Thursley Art Exhibitions 1975 - 1984

Feb 11, 2025
5 min read

Updated: Mar 18

In 1975, Margie Crawfurd and Georgina Harvey held an art exhibition at Thursley Village Hall as charity benefit. It was so popular that they continued to hold it annually for up to two weeks at a time until 1984. The exhibition consisted of work by artists and craftsmen from all over England, the large majority of whom were professionals. Over the years they managed to attract many leading figures in the arts and crafts, and as a consequence visitors to the exhibition came from far afield.

We asked Georgina Harvey for her recollections and in February 2025 she wrote:

The Thursley Exhibition began in 1975 as a fund raiser for the Thursley Conservative Association. The idea was to get anyone in the village who had ever made, knitted, spun, sewn, weaved, carved, forged, thrown, blown, drawn, painted or whatever to show off their goods and skills. The designated team consisted of artist Ros Kentish, Margie Crawfurd, Marion O’Brien & myself with Robert Tann being in charge of all things financial. The Village Hall would be rented for 10 days at the end of September and a raffle and wine bar would cover expenses. All committee members donated prizes and also helped man the hall during opening times. The exhibition was open to anyone willing to pay the 10p entrance fee on Thursday & Friday evening and all day on the Saturday. Sunday was the day to collect belongings or purchases and clean up the Hall.

The exhibition seemed to grow exponentially and by the fourth year the political association was becoming a problem for some of the Artist and Craftsmen who were no longer locals. For the next six years we had a keen viewing & spending public and exhibitors, some of which were more used to showing in London Galleries, still eager to show their work in our rural countryside. The numbers and values increased and The Thursley Village Hall became a veritable hub of excellence in the regional autumn arts calendar. Our Competition Judges were distinguished members of the Arts Scene and gave us credentials beyond our expectations.

It was time for a change.

For ten years The Thursley Exhibition had been able to have exclusive use of the Village Hall (which by 1984 had increased from 5 to 45 days). A Nursery School wanted a home and 41 years later there is still one there.

Artists showing their art over the years included:

Nicholas Dimbleby - sculptor

Mary Fedden - painter

Paul Gunn - painter

Ken Howard - oils

John Makepiece - furniture

Susan May - Jeweller

Lorne McKean - bronze sculptures

Bernard Myers - printmaker

Charles Normandale - iron gate

William Pye - a sculptor known particularly for his water sculptures

Guy Taplin - driftwood birds

Carel Weight - oils

Mary Wondrausch - pottery

Along with:

Thursley's very own residents Salli Tomlinson (artist) and Peter Hanauer (handblown glass)

An example of Salli's work: a musical artwork that opens up and reveals boxes within which also open and play music: painted on boards and approximately 1M x 1M

Examples of Pete Hanauer's glass blowing which are exhibited in the V & A Museum

Robert Tann, Margie Crawfurd, Alice Harvey and Georgie Harvey

It reached national prominence in 1982 when it was covered by The Field, and this is an extract from their piece:

Art and Craft Ascending

The Rise and Rise of a Village Exhibition in Surrey.

The Thursley Village Exhibition is now seven years old. It was started as a charity benefit and grew into an informal showcase for artists and craftsmen all over the south of England. Its stature is now such that it can shake hands on equal terms with established galleries.

The setting is a Victorian hall in Thursley, a Surrey village which was once a centre of iron making and where one can still see the iron pits and hammer ponds. Nearly 200 paintings and sculptures by 50 artists as well as furniture, silver, glass, ceramics and bookbinding will be exhibited from 25 September – 3 October.

Among the equestrian artists is Juliet Jeffrey who is showing a hunting scene from an unusual angle. “It was my own first view of the hunt, looking through the horses’ legs with the hounds bounding in. When they set off it becomes a blur with the flurry of hounds and horses coming and coming and it is this I have tried to capture”. Her other paintings depict Appleby Horse Fair, the big gypsy fair held every June, and one of her favourite subjects – pony sales at which the groups of ponies provide a very paintable series of patterns.

Juliet Jeffrey has also illustrated several books including one of Gypsy Poems and Ballads. For some years she was married to Peter Ingram, one of the five gypsy waggon builders in the country and has painted a considerable oeuvre of gypsy life in a style which is an interesting blend of realism with abstract undertones.

Paintings of people with their favourite horses and other animals, once the mainstay of the itinerant artist, is again becoming a popular art form. The resurgence of interest of this type of portraiture takes the equestrian artist Susie Whitcombe as far as Australia where she goes to paint animals, for some of the big livestock owners.

Miss Whitcombe’s oil on canvas Summer Afternoon, Frensham, in this exhibition depicts three gleaming coated ponies reflected in the limpid waters of a large pond framed in trees and bushes (most likely Frensham Great or Little Pond – Ed).

Earlier, in 1980, a press release from the exhibition organiser’s read:

For the last six years the Thursley Exhibition has encouraged local artists to exhibit their work. During this period, the organisers have steadily improved the standard of work submitted, kept overheads down and prices low.

This year in a bold step to raise the quality again, the organisers have invited a number of artists/craftsmen, who, whilst having local connections, exhibit widely.

William Pye is one of our country’s leading sculptors. He will exhibit a stainless-steel work in the garden and his” Californian Bronzes” in the hall. John Donald is designing a collection of ten pieces of jewellery especially for this exhibition.

Faith Shannon, from Puttenham, who has just been awarded an Arts Council grant, will exhibit a book she has bound, and her husband, Sandy Mackilligan, a piece of furniture. Lorne Mackean, whose bronzes are in the royal collection (seen in the forefront of the photographs below – Ed), has something at the foundry for us and George Taylor, one of Edward Barnsley’s protegees, will exhibit some wood carvings.

From Thursley itself we have Peter Hanauer’s glass bowl, Salli Tomlinson’s “Companions”, as seen on television recently, and the work of the Thursley weavers. Among our favourites at the Royal Academy this summer were Joyce O’Shea, from Godalming, Christopher Harrison from Cranleigh and Cavendish Morton from the Isle of Wight. All will be showing at the exhibition.