Sam's picture

Sam Hallas' Website

The Hitchin Index Page



Some pages about my home town of Hitchin

Bancroft, Hitchin in 1948
Bancroft, Hitchin in 1948

Images of Bygone Hitchin

Some of the films I've worked on for the Hitchin Historical Society showing scenes from Hitchin's past.



St Mary's Church
St Mary's Church, Hitchin

St Mary's Bells

In 2012 I was asked to document the process of rehanging the bells in the local parish church, St Mary's. An article about how I went about it and the equipment I used.

Sound recordings of the bells

The finished videos



Hitchin Flyover from Icknield Way
Hitchin Flyover

Hitchin Flyover Opens, 2013

I decided to make a video of the first week of operation on the new rail flyover built to reduce congestion on the East Coast main line.



Looking at dress
St Mary's Flower & Wedding Dress Festival, 2016

St Mary's Flowers & Wedding Dresses

In 2016 I was asked to photograph the Festival of Flowers and Wedding Dresses held June 24-26. Here's the story of what I did.



Hitchin carnival
Hitchin Carnival

Hitchin Carnivals from 1964 to 1972

A musical slide show prepared from slides donated to the Historical Society.



Bill Plamer's slides
Bill Palmer's slides

The Bill Palmer slide collection

The late Bill Palmer was a member of Hitchin Camera Club for many years and delighted in photographing our town. AFter his death the family presented his collection of colour slides to the Historical Society.

I spent some time sorting them, scanning the images and finally creating videos to display them. They're available to watch via the Bill Palmer Slides Page.



Platinum Jubilee
Platinum Jubilee celebrations

Hitchin's Platinum Jubilee celebrations 2022

In 2022 to celebrate the late Queen Elzabeth's platinum jubilee, nationwide celebrations took place. Hitchin joined in with its own events including decoration of the town centre and its businesses, a carnival procession and street parties. I spent a frantic weekend dashing round with my camera to capture some of the festivities. I created a 15 minute video on YouTube for the Historical Society. Here is a description of The making of the Jubilee Film.



Royal Wedding 2011
Royal Wedding 2011

Royal Wedding 2011

Lancaster Avenue and Road celebrated the Royal Wedding in 2011 with a street party. A seven minute compilation of still photos sent to Hitchin Historical Society by a donor.



Coronation
Painting the town red, white and blue

Painting the town red, white and blue

A video for International Piano Day 2024 as a musical tribute to Hitchin town's decorations to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III on 6th May 2023.



Personal Index