Most of the council election posters in Bushey urging the public to vote for the non-party candidates, namely Messrs Bridges, Kipling, Mellor and Stokes, in the Bushey Urban District Council elections and stating that they were Bushey’s Keenest Men for Service were altered on Friday evening.

Someone pasted the letter ‘M’ over the letter ‘K’ making the poster read: Bushey’s Meenest Men for Service. Mr Stokes succeeded in removing most of the offending letters.

[From the Watford Observer of April 7, 1939]

A Bushey student of Kohinoor Avenue, was fined £1 for disorderly behaviour on Wednesday, He was said to have sat down on the edge of a westbound platform at St James’s Park underground station and “dangled his legs over the track while reading a newspaper.” The student pleaded guilty, saying he did it for a joke.

[From the Watford Observer of April 13, 1951]

Watford Mosque, which opens with formal prayers tomorrow, Thursday, has been carpeted exactly the same way as the gold-domed mosque in London’s Regent’s Park – thanks to an Arab sheik.

He is Sheik Salani, a Saudi Arabian businessman, who has made the largest individual donation to the mosque.

The carpet, made in Stourport, Worcestershire, is one of three specially woven for mosques in this country.

It has a beige background and is patterned in blue in the shape of Moslem prayer mats.

The mosque, with its green dome and its minaret, has brought a distinctive Islamic touch to the town. The minaret is, however, only an architectural feature, since in this country it is not permitted for the muezzin to call people to prayer.

[From the Watford Observer of April 24, 1985]

Hopes President Jimmy Carter of the United States would visit Watford, home of a link with his ancestors, during his visit to this country in May have been dashed.

Watford Council were told by the county archivist that President Carter’s ancestors were likely to have had some connection with Carters living in Watford in the 16th Century.

Watford Council understood from what they had read in the national newspapers the President intended to visit this country in May and intended to travel outside London when he came, so they got in touch with the Prime Minister’s Office to see whether there was any likelihood of the President visiting the Watford area.

At the council meeting on Tuesday, however, chief executive Mr Bruce McMillan, announced they had been advised by 10 Downing Street the programme for President Carter’s visit made it unlikely.

[From the Watford Observer of April 15, 1977]

Plans are afoot to make Watford FC a household word all over the world. Negotiations are well advanced to link the club and their superstar chairman Elton John to a worldwide advertising campaign with the football club collecting the proceeds.

Plans for the £250,000 deal are so far advanced the Hornets are calling in architects and surveyors to design a substantial social-and-sports complex and their Vicarage Road ground.

The complex, which it is hoped will be completed in the 1978-79 season, will contain a banqueting hall, gymnasium and “a magnificent social club”.

Elton John, playing his cards close to his chest, declined to reveal the nature of the massive sponsorship scheme but his manager and fellow Watford director John Reid has made several flights to the United States in relation to the deal.

“I have always dreamed of a large social club at Watford. It won’t be a scanty social club. It will be magnificent,” said the Watford chairman.

And the deal, believed to be with universal firms, could produce further revenue for the club, if the Football League give the go-ahead to playing shirt endorsements.

The potential is such that Watford are already looking into the possibility of bringing their floodlighting up to the standard required for colour television coverage.

[From the Watford Observer of April 22, 1977]

Seven young men and two girls, their ages ranging from 17 to 20 years, spent a cold and rainy Friday night beside the flowerbed in the Watford High Street precinct.

They were CND [Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament] supporters, braving the cold night air and teeming rain to observe the 25-hour fast, one of the concluding events of the Northern Home Counties Region CND “We Shall Overcome” activities.

A silent vigil in support of the fast went on through Saturday afternoon, again in pouring rain.

But the campaign was not all silent. Various officers of CND groups, including the Watford secretary Mr David Picton and the chairman, the Rev Edward Charles, gave speeches. In the evening a wreath – “In pledge of our determination it shall never happen again” – was laid at the Peace Memorial Hospital.

[From the Watford Observer of April 16, 1965]

Gade Avenue still retains its unenviable reputation as Watford’s Quagmire No. 1. What the residents are saying about the town council is interesting but not suitable for publication.

[From the Watford Observer of April 4, 1936]

Watford Junction, the stopping point for British Rail’s speedy inter-city services to and from the Midlands, may look like a mini-Euston station within the next few years – shops, kiosks, cafeterias, superloos, the lot.

British Rail sources say the facelift, costing at least £1 million, could begin by 1980. It is understood a new bus bay at the station approach is also included in the plans.

The Junction, which even railmen label a “Victorian monstrosity” handles up to 200 people a day using inter city services. At least 17 inter-city trains stop at Watford during the morning.

And during a peak four-week period last year, well over 192,000 passengers used the station.

Said Bob Long, deputy station manager at Watford Junction: “A transformation for the Junction can’t come soon enough for us.”

[From the Watford Observer of April 29, 1977]

These stories conclude the Nostalgia column first published in the Watford Observer on April 25, 2014. The next Nostalgia column can be found in this week’s Watford Observer (dated May 2, 2014 and available in newsagents now, priced 90p) or read online here from 4pm on Thursday.

If you have anything to add – or would like to tell us anything you think our readers may enjoy about Watford’s history – we are always pleased to hear from you. Contact Nostalgia, by clicking here watfordnostalgia@london.newsquest.co.uk