From Wikipedia: 'Have a Go' was a BBC Radio show that ran from 1946 to 1967. Hosted by Wilfred Pickles and co-presented with his wife Mabel (née Myerscough), it involved the couple travelling to venues around the UK and speaking to members of the public, who were then invited to answer quiz questions in the hope of winning a small amount of money. It was the first quiz show in Britain to offer such a prize. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Have_a_Go By Rosemary Stockdale Did you know that the Village Hall in the 1950’s was located where the bungalow close to the pub now stands. It hosted a variety of events including Wilfred Pickles ‘Have a Go’ in 1958. Do you recognise anyone? Please get in touch if you do or if you have any other information to add to the archives. Thursley ‘Have a Go’ contenders 1958 …. And you can hear all of the programme, 28 minutes, on the Thursley History Society YouTube channel: https://studio.youtube.com/video/74CzJk-Oe44/edit Wilfred Pickles hosting… Sid Hall facing microphone with Wilfred Pickles in the 'Have A Go" radio show. The winner(s)…..? The winner was Mrs Messenger who was given £4, 10 shillings, a chicken and dinner for two at a local hotel The cutting above includes the information that Thursley residents' big grouse was the housing shortage as it was driving young people from the village.

Placards in the village hall. From The Mail On Sunday, April 2023, 1989. A fancy dress parade was held to celebrate winning in 1960: Michael Jupe, Chairman of Thursley Parish Council and Lord Hamilton of Dalzell - Best Kept village presentation. September 1961 Dick Winter receiving a tankard from Lord Hamilton of Dalzell. Best Kept Village presentation, September 1961 Best Kept Village Celebrations at the Cricket Green, 1961. Back Row: C Cooper, B Ashley, J Ellison, Watson, Craddock-Henry, R Crawfurd, ?, Dick Winter, J Bozward, K Guyatt. Front Row: M Rapley, C Darlow, W Cooper, L Cooper, R Loarridge, M Cooper The 1970s: 1985: Unveiling Best Kept Village Award, 1985 Two groups attending the Best Kept Village Award, 1985, and in the centre, Major Brian Camp, Chairman of Thursley Parish Council with Mrs Guyatt, late of Hedge Farm. Best kept village Hall award ceremony 19?, Unknown, Brian Camp, Eddie Gayle, Peter Scheffers

Lower Highfield Farm was sold in 1952 as part of the break-up of the Cosford Estate. The entries below are from the auction catalogue. Lower Highfield Farm as it is today Previous owners of Lower Highfield Farm include: Treadwell The property has been on and off the market over the past couple of years and it reappeared in April 2026. The following were taken from the Knight, Frank sales brochure: https://www.knightfrank.co.uk/properties/residential/for-sale/highfield-lane-thursley-godalming-surrey-gu8-6qj/gld012228328

At a meeting of the Thursley History Society early in 2025, it was agreed that the website should include a post for our many beloved villagers who are no longer with us. Our archive contains a lot of information and we shall gradually build up this entry retrospectively. If you would like to contribute any obituaries, eulogies, memories, orders of service or photographs (especially where none exist on the website) please do so via the website: https://www.thursleyhistorysociety.org/contact Lives celebrated: Nina Allen; Tone Badcock; John Baker; Hilary Barr; Pat Barr; Richard Bates; Tich Corrigan; Salosh Edwards; Joyce Hall; Peter Hanaeur; Edmund Haviland; Elizabeth Jones; Anthony Langdale; Angela Muir; Ruth Nightingale; John 'Tony' Scales; Jo Scheffers; Traudi Shah; Philip Traill; Pia Wansborough; Jill Whitwell; Neil Woods Gertraud "Traudi" Luise Shah, 15th September 1942 - 17th June 2026 John Anthony Scales, 'Tony', 3rd January 1941-12th February 2026 Tony Scales's sons, Ben & Tim, gave this eulogy, part of which is below: the complete eulogy is in the pdf: Growing up in Yorkshire John Anthony Scales was born on 3rd January 1941 in the village of Knaresborough in Yorkshire, the son of Cameron and Nellie and the 2nd of 3 boys. He grew up with his brothers Bob and Peter in an atmosphere of healthy, fraternal competition which spilt over into lively confrontation on a regular basis. The Scales brothers would earn themselves something of a reputation in and around Harrogate in later years (although he might claim that this was more by association than by personal merit). School His formative years were spent in Yorkshire and he remained a proud Yorkshireman throughout his life. Boarding school first at Terrington Hall and then at Sedburgh (then still part of West Yorkshire), where the beauty of the natural surroundings was offset by a Spartan regime which involved being fully submerged in a cold bath each morning, punishing cross-country runs up hill and down dale (the famous “10”), and rugby in all weathers, including deep snow. He told us that he was ready for pretty much anything after that and Anne recalls that he subsequently particularly enjoyed running downhill recreating the thrill (and relief no doubt) of careering down hillsides at school. Robin Gourlay remembers him at Sedburgh as quiet, musical, popular and responsible, someone who never seemed to get into trouble and who came into his own as a mediator, settling arguments between warring factions (notably Hunt House versus School House). Perhaps a precursor for his career in law. Oxford He left Yorkshire after winning a place to read law at University College, Oxford, an achievement of which his parents were immensely proud, and intrepidly made the long trip down on a scooter which became his preferred means of transport. At Oxford, he continued to play rugby, and also rowed for the college eight under the watchful eye of the cox, Stephen Hawking. My godfather David Pullen remembers him as a very fast and elusive winger (although not very good at tackling) as well as a very light (11 and a half stone – “almost unheard of”) bow in the college eight. Thank you, David, and thank you also for introducing Dad to Mum (without which we wouldn’t be standing here). And actually, we also wanted to acknowledge how happy we are that Mum and Dad were eventually able to rekindle their friendship and thank Anne and Gervase for encouraging this – it has meant a huge amount to the three of us, just as we know it has to Mum. Sutter Creek In 1963, Dad pushed back his start date in London by a year and travelled to California to work as a Maths and English teacher in the old Gold Rush town of Sutter Creek. He supplemented his teaching wages by working at weekends as a cashier in the casinos of Taho, and in forestry, where he worked felling and stripping logs. He recounted that on one occasion, he was following the tractor up hill, when a chain supporting its load of logs snapped, releasing its cargo to roll down the hill. Were it not for Dad’s natural prowess as a high hurdler, we might also not be standing here today! Edward John Baker, "John", 21st July 1934 - 13th March 2026 Pia Wansborough, 7th November 1938 - 10th February 2026 Richard Charles Bates 12th February 1943 - 4th January 2026 This tribute was written by the family and read by the Celebrant, Paul Winder: Richard Bates - A Life Well Lived Richard grew up in the World War 2 bombed streets of London’s East End with his Dad, a bus conductor following his service in the War, Mum, a seamstress, and his younger sister Dorothy. One of his academic achievements was to pass the 11+ exam and be accepted into the local Grammar School where he made lifelong friends. His Uncle Albert was an early inspiration. He spoke Arabic, played the piano, painted and knew artists like the writer Laurie Lee. Richard also took up oil painting and played the clarinet but it was his desire to see beyond the claustrophobic East End that defined him. Early on he loved cycling to Epping Forest where he read The Sunday Times from front to back, a routine he kept his whole life. His social and organisational skills meant he was the one to get his school friends out and about, starting off with youth-hostelling in Britain but he soon had sights on tougher challenges. At 21 he cycled up Norway, in winter, as far as the Arctic Circle with Graham. Word had got round about his trip and at the top he was greeted by a newspaper journalist and a British diplomat. Another trip in his early twenties was with a group of mates driving through Europe, ending up working in a hotel restaurant by Lake Geneva. While living at home he worked in the City and in the evenings studied for a Drawing Practice & Machine Design Diploma which allowed him to work as a Draughtsman. However he wasn’t going to work in an office in the City for the rest of his life, so at 26 the travelling bug infected him again, this time with the grand idea of an overland trip to Australia. He advertised in the paper and went with two girls and Sean Sinnott, an Irish guitar playing singer, who stayed a lifelong dear friend. Richard did most of the driving in a converted Bedford Dormobile, christened Rosinante (from Don Quixote). This was the journey of a lifetime, nearly having to give up in the snow in Turkey and getting very ill in India but eventually they made it to Sydney, Australia, the land of opportunity, a world away from Stepney Green. Richard took a job in a drawing office, living over Bondi Beach and made close, life-long friends in John Egger and Richard Debenham. From then on he was known as Dicko! Geoff Prouse, an old school friend asked Richard to help him run a supermarket in Darwin, then a remote town in the outback of Northern Australia. Richard was in his element here as his social skills made him a Pom everyone could like, even if he did have to knock out the occasional Aborigine who’d had too much to drink! In 1974 Cyclone Tracy flattened Darwin. He was a driving force in helping the Red Cross in the aftermath but eventually he decided to come home. In the late Seventies, a trip to Egypt provided the setting for Richard to meet Nicki, a nurse and former air hostess. And though they came from different backgrounds, they shared a love of travelling and doing things their way. After marriage in Farnham they found a run-down cottage in Thursley, backing on to Thursley Common. They thought it would be a great place to raise a family. Richard learnt squash in Australia and his entrepreneurial skills and love of sport meant he wasn’t satisfied working as a draughtsman for a company, so he decided to start up his own Squash & Sports Club. Squash was a sport that hadn’t taken off yet in 1980’s England and he saw the business potential and health benefits for all. Then his two sons came along, James, then Andrew, and with Dingo the dog he was living a life he could never have imagined growing up in the East End. Richard installed a wood burner that connected to the radiators in the house and he was very proud of his money saving idea. In return for volunteering on Thursley Common, the wardens allowed him to use his prized Land Rover to collect any spare wood available. It became a life-time passion to spend most of his free time collecting, cutting and burning wood! He struck up a close friendship with James Giles, the Natural England Warden. The family enjoyed many cycling holidays throughout Europe, fond memories for all. When Richard retired a new life opened up for him as he now had the time to get to know the village and villagers. With his East End charm and famous sense of humour he was equally at home with everyone. He soon became the Village Hall Grand Quizmaster and ran a Table Tennis Club for over 10 years. He volunteered to mow the grass in the village for the Parish Council and also enjoyed helping the Churchyard Working Party. Richard was a self-made man. He grew up in humble surroundings and made the best of his time. He ventured out into the world with a smile for everyone and a bad joke for those who would listen! His attitude meant he was accepted wherever he went. A life well-lived. Richard's sons, James and Andrew, also delivered moving eulogies which can be read in the pdf below: Ruth Irwin Nightingale, 9th July 1931 - 27th October 2025 Honor Marion Jill Whitwell, 'Jill' 16th September 1934 - 24th August 2025 The eulogy was delivered by Jill's son, Kevin Osgood, part of which is below: the complete eulogy is in the pdf: Thank you all for joining us here today to celebrate the life of Jill Whitwell, my Mum. Jill was born Honor Marion Jill Temple on 16th September 1934. She was born at home in an upstairs room of her parents’ guest house, The Temple Lounge, in West Street, Farnham where she grew up alongside her elder brothers, Ranger and Nigel, who were 13 and 8 years her senior respectively. Her parents were Sydney and Honor Temple and at the age of 16 Sydney had been blinded during a rugby match at Dulwich College and subsequently devoted much of his life to charity work for the Royal National Institute for the Blind. Jill also immersed herself in this, teaching blind people the art of chair caning and making wicker baskets, something she returned to in later life. Jill was almost five when Britain declared war on Germany and within a year Farnham was suffering from the fallout of bombing missions more likely targeting the surrounding areas of Brooklands, Farnborough, Aldershot, Bordon and Odiham, all having military or air bases. Her parents’ cellar was converted into an air raid shelter where locals would cram in during nighttime bombing raids. At 5 years old it was time to start school at St. Andrew’s in Farnham. Jill developed a distaste for school on her first day which set the pattern for the next three years. She could already read and write quite well and on her first day the class had to write their names, addresses and their parents’ names. Jill was sent to see Mrs Burrows, the headmistress, for arguing that she had not misspelt her father’s name (it was Sydney and NOT Sidney). By lucky coincidence Mrs Burrows lived at the Temple