Surprising as it may seem to us in 2024, the existential crisis that preoccupied Thursley villagers in the early 1980's was the threat of Nuclear War. As can be seen from the Government documents below, and the extraordinary plans put together by Michael Williams, this was a threat taken seriously not only by the Government but also Waverley District Council and in Thursley village.
The pdf below shoes a leaflet that was widely distributed in the 1980s
The pdfs below constitute a whole booklet, Thursley Nuclear Survival Plan, created by Michael Williams and dated September 1981. Two of the individuals who had responsibilities delineated in this document - Michael O'Brien and Tim Wakeley - confirmed that they had a meeting or meetings about these plans.
One anecdote was that Michael Williams wanted to place a sub-machine gun post on the lawn of the Vicarage as it held a view up and down Dye House road and thus could defend the village from incursions by refugees coming from London and Elstead. The vicar of the day, The Reverend John Stephens, dismissed the request saying that it was 'The most un-Christian request he had ever encountered'!
The two pdfs below are of correspondence from and to Michael Williams
The following provide further context:
Civil Defence in the 1980s
The strange death of UK civil defence education in the 1980s
As an aside, while researching this blog, I came across this article about a BBC programme made in 1984 about this issue:\\https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20190925-was-threads-the-scariest-tv-show-ever-made#:~:text=Threads%20was%20born%20out%20of,fend%20off%20a%20nuclear%20attack.
When the Wind Blows, which is a 1982 graphic novel, created by British artist Raymond Briggs, commonly known for its critiques against government issued preparations for nuclear war:
All of the above relates to the 1980s but concerns were being expressed in the village in 1956:
