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The wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton on Friday 29th April prompted many streets to hold a party throughout the country. It was estimated that over a million people took part. The residents of Lancaster Avenue and Lancaster Road in Hitchin joined with the rest of the country to celebrate.
Permission was granted to close the road. Bunting was hung up and tables set out in the street. A bouncy castle was hired. Everyone set about preparing food, drink and decorating their houses.
Postcard received with video
In early 2023 the Secretary of Hitchin Historical Society received a DVD with the postcard (left) attached. It was passed to me, as Film Archivist. The lady's name is unclear - Christine Lawbin perhaps? The DVD contained a 7 minute video made from still pictures taken during the setup and celebrations in the street whose name changes from Lancaster Avenue to Lancaster Road half way down.
The soundtrack was puzzling. It was a song that sounded distinctly Indian and not very Hitchin at all. I used a music search tool on the internet to trace its origin. It was a song in Hindi called 'Mastam mastam' from the soundtrack of the film Yuvvraaj, released in 2008. You can play it in this YouTube clip.
I decided that it needed something with more of a party spirit. Raiding my collection of old vinyl transcriptions I found some tracks that couldn't be more appropriate. The extended play 7 inch (remember them?) by Winifred Atwell titled 'Lets have party' and ' Let's have another party'
The Winifred Atwell EP contained a good selection of music hall favorites.
Side One: If you knew Susie, The more we are together, That's my weakness now, Knees up Mother Brown
Side Two: Somebody stole my gal, I wonder where my baby is tonight, When the red red robin, Bye bye blackbird, The Sheik of Araby, Another little drink
The running time of the two sides wasn't enough to fill the video so I went for some other fun music from German pianist, Fritz Schulz-Reichel in his alter-ego of 'Crazy Otto'. 12th Street Rag seemed to fill the bill and the time available.
So here is the video with its revised soundtrack, hosted on my YouTube channel.