Lounge during term time and confirmed that Jill was, in fact, correct but this injustice stuck in her craw for the remaining three years at the school. By 1942 her parents had decided that the town was too dangerous for a child of that age and they would move her away from the bombings. She was sent to St. Ursula’s, a girls’ boarding school in the local village of Grayshott which was considered outside the bombers’ flight paths. She immediately took to the head mistress, Mrs Stevenson, who had a little dog, Craddock, who Jill was given almost sole charge of during term time. You can imagine how much she enjoyed that responsibility. I can find no record of this school so due to her mischievous nature I teased her many times that she must have been mistaken, and the school was really called St Trinian’s. She told me recently that she was amongst several girls who used to escape through the dormitory window to attend the dance at the local village hall before returning to bed as if nothing had happened. Jill later attended the Guildford Technical College and qualified in Catering in 1952 and Restaurant Management the following year and found employment cooking for the many residents of Farnham’s Moor Park House which had been used as a billet for Canadian troops in the war and was being refurbished by a Canon Parsons whilst being used as a Christian adult education college. Angela Muir MW 29th September 1948 - 14th July 2025 Order of Service, see PDF below We were all saddened to hear of the death in Cyprus on July 15th of Angela Muir, widow of Peter who was for several years Associate Vicar of St Michael and All Angels Thursley. Many of us will remember their legendary hospitality both at Yew Cottage, The Three Horseshoes and at Church, and that Angela was not only a world-renowned Master of Wine, but also a superb cook. They were greatly missed in the village when, in 2019, they decided to emigrate permanently to Cyprus. Angela showed early talent by winning the Vintners Scholarship in 1977, enabling her to travel around Europe for six months studying wine, finally becoming a Master of Wine in 1980, a considerable achievement, especially for a woman, in those days. She spent eight years in the Wine Merchant Division of John Harvey and Sons in Bristol followed by ten years as overseas buyer for Grants of St James and Victoria Wine. After this, she set up in her own business called Cellarworld with Peter, travelling the world as a wine consultant, helping producers both in Europe and South America to make their wines more saleable in the export market. Few people realised that one of her many intellectual talents was as a linguist, which made travelling easier for her. She has truly left her mark on the wine industry as an educator of future Masters of Wine, many of whom have left glowing tributes to her rigorous and meticulous training, but also mentioning her kindness and the selfless gift of her time in helping them to achieve their goal. There have also been a number of lengthy articles in the Cypriot press written with great fondness by her friends in the wine industry there recalling her immense talent and enormous contribution to their success over the years. Angela fell in love with Cyprus many years ago when she was employed by the industry to improve the quality of their wine making, so when they moved there, we were delighted that they chose a house in the same village in which we have had a holiday home for over twenty years. We joked that we lived almost exactly the same distance from each other as we did in Thursley. Their house has a magnificent view of a large area of the south coast west of Paphos towards the Akamas peninsula and they loved to sit on their balcony with a glass of something rather good to enjoy the magnificent sunsets for which Cyprus is famous. They soon were absorbed into the large expat community, playing lots of bridge and Angela also joined the ladies gastronomy circle where she soon became a leading light. She also kept up with her contacts with the local wineries, a number of whom she had helped for many years. It was an eye opener to have the privilege of accompanying her to some of these, she was treated like royalty and they hung on her every word. It was also educational, on one occasion, at a rather grand establishment, she tasted a particular supposedly single grape varietal and announced that there was a percentage of another grape in it. An embarrassed owner huffed that he had added 2% to smooth it out, at which Angela looked at him over her glasses, and enquired whether he had forgotten that perhaps it was 5%. An embarrassed vigneron turned bright red in the face and admitted that she was, of course, correct. Peter’s sudden death on New Year’s Eve 2022 came as a terrible shock and Angela’s health suffered very badly. She became completely incapacitated and spent a considerable period in Hospital. When she came home, she had the help of constant carers to look after her. One particularly wonderful friend took over the organisation of her life and I do not know what would have happened without her devoted attention. Angela gradually and bravely fought her way back to better health and was able to get about to play bridge and see friends, even managing the cruise that they both had looked forward to. Her end seems to have been peaceful, she was found by one of her carers in bed, the inevitable book still in hand. Peter once said to me “There is only one Angela!” and he was right. RIP great lady. Hilary Joy Denholm Barr, 3rd May 1945 - 12th January 2025 Hilary's obituary in Thursley Parish Magazine, May 2025 Order of Service: Pete Hanauer 26th September 1946 - 15th December 2024 There were tributes to Pete from family and friends as well as poem. The tribute below from Dick Lowther, a friend and former colleague, is reproduced in full: Peter Warm, generous, witty Peter - 47 YEARS MY FRIEND. We took many paths together but then you trod many more. Memories of you, glued in my souvenirs, coming back as sure as swifts in summer. As surely as the seeds you sowed in your veg plot - from the smooth bean to the wrinkled pea. Some forgotten for a time, but greeted with joy when they pop up again. I met you in the autumn of 77 in Farnham the same day as Brad, who is also here today. You were a new student, yet already rich with experience. Your second bite of the art school cherry. With your generosity and effortless way of making friends - witness this turnout - I soon found myself enjoying the delightful company of Pete. And of Sandra, of Rachel, and Sam. You brought with you a history and an inquisitive mind, tempted by a new path trusting it would lead somewhere - a characteristic of art students, We who took a stroll with out a care, never knowing how we’ll fare. How I wish I had met the much younger you. But the music of Hole Cottage gave me a rewarding glimpse into the lay of your land. This shared musicality led us to - Springsteen in Paris, Leonard in Lyon, Baez in Portsmouth, Dylan in London You fared well at Farnham as glassblowing caught your breath. Those fiery workshops set you on another new path, one that would take you to the Royal College of Art. I recognized early on that you were someone respectful of tradition, yet always open to the modern. Even those paintings you worked on for Bridgit Riley where beautifully hand crafted. Two years later, our paths crossed again — this time with greater consequence. I was scouting for talent for Epsom when we met at your Royal College show. I proposed part-time teaching , wanting you to have days to continue creating your beautiful glasswork. But you wanted a full-time job. The principal, on looking into your box of glasswork, pounced on you. And so we worked together again. I confess I bear the responsibility for England losing a talented glassblower — but there are many many students, some here today I believe, who would thank me for that. You anchored yourself at Epsom, devoting your days to teaching, guiding, listening to and inspiring others. You became a weekly presence in my life once more: the kind, charming committed colleague, a steadfast friend. But my most treasured memories are of Hole Cottage. Descending the track from the A3 always brought the anticipation of the warmest of welcomes, your hand held high and the ever-open back door. The country kitchen, where much was talked of and chuckled at. A small corner of England you and Sandra have long been caring for - a place for people, animals, and birds and celebration. At one point a homestead of black sheep, black chickens, black pigs, black cat, and Blackberry the cow. The crows and blackbirds were well impressed. Green finches and blue tits not so much. Warm welcome and warm nights nights too, often a new year’s eve, much enlivened by the grape. Once you put me to bed in front of the open fire and closed all the doors. I woke up smelling like an Arbroath Smokie for a day. Another example of your commitment to a country craft and love of food the cottage always brings to mind. But whilst Spotted Dick is is a famous english pudding, Kippered Dick has yet to make it to a menu. And the barn - multifunctional, ever-evolving. At times it housed vintage vehicles, a cinema, a dance floor, an illicit still, and Sandra’s six-star restaurant. Above it all, your little studio - the elevated man cave filled with books, art, and bits of this and mementos of that, gathered with care. Surrounding it all the the perfect summer-party garden. Not too far away were the cricket grounds, grand at Lord’s or modest in Thursley, where we could slow our life down for an hour or a day. Along with morning dog walks and pub lunches. You identified with, and reintroduced me to, the culture of rural England. You would probably have been wassailing this month where it not for why we are here. Your talent you wore lightly. but there was always a reminder of it - in your delightfully drawn birthday and Christmas cards, your graceful handwriting instantly recognizable on the envelope. These are not just nostalgic memories - they are an appreciation of a life well-lived, rooted in craft yet open to innovation. Life is a collection of meandering paths, with missteps along the way. Yet we leave footprints in the sands of time. You, of course, would modestly deny this. But Peter, you and Sandra have made your small corner of England a better place, filled with goodness. For Sandy and Rachel and Sam there will now be the undone years as Wilfred Owen called them - not just the years that Pete will not now do, but those which you will not now experience. But they will be enriched because you new and loved him and he was there. He will be still be there - invisible but you will be able to call on memories and be guided by his humanity, his generosity, his humour, his ease with people, young and old, whatever path they found themselves on. So lets not whine at death but withstand it ( so wrote that gloomy poet of my home town Philip Larkin) and celebrate Pete’s life and be thankfully happy that his paths crossed ours. So I say Fare thee well, Pete. I will miss you terribly. Two examples of Pete's glass-blowing in the V&A This eulogy was from a close neighbour, Jo Kelly: For me Pete was a friend and neighbour, a fellow valley dweller and wassailer, a muddy biking buddy and member of the Help in Thursley team, a litter picking organiser and ever friendly greeter of my horses and dogs. Pete was our runner bean supplier and bringer of mice for our barn owl - (although I am not sure that the Amazon drivers ever got used to the surprise of dead mice looking up at them from a flowerpot in our parcel bin!). A long-standing dog grooming client (he and Stanley were the only two who thought that my haircuts with horse clippers were acceptable, albeit after a couple of weeks regrowth!). He had been the previous keeper of our Land Rover, and a few years later with Sandy, crept in at the crack of dawn in a snow blizzard to decorate it for our wedding. He was also the village illustrator and creator of the most beautiful and memorable Christmas Cards. As you all know Pete wore many hats! Anyone who witnessed Pete and my relationship will know it consisted of a lot of banter and a very dubious sense of humour. I fear he has gained the last laugh looking down on me here today trying to hold it all together. I was deeply touched, honoured and daunted when Sandy asked me to say a few words. How on earth do you do justice to Pete and his life? So I googled the definition of “a life well lived”. One version was, “more people have benefitted from your presence than not”. And BLIMEY! - didn’t we all benefit?! I’m sure that every one of you here can’t reflect on Pete’s time in your life, however long or short, even those fleeting interactions, without smiling and recalling his ever cheery chat and endless positivity. That is a life well lived. If we all tried to live our lives a bit more like Pete ….. that would be a truly great legacy. Philip George Traill: 8th November 1965 - 8th September 2024 Joyce Dulcie Hall: 12 July 1931 - 21st February 2024 This eulogy was delivered by her son, Simon: After 63 wonderful years of life at South house Mum at the young age of 92 left the building for the last time and amazingly, she did it without the use of her wheelchair! Joyce was known to many of us as Joy and it’s because she brought so much Joy and laughter to all of us. 11 years ago, we converted South house so mum could stay at the family home, it also meant that there would be now 3 generations living under one roof, plus one cat called Harry who she didn’t like very much. Harry however was very fond of mum and he showed it by bringing in the odd, mouse, bird and frog. This was not appreciated at all! Mum loved people and after living on her own for several years, South house was again a busy household. Both Amanda, my wife, and mum had a passion for gardening, and this was a strong bond right to the end. In the last few years childhood Polio came back, which meant mum could not get about like she used to. But seeing her plants and garden every day meant as much to her as also been able to do the Times sudoku most of the day and every day. We have had some wonderful times together and some great parties that many of you here will have attended. Mum loved a party; she also loved her music particularly the Austrian conductor and violinist Andre Rieu. She watched his concerts on television religiously every Sunday and Monday evening without her hearing aids on very, very loudly! Often my daughter Hannah or son Nathanial would have to come down at midnight and say “Please Granny turn the volume down! I have school in the morning”. Oddly very late in life. in fact, this year Mum suddenly went with a conversion from classical Strauss music to the Rolling Stones. This time it was my turn to be woken up at one o’clock in the morning as BBC4 were running a tribute back-to-back of all the band’s songs to the early hours of the morning. Though her hearing was not very good she always denied this, it was more the case people just mumble these days. As Mike Jaggar shouted out “I can’t get no satisfaction” pumped out at full volume. It was my turn to plead for her to turn it down as had an early start for work the next day. Whereas she replied, “Aren't they good very, very good. Such nice young men and so well dressed!”