Mayor of St Albans visits Silver Threads Club (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)

Mayor of St Albans visits Silver Threads Club

11:35am Thursday 4th March 2010

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THE Mayor of St Albans brought a touch of history to the Silver Threads Club in Sandridge during a recent visit.

Councillor Chris Oxley, along with John Hills the Mace Bearer, gave a talk on mayoralty, the mayoral regalia and the historic mace.

Kate Burrow, who is aged 101 and has been involved in farming the same farm in the village for many decades together with her late husband, son and grandson, is still a keen member of the club.

As well as informing them on aspects of mayoral history he learned about the excitement caused during the war when a military glider came away from the plane which was towing it and landed on Nomansland Common, where people would go to picnic and pick wild raspberries.

He also had a sharp reminder about the comparative luxury of the modern homes we take for granted now when he was told that even in the late 1050s many homes did not have bathrooms or flushing toilets. In the summer boys were sent to Water End in Wheathampstead, now preserved as an old brick mansion, for their weekly bath.

The Mayor Councillor Oxley said: “We had a wonderful afternoon with the club members many of whom I meet regularly on the bus to St Albans.

“They were full of questions and stories. Many had lived through difficult times but were full of happy memories.”

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