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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

A general strike took place in the United Kingdom from 4 to 12 May 1926. It was called by the General Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in an unsuccessful attempt to force the British government to act to prevent wage-reductions and worsening conditions for 1.2 million locked-out coal miners. Some 1.7 million workers went out, especially in transport and in heavy industry. It was a sympathy strike, with many of those who were not miners and not directly affected striking to support the locked-out miners. As well as workplace stoppages other organisation included 'Councils of Action, food distribution, and support for picket lines in some places.[2] The government was well prepared, and enlisted middle- and upper-class volunteers to maintain essential services. There was little violence and the TUC gave up in defeat. There was a paucity of information reaching areas beyond London and so the Godalming Gazette was created, and this was its opening paragraph: This, which we believe to be the only daily newspaper ever bearing the name of Godalming, will, under Providence, be published every evening, except on Saturdays and Sundays, until the strike is over. It has come into existence simply because the tremendous local demand for a daily newspaper has not been met. The thin trickle of broadsheets from London has been swallowed up before it has reached Godalming: the hungry sheep (if we may use the term of our readers without disrespect look up and are not fed. The first edition. Just four newspapers were published with No 4 reporting the end of the strike. All four copies are reproduced in the pdf below.

Photographs only of this Grade II listed building (23rd December, 1983) which is thought to date back to the 16th Century. Mrs Caroline Norman Mr Nash and Mrs Norman (his sister), at Hole Cottage, Summer 1978 Surnames of previous owners include: Moorey; Ayres; Norman; Nash Hole Cottage - a southerly view Hole Cottage with Bedford Farm in the background Hole Cottage was put on the market in May 2026:

Tony Kelly, of Bedford Farm, gave a talk in the village hall in October 2024 about his extraordinary feat. The text and the ppt below are condensations of his talk which was appreciated by the packed audience. From Thursley Village Facebook page: Climbing Mount Everest, 8848m, in 2003 The highest point on Earth. A summary of Tony Kelly’s story The presentation will cover the lead up to the climb and our summit bids. I’ll also touch on some history of the mountain, as in 2024 its 100yrs since the famous 1924 Mallory and Irvine Expedition (and the mystery of did they summit or not). Their route was on the North side of Mount Everest and we are attempting the same North side route from Tibet. We are attempting the north route because its technically much harder than the south and consequently climbed much less. Back then around 1200 people had summited Mount Everest but only approx. 200 of them from the North side. It's worth dwelling on George Mallory and Sandy Irvine briefly. Mallory’s body was eventually found on the North Face in 1999 with torso bruising indicating a serious fall whilst roped. The remains of his mid layer jumper were still visible supplied by W Paine, 72 High Street, Godalming. Yes, he was a local. Originally from the north west but settled in Godalming as a teacher at Charterhouse and married Ruth, a Godalming girl. Sandy Irvine’s remains were only found in September this year, 2024, on the north face directly below but much further down than Mallory’s body indicating they were almost certainly roped together when they fell. I will also bring to the talk a section of telegraph wire, used for Advanced Base Camp communications in 1924, that I found on the East Rongbuk glacier in 2000. I was with Graham Hoyland at the time (he was on our 2000 expedition) who had been responsible for the search that found George Mallory in 1999. Graham was the great great grandson of Howard Somervell who was on the 1924 expedition with Mallory and Irvine. So where did it all begin for me? After hiking in the UK through my 20’s I got introduced to rock climbing and quickly progressed to rock, ice and mountaineering in the Alps. After 10 years of multiple annual trips to the Alps, I was looking for a bigger challenge and met the internationally renowned expedition leader, Russell Brice, in a bar in Chamonix. My friend and mountain guide, Mark Seaton, was able to reassure Russell I was technically more than competent to join him but we didn’t know how my body would react to extreme altitude. In 1999 I went with Russell Brice to Cho Oyu, the 6th highest mountain in the world at 8,188m to find out if I was ok at altitude. As a test it went well. The weather was brutal. In the end we didn’t make a summit attempt because of extreme snow conditions but I was the only member of the expedition, westerner or sherpa, to reach the expeditions high point of 7,900m and I did it solo. Mt Everest was on! I had mentioned, summit bids, plural. In 2000 we took an expedition to Mount Everest to climb the North side from Tibet. After 2 months on the mountain we made 2 attempts on the summit. The first one was aborted at 7900 metres due to atrocious weather conditions and massive snow loading. That first attempt had high attrition and resulted in 6 of the 7 climbing members pulling the plug. Consequently, on the 2nd attempt, it was only myself, 3 professional mountain guides and 3 sherpa’s that made the attempt. At camp 2, 7500m, our tents got avalanched overnight and buried. It became a matter of survival, avoiding carbon dioxide asphyxiation overnight by punching holes through the snow and ice over the tents and the following day using a quite dangerous technique to deliberately trigger avalanches to clear the massive snow load in front of us to be able to down climb. To cap it off in our exhausted state when we pulled off the mountain a melt water lake had broken out of the East Rongbuk Glacier and we had to build a raft out of barrels and wood to ferry the 20 expedition members and 10 tonnes of equipment out! I’m reminded of the definition of an Adventure: “an undertaking with an uncertain outcome”! So the 2003 Expedition was “Unfinished Business”. We returned to Kathmandu, Nepal, in late March and after assembling some 11 tonnes of equipment and “shopping” in the local markets for 2 months plus of provisions for 17 team members we made our way via Lhasa, Tibet to Mount Everest basecamp at 5200m and set about the expedition proper. High altitude climbing is a combination of technical competence, mountaineering experience and a “head game”. It’s a marathon not a sprint. You’re going to spend months in daily calorie deficit, physically and mentally stressed by the environment and the challenge. -50 deg C and 150mph winds are regular features. You’ll spend a lot of time climbing at 10/10ths of your ability and experience but to be successful you will have to spend some time at 11/10ths or worse and make the judgement call on when to take those risks and how long to stay exposed. Tenacity, stamina and will power will count for a lot. On arrival at basecamp team members blood oxygen levels of mid 70% were not unusual. That would be an A&E visit back home at sea level. Acclimatisation to get the blood oxy levels into the 90%’s takes weeks as you teach your body to produce more red blood cells to cope with the ¼ of sea level oxygen availability we’ll have to deal with higher up the mountain. Acclimatisation starts in base camp knocking off 6000m peaks to warm up and then moving up the glacier to work on the mountain. The route will take a month and half of preparation work putting in fixed rope and installing and provisioning four high camps. We’ll be going up and down visiting and revisiting these camps. This will mean we will effectively climb the height of Mount Everest several times in the process before we even consider a summit attempt. The north side route is not only technically more difficult than the south side by it is much longer. Its 22km from Basecamp to Advanced Basecamp. From ABC we must establish camp 1 at 7050m, camp 2 7500m, camp 3 7900m and camp 4 at 8300m and fully stock them. That includes lugging oxygen bottles (about 6kg each) up which we will use (3 each) from camp 3 7900m onwards. The climbing is a mix of technical ice climbing and massive snow slopes, rock sections of scrambling and massively technical vertical rock climbing at 8600m on the 2nd Step (this is the crux of the climb). Having got the infrastructure of the route set up we had to retreat to base camp because of a massive storm. It wiped out a significant portion of our camps on the mountain ripping tents stocked with personal kit, food and oxygen off the mountain and depositing it on the glacier below. When we went back up to ABC we had to find the debris on the glacier and icewall, extract it from crevasses, uncover the snow buried ropes, rebuild the camps and route. (when l say “we” went back to recover things it was actually only 2 of the 7 client climbers (Trynt and myself) together with sherpas). We then set about a summit attempt in late May. Two of the seven climbers pulled out sick. The rest of us pushed on. Five climbers with sherpa partners and a mountain guide. Herman, the guide, was focused on Zedi, Matt and Gernot. Sue and Chung were sick. Myself and my sherpa partner, Dorje, were operating pretty much independently. It’s typically a six-day push, four days up and two off. Leaving camp 4, 8300m, at circa 10pm/11pm to climb through the night. Intending to reach the three steps on the north east ridge by dawn. But we experienced some delays en route due to some slower expeditions blocking the route in front of us. It wasn’t busy like photo’s you may have seen of the south side but this was 2003, the 50th anniversary of the 1953 success, there were a few more climbers than normal and its the nature of the route on the north that is much more constraining. I got further delayed by having to rescue a climbing colleague (Zedi) who made a massive error and found himself hanging on the rope at the 2nd Step, 8600m, swinging over the north face of Mount Everest with a mile of fresh air between his legs. It cost me, and Dorje my sherpa partner, a lot of excess oxygen usage fighting to save him. We got him back in and back enroute. It took Dorje and I a while to sort ourselves out and get going again. The others, including Zedi, who I had rescued, were ahead and summited, albeit late (having breached the turnaround time limit we had all agreed to). I calculated I was about to run out of oxygen probably on top and that would risk death. I made an incredibly difficult decision to turn back 48metres from the top which would have taken another 1.5hrs! I radioed Russell to advise and we turned back. On descent I did actually run out of oxygen around 8500m but we still had to get down so Dorje and I pressed on without. We also had to help rescue (again) the same guy I had recovered on the way up because now he had gone snow blind and couldn’t see to down climb. The climb was incredible but a massive blow to turn back so close. After getting back to Advanced Base Camp and feeling pretty low the next morning Russell came to my tent with a mug of yak milk tea and a large shot of whisky and told me to shut up and say nothing. He said everyone else is leaving, there’s a narrow weather window opening and I think you have it in you to go back! Basically he convinced me to attempt what no climber (professional or amateur) other than a small number of sherpa’s had ever attempted on Mount Everest and that was to climb the mountain twice in one season and I was going to try twice in two weeks! So nine days after returning to Advanced Base Camp Sue and Chung, my colleagues who had been sick on the first attempt and myself together with our sherpa climbing partners mounted what was to be my second attempt this season and my fourth summit attempt on Mount Everest. The weather was going to be challenging. We didn’t have the requisite four days up and two off. We had to wait out a storm in Camp 2 and then pushing very hard from camp 2 we missed out camp 3 by a continuous climbing push stopping very briefly at camp 4 (not for rest, food and sleep as normal) we picked up water and oxygen and continued climbing into a 33-hour continuous aggressive push right through the night to summit early in the morning, for me at 7:03am, May 31st. It had been amazing as every other expedition except ours had left the mountain so Sue, Chung and myself had the entire mountain to ourselves. This is unheard of and although we had climbed through a storm the summit day was blue sky with the curvature of the earths horizon visible for a 100miles. There were tears. Which immediately froze! Getting up is of course only half way. Getting off is essential and almost as hard as going up. In my case very hard having only nine days prior albeit but for 48metres been on the summit. It becomes a massive head game. Your body is screaming for rest telling you its done in and there’s nothing not even fumes left in the tank. You want to stop. But if you stop and rest there is a very high chance you’ll slip into dozing followed by hypoxia and then hypothermia and death. So keep moving. I made it back to camp 1 at 7050m and rested for the night before descent to ABC the following day. 2003 was the 50th anniversary of the 1953 successful first summit by Hilary and Tensing via the South side Route and associated with that anniversary the Nepali Mountaineering Association were at the 2003 Kendal Mountain Film Festival awarding medals for significant achievement on Mount Everest. I was on stage in the company of Chris Bonington and Doug Scott (1st brit), Stephen Venables (1st brit no Oxy) and others including Mike Westmacott and George Band members of the 1953 expedition. I was awarded a Gold Medal with the citation from the NMA president: “an outstanding rescue, wise turn around at 48m, subsequent success after only nine days and in aggressive style, extraordinary & exemplary mountaineering”

Reg Cottle was the proprietor of the Red Lion Garage on the Old Portsmouth Road from 1934 until his retirement in 1980. At the outbreak of the Second World War, he was called up by the Royal Tank Corps. However, the farmers of Thursley made such a clamour at the loss of the one man who could keep their farm machinery running that the authorities hastily released him. The documents below show the trajectory of his work and challenges running the Red Lion Garage and end with tributes from his family. Also see The Red Lion Garage, Reg Cottle and many road traffic accidents and The Red Lion Inn NB: All of these documents and also the ones referred to in The Red Lion Garage, Reg Cottle and many road traffic accidents are in the physical archive in a box marked "Red Lion Papers". Reg covered a radius of about 20 miles and worked very long hours, mostly 7 days a week. It was often difficult to obtain spare parts for the farm tractors, machinery and generators, but Reg was such a resourceful man that he would often make them himself. His garage petrol pumps were commandeered for military use, so Reg had to drive to Godalming for his petrol. Many tanks churned up the forecourt of the Red Lion Garage and each one had to be refuelled by manually turning the pump handle. Not the most popular job in those days! More photographs: Licence to keep Petroleum Spirit, 1934 Compulsory Purchase 1938: Licence to keep Petroleum, 1939 Rating Notice, 1947: Signage - Reg faced a number of planning issues over the years: Reg Cottle recovered many damaged cars from the A3 and the Devil's Punch Bowl but his garage was not immune from accidents: Rent increase, 1958 Site Plan 1958: Reg Cottle acquires the Red Lion Garage in 1959: Compulsory Purchase Orders and Opinions 1969 - 1972; there are 28 pages of documents in the pdf below: Undated Red Lion site plan: Correspondence relating to signage for the garage between The Right Honourable Maurice Macmillan, MP, and The Right Honourable Anthony Crosland, Secretary of State for the Environment. The letter below to Reg Cottle shows the disappointing result: Closure and sale of the business; Reg Cottle retires: Reg Cottle, a tribute by Maureen Waters (daughter), Chalie Waters (granddaughter), John Gunner (son-in-law) and Jamie Banks (friend A eulogy (unattributed) for Elsie Cottle: Growing up in Thursley by Maureen Elsie Cottle: The scans above can be found together in this pdf:

An article from The County Magazine, February 1965 This unattributed cutting from our archive is dated 27th November 1987:

In January 1995, Craig Taylor presented this essay to The Architectural Association's for their Diploma Course in Building Conservation. Front cover Here are the first five pages: The complete essay can be downloaded from the pdf below:

Miss Aileen Lutyens, Edwin's sister, with her pony and dog. She always wore purple tweed according to Mary Bennett. She ran a boys' club as she felt they needed purpose. She was also the choir mistress. Mrs Fisher also started a choir and Miss Lutyens "contributed a penetrating alto". The choir won a certificate at the Dorking Festival. Aileen Lutyens (1872 – 1926) was a member of the prominent Lutyens family who became a well-known and active figure in the village of Thursley during the early decades of the twentieth century. She was one of the daughters of Captain Charles Augustus Henry Lutyens, a soldier-turned-painter, and Mary Theresa Gallwey, and the younger sister of the celebrated architect Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens. The family lived at a large country house in Thursley known in its later years as Street House (then “The Cottage”), and Aileen remained there long after her parents’ deaths. In the 1920s, Aileen was remembered by villagers as a brisk, capable and benevolent presence in the community, someone who “dominated the Thursley scene.” She was deeply involved in local social life: helping to establish the fledgling choral society, contributing her rich alto voice, and playing a key role in securing Thursley’s first Village Hall — a large army hut that became the focus for social gatherings for decades. She was also a founder member of the local Women’s Institute, and took a keen interest in fostering activities that would occupy and guide the village’s youth. One of her own initiatives, remembered fondly by residents, was running a kind of social club aimed at keeping young boys constructively engaged and away from aimless drifting. Aileen’s influence extended beyond social clubs and cultural activities — she typified the spirit of village leadership in that era. She was regarded as someone who helped knit the community together through support for local institutions and events, and through her personal engagement in Thursley’s civic and social life. Aileen Lutyens died in 1926, and her death marked the end of an era in which members of the Lutyens family had been central figures in the village’s life. She is buried in the churchyard of St Michael's & All Angels, where there is a stone cross designed by her brother, Sir Edwin Lutyens, bearing the names of their parents Charles (died 19 May 1915) and Mary Lutyens (17 September 1900) and his sister Aileen Lutyens (died 5 August 1940).

Published by Robert Hale, London. Chapter 7: Greensand (West), pp. 135-145, including Tilford, Frensham, Hindhead, Thursley, Elstead, Peper Harow The full extract is available to download from the pdf below

The History of Thursley Society mounted an exhibition of the history of weddings in Thursley Church since 1613. Stories of weddings appear in the pdfs and photographs below but also some appear as separate blogs and can be found by searching Wedding Belles. With the launch of the website, we have taken the opportunity of adding weddings both before and after 2007. If you were married at St Michael's and All Angels and would like your wedding featured, please send photographs and a description via the website. Early Weddings The Squarson: The wedding of Francis Gooch & Catherine Paine, 28th April, 1868 Sir Alfred Giles's daughters: 1872, 1885 and 1887 The Fosberry family weddings: 1873, 1894 and 1949 A Farm wedding: George Warner & Edith Keen, 5th June, 1909 The weddings of the Reeds: 1909, 1957, 1960 and 1963 Father of the Bride: the wedding of Gerard Staveley Gordon & Marjorie Worsley Smith, 10th November, 1920 The Rapleys: the wedding of Vernon Rapley & Margaret Walters, 20th September, 1923 Mr Henry Walters and his daughter, Margaret High Society: the wedding of Richard Henry Anstruther Morris-Markham & Miss Iris Rose Sophia Larking, 22nd June, 1929 Three Wedding Gems: 1939, 1953 and 1971 The wedding of Leonard Raggett & Elizabeth Keen, 23rd March 1940 One Wife or Two? The wedding of Lawrence Pink & Evie Hayter, 1st October 1941 Canadian Union: the wedding of Charles Campbell Graham & Helen Elizabeth Keen, 17th August 1943 Robbie and Eddie: the wedding of Robert Patterson Morgan & Edna Madeleine Hall, 8th June 1946 A Very Long Marriage: The wedding of Richard Partington and Peggy Sayers, 16th September 1950 Dick and Peggy Partington were married at St Michael & All angels and lived together at Heath View (now Acorns) for five years and moved away when Dick got a job at Vickers at Weybridge, building Valiant bombers and VC10s. He spent 25 years working as a ground engineer at BA. They came to Thursley on 16th September 2025, to celebrate their 75th anniversary. They both enjoyed themselves hugely, visiting the church and reminiscing and were on very good form. The wedding of Bertram Webb & Joan Good, 1st September 1956 The wedding of Stephen Waters & Maureen Cottle, 16th August 1961 The wedding of Richard Timberlake & Anne Jobson, 23rd April 1966 The weddings of the Ransons of Bowlhead Green 1969, 1974 and 1992 The wedding of John Gunner & Kay Cottle, 26th September 1973 The wedding of Andrew Constable & Mary Lintott, 6th July 1974 Wedding at The Corner: Harry McNeilly and Jane Watson, 29th May 1976 A highland wedding: David Corbett & Peggy James, 26th September, 1976 The wedding of Peter John Goble & Teresa Ellen Boxall, 17th October 1981 The wedding of Michael and Debbie Spencer, 22nd May 1993 The wedding of Andrew Storey and Jillian Bird, 31st July, 1993 The Vicar's View The wedding of Philip & Angela Traill, née Burry, 11th September, 1993 The wedding of Stephen and Julie Langley, 9th September, 2000 The weddings of the Hall Brothers: 16th October 2004 & 1st April 2005 The Wakeley Weddings, 2006, Joe and Melissa The wedding of Simon Treadwell and Anne Finnerup, 23rd May 2015 The wedding of Peter and Jacqueline Rickenberg, 30th June 2018 The Ultimate Wedding Gift... On the 16th July 1702, Thomas Francis married Sarah Wheeler in Farnham. Two days beforehand on the 14th July 1702, a document was signed which was a marriage settlement (dowry) on Pitlands Farm (now Punch Bowl Farm) where Nicholas Wheeler has given Thomas Francis, Pitlands Farm "and all tenements, messuages, stables etc" on his daughter Sarah Wheeler. Beats being given a toaster!

In 1892, a return of Licensed Houses to Guildford Petty Sessions, show the pub as a free house. The Licensee was Arthur Steed, and the owner was Miss Rushbrooke. The usage was that of the general public. Listed under Thursley Public Houses were Railway Hotel, Crown and Cushion and other Haslemere Pubs. This shows they were in Thursley Parish. In the early part of World War 1, the publican of of The Three Horse Shoes, Arthur Ford and his wife, were dismissed by the brewery for procuring girls for the soldiers. This photo was taken when the pub was being used as a filmset. 'Save the Pub' and celebration poster Val and Paddy De Burgh, New Year's Eve 1984 Identified revellers are: David Jeffcoat; Popsy; Katy Jeffcoat; Hilary Barr Val De Burgh, Landlord of the Three Horse Shoes - January 1985 Men of Thursley Ride from The Three Horseshoes Pub 2008: Paul Smolas, Peter Broste, Philip Traill, Peter Rickenberg The Three Horseshoes re-opens after Quarantine, 4 July 2020: Photographs by Andrew Kaplanovsky

The portrait is of the English novelist, Margaret Louisa Woods (20 November 1855 – 1 December 1945). She died in Vine Cottage, her home in Thursley. Margaret Louisa Woods, known as Daisy to her friends, was born in Rugby, the daughter of the scholar George Granville Bradley, an academic and senior priest, who served as Dean of Westminster from 1881 to 1902. She was the third of seven children and was best noted in her lifetime for her poetry and historical fiction; her sister was the writer Mabel Birchenough. In 1879 she married Henry George Woods, who became President of Trinity College, Oxford, and Master of the Temple and she had three sons. She took rooms at Vine Cottage in Thursley in 1920, living there (mostly) until her death in 1945. It is thought she chose Thursley to be near her friend H A L Fisher and his family. She took part fully in Thursley village life including the Women’s Institute and the Canteen during the war. In 1934 she was knocked down by a motorcycle while alighting from a bus at the Red Lion Pub (now Bridle Cottage), breaking her leg which resulted in a crippling injury. Although she died in Thursley she was buried in Oxford and her ashes are interred with her husband, at Holywell Cemetery, Oxford. Margaret L Woods was featured in 'Lives of the People of Thursley' which was published by The History of Thursley Society in 1996. Here is the first page: More information on her life can be found in Yellow Nineties 2.0: https://1890s.ca/woods_bio/