Welwyn Toys
By Susi Smith
This photograph of Welwyn Toys is in the Local Studies Collection at Welwyn Garden City Library. Many of the photographs in the library’s collection have details of where and what the photo illustrates, but Welwyn Toys is a bit of a mystery.
The photograph is likely to have been taken in the 1920s, as the ladies are wearing thick shiny stockings and have wonderfully crimped hair. Little wooden rabbits and other animals can be seen on the shelves and windowsills.
Further research now suggests this could be Nancy Catford, Toy Manufacturer, in Bridge Road East. The company was based in a unit in Bridge Road East but had disappeared from the town by 1937. Do you know where they went?
Can anyone help fill in the details
Does anyone know who the ladies are in the photograph?
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The lady in the foreground looks like Anna Edith Catford (1905-1992). She was known as Nancy and later become Nancy Stone. She was extremely talented and just moved on to other interests. The Catford family were Quakers and moved to WGC in 1922. They lived at 6 High Oaks Road. Nancy was a sculptor, wood carver, potter’s modeller, toy designer, puppet maker and performer, author and illustrator. More information about her can be found on
1) http://www.grayspottery.co.uk/designer-catford.htm
2) http://www.iandenny.co.uk/page43.htm
3) https://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib4_1220274818
Her father Robert died in WGC in 1962. He was persistent in getting the Friends Meeting House in Handside Lane built in 1925.