Brita Blackwell - Memories of the Welcome Club
Recorded on 25th January 2025
Recorded on 25th January 2025
BB: My name is Brita and I was born in 1938. I have had to dig deep into my recollections of the Welcome Club as it was then when I personally became involved in the mid nineties, about 1995. I had semi-retired from working as a shorthand typist and was always curious about the dancing held on Monday afternoons at the Red Cross Hall – what was Sequence Dancing? I then heard about the first aid courses one could join, so I went once a week to learn about that as I thought it might be useful later on. I was told at the end of the course a local doctor would test me on my knowledge and award me with a certificate. This test was carried out and I passed. Then later on we all attended an awards ceremony run by Mrs Barbara Davis who was the centre organiser and the head of the Red Cross detachment. A super buffet was laid out and all the detachment in their uniforms were inspected by an official from the Red Cross Head Office. There was also a youth detachment as well from Croxley Green, all smartly dressed. What a lovely evening that was, and everybody received their awards. As I had worked for many years as a fund raiser in the Hall i.e. the Saturday monthly markets, I was invited to attend the New Year Party held each year by the Welcome Club and of course organised and run by Barbara and her team of helpers. What an amazing event - around a hundred people attending and on the top table sat the Three Rivers chairman and his wife, the Deputy Chairman also and his wife, and other notables of the area. An amazing meal was served to us with wine, a huge raffle and then entertainers to round off the afternoon. As the Welcome Club leader in his speech stressed the fact that more members were needed for the Saturday afternoon club and all should support this event if only on an occasional basis. I persuaded my friend Margaret to go along with me to become members. We enjoyed the programme of events and also decided to join the dancing on Mondays as they wanted to increase their membership. I thoroughly enjoyed going to the Hall on Saturdays and Mondays so when I was asked if I would be a committee member I duly put my name down. Our committee meetings were once again every three months and consisted of Mr Mike Collins, Treasurer, Mrs Doris Horwood, Secretary, Mrs Dorothy Sims, who would always call the bingo, and one or two others with various roles to carry out. Unfortunately about a year later, the leader, Mr Peter Smith, died, which left a vacancy to be filled. The deputy leader at the time did not want to take this on so I was asked if I would be deputy to Mrs Eileen Lincoln who was a very well-known lady to all the committee members. So I said I would. I was happy to be with her and help in any way I could. After running the Welcome Club for some time, very sadly, Eileen became ill and passed away. So I just felt I should take over the reins. Unfortunately I could not coerce anyone into being my deputy so had to carry on being leader to the best of my ability. Somehow I just got on with the job of producing a monthly programme of events, getting in touch with the entertainers, calling the bingo, also a game of [hoy], making up quizzes, just making sure everything went smoothly and folk enjoyed their time at the Club, and most importantly, socialised with one another. I also had a team of voluntary drivers and they would willingly when asked pick up folk from their home, bring them to the Club, then return at a certain time to take them home again. I was deeply indebted to these good folk for undertaking this task. The programme of events was put up on the Welcome Club board for all to see and I would make sure tables and chairs were put out for all the people coming in. Numbers being around forty to fifty. We had a raffle wherein folk would bring something to put on the trolley. As they came in they paid 10p for a raffle ticket and if my memory serves me correctly £1 for the afternoon’s entertainment. This of course including refreshments at the half time. A very nice lady, Mrs Dot Atkins, would suddenly turn up and regularly make the tea and serve biscuits for everyone and then clear up the kitchen, leaving it a pristine condition. Once a year at the New Year Party, it was announced that subs would be payable of £10 for the year in the month of January and would all members please bring their membership card to be stamped. This amount of money included day trips to the seaside in the months of June, July, August and September at a very reasonable cost. This also was arranged by myself. How very fortunate we were to have in the month of December the choir from St Oswald’s Church to sing lovely Christmas carols. Mr Michael Hart, choir leader, conducting and during the pauses reading out the jokes from crackers he had collected over many years. With tea and mince pies all round, what a lovely afternoon it turned out to be, and helped to put us in the mood for a lovely Christmas time to come with our family. I must admit I did enjoy the Saturday afternoons and greeting folk as they came through the door. And so grateful to people helping with calling the raffle, putting the tables and chairs away as necessary at the close of the meeting. As regards the Mondays I also did enjoy the dancing