23 Jul 2026
Have you heard the tale of how a Redbourn man died after falling into a vat of jam at the village’s Brooke Bond factory during the Second World War?
He was commemorated on a memorial bench following a lobbying campaign by local school children in 2003.
Except none of this is true.
An area guide to Redbourn published in the Herts Advertiser in 2017 reported: “Employing over 350 people during the war, Brooke Bond was a lifeline for many Redbourn families. Bizarrely, and tragically, during this time there were reports that a young man who had fallen into a vat of the factory’s jam had perished. Referred to locally as ‘Sticky Joe’, the unfortunate chap was commemorated by local school children in 2003 with a memorial bench.”
In a post entitled ‘Ten reasons to love Redbourn’ local estate agent Ashtons said: “A less conventional historical celebration took place in 2003 when local school children successfully campaigned for a memorial bench for ‘Sticky Joe’, a young man who met an unfortunate end after falling in a vat of jam at the local factory!”
But investigations by the Redbourn Village Museum revealed there was no record of any bench, or an accident at either Russell Harborough’s jam factory or the Brooke Bond factory. It was all made up.
They traced the source of the legend to a Wikipedia edit made by an unknown Redbourn resident back in 2009 which has only just been corrected.
But 23 years after he was supposed to get his memorial bench Sticky Joe is finally receiving public recognition for his contribution to Redbourn’s rich history.
The picnic table in the museum garden has recently been restored by one of their volunteers, and is now dedicated to the legend of Sticky Joe. The museum is open every Saturday and Sunday from 2pm to 5pm, with extended hours for the Redbourn Classics car show, so why not pop along and sit at Sticky Joe’s Bench!