. I could not spoil that image, that rock stars very rarely wear suits anymore and as for Mick Jaggar well, he is only a few years younger than mum!! As mum’s world became smaller the number of visitors became bigger and bigger. My sister Ardiana would visit from Australia every year for 4 – 6 weeks also staying at South House and brother Chris would come down from London every second weekend taking her on magical tours around the local countryside. Most Sundays it was either a roast lunch with us or with her sister Ardri in Farnham. One of mum’s oldest friends Jennifer now lives in Australia but used to live in Bramley and share early school days at St. Catherines school. Jen gave a wonderful rose that was planted outside her bedroom window. Mum often used to remark how amazing that the petals managed to hang on for so long like her friendship too Jen and all the wonderful friends she has had. I feel very privileged to have had joy for all my life and proud to be called my mum. The last years of life the carers at Right at Home became also a very much part of our family and I would like to read out to you a poem written by one of them: This second eulogy was delivered by Joyce's elder son, Christopher, and can be downloaded from the pdf below: Basil Hamilton Barr 'Pat': 7th April 1935 - 7th February 2024 Andrew and Stephen Barr's eulogy for their father: Andrew: Dad was born 7th April, 1935 in Aldershot to an Irish father and English mother who came from Churt and Dad never really left this area. His father, Walter who was known as Stan, was born in Derry City at the turn of the last century in what is now Northern Ireland. Like many of his generation there was little for him in Ireland and following the partition Stan joined the British Army as part of the Royal Army Medical Corps. Consequently Dad’s early family life was spent at the Aldershot and then Hong Kong Garrisons before Stan returned to England at the start of the war. Dad was always extremely proud of his Irish heritage and was in contact with his cousins throughout his life, including some memorable family visits to Donegal where it was clear where he got his sense of humour from. His given name was actually Basil - but he was universally known as Pat or Paddy . This fascinated us as children, and we would interrogate him, and he would say we could only call him Basil when he became Sir Basil. Dad was the second of three children. The eldest Derek sadly died in the 1990’s but his younger sister Dorothy aka Dilys, survives him and is here with us today. At the start of the war Stan was on active service and in 1940, following the evacuation of Dunkirk was captured and remained a prisoner until close to the end of the war when he returned unexpectedly on a prisoner exchange, only to be sent straight back after D-Day. So Dad’s early life was spent without a father and he grew up in service quarters with few comforts and probably not a lot of money. It was a tough start and I believed it explains a lot about his drive and determination to get a good education in order to provide a good life for himself and his family. Dad never took anything for granted and was always extremely hard working, successful and careful with money. But he was also very generous and often funny. I remember his typical wit when asked if he had waited long for his much anticipated new convertible he responded – oh about 50 years! In 1952, Dad was called up for national service and joined the Royal Marines. After completing the Commando course and earning his green beret, he followed Derek into 42 Commando and together they were on active service in the Suez crisis. I think it is fair to say that Dad was more bon vivant than commando, a polar opposite to his elder brother, and we don’t think he much enjoyed the experience – but it resonated strongly with him for the rest of his life, and he was very proud of having been a Royal Marine. Following National Service Dad got a job with the Lloyd’s Policy Signing office in Chatham. From there he worked as a junior cargo broker at Maurice Tozer and Beck before moving to John Holman & Sons - a family business that historically included shipowning and insurance businesses. During his holiday’s Dad was involved with the Royal Show working in the accounts department. No doubt this was to earn extra money, but we think it was where and certainly around the time he met Jean Huxley, our mother. Pat and Jean got married, in 1960. They settled in Godalming and had three children in fairly short order me (Andrew), Julia and Stephen. Stephen: The City was a big part of Dad’s life and I look back with affection on the few years that Dad and I worked together in Lloyd’s. I saw a lot of him and got to know another side to his character, the business side. He was well respected, always immaculately dressed and set a great example to those around him. We would meet regularly in Lloyd’s or over breakfast at 8am or for lunch, usually a salad. Occasionally I would persuade him to come out for a curry or we would meet up with colleagues in a wine bar, but he was always busy and had somewhere to be! It hadn’t always been like that apparently. He told me that in his early days in the city junior brokers didn’t get a desk or telephone. They merely acted as runners, carrying instructions from the Senior broker, which in turn were received by telex from clients. During quiet they were advised to stay well clear of the office returning at 4pm for the day’s final instructions. This gave the young Pat enormous latitude to go missing in action. He and his friends would embark on adventures including in the East End, exploring bombsites from the war and drinking at pubs along the way such as the Capt Kidd, City of Ramsgate and Propect of Whitby generally returning at 4pm dirty and a few pints the worse of wear! Pat and Jean built a provincial insurance business alongside his city career calling it Hamilton Barr. It was successful and in time John Denner, an old friend of Dad’s, was hired as Managing Director to run it so that Dad could focus on his day job. The business was a great success and some years later Dad met Michael Wade and they eventually sold Holmans and Hamilton Barr to Clarkson’s shipping. The rest is just history, but it would be remiss not to mention Voyager which Dad and a number of his colleagues (Aubrey Abbott, John Peters and others) started in the1990’s and which continues to thrive today. Dad made many friends in his business life and travelled frequently, particularly to Canada and the USA. Some of those people became our friends too and I still have a number of city acquaintances whose first job was with Dad in Marine insurance. As children we had a very happy existence and I particularly remember the wonderful holidays we had together in Cornwall and France. Dad was completely different on holiday, and seemed to be able to completely relax. Sadly his first marriage to our mother Jean, was not to last. Dad moved to London and we remained at the family home. As we entered our teenage years he still kept a close eye on us and was never too far away, particularly it seemed, if we were doing something wrong. In about 1979, Hilary Dalby (Hilly, Mook, or just Bill to us) came into our lives. Her ability to keep Dad on the straight and narrow earned her his nick name “The Old Bill” and so it was that she became known to us as just Bill. Easy to explain in this day and age that your father’s married to someone called Bill, maybe not so back then! With Bill came Piers, Heather, Sonya and Ray and their families. I know that Dad was thankful to have met Hilary’s parents and for the relationships they both enjoyed with her family over many years. Pat and Hilary built a wonderful life together over 43 years of marriage, establishing their homes at Vean Cottage in Thursley and in Pimlico, before moving to The Old Vicarage and finally to Wild Goose Cottage. In Surrey they built a wide network of friends. Dad loved fine wine and as an aside, his former colleague Aubrey reminded Hilary how on one occasion he requisitioned the air conditioning unit in Aubrey’s office for use in his new wine cellar to avert what I think you might call a temperature violation! Over many years together they earned a reputation for hosting fabulous dinner parties marking every milestone with an amazing celebration. Dad and Hilary became accomplished golfers (Hilary arguably better than Dad – I can say that now!) spending a lot of time at West Surrey where they were both Captains. I used to play golf with them both from time to time and I remember Dad, a stickler for etiquette, becoming truly exasperated by the number of practice swings I took at the hallowed tees of West Surrey Golf Club when we entertained some city colleagues! Andrew Lastly we want to reflect on how happy Dad and Hilary were together over such a long period time, how common endeavours like owning a share in the pub, being part of this village, golf, entertaining and travel were the bedrock of a very successful marriage and we know that Hilary has been touched to receive so many lovely letters of condolence and reminiscence. Many talk about Dad’s wit, dry / waspish sense of humour and his quick-witted bonhomie while celebrating what a brilliant team they were at the very heart of the village social circle. Stephen Dad was well read and well versed in current affairs and had a sharp wit. He loved telling jokes, particularly those entailing an accent of some description! He was thoughtful and generous, wanting no fanfare for people he helped over the years, such as my maternal grandmother. We all knew that in a crisis (generally a financial one) you could always talk to him and he would help. But he wasn’t one to shy away from pointing out the error of your ways, which was the price you paid but it was generally well intentioned and just our Dad. Neil Geoffrey Lankester Woods: 7th September 1959 - 26th October 2023 From Thursley Parish Magazine, January 2024 Anthony Julian Langdale 22nd March 1945 - 20th June 2023 Anthony Langdale on his beloved Fordson Model N, with his grandsons. Salosh Edwards 12th July 1947 - 16th April 2023 Sean Edwards's eulogy for Salosh: My eulogy should talk about what a wonderful person Salosh was, and the wonderful life we had. And how desperately I miss her. But everybody here knows that. So what follows here is a background to the small ‘Picture Tribute’ slide-show that follows, and that has no commentary. With a lot of imagination you will see glimpses of our life together. Each of the 25 slides, in chronological order, has a year and a location on it. So for much of the 56 years that we were together, there are no pictures. It all started in 1967, on the King’s Road, Chelsea. Well, not exactly on it, but just a metre away, at a ‘Do’ at Chelsea College when I first saw Salosh, in a Mary Quant dress, across the proverbial crowded room. Salosh was 20 and I was 24. We chatted, and at the end of the evening we agreed to meet again. And we never separated after that. It was four years after that first meeting, when we were both living together in Bangor, that we realised we hadn’t got married – well, this was the ‘sixties, remember. So we did, in Anglesea. Salosh was studying at Keele, and I at Bangor, but an old banger (at Bangor) served to keep us sufficiently together. My parents farmed from 1947 in Thursley, where we regularly stayed, and so Salosh was a ‘Thursley girl’ from 1967. I include two Thursley pictures from 1974, from Gibbet Hill (bilberry picking), and from the Three Horse Shoes where we will shortly hold the wake. And pictures from around Manchester where we both worked for 31 years. And then from Vine Cottage in Thursley where we lived for the last 19 years. And photos from Harpenden where our daughter Kitty, her husband Mic and their daughters Maia and Elena (all here today) live. And from Germany and Austria where her three sisters (all here today) live. Salosh’s career was hard, as a Local Authority Mental Health Social Worker, doing the Sections under the Mental Health Act. She was both tough and compassionate, always putting her clients first even if it meant fighting the Authority. Which it often did. Socially she mixed easily, but was never really part of any group. She was absolutely her own person. Her relaxations included walking and oil painting. And happy happy meandering holidays, mostly in the south of France, staying in somewhat dilapidated rural cottages, eating in small family-run restaurants, and