What a great motto Stevenage has, “The heart of a town lies in its people”. It is what comes to mind when I consider how blessed we have been with all the stalwart, dedicated, hard-working – and crucially, good-humoured – staff we’ve been so fortunate to work with at Knebworth House and Country Park. There have been so many great characters who’ve joined us for the ride since I came to live in Knebworth House two generations ago in 1970. Joining us that year was Derek Spencer, born and bred in Hitchin, a very fine carpenter and maintenance man who, at his interview, worried there would be enough work for him here.
“Enough work for me?! I’ve never had a quiet day since. Within minutes of arriving I was moving the gamekeeper and then rebuilding the old forge down in the village. Then I had to move on to the riding stables, and I just wondered what on earth I had done. You see Lord Cobbold wanted to make the estate viable and he really was in a hurry to do so. He wanted to get people in, to show the public what a wonderful place Knebworth is. Knebworth really has changed since I arrived: now it never closes, it’s always on the go.” [quote from Tales from the Country Estates, John Bailey 1999]
In 2020 we marked 50 years of Derek’s work at Knebworth House, but even that milestone was not going to stop him. For another six years, well into his late 80s, Derek has continued to come to work one-day-a-week to share his wisdom and encyclopaedic knowledge of the estate and to mentor new members of the Maintenance Team. All good things must come to an end, and Derek finally retired this Spring, but in every room in the House and every corner of the Park & Estate there is the evidence of over half a century of his beautiful work. All hail you, Derek. How on earth, now, are we going to know where anything is?!
Henry Lytton Cobbold
@HenryCobboldKH
@HenryCobbold
