A triumphant Graham Taylor holds the Play-Off trophy aloft, flanked by Wembley heroes Nick Wright and Allan Smart. Picture: Action Images The
Watford Observer has teamed up with Watford Museum and its curator Sarah Priestley to take a journey back to the town’s past through items or places of historical significance. Watford are heading back to the top flight and this provides the perfect opportunity to remember the club s first promotion to the Premier League under in 1999; item 34 in our history of Watford in 50 objects is the Play-Off trophy. Sarah said: Graham Taylor had returned to manage the club for a second time and had achieved promotion from Division Two the previous season (now Division One as this was before the creation of the Championship).
The trophy Watford won in the 1999 Play-Off final against Bolton Wanderers hillingdontimes.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from hillingdontimes.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Watford Observer has again teamed up with Watford Museum and is delighted to showcase some pictures from its archive. This week’s image is of a small part of Watford that has now vanished named Meeting Alley. The museum’s volunteer archivist Christine Orchard said: “This narrow little lane ran from the High Street (almost opposite Market Street) through to Estcourt Road – roughly where the pedestrian crossing is at the back of Beechen Grove Church. “The scene seems so rural but was right in the middle of the town. Despite its central position many houses in this alley had little front gardens.
By Martin T Brooks
The Leavesden Asylum/Hospital and Annex in 1937 and, inset, historian and author Martin T Brooks. Photos courtesy Leavesden Hospital History Association During a recent conversation with Sarah Priestly, curator of Watford Museum and Watford Council heritage manager, the question came up, as it does when two or more history buffs gather together: Why do we spend so much time studying history/heritage? After all, it s just a bunch of old stuff . The answer to that question is most likely just as unique and personal as the history and heritage that makes up of the person trying to answer the question.
The bench commemorating Prince Philip s visit to Woodside in 1955. The
Watford Observer has teamed up with Watford Museum and its curator Sarah Priestley to take a journey back to the town’s past through items or places of historical significance. We ve reached item 33 in a history of Watford 50 objects and it is a wooden bench that commemorates the visit of Prince Philip to open Woodside Sports Arena in 1955. Sarah said: Watford has had wonderful leisure facilities over the years, from the lido at the River Colne providing early open air swimming to our modern leisure centres that are now back open for business. The arena was a new facility to be proud of and the Duke of Edinburgh was invited to open it on November 4, 1955.