picnics in sunny orchid-filled fields. At home, she loved her gardening, especially her roses – every one was scented. Salosh was my muse, but so much more than that. On our rambles it would be she who would spot a new plant or animal, or see a magical view that I had missed. She would sit and sketch or wander off to find more, whilst I photographed her finds. I am lost without her. My illustrations were technical and accurate, but Salosh’s paintings were the opposite. I would say “That tree’s not like that”, but Salosh would reply that to her it felt like that. They had a soul that I could never convey, and that soul was Salosh’s. In the following Tribute, I include two of her paintings that she did from Thursley Common and from France. The final slide of the Tribute is of Salosh on the Common this year, at sunset, just two months before going to the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice. This image symbolises to me the utter anguish of her going away, for ever. Josephine Jean Scheffers, "Jo": 21st December 1929 - 3rd April 2023 Reverend Peter Muir: 21st April 1949 - 30th December 2022 Tone Badcock: 27th June - 29th December 2022 MUM'S STORY Tone Iris Berner Badcock Née Bond Mum was born in Falmouth, Cornwall in 1925, her mother Tula was Norwegian and her father, Douglas, was English. Mum’s Norwegian heritage meant a lot to her and as a young child she lived in Norway for a few years where she learned the language and to ski and skate. Mum also recalled enjoying some birthday parties at the royal palace. Her Grandfather had been a Norwegian politician and Uncle Jacob was a double International at football and ice hockey. The family finally settled in the UK at Parkstone where her brother Erik and sister Eva were born. Mum had an idyllic childhood saying she spent most of her time upside down walking on her hands - a free spirit. In the latter years she told me of a story of when she worked at a riding stable. One day the owner said Tone, I want you to ride this horse to the blacksmith's to be shoed. Mum rode bare back across the Dorset downs on a beautiful day, never seeing a soul and described it as one of the most memorable days of her life. The family were keen sportsmen something Mum inherited. Her cousin David Bond became the first GB Yachtsman to win an Olympic gold medal. Mum’s father Dougie was the secretary at Parkstone Golf Club for 25 years. Her parents were county golfers with single handicaps and all three children, went on to have a love of golf. Overlooking the clubhouse is a picturesque lake and it was here Mum and her siblings learnt to swim. Her mother tied a rope around their waists before telling them to get in the lake and swim. Many years later, on trip to Norway we drove past a lake. Mum shouted, “STOP the car, Rodney”, she got out, stripped off and jumped in the lake. I followed but on finding the water freezing cold and with none of the buoyancy salt water provides ,I quickly got out. Mum left school in 1943 volunteering to join the Wrens, saying she fancied the uniform! She was sent up to HMS Cabbala a signal school near Warrington and qualified as a coder in cypher. One night in June 1944 she decoded a message which said, “Our small boats have sailed”. It signalled D Day. She took the message to the duty officer feeling very proud. Before being posted overseas she spent some time in London. She stayed at Crosby Hall sleeping in the corridor with tin hat and gas mask at the ready with the doodlebugs being dropped every night. She then boarded a troop ship for a six-week voyage to Ceylon and describes feeling much safer. The journey to the Far East turned out to be the first troop ship to go through the Suez Canal since the allies retook control. The convey split, Mum continued safely but sadly the other half of the convey went under heavy torpedo attack. In Ceylon there was a Mess social, worthy of mention where she drank too much resulting in her dancing on the table and being unfit for duty the next day. This is probably the reason why she drank very little alcohol ever again. Mum worked on Lord Mountbatten’s staff, and this was where she met Rodney our father. He proposed in Raffles Hotel and in August 1947 they married. Having accrued leave they had a six month honeymoon staying in Oak Cottage in Thursley, returning to Rodney’s childhood village Children duly arrived, first Wendy then Jill with me arriving last. Our formative years were spent in Southampton. Wendy married Jim. Jill on passing her O levels travelled the globe before meeting and marrying Brian and I was sent away to public school giving mum time to pursue her own interests. She spent 20 years volunteering in the league of friends at Southampton hospital. She played tennis at the local GPs home enjoying silver service tea parties afterwards. Mum was also a lifelong member of the Conservative party and one evening took Wendy to Southampton docks for a husting meeting where Harold Wilson was speaking. With Mr. Wilson in full flow a voice from the back shouted, “Rubbish!”. Our mother was duly ejected. She was delighted when Rishi Sunak was made Chancellor of the Exchequer and relates seeing him as a small boy sitting behind the counter at the local pharmacy counting the cash. She also told the Moorlands staff that she had met Jeremy Hunt at his mother’s home, and he was a lovely boy! Mums love of sport evolved, She became a member of Hampshire County Cricket Club and spent many a day in her deck chair watching play. She was also a loyal supporter of the Saints football team and enjoyed watching some matches from the Director’s box as her friend Mrs Bowyer’s husband Basil was a director of the club. She also received a surprise gift of two Cup Final tickets in 1976 against Manchester United. Her loyalty to Southampton was life long and she enjoyed friendly rivalry with Noelle when she visited her at Moorlands. In 1976 a quirk of good fate led to my parents return to Thursley where they spent many years in The Old Parsonage continuing the 60 years of happy marriage. Both Mum and Dad embraced village life and several younger friends recount being invited to sausage and mash suppers when they first moved to Thursley. Those who knew Mum well will know food was very important to her! Some of you may wonder why Mum is pictured hugging a bear on the front page of the Order of Service. Caroline and James live in Bears Cottage, and they saw this bear whilst on holiday in the States and had him shipped home. His name is Hamilton, and he can speak. When Tone visited the two were introduced and mum was flabbergasted when Hamilton said, “Hello, Tone, how are you today?!” A big part of her life from 1981 was West Surrey Golf Club where she made many friends and happy memories. She became lady captain, and I was present on this day waiting with guests outside the clubhouse when she appeared on the fairway in a motorcycle combination, helmet and all. She also managed a hole in one at Cowdrey Park in 1988, of which she was very proud. In later life Mum received tremendous support from her friends in the village Kathleen Watson, Caroline, Hilary and Alison to name just a few. Sadly, after several falls Mum made the big decision to move to Moorlands Lodge where she spent her final five years. Once again, she made great friends amongst the staff and residents and made it her home. Jill Anstey was a great friend, and they gave each other tremendous support. Her family remained a great source of pride throughout her life, and she adorned her walls with photos of her eight grandchildren and eight great grandchildren and shared news of her nieces, nephews and Godchildren. Over the last few months Mums health declined but she remained pragmatic and cheerful. On December 29th I took a call from Moorlands and Kim and I headed up to the home and were comforted to find Jess ,one of the carers, holding Mum’s hand until we arrived. During the day Dr Poon and the staff not only cared for Mum, but us too and their professionalism and kindness throughout was a great comfort. We would like to send a heartfelt thank you to everyone at Moorlands. It was a long day and by chance we heard Ken Dodd singing Happiness. The words resonated summing up Mum’s philosophy of life. Also, on the news that night, we heard that all the planets were visible in the night sky and we like to think they helped light her way back to Rodney and her family. Nina Allen: 7th May - 1960 - 17th December 2022 Tich Corrigan: 16th July 1953 - 26th September 2022 Tich was the daughter of Mr and Mrs Kot who lived in the village, and for many years worked for the O'Briens. Edmund Selwyn Haviland: 6th April 1924 - 17th October 2020 Order of Service: Elizabeth Prudence Jones: 1927 - 2020 Prue Jones lived at Chetwyn Cottage and never married.

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 centenary with the publication of this booklet which can be obtained from the Society: Contact Thursley Horticultural Society through email: thursleyhortsoc@hotmail.co.uk or find its Facebook page. The society also holds its own archive: THURSLEY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY ARCHIVES JULY 2026 BOX 1: BOOKLET - TROPHY WINNERS 1973-1986 CASH BOOK 1957 -1973 MEMBERSHIPCARDS 1975-1982 SOCIETY MINUTES BOOK 1946-1959 (NB.MINUTES BOOK 1927-1946 IS IN THE ARCHIVES OF THE HISTORY SOCIETY). SOCIETY MINUTES BOOK 1959-1977 SOCIETY MINUTES BOOK 1977-1990 MINUTES 1990-2000 MINUTES 2000 -2010 MINUTES 2010-2017 BRIEF SUMMARY OF MINUTES 1927-2002 BOOK OF TROPHY WINNERS 1947-1973 TROPHY VALUATIONS TROPHY HISTORIES PARISH MAGAZINES OF 1970, 1973 & 2023 PRESS REPORT OF AUTUMN SHOW 1973 (A3 SIZE) AUTOGRAPHED "GARDENERS' QUESTION TIME" BOOK 2023 CENTENARY BOOKLET THURSLEY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY ARCHIVES JULY 2026 BOX 2: PRESS CUTTINGS FROM 1970 SHOW SCHEDULES A5 FORMAT 1953-1969 (EXCLUDING 1954 & 1964) SHOW SCHEDULES A4 FORMAT 1989-2008 (2009 TO 2014 ARE MISSING) SHOW SCHEDULES A5 FORMAT 2015-2026 (EXCLUDING 2020) MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS OF INTEREST PHOTOS OF PAST FLOWER SHOW EXHIBITS PHOTOS OF PAST SOCIETY MEMBERS OUR FIRST PRESIDENT ANNUAL ACCOUNTS FROM 1968-2003 6 RHS BANKSIAN MEDALS 1932 & 1960's 6 CHALLENGE CUP SHIELDS 1960's MISC.CORRESPONDENCE 1988-2010 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

The most visited entry on this website, by a considerable margin, is the one on Witley Park: https://www.thursleyhistorysociety.org/post/witley-park-1 This article is about the estate, its houses and owners over the past four centuries. Information has come from our own archives, newspaper cuttings and sales particulars supplied by Sue Ranson, Wikipedia, Chat GPT and DiCamillo. Many of the photographs have not been available until now. There is also coverage of the many outlying buildings, farms etc that have been sold over time. This entry inevitably covers similar ground to the article referred to above. Hidden within the wooded landscape between Godalming and Haslemere, Witley Park is today a private and elusive estate. Behind its gates lies a history that mirrors the changing fortunes of England itself - royal ownership, Victorian ambition, Edwardian extravagance, post-war decline, and 21st-century reinvention. It has been an estate of significance since medieval times when the estate originated as part of the medieval manor of Witley. Newspaper cuttings showing the enduring fascination of the Witley Park Estate. Medieval to early modern ownership up to the 18th century It was originally part of the manor of Witley and held in Domesday times by Norman tenants and later it became Crown property under Edward I. It passed through various aristocratic and gentry hands 17th – early 18th century Henry Bell owned it in the 17th Century. Then Anthony Smith also in the 17th Century and his family held it until 1763. Cartaret Webb family (1763 – c late 18thearly 19th century) By the 18th century it was known as Lea Park and associated with the Carteret Webb family having been acquired by Philip Cartaret Webb (1700 – 1770), who was a notable collector of manuscripts and antiquities who also served as an MP, in 1763. He probably lived in a modest Georgian house but no records of it exists. John Leech (Leach) (1820s – 1847) John Leech, was part of the local landed gentry class and at that time the property was known as Lea. He was a trustee of the Agricultural Employment Institution. At the 1832 UK general election, he stood for the Whigs in West Surrey, winning a seat. In Parliament, he argued in favour of the Corn Laws, and for reform of the church, in order to equalise the income of the various bishops. He served until the 1835 UK general election, when he stood down. LEA: The Seat of JOHN LEECH ESQ. William Henry Stone (1878 – 1890) William Henry Stone (1834 – 1896) was a Victorian politician, merchant, landowner and Member of Parliament for Portsmouth (1865 – 1874). He was also a Justice of the Peace for Surrey and Hampshire. He purchased Lea Park for £47,000 and commissioned a substantial half-timbered Queen Anne-style mansion designed by the architect, Richard William Drew (1834 - 1903), which was completed in 1881. It had 25 bedrooms and established Lea Park as a significant gentleman’s residence. However, he did not live there long and sold the property in 1890 to Colonel Samuel Sandys Davidson (1846 - 1921). Cover of sales particulars for the sale of the Lea Park Estate in 1878 The full sale particulars can be downloaded in the pdf below: Colonel Samuel Sandys Davidson (1890 – 1904) Colonel Samuel Sandys Davidson (1846 - 1921) , was a British Army officer, engineer, and inventor best remembered for revolutionising field ventilation and climate control - especially in colonial and military settings during the late 19th century. He, too, held the estate only briefly as he sold it to Whitaker Wright in 1896. It has also been reported that Wright acquired the estate from the