Harlow recollections

I've been invited to the launch of a new book at the Museum of Harlow at 11 o'clock. Called Harlow Recollections, it's a companion to Parndon Recollections - both memoirs of life in our area before the arrival of the new town. Author Jim Priest was born in Great Parndon in 1906, and went to what was then called Harlow College - not the institution we know by that name today, but a boys' boarding school on the site of what is now Jocelyns in Old Harlow.

Parndon Recollections was published in 1980, and Jim died in 1984; the new book has been waiting a long time to be printed. Ron Bill, who has written the preface, tells us a little about the book and the development of the new town; and Alan Peacock, who knew Jim Priest from his schooldays, fills out the story a little more, and even brings along his old school tie.

Both books are on sale at the Museum of Harlow - Parndon Recollections for £1.50, and Harlow Recollections for £5.00.