Interviewed by David and Susie Hunt (DH, SH)
Date: 06/03/2010
Transcribed by Susie Hunt
Hertford Oral History Group
Recording no. O 2010.2
Interviewee Mike Stanbridge (MS)
Date 6th March 2010
Venue 12 Grenville Avenue, Broxbourne
Interviewers David and Susie Hunt (DH, SH)
Transcribed by Susie Hunt
************** = unclear recording
[discussion] = untranscribed material
MS Now first of all I can remember Hoddesdon, circa 1955 had the main road that went past the clock tower, past the Pavillion Cinema, on the right taking two way traffic then and Nazing where we used to live became flooded completely around that time and Mr Sykes who owned the boats at the river, he got all his rowing boats out and rescued all the people around that area and the whole area was literally flooded. Going to Ware, erm, it hasn’t changed a great deal except that there was a private cinema on the left past the level crossing. It is now an arcade of shops. This structure was the original cinema and I have been working at Hertford at Longmores solicitors, at 24, Castle Street, Hertford, since April 1959. I’ve been travelling to Hertford quite a lot. Hertford then had a large bus terminal and I used to have to go by bus then. It is now Sainsburys {in fact it is Waitrose] has that area, mainly now. In Bull Plain there was an open walk through shopping arcade going straight to the bus station and also Hertford had the County Cinema opposite Tescos. And also The Castle Cinema on The Wash, and the great thing about Hertford then was there was no yellow lines or traffic wardens (laugh) and I think life then was calmer in Hertford.
Now moving on to Longmores, Solicitors at 24 Castle Street, as I said I started in 1959 as an office junior and the original building looks like a castle itself because it has got battlements and that was the offices and gatehouse to the original castle. Now at the back of Longmores there is a garden, and just by the garden we have our basement with a lot of archives down there and in 1959 I can remember that being flooded. They were quite worried about that because of danger to the documents and so forth and so they had some archaeologists that came and dug part of the garden up to find out why it was flooding and they actually found the remains of the castle’s soak away drainage system. They found flint areas under there that would fill up with water. They said they couldn’t do anything about that but that’s quite interesting because that came right from the castle itself. So that was quite intriguing.
Now regarding the office procedures in those days, of course, we didn’t have computers! (laugh) They had all manual typewriters then and the old fashioned dictaphones, and these were wired up. We had a toggle switch to every office. You could put the toggle switch down and talk to anybody in the offices. Many of these old items can be seen on the old 1940’s films on the television. There was a main room where all the typists were and that was quite noisy. Next to the typing pool there was a telephone system that was the very old fashioned system where a lady would sit on a desk and plug jack plugs into the unit to get through to the different people. At that time Longmores was quite involved in er, the assizes, the courts, and often the judge would come to the quarterly assizes with all his robes and they would stop all the traffic for that.
SH I want to ask you about Col. Longmore
MS That was John Longmore, Brigadier John Longmore. He was a fine old gentleman. He would come around to every office at Christmas and he would ask us how we were, have about half an hour chat with us and er, then give us a cheque, or cash, (laugh). Mr Longmore would really be the ambassador of Longmores and he would go round the different areas of Hertford trying to get business. There was also before him Elton Longmore I believe, and Philip Longmore, yes, a bit before my time and then of course, Nigel, John Longmore’s son. They were all very involved in the army, the military, then and very proud of it, and Mr Longmore would sometimes be seen in his regalia, with sword and military uniform. Quite interesting. Brigadier Longmore was a keen shooter and he would often encourage corporate shoots in the summer. Christmas he would bring in all the pheasants that he had shot! One of my duties was to take some of these pheasants, which were beginning to smell as gratuities to the banks and other firms (laugh).
Yes, Edward Williams. He was an interesting character. He had I believe a slight personality disorder because he woud get very very angry sometimes. He was in an office upstairs and it had a very large plate glass window, and sometimes if a client on the telephone annoyed him he would pick up the telephone and literally throw it through the window (much laughter!). It was one of my jobs with the office manager to go outside and pick up all the glass up. He was quite a fine fellow. I got on with him well, but clients would often get him very cross and he’d throw other things around the office like paperweights, so you had to duck!
SH The person I used to work for was Bertie Cull.
MS Ah! Bertie Cull
SH Edward Williams was his boss.
MS That’s right. Well, Bertie Cull was a man out of Dickens time. He even dressed like Dickens. A little stiff white shirt with a collar turned over at the edges. I always remember that because Bertie was so involved in his work. That’s all he lived for really. Get up and go to work. He said to me once that Oh I wish I didn’t have to eat. I wish someone would invent a pill that I could take and so I can carry on working.
SH He’d work till 2 o’clock in the morning and be back in the office by 7am!
MS Yes, that’s quite right. He was certainly a character. He had a brother Reg Cull
SH And Reg, who ran the sweet shop - now Gays - used to be Culls. They lived opposite Longmores at 23 Castle Street, so he didn’t have far to go back for his very quick lunch.or sleep. His sister kept house for them.
MS He was a very very thin man and hardly ate anything at all. We often used to have a little chat together. Sometimes I believe he got a bit irate. I don’t know if he did with you, did he?