and as Mr Peter Smith used to play the music, I then had to learn how to play the CDs and which ones. I did have some help from some very kind members. Also my friend Mrs Ida Dutton would always go into the kitchen and make the tea for everyone. Unfortunately there came a time when my husband was suffering with an illness. I decided it was getting too much, doing it all on my own, so requested help from the Red Cross. The hierarchy from Red Cross came down to the Hall and it was absolutely packed with people anxious to hear what they could do for us. Fortunately they had found a company which would take some weight off my shoulders by providing some people to give me a hand. That company is Watford and Three Rivers Trust, i.e. getting together. I was so relieved to have the help as especially on Mondays I could leave the playing of the music to my friend Mr Derek [Clow] and just enjoy dancing myself. It is unfortunate that the Saturday afternoons had to be closed as even when it was seemed Covid had ceased to be only a very few members were turning up as I guess folk were worried about becoming ill and catching it if it was still out there. We are however successfully carrying on the legacy of sequence and line dances at All Saints Hall Croxley Green on Monday afternoons and we have a very good attendance. The foregoing is my recollections in a nutshell of how I really did through the years thoroughly enjoy the time spent leading and being part of the Welcome Club at the Red Cross Hall here in Croxley Green. I have many treasured memories of events and occurrences through the years, so it will be a very sad day for me when I see the Hall being pulled down. It will feel like the end of an era.
Brita Blackwell Jan 2013 Welcome Club dinner
BS: What do you think people got out of coming? How many people used to come every week and what do you think it gave back to the community of not so young residents of Croxley?
BB: That’s right. I think for elderly people it was somewhere to come and also to meet their friends and socialise and it did them good to be coming out of their flats or houses and I suppose as I say we started off forty to fifty and gradually, I don’t know, other things came along and so therefore it did reduce a little bit to thirty and I don’t think it – didn’t go very much under thirty, really. About thirty or thirty-five and something like that, and that’s how they kept going. And they enjoyed their afternoons, you know.
BS: What kind of entertainers did you find?
BB: I had a ukulele band that used to come. Another foursome would sing with guitars. Another two lovely ladies – one had a guitar and one sang. Then in Watford sometimes you heard about – they could give you a little play on the stage – these clubs in Watford they could do a little play for us. So there was quite a – and sometimes a man on his own would sing. I had quite a list of entertainers that I could ring up.
BB: That’s right. I think for elderly people it was somewhere to come and also to meet their friends and socialise and it did them good to be coming out of their flats or houses and I suppose as I say we started off forty to fifty and gradually, I don’t know, other things came along and so therefore it did reduce a little bit to thirty and I don’t think it – didn’t go very much under thirty, really. About thirty or thirty-five and something like that, and that’s how they kept going. And they enjoyed their afternoons, you know.
BS: What kind of entertainers did you find?
BB: I had a ukulele band that used to come. Another foursome would sing with guitars. Another two lovely ladies – one had a guitar and one sang. Then in Watford sometimes you heard about – they could give you a little play on the stage – these clubs in Watford they could do a little play for us. So there was quite a – and sometimes a man on his own would sing. I had quite a list of entertainers that I could ring up.
Brita Blackwell with two fireman who gave a talk about smoke alarms at the Welcome Club - unknown date
BS: And the dancing – what kind of dancing did you do on a Monday? Was it ballroom?
BB: No, it was sequence dancing and line dances.
BS: Oh, I understand what line dancing is – it’s sort of like country style line dancing.
BB: Yes, that’s right, cowboys and the Charleston and all that sort of thing, you know.
BS: So is the dancing still carrying on? So there’s still Monday dancing but at All Saints now?
BB: Yes. That’s all changed because the Red Cross told us we had to go. They’d finished their lease at the Red Cross Hall and everybody had to go. All the other organisation were sent a long time ago, many, many years before Covid they were – but because in the constitution the Welcome Club right from the very beginning had that Hall free. We didn’t have to pay for that Hall, it was free to us and because in a way it was built for us. Then the Red Cross took over the lease and they leased it and still allowed us to have that free. And so therefore we never had to pay for that, and so right from the beginning – so we – they couldn’t say to us you’ve got to go, so we continued after Covid, we continued dancing and the Saturdays, we continued. But then we had to close because people weren’t turning up for the Saturday afternoons, they weren’t turning up. They were frightened after Covid of catching Covid, they were elderly people.
