The Local History Society organised competitions in order to capture memories of Harpenden "Before 1914" and "Before 1930". As well as helping us identify shops, they capture a child's view of the village and the expanding housing developments. Some of these comments have been added to other pages. Here we will include extracts from some of the competition entries. Please add your childhood memories here or in other parts of this website.
Other pages are about the schools and children's homes.
'The Third' have been Scouting since 1908
Started on the Common, still in Southdown Road
A Harpenden Child
Growing up near Batford Mill in the 1890s
Children's Country Holidays
315 children from inner London parishes
Early Days at Batford Nursery School
From Wartime Day Nursery to Ministry of Education Nursery School
Ken's Kingdom
Memories of life at the N.C.H, Highfield Oval, in the 1940s and 1950s
Memories of Harpenden, 1903 - 1914
Frank Richardson's reminiscences in 1979
More Memories of Harpenden's Childrens Home
Memories of Two NCH 'Sisters' from the 1940s to 1960s
National Children's Home
Moved to Harpenden in 1913 and offered employment training to orphaned boys and girls
Oggelsby's - the Blacksmiths at Southdown
My boyhood memories of the 1890s and 1900s
Old Elmfield School member
Fond memories of being a 'boarder' there!
Personal Memories
My Life in Southdown in the 1930s and 1940s
School Feasts in 1869
as reported in Harpenden Parish Magazine, August and September 1869
St John's School
Class of 1950 or 1951
St Margaret's, Crossway - a child's view
Miss Hazel Inglefield's reminiscences, written in the 1980s
The Straw Hat and Education
from the Parish Magazine August 1960
Were You a Farningham Boy transferred to Harpenden?
You would be welcome at the reunion on 20 September 2016