Volunteers from Mill End are putting the finishing touches on this year's Celebration Day.

The annual fete is held in the Community Centre, and looks at the history, and the future, of the town.

This year the Celebration Day will take place on April 30, from 12-3pm.

Claudia Francoise, volunteer event co-ordinator, said: “The idea is promote unity in the community, to be active and get to know each other.”

As well as the usual stalls and attractions of a summer fete, the Community Day also promote the history of the area.

The Community Centre in Church Lane was originally used by Shepherd Lane Infant School, which opened in 1909.

After the school was shut down, the Watford Observer reported in May 1978 how Mill End and District Community Association had won the fight to use the school building as a centre.

Jackie Ross, a Mill End historian from Chorleywood, said she did most of her research in the library and with old copies of the Watford Observer.

She added: “On the first Community Day I put up all these old pictures around the walls and a couple of the old boys recognised people in them.

“I didn't realise how engrossed I would get in it, you just get hooked. We've been to the Three Rivers Museum and asked for things on Mill End and they come back with a couple of pages.

“The community centre is here but people don't realise. If they don't use it then it will be knocked down.”

The organising committee consists of Susan Gambula, Dennis Layzelle, Kathy Marsh, Tod Knightingale, Les Mead, Jackie Ross, Claudia Francoise, Derek Sawton.

A potted history of Mill End...

  • 1862 – The Watford to Rickmansworth railway opens.
  • 1875 – St Peter's Church it Mill End is formed.
  • 1888 – The Mill End mill is closed.
  • 1890 – The Mill reopens as the Mill End Paper Company.
  • 1912 – The Mill is demolished.
  • 1921 – The very first council houses in the Rickmansworth area are built in Grove Road, Mill End.

The newly opened Mill End Community Centre