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Guy Singer has written two books about Thursley Church. They are available direct from the author: https://www.guyjsinger.com/books

One of the more unusual gatherings at St Michael and All Angels is the annual pet service. This has been going on since 2016, possibly before that, and is always well supported. These photographs, from Peter Rickenberg and Susanne Hunter, were taken on Sunday 15th September 2024. An earlier announcement: And here's the latest: Cover for the 2025 pet service

Thursley Horticultural Society has long been of importance in the village. According to records in the 1923 Parish Magazine, it was formed after a very successful Flower Show to “carry on the good work”. Various local dignitaries stood for election, and votes were counted while a musical programme, in the hands of Mr Lionel Rapley, played. The results of the election were that General Sir Joscelyn Wodehouse became President. The Treasurer was Mr J.H. Belcher and Secretary Mr H. Swallow. The committee comprised of Miss Lutyens, Mrs Blogg, Rev L.C. Wilkinson, Messrs Blogg, F. Fosberry. Hoare, T.Karn, L. Rapley. Robertson and H. Sharland. Many names that we recognise today! The Society went from strength to strength and played a central part in village life – with social events, fetes and farming as well as two or three shows a year shows being at the core. Between the wars and up until the 1950s there are records of long lunches, afternoon teas and evening dances following shows beginning at 5 o’clock! Events such as chicken plucking and tug of war were common place. Interestingly, the shows for a long while had different classes for those who in the village who had a gardener and those who did not – a social comment in itself. As travel, and the reasons to travel, were quite different from today, social life in Thursley was punctuated by the various events organised by the committee, as recorded in our minute books and through photographs and newspaper articles. Highlights over recent years have been the two Gardeners Question Time programmes made very successfully in the village hall by the BBC. Talks and visits have become and important part of the calendar, and the plant sales which were also in the village hall. Open Gardens in 2022 and 2023 have proved a huge success and shown what wonderful gardens, and gardeners, we have in Thursley. Recent years have seen the Society’s numbers fall and then rise again. There is a lot of support in the village for the Thursley Horticultural Society now, though we still look for committee members to reach the numbers of the 1923 committee! From an undated newspaper clipping. In 2023, the Society celebrated its centerary with the publication of this booklet which can be obtained by the Society: Contact Thursley Horticultural Society through email: thursleyhortsoc@hotmail.co.uk or find our Facebook page. The following contemporary photographs are courtesy Valérie Ferris (VF), Andrew Kaplanovsky (AK) and Sean Edwards (SE): Plant sale in 2019 (VF) Autumn Show 2019 (AK) Autumn Show 2022 (AK) Spring Show 2023 (VF) Spring Show 2023 (AK) Celebrating 100 years of the Society at Lower House The following photographs of the 100 years event are by Sean Edwards: Open Garden, June 2023 Spring Show, 13th April, 2024 Mrs Nicky Cornell receiving the Marshall-Hall Plate from President Patricia Coles Autumn Show, September 2024 Photographs from Patricia Clake, Adam Gardner and Tim Walsh

These interesting documents show who lived where in 2002, at the outbreak of WW2 and 1936. If you are relatively new to the Parish, you might like to know who once lived in your house... The 1939 Register was a snapshot of the civilian population of England and Wales taken on September 29, 1939, at the outbreak of World War II, recording details like names, addresses, dates of birth, and occupations for about 40 million people to help with war planning, identity cards, rationing, and later the NHS . It serves as a vital census substitute because the 1931 Census was destroyed and the 1941 Census wasn't taken, bridging a significant gap in UK historical records for genealogists.  We do not know why the redactions were made. The 1936 Register of Electors is sorted by surname, so searching for your house will be more challenging and it may have had its name change!

