Trinkets made from “ladybird” beads – brightly coloured orange-red tropical beans with distinctive black markings – which contain a lethal poison, have been handed in at police stations in the area this week.

At Watford, said Dr A. Shaw, medical officer of health, they had received two sets of beads which fitted the description exactly. Another string of beads had been handed in at North Watford police station and in the Watford Rural area, a fourth set had been handed to the police at South Oxhey. Rickmansworth had received a further set.

There was no evidence, he said, that they had been imported into the area on a large scale commercially. “They came as presents,” he said. “They will be incinerated.”

[From the Watford Observer of June 2, 1972]

NOSTAGIA NOTE: The poison is abrin, a highly toxic toxalbumin which naturally occurs in the seeds of the rosary pea, a plant common to tropical regions. They are occasionally punctured to make beaded jewellery which can lead to poisoning if one is swallowed. There is no antidote.

 

Many of the streets in Watford were flooded during the very severe storm which broke over the town on Saturday afternoon. The rain was so torrential that the drains were unable to cope with the flow and water rose over the pavements in High Street and many other places. In some parts cyclists were obliged to dismount and motor vehicles went through rushing flood water over a foot in depth.

Watford must have been near the edge of the storm because Bushey Heath escaped very lightly and at Hatch End there was no rain at all.

[From the Watford Observer of June 18, 1937]

 

A professional has joined Cassio Operatic Society. Writer Brian Clemens, the man behind The Professionals and The Avengers series on television, has agreed to become president of the Watford amateur stage group. Clemens has a very important link with Cassio Operatic – he is married to its secretary Janet. In the past he has written material for their revue Watch This Space.

[From the Watford Observer of June 12, 1981]

NOSTALGIA NOTE: Brian Clemens OBE, who died in January aged 83, was responsible for hundreds of hours of escapist television entertainment, including such enduringly popular programmes as The Avengers, for which he wrote the pilot episode, and The Professionals, not to mention The Baron, The Persuaders, The Protectors and many, many more.

 

A climbing clematis has turned tightrope walker in order to see if the grass really is greener on the other side of the street.

The clematis in question is growing on the side of a house in Princes Avenue, Watford, and after scaling the wall, the rampant plant has started crawling along the telephone lines which span the street.

It may well be a question of trunk calls only in that neck of the woods if the crawling clem continues to thrive.

[From the Watford Observer of June 20, 1986]

 

Parking in Watford streets has reached bursting point with 76 per cent of the town’s roads being “overparked” every night. The figures were revealed this week from a survey carried out by Watford Borough Council in October.

The figure is a 10 per cent increase on the last survey carried out just two years previously.

Watford Borough Council officers said the increase was “significant” and showed the growing pressure for on-street parking spaces and increasing parking congestion.

Strict rules regarding parking for new buildings are now expected to be introduced to halt the growing tide of cars with nowhere to go at night.

Officers have suggested all new applications to turn buildings into flats and bedsits should provide on-site parking, even when spaces are available on the streets.

[From the Watford Observer of June 21, 1991]

 

Firemen from Watford could not resist a flutter when they received what they thought was a dead certainty for Wednesday’s 4.45pm race at Salisbury.

A group of them placed £1 each on Sister Kitty ridden by Joe Mercer after they were called to a fire underneath her horsebox in Water Lane, Watford, on Tuesday.

The fire started at around 5pm and two employees at the unemployment benefit office rushed out with an extinguisher. They soon put out the flames and took Sister Kitty for a walk round.

Sister Kitty, at 9-2, finished unplaced.

[From the Watford Observer of June 26, 1981]

 

Graphic new evidence has been presented to Three Rivers Council on the degree of popularity enjoyed by the recently-installed superloos.

It shows that in Abbots Langley, where the village superloo is more popular than any other in the district, just 27 people a day, on average, use it.

The figures also show that in Lower Road, Chorleywood, where there was stout resistance to the superloo, there is a mere dribble of visitors – just 16 a day.

In South Oxhey... people have propped the door open with sticks either as an attempt to avoid the 2p admission charge or else born of endemic fears that once locked into the superloo, the door may never open.

[From the Watford Observer of June 27, 1986]

 

Wanted: one large rubber duck. Must be seaworthy.

Not just large, but a genuine superduck, guaranteed to set eyes popping as it bobs across the Channel to France.

The pair who want to get the bird are Hemel Hempstead firemen Peter Fensom and Mick Baker who hope to sail beak-first to France for charity. They are asking a rubber dinghy company to make it for them, having found nothing more suitable than the average bathroom plaything. And just in case their duck expires in mid-Channel, they arranged a support launch.

“Charity walks are played out now,” said birdman Peter, who is 26, and will be weight-training in preparation. “I don’t think anyone has crossed the Channel in a rubber duck. We wanted to do something that would capture the public’s attention and raise a bit of a smile.”

[From the Watford Observer of June 22, 1973]

 

The Town Hall roundabout traffic lights were an expensive mistake, Watford Council has admitted. The lights, installed a year ago, cost £25,000 and have been scrapped.

The lights have never been used, other than for a number of control experiments.

The scheme was approved and financed by Hertfordshire County Council. The lights were to be switched on at peak periods to ease the traffic queues on the Hempstead Road approach to the roundabout.

[From the Watford Observer of June 28, 1985]