Leisure

Ampthill Park children’s playground with helter-skelter, 14 February 2006

Martin Nellist, Z1749/5/1/10

The helter-skelter was later removed but will be remembered by children who played on it. In decades to come this photograph may evoke memories and aid reminiscence. It also acts as a record of attitudes to children’s play and safety.

Heath Band perform at the bandstand, Parson’s Green, Leighton Buzzard, 14 August 2016

Kathryn Faulkner Z1749/8

Photographs of local events indicate changes in popular activities over time, although in this case the image simply proves the perennial appeal of a brass band on a sunny summer afternoon!

Official opening of The Hub, Ampthill Park by, councillor Roy Tebbutt, mayor of Ampthill, 10 November 2012

Martin Nellist, Z1749/5/1/5

Events that were once captured by the local newspaper’s photographer and stored in the paper’s archives may no longer be taken by them as social media reporting becomes more the norm than the printed press.

Cooper’s Hill information board, 4 March 2020

Martin Nellist, Z1749/5/3/10

Even information boards demonstrate certain attitudes to design, they may also give an idea of when things were done and who by.

Walkers and dogs on the main path at Cooper’s Hill looking north, 13 March 2020

Chas Leslie, Z1749/1/4/10

Sundial at Rushmere Country Park, 2 December 2020

Kathryn Faulkner Z1749/8

The sundial, constructed using waste sandstone from a local quarry, is an example of an industrial byproduct being repurposed for leisure use.

Shefford: Drover's Spinney High Street/Southbridge Street wooden statue of a drover and his sheep, 17 January 2021

Nicky King, Z1749/6/1/11

Modern sculpture used to remind people that in the past sheep would have been driven across the ford in the river at this point. The area is called "Drover's Spinney" because it was regularly used a resting place on the way to market by drovers.

Obelisk in private woodland belonging the Southill Estate from the road between Old Warden and Ireland, 31 January 2021

Nicky King, Z1749/6/3/1

Opposite the embankment for the former Bedford to Hitchin railway is this monument erected by public subscription in 1864 to William Henry Whitbread esquire regarding railways in Bedfordshire.

Ampthill war memorial in the Alameda, 13 March 2020

Chas Leslie, Z1749/1/4/1

View of the War Memorial and the Alameda Walk on the Eastern side of Cooper's Hill. Note dog walkers and memorial bench on the right.

Memorial bench in Alameda, Ampthill, 28 December 2016

Martin Nellist, Z1749/5/3/2

During 2014-18 communities commemorated 100 years since World War One. One of the popular ways to do this was to install new benches with scenes of soldiers and poppies as new reminders and memorials to those who served in the war.

Ridgmont viewed from Segenhoe near the sign for the route of The Greensand Ridge Walk, 9 March 2021

Vaughan Dean, Z1749/7/1/2

This view, taken from Segenhoe facing west, shows the All Saints church at Ridgmont and the Ridgmont Water Tower which was built in 1913. Note the various types of signage both encouraging and discouraging.