You are here:
Latest News
- Theobalds Website
- Artist David Perkins at Lowewood Museum
- Leisure Pool to be demolished
- Heaven Made
- Presenter Required
What's New
Videos
Learn more about
- Broxbourne Mill
- Old Mill Boathouse
- Hoddesdon Bank
- Samaritan Woman
- Hoddesdon Market
- Goffs Oak Windmill
- Eleanor Cross
- Cheshunt at War
- Tramways and Buses
- The Romans at Cheshunt
Online Guides
Forum
Cheshunt at War
Created 21 June, 2008
Cheshunt at War tells the story of the war years as they affected a small town in Hertfordshire 14 miles north of London.
It recounts the privations and the dangers, the hard work and the leisure, the tragedies and joys of life between 1939 and 1945.
The author, Peter Rooke, draws on his own memories and on taped conversations with local people, some of whom held posts of wartime responsibilty. Here are the recollections of teachers, nurserymen, farmers, land girls, Civil Defence workers, office workers and housewives.
Much use is made of contemporary records: wartime diaries and scrapbooks, Council minutes, Civil Defence records, school logbooks and many others were consulted.
Cheshunt was not in the front line but its people had their fair share of wartime experiences. Some of these are recorded here before memories fade.
About the Author
Peter Rooke was born in Cheshunt in 1927. Throughout the war he attended Cheshunt Grammer School. After National Service with the R.A.F in the Middle East he worked as a planning officer with authorities covering the Lea Valley, taking early retirement in 1981. His interest in local history has resulted in many books, articles, pamphlets, lectures and dramatic scripts and in more recent times - local history videos. He was for many years the Secretary of the Friends of Lowewood Museum and a past Chairman of Waltham Abbey Historical Society.