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Village secrets revealed in rector's book. A copy of the transcription was loaned to the Borehamwood & Elstree Times.

In 1914 the rector at Elstree's St Nicholas Church transcribed a 300-year-old book, which now provides a fascinating insight into the village's history.

A R T Eales, the rector at St Nicholas from 1898 until 1945, was a keen historian. In his 1922 book, Lecture on the History of Elstree, he said: "Round this church, most of the parish history now centers. It is in church books and parish records that most local history is preserved."

The original book he transcribed was a register of baptisms, marriages and funerals, from 1655 to 1757, which had been started in 1655 by the rector, William Fly. Mr Eales added a preface, containing some interesting facts about Elstree's development over the centuries.

He wrote that the first-ever mention of Elstree's existence came in 785, when King Offa of Mercia granted land known as Tidulfes treop (Idulfe's, or Eadwulf's, tree) to Westminster Abbey.

In 1188 Pope Clement III wrote to the abbot at St Albans, granting him: "The Chapel of Tidulves-tre [the church where St Nicholas now stands] and all its belongings.

"And, for the feeding of the Cellarer's herds, all the land in Tiduves-tre, which is surrounded by a ditch, and the common pasture land of Boreham." Through the centuries, the village's name evolved. Henry III called it Idulvestre in 1253, and Edward VI referred to it as Elstrey. Until the beginning of the 19th century, the village was known as Idelstree.

Mr Eales wrote that many Roman remains had been found around Elstree and Boreham Wood. He echoed a rumor that the foundations of St Nicholas Church were made of Roman tiles from Sullionacoea, a buried city in Brockley Hill.

He added that more than 100 pottery supports for heating apparatus had been found in Boreham Wood, and that a fine sepulchral urn had been found.

In 1820, when the church was repaired, workmen found the embalmed body of a 34-year-old woman, perfectly preserved, under one of the pews, near the chancel.

She was Martha Ray, the daughter of an Elstree labourer, who died in 1779. She was shot by an obsessed admirer, the Rev James Hackman, as she left the Covent Garden Theatre with her true love, the Earl of Sandwich. Her remains were placed in a vault in the chancel until 1924, and in 1928 the Earl of Sandwich erected a tombstone for her, in memory of the love his ancestor had for her.

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Liliha cut fruit to begin the day, glancing toward the kitchen door from time to time while waiting for Ellen to emerge from upstairs. She bit into a section of orange, savoring the sweet, acid flavor.

What job could she suggest for Ellen? Despite a suspicion of what Ellen was trying to escape from, stupid ideas came up one after the other. A dresser for catwalk models--Ellen lacked experience, a magician's assistant--lacked training, a food server in a prison--too attractive. Ellen would be likely to draw the men's eyes and their mind toward--. Don't even think that way.

Liliha flexed her shoulders. Use logic. What would her visionary persona suggest while occupying another body?

The difference lay in the fact that Liliha couldn't read Ellen's mind and find out what she really cared about. The girl had already resisted probing.

The cuckoo clock sang the same note nine times. Liliha didn't need to be at the tearooms until eleven. After a last wipe over the work surface, she headed through the hallway to the base of the stairs. The toilet flushed. Good, the bear would emerge from hibernation.

After waiting long enough to allow her guest to cover her supposedly naked body, Liliha shouted from the bottom of the stairs. "Tea or coffee?"

Silence. Then a hesitant, "Coffee please."

"Come and join me."

In the kitchen again, Liliha glanced up at a presence in the doorway. "Come and sit down." She deposited a steaming mug on the table and gestured to Ellen, who wore the same crumpled tracksuit. "You'll feel better after you drink that."

"Thanks." Face blotchy and hair tangled, Ellen kept her gaze averted.

"How did you sleep?"

"Good. Really. I haven't slept in such a comfortable bed for ages." Ellen glanced up, and then away.

Liliha spoke in a soft voice. "Where did you spend the night before?"

"Close to the station. It's handy because of the toilet. There's a wash basin there and everything." Ellen gulped her coffee and wrapped her hands around the mug. "'Course, you have to get in and out quickly, before the guard catches you."

"Thanks for the advice. It might come in handy."

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1913 commons.wikimedia.org My husband and I recently got to know an orthodox Jewish family. The children are well-behaved, quiet and respectful. When asked a question, they replied in a composed, thoughtful way. Without a shadow of doubt, the children will do well in their adult life, especially with the support of their community.

"If people work for the maximum possible benefit for themselves then we will not have trust in industry, in economics, in financial institutions, we will not see marriages last." He also said institutions, including marriage, broke down when a person begins to lose faith and society becomes very, very secularized. He doesn't blame any government, but says it's the fault of what we call culture, which is society talking to itself. In the interview he argued that the breakdown of marriage had exacerbated child poverty in the UK. Children become the real victims. "A situation where children grow up in stable association with the parents who bought them into being is probably the biggest influence on the eventual shape of a society."

Quote from: For Your Marriage — An initiative of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Marriage, the union of one man and one woman, is a personal, but not private, relationship with great public significance. Marriage is good for the couple; it is also provides the optimal conditions for bearing and raising children. Marriage makes an essential contribution to the common good. Some specific benefits are identified below. Marriage and Health • On average, husbands and wives are healthier, happier and enjoy longer lives than those who are not married.

1916 commons.wikimedia.org

• Men appear to reap the most physical health benefits from marriage and suffer the greatest health consequences if they divorce.

• Married mothers have lower rates of depression than single or cohabiting mothers, probably because they are more likely to receive practical and emotional support from their child’s father and his family.

Marriage and Children

Children raised by their own married mother and father are:

• Less likely to be poor or to experience persistent economic insecurity

• More likely to stay in school, have fewer behavioral and attendance problems, and earn four-year college degrees

• Less vulnerable to serious emotional illness, depression and suicide

• More likely to have positive attitudes towards marriage and greater success in forming lasting marriages

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"It's sort of a film, really, trying to conjure up mood and tell a story. It's about a relationship. There's characters and there's a location, and there's a journey. You get the sound of the room and the feel of the room and the smell of the room. But certainly there's a journey going on, it's not a collection of lines just stuck together. It's got a thread running through it." Reid got the idea for the title when it came to him at a party, which gave him a starting point for the song.  "I feel with songs that you're given a piece of the puzzle, the inspiration or whatever. In this case, I had that title, 'Whiter Shade of Pale,' and I thought, There's a song here. And it's making up the puzzle that fits the piece you've got. You fill out the picture, you find the rest of the picture that that piece fits into."