Lifelong Aldenham resident Brian Hyde was finally granted planning permission in August to remain in the mobile home he has inhabited for the past 20 years.

From his now-permanent home in Round Bush Nursery, Roundbush Lane, Mr Hyde recalled his memories of the area. After Mr Hyde’s uncle was commissioned to help build the former Wembley Stadium in the early Twenties, the family relocated from Scotland.

He said: “My uncle came down from Dundee to help build Wembley. Then my mother followed him down and lodged with the Hyde family in Wembley.”

After his parents married, the family moved from Wembley to Harrow, before settling in Pegmire Lane in the village of Aldenham in 1928, the same year Mr Hyde was born.

He began at the village school in Letchmore Heath in 1933 at the age of five, before winning a scholarship place at Watford Grammar School. By that time, the Second World War had started.

Mr Hyde said: “We had to go through the bombing and the disturbance of planes and our place at Watford Grammar School was to dive under the workbenches. On the way to school every morning you passed bomb damage that had occurred during the night.

“We were in the Anderson shelter nearly every night, listening to the bombs falling all around, especially over Bushey and out in the open fields. Patchetts Green, my village, was hit twice by incendiary bombs which lit the place up brighter than day.”

Despite the danger, Mr Hyde has fond memories of his childhood.

“We boys, we lived an entirely different life to boys today. We ventured across the fields on foot for miles in each direction. We went and we crossed fields with our dogs and we were never bothered by having to worry about traffic. You couldn’t possibly do that today.

“And of course we supplemented the food at home by catching rabbits and hares,” he said. “They were happy days.”

Mr Hyde went on to serve in the army and the police force, and was chairman of MENCOP, a charity founded by Hertfordshire Constabulary to help raise funds for people with learning difficulties.

He has been involved in several projects aimed at preserving the area’s heritage, including co-founding the Patchetts Green, Aldenham and Roundbush Conservation Society, and trying to attract interest in archaeological excavation of a possible neolithic site near Aldenham Church.

He even discovered a piece of Roman tile and a small artefact at another site, but investigation by staff from Verulamium Museum revealed these were not part of an ancient settlement but had probably been dropped there at some time in the middle ages.

As well as writing articles on the history of Aldenham for its Parish Council newsletter, Mr Hyde has helped organise celebrations commemorating historical events, including the 40th, 50th and 60th anniversaries of VE day, raising money for MENCOP and the army benevolent fund.

Mr Hyde is continuing his efforts to ensure the area’s past is not forgotten. “I think it’s so interesting,” he added. “There are plenty of people like me who are interested in the subject.”