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The coin was discovered by a metal detectorist in the vicinity of Punch Bowl Farm. It is an Elizabethan sixpence dated 1584. The coin shows the date and the Tudor shield and on the opposite side you can just make out the profile of Elizabeth I and to the left of the bush is the Tudor rose denoting that it is a sixpence. Around the outside of the coin the edges have been 'clipped'. This was common practice amongst forgers who took the clippings of the silver edges to forge new coins. The punishment was execution! As it has been 'clipped', not all of the legend can be easily read.

All in one article written by Jackie Rickenberg for the Parish Magazine in August 2023 Whilst rummaging through the archives the other day, I came across a couple of amusing little articles, which piqued my interest. The first one is an article from The Farnham Herald, date unknown but by deduction the year is 1967. “Pink Floyd Man in Flying Visit. On a flying visit to his native land last week, was Nicky Mason of the Pink Floyd Pop Group (sic), who has been staying with the Rutter family at Millhanger, Thursley. Lindy Rutter has won praise for her choreography of the Farnham Youth Theatre production “Double Take” and for her solo dance which opens the show. She is to teach at Frensham Heights and will also be taking movement classes at RADA. Nicky has just made an LP with the Pink Floyd, “The Saucerful of Secrets” which is number nine on the LP charts. The group has also recently ended a tour of the USA where they are becoming very popular. The trip took them from New York, through Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle etc, etc and but for the election rumpus in Chicago, they would have made a return trip there. Nicky spoke to Youth in Action on Friday, the day before he flew to Belgium to take part in a music festival. A busy life and rather different from what he imagined it would be like when a student of architecture at Regent Street Polytechnic, where the Pink Floyd originated three years ago. The group has been professional for about 18 months”. A quick Google search has since revealed that “Nicky” as he is called here, but now known as Nick Mason, and Lindy were married the following year, 1968, and had two children, before divorcing 20 years later. She is an accomplished flutist. He is the only remaining original member of the famous band. Note how the journalist refers to them as The Pink Floyd! Of course, they are known today as simply Pink Floyd. Another strange twist is that Millhanger was, of course, latterly purchased by Roger Taylor of Queen, who lived there until around 10 years ago. And the following article, date and publication unknown, will be of particular interest to the cricketers of Bowlhead Green. “Bowlers or Bowlhead. Controversy has long proceeded, following the right name of what the Ordinance Map calls Bowlers Green, the signpost, Bowlhead Green, and some of the older inhabitants, Bowler (as Boughler) Green. To settle the point Mr J C Squire wrote to Professor Allen Mawer, secretary of the English Place-Name Society. Professor Mawer replied: - “I gather you would like a note upon the relative merits of Bowlhead and Bowlers. There is no doubt that the former is correct. Mr Gover, who is working for us, draws my attention to thirteenth and fourteenth century forms Bouelithe, often misprinted Bonelithe, which are clearly to be identified with Bowlhead and are the source of the name. Bowlith by a process of popular etymology has clearly been corrupted to Bowlhead. The name means “above the slope” and is derived from Old English, bufan hlithe. Other similar names are Boveridge and Bucknowl for Boveknowl in Devon”. Mr Squire adds :- “That seems to decide the matter, though it may be argued that if the name can change from bufan hlithe to Bowlhead, it may equally be allowed to change from the meaningless Bowlhead to Bowlers, which has a pleasant smell of cricket”. It is rather amusing , and a warning to those who assume that English place-names mean what they appear to mean, that the name, as it were, has been turned round. The “head” part really refers to the slope, and the “bowl” to the top.”

