Greetings from Bagshot
Finishing my newsletters in the run-up to Christmas tends to give them an autumnal flavour, so I thought I'd try to write chronologically.
I started off rather more lyrically than my normal style. Spring arrives. First the snowdrops give a glimpse of what lies ahead. Then crocus and daffodils, with grape hyacinth forecasting the blue of the anticipated bluebells. Blossom appears on the fruit trees and one wonders whether there will be a good harvest this year. OK, so its an excuse for some photos.
Yes, the apple harvest was good.
Our local hospital is Frimley Park. Built over 50 years ago it is now too small to house the facilities needed by the expanding population. There is no more space available for expansion on its site, so a search is on for a new location. Then surfaced a problem with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC). This is a lightweight constructional material extensively used in public buildings in the 60s and 70s - so Frimley Park is by no means unique. The problem being that it is porous and if water gets in then the steel reinforcement corrodes and fails. The UK government has a significant problem dealing with matter. So the hunt for a new site to build a new hospital has gained even more emphasis.
Digging up
roads
and footpaths seems to be almost a perpetual activity. In
this case connecting services to a new development, and on one of our
estates replacing the gas pipes into every property.
What motorists were expected to make of this signage on the A30 I
really don't
know.
Last year I said that the speed limit on the A30 through the village
was to be reduced to 30 mph. This eventually happened.
Many people are of the opinion that it hasn't made any
difference, the reason being that all the council did was change a 40
sign at the start of the village to 30 and remove all the repeater
signs and not put up signs warning "new speed limit". Net
result - those people who regularly drive though were oblivious to the
change.
Good news, though, about the footbridge over the M3 motorway whose
removal
I reported last year. It is being replaced. Groundworks are underway,
we
are told that the new structure is being completed
off-site and we
are assured that it will be installed in May 2025. This will
be a great relief to those who used to use it to get access to Lightwater
Country park / Bagshot Heath on the other side of the motorway.
The Flightline 730 service to Heathrow airport which I described last time is a
bit weird. The service between Heathrow and Frimley is the
730, then from Frimley to Basingstoke it is the 731. At
Heathrow the poster (at terminal 5 stand 15) says "guaranteed
connection with the 731 for Basingstoke". They can be very
confident about that reassurance as, at Frimley, the vehicle simply
changes its number to 731. My guess is that the operator has done this
to partially circumvent the cap on bus fares.
For the benefit of overseas readers, one post-covid measure introduced
in 2023 was to cap single journey bus fares at £2. Thus anyone
travelling from Heathrow to Basingstoke will have to pay £4 - but still
a bargain. The cap will rise to £3 in 2025.
An interesting aside is that the cheapest way to get from Bagshot to
London is now the 730 to Heathrow and then the Underground into town.
It does take longer that by train.
 Elsewhere
we have a page about Fortuna's
Ice Cream. Earlier this year I spotted that the Surrey Heath Museum in Camberley had acquired an old display from the shop. |
|
 The WI ladies who knit or crochet decorative toppers for the postbox in the High Street have been at it again this year at every opportunity. I particularly liked this Wimbledon Tennis themed one complete with strawberries & cream. |
|
 The chapel
in the cemetery is seldom used nowadays. If you want to see
inside the best opportunities are the Heritage Open Days (usually in
September) and Carols by Candlelight in the run-up to Christmas.Within the chapel is a carved eagle lectern whose origin is unknown.
With the dates 1899-1901 one might have expected it to be a memorial to an infant, but there is no name. At those dates there was no chapel, the old one had been demolished and the present one not yet built. Can anyone thrown any light on this? |
This bauble-laden house is a very welcome change to the strings of flashing fairy lights commonly put up as Christmas decorations.
For the second year a Community Christmas Tree Festival has been hosted by St Anne's church. 42 locally-grown trees were decorated by their sponsors - local businesses and organisations - usually very imaginatively.After the festival the trees were not wasted. Those sponsors who wished to took their tree back to their own premises, others were donated to good causes, and the few that were still left were sold off.
Enquiries and new material on the website since last
year's newsletter include
- Julie Turner found our article about Connaught Cup medals and tells us about the medal she has recently been given. Later in date and somewhat different.
- Andrew Radgick adds a bit to the history of the Hero of Inkerman public house.
- Mark wonders if anyone has newspaper cuttings, or any other information, about an army training camp held on Bagshot Heath in 1798 (not to be confused with the 1853 camp on Chobham Common).
- Craig remembers, as a small child in the early 1970s,
children getting through a gap in the fence at the side of the footpath
that runs from the A30 to the footbridge over the railway and wandering
around in the grounds and finding ponds and masonry type structures.
On paying a 'nostalgia' visit he discovered that the area was
by then a housing estate. I was wondering, he asks, if anyone
can provide any information as
to what the property was and the gardens therein, any information
would be greatly appreciated and assist in putting my memories
in clearer order. [Dec 24]
It is possible that Craig is referring to what I thought had been the Pantiles Tennis Club. Did you venture there, can you help Craig?
The house that fronts onto the A30 is now boarded up awaiting demolition to be replaced by a block of flats.
Update Dec 2025: The plans to demolish this house and replace it with flats seem tp have been abandoned as the house appears to be occupied again. - His son writes that Anthony (Tony) Barbara worked at the Cricketers Hotel back in 1967. He asks if we have contact with anyone else who worked there at that time. [Sep 24]
- Matthew Fuller recalls Pantiles nightclub and asks if anyone knows or knew Peter Ely (or Eley) from around the late 1970s. [Mar 24]
With best wishes to
you and
those you hold dear.
Neil
My previous newsletter was last Christmas