SH He could get irate when I tried to do his filing! I was told very firmly that I was not to do the filing . He did his own filing thank you very much!
DH In piles all over the floor!!
SH Yes, in piles on the floor (laughter)
MS Something else I remember of him. He was quite interrested in people’s footsteps strangely. He said he could always tell who it was walking by his door by the type of footsteps!
SH And the other partners were Jim Bolton, Denis Clare.
MS Yes, Jim Bolton and Denis Clare. I think they are still alive. Jack Gailer? He died.
SH Yes, he had a very nice daughter. And then there was the office manager, Alan Andrews
MS Alan Andrews yes, Col. Andrews. A very nice man, When I first started at Longmores, in 1959, the end part of 1959, he asked me if I’d like to go and see some office equipment at Olympia. So we went in his car to South London and incredibly there was still bomb sites. Because I was querying some of the rubble and he said that’s bomb sites. The equipment we looked at was nothing like the equipment now, more like manual typewriters and dictaphones I believe we looked at. But a fine fellow. He also, because I think in his army days he was in intelligence and he was quite involved with boys clubs and he used to help the TA (army) and any boys that got into trouble he would advise them. The office manager before him I believe was called Mr Brookes, Alan Andrews I think in 1960 had appendicitis and erm, peritonitis as well and was in hospital for quite some time and Mr Brookes came back. He was quite a disciplinarian but I always got on with him quite well, Also at this time they had the sheriff’s office there and the under sheriff or one of his men would serve papers to certain companies, and it was quite intriguing because sometimes they would come back and say that they had trouble with some of the clients possibly suggesting they might get a punch on the nose! (laughter).
NIgel Longmore, he kept mainly to himself, generally I think. Erm, again I always got on quite well with him . He was again I believe an ambassador. He enjoyed going to clubs in London and some of the work came from London through him.
SH He got married....
MS He got married, yes, and...
SH I remember his wedding day! We all went and waved!
MS We did, yes! Two daughters yes, erm I remember the funeral service after he died, in church..I think probably half of Hertford turned out for that. Did you go to that?
SH No, I didn’t.
DH Was it at All Saints Church?
MS Yes...
SH We knew it had happened. I don’t now know why we didn’t go but...
MS Of course, over the years, business has changed a lot. Procedures have changed. With the internet and so forth.
SH With the advent of computers
MS Yes, computers. The snag I think now compared with then is everybody wants things done immediately where there was less urgency then. Also I can remember around that time there was the miners strike, and we often had power cuts and we had a diesel generator in the basement. Power lines came from the diesel generator to all the offices and we also had candles. Oil heaters and oil lanps so er in the winter when it got dark about 3.30 we could carry on a little longer. I’m not sure how long that lasted, that miners strike, but I believe some time.
SH Yes, well, it was a year or so wasn’t it?
DH The crisis was early ‘74.********* it was what brought down the Heath government.
MS That’s it yes.*************
My father’s name was Stanley Henry Stanbridge and my mother’s name was Margery and I had a grandmother who was very interesting because she remembered Queen Victoria so I gleaned a lot from her of life in the 1800s. I remember her saying that she used to work in a bakery and they used to throw out all the old crusts at the end of the day and she used to see a lot of the street urchins with no shoes or stockings on eating the bread from the street so that was quite an interesting thing. She lived around Leytonstone in North London , yes, and my mother, I remember her saying that she used to go for music lessons, and that was during the first world war, and she said she saw one of the old air ships going across. That was quite an experience, so, er, quite interesting that her parents and grandmother remember those old times.
I grew up in Waltham Cross.. I was born in Barnet General Hospital in the middle of an air raid in January 1944 and unfortunately one of the nurses hadn’t, I was told, drawn the blackout sufficiently and the hospital was bombed and the ceiling came down and I was covered in plaster. All the mothers had to get under the beds but I survived so I am here to tell the tale!! ( laughter) It’s a wonder many children survived as babies because I remember my mother saying that milk bottles should be sterilised with Milton. They didn’t have time because of the air raids and I was ushered down into the air raid shelter at the bottom of the garden with unsterilised bottles. But I don’t think I suffered from it. Probably built up a bacterial resistance, unfortunately children don’t now.these days and a lot of asthmas come from this.
Waltham Cross where I grew up was interesting because there was an amunition factory there and I believe that was bombed during the war. At the back of my house which was 40 Abbey Road Waltham Cross there used to be a factory. I’m trying to think what it was. I think it was mushrooms and er it caught fire and I think I must have been about four by then and it caused a great deal of damage down Abbey Road, then. That is qiute vivid in my mind and I used to go to Kings Road School and to the bomb sites and I can remember a lot of the children snatching things from under the rubble bricks and so forth. We were told very strongly that we should never ever pick up from the bomb sites. Moving on a little bit I remember the fields at Waltham Cross High Road and there were some Gypsys and the original Gypsys caravans there, which was quite pretty.
SH Were they decorated?