As part of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, individuals and organisations were invited to lead the nation's tribute to Her Majesty the Queen by lighting beacons at 9.45pm on 2 June 2022. Thursley lit their tribute at the Three Horseshoes. Photographs and video by Andrew Kaplanovsky

On Saturday, 1st June 2024, more than 50 villagers turned up at the village hall to witness the launch of the Thursley History Society website. The site was designed by Helena Traill, a daughter of the village and founder of Nooh Studios, and the content was populated by David Young from a variety of sources. In recognising the rich source of material available to him, David mentioned Tim Walsh in particular, the society's former digital archivist, who had done such diligent work over the past many years. Photographic sources came from three photographers the village is lucky to have: Valérie Ferris; Jill Fry; Sean Edwards. Before the site was demonstrated by Helena and David, villagers were entertained on the village hall's new big screen by scrolling photographs which were part of the digital archive and put together by Alie Hanbury. Jackie Rickenberg had, with help from other members of the committee, made some superb crudites, and Thursley badges, produced by Peter Rickenberg and Gillian Duke, were sold alongside copies of Thursley Remembered. Leon Flavell welcomed everyone and introduced the two presenters, Helena Traill and David Young: David praised Helena for producing such a well-designed and easy to use site and then proceeded to demonstrate some of its attributes: And a good time was had by all:

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 https://www.subbrit.org.uk/features/civil-defence-in-the-1980s/#:~:text=There%20was%20no%20requirement%20for,the%20Protect%20and%20Survive%20booklet. The strange death of UK civil defence education in the 1980s https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0046760X.2014.979253 Protect and Survive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protect_and_Survive 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: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_the_Wind_Blows_(comics) All of the above relates to the 1980s but concerns were being expressed in the village in 1956: For the launch of this website on 1st June, 2024, an interview, hosted by Sally Scheffers with Michael and Marion O'Brien and Tim Wakeley, was filmed about their recollections of being part of Thursley's preparations for Nuclear War...

This article written by Jackie Rickenberg was published in the Parish Magazine in June 2020 As we missed our planned VE Day celebration in the village hall on May 8th, we thought we would stick with the theme for a few months more for our peep into the archives. We have such interesting records of past and present Thursley residents’ recollections from this time, that it’s worth reminiscing and trying to imagine just how they felt when the announcement was made and the war was finally over. We start with “Cocker” Keen, who very sadly recently passed away. Here is his story: Recollections by “Cocker” Keen “I’ve lived in Thursley all of my life and in this house in Homefield since 1937. At the start of the war I was at school in what is now the Village Hall. I left when I was 14 and started work for Reg Cottle at the Red Lion Garage (still there today but now called X). I stayed there until I was called up into the army between VE and VJ Days. I already had some military experience having served in Thursley’s Home Guard. I joined the Home Guard in 1942 when I was 16. There were 28 of us in it when it started, 6 of us on duty every night. You had 2 hours on duty and 4 hours off through the night and then you were back to your regular job the next morning. We would meet at the servant’s quarters at Foldsdown; the servants had gone to war and so their wooden annexe building at the back of the main house had been vacated. After D-Day, the night duties ended and we just played around; attacking the RAF pylon up at Gibbet Hill and practising firing live ammunition on the rifle range at Longmoor. In the village at this time was also the AFS (Auxiliary Fire Service), based in the studio of Red Lodge and the Air Raid Wardens who were based at the Village Institute (now Prospect Cottage). During the war the village was always full of troops. The Tank Corps were here when they came out of Dunkirk and were camped up in the trees in Dye House, the Canadians were at Tweedsmuir and the Free French were up at Rodborough. As a result, the pubs were always short of beer! Mr Fosberry, the landlord of the Three Horseshoes, kept the villagers happy by closing the pub but allowing the regulars round the back door and into the kitchen where they could enjoy their cherished pint! I remember once, a German bomber was being chased and jettisoned his bombs. One landed in the Hall’s barn field where the dairy cows were, killing all of them. A bomb also landed in the folly, the valley below Hedge Farm. Another couple fell on the fields of Upper Highfield Farm but it was only the Halls’ who lost their animals. They reckoned the bombs had been destined for the Armoured Corp, who were up in the woods with the troops. The Canadians used to drive their Sherman tanks up to the Punch Bowl and it became a desert from all the tank activity up there. They also blew up the remains of George May’s farm, Highcombe Farm, down in the Punch Bowl. Mr Gorringe from Upper Ridgeway Farm cleared up the rubble and used it to convert the barn into the cottage where Malcolm Cole now lives. We would go down to the Moat when the troops were water-proofing their vehicles and watch them drive through. They’d give us a ride; those Canadians didn’t care! The Canadians were good fun and once the war was over, we had to get back to the quiet life of a rural community. For