In October 2015 the Letchworth Local History Group mounted a highly successful exhibition in the Letchworth Heritage's Community Area in the Arcade showing the range of early industries in Letchworth Garden City and emphasising the fact that the principal aim of the Garden City was to attract INDUSTRY and provide a much better living environment for its workers than the often miserable conditions in the great industrial cities.
Accounts of the Arts & Crafts architecture and the 'sandals and smocks' community that was later attracted to the Garden City have tended to eclipse the story of the main objective of Letchworth Garden City, which was to be the first and only New industrial Town in England.
The exhibition ran for several weeks and attracted a large number of visitors from the town and from further afield. Many of the visitors were keen to discuss their own, or their parents', experiences in the firms that featured in the exhibition and the group members who manned the show were delighted to make a note of these first hand accounts.
Several local firms, who occupy today the premises of the pioneer companies of those early years, were ready to sponsor our exhibition enabling us to produce professional display material, which told the story in a most impressive style for the duration of the exhibition and will also be kept for future deployment.
