19th January 2010
Members’ Evening
Our third Members’ Evening, once
again held at St Paul’s Church, included contributions
from members of the Special Interest Groups on Hampton
Court Station and the demographic changes in Molesey
following the coming of the Railway, plus displays of
historical maps and other material. Finished off with
mulled wine and fruit cake as usual.
10th November 2009
Talk by Carole Cuneo and Peter
Collins of the Cuneo Society on the life and work of the
well-known Molesey artist Terence Cuneo
Anyone who
thought that Terence Cuneo just painted trains and cars
was very pleasantly surprised to discover an artist with
complete mastery over an extremely wide range of
subjects, particularly ceremonial events such as the
Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. This talk by
Cuneo’s daughter, Carole, and Peter Collins
of the Cuneo Society covered every aspect of the
artist’s life and work, and by the end one longed to own
a Cuneo
original or to have attended one of his famous New Year
parties.
The Cuneos
have left their mark on Molesey. Terence had his cars
serviced at the Walton Road Garage – Lewis Balkwill
still owns Cuneo’s old Bristol – and Carole once owned the model
railway shop in Molesey.
17th September 2009
‘The First Line for Leisure’ – What the Railway did
for Molesey
The coming of the Railway in 1849 was
one of the pivotal events in the recent
history of Molesey. It was built as the
country’s first line for leisure - to
give Londoners access to Hampton Court
Palace, the River Thames and Hurst Park
- but turned a sleepy rustic area into a
commuter community.
Well over 120 members and guests came to
the Molesey Youth Centre to hear members
of 3 of the Society’s Special Interest
Groups – Waterways, Transport, People &
Buildings – tell the story of the
construction of the railway, the
development of leisure and sporting
activities, and the effect on the social
landscape. In addition, these carefully
researched presentations were supported
by a whole variety of maps and
photographs.
16th June
2009
Summer Stroll
About 75 people
strolled (not all at the same time)
beside the Mole and the Ember on a
lovely summer evening visiting points of
historical interest, including the sites
of the Upper Molesey and Ember Mills.
Tony Osborne provided an annotated map
of the route, which included a visit to
the garden of the Old Manor House in
Bell Road. After the walk came the
illustrated talk, by Tony Osborne,
expanding on the history of this
surprisingly open and almost rural area
of Molesey.
23rdMay 2009Talk on
the ‘Knights of Christ’ by Chris Gidlow.
Our third visit to the Clore Centre at Hampton Court Palace, and a
most interesting illustrated talk by Tower of London expert Chris Gidlow
entitled ‘Knights of Christ’. The talk covered the antics of the Knights
Templar and Knights Hospitaller from the 11th Century onwards, and
described the founding of these orders, their involvement in the
Crusades, and their time as residents of Hampton Court.
23rd April 2009
AGM followed by a talk by Brian Smith on ‘Molesey Mills’.
The Society’s second AGM, held at St. Lawrence Junior School, attracted
just over 100 members. The formal business of the meeting was completed
without incident and then Brian Smith gave an illustrated and
entertaining talk entitled ‘Molesey Mills: a story of conflict, scandal,
gunpowder, explosions, theft and grave robbing’
March 5th 2009
House History.
Jill Hyams from the Surrey History Centre gave a well-illustrated and
enjoyable talk about the sources available at the Surrey History Centre
to assist those interested in researching the history of their house.
Jill highlighted various techniques which she had used in researching
the history of her own house.
February 6th
2009
The Floods Part 2.
By public demand, a re-run of the highly popular meeting held last
September to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the 1968 Floods.
Another excellent evening and, thanks to the all-ticket format, no
problems in accommodating all those attending.
January 20th
2009 Members’ Evening.
Our second Members’ Evening, once again held at St Paul’s Church,
included contributions from all the Special Interest Groups (Waterways,
Transport, Sport, People & Buildings) plus displays of historical maps
and other themed material. All rounded off with mulled wine and fruit
cake.
November 18th 2008
Talk by Nicholas Reed on ‘Alfred Sisley on the Thames and the
Welsh Coast’.
Another packed house, this time at the Molesey Youth Centre, and a
top-class illustrated talk by Nicholas Reed, the well-known art
historian, about Sisley’s paintings of the Thames at Molesey in 1874 and
his later works of the Welsh Coast in 1897. Slides of Sisley’s paintings
were projected alongside recent photographs of the same locations in
both Molesey and South Wales.
September 19th 2008 40th
Anniversary of 1968 Floods. Members and visitors
packed Mole Hall for an audio-visual evening
commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the 1968 Floods.
The programme included BBC newsreels, amateur film
footage, eye-witness accounts from some of those living
in Molesey at the time, and a host of photographs.
June 18th
2008
Thames Riverbank Walk, followed by a talk by Tony
Osborne at Molesey Boat Club.
A leisurely stroll
on a fine evening along the riverbank from Hampton Court Station to
Molesey Boat Club was followed by a dip into Tony Osborne’s history
box with revelations about the Thames Canal Scheme of 1805 and the
proposed Molesey Boulevard of 1918, both of which were abandoned
following objections from local residents. Plus ça change!
May 21st
2008
Talk on the Hampton Court Fire in 1986 by Dennis
Ashbourne.
Another good turn out for our second visit to the
Clore Centre at Hampton Court Palace. With the aid of wonderful
photographs Dennis Ashbourne described the drama of the fire which
gutted the State Apartments of William and Mary. He then took us on
the painstaking journey from the damp and smouldering remains to the
complete restoration of the South Wing which was re-opened in 1992.
April 24th 2008
AGM, followed by a talk on ‘The Thames and Riverside
Houses from Hampton Court to Hampton’ by John Sheaf.
The Society’s first AGM, held at St. Lawrence Junior School,
attracted a good crowd and the formal business of the meeting was
completed without incident. John Sheaf then gave an illustrated and
well researched talk on the history of The Thames and its
environment from Platt’s Eyot to Hampton Court, a distance of only
one and a half miles, but packed with historical interest.
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March 6th 2008
Talk by Dr. Ken Brown on ‘History of
Hospitals and the NHS in Molesey’
Over one hundred members and visitors came
to the Molesey Youth Centre to hear Dr. Ken Brown give a
fascinating illustrated talk about medicine in Molesey. The
first part of his talk was about the cottage hospitals, of
which there have been three. Dr. Brown then went on to give
an engaging personal account of the NHS in Molesey in 1960,
when he first came down from Scotland to join a practice in
Molesey.
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January/February 2008
Visit to Surrey History Centre
During January and February two groups from
the Society visited the Surrey History Centre to take a tour
behind the scenes. The History Centre, which is in Goldsworth
Road Woking, was opened in 1999. The building was purpose built
to provide the best possible conditions for the preservation of
the historic documents stored there and for public access to
these documents.
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January 15th 2008
Members’ Evening
Despite the wind and rain, there was a good
turnout of members at St Paul’s Church for a social evening and
to hear reports from our Research Groups. There were displays
around the Church of photos, maps and other memorabilia, and
many members brought along items from their own collections.
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November 13th 2007
Family History Talk ‘Relative Connections:
Sources for Family History at Surrey History Centre’
About 60 members and visitors came to Vine
Hall to hear a talk by Jill Hyams from the Surrey History Centre
about family history sources at Surrey History Centre.
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