New Maynard Gallery exhibition

A fascinating exhibition of historic photographs of Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield is now on at the New Maynard Gallery in Campus West, Welwyn Garden City.

The images were taken by WGC resident and founding member of the New Maynard Gallery, Ken Wright.

Ken, who very generously allowed the Trust to add over 100 of his WGC photographs to its archive, invited the Trust to display some of the material from the archive. Also featured is a display of historical objects related to Hatfield, chosen and arranged by members of the Hatfield Local History Society and kindly loaned by Mill Green Museum. The show runs until 20th October 2012.

Ken took the photos as part of his job while working on the development of the two towns in the 1950’s to 1980’s. “I started in the Engineer’s Department of the WGC and Hatfield Development Corporations in 1948. Photography was a hobby. My boss became aware of that, and asked me to take photos of construction work. And before long, other departments wanted me to cover all sorts of developments and events as well.”

The photograph above shows cars parked on both sides of the road, Parkway, outside the Welwyn Department Store. It was taken in November 1954 before the arrival of double yellow lines and traffic wardens!