Abbots Langley Project 2000
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Abbots
Langley Project 2000 was published in November 2001 by the Abbots Langley Local
History Society. It was written by local people, depicting life in Abbots Langley at the
end of the Millennium and was produced with the aid of a grant from the Millennium
Festival Awards for All, enabling the first edition to be on sale at £1. Members and
contributors receive a free copy. Published by Abbots Langley Local History Society, November 2001. ISBN 0-9541652-0-9. 192 pages, including about 60 black and white photographs and sketches. The book is now sold out. |
Background
Historians over the centuries have chronicled all of the great world events – wars, great political changes, the comings and goings of kings and queens, major landmarks in technological progress. Yet they have largely had to guess or deduce from fragmented local sources, what life was like and how the world appeared to the ordinary common people of Abbots Langley and thousands of places like it.
Life 100 years ago was hard, but simpler and more leisurely. The words ‘jeans’, ‘trainers’, ‘computer’ and ‘aeroplane’ could have come from another planet. In describing what we see now, we are therefore also recording the pace of change. In 100 years’ time, they will doubtless smile at what will be considered our imperfect, disorganised way of life.
At the end of the second millennium of the Christian era we can look back and look forward and make incredible comparisons. For instance, in the last 150 years, universal literacy and the availability of the camera has enabled us, the ordinary people, to record what we do and see in our increasingly complex and busy lives. So our late friend Clive Clark thought that the most appropriate way for our Society to celebrate the millennium would be for us to record, through words and pictures, the most complete picture as possible of the village, the surroundings, the people and what they do, in order to give future generations as accurate an insight into our lives as we can paint. In this way, we can place on record some of the things that are unlikely to be included in official documents, but will serve as a major source of local reference in future years.
The Committee of the Abbots Langley Local History Society has been dedicated to seeing this project through.
So it is with sincere gratitude to all those people who have contributed their personal record of life in Abbots Langley in the 1900s, that this book is presented for future generations in the hope that they will enjoy these reminiscences of a bygone age!