Had a letter from Rob this week, enclosing the above photograph.

Rob (he didn’t give his surname), lives in Solihull and writes:

“I thought you might like to see the enclosed photo for your paper – a seasonal reminder of times past at Watford football club in approx 1976.

“Multi award-winning photographer Mike Maloney, then chief snapper at the Daily Mirror, asked me to dress up as Santa Claus and place myself on the terraces while he photographed from the opposite side of the ground.

“The crowd loved it on this cold December day. Sadly I can’t remember who Watford’s opponents were but the stadium was packed.

“Who are the other people in the photo and where are they now, some 35 to 40 years later? Perhaps a reprint of the photo in your paper would generate much interest and memories.”

So. Over to you. Can anyone reading this see themselves in the picture? Perhaps you were one of those standing around Santa and wondering what on earth was going on? Please write to let us know.

 

You may recall a few weeks ago, the strange tale of the tiny edition of the Watford Observer.

To cut a long story short, we received a small copy of the paper from March 1963 and I asked through these pages whether anyone else had one and if anyone knew what they were for.

 Soon after the paper came out, I was contacted by Mrs Ellis who did indeed have a copy of the “tiny” edition, but hers was a different date to the one we showed in the column. Hers was dated May 9, 1958, rather putting the skids under my idea that the edition was, coming as it did in the Watford Observer’s 100th year, something to do with the centenary celebrations.

Then, just a few hours later, reader Mark Thatcher came into the office with the same edition Mrs Ellis had – but Mr Thatcher remembered it was bought at a special “expo” type event at Watford Town Hall.

It sounds as if the Watford Observer had a table at certain events and had a number of these little papers made to give away, perhaps in a “goodie” bag with other items. They’re certainly very cute.

If anyone has any more ideas on this subject, please let me know.

 


While I’m picking your brains, a few requests from readers next. I’ve had an email from Fiona Kearns, who is trying to find out about a former football team.

She writes: “Do you have any information about whether Callow Land FC still exists or if it survived under another name?

“I have a picture of Callow Land Reserves FC in 1913-14 when they were runners-up in the Watford and District League Division II. If the club or a new incarnation of the club exists, I would be happy to donate the photo for their archive.

“The players and officials named are H A Gravestock, W Gettens, A Humphreys (Captain), T F Goodman, F J Nicholson, P Avers, E Brooks (Trainer), J W Griffiths, A L S Hobbs (Hon Sec), S G Hill, F C Hill (Chairman), R G Hardy.”

She continues: “I hope we can send the photo to its rightful home.”

If anyone knows what happened to the club – maybe it merged with another? – please could they let us know.

 

Another appeal for information next, this time from France. Lucjan Sniadower has written from Paris.

“I am looking for photos, letters and other documents of Kate Zuk-Skarszewska (1868-1950), who died on August 29, 1950 in Napsbury Hospital near St Albans. She was an author, journalist and translator of Polish literature into English.

“She was a widow, had no children. From 1945 until 1950 she lived in Watford. Her sister Ellen Elizabeth Cooper (1874-1958) and her husband, Richard Samuel Cooper, lived at 45 Monmouth Road in Watford and took care of her. They had a daughter, married name White, and two sons. Kate and Ellen Elizabeth’s maiden name was Hadley.

“I would be grateful if anyone knows any more concerning Kate.”

Any information you can give Lucjan, I’ll forward. Just send it to Nostalgia at the usual addresses.

 

We’re going even further afield for this next one – Australia. Jennie Little writes: “I live in Australia and am trying to locate my eldest cousin and/or the descendants of his younger brother who probably don’t even know I exist. My cousin is elderly and I believe has spent his adult life in Watford.

“He was born Brian Donald Lewis Dunbar in 1933 in Calcutta, to Nigel Gordon Dunbar and Phyllis Claire Hancock. His younger brother, Ronald Clarence Gordon Dunbar, was born in 1934 and died in 2001. He also lived in Watford.

“My father was their elder half-uncle, Denis Fitzsimmons Dunbar (b. 1903) and I believed the younger family cousins/members born in Calcutta and now in the UK were unaware of his existence.

“When we reach our latter years we often yearn to find our family connections. Will you please help?”

She signs the letter “Jenny Little (née Denise Elizabeth Dunbar).”

 

Finally, back to Europe, this time Germany. Berlin student Michael Dimitrijevic is researching the lives of students and members of the university staff – including their families – during the period 1933 to 1945. As a result of this, he has discovered Ernst Werner Fuchs, born on June 10, 1924, in Berlin, moved to Great Britain as a boy.

Jewish by origin, his father was a well-known lawyer and public notary in Berlin from the early 1920s until Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party took over political control in January 1933.

Ernst Werner Fuchs seems to be the only member of his family who survived Nazi terror and was not murdered like his parents and two siblings.

He seems to have attended Sherborne School in Dorset from 1939 to 1940 and later changed his name to Robert Edgar Harvey. During the Second World War he was a trooper in the Royal Inniskilling Dragoons and was wounded. By 1965 he is listed as working as assistant advertising manager for Bertram Mills’ Circus and living at 81 Compton Place, Carpenders Park.

There, Michael’s research comes to a stop. He writes: “My intention is to donate a so-called ‘Stolperstein’ to be placed in front of the house where he and his family lived in Berlin.

“The Stolperstein (stumblestone) is to commemorate all victims of Nazi persecution in front of their last chosen place of residence, thus symbolically returning them to their neighbourhood.

“By now more than 5,000 Stolpersteine have been laid in Berlin alone. As you can imagine, I would be pleased to invite any surviving member of his family to assist in the laying of the Stolperstein.”

Can anyone help Michael find out any more? If you can, please get in contact via the box below and I’ll pass your information on.