This article was written by Daphne Boskey and was originally published by Oxhey Village Environment Group in the December 2015 newsletter.
Footnotes with additional information are available after Daphne’s article.
When I got married and moved into Villiers Road in 1968, Oxhey Village did not exist. It was Old Oxhey – to differentiate it from Oxhey Hall (where I’d come from) and, more particularly, South Oxhey. It was a suburb of Watford, a good commuter base.
However, it did have a community spirit – in some cases quite literally as there were then three pubs in Villiers Road and the Haydon Arms in Lower Paddock Road – not to mention the three in the station end of Aldenham Road, two on Watford Heath and the Wheatsheaf the other side of the Arches. Many of the people living there then were getting older and had been there often since marriage and, in some cases, since birth. They knew each other and looked out for each other.
There was also the new generation of which we were a part – moving in after marriage and having children – most of whom went to Oxhey Infants (as it was then) and then on to Bushey Manor, as now.
My in-laws lived opposite us and my Mother-in-Law, Phyllis Boskey – well known to many here – was a member of Watford Heath Residents Association. I can’t remember us having joined it but it was supposed to look after the interests of people living in our community. However, not many people bothered to join or take part in its activities and it was gradually dying on its feet.
Into this void stepped Bunny Hensby. Bunny had moved into Grover Road in 1957 after visiting her sister, Amy Horwood, who owned the grocery shop next door to what is now a Kebab shop (then a fish & chip shop) in Villiers Road. Bunny was a professional dressmaker by trade and ran her own business for a while before becoming a lecturer at the London College of Fashion. She had also always been a political activist. She was a councillor in London and a founding member of the SDP. She also campaigned for gender equality and tackled the Duke of Edinburgh about opening up his award scheme to girls.
Bunny recalled her memories of starting OVEG in an article for Oxhey Village Environment Group.
Bunny organised a public meeting for anyone interested in being a part of this new group and it was held in the Galahad Room at Bushey & Oxhey Methodist Church on 28th February 1975. There were about 40 people there and it got quite animated. Bunny took the chair and explained what her vision was for Old Oxhey and for the new group. One of the big questions was how this new group would relate to the Watford Heath Residents Association – was it in competition or were its aims totally different. However, eventually it was agreed that a committee should be formed and Bunny asked for nominations for chairman – there was no argument over that and she was told to stay where she was.
I said that, while I didn’t want the full responsibility of being Secretary, I was prepared to be assistant to anyone else who was prepared to do it. Sue Boulter, who lived opposite us and had two children the same age as ours (I think still lives in Villiers Road) said that she would be prepared to do it and we did the job between us for some time. Geoff Greenstreet, then a local councillor, also came on the committee as chairman and council liaison and my husband Raymond also joined. The only other person I can remember is Sue Kelly who is still on the committee today.
We had our first committee meeting in the front room of Bunny’s little cottage in Grover Road where we discussed what we were going to do. It was agreed that there would be regular meetings for all members and that events would be planned. We had a visit from the Watford Observer who took a group photo and interviewed us for an article in the paper. I remember Gwen Dargeville was the chief reporter for the paper at that time and she lived (and possibly still does) in Upper Paddock Road, so she did a lot to help us.
During our meeting the name of the group was discussed. I suggested that perhaps it would be better if we could have a name that people could make a word from its initial letters and suggested Oxhey Village Environment Group – OVEG. Everyone liked this and so Oxhey Village was born.
The first job was to make people aware of the new group and get new members – at 25p a year it wasn’t exactly expensive. It was decided that we would set up our stall outside the Post Office on Saturday morning to catch the local shoppers and I have here a photo of Bunny with Raymond at their little table signing people up.
One of the first campaigns was to get the name of the green in Paddock Road changed to Oxhey Green and the first Village Fayre was held there in May 1975. It was a great success with dancing led by the Brownies round a maypole that we borrowed from a school in Harrow. There was music from the Boys Brigade, a procession round the site and dancers from the Balmoral Highland School of Dancing and Oxhey Infants. The event was officially opened by the Mayor and Mayoress of Watford and the photos show them being presented with little bunches of flowers by our son and daughter – then aged just under four and two. I must give credit to Geoff Greenstreet over this event – he worked tirelessly to get it all set up and made sure that everything went smoothly.
In order to publicise the Group to a wider Watford audience we decided to enter a float in that year’s Watford Carnival. At that time we had a VW motorised caravan so we used that as our base vehicle.
We then took a folding paste table and attached it to the front to make a V-shape with OXHEY VILLAGE ENVIRONMENT GROUP posters on both sides. It looked very amateurish but it did the job. We had to be up very early as we had to be at the starting point in North Watford (down Bushey Mill Lane if I remember rightly) by 10.00am. As we didn’t move off till about 12.00pm it was a long morning with two small children – thank goodness we had a cooker and could make a cup of tea. The route took about three hours to cover, ending up in Cassiobury Park in the fairground.
We weren’t heavily involved with the Group for long as in 1976 we became members of St John Ambulance which took up a lot of our time. We stayed members however until we moved to Bushey in 1983, attended many of the regular meetings and always made time for the OVEG Fayre.
Further information
Sue Kelly
Daphne mentions Sue Kelly, who was indeed still a member of the OVEG committee at the time of writing, in 2015. Sadly, Sue passed away in 2021 and remains greatly missed by the committee and wider community.
Bunny Hensby
Read more about OVEG founder Bunny Hensby, in her own words, in the article, ‘How it all started.’
You must be logged in to post a comment.