Guard of honour for civic service procession in Dunstable

The Mayor, pictured alongside the bewigged figure of town clerk Jack Smith, is Alderman Tommy Sandland, a popular personality who was first citizen of the borough between 1949 and 1951.

The procession is passing between a guard of honour and is about to turn left into the old Victoria Street Methodist Chapel (out of picture).

This, since 1967, has been a Catholic Church for the Polish community, dedicated to Our Lady of Czestochowa.

The building was erected in 1862 for a congregation which had previously met in a chapel on the corner of the lane leading from Edward Street to Princes Street.

The houses on the right are substantially unchanged today, although a new house has been inserted in the gap where trees once grew. This, very helpfully, bears the date 2007 on its frontage.

Other modern buildings now stand at the end of Victoria Street, on the left. Priory Gate offices occupy the corner site.

Next door, the old Victoria social club is now The Gate function hall.

> Yesteryear is compiled by John Buckledee, chairman of Dunstable and District Local History Society.