Christmas Greetings from Bagshot
Colourful knitted or crocheted toppers on postboxes have become a common site in many villages, including ours. Several have been shown in previous newsletters. Thanks go to the ladies of the WI. Regrettably we won't get any more on the postbox in the High Street because Royal Mail have 'modernised' the box by making it automatic and solar powered. Apparently we will be able to post small parcels in it - why we would want to do that when it is outside the Post Office isn't too clear, unless it is for the benefit of night owls. As someone suggested, wouldn't it be better on the Connaught Park housing estate where it would save people having to walk to the High Street?In preparation for the upgrade the postbox was put out of use some months ago and remained so through the period when most of us posted our Christmas cards. The new box was installed just in time for late posting.
Further decorations that have not gone up this year are the
illuminated Christmas trees that have in the past adorned most of the shop fronts
in the High Street. They had been put up by volunteers, but
this year the insurance company imposed so many conditions that the
whole thing became impractical. Whether something can be
sorted out for next year remains to be seen.
A tradition introduced to the UK in recent years is the Christingle
which was initiated by a Moravian Bishop in the mid 1700s to help
explain some aspects of the Christian faith to children.
Our local church holds a Christingle service each year in the
run up to Christmas. During the service children make their Christingle
from an orange, red tape, a candle and four cocktail sticks loaded with
sweets and fruits. They are then lit in a large circle in
the darkened building. For obvious reasons, the involvement of
parents is definitely needed.
In September we said farewell to our Vicar, Rev Andreas Sistig and his
wife Jennifer, who have moved on to a new parish in Berkshire.
We wish them well.
The church is now going through the process of advertising for, and selecting,
a new incumbent.
Passion Flowers (passiflora) have a most
complicated 3D flower with
multiple parts including oval discs that are free to rotate.
They are
attractive to bees and wasps which will crawl within the flower.
My plant (perhaps it should be called a vine) flowers prolifically, though the flowers are short lived. Previously few flowers have ever matured into fruit, but this year it has fruited in profusion.
Profusion of fruiting has also been true of nut-bearing trees this year including oak and horse chestnut.
On a fateful day in July one of the local buses chose a somewhat inconvenient place to breakdown - as it entered the mini roundabout at the junction of Guildford Road and Bridge Road.
I felt
sorry for the poor driver sitting on the kerb waiting for recovery.
I reported 3 years ago that the White Hart pub on Guildford Road had closed and planning applications made to construct multiple houses on the site. A far as I can see on the local council's web site the applications were all refused. The site remained unused since the pub's closure and has now been boarded up. We await to see what's next. This photo is a final peek behind the boarding before it was completed.
Another building that has been subject to planning application to replace it is Pantiles House on the A30. I mentioned this last year and that the house was boarded up. Since then the boarding has been removed, the fencing repaired and the property occupied again. Planning consent had been granted, albeit for a smaller and less intrusive building than had originally been requested, but has now time-expired. The approval came with 12 pages of conditions and I guess the prospective developer decided that it was not worth the effort of trying to comply.
Particularly
sad this year is that the huge beech tree in Church Road has had to be
felled. It had become infested with a fungus that sapped its
strength and, despite significant pruning, it ended up being condemned.
What surprised me, walking up Church Road, was that I almost
did not notice it had gone - there was no obvious hole!
The first of these photos is from 2018 (source: Google) by when the tree's crown had already been significantly reduced in an attempt to save it, the second is 2025 after it's felling (albeit not from the same viewpoint).
On the topic of tree felling, I encountered this brave soul cutting down
this tree trunk about a metre at a time. Rather him than me.
We have had a few issues on major roads, one of which is a 'success'. The A322 got closed due to a lorry jack-knifing on the bend by the Cricketers. The A30 and the High Street has had closures for work on the traffic lights at the Yaverland junction and for resurfacing at the High Street junction. Numerous drivers didn't believe the diversion signs and ended up trying to extricate themselves from roads that are not suitable for HGVs. Within days of finishing the resurfacing the gas company dug up the road, presumably to deal with a gas leak, then within a couple of weeks had to dig it up again - only this time they managed to smash a water main in doing so.
The 'success' is that the pedestrian footbridge across the M3 motorway that gives access to Lightwater Country Park has been reinstated - with some M3 closures to do so. The bridge that had been there since the road was built over 50 years ago was suddenly demolished in 2023 on safety grounds due to risk of being hit by lorries.
Bob
Chapman's brother is seeking information on the Kings Arms
at Bagshot, specifically the practice of parking
brick lorries overnight in the pub car park. The lorries used
Bagshot as an overnight stop when running between Fletton near
Peterborough (the brick works) and Andover during the time when
the London overspill housing was being built there in the period
1946 - 1952. He wonders whether anyone has any memories or
photographs of this? He has clear memories of it from his 'lorry
spotting' days when living in the flat above the Chapman Shoe Shop
across the road! The lorries would have been like this one (though the
picture was not taken at Bagshot). [2025-02]
Stuart asks: I would like to know about the old Barclays bank. I would love to know any historical information you may have about this building. [2025-06] Please reply to me if can you help Bob or Stuart.
Andrew has added further confirmation regarding the numbering of Laurel Cottage, saying that his great grandfather Edwin Amos Warton was born at No 2 Laurel Cottages in July 1857, and the photo he had matches 43 London Road.
With best wishes to
you and
those you hold dear.
Neil
My previous newsletter was last Christmas