Back in April 1975, it was 100 years ago almost to the day that three local newspapers subsequently incorporated into the Watford Observer, were published for the first time.

In the Watford Observer of April 18, 1975, celebrated local historian Percy Birtchnell wrote a piece for the paper marking the occasion. Here’s what he wrote.

“A century ago, on April 17, 1875, three local newspapers that were subsequently incorporated into the Watford Observer, were published for the first time.

“Not that there was much difference between the Berkhamsted Times, the Tring Telegraph and the Chesham News. After a few hundred copies had been run off for Berkhamsted, the title (and little else) was changed for the Tring paper, and then for the Chesham edition.

“The 80 Berkhamsted shareholders who financed the venture must have been proud of issue No 1. It consisted of eight pages (six, wide columns to the page) and over 40 advertisements filled the front page.

“Ezra Miller advertised a stock of 400,000 bricks; new milk from Willmott’s Dairy cost 3d per quart; Charles Kingham’s good currant cake was 6d per lb.; a rival baker, W J Warwicker, weighed bread on delivery and supplied hot rolls for breakfast at 8am.

“E.G. Page & Co., of the Northchurch tobacco works, supplied good shag at 3s 3d per lb; best Cuba cigars were 8s 6d per lb. If you had money to invest, it might or might not have been a good idea to bid for five freehold cottages at an auction sale; the total rental was £29.5s per annum.

“The two centre pages were devoted to local news, and the back page, half filled with railway timetables, also gave passenger fares for the four classes of travel – first, second, third and Parliamentary, the last being the famous penny a mile fare.”

The Parliamentary “penny a mile” fare may have been famous back in the 1870s – and indeed the 1970s – but I must confess to not being aware of it here in the early 21st Century. For those similarly baffled, it was apparently a product of the Cheap Trains Act of 1883 (oh that we had one of those today!) which obliged rail companies to operate a larger number of cheap trains.

Anyway, back to Mr Birtchnell’s article. It continues: “Pages 2, 3, 6 and 7 were devoted to national news printed in London for a large number of local newspapers. Huge, flat sheets were distributed to suburban and provincial newspaper offices for local news to be printed on the reverse side.

“At first the Berkhamsted, Tring and Chesham papers were wholly printed in London, but after a few months the contract was given to a Berkhamsted printer, who printed a four-page paper with no national news.

“The price was reduced to 1d this being maintained when an eight-page paper with even larger pages, one side printed in London, was printed on the reverse side by Mr F. J. King, whose press in Holliday Street, Berkhamsted, was powered by the steam engine of a sawmill next door.

“It is not known how many compositors worked for Mr King, handsetting four large pages and, of course, having to “dis” (distribute) every letter for the following week’s issue.

“But almost certainly Mr King did not use the cheap labour of girl compositors, one only nine years old, who worked for a Berkhamsted printer in 1851.

“It is interesting to recall that the second oldest newspaper printed in Hertfordshire came from the press of W McDowall at Berkhamsted in 1792-3. Started a little earlier at Aylesbury, the Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Herald consisted of four small pages, the price being 3½d.

“Whether a copy still exists is doubtful, but one must have been available to the writer of an article which appeared in the Berkhamsted Times in 1892, for he was able to quote from the news columns and state that Mr McDowall, the printer, also sold an ointment for sore throats and toothache medicine. A very versatile type, obviously.

“Long before their incorporation with the Watford Observer at the turn of the century [December 1902], the three papers appeared in a single edition under one long heading – the Berkhamsted Times, Tring Telegraph, Chesham News and advertiser for Herts, Beds and Bucks.

“To the delight of local historians, many copies of the paper are known still to exist.”

In the same edition of the Watford Observer [April 18, 1975] the paper looked forward, if that’s the right phrase, to the opening of Watersmeet in Rickmansworth High Street. Search for the venue online these days and it’s described as “an unusual auditorium for hire, featuring a hydraulic floor, changeable seating and orchestra pit.”

Even before it opened, many were doubting its future, as this report demonstrates.

“Invitations have now gone out for Rickmansworth’s royal event, the opening of Watersmeet by HRH Princess Alexandra on May 1. It is amazing that beyond the bounds of the town itself, few people in Three Rivers seek to know what or where is this civic leisure complex.

“Well, let me enlighten them. Watersmeet contains a 500-seater theatre, a small hall, restaurant facilities and bars and a few smaller rooms. It is situated in Rickmansworth High Street, next to Basing House, and has cost at least £500,000 to build.

“It is to be hoped that when the royal opening has taken place and the “honeymoon” period of bookings has elapsed, the hall will be well patronised and a programme of events mounted to cover all tastes and age groups in the district.

“That’s the PR side of the picture but what of reality?

“Frankly, there is a great deal of apprehension about the whole project.

“Watersmeet COULD become the great white elephant of Three Rivers Council; it COULD be as big a drain on the rates as Watford’s Palace Theatre, or it COULD become the focal point of the new authority and be a boon to many.

“Estimated losses in the region of £60,000 per year are now floating around and ratepayers of Three Rivers may yet rue the day Watersmeet became their civic showpiece.”