their London head office and make their Station Road, Kings Langley factory the administrative headquarters for all their business, including £3.5million export trade to 160 overseas countries. An inspector of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government heard this during the company’s appeal on Thursday against the Watford Rural Council’s refusal to grant them planning permission to adapt an existing outbuilding to offices.

[October 18, 1968]

No change in school hours

Watford Road Safety Committee’s appeal for a variation in the morning attendance times at local schools to avoid the necessity for children travelling in darkness during the shortest days of winter seems to be meeting with no response. Cllr C. Braybrooke told members that Victoria Girls’ School had decided to take no action. This, he said, was because any alteration would have created other problems – particularly relating to transport schedules – which it would be almost impossible to resolve.

[October 25, 1968]

New school opened

Rickmansworth traffic ground to a halt on Saturday afternoon to make way for a 400-strong procession headed by the Bishop of Willesden and various clergy. Their destination was the completed new Rickmansworth St Mary’s Church of England Primary School at Juniper Hill. The building of the ultramodern designed school has been phased over the past eight years and recently an assembly hall and outdoor heated swimming pool with changing rooms have been added to the school.

[October 25, 1968]