This book was published in 2021 by the Thursley History Society and this was made possible by the support of The Armed Forces Covenant Fund On Sunday 14th November 2021, Thursley History Society held the long awaited VE Day exhibition in the village hall between 10am and 4pm and the book was officially launched that day. From the introduction: THURSLEY WAR MEMORIAL There are twenty-seven names on the War Memorial located in the cemetery of the Church of St Michael and All Angels. They are the persons who died in both World wars, 1914-1918, and 1939-1945, in the service of their country and for the cause of freedom from tyranny and oppression. Each has a different story to tell, sometimes of bravery, sometimes of fear, but always of commitment to that for which he fought. As we read their stories, we will also be aware of those they left behind, families, loved ones as well as friends; they had to live with the burden of grief and pain for long after. As we remember the dead, we must also have compassion for those who followed, for whom, possibly, the tragedy never ended. For all - WE WILL REMEMBER THEM There follows a brief biography of each of the 27 brave men and here is an example: PARKER, Alfred Nigel, Major. 5th Battalion Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders Died 23rd October 1944. In the 1922 issue of “Small Country Houses of Today” magazine, Foldsdown House, Thursley, was described as “taking its place naturally and pleasantly in a part of Surrey so beautiful that an ill-considered building is more than usually an outrage”. It was here that Nigel Parker grew up, having been born in the September of 1915, to his parents, Alwyn Parker, C.B, C.M.G, a respected diplomat and City banker, and Sophia, a society figure in her own right. He was baptised in the church of St Michael’s and All Saints on October 15th by the Reverend C.K. Watson. His early education took place at St Peter’s Court, a preparatory school in Burgess Hill, Sussex, followed by his moving to Harrow School. After his time at Harrow, he went up to read law at New College, Oxford, in anticipation of a career in the legal profession in the City. Whilst at Oxford, he successfully rowed for his college. After coming down from Oxford, he was articled to the long-established Solicitor’s firm of Linklaters & Paines, in London, where he worked until the outbreak of war in September 1939. As soon as that occurred, he made the decision to join the ranks of the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders. It was at this time, in the January of 1940, that he also married the American born twenty-year-old Jean Cecelia Constance Eliott in the Chelsea Register Office, a larger society wedding being impossible at the time, due to his military commitments. They were to have two children, a son, Colin, born in November 1940, and a daughter, Veronica, born two years later, in May 1942. In 1940, The Queen’s went to France as part of the 51st (Highland) Division with the British Expeditionary Force, in an attempt to stem the tide of the German armies which were sweeping down through the Low Countries and into Northern France. When it became apparent that the Allied troops needed to be evacuated, plans were put into force that resulted in the events that, these days, we know simply by one word – Dunkirk. In order to hamper the relentless progress of the Germans, the Queen’s saw action at the town of St. Valery-en-Calais, and it was during this fighting that Nigel Parker was wounded. In the middle of battle, he was shot in one leg by a sniper; falling to the ground, he rolled over, to be then shot in the other leg. It was ironic that it appears that his wearing a kilt (contrary to regulations) in fact saved his life – he was told by his doctor that the kilt had saved him, as a khaki battle dress would have poisoned the wounds. As a result, he was invalided home, where he recovered. He then spent the rest of the war, until 1944, training troops in Scotland, near Inverness. After the D Day landing of June 1944, he rejoined his unit, and once again landed in France. His superior officer, Colonel (later General Sir) Derek Laing sent him in command of D company, as the first British troops to re-enter the newly liberated St. Valery-en-Calais, after it had been forced to surrender back in 1940. This was regarded as a great honour. As the Division moved northwards towards Germany, in October the Queen’s found itself as part of Operation Pheasant, which was a major operation to clear German troops from the province of North Brabant in the Netherlands. And it was here that Nigel Parker fell, in the middle of fierce fighting during the liberation of the town of Schijndel. The night of Sunday 22nd October 1944 was notably dark and cold. For the men of the Queen’s their attack area was an open meadow that they had to pass over, in order to reach the enemy lines. Their target was the elimination of a strong German detachment of Fallschrirmjager soldiers of the German 59th Division, located by a railway line in the De Berg area of Schijndel. At midnight, there was a heavy artillery bombardment in support of the troops, who then proceeded to advance towards the German position. They had to move forward through open meadows as well as marshy peatlands, totally without cover, and they were hit heavily by German machine guns with tracer ammunition as well as sustained mortar fire. It was said that “Hell broke loose”. Major Parker was hit three times in a row, twice he managed to get up, according to eyewitnesses, but the last hit was fatal. The battle continued all night, until at about 6am a group of Sherman tanks appeared, and the Germans withdrew. A total of 12 men were killed that night, plus a further 56 either injured or seriously wounded. The next morning, the 12 dead bodies lying in the field were collected by their own men under the supervision of a Padre Smith and buried in temporary graves nearby, at a local farm owned at the time by the Van Mensvelt family. They were later reburied, with full honours, in the nearby Uden War Cemetery. A fellow soldier on the day of the battle, Sgt George Sands, said of his commander “Major Parker had been a good commander and friend and a very brave man”. The file below is a copy of the Remembrance Day Service held on Sunday, November 12, 2023:

On major occasions, Thursley History Society sometimes produces exhibitions which are invariably displayed in the village hall. The photographs below are of the display boards for an exhibition to commemorate the 100th anniversary of World War 1, July 28, 1914 to November 11, 1918. Beneath these is a list of Thursley villagers who went to war and photographs of headstones of some of the fallen provided by The National Archive. See also ' Thursley Remembers' . These three posters, produced for the exhibition, are A3 size so there are pdfs below should better clarity be required: The following articles were written by the then Incumbent, the Reverend Charles K Watson, for the September and October 1914 issues of the Thursley Parish Magazines.

