YESTERYEAR 2008
A selection of images from our popular weekly Yesteryear feature in the Luton News.
The Top Hatters concert party in a pre-Christmas performance of carols on the steps of Luton Town Hall in 1950.
Railway enthusiasts turned out in force when the famous Flying Scotsman locomotive arrived at Luton station on a 400-mile steam special mystery trip on February 22, 1969. No. 4472 had been retired by British Rail in 1963.
Sir Robert Fossett Circus elephants parading through Luton town centre to Stockwood Park in June 1968.
Opening day of the Bath Road outdoor pool in Luton in June 1935.
Lord Kitchener was at Luton Hoo on September 29, 1914, to review men of the North Midlands Division soon after the start of World War One. He inspected troops and witnessed a Yeomanry exercise, after which he said he was well pleased with what he had seen.
It was all hands to the pumps at Kenilworth Road in December 1952 to clear the Luton Town pitch for a Division Two match against Doncaster Rovers. Hatters players, including Pye, Dunn, Cullen, McJarrow, Davies, Jones and Watkins, did their bit to remove heavy snowfall. A crowd of 15,258 turned up to see the Hatters lose 2-1 to the Yorkshire side.
Land Girls helping to thresh grain at Grange Farm, near Sharpenhoe, in March 1945.
This derelict building that stood at the corner of Hastings Street and Stuart Street had for 200 years seen the production of some of the finest horse-drawn carriages ever seen in Luton. Mayes Bros had made everything from coaches for the gentry to grocers' and bakers' carts. The building, opposite the former King Street Congregational Church, was being demolished in 1958.
Cresta House, on the site of the former Cresta cinema/theatre/ballroom at the bottom of Alma Street, under construction in 1962. The picture, taken from the roof of the then new Central Library, also shows the former Luton News offices and the rear of the Crown & Anchor pub at the junction of Bridge Street and New Bedford Road.
An earthmover crosses Dunstable Road near the Luton and Dunstable Hospital during construction of the new Junction 11 flyover in October 1958.
Worshippers gathered in the partly built St John's Methodist Church at the junction of Birdsfoot Lane and Barton Road, Luton, for stone-laying ceremonies in June 1962. Work had begun on the 26,000 building, designed to seat 150 people, in the previous April and was expected to be completed before the end of the year.
The band of the 2nd Battalion, the Bedfs and Herts Regiment, pictured after its arrival at Luton station and prior to playing a musical role at the opening by Queen Mary of the new Luton and Dunstable Hospital in February 1939. A new station complex was being built to replace the old single-storey Victorian building, far left.
Some of the first wave of evacuee children from London to arrive in Luton at the outbreak of war in September 1939. They are pictured leaving the station, where they had arrived by special train, to board buses to take them for boarding with local families.
The old Court House built adjoining the former police station in Dunstable Place in 1856 pictured as it was being demolished in January 1937.
An undated picture, previously published in 1962, of buses outside the former Wardown Garage that stood near the Bide-A-While gardens in New Bedford Road, Luton.
Everything stops for tea. In 1958 Vauxhall workers consumed 1,000 gallons of tea a day during their 10-minute breaks. Despite critics saying it was one of the traditions that was damaging British industry, Vauxhall experts found no evidence of that and believed the tea break actually help to improve production.
Young swimmers of Luton High School who achieved 100 per cent success in gaining Royal Life Saving Society awards in July 1958.
Children fishing for tiddlers at Leagrave Marsh recreation ground during their summer holidays in 1955.The former Three Horseshoes pub is in the background.
Nearby, youngsters crowd on a roundabout with the original Marsh Farm buildings in the background.
A new fourth platform under construction at Luton's Midland Road station in March 1959
Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire Major Simon Whitbread declared open the 35,000 Sir Herbert Janes Village at Leagrave on June 9, 1958. Some of the first 64 residents are pictured. Bungalow rents were 10 shillings a week rent for a single person or 12 shillings and sixpence for a couple.
Melting snow and heavy rain caused floods around the Luton area in March 1937, including in Putteridge Road where a car is seen trying to make its way towards Stopsley village.
St Andrew's Church choristers lead the Bishop of St Albans, the Rt Rev E. M. Gresford Jones, along Blenheim Crescent to the opening ceremony of the new parish hall by the Duke of Bedford on April 4, 1959.
Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire Lieut-Col D. C. Part inspecting members of 249 Field Squadron Royal Engineers (TA) after handing over their new headquarters in Marsh Road, Leagrave, on September 10, 1955.
