Wanted. Seven young ladies willing to be sawn in half. We guarantee to put them back together again.

This is the appeal Frank Godfrey, manager of Watford’s Palace Theatre, is making this week. He wants the girls, one for each performance, to take a “vital” part when the Magic Circle visit for the week beginning Monday, November 25.

“It makes things so much easier if you have them all ready,” he said. “People often show some reluctance to volunteer from the audience to be sawn in half.”

The sawing will take place, he added, in full view of the audience. The magician will use only two chairs, a board and, of course, a saw. “We really are serious about this,” Mr Godfrey said. “We really want these young ladies to help us. It is completely painless.”

[From the Watford Observer of November 15, 1963]

 

Traffic congestion is becoming so acute in Watford particularly at weekends, there is a danger of people going elsewhere to shop. Some, indeed, are already doing so.

Giving this warning at Wednesday’s “November Handicap” – the name chosen for Watford Chamber of Commerce’s annual banquet and dance – the Mayor (Councillor R.W. Gamble) added that the time is approaching when, by common consent, “parking in the High Street on Saturdays must be drastically restricted if not forbidden.”

He said: “There may be protests but the re-establishment of conditions in which people can shop in personal safety and comfort is ultimately in the interests of all.”

[From the Watford Observer of November 21, 1958]

 

A Kings Langley soldier serving in India writes expressing appreciation for the news of the old country he receives through the [Watford] “Observer”.

“Not only men from home places but many others from distant parts read and enjoy its contents (he writes) and by a system I use, I know that at least half-a-dozen men of different units read our copy and finally it goes to a hospital, where I am sure many of the boys who read it are cheered by the news it contains.”

Our correspondent, Sgt J Payne, whose home address is in Kings Langley, encloses some verses he dedicates to Friends of Mine but considerations of space prevent us printing them.

[From the Watford Observer of November 26, 1943]

 

The new Three Rivers District Council are to stick with their controversial name. The council have decided to keep the title despite a jibe from one member that the name conjured up visions of the Wild West.

Watford Rural member Edwin Nimme added the title brought “ridicule” on the councillors. He suggested their official regalia should be a cowboy hat and a six-shooter. But other members thought the title appropriate and better than the alternative – South-West Hertfordshire.

Mrs Barbara Brown said the new district, comprising Watford Rural, Rickmansworth and Chorleywood, consisted of settlements founded around three rivers. The council voted by a clear majority to keep the name Three Rivers.

[From the Watford Observer of November 28, 1925]