me, that meant that some of my neighbours had been killed and my sister was married (to a Canadian soldier) and living across the Atlantic. The Parker’s lived at Foldsdown and their son was killed in Holland. His name is inscribed on his parents’ headstone in the churchyard. A neighbour from Homefield, Ronald Francis, was killed in a Bren Gun carrier (a light machine gun armament) out in France and Bob Sharland who lived at Number 7 Homefield was also killed”. Fascinating to see the war from a youngster’s perspective. The trauma and horror of the reality, only latterly impacting on the excitement and enthusiasm of a teenage boy. More recollections next month. Cocker Keen's Obituary: Alfred Frank Keen or “Cocker” born to Agnes and Frank Keen on 8th September 1926 at their home The Cabin (now The Well House) next door to the pub. Cocker was the 3rd child of 6 with older sisters Dorothy and Jean and younger brothers John and Don and youngest sister Hazel, ‘plenty to have a fight with’ he would joke! Cocker enjoyed what he described recently as ‘a good childhood with plenty of room to run about’ and displayed early signs of his mischievous character by tying the door handles of cottages together! He attended school just across the road in what is now the village hall. In 1936 aged 9 the family moved up to Homefields where he was to live the rest of his life. Cocker’s first paid work came at the age of 13 in the form of delivering milk to Cosford House before he left school and became a garden boy at Milhanger. At age 16, Cocker joined Mr Cottle at Red Lion Garage, now Mathwall, where he would work during the war and learn his skills as a mechanic. Village life during the war was tough and Cocker and his younger brothers John and Don used to catch rabbits and poach pheasants, the only time meat was served at home, and every inch of ground would be dug to grow vegetables. After the war in 1947 Cocker was posted to Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire to serve his 2 years National Service in the army before returning to Thursley. On returning to Thursley Cocker worked at Pitlands farm (now Punchbowl Farm) and Upper Highfield Farm. He enjoyed playing cricket for Thursley and became a very accomplished vegetable gardener. After farming he moved into livestock transportation with a firm named Keen (no relation) in Witley. It was following this move that Cocker saw the opportunity to become an owner/operator, he bought his own livestock lorry, parked it at Hill Farm Barns and started to transport livestock all over Surrey and beyond. We met Cocker in 1990 when we bought the barns and that was to be the beginning of a near 30 year friendship. Around this time he retired and seemed to spend all his spare time helping us. He tirelessly worked with us to establish the garden we have today and in doing so became a big part of our family’s life here in Thursley. During his retirement Cocker looked after his mother, who he lived with in Homefields, and spent much of his time helping others around the village. Cocker will be remembered by his family, friends and all those who he helped in the village. He is irreplaceable and as one villager said to me ‘they don’t make’em like that anymore’. The end of an era. The eulogy for Cocker Keen written and delivered by Mike Spencer Alfred Frank Keen or “Cocker” born to Agnes and Frank Keen on 8th September 1926 at their home The Cabin (now The Well House) next door to the pub. Cocker was the 3rd child of 6 with older sisters Dorothy and Jean and younger brothers John and Don and youngest sister Hazel, ‘plenty to have a fight with’ he would joke! Cocker enjoyed what he described recently as ‘a good childhood with plenty of room to run about’ and displayed early signs of his mischievous character by tying the door handles of cottages together! He attended school just across the road in what is now the village hall. In 1936 aged 9 the family moved up to Homefields where he was to live the rest of his life. Cocker’s first paid work came at the age of 13 in the form of delivering milk to Cosford House before he left school and became a garden boy at Milhanger. At age 16, Cocker joined Mr Cottle at Red Lion Garage, now Mathwall, where he would work during the war and learn his skills as a mechanic. Village life during the war was tough and Cocker and his younger brothers John and Don used to catch rabbits and poach pheasants, the only time meat was served at home, and every inch of the garden would be dug to grow vegetables. After the war in 1947 Cocker was posted to Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire to serve his 2 years National Service in the army before returning to Thursley. On returning to Thursley Cocker worked at Pitlands farm (now Punchbowl Farm) and Upper Highfield Farm. He enjoyed playing cricket for Thursley and became an accomplished vegetable gardener. After farming he moved into livestock transportation with a firm named Keen in Witley. It was following this move that Cocker saw the opportunity to become an owner/operator, he bought his own livestock lorry, parked it at Hill Farm Barns and started to transport livestock all over Surrey and beyond. Debbie and I met Cocker in 1990 when we bought the barns in Thursley where he parked his lorry.He was always mysterious about his age saying he was ‘as old as my tongue and a little bit older than my teeth’ but he had reached retirement and seemed to spend all his spare time helping us.That was to be the beginning of a near 30 year friendship.Aged 30 and naive we had embarked on a huge project to convert the barns to a home and we really couldn’t have done it without him.He was endlessly resourceful, always had the right tool for the job, strong as an ox and worked tirelessly.Cocker was many things to usA good friendA kind of grandfather to our boysHe was always looking out for us even when we weren’t around. And he was a teacher: Yes, he was a teacher He taught me everything I know about gardening:When we first moved to Thursley we had nothing but a tumbled down building and 6 foot high weeds and even before we did the renovation and moved in - cocker had established a beautiful veg garden for us. We probably had the worst house in Thursley at that time but the best vegetable garden, we didn’t have a proper kitchen but we ate the best new potatoes ever!Every spring come rain or shine he would come and help plant the potatoes and start off the beans on the bean poles he’d made - and after a couple of years he gave me the flattering title of Head Gardener but clearly I was still the novice and he was the font of all horticultural knowledge. Cocker would say Mike was the labourer who wasn’t much good at digging as the ‘ground was too low’...He had a great sense of humour he liked to tease me - like when the clocks changed in the spring and autumn he would say he’d been busy climbing the church spire to change the sundial. And he would say I should garden at night to prevent weeds and used to say he whoever can grow parsley wears the trousers so I got a new title- Petticoat Government.So when spring comes next year I will think of Cocker as I double dig the veg plot the way he taught me , I’ll sow the potatoes over the Easter weekend, I will plant green beans and courgettes in May , I will be trimming the box hedges on Derby day never before and late summer when I harvest the tomatoes and dig up the potatoes I’ll hope I’ll hear his voice saying- im not doing badly for a Head Gardener!We’ll miss you Cocker but you’ll always be with me in the garden.

The Young Lutyens And His Thursley Houses by Wing Commander D. Q. Watson. *Former name of Thursley History Society Contrary to some local belief, Edwin Lutyens was not born in Thursley but in London, His parents were living at 16 Onslow Square when Edwin, their tenth child, was born in March 1869 and they did not move to Thursley until some seven years later. Lutyens' father, Charles had been an ambitious artillery officer: he had invented an instrument for judging distances called a Stadiometer which was used by the Army for nearly forty years. However, early in his career, he found that he preferred painting to being a soldier and he retired from the Army in 1859 when he was only twenty eight. Three years later the first of his paintings was accepted by the Royal Academy and he exhibited there regularly until 1903. The house Charles Lutyens leased in Thursley was called “The Cottage”; it was built for the Knowles family in Regency times and was probably so called because it was considerably smaller than the near-by mansion which was their main home. Although The Cottage was a fairly substantial house with a large garden it was not, as claimed by Mary Lutyens in the biography of her father, “by far the largest house in the village”. Charles Lutyens did much of his painting from his Thursley home. His principle subjects were racehorses and portraits but he also produced a number of small watercolours of putti*, possibly as pot-boilers, for his financial state deteriorated as the years went by and his eyesight weakened. Several of his paintings can be seen at Goddards, the house at Abinger Common built by Frederick Mirilees as a rest home for “ladies of small means” and now the headquarters of the Lutyens Trust. Charles died in 1915 but the Lutyens family continued to rent The Cottage for many years and several Thursley inhabitants still remember “Miss Lutyens”. She was Aileen, one of Charles' numerous daughters who, amongst other things, ran a kind of club to keep the young boys of the village occupied in their spare time. She held that girls, with their domestic duties and their sewing, were well able to look after themselves, but that boys, unless suitably guided, developed into hopeless drifters. Aileen Lutyens died in 1926 and the house was then let for a while to various tenants including army officers from Aldershot. It was afterwards sold, first of all to a Mrs. Patricia Peto, a widow, who soon re-married and in 1956 it came into the possession of Captain R. G. Tosswil RN. By then it had become “Lutyens House” as it was thought that the former name was inappropriate. In 1970 the property was bought by a Mr. & Mrs. Nicholas Charrington who were then living at The Dye House, a short distance to the west. The Charringtons added an additional wing increasing the size of the house by twenty to twenty five prercent. Street House The work was sympathetically done and the external symmetry was in no way spoilt. Nicholas Charrington was not, however, a lover of Lutyens' work, so he gave the property the rather boring name of Street House. Edwin Lutyens, always known to his family as Ned, was a delicate boy and not sufficiently robust to go to a boarding school. Instead, most of the time he shared his sisters' governesses and supplemented his education by meandering through the Surrey countryside on a bicycle, looking at old buildings and comparing them with the new ones going up. He is said to have carried with him a small pane of glass and, with a small sliver of soap, drawn the outline of any building he found interesting. He also spent hours in the carpenter's shop, then owned by “Old Tickner” of Milford, watching him at his craft and questioning him on why he did things in a certain way. By the time he was fifteen it was clear, both to himself and to his father, that architecture was to be his profession. The family still leased the house in Onslow Squre and in 1885 Edwin was sent to the South Kensington School of Art to study architecture, He did not finish the course: after two years he decided he had learnt all that the school could teach him and in 1887 he became an apprentice in the practice of Earnest George. With hindsight this may be considered a strange choice as George's style was very different from that of Edwin's architectural heroes at that time: Norman Shaw, then in his classical period, and William Morris of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Whilst he was still apprenticed to George, Ned Lutyens worked at night on his own designs and it was presumably during one of his visits to his parents that he succeeded in interesting Edmund Gray, then living at The Corner, the house opposite the Lutyens' family home in Thursley. He commissioned young Ned, still only about nineteen years old , to design a drawing room for The Corner, with two bedrooms above it. To this day Edmund Gray remains something of a mystery. In the first place the house was not his property; it was owned by William Karn Fosberry, the local builder, and leased for twenty years to a certain John Gray, who was possibly Edmund's son. A conjecture is that Edmund, after his wife's death, came to live with his son, the house having to be enlarged to accommodate him. It had originally consisted of two joined cottages, built about 1700, one of which contained the village shop. These had been made into a single building some time before John Gray leased it. The Corner The original plans and a photograph taken when the work was almost complete, show that Lutyens' design was accepted without alteration. The Grays were obviously satisfied with it as, in 1895, Ned was asked to draw up plans for a morning room and a bedroom above to be built on the southern side of the house, and for four smaller rooms to be added to the west. These extensions were grandly described as “two additional wings”. They were duly completed about 1896, the work having been carried out by the building's owner, W. K. Fosberry, who had also built the first extension. Since the turn of the century, apart from a narrow bay being added to the drawing room, there have been no changes to the exterior of the house. Lutyens' only other building in the actual village of Thursley is what is now known as Prospect Cottage. It was originally built as a working mens' club, and the Parish Register held in the chuch, contains the following record “the site for the institute was given by Captain H. Rushbrooke, the architect was Mr. E. L. Lutyens, the builder was Mr. W. K. Fosberry. The building was formally opened and given to the Parish Council on February 11 1901”. Actually it seems that Captain Rushbrooke, who lived nearby at Cosford House, did rather more than just give the land; he is said to have paid for much of the building itself and to have taken a paternal interest in the running of the club. Plan for The Institute The institute comprised a reading room, a billiards and games room and accommodation for the caretaker. Until about 1914 one of the bedrooms amd the sitting room were used by the Thursley Parish Nurse, thereafter the whole of the private part was used by the secretary, his wife who was also the caretaker, and their family. Prospect Cottage, formerly The Institute The institute was disbanded in 1959 because the building needed more money spent on it than the Parish Council was in a position to pay. There was much controversy in the village as to the future of the building but it was eventually sold in 1968, planning approval having been given for conversion to residential use. The conditions of sale included an interesting clause, presumably inherited from the rules of the institute, forbidding the purchaser to use the building for the “discussion of political or religious subjects.... or for the consumption of intoxicating liquors”. The building was bought by a Mrs. Le Marx, who instructed local architects to modernise the interior and this has been further improved in recent years but the exterior still retains virtually all of Lutyens' original design. Edwin Lutyens first met Gertrude Jekyll in 1889 when he was still returning fairly frequently to the village. Robert and Barbara Webb, who lived at Milford House, befriended the rather shy young architect and it was they who introduced him to Miss Jekyll who was, of course, many years his senior. Their work together in later years is well chronicled and although there is no known collaboration between them in Thursley, when the garden of The Corner was remodelled between the wars, several of the features appear to have been copied from examples in the neighbourhood. In Thursley churchyard, not far from the grave of the poet John Freeman, is a cross designed by Edwin Lutyens, bearing the names of his parents and his sister Aileen. Nearby is Edwin's memorial stone to his nephew, Derek Lutyens, who was killed in 1918 whilst serving in the Royal Air Force. Warren Mere Apart from the buildings in Thursley village already described, on the outskirts of the parish Lutyens designed two lakeside boathouses for Whitaker Wright in Witley Park. This was probably in 1890 when he was still studying under Earnest George. In 1901 he built the cottages at Warren Lodge and in 1909 he planned alterations to the main house there. Many of his more famous houses are in the neighbourhood, for example Munstead Wood (1896) and Tighbourne Court, Witley (1899). Munstead Wood and Tigbourne Court In later years of course, Lutyens achieved great fame, particularly with his designs for the Viceroy's House and other buildings in New Delhi and for the Cenotaph in Whitehall. Only the crypt was completed of what he considered his finest design, the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool, on which he worked, off and on, for fourteen years (1929 – 1943). He died in 1944, believing that this vast building would be built when the war had ended. *Putti is the plural of putto (Italian) meaning the figure of a child, especially a cherub or cupid-like. It is usually used in connection with Rennaissance paintings.

Anyone who was up late on Friday, 10th May 2024, will have seen the spectacular and very rare sight of the Northern Lights lighting up the skies above Thursley and most of the UK. The photographs below were taken by Rich Owen on an iPhone 13. This photo which features Guildford Cathedral was taken by MatSnaps:

This account was contributed by Mr Michael Jupe of the Well House. Since it was established by the Local Government Act of 1894, Thursley’s Parish Council has no doubt seen many periods of varying activity; the recorded minutes through its first 50 years leave very much to the imagination. However, there can be no doubt that the activity during the past 20 years has steadily intensified. The present council was elected on 13th May 1965 and consists of seven members, namely Messrs J H L Bozward (businessman), S J Hall (farmer), Mrs F G Jupe, Messrs M L Jupe – Chairman (Member of the Stock Exchange), C Petersen (solicitor), Mrs C M Williams and Mr B W Wonham (Post Office). The Clerk is Mr B A Ashley (school master). This council succeeds to a period in which the major interest was the acquisition of the former village school building to serve as a new Village Hall. In regard to the latter, the council serves only as a trustee but has been greatly involve in the negotiations and has a continuing concern for the effective establishment of the “new” hall as a village centre offering the widest possible range of facilities. A Parish Council’s powers are limited to a relatively humble field of interests and even within this field its activities are limited by its finances as it may, in general, spend only a four-penny rate; this may be increased to an eight-penny rate by reference to a parish meeting. At present, in the parish of Thursley, a one-penny rate yields approximately £100. Even so, our Council finds enough business to necessitate approximately monthly meetings throughout the year. One of its most important, if unspecified, functions is to receive and transmit to the higher authority requests and complaints about matters of local concern. For instance, complaints about the irregular running of the school bus which is organised by the County Education Authority. The Parish Council has no official powers in the field of planning, but it is being increasingly accepted that the Parish Council is a useful watchdog and has most useful local knowledge, and in the Rural District outline details of all planning applications are now referred to the parishes for comment, if desired. The parish extends well over 5,000 acres to Gibbet Hill, Hindhead, almost to Elstead, and from the Churt Road to Brook, with a population of approximately 650. This area lies substantially within the officially designated Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is probable that, later in the year, the region will be subject to visitation by the Local Government Commission which has powers to recommend sweeping changes in the regional boundaries. As Thursley lies near the county boundary, it is possible that it may be affected if any changes are recommended. If not, at this stage the possibility exists at a later stage when the County Council will review internal boundaries. Members of the council are conscious of a general lack of public interest in their activities. The election this year occurred with no apparent topic of contention as a background and the top candidate received 106 votes from an electorate of 453. The highest poll in recent years has not exceeded 35 per cent and this was very high compared with the average. The council is a member of the Surrey County Association of Parish Councils which is affiliated to the National Association, the latter body having been responsible for much enhancement of the status of the parish council generally.

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This account was contributed by Mrs Malins. On May 31st 1965, the Queen gave a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the WI. One member from each Institute was invite – about 9,000 in all. I was lucky to be drawn in the ballot to represent Thursley. Fortunately except for one short shower the day was fine though cold. A large number of WI members went by special train or coach, others by car, etc. The vehicles were given a large X to display on the windscreen so that the police would give them pride of place. We drove through the main gates and alighted in the outer forecourt. We then went in two processions on either side across the inner court and thence round to the gardens. As we were allowed entrance well in advance of the Queen’s arrival, it enabled us to have a good look round the grounds. The big pond in the centre with the pink flamingos attracted much attention. Unfortunately, the roses were not fully out but rhododendrons and azaleas were still blooming. We also saw the caravan used by the Royal children. There were two large tea tents – one for the Royal party and their chief guests and the other for us. Promptly at 4:00pm the band played the National Anthem and the Queen and the Duke and their party came out on to the terrace and were introduced to the important members of the WI. They descended and with the Duchess of Gloucester and Princess Marina and Princess Alexandra circulated among the crowds and made their separate ways to the Royal tea tent. I found myself quite close to the Duke who chatted freely to all and sundry near him. The Queen, who was dressed in a very pretty shaded pink costume and pink hat, was proceeded by six Gentlemen at Arms with the tall halberds. The Duke came up in the rear with cheery words to us all. We were a crowd – practically all women in gay costumes and hats which was most colourful. We then made our way back going this time up on to the terrace and through the Palace and so home. Thus ended a most enjoyable and unforgettable day. Many thanks to Her Majesty for giving members of the WI such a wonderful party.

This account was contributed by Mrs Dunlop, the present President of the Thursley Women’s Institute and a member of the Village Hall Committee. The membership of the Women’s Institute for 1966 is 45. This was achieved through an energetic recruiting drive which was necessary to counteract the decline in membership during 1965 which had been caused by an unusually large number of members leaving the district. As an experiment during the past year, a letter was sent to all members about a week before each gathering to bring to their notice such items as the programme for the meeting, competitions, Bring and Buy stalls or future outings and it was hoped that this would keep members in touch with the various activities. There are many elderly members who are on the outskirts of the village who certainly seem to have benefited from this idea. Money raising efforts have included a Jumble Sale in May, donations to the Betatron Fund and also the Cancer Relief Fund. Highlights of the Women’s Institute Golden Jubilee Year included the County Dinner Party at Guildford, Mrs Malins’s visit to Buckingham Palace and a splendid revue performed by members of the Surrey Women’s Institute at Dorking called “Jubilee Spotlight”. The biggest thrill of all was when our Institute won a Gold Star for their exhibit in the co-operative section of the Women’s Institute Jubilee Year Handicrafts Exhibition at Godalming in March. Six members contributed articles which were for 21st birthday presents for three sets of boy and girl twins. The items were a mosaic lamp, a dressing gown, an embroidered cocktail tray, a patchwork sewing holdall and two Fair Isle ski jerseys. The whole colour scheme was in black, white, gold and dark red. A photograph of the exhibit was shown in the local newspaper. To mark the occasion ourselves, a magnolia tree was planted in the Village Hall grounds, and at our December meeting a special celebration tea with a magnificent ‘Jubilee Cake’ which had gold trimmings and 50 gold candles, was made by Mrs Elsie Warner. Two successful outings were accomplished: a coachload visited Frogmore Gardens at Windsor in the spring, the day was fine and a pleasant tea in the town rounded off the day nicely; also in the spring a few members had a delightful day at Wisley. There have been enthusiastic requests for a Drama Group and an Art Group to be formed and those are in the process of being organised. Mrs Loarridge gave a demonstration of mosaic work on lamps and tables etc, at the Handicrafts Demonstration Day at Dorking in January 1966. This work has created a lot of interest in our Institute and a splendid number of lamps were entered in a special class in the October Produce Show. The Institute have done some useful work towards the conversion of the Village Hall. The making of the curtains and the cheerful colour scheme for the main hall and the kitchen were thought out by members of the Institute. The Bring and Buy stall, which is held at each monthly meeting, is going towards new chairs – this is, of course, in our own interest as the monthly meetings are usually held in the Village Hall and the old chairs are somewhat uncomfortable. The Village Hall held a Christmas Fair and as there was no point in having two similar events competing, the Institute suggested they joined forces with the Village Hall. It was agreed that £20, which was the approximate amount we made the previous year be given towards our funds. The Institute was thanked by the Village Hall Committee for their wonderful effort in helping to raise £300 and everyone thought that our £20 had been justly earned. The Cosford Cup and the Alice Cup are presented each year to the two members who have won the most points at the Produce Show events. The Institute basked in the reflected glory of Mrs Bennett’s (our 1965 President) appointment as Principal of St Hilda’s College, Oxford. Thursley Women's Institute 1955 Thursley Women's Institute Garden Party - undated