IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Rickmansworth Road, WATFORD, WD18 0JU

Watford Town Hall was completed in 1939 and incorporated the Town Hall Assembly Rooms. In 1995 the assembly rooms were renamed the Colosseum and the building can be seen here from across Rickmansworth Road. The grey brick and glass facade is part of an extension completed in 2011.

Looking northwest over The Pond towards the Town Hall (not in sight). The Pond, frequented by a heron which appears completely unfazed by the passing public, has been in existence, although with many transformations, for centuries.

The snow has built up on the north side of the lamppost, the trees, the seats and the litter bin but not on the ground.

This large pedestrian and cycle underpass beneath Rickmansworth Road passes between Hempstead Road and the Parade and High Street. The underpass emerges on the south side close to the Pond Image The building on the right is part of the Town Hall. The large building dominating the skyline is the YMCA building situated in Charter Place and housing a hostel and fitness centre. It was built, along with Charter Place in the early 1970s.

The Town Hall's foundation stone was laid in May 1938, and despite the start of the Second World War it was formally opened in January 1940, having cost about £186,000 to build. Watford Borough Council's website is here http://www.watford.gov.uk/ccm/portal/

This notice has been erected by Watford Borough Council in front of the pond in The Parade, High Street. It has the following wording: Please don't feed the ducks Bread is not their natural diet and makes them ill. It drives them quackers and turns the water green. That wording may have been written tongue-in-cheek, but is still important to note all the same.

The Peace Hospice is run by a charitable trust and provides specialised palliative care for people with terminal illnesses in the South West Hertfordshire area. The building was originally the Peace Memorial Hospital and the Hospital Records Database http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/hospitalrecords/details.asp?id=739&page=68 has this to say about it: The Peace Memorial Hospital in Watford began life as the Watford District Cottage Hospital in the 1880s. However, by 1917 the idea of replacing the cottage Hospital with a more modern hospital, as a memorial to those who had died in the First World War and as a permanent memorial to peace, was discussed. The project was financed on the whole by public subscription and donation. The Watford Board of Guardians bought the old cottage hospital and a new building was erected in Rickmansworth Road. The Watford and District Peace Memorial Hospital was opened in 1925 by Princess Mary. On 5 July 1948 control of the hospital passed to the North West Metropolitan Hospital Board and became known as the Watford Peace Memorial Hospital. In 1965 the hospital moved to a site in Vicarage Road on the edge of Watford and became a part of Watford General Hospital. In 1985 the remaining services in the original building were moved to the Shroedells (the old workhouse) site and in 1986 the buildings were demolished. This last statement is patently untrue. The two wings and some of the clutter behind were demolished but the central building was restored and refurbished to accommodate the hospice which opened, originally as a day centre, in 1996, and then for inpatients in 2001 http://www.peacehospice.co.uk/