A presentation on the history of the Jewish community of St Albans has taken place at Verulamium Museum.

It proved so popular that there was standing room only for some members of the nearly 100-strong audience, while others had to be turned away at the door at the event Thursday, December 5.

The presentation, one of the museum’s series of monthly lectures on aspects of the city’s past, was created by a history group of local Jewish community members in response to a request from the Museum of St Albans.

The event attracted not only local historians but also many present and former members of the city’s Jewish community, among them those who had contributed documents, photographs and memories that the group had drawn on to use in the liberally-illustrated talk.

Group facilitator Jackie Gess said: "We were quite overwhelmed at just how much interest this project has aroused.

"Because of this, we are now planning both to extend our researches and to repeat the presentation, hopefully with new material, during the coming year for the benefit of those who weren’t able to join us at our first outing.

"A transcript of the presentation is also being made available to the museum for its permanent collection."