MS They were decorated yes, quite pretty, I can remember in the sunsets they were very pretty caravans. I think Eleanor Cross Road was quite different then. It was just one road down the High Street. My father used to work in the gas showrooms there which was on the left hand side where now I believe it is a pedestrian walkway. That’s long gone of course and I remember at school. It was quite a rough school and there were two or three stabbings. We talk about violence then. (laughter) and also they had a fountain I believe, a drinking fountain with a cup on a chain. I think it was a lead cup. We talk about health and safety regulations but there were no health and safety regulations then . Then we moved to Nazeing. That’s where I mentioned earlier regarding the floods. I went to Broxbourne school and er (let me think...)
SH When did you have guitar lessons?
MS I picked up...my mother was always playing the piano. She taught piano and there was always music around me and I picked up a ukelele and tried playing that, enjoyed playing that, then got a guitar and er I wasn’t a sports enthusiast so I spent most of my time practicing the guitar when one was purchased for me. I was really self taught. I then when I was 15, I joined a little band and we used to play at local gigs around Hertford and Ware on a Saturday evening - village hops I think they were called - but of course that’s all gone now people don’t go out like they used to. There was always a dance in the evening and then I taught at Haileybury as a guitar teacher from 1969 and retired from there when I was 60 and I’ve been working at Longmoeres since 1959 right up to the present date. In theory I should be retiring probably in the summer if they find someone to replace me. I’m involved in the archives at work so I am quite knowledgeable of all the various documents which we keep which are absolutely huge.
SH They’ll have to keep you on as a consultant.
MS Yes, they’ll probably do I had quite a few boys and girls through my lessons over the years. I was introduced to Haileybury through I think it was Eddie Harvey, who was a great jazz musician and still is, because he arranges the jazz courses for the Royal College of Music and he is quite famlous on record. He played on many records which I have.with Johny Dankworth who died recently. And I used to play with him at Hertford quite regularly and he asked me to join Haileybury at the time Jack Hindmarsh was the music master, a great man he was, wonderful person, but unfortunately I had a phone call last week from Wendy Walsh the flute player and er, to gave me the sad news that Jack had died. Apparently Jack died late in June, very sad. When Jack retired the music master I believe was Alec Anderson, Scottish gentleman, and then Peter Davis after Alec.
One thing I can remember that was quite traumatic was the gales and storms we had in 1987, and yes, I was living at 64B High Road, Broxbvourne, opposite the traffic lights then and the road was evacuated because the tall building there was swaying backwards and forwards and on the Saturday, I used to teach on Saturdays at Haileybury and when I left home to get to Haileybury, it took me about two hours to get there as there were trees all over the road and when I arrived at Haileybury to the music department I couldn’t get to the music department by car because there were trees all over the road, so I had to park the car further down the road and climb over the trees to get to the music school. There wasn’t anybody there (laughs) although I had thought I’d better turn up but there was absolute devastation there. It was terrible, yes.
[discussion]
I’ve got a daughter and two sons. Don’t ask me their ages! (laughter) Julie my daughter, David my son, my youngest son and Paul my oldest. Julie is in recruitment in London. She’s got quite a good position in London quite a good job there. My youngest son, David, is an IT technician in London and he is quite satisfied with his job, I think - I hope! - and my eldest son, unfortunately he was made redundant from recruitment a couple of years ago but now he’s working on his own and I think he’s doing quite well. He is quite interested in Fencing. He goes round the country in tournaments fencing, doing very well. He’s in one of I believe the top leagues in fencing.
DH Where did they go to school?
MS They all went to Broxbvourne. The original Broxbourne school. Going back to Broxbourne school, in the ‘50s there was the juniors and the seniors at the same school by the river, which I believe now is just the juniors. Just before I left, that’s when it was moved the other side of the road and they didn’t have the modern school built then. The senior school was decamped into what they called the Red House that brick building and it was my duty to take the desks and chairs from Broxbourne school all along the river path and take it to the red brick building. I don’t think they do that kind of thing now for health and safety reasons.
SH They wouldn’t allow that!
MS No, no. Just lastly I remember one of the boys feeling thirsty and, fool that he was, he started drinking from the river and the science master, Mr Fiddaman, he was quite alarmed at this and took the boy back to the laboratory and showed him the amoeba under the microscope! He wrote to the boy’s parents that he had drunk the water, but there was no ill effects from that,(laughter) . Interestingly it just shows you the small world. Mr Fiddaman the science master introduced me to Alan Andrews because Mr Fiddaman and Alan Andrews were in the TA together, so that’s how I got involved in Longmores.
DH Can you spell that name?
MS F I D D I think, A M A N, FiddAman. Yes. Just one extra thing I can think of, in about 1990 a television crew came to Hertford and changed Hertford Streets - Castle Street and round the memorial, Parliament Square, into the 1950s even with sweets and papers of that time. Done very professionally. They wanted to film I think with Rowan Atkinson in The Thin Blue Line a television series. They asked to film in Longmores, because it looked like an old police station. Well actually the original police station is next to Longmores on the left hand side. So they used that and I believe our firm. They came in with lots of money, cash, and er, to try and bribe us to use the office. They went into my office and took a lot of things down and changed it into a police station, or what looked like a police station and they filmed in Longmores and outside of Longmores and they left without putting anything back, so that was qute an exciting day!!