Earl of Derby in 1890. Neither can be proved from existing records. Plan of new tennis courts & site for proposed new rose garden, 1891 The architect was John W M Hattie, Edinburgh, August 1891 Whitaker Wright (1896 – 1904) Whitaker Wright (1846 – 1904) was an English financier, mining promoter and company director for one of the largest corporate frauds of the late Victorian era. The fortune that he amassed and lost through speculative ventures is covered in the article referred to above. He died by suicide after being convicted of fraud in 1904. Despite his dubious methods, he was revered in Witley as he had provided a great deal of employment in the local area. Newspaper report from the New York Times, January 30, 1904 and his grave in All Saints' Church, Witley He purchased the estate 1896 for £250,000, approximately £27 million in 2019 inflation-adjusted values using the retail price commodity index, and massively enlarged the existing 18th century house. He transformed Lea Park into one of the most extravagant estates in England and acquired adjacent lands amounting to around 9,000 acres at its height. He commissioned the architect, H Paxton Watson who added two wings built of Bargate stone increasing the house to 32 bedrooms and seven reception rooms, 600 workers were employed and he spent over £1 million (approximately £113 million in 2019 values). A wall was constructed to enclose 440 acres closest to the house, and he created three artificial lakes and built the remarkable underwater ballroom and conservatory beneath one lake. Ornamental structures and landscaped grounds were on a grand scale making a statement of wealth and imagination. Construction of the so-called underwater ballroom which was more likely a smoking room The decoration was lavish and upstairs rooms had moulded ceilings, oriental carpets, Chinese furniture and Japanese silk pictures. The largest ground floor room was the ballroom, which had a floor area of 2,600 sq ft (240 m2), an oak and walnut dance floor, crystal chandeliers and a theatre stage at one end. At the end of the west wing was a glass-domed conservatory with walls built of Bath stone and at the opposite site of the building, at the end of the east wing was a copper-roofed observatory. The main dining room was 50 ft-long (15 m) and the kitchens were able to cater for up to 400 people. Other ground-floor rooms included a billiards room, a small private hospital and a velodrome. The cellars included underground strongrooms for storing valuable furniture and works of art. In 1904, his vast estate was broken up and sold, marking the end of its most flamboyant phase in the 20th century. Much of Hindhead, Witley and Thursley Commons including the Devil’s Punch Bowl were purchased by a committee of local residents and passed to the National Trust on 30 December 1905. Cover of sales particulars for the sale of the Lea Park Estate in 1904 The 20pp sales brochure provides extensive details of the land and properties sold at the 1904 sale: The fascination about Whitaker Wright has lived long after his death as these articles and book demonstrate: The whole of this undated magazine article can be dowloaded from the pdf below. Transcript of an article that appeared in The Guardian on 2nd February, 2004 and can be downloaded from the pdf below: The fall of a Midas From the run-down estates he transformed into a vast palatial home, to his lucrative mining interests, Whitaker Wright seemed t o have a golden touch. Which made the collapse of his empire and trial for fraud all the more spectacular. On the centenary of his conviction, David McKie recalls his most dramatic gesture of all. Ultimate Folly by Henry Macrory A gripping story of greed, treachery and ruthless ambition. Few people have led such an extraordinary life as Whitaker Wright. Few have died in such sensational circumstances. Beginning his career as an impoverished preacher, Wright crossed the Atlantic to prospect for gold, surviving a Native American massacre before he made his fortune. Then the bubble burst. Leaving behind a string of angry investors, he fled to England to start again. Soon he was one of the world's richest men. At his 10,000-acre estate in Surrey, he employed an entourage of seventy-seven staff, moved a hill that blocked his view and built an underwater glass smoking room. On his vast steam yacht, he entertained the Prince of Wales, the Kaiser and half of Britain's aristocracy. His downfall was as dramatic as his ascent. On the last trading day of the nineteenth century, his financial empire - which he had propped up by cooking the books - went belly up. This time, the trail of furious investors stretched all the way to the Prime Minister. With the police in hot pursuit, Wright fled to New York, but his escape was short-lived. At the end of what the press dubbed `the most dramatic trial of modern times' he was sentenced to seven years in jail. Minutes later, he sprang a last dreadful surprise... Other great swindlers have followed in Wright's footsteps, but none have surpassed him in daring and shamelessness. Drawing on family papers and archives from around the world, this compelling account of Wright's life reads like a thriller and offers an insight into the mind of the ultimate gambler and conman. Pirrie Ownership (1909 – 1924) William James Pirrie , 1st Viscount Pirrie (1847 – 1924), acquired the estate in 1909, renaming it Witley Park and maintaining it as a grand country residence. He was a leading Belfast industrialist and chairman of Harland and Wolff, the shipyard and a director of the White Star Shipping Line that operated the Titanic. His star insignia is still in evidence on many gates around the park. He is best remembered as the benefactor who gave land for the cricket ground at Brook, and had Pirrie Hall built next to it. After his death, the estate was further broken up and sold off in lots marking the end of its era as a single great private estate. William James Pirrie , 1st Viscount Pirrie (1847 – 1924) View of the house from the lake circa 1920s (image kindly supplied, and copyright of, F Frew) See also the entry for The Temple of the Four Winds: https://www.thursleyhistorysociety.org/post/temple-of-the-four-winds-at-hindhead-commons Interwar Period (1924 – 1951) Sir John Leigh Sir John Leigh, 1st Baronet (1884 – 1959) came from a Lancashire family with industrial and landed interests. He was a British mill-owner, newspaper proprietor and Conservative politician. He sat in the House of Commons from 1922 to 1945 as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Clapham. He changed the name to Witley Park, proabably to avoid confusion with his own name, and he preserved the house but made few major changes. The Esated was requisitioned by the Government during the Second World War and sold in May 1952. Sir John Leigh, 1st Baronet (1884 – 1959) Fire, Loss and Reconstruction On 11th October 1952 a catastrophic fire started in the Great Ballroom and destroyed the mansion. It was demolished shortly afterwards, ending the physical presence of Lea Park House. Ronald Huggett (1952 – 1955) Ronald Huggett purchased the estate in 1952 and sold off much of the land and in 1955 he sold it to Gerald Bentall. Cover of sales particulars for the sale of the Outlying Portions of the Witley Park Estate in 1952 Many of the local farms that exist today were sold in the 1952 sale: Bowlhead Green Farm; Emley Farm; Blackhanger Farm. Other farms sold outside this parish: South Park Farm; Grayswood Farm. Large scale map of the property which was part of the particulars prepared for the auction in 1952 Gerald Bentall (1955 - 1973) Gerard Bentall (1904 - 1971) farmed the estate and commissioned a new house, Witley Park House, designed by modernist architect Patrick Gwynne and completed in 1962. A new elevated site was chosen, with view towards the South Downs, rather than rebuilding on the original mansion footprint. The plan of the house is a V-shaped arrangement of three interlinked hexagons, with an angle of 120° between the two wings. The focal point of the house is the entrance hall, with a cantilevered staircase in white terrazzo. Together, the living and dining rooms form the hexagonal area at the west end of the house. This marked a shift from Victorian grandeur to modern architectural experimentation. After Bentall died in 1971, the estate was sold by his estate and was acquired by the property developer John Poulson. This detailed sales brochure runs to 69 pages and includes many photographs, not only of the house but also of the outlying properties. Here a just some examples of the photographs that are reproduced in the pdf below: Witley Park House from the 1973 sale brochure This aerial view, taken from the front cover of the 1973 sale catalogue, shows the situation of Witley Park House John Poulson (1973 - 1974) John Garlick Llewellyn Poulson (1910–1993) is a controversial figure in British history, best known for his role in the Poulson affair, a major corruption scandal that came to light in the early 1970s. His acquisition of Witley Park was part of his wider property dealings during that period. However, his ownership was short-lived. Following his conviction and imprisonment for corruption in 1974, his assets - including Witley Park - were disposed of. There is no clear chain of title as Witley Park passed through a distressed, corporate, and possibly multi-layered disposal process - not a simple private sale. John Poulson Ronald Stern (1974 - 1982) Photos: Robert Cooper for Classic Driver © 2017 Witley Park was sold by the receivers to Ronald John Henry Stern (born 1949). Stern is a property developer and prominent art and automobile collector who is known for preserving the early history of Ferrari from Enzo Ferrari's early life onwards. He went on to own the estate for a a number of years before being sold to Sir Raymond Brown. This undated sales brochure had limited particulars, we have only photos and a map, and it may have been produced for either the 1974 or 1982 sale. It contains the only colour photograph we have of the modernist Lea Park/Witley Park House. Sir Raymond Brown OBE (1982 – 2002) Sir Raymond Brown (1920 – 1991) - founder of the construction and waste-management group Raymond Brown Group - acquired the estate – then about 1,300 acres - in 1982, maintaining its privacy and continuity. He lived in the modernist house that was built in 1982 and modified the interior. In 2002, Lady Carol Brown (Sir Raymond’s widow) sold 450 acres of the Witley Park estate, including parkland and lodge, to Gary Steele. She retained parts of the estate finally divesting of it in its entirety in 2002. Sir Raymond Brown is buried in All Saints Churchyard, Witley During his ownership, Sir Raymond Brown OBE, offered Lea House as a conference centre. At some point, Witley Park House became Lea House. Gary Steele (2002 – 2018) The Architecture was by Adam Architecture 2008 - 2013 Gary Steele (Image: Supplied by Champion News) John Gary Steele (born 1959) is a British-born cyber security entrepreneur. He acquired part of the estate in 1991 and constructed a new mansion on the original site of the demolished Lea Park House. Steele commissioned the construction of a new, neo-Georgian mansion designed by Robert Adam on the site of Wright's residence. The construction of the new house required major planning negotiations and was one of the more notable uses of “exceptional design” planning permission (aka Gummer's Law) in Surrey. Steele turned the long-ruined site back into a functioning country-seat estate. Unlike previous owners, he kept a low profile. He sold the estate in 2018 for £30 million. Oleg Smirnoff (2018 to date) The Pool Hall was added in 2021 Oleg Alexandrovich Smirnoff (born 1966) acquired Witley Park with his wife Galina in 2018. His ownership is low-profile and private, with little documented change to the estate. He represents the modern pattern of discreet international ownership of historic English country houses. Subsequent developments have included: further estate restructuring; planning permissions for additions such as a helipad and new structures. The estate remains private and not open to the public. Evolution of the Estate c1780 to the present Outlying buildings on the Witley Park Estate The black and white photographs all come from the 1973 sale brochure The Main Entrance Lake Lodge, from sales particulars in 1973 Lake Lodge, April 2026 Three story cottage, from sales particulars in 1973 Thursley Lodge, the entrance to Stable Lake which overlooks Witley Common on the north side. Thursley Lodge, May 2026 Brook Grange, Brook, is situated opposite the Green and Cricket Ground Pine Lodge is situated at the south entrance to the Park Milford Lodge is at the north entrance to the park Milford Lodge, May 2026 Described in the sales brochure as 'The Superior Farmhouse' of Witley Farm Witley Farm Cottages lie back some distance from Park Lan These three pictures above are from an undated magazine article, probably c1990:

On a beautiful summer's evening, over 30 people had signed up for Thursley History Society's Churchyard Walk to learn something about the gravestones and people buried there. The group was divided into two, one led by Amanda Flint and the other by Sally Scheffers, Chairman of Thursley History Society. Before the group divided, Sally spoke in general terms about the church and churchyard: St. Michael & All Angels This Church has been a place of worship for nearly a thousand years and the land surrounding the church for much longer. Historically a churchyard was an active burial plot attached to a place of worship, whereas a graveyard or cemetery represents a designated, and often secular, area established explicitly for the deceased. Until the 19th century churches and churchyards were the only places where people could be buried, and as such, are very important places for history and archaeology, revealing evidence of the past and of the lives of people who have lived and worked in the parish. They also provide a sanctuary for a rich diversity of flora and fauna, and some are classed as SSSI’s (sites of special scientific interest) but not ours – yet! Graves in the churchyard should face east. Christians adopted the old Jewish custom of burying the dead with their feet towards the rising sun. It is also to face the Lord, who will approach from the east at the final Day of Judgement. Vicars are buried with feet facing the church to symbolise that they are still attending their flock. Traditionally, most burials took place on the south side of the church. The north side was sometimes used for the burial of suicides, criminals, and infants who had not been baptised. It is thought that the first Christian missionaries came to Surrey in the late 7th century. The earliest documented evidence includes the founding of a minster at Farnham by King Caedwalla of Wessex in 688 and these early Christian missionaries preached to the villagers at the side of the preaching cross. In the 6th and 7th centuries, wooden crosses marked the spots where priests or monks preached to the local community. The wooden cross was replaced by a more permanent stone cross, around which services were held. Later still a wooden church might well have been erected before the Saxons built the first small stone church here in Thursley. When some of the congregation died, they were buried at the side of the preaching cross before the first village churches were built. So many of the churchyards are older than the churches and it is more than likely that this is the case here. Until the opening of the first public cemeteries in the 19th century churchyards were the only place people could be buried. Over the centuries countless thousands of burials took place, and repeated burials raised substantially the level of earth above that of the churchyard paths. A conservative estimate is that there are 2,500 Christian bodies buried here. By the mid-19th century churchyards were becoming unsanitary and in 1881 the local Board of Health ordered the closure of our churchyard. As a result, Miss Frederica Harriet Rushbrooke of Surbiton in 1882 gave one rood and two perches approximately a quarter of an acre to extend the churchyard. This small parcel of land came from Hill Farm and Wheelers Farm – the quarter acre from an estate of 2,400 acres! In 1926 Captain Rushbrooke gave a further half-acre, still known as ”the new part” of our churchyard. In our churchyard we have a fine collection of yew trees. Because of their great age, yews were associated with pre-Christian burial grounds. In symbolic terms, yews do not only represent death, but also resurrection. Their evergreen foliage was highly valued and used for religious and secular festivals. One of our yews, an “Irish” yew (Taxus baccata “Fastigiata”) by the Old Parsonage is thought to be from 500 to 800 years old and serves as a reminder of an earlier, pagan time. Our other notable yew is by the wall of Hill Farm, thought to be several hundred years old and a “Dovastoniana” specimen of Taxus baccata. Not all burials have been outside and in 2005 two coffins were discovered under the chancel of the church. The great and good could be interred inside the church, hence the term “stinking rich” from the smell! Luckily, for the parishioners of Thursley Church Edmund Woods (buried 1792) and his wife Ann (buried 1812) had highly decorated lead lined coffins. The vault is of a very considerable size and perhaps Edmund planned for more members of his family to be interred inside the church. However, in 1857 it became illegal to bury within a consecrated building. The first recorded burial here was Margaret Denier on the 24th October, 1613. Individual plots and headstones were not common until the 17th century. As you look around the churchyard you can see a variety of grave markers. The oldest burial stone, as recorded by Reverend Arthur “Bill” Mills, belongs to Elizabeth Tichbourne who died in April 1666 at the age of 21. The word coffin probably derives from the Saxon “cofa” meaning cave. The wooden coffin is of comparatively recent origin. Here in Thursley the coffins would have been made in the wheelwrights’ shop and were probably elm. Early coffins in the 11th and 12th centuries would have been a single block of stone, hollowed out to receive a body. These stone coffins were never buried deeply. They were sealed by a stone lid, usually with a cross and a symbol denoting the deceased rank or profession. These included a broadsword for a knight or a chalice and bible for a priest. For the majority who were poorer they were not buried in coffins. Instead, their bodies were wrapped in a cloth shroud. Later, they may have been placed in the “parish coffin” and then taken out and placed in a communal grave. One extraordinary relic from the past was the bier which used to be housed in the Dame School (traditionally a small building of wood or brick in the corner of the churchyard near the entrance was used to house the parish bier) and which the History Society had on display at a summer exhibition years ago. It was used for transporting a corpse from the village to the graveside along what were known as “coffin paths”. One of these is the bridleway and byway by Punch Bowl Farm to Ridgeway Farm. The lower path by the wall of Hill Farm is also known as the “coffin path”. The bier was a wooden frame with rollers and four handles and four wheels. Reverend Peter Muir donated our bier to the National Funeral Museum (UK) in Beckton, East London in the 2000’s. References: National Churches Trust; Tales from a Country Churchyard – Guy J Singer; Witley & Thursley Parish Churches – Alan Bott Excerpt from Old West Surrey by Gertrude Jekyll, 1904 “In the older days, monuments in country churchyards, erected to the memory of people of means and of some importance of standing, were specially designed by a competent architect. Often they took the form of fine altar- tombs – monuments of much dignity; excellent in proportion, with sufficient and well-drawn mouldings. Even the humblest graves of all, where no stone or lasting memorial was ever to be placed, were most carefully covered with turf than they are now, and the newly laid turfs were bound with hazel or osier withies crossing each other diagonally, with wooden pegs, where one withie passed over the other. Graves of people of a middle class had head and foot stones; the head-stone either plain as to its face or with some ornamental carving in low relief; but usually with the upper line pleasantly treated in one or two traditional ways. The monuments, if any, to members of the labouring class, or people who could not well afford stone, were the dignified but unpretentious grave-boards. Each district had a traditional pattern of finial at the heads of the posts, and of ornamental outline of the lower edge of the board. The latest I know in this district bears the date 1861. It is much to be regretted that this simple form of monument should have passed out of use. The cast-iron crosses from the ironmongers’ pattern- book are but a sorry substitute for the honest piece of carpenter’s work, made in the dead man’s own village, perhaps by a younger man of his own blood; in any case by one who was known to him.” Notes on the 1999 Edition by Jane Brown Gertrude Jekyll is and was famous for her gardens but she was an accomplished artist-craftswoman. Her young life was spent at Bramley Park until aged 25 she moved to London. But Surrey was her home and she returned in 1878 to Munstead and turned her energies to gardening and photography. 'Old West Surrey' is her hymn to her happy childhood and her acutely-observed record of rural life and homes in the country around Godalming in the Victorian England that was already disappearing fast. Miss Jekyll realised how quickly things were changing in her childhood countryside and took up photography to record ‘the ways and things of the older days’ as well as her growing garden. She used a Collins camera (made by C.G. Collins of Cochrane Street, St John’s Wood, London) and in 1895 ‘a new adjustment’ for the use of a wide-angle lens was available; a Dallmeyer lens was left at Munstead Wood with the camera, and the landscape photographs in the later chapters of Old West Surrey seem to have benefitted from this. She was a pioneer; historians now confirm that the years between the 1860s and 1914 transformed life in Britain more completely than any other comparable era. Some of the graves that were discussed: George Forrest George Forrest was named after his father. George senior was a legendary plant finder especially in Yunnan in the south west of China. In all he collected around 31,000 specimens including Gentiana sino-ornato and Rhodendendron forrestii. More than 30 genera have the specific epithet forrestii. There is a photograph on display of him in The Old Laboratory at RHS Wisley. George junior was also green-fingered and adventurous. Having left school he attended the Heriot-Watt Technical College as the only student in the Tea Planters Course. When he became 21 he sailed for India and worked on Tea Gardens in West Bengal. He wrote of his experiences which will soon be on our website. George captures the day-to-day life as well as his forays into the jungle. Travel in the more remote regions was by elephant as these animals could cross the rivers and sometimes the elephants had to swim! George came back to England and took a job and tied cottage at the Valley Gardens, part of the Crown Estate and next door to Savile Gardens. Here he was employed to care for the trees and shrubs a role which was perfect from his experiences in India with acres and acres of delicate tea bushes. It was a chance visit to Thursley Common that made George decide that he wanted to live here upon his retirement. He didn’t have much money but found a caravan at Warren Park and Tony Trimmings, the owner of the site, gave George a small garden as well. George joined the Horticultural Society Committee and was very well-respected and liked. So much so that Pat Coles on behalf of the Thursley Horticultural Society planted a pink hawthorn bush in his memory. Sarah Herrington The only iron grave marker in the churchyard is for Sarah. We know little of her and she died before the 1881 census on the night of Sunday 3rd April, so we don’t know where in the parish she was living. In the 1871 (Sunday 2nd April) census a Sarah Herrington lived at Redland Cottage in Kirdford and was a washer woman. Her place of birth could be Fernhurst but the writing isn’t crystal clear, she is 52 years old, the head of the household and married. This could be her. Sarah was buried by Reverend Henry Brancker on March 10th. She had died a week earlier on March 3rd aged 63. We do know that the cast-iron markers were made for people who couldn’t afford engraved stone memorials. They would have cost about 10 shillings plus tuppence per letter to have name, age, date and so on in the casting. By comparison a simple stone headstone would start at about 3 – 4 pounds plus four pence ha’penny per letter for engraving by a stonemason. (John Dawson, Facebook: Guildford Town Past & Present) The cast iron “gravestone” is model No. 1 from Filmer & Mason’s Guildford Foundry. It was a prominent 19th century iron foundry and engineering firm. It operated primarily between 1850 and 1883 and was located at Mill Mead, which is the exact site where the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre now stands. It may be that there were other cast-iron grave markers as a lot of the churchyard iron was removed for scrap metal in the Second World War. Personally, I think it is one of the most charming headstones in the churchyard. Una Faithfull An early print of the church, according to Rosemary Stephens pamphlet “Our Church” published Michaelmas 1980, shows the area on the south side full of these wooden memorials (known as leaping boards in Thursley) set at different angles, instead of being straight and with the inscription on the westward side (before about 1860) or the eastward (after that date) as the stone ones are. The one remaining leaping board or “bed- board” in the churchyard belongs to Una (Maude) Faithfull 1875 – 1911. The, now illegible, epitaph reads: “To them that knew her there is vital flame In these the simple letters of her name To them that knew her not be it but said So strong a spirit is not of the dead” Una was born in Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire on 27th April 1875 to Francis Grantham Faithfull and wife Edith nee Lloyd. In 1881, aged 5, Una has an older brother and five older sisters. Her father is employed as Clerk to the Merchant Taylor Company and the family are living, plus two lodgers, at Court Fields in Broxbourne. (Frank Eustace 20; Amy Edith 17; Lilian Mary 16; Mabel Constance 13; Eveline Rose 11; Jessie Violet 10; Una Maud 5.) In the 1891 census Una is living in 30 Lake Road in Wimbledon with her parents and three of her older sisters : Mabel Constance; Eveline Rose (Teacher in High School); Jessie Violet. In the 1901 census she was living at The Old Vicarage in Farnham and was a secretary, single and living with two of her older sisters: Amy (Secretary); Eveline (Principal of College Hall). Annoyingly, for the 1911 census on 2nd April Una is holidaying in Eastbourne at Burlington House Hotel on the Grand Parade and she is now listed as Head of Student Boarding House. Una does appear in the newspapers: The Alloa Advertiser of Saturday 4th December 1901 reports on the Silver Wedding of Lord and Lady Balfour of Burleigh and amongst the list of gifts is Miss Una Faithfull’s silver box. The Morning Advertiser of Wednesday 29th November 1905 headlines, “A Hyde Park Incident”: “Edward Bowler, 24, no home, bricklayer, was charged, before Mr. Denman, with attempting to steal a purse belonging to Miss Una Faithfull of Palace-gate Kensington. Miss Faithfull was walking with other ladies on Monday afternoon in Hyde Park, when the prisoner who was standing on the footway snatched at her purse, which she was carrying on a chain, breaking the chain, but failing to steal the purse. He then tried to run away, but was captured by Constable Cousins, 542A, who had been watching him from a place of concealment. The prisoner, in defence, said the affair was “an accident” owing to his having taken “a tidy drop of beer”. Assistant-gaoler Scott said that the accused had been three times before the Court for begging in Hyde Park. On the first occasion he was discharged with a caution, on the second he received 14 days, and on the third six weeks’ hard labour. Mr. Denman now sentenced him to three months imprisonment with hard labour.” On May 5th 1906 in The Campbeltown Courier there is a full report of the society wedding between Mr. J R Moreton Macdonald of Largie and Miss Daisy Eyre Crabbe which took place at St. Matthew’s Church, Westminster. The fulsome report included a list of the Bride’s Presents and Miss Una Faithful gave a copy of Virginibus Puerisque by Robert Louis Stevenson. “The Ladies’ Field” was a luxurious periodical, catering to upper-class women offering high society news, Edwardian fashion, and a coverage of women’s sports and pastimes. The Saturday 9th January 1909 edition reported, “A recent marriage was that between Mr. Ernest Rev. Charles Jackson of Farnham, Surrey and Miss Eveline Faithfull, daughter of Mr. Francis Faithfull of 32 De Vere Gardens, Kensington. Dr. Walpole and the Rev. J. Salwey conducted the service, and Mr. Eustace Faithfull gave away his sister, while Mr. Arthur Seawell supported the bridegroom as best man. The bride was married in a travelling dress of shot blue crepe meteore and a white picture hat, trimmed with silver tissue and ostrich feathers, and was attended by her sister, Miss Una Faithfull, wearing a gown of mole-coloured silk crepe and a hat to match ornamented with pink and mauve flowers, the happy couple left early in the afternoon for their honeymoon, the reception having been held the previous evening at 32 De Vere Gardens.” The Alloa Advertiser, which is still going strong today, of Saturday 30th April 1910 reports at length on the Wedding of Hon. Mary Bruce and Major Hope. The Hon. Mary Bruce is the eldest daughter of Lord and Lady Balfour of Burleigh. Again, the wedding gifts are listed and Miss Una Faithfull has given an “Edition of Jane Austen” (which is more exciting than the present of Major Mackenzie of Ord’s “Twelve doyleys of Maltese lace”!) Sadly, on the 19th August 1911 Una died, aged 36, at Salviday or Saturday Cottages (?), Thursley and was buried here by Reverend Hudson on the 21st August. For her probate entry Una’s address is given as 20 Queensbury-place Kensington, Middlesex. She is listed as a spinster who died at Thursley near Farnham, Surrey. Probate to her brother, Frank Eustace Faithfull, secretary [company director of British railway companies in South America]. Una left £998 13s 2d which in 2026 would be worth about £152,500. More about Una’s father: Francis Grantham Faithfull, born in 1845, was the son of Reverend Francis Joseph Faithfull, Rector of Hatfield, Hertfordshire. In May 1853 he was awarded a BA having studied at Trinity College, Oxford. In January 1868 Mr FG Faithfull MA was appointed as assistant private secretary to Sir John Pakington, the Secretary of State for War and later is recorded in the general news section of The Bristol Daily Post of December 17th, 1868, as having been appointed as private secretary to Lord Northbrook, Under- Secretary of State for War.Around 1870 Francis becomes Clerk of the Merchant Taylors Company, a position he held for twenty years, before he retired on the grounds of ill- health. A short retirement of 18 months and he died on 8th March 1892 in Wimbledon. Francis Grantham Faithfull MA, FSA (Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries) was regarded as one of the best-known clerks of the great City Livery Companies. Una’s mother was Edith Lloyd. In the 1870s she began editing and contributing articles to periodicals and wrote a single novel, “Love Me or Love me Not” in 1875. Edith died a few months after her husband in 1892. Both Edith and Francis have their sepia photographs in the National Portrait Gallery. Una’s only surviving brother was Frank Eustace Faithfull. Frank served as secretary of Buenos Ayres Western Railway Company as well as director of the Buenos Ayres Midland Company and in 1911 he was instrumental in setting up The Argentine Club on the corner of Hamilton Place and Piccadilly. He married Blanche Annie Gwyn in 1891 and they had two children Basil and Edith. The family lived at 69 Oakwood Court, South Kensington. From passenger lists we know that Frank and Edith sailed in 1912 to Buenos Aires and to New York seven weeks before his death on 14th September 1915. Frank left Blanche £3140 2s 4d (in 2026: £418,000). Capt. Basil Faithfull of the Connaught Rangers was killed in action in Palestine on 10th March 1918. Blanche moved to Grove Cottage Loseley Park and thence to The Cottage Browns Lane with daughter Edith. Blanche died in January 1954 in Plymouth aged 91. Una’s first sister: Amy Edith died on 13th December, 1949 and she had served as a Justice of the Peace (magistrate). She lived at Grange Cottage, Knowles Lane in Farnham and was the widow of the Very Rev. Dr. Joseph A. Robinson, K.C.V.O., M.A., D.D., formerly Dean of Wells (1911-1933) Dean of Westminster (1911-1933), Chaplain in Ordinary to the King, 1902 and Rector of St. Margarets, Westminster, 1899-1901. In the 1911 Census Amy was 47, single and living at Lambeth Palace where she was the secretary to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Three years later, in 1914, she married Joseph. He died in 1933. Una’s second sister: Lilian, was a formidable woman. She was 15 years Una’s senior and became an English teacher, University lecturer, Headmistress, Women’s Rights Advocate, Justice of the Peace, Social Worker and Humanitarian. She had been one of the “Steamboat” Ladies, a group of women who were barred from graduating from Oxford or Cambridge, despite studying there and meeting the academic criteria to attain a degree. They instead received ad eundem degrees from the more progressive University of Dublin. As a result, Lilian became a life-long campaigner for women’s access to higher education. She studied at Somerville College attaining a First in English as well as becoming the college tennis champion and captaining the hockey team. Whilst at Oxford she suggested the Lady Blue award to match the Blue awarded to college sportsmen. She joined King’s College London as vice-principal of the Ladies Department where she became friends with Virginia Woolf. She believed that topics of cookery, laundry and hygiene should feature as scientific subjects on the school curriculum - hence domestic science. In 1895 she became the first president of the Ladies’ Hockey Association. In 1907 she became Headmistress of Cheltenham Ladies College, a post she held for 15 years. In 1920 she became one of the first female magistrates in the country. Miss Faithfull was active as a social worker improving social conditions for the poor of London and chaired a committee to improve nutrition in children. She founded the Old People’s Housing Society in Cheltenham, later renamed the Lilian Faithfull Homes which are still going strong today. A 1924 novel, “The Constant Nymph”, by Margaret Kennedy modelled the Helen Butterfield character on the author’s former headmistress, Miss Faithfull. Chatto & Windus published Lilian’s books: “In The House of My Pilgrimage” 1924 and “You and I; Saturday Talks at Cheltenham” 1928. Lilian also wrote articles for newspapers including on the 8th November 1927, for The London Evening News, “When A Woman Is Sixty”. Lilian was made a Fellow of King’s College, London and received an honorary MA from Oxford in 1925. And in 1926 she was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Lilian died on 2nd May 1952 at Faithfull House, one of the care homes she helped set up! Una’s third sister: Mabel Constance in the 1901 census is recorded as the Head of High School at High House, Chilcomb Within, Hampshire. By 1910 she is now Principal of King’s Hall and living at 32 De Vere Gardens, Queen’s Gate. In the 1911 Census she too is holidaying at the Burlington Hotel, 11 Grand Parade, Eastbourne with Una, and is also listed as Head of House for Students. Less than 2 years later 12th March 1913 she is dead and is buried in Putney Vale Cemetery. Una’s fourth sister: Eveline Rose, for whom Una was bridesmaid, lived in Farnham until her death in April 1961. Her husband, Ernest, was a solicitor and they lived on Castle Hill (“Cottons”) and The End House, Old Park Lane. Eveline’s sister Jessie and Una’s fifth sister lived with them and the 1911 census lists her as a Sick Nurse. Theirs was a comfortable home with 3 live-in servants. Jessie Violet in 1915 was the Secretary for The Women’s United Services League Limited Company. Its objectives were to form clubs and places of recreation for the wives, mothers, widows, and other relatives or descendants of men serving, or who may have served in the Navy or Army. This was a prominent organisation led by influential figures like Lady French and Lady Jellicoe. Jessie Violet, Una’s fifth sister is here in this Churchyard. She was buried by H. Gordon French on 7th September 1938 but the Burial Register has a later pencilled comment to the side “Where Grave?” Jessie’s address was recorded as 11 Hornden Court W.8. (Kensington). Having learned of Una’s family we seem to know little of why Una and Jessie are here in Thursley. Perhaps she was working as a school House Matron for her sister Lilian ? Hers was a well-educated, well to do family and she has very good social connections. And despite that she has a very simple wooden grave marker as opposed to a headstone and no strong connection to Thursley that is obvious. Today her leaping-board, though illegible, is the only one left and so Una has, thankfully, come to our attention – and blown our minds! Because there is a little extra which will be news to Una as well as us! Una’s grandfather was Francis Joseph Faithfull (2nd July 1786), who was Rector of Hatfield and a former Canon of Lincoln Cathedral. He is also the Great, Great, Great Grandfather of Marianne Faithfull. And Una is Marianne’s Great, Great, Great Aunt! (Father: Robert Glynn Faithfull; Grandfather: Theodore James Faithfull-Davies; Great Grandfather: Robert Vean Faithfull-Davies; Great, Great Grandmother: Cecilia Grantham Storr [previously married to Rev. Richard Davies]; Great, Great, Great Grandfather: Francis Joseph Faithfull Edmund & Mary Moon The name Moon is of Norman origin from Mohun near St. Lo. It is deeply rooted in Somerset and Dorset. And Thursley. The first Moone listed in the Baptism register is Anne daughter of John 23rd May 1616. Edmund or Edmond was the son of Edward. Edmund was baptised in Thursley on 11th September 1715. He married Mary Stovold in Thursley Church on 22nd December 1743 and they had two children that we know. Edmund (II) was baptised on 30th April 1745 and died on 13th July 1745. The burial records state that he was three and a half years old. Daughter Mary (II) was born on Christmas Day 1746 and died aged 82 at Heath Hall. She was buried by Rev. Thomas Stevenson on 31st January 1829. Mary (II) had two daughters, Mary and Ann. The Baptism register reads Mary the daughter of Mary Moon baptised 3rd August 1775. No father given – indeed it is rare for the mother to be mentioned in the registers at this time. And not all vicars were kind: the entry for David Underwood born 19th February 1737 “son of the widow, a base born child”. And for Ann 13th February 1780 daughter of Mary. Again no father listed. Ann died and was buried on the 1st March 1780. So who fathered these two girls? According to Guy Singer’s detailed research Mary Moon (II) was the housekeeper at Heath Hall working for the unmarried John Yalden who was 24 years Mary’s senior. John loved Mary and it would appear fathered her two daughters. This tallies with the fact that John Yalden wrote Mary, now Mary Knowles, into his will in which he described her as his “natural daughter”. Mary (III) married John Knowles of Farnham on 31st May 1800. John Yalden died in 1801 and John Knowles through his wife Mary inherited. Mary and John’s sons were all given the middle name Yalden: John, Edmund and Henry. Upon the death of her husband in 1831 Mary Knowles undertook the building of a new house which was designed by John Perry who also was the architect responsible for The Pepper Pot in Godalming. Mary died in 1840 leaving the estate to Henry, her youngest son. Edmund Moon died on 17th March 1786 aged 70 and was buried on 22nd March 1786. Mary Moon predeceased her husband and died on 30th June 1782 aged 56 and was buried 3rd July 1782. Their headstone was set into the wall of the Church when it was rendered and you can still see the bottom lugs that go into the ground. It is not known where it came from and the actual grave was probably built over during Reverend Brancker’s and Penfold’s enlarging of the Church in 1883. Baptisms: 1616 23rd May Moone Anne daughter of John 1623 8th October Moone Elisabeth daughter of John 1626 19th November Moone Richard son of John 1629 Moone Thomas son of John 1657 (DoB) 24th February John son of John 1665 4th June Moone Thomas son of John 1684 1st March Moone Mary daughter of John 1686 26th December Moon John son of John 1690 22nd March Moone Thomas son of John 1692 1st January Moon James son of John 1695 1st January Moon Elizabeth daughter of John 1699 26th March Moon Sarah daughter of John 1715 11th September Moon Edmond son of Edward 1717 30th January Moon Ann daughter of Edward 1745 30th April Moon Edmund son of Edmund 1746 25th December Moon Mary daughter of Edmund 1758 9th June Moon Nathanniell son of Nathanniell 1760 29th February Moon William son of Nathanniell 1762 26th November Moon Mary and Elizabeth daughters of Nathanniell 1767 6th March Moon Elizabeth daughter of Nathanniell 1775 3rd August Moon Mary daughter of Mary 1780 13th February Moon daughter of Mary 1813 27th June Moon Catherine Frances of William and Frances of Hammer Pond. Victualler. 