We are delighted to have announced the winners of our ‘Thousand Year Tree Endpapers Design Competition’ which was launched during the summer through Surrey’s Library Network.

On Saturday 19th October the 24 shortlisted winners were invited to an awards ceremony, where the winners of each age category were announced by multi-award-winning children’s author Kes Gray. The shortlisted children were then invited to stay for Guildford Book Festival’s event with Kes Gray featuring his Oi Dinosaur! series.

Over 600 children entered the competition across Surrey and a huge thank you to Surrey’s Libraries and Surrey County Council’s Environment Team for helping to promote the competition and collate the entries.

The book will be on general sale shortly* and as soon as we have the details, these will be shown on our website at www.surreyhillssociety.org.
This may take 2/3 weeks, but we will do it as soon as we possibly can.  Keep your eyes peeled for the opportunity to purchase the book – a perfect Christmas gift!

* Now available click here to get straight through to Waterstones to purchase your copy for £8.99.

The Thousand Year Tree is a stunning new picture book, created by the children of Weyfield Primary Academy Guildford to celebrate the ancient yew trees at Newlands Corner, Surrey!

An incredible journey through time, from seed to fragile giant – step inside the fascinating world of ancient trees to discover the wonders these age-old giants have witnessed, and how we can protect them for millennia to come.

The Thousand Year Tree has been created through an exciting collaboration led by the Surrey Hills Society, together with the Guildford Book Festival; Weyfield Primary Academy; author, Lucy Reynolds; illustrator, Katie Hickey; Old Dungate Press; Surrey County Council; Surrey Libraries; and Surrey National Landscapes. The project has been funded by the DEFRA Access For All Fund, administered by the Surrey National Landscapes Board.

Last Saturday, 22 June 34 members enjoyed a serene glide along the Wey & Arun Canal whilst enjoying a chat, cuppa and cake.  A volunteer provided information about the canal and also about the flora and fauna to be found riverside.  The weather was glorious and, as you can see, everyone had a jolly good time.

One of the guests asked why there were no ducks or other birdlife on the canal, the answer is sadly – Minks!  Since their release they have bred uncontrollably and being aggressive carnivores will and do eat everything.

The safety instructions from the crew were that in the unlikely event you were to fall in they would shout  ”STAND UP” – the water is only a few feet deep.

Thanks go to Heather Aitken for organising this event and to Gordon Jackson for the photographs.

On Sunday 9th June, The Amber Foundation held its Hike on the Hill tackling Box Hill as part of a stunning 10km route while fundraising for Amber’s work.  Christa Emmett, our Project and Volunteer Manager, organised the route and led the group.

Amber supports young adults (aged 18-30) facing complex problems and offer homeless support to transform their lives by helping them move away from homelessness, out of unemployment and work towards better, brighter and healthier futures.  Amber have four centres and their third centre is Farm Place which opened in April 2010.  Near Horsham and Dorking, Farm Place enjoys a parkland setting in 9 acres of grounds in the Surrey Weald.

Together they have fundraised a bed space at Farm Place for a young homeless person to transform their life.  The group covered around 12km, 16,000 steps, equivalent to 63 flights of stairs and raised (so far!) £5,670 towards a bed space and thank everyone for their support and kindness.  Louise Cheung, Fundraising Manager for Amber.

On Monday 10 June we organised another successful visit to Goddards, one of Lutyens most important early houses built in traditional Surrey style.

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The house and gardens remain unaltered and unspoilt and the house hase many interesting and quirky features and with the furniture still intact.

The famous indoor skittle alley was built to amuse the” ladies of small means” who repaired there for a holiday.

Beautiful gardens including the courtyard garden designed by Lutyens and planted by Gertrude Jekyll restored using her original plants.

Many thanks to Chris Abbott for the photographs.

Mark and Virginia Turner

Yesterday, 6 June 2024, Mark and Virginia Turner led a group of 21 members on our visit to the beautifully designed 6 acre garden in the folds of the Surrey Hills.  Lower House dates back to the mid-16th century and in 1916 the then owner Lady Guillemard commissioned Gertrude Jekyll to design a plan for the garden.

The owner, Georginal Harvey has raised thousands for many different charities and last year made over £4,000 through open days and group visits.

Here are some photos taken by our Chairman, Gordon Jackson during our visit.

One of our members very kindly sent us the following message:

“I’m writing to say a big thank you to everyone involved in arranging the visit to Lower House today. It was fascinating to look round such a beautiful garden and Mart was a wonderful guide. The tea and cake were amazing, one of the best high teas we’ve ever had! My wife and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Please say thank you to Georgina Harvey as well for allowing us to visit, we felt very privileged!”

Christa Project and Volunteer Manager

Rebecca

Rebecca Worley, a Year 12 student from St John the Baptist school in Woking, joined Christa Emmet for a week of work experience. 

We thought you would like to see what she got up and here’s her account. 

Monday:
Today was the first day of my week’s work experience with Surrey Hills Society. First, I got to meet the team, who introduced themselves on the Monday morning Zoom meeting and explained a bit about their role for me. After this, I did a task to begin collating the ideas and themes from the ‘Postcards from the Future’; which is a scheme where Surrey Hills is asking people to write in and share their hopes for how our future will look in 75 years. They will use this to create their management plan. At midday, Christa and the team took me up Box Hill to have lunch with a view! In the afternoon I got to sit in on a couple more meetings and format some ideas for Friday’s meeting at Astolat House.

Tuesday:
This morning, Christa and I attended a forest bathing session at Newlands Corner, led by Justine with a group of women from the Shifa network. It had been organised by Christa, using funding from the Nextdoor Nature project. It was an amazing experience, I felt very calm and relaxed afterwards, and when we did a group reflection at the end of the session it was so lovely and inspiring to hear how these women felt after reconnecting with nature. After a quick lunch we then met with Sam to put up signs along the Gomshall to Dorking Rail to Ramble route, which is where you walk the trail, then you can catch the train back to your car. It was a stunning route, with gorgeous views of the rolling hills. I saw some Belted Galloways and I saw some Roman Snails for the first time! Unfortunately, we ran out of time to put up all the signs and ended up missing our train, but that was all made up for by the lovely walk.

Wednesday:
Today I went to the Surrey County Council networking event, where I met many different people in many different careers, all of which were very friendly and willing to answer any questions about the different jobs they all had. In the afternoon, Christa and I met with students from Box Hill School to do some more Postcards from the Future with them. We had lots of good discussions about the current state of our planet and the impacts of climate change, and it was really valuable to hear their input.

Thursday:
Today I was lucky enough to attend an event organised by Community Rail and Surrey Choices, with support from Surrey Hills. We met at Redhill station, where a representative from Community Rail spoke a bit about the different ways to buy a ticket, how to use a ticket machine and the ways to book or ask for assistance boarding the train. On the train to Farnborough North, we did some drawing activities