These are not sorted in date order but eventually we hope all will have captions William Karn William and Elizabeth Karn of Yew Tree Cottage. He was the village blacksmith but was not closely related to Karn, the grocer. A poem by William Karn, dated 5 October 1836 Tom Karn and Grace Curtiss were married on 12th July 1906. Tom was a son of William the blacksmith and was sexton of Thursley Church for some years. Funeral expenses of William Karn, dated October 1910 Lucy Karn, later to be Mrs Lucy Good Leo and Lucy Karn (son and daughter of Tom and Grace, 30th November 1928 Thursley Village, 1897, shop and bakery Karn's Grocery shop. You can see the poplar tree which was a major landmark especially from the common. Women's Institute Play The Four Brothers, 1930 The Wisdom Family of Back Lane From the 1936 Register of Electors The 1936 Register of Electors shows Florence living at Milhanger, the home of the Marshall Halls and it is reasonable to suppose she was a maid working for Elna Muriella Victoria Marshall-Hall who also appeared on the same Register. The (original) Village Hall with the Three Horseshoes in the background The Four Brothers The Herald, 16th October 1992 Is Thursley a Dying Village - NO Haslemere Herald, 20th March 1998 The article on 20th March provoked some robust defences of Thursley The vehicles were known as charabancs and were hired for day trips usually to the sea-side. Thursley British Legion - Branch Standard Dedication, 21st July 1935. Standard Bearer Tom Karn with escorts Joe Windmill and Alf Pullen. Meeting of the King's Messengers at The Corner when Mr Wilkinson Lived there in the late 1920s. (The lady in the centre of the picture is Nurse Collins who was District Nurse for Thursley for more than two decades). Dick Winter and Wife, Homefield Cottages This building is no longer at the corner of The Lane and Dye House Road. Sarah O'Brien recalls, "I remember the little shop really well from childhood. It was a real mix of things. I remember Christian Aid being there. It was also a sort of antiques shop and we still have two wicker chairs that came from there! It was owned by Bernie Khan and pre: 1964 Mum (Marion O'Brien) thinks it was the butcher but had moved to down where the Streeters are (Stores Cottage) by the time Mum and Dad arrived in the village in March 1964." The car in the first photo is an Austin Maxi, probably one of the worst cars to be produced by Austin/British Leyland compared to the (half in shot) much beloved Morris Minor , both designed by Sir Alec Issigonis. A garage now occupies the space. View of Thursley Village, Christmas Day 1981 Hill Farm Orchard, Christmas Day 1981

Evidence of a vault was discovered in 2005 when a section of the timber floor was lifted in order to check what appeared to be a brick sub-floor. The vault contained two coffins, that of Anne Woods and her husband, Edmund. Datail from the memorial stone that is in the church. From the Surrey Advertiser, 4th November, 2005

Photographs only but see also 'The Hindhead Tunnel'.

A Thursley History Society outing, 5th October 2019 Advertisement for the walk Report on the Hammer Pond Walk On Saturday 5th October, 2019, the Thursley History Society led a walk on Thursley Common to look at the Hammer Ponds and talk about the history of the iron industry on the Commons.  More than 30 people (and lots of well-behaved dogs) took part and everyone had a very interesting and happy afternoon, culminating in a delicious tea.  Thanks go to Sarah Grillo for the cakes and Lisa Berezovsky for lending her field for parking. Paper produced to support the walk:

More photos and write-up required OS map showing location of the Pudstone and Cricklestone

From the village hall website: Welcome to Thursley Village Hall, a beautiful Victorian school building in the heart of Thursley, just off the A3 close to the Hindhead Tunnel. It provides one of the best community facilities in the area - and it loves to be used! Photographs by Sean Edwards With a large Main hall and separate smaller North hall, fully equipped kitchen and spacious lawned garden to the rear which backs onto Thursley National Nature Reserve, the Hall is a great venue available to hire for events from wedding receptions (with space for erecting a marquee in the garden) to Brownies/Cub Scouts sleepover weekends and all points in between. Everyone is welcome! https://www.thursleyvillagehall.co.uk/ From an undated four-page brochure. See also "The Village Hall in 1965" (separate entry) . Thursley Village Hall, November 1991 I wonder who won? The whole Trust Deed is in the pdf below: