June 22nd 2010
Summer Stroll
Our third Summer Stroll, this time taking in the Kent Town Conservation Area.
Tony Osborne once again gave us the benefit of his expertise, producing maps for
the walk and an illustrated talk afterwards. The architectural styles in the
area, particularly in Palace Road, illustrate the eclecticism of the mid to late
Victorian era, ranging from Gothic Revival to Italian Renaissance.
May 19th 2010
A talk by Annie Gray on ‘Getting By’ at William III’s Hampton Court.
Our annual visit to the Clore Centre at Hampton Court and a most appropriate
setting for a highly entertaining and informative talk by Dr Annie Gray on life
at the Baroque Palace of William III. Dr Annie Gray is a historic food expert
and costume interpreter who regularly appears as a guide at the Palace in the
guise of the Countess of Carlisle. Using telling details of changes in domestic
consumption, clothing, eating and drinking, she illustrated how William and
Mary’s reign marked the birth of modern times and healed the Civil War legacy of
Britain’s ‘broken society’.
April 21st 2010
AGM followed by a talk by Cliff Taylor on Hurst Park Racecourse and his
career as a jockey.
Another good turn out for the Society’s third AGM, held at St. Lawrence
Junior School. The formal business of the meeting was completed without incident
and then Cliff Taylor entertained us with an illustrated talk on Hurst Park
Racecourse and his life as a professional jockey. From Cliff’s entrance in full
racing silks to his advice to would-be punters, the whole show was riveting.
Worth the £5 annual subscription alone.
March 9th 2010
A talk by Nick Barratt from the BBC’s ‘Who Do You Think
You Are?’ programme on Family History and the Media.
Nick Barratt entertained in excess of 160 members and
guests at Imber Court with an account of his background
in research whilst working at the National Archives
followed by his work with various TV programmes on House
History, eventually leading to his involvement with the
BBC’s ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’.
January 19th 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.
November 10th 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.
September 17th 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.
June 16th 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.
May 13th 2009
Talk 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.
April 23rd 2009
AGM, followed by a talk on ‘Molesey Mills’ by Brian
Smith.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
September 7th 2007
History of the 1st Molesey Scout Group
Molesey was one of the first Scout groups to be set up
after the founder Lord Baden-Powell had the idea to run
groups to teach boys how to be good citizens in 1907.
The evening, held during 1st Molesey’s Centenary
celebrations, consisted of short talks coupled with
displays of memorabilia and photos collected by the 1st
Molesey Scout Group over many years.
July 30th 2007
Visit to Royal Holloway College
In the last years of his life, between 1881 and 1883,
Thomas Holloway, a self-made multi-millionaire whose
fortune had been made in patent medicines, paid well
over £80,000 (equivalent to more than 6 million pounds
in today's terms) for the seventy seven paintings which
make up the Royal Holloway Collection. Visitors were
given a tour of the Chapel and Quads, a talk on the
picture collection and a visit to the College archives.
June 27th 2007
Historic Molesey Walk
On a rather wet Wednesday at the end of June, a large
number of members turned out to hear Tony Osborne give a
short talk based around a walk in the Conservation area
of East Molesey Old Village. He showed a number of maps,
illustrating how the area had changed since the days of
King Henry VIII, and where remnants of boundary walls,
buildings and roads could still be seen today, and also
displayed photographs of buildings which unfortunately
are no longer standing. Having heard the talk, the
braver souls walked the walk. The rest of us went to the
historic pub – The Bell.
May 27th 2007
Talk by Ian Franklin on ‘Grace and Favour Apartments at
Hampton Court’
The first event of the Molesey Local History Society
took place, appropriately, in the grand surroundings of
Hampton Court Palace. More than 100 members met at the
Clore Centre, the new education facility at Hampton
Court, for refreshments and a brief talk by Rita
Ashbourne about the centre. We then moved across the
courtyard into the Barrack Block, where Ian Franklin
gave us an informative and amusing illustrated talk
about the Grace and Favour apartments. Ian has been
associated with the Palace as a local historian for 25
years, and has been a State Apartment Warder for ten
years.
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