Colin Crosby Heritage Tours

Brian Relates History of Prefabs

The recent Community History Network meeting in Leicester had the story of prefabs as the subject of the talk.

Brian Johnson, who has given a number of talks to the group in the past, was the speaker, and he called his talk "Living in a Box".

Everybody agreed it was quite fascinating.

After the Second World War, many people had been forced to live with relatives beacuse their own homes had been destroyed by enemy action, so there was a pressing need for an enormous number of new dwellings, and quickly.

The prefabricated bungalows known as "prefabs" were the answer.

These sprang up all over the country. What I hadn`t realised was that there were several different designs.

I was personally acquainted with prefabs from my boyhood in Southend. My late Auntie Rene and Uncle George (Mr and Mrs Hilder) lived in one in Prittlewell, with their son Michael. It looked functional and not particularly attractive from the street, but was roomy, homely and excellently designed inside.

The Community History Network is open, free of charge, to anybody in the Leicester area who has an interest in any aspect of Local History. There is always a speaker - I have myself given the talk on a number of occasions.

Meetings are held every other month, on the first Monday evening of the month, at the Reference Library in Bishop Street. The next will be in October.