Welwyn Garden City - The War Years

A great example of ‘despite war, life continues’, Welwyn Garden City residents continue with annual traditions, festive occasions and celebrations, during wartime.

Play-fighting using a police truncheon … showering a bride and groom with confetti. The constant threat of a nation at war does not dispirit the citizens of Welwyn Garden City as they continue with the traditions and commemorations typical of a community.

Scenes include the Special Police Force, portraying a somewhat happy-go-lucky approach to training; felling and erecting the first Christmas tree on the Campus; confetti-throwing at a wedding at the Free Church; the special opening of the Woodhall Shopping Parade; the old Welwyn Stores; the opening of the new Welwyn Department Stores; as well as showing the wartime precautions of boarding up, and army trucks driving along Bridge Road, and finally, V.E. Day celebrations. In addition, footage concludes (starting at 13:21) with a carnival procession along Ludwick Way, captured almost a decade later in 1952.