BS: Yes, it changed everything didn’t it?
BB: Yes it did.
BS: What do you think made the Welcome Club particularly unique? Why did it work so well?
BB: Apart from the churches I don’t think there was another Darby and Joan type of club in Croxley. No, as far as I know I don’t think there was. The churches have their Mothers Union, of course, don’t they? And sometimes Young Wives and things like that. The churches – but no, I don’t think any of the churches – there’s quite a few churches here of course, isn’t there? And so I don’t think that they – they had a Darby and Joan Club, like we had. So I think we were unique in that respect, yes.
LW: So for how many years did you volunteer?
BB: So I’ve got a – I think I’ve got a thirty-five year for fund raising, yes, yes, I was fund raising there.
BS: So you started fund raising for the Red Cross before you got involved with the Welcome Club?
BB: Yes, oh yes, yes. The monthly - Saturday monthly market, my Mum and my Dad were involved as well, and I used to go along with my Mum and we used to be behind the stall at the market and I loved all that sort of thing, you know, and my Dad was involved as well, he ran whist drives there. Every Friday you could go to a whist drive and my Dad would be running a whist drive. So they were heavily involved. We only lived down the road in Barton Way, just down the road, you see, and so therefore we were involved in it. Oh yes I was involved fund raising before I joined the Welcome Club, yes. We’re all dressed up there, we’d all been invited to the Buckingham Palace Royal Garden Party. And so we’re all dressed up to the nines there.
BS: Oh my goodness look at that!
BB: Isn’t it amazing?
BB: No, it was sequence dancing and line dances.
BS: Oh, I understand what line dancing is – it’s sort of like country style line dancing.
BB: Yes, that’s right, cowboys and the Charleston and all that sort of thing, you know.
BS: So is the dancing still carrying on? So there’s still Monday dancing but at All Saints now?
BB: Yes. That’s all changed because the Red Cross told us we had to go. They’d finished their lease at the Red Cross Hall and everybody had to go. All the other organisation were sent a long time ago, many, many years before Covid they were – but because in the constitution the Welcome Club right from the very beginning had that Hall free. We didn’t have to pay for that Hall, it was free to us and because in a way it was built for us. Then the Red Cross took over the lease and they leased it and still allowed us to have that free. And so therefore we never had to pay for that, and so right from the beginning – so we – they couldn’t say to us you’ve got to go, so we continued after Covid, we continued dancing and the Saturdays, we continued. But then we had to close because people weren’t turning up for the Saturday afternoons, they weren’t turning up. They were frightened after Covid of catching Covid, they were elderly people.
BS: Yes, it changed everything didn’t it?
BB: Yes it did.
BS: What do you think made the Welcome Club particularly unique? Why did it work so well?
BB: Apart from the churches I don’t think there was another Darby and Joan type of club in Croxley. No, as far as I know I don’t think there was. The churches have their Mothers Union, of course, don’t they? And sometimes Young Wives and things like that. The churches – but no, I don’t think any of the churches – there’s quite a few churches here of course, isn’t there? And so I don’t think that they – they had a Darby and Joan Club, like we had. So I think we were unique in that respect, yes.
LW: So for how many years did you volunteer?
BB: So I’ve got a – I think I’ve got a thirty-five year for fund raising, yes, yes, I was fund raising there.
BS: So you started fund raising for the Red Cross before you got involved with the Welcome Club?
BB: Yes, oh yes, yes. The monthly - Saturday monthly market, my Mum and my Dad were involved as well, and I used to go along with my Mum and we used to be behind the stall at the market and I loved all that sort of thing, you know, and my Dad was involved as well, he ran whist drives there. Every Friday you could go to a whist drive and my Dad would be running a whist drive. So they were heavily involved. We only lived down the road in Barton Way, just down the road, you see, and so therefore we were involved in it. Oh yes I was involved fund raising before I joined the Welcome Club, yes. We’re all dressed up there, we’d all been invited to the Buckingham Palace Royal Garden Party. And so we’re all dressed up to the nines there.
BS: Oh my goodness look at that!
BB: Isn’t it amazing?
