The Heritage Legacy of David Ainsbury

Bushmead Community Hub, Hancock Drive, Luton, Bedfordshire, LU2 7SF

15 Sep 2025

In person

Pre-booking preferred

We celebrate the work of David Ainsbury who wrote the Luton News' 'Yesteryear' column as well as the ground-breaking Luton World War 1 blog

David moved to Luton in the early '70s after meeting his future wife. He handled the publicity for Cesars Palace, on the Luton/Dunstable border at Skimpot, during its heyday when the popular nightspot was run by George Savva and attracted Britain's leading cabaret performers. David then joined Home Counties Newspapers, working for the Luton News, its sister title the Dunstable Gazette and free paper the Leader, and remained until his retirement in 2007.

David was known by his colleagues to be a quiet and conscientious worker took a particular interest in local history and for many years researched and wrote the Yesteryear column, featuring nostalgic old photos and memories of Luton, Dunstable and surrounding villages in bygone days. He also became a volunteer at Luton Museum in Wardown Park, helping to archive the estimated 1.5million Luton News photographic images donated to the museum. Many of the pictures discovered by David in the Luton News collection were posted on Facebook local history groups like The Luton I Remember and Old Photos Of Luton and enjoyed by their thousands of members. Fellow historian Paul Hammond said: "I was often struck by David's generous spirit and encyclopaedic knowledge of Luton's history. When a question came up that was hard to solve, I had great confidence that David was both willing and happy to oblige. "His work producing the Luton WW1 website was immense and stands as a great tribute to his devotion to the town and its heritage."