Christmas Greetings

Another year is nearly over and it is time to wish you seasons greeting from the Bagshot web site and St Anne's Church.

Following the long hot summer, autumn was very late - it was well into the latter half of October before the leaves started changing colour on the trees. We had no frost until the clocks went back! With the summer's weather it should have been an autumn of glorious colours - but high winds blew the leaves off the trees almost as soon as they turned.

Late autumn has been very wet. My crude rain gauge suggests 4" of rain in about a month. There has been some flooding and for the first time in my memory the local council have been issuing sandbags to properties that might be affected. A drain at the bottom of Church Road collapsed and led to floods on the A30 (pictures below).

Despite all the rain we still have restrictions on the use of water, I do not know whether the rain will have been sufficient to replenish the aquifers.

water bubbling up out of a grate and flowing across a road

Floods : 25 November

No sooner had I published the last newsletter lamenting the prospect of loosing both our library and post office but we learned that the library had been reprieved and the Post Office had agreed to one of our newsagents establishing a post office counter. I could not help but give a wry smile when both the Conservative and Liberal Democratic parties claimed the "victory".

November sees the annual Remembrance Day when wreaths are laid at the War memorial and the Roll of Honour is read out. This year it was a bright, crisp, morning. So many of the names are of families still resident in Bagshot, or who I have "met" through correspondence with this web site.

red berries Ex-pats may have mixed feelings about one other item of news. It seems likely that Pantiles is to close and the site demolished to build sheltered housing. While it is always disappointing to have a local landmark with so much history disappear, I fancy the local residents will be delighted with the closure of the night club and with it an end to the problems caused in the early hours of the morning by inebriate revelers, even if they are only a minority of the clientele.

We have lots of contributions since the last newsletter. As some of my readers will know, I have been planning a "Memories page" for some while. I have now pulled together all the material I had been putting to one side and published it. Contributions to it will be most welcome. Items we have so far (though not all on this particular page) include:

Ann Robertson's memories of the Parish Hall, and other matters including cows in the High Street of which Bob Chapman has provided a photo and Marilyn a superb poem from 1949.
Andrew McDermott about Bagshot Cubs in the 1960's

Other contributions and information about prior questions include:

Wendy thought Fisher's were based in Hull, but is this the same company? She also tells us about a Bagshot park booklet.
A bit about staff in service at Bagshot Park, also the installation of the Indian Room
Bob Chapman tells us about the widening of Park Street and provides a photo of the old Kings Arms.
Andrew McDermott provides a lot of history about Bagshot Hall and the old Catholic Church (Oratory) after the building after the new Catholic Church .
Marilyn Kircher's (maiden name) recalls the Bug Hutch cinema and Cliff Richard's visit to the Pantiles swimming pool. Marilyn would also like to contact any of her contemporaries.
May Evans (maiden name) adds her memories of Half Moon Street.
More about Moore's garage (if you will pardon the pun)
Some names associated with the Jolly Farmer Pub
Several contributions and an expansion of the page about cafes.
Two Ann's and Dave have added to the memories of Fortuna's Ice Cream
Ray has identified Mrs Heather and Ken Galloway from the 1950's photos , Marilyn Kircher has identified the Summerton family, and May has identified the Evans brothers and Robert Phillips.
Macca has added the locations of the Broadmoor sirens to Google Earth as placemarks.

ornamental bow and bell Information is sought about:

Lambourne Villas and Belleview Cottage
More about, or any pictures of, the Lupin Cafe

We have new family or friend information or searches for :

Edwin Joseph Cooper (circa 1940), also John Jones and Florence Agnes Jones (nee Moore) circa 1912
Alice Vince, mid 1800's
Batchelour
Kislingbury
Mike / Mick Topping (circa 1950)

"Tony & I enjoy your newsletter as we originate from your part of Surrey. We appreciate your cheerful, good quality photography."

Names of contributors and personal information : my 'message pad' invites the sender to provide the name they wish to be known by, to tick whether the information provided may be published on the Internet, and whether the contributor may be identified. I will always respect what is said and you will find contributions on this site that are variously totally anonymous, identified by a single name, or by a full name, sometimes including a maiden name. I never publish email addresses as they could be 'harvested' by the originators spam.
Messages sent to me and my replies are usually archived on my Google Mail account as well as on my computer and its backups. Please do not send me personal information that you do not want handled in this way, or tick the 'publish' box if you do not want it published on the Internet.
I am not seeking to put pressure on anyone to do anything, but if a full name is given then your former friends with whom you have lost contact have the opportunity to spot your name and ask to be put in contact. I would then ask them to provide a message that I can forward to you, I would not give them your email address. Such contacts occur from time to time and I know of at least two families and one group of childhood friends who have been reunited as a result of names being published on my web site.
You can search for names on this website by using the search box that is on most pages. You could also search on Google, or other popular search engines, as my website gets indexed by them.
If in the light of what I have written here, if you want any contribution of yours changed, or the way in which your name is (or is not) given then please let me know.

With best wishes for Christmas and the New Year to you, and those you hold dear.

God Bless,
Neil
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The opinions expressed here are those of the author, writing on his own behalf and not representing anyone else or any organisation.

The previous newsletter was late summer. The next one is Spring.

ps: each time I do a mailing telling friends like yourself about one of these 'update' pages I get several bounce back as undeliverable because the intended recipient has changed their email address, and I have no way of knowing what it has changed to. So if you change your email please remember to put me on the list of people to tell if you want to keep in touch.