Christmas Greetings from Bagshot

red brick building and grave stones in snow.The snow came early this year.  We do not often get snow before Christmas - but this year it came before November was out.  We had a couple of inches here, though the other side of Surrey got it a lot worse.

Then having cleared, we get more two weeks later, three inches this time.

Needless to say, traffic grinds to a halt until the main roads clear.  While some people moan, when you consider that the main roads are running virtually to their maximum capacity under normal circumstances it is hardly surprising that problems occur when capacity is reduced by snow.  

All the pictures here were taken on Sunday 19 December.  The first, to the right, is the Chapel in the cemetery.  This is the site of the original St Anne's Chapel in the village before the present church was built in the 1880's. Following the building of the new church the old chapel was demolished. The present building, seen here, was built some time later as a Chapel of Rest.  The low walls and huge roof are a most unusual feature.

wooden garden seat covered in snow
Hardly the weather to sit out!

redbrick school building in snowWhat is now Bagshot Infants School was built in 1870 as the village school. Additions have been made to the buildings over the years - to the extent that the original building (now used as the Sure Start Centre) is no longer visible in this view.

Its role changed in 1962 when Connaught Secondary School was built.

Many of my older correspondents have recounted fond memories of the school.

The head, staff, pupils and governors can justifiably feel proud of their performance as evidenced by their recent OFSTED inspection.
The nature of the summer weather gave rise in the autumn to a spectacular show of red and orange leaves. I do not know whether leaves staying on the trees is from the same cause - but many trees have kept their leaves a lot longer than usual. Even now, a couple of days before Christmas, oaks and silver birches in particular have still got far more leaves on them than one would normally ever expect. In turn this has meant that the white snow  near trees is covered by a sprinkling of leaves as they slowly fall.

My final two snowy pictures show a snow covered branch - complete with residual leaves, and, just to be seasonal, a large bunch of mistletoe high up in a tree.

dead leaves remaining on a branch and snow a large round bunch of mistletoe high in a tree

Candle-lit carols in St Anne's Church.
the interior of a church with candles and a congregation singing

Additions to the website since the last newsletter include:

 

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

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.

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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 opinions expressed by contributors are their own and are not necessarily endorsed by this website.

The previous newsletter was late summer 2010.

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