Do you hate earwigs? Probably not as much as the formidable Connie Rees!
In 1962 she wrote a jingle to the tune of ‘Old Macdonald had a Farm’ as a complaint about the earwig invasion in her home, addressed to the development corporation's general manager, R. S. McDougall.
In 1962 she wrote a jingle to the tune of ‘Old Macdonald had a Farm’ as a complaint about the earwig invasion in her home, addressed to the development corporation's general manager, R. S. McDougall.
'Old McDougall had a town Earwig, Earwig, O,
With an Earwig here, and an Earwig there,
With an Earwig nearly everywhere,
Old McDougall had a town, Earwig Earwig, O.’🎶
Yours sincerely, Connie Rees
With an Earwig here, and an Earwig there,
With an Earwig nearly everywhere,
Old McDougall had a town, Earwig Earwig, O.’🎶
Yours sincerely, Connie Rees
The very amusing part of this letter exchange is when McDougall tries to humour Mrs. Rees by mentioning that it is better to have earwigs rather than an invasion of spiders or ants!
Connie Rees was a pioneering woman in the development of Stevenage new town, and one of the first residents to move here. She was an expert on social issues, even writing her dissertation on London housing, and earwigs were certainly not on her checklist for good housekeeping!
These Tweets were researched and written by our team of youth volunteers. Find out more about the early days of #Stevenage new town in our current exhibition, 'New Town, New Home', until 30 April.
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