Luton Girls Choir entertaining a cinema audience at the Savoy in George Street, Luton, on New Year's Eve 1952. The choir had had to contend with a noisy crowd but as the chimes of Big Ben rang out everyone was in good voice to sing Auld Lang Syne and welcome in 1953.
Queen Bluebell, alias Maureen Fordham, on her way to being crowned 1951 May Queen at Hitchin Road School. She was wearing a dress that had been passed down each year with a new flower embroidered on it.
The first trams to run on the Luton network preparing to leave the Park Street depot on February 21, 1908. It had taken just four months to construct the six miles of tracks that linked the town centre with Round Green, Wardown Park, London Road and the former laundry, near Kingsway.The trams ran until April 1932, when they were replaced by buses.
Vauxhall Motors let the train take the strain for its export vehicles for the first time in January 1958. Three special trains were loaded with 138 Victors in the goods yard near Luton's Midland Road station for the journey to Newcastle upon Tyne, from where they would be shipped to the USA and Canada.
A second view of the Victors being loaded on to the railway trucks.
This 16th or 17th century thatched cottage stood in Compton Avenue, Leagrave, until the 1980s. In May 1981 it was branded unfit for human habitation and stood empty until a public inquiry in 1983 heard that it was a "dangerous structure" and should be demolished. Soon afterwards it was taken down by volunteers and reassembled at the Chiltern Open Air Museum at Chalfont St Giles, where it now stands.
Monday, March 24, 1958, and work begins on the construction of the London-Yorkshire motorway, now known as the M1. Transport Minister Harold Watkinson sounded a hooter that sent 5 million pounds worth of the latest construction equipment into action to construct the first 70 miles of motorway. The M1 was officially opened by later Transport Minister Ernest Marples on November 2, 1959.
TV heart-throb Peter Wyngarde, best known for his role as agent Jason King in a 26-episode espionage series in 1971, drew a large crowd when he opened the new Woolworths store in the Arndale Centre on Thursday, November 8, 1973. Woolworths, which had previously had stores in George Street, ended its presence in Luton in March 2008.
Thousands of pounds worth of damage was caused when a major fire broke out at the Skefko factory in Leagrave Road on Wednesday, March 30, 1938. The blaze was spotted at 6am by workshop employees and it quickly spread along the roof of 'B' factory. Despite the danger of exploding oil tanks, no-one was injured.
Because of the Skefko fire, traffic was diverted from Leagrave Road along Biscot Road. That allowed crowds of onlookers to gather, as here on the corner of Norman Road, with the now demolished Rendez-Vous cafe and adjoining buildings in the background.
The tower of the former Christ Church, left, is the clue to the location of this picture taken in November 1957. It shows the demolition of the former doctor's house and surgery at the junction of Upper George Street and Stuart Street to make way for offices that now house the Luton News, Dunstable Gazette and Herald & Post. Dr James Robertson had lived there until he retired three years earlier, holding daily surgeries since 1909. Two previous doctors had occupied the premises before him.
A second view of the demolition work on Dr Robertson's former home and surgery with shops in a then very narrow Stuart Street in the background.
The now vanished Bute Street station in Luton had been in use for 100 years when this picture was taken in 1958. The 5.5 mile line from Luton to Dunstable had opened to freight in April 1858 and to passengers a month later. Regular passenger services ended when the last 'Skimpot Flyer' ran on April 24, 1965, although the Dunstable line continued to be used by freight trains for some years more. The main line Midland Road station in Luton, linking London with Bedford and the north, did not open to passenger traffic until 1868.
Hatters fans at Wembley on Sunday, April 24, 1988, to cheer their team on to a dramatic and never-to-be-forgotten 3-2 win over Arsenal in the Littlewoods Cup final.
Fred Roper's "25 Famous Wonder Midgets" arrive at Luton railway station in March 1938 prior to performing in their show Lilliputia at the Grand Theatre in Luton. The group had just returned from an 18 month tour of South Africa.
Construction work going ahead on the final phase of the new Luton College of Technology in 1958. Buses are negotiating the Park Square traffic island in the background.
A workman's train on the Luton-Dunstable line crosses a temporary bridge over the initial cutting that would eventually be widened to allow the M1 motorway to pass under the line. Workmen had lifted the track, created the cutting, built the bridge and relaid the track within 31 hours between 11.30pm on Saturday, May 10, 1958, and early the following Monday morning, when this picture was taken.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Luton
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Light snow
Temperature: -1 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: -6 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: South east
