Phew! Tuesday was the most sizzling day of a hot week and at 3pm the shade temperature in Garston was 88 to 89 degrees F.; report meteorological instrument makers F. Darton & Co. Ltd., of Vale Road, Bushey. This was the highest shade temperature recorded locally this year.

Temperatures outdoors in the sun, and in some offices and factories, soared well over the 100 degrees mark the same day.

Climax of the sultry night which followed was a fierce storm of thunder and vivid lightning in the early hours of Wednesday morning, but the only incident to which firemen were called was when the roof of a Croxley Green house was set ablaze by lightning.

[From the Watford Observer of July 10, 1970]  

 

Council workmen cut the 3ft-long grass on the A412 verges at Maple Cross – and mowed down 70 small trees carefully planted by volunteers working for the Colne Valley Park earlier this year.

The area had been carefully weeded a few days before to show where the baby trees were. Three Rivers Council has now agreed to replace the trees, marking them this time with stakes.

[From the Watford Observer of July 2, 1982]  

 

The Watford traffic wardens, introduced into the town only two months ago, are already proving themselves as asset from both police and public points of view, Chief Superintendent George Dear said this week.

Apart from easing the traffic situation in the central area through the normal run of their duties, the wardens have become worth their weight in the road tax revenue recovered as a result of their vigilance.

Chief Supt Dear was giving the Watford Observer his first report on the scheme since its introduction on May 2. One of the duties of a warden outside parking control is keeping a watchful eye out for expired road fund licences. In the short time since their establishment in Watford, the local wardens have spotted 573.

Declared Supt Dear: “I have been very pleased with the way in hich the scheme has operated to date. They appear to have been well received by the public in general, who seem to appreciate they are rendering a service.”

So far there have been no prosecutions for failure to pay the fixed penalty.

[From the Watford Observer of July 8, 1966]  

 

Mr Malcolm Pleasants, the Watford man whose hobby is collecting Victorian objects, rode from Marble Arch to Brighton on Monday on an 1880 penny farthing bicycle.

“It was hard going,” Mr Pleasants, who lives in Cassiobury Drive, admitted. “It rained hard, the wind was against me, and I had to get off and push it up all the hills. I wanted to prove that if the Victorians could do it, so could I.”

He completed the 50-mile ride at an average speed of a little under six miles an hour. He wore a frock coat, top hat and red waistcoat.

He is spending the week holidaying in Brighton with friends. His luggage went down in advance by train.

[From the Watford Observer of July 19, 1963]