1813 Edmund Yalden Knowles son of John and Mary of Heath Hall. Gentleman 1815 19th February Moon Hannah Maria daughter of William and Frances of Hammer Pond, Victualler. 1821 24th July Henry Yalden Knowles son of John and Mary of Heath Hall. Gentleman 1831 11th September Moon Mary-Ann daughter of James and Mary Moon. Labourer 1834 16th March Moon Hannah daughter of James and Mary 1838 28th October Moon Susanna daughter of James and Mary Marriages: 1673 6th November Thomas Tupper & Mary Moone 1743 22nd December Edmund Moon and Mary Stovold 1757 22nd December Nathaniel Moon & Elizabeth Stovold 1830 8th November James Moon & Mary Winter Burials: 1758 17th June Nathannielle Moon son of Nathannielle 1762 16th January Anna Mariah Lambden from Guildford 1763 16th March Elizabeth Moon wife of Nathanniell 1764 3rd February Mary Moon daughter of Nathanell 1766 9th January Elizabeth Moon daughter of Nathanell 1774 14th January Mr. Edward Lambden 1780 1st March Ann Moon daughter of Mary 1781 22nd May Mrs. Mary Lambden 1781 24th December Mrs. Ann Yalden aged 85 1782 3rd July Mary Moon wife of Edmund 1786 22nd March Edmund Moon 1798 4th January Mrs. Mary Yalden aged 70 1801 19th August Mr. John Yalden aged 70 1802 2nd March Mr George Lambden Yalden 1807 15th December Mrs. Frances Yalden aged 72 1809 31st January Mary Lambden Yalden 46 1814 21st January Edmund Yalden of Godalming 89 1819 18th May Mary Yalden of Godalming 78 1820 Henry Moon of Hammer Ponds Infant 1823 7TH May William Moon of Half Moon 53 1829 31st January Mary Moon of Heath Hall 82 1831 25th May John Knowles of Heath Hall 53 Square Table Tomb: George Lambden son of Edward and Mary Lambden. Died 24th February 1802? Aged 36 George Lambden Yalden buried 2nd March 1802 Mary Lambden died 24th July 1809 aged 40 [PR: Mary Lambden Yalden buried 31st July aged 46] Photographed by Gertrude Jekyll and in Old West Surrey Book. A report in The Reading Mercury 25th June 1781: “St. James, June 19. The King has been pleased to grant unto Mary Lambden and George Lambden, of Guildford, in the County of Surrey, his royal licence and authority to change their present name, and to assume and take the surname of Yalden, in compliance with the will of their late mother Mary Lambden deceased; and also to order, that this his Majesty’s concession and declaration be registered in his College of Arms.” Large Table Tomb To the left of the small table tomb. Edward Lambden died 6th January 1771 aged 55; of London [PR; buried 14th January] 1774 Mary wife of Edward Lambden & daughter of Edmund & Mary Stillwell died 11th May 1781 aged 52 [PR buried 22nd May]. Edward Lambden aged 38, born about 1722, married 30 year old Mary Stillwell in St. Nicholas Church in Guildford on the 15th January 1760. Edward was from the City of London his Church being St. Mildred, in the Poultry. Edwards signed a marriage bond of £200 with Coles Fortrie, Gent of St. Nicholas Church. (In 1774 Coles Fortrie lived in Guildford. “Coles Fortrie, Gent, of exemplary Piety was buried July 12th 1771” as listed in the Burial Records of St. Nicholas, Guildford.) The marriage bond was on a printed form and reads: “Know all Men by these presents, that we Edward Lambden of the Prish of St. Mildred in the Poultry London in the County of Middlesex Glass-seller and Coles Fortrie of St Nicholas Guildford, Gent are holden and firmly bound to the Right Reverend Father in God Benjamin by divine permission of Lord Bishop of Wonton in the sume of two hundred pounds of lawful Money of Great-Britain, to be paid to the Right Rev Father or his certain Attorney, Executors, Administrators, or Assigns: To which Payment, well and truly to be made, we bind ourselves, and each of us by himself for the whole, our Heirs, Executors and Administrators, firmly by these Presents. Sealed with our Seals, Dated the 15th Day of January in the Year of or Lord, One Thousand Seven Hundred and sixty. The Condition of this Obligation is such, That if hereafter there shall not appear any Lawful Let or Impediment, by Reason of any Pre-Contract, entered into before the Twenty-fifth Day of March, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty-Four, Consanguinity, Affinity, or any other lawful Means whatsoever; but That Edward Lambden Batchelor and Mary Stillwell Spinster may lawfully solemnize Marriage together, and in the same afterwards lawfully remain and continue for Man and Wife, according to the Laws in that Behalf provided ; and moreover, if there be not at this present Time any Action, Suit, Plaint, Quarrel, or Demand, moved or depending before any Judge Ecclesiastical or Temporal, for or concerning any such lawful Impediment between the said Parties; Nor that either of them be of any other Parish, or of better Estate or Degree than to the Judge at granting of the License is suggested, and by Him sworn to And lastly, if the same Marriage shall be openly solemnized in the Church, or Chapel in the License specified, between the Hours appointed in the Constitutions Ecclesiastical confirmed, and according to the Form of the Book of Common-Prayer, now by law established; and if the above bounden Edward Lambden do save harmless and keep indemnified the above-mentioned Right Reverend Father, [inserted in left margin Comnifoary] and Surrogates, and all other his Officers and Ministers whatsoever, by Reason of the Premises; then this Obligation to be void, or else to remain in Full Force and Virtue. Sealed and Delivered in the Presence of E Brewer Lumsgate Also in the parish records is the burial in 16th January 1762 of Anna Mariah Lambden of Guildford. A close relative of the newly married Edward perhaps. Martin Stilwell is the keeper of the Stillwell Family History and responded to my email enquiry as to why Edward Lambden paid £200 (£55,000 in 2026) to the Stilwell family to marry Mary Stillwell. And also why Mary’s offspring were commanded by their mother’s will to petition the King in order to change their surname to Yalden. Martin responded as follows: “As to this Mary Stillwell. She was the daughter of Edmund Stillwell. She was their third daughter baptised Mary as the other two did not survive infancy. Edmund was one of the land-owning Stillwells of Lower House and Cosford. Due to some odd inheritance rule in the Stillwell line (think Downton Abbey plot) he inherited the Mousehill estate (but not Mousehill Manor) from his father. His son John (Mary’s brother) inherited the lands from his father and then inherited the Manor from his cousin, thus bringing land and house together. Makes Downton Abbey inheritance plot seem tame! Daughter Mary inherited Sheephouse lands at Aldingbourne in Sussex from her mother Mary Stillwell, nee Whittingdon (widow), as a marriage settlement to Edward Lambden. Both Mary and her mother (Mary) were said to be of St. Nicholas, Guildford. Sheephouse was leased to Edward Lambden for one year for 5 shillings and then released to him after one year for sale. The inheritance would have been 1760, the year of her marriage, and that was only a year after her father had died. This makes me think that Edward Lambden may not have been the first choice as their son-in-law. Edward Lambdenwas a wealthy glass merchant from St. Mildreds in the Poultry, London (virtually where Bank junction/Station now sits). As to children George and Mary Lambden (Yalden) all I know is that they changed their name to Yalden by Royal Licence in 1781. George would have been 15 and Mary 12. This is surely a decision of their mother’s ? Their father Edward Lambden had died in 1774. I have no re-marriage for Mary Stillwell/ Lambden so it is possible she was co-habiting with a Yalden and wanted to try and legitimise this by the children taking the name of Yalden. There is another possible reason. Edmund Stillwell’s aunt Ann Stillwell married a John Yalden . He died in 1773 (one year before Mary Stillwell’s mother Mary (Whittingdon). Maybe there was some Yalden inheritance going begging and Mary Lambden wanted to try and get it passed to her children. Naming them Yalden may have helped. Just a guess. That’s about it as regards what I know happened. One of those twisted tales that may eventually come out of the woodwork.” These graves were also discussed during the evening: The brick barrel graves were constructed to deter grave robbers. Note the much shorter grave on the left, which was for a child. The first headstone is for Elias Moorey, and the second for the infant Maria Moorey. At the bottom of the second headstone appears a very short grave marker which is, in fact, the 'footer' of this grave: The grave is for Elizabeth Everis (sister of Elias), wife of Arnold Everis. She was the daughter of Henry and Hannah Moorey whose headstone is on the right. This is the grave of Marjorie Anne Tozer and Francis William Spernon Tozer, the children of Henry Edward Spernon Tozer, an artist of some renown and the village's postmaster. This is the grave of the poet, John Freeman, and note the builit-in birdbath. Freeman's Field is on the other side of the church wall and this memorial coping stone is inscribed: THE ADJOINING FIELD WAS PRESENTED TO THE NATIONAL TRUST IN 1931 FOR PRESERVATION AS A MEMORIAL TO JOHN FREEMAN BORN 29 JAN 1880 DIED 23 SEPT 1929 After the tour of the graveyard, we dined on a warm June evening under the spread of the huge oak in Freeman's Field.

This photograph, inspired by the school photographs of his youth, was Peter Anderson's idea (he lived in Brook Cottage, opposite the road to Smallbrook, at the time) and 2000 was the perfect time. In the top image each person is numbered and over the years the majority have been identified. Some of the people were just visitors to the village who joined in, should we do this again, it should be restricted to Thursley Parish residents. The index below is reproduced in full and is also in this pdf for searchability: If you can identify any of the missing people please advise via the contact link on the website.

At a meeting of the Thursley History Society early in 2025, it was agreed that the website should include a post for our many beloved villagers who are no longer with us. Our archive contains a lot of information and we shall gradually build up this entry retrospectively. If you would like to contribute any obituaries, eulogies, memories, orders of service or photographs (especially where none exist on the website) please do so via the website: https://www.thursleyhistorysociety.org/contact Lives celebrated: Alastair Banks; Edward Crawfurd; Robert Crawfurd; Eve Fausset; Annette Graham-Stewart; John Graham-Stewart; Barbara Marchant; Tom Ranson; John Roles; Brian Sharp; Susan Treadwell; Douglas Watson Annette Graham-Stewart: 14th April 1920 - 19th October 2009 Annette and John (see below) lived in Houndown, Pitch Place, and their sons, Alistair and Cameron still live there. John and Annette Graham-Stewart in 1977 Brian William Sharp: 2nd November 1928 - 18th September 2009 He was a newcomer to the village and he was not here long before he died, but he was keen to join in everything, a good organiser, on the village hall committee and Horticultural Society committee. Douglas Quartly Watson: 1st June 1945 - 10th May 2009 Wing Commander Douglas Watson DFC, lived in The Corner, his wife Kathleen was Chair of the village hall committee for many years and was known for her diplomacy. She was a physiotherapist by profession. Robert John Payne Crawfurd: 29th March 1917-24th February 2008 Robert was an identical twin of Edward, he played the organ, sang in the church choir, grew orchids and lived in Pitch Place. Eve Fausset: 11th July 1934 - 14th July 2008 Susan Caroline Lawies Treadwell: 1954 - 2008 John Eric Roles: 17th May 1938 - 1st May 2008 Thomas Arthur Ranson (Tom): 31st March 1922 - 13th July 2007 Dr John Cameron Graham-Stewart: 3rd December 1920 - 16th May 2007 Annette and John (see above) lived in Houndown, Pitch Place, and their sons still live there. Both were keen members of the Horticultural Society. John and Annette Graham-Stewart in 1977 Douglas Bernard Stocker Fitch: 16th April 1927 - 9th July 2006 Brian Michael Francis: 24th February 1939 - 31st March 2004 Barbara Marchant: died 13th May 2003 Barbara lived at Pitch Place Farm Eddie Gale BEM: 24th February 1918 - 2002

These records and recollections from our archive, mainly from the History of Thursley Society's (HOTS) newsletters, show how active HOTS were celebrating their key anniversaries just as Thursley History Society celebrates theirs. If you know of any photographs of this weekend, please contact us: https://www.thursleyhistorysociety.org/contact

At a meeting of the Thursley History Society early in 2025, it was agreed that the website should include a post for our many beloved villagers who are no longer with us. Our archive contains a lot of information and we shall gradually build up this entry retrospectively. If you would like to contribute any obituaries, eulogies, memories, orders of service or photographs (especially where none exist on the website) please do so via the website: https://www.thursleyhistorysociety.org/contact Lives celebrated: Ann Banks; Brian Camp; John Holt; Anthony Kentish Brian Edward Camp: 1928 - 1999 Anthony John Kentish: 1911 - 1998 Anthony lived at Sunset Cottage John Bayley Holt Admiral Holt lived in Sailors Lane. He retired from the Navy in 1970 and spent the remainder of his life at his home in Thursley. He was married in 1940 to Olga Esme Creake and had three daughters. National Portrait Gallery Ann Paton Banks: 17th December 1920 - 5th April 1998