Brita Blackwell 2008 at the Red Cross centre all dressed for the royal garden party at Buckingham Palace
BS: If you could bring back any aspect of how the Club worked or would it be – what would you want to see happening again in the village?
BB: I think the friendliness of everyone and how always willing to help with anything.
BS: Do you feel that’s got lost a little bit since Covid?
BB: Oh yes, definitely, yes. It’s definitely got lost, hasn’t it? You know, to have people go and collect somebody from their home and bring them in their car, come back and take them home again, all willingly, all voluntarily, you know. I don’t think you would ever get that today.
BS: How long have you lived in Croxley, are you a born Croxley village
BB: I’m a Croxley girl, yes.
BS: You’re a Croxley girl?
BB: Yes. Barton Way, yes.
BS: A Barton Way girl.
BB: Yes. Yes.
BS: And where did you go to school? Did you go to school in Croxley?
BB: Yes, Yorke Road. Old Boys School which was in Watford Road. Harvey Road and then Durrants.
BS: Any favourite memories from your schooldays as you were growing up? (silent pause) Which school did you prefer, which was your favourite school?
BB: Durrants. I suppose I preferred Durrants, the more senior school. People did play pranks there, didn’t they? They played all sorts of things you know but – I was very fond of Durrants, yes, I got on very well there with the teachers and everything, and the Headmaster and – and I did love singing, I was a singer and the choir mistress had me on the stage at the very end when we was all finishing, singing to the audience. So I used to love singing, yes.
BS: So let’s turn that question about why have you always wanted to stay in Croxley? Why have you lived your whole life in Croxley?
BB: Well, my Mum and Dad were here and they lived to a good age and I find the friendliness of folk, now they’re very friendly, and I can go to either the churches, I can go to the coffee mornings, see my friends and socialise with them. So I think Croxley has a lot to offer. If I want to go up to London, you know, there’s coach arrangements to go to shows that I can go to. The train very useful, getting on the train. And I can drive to Rickmansworth – I don’t drive to Watford, it’s too much of a hassle with – and the cars being so fast. But – yes, so I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else anyway. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else, not really. Not really. I hope I’ve answered your questions.
BS and LW: Yes, yes beautifully. Thank you.
BB: I think the friendliness of everyone and how always willing to help with anything.
BS: Do you feel that’s got lost a little bit since Covid?
BB: Oh yes, definitely, yes. It’s definitely got lost, hasn’t it? You know, to have people go and collect somebody from their home and bring them in their car, come back and take them home again, all willingly, all voluntarily, you know. I don’t think you would ever get that today.
BS: How long have you lived in Croxley, are you a born Croxley village
BB: I’m a Croxley girl, yes.
BS: You’re a Croxley girl?
BB: Yes. Barton Way, yes.
BS: A Barton Way girl.
BB: Yes. Yes.
BS: And where did you go to school? Did you go to school in Croxley?
BB: Yes, Yorke Road. Old Boys School which was in Watford Road. Harvey Road and then Durrants.
BS: Any favourite memories from your schooldays as you were growing up? (silent pause) Which school did you prefer, which was your favourite school?
BB: Durrants. I suppose I preferred Durrants, the more senior school. People did play pranks there, didn’t they? They played all sorts of things you know but – I was very fond of Durrants, yes, I got on very well there with the teachers and everything, and the Headmaster and – and I did love singing, I was a singer and the choir mistress had me on the stage at the very end when we was all finishing, singing to the audience. So I used to love singing, yes.
BS: So let’s turn that question about why have you always wanted to stay in Croxley? Why have you lived your whole life in Croxley?
BB: Well, my Mum and Dad were here and they lived to a good age and I find the friendliness of folk, now they’re very friendly, and I can go to either the churches, I can go to the coffee mornings, see my friends and socialise with them. So I think Croxley has a lot to offer. If I want to go up to London, you know, there’s coach arrangements to go to shows that I can go to. The train very useful, getting on the train. And I can drive to Rickmansworth – I don’t drive to Watford, it’s too much of a hassle with – and the cars being so fast. But – yes, so I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else anyway. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else, not really. Not really. I hope I’ve answered your questions.
BS and LW: Yes, yes beautifully. Thank you.
Brita Blackwell getting 30 year fundraising badge from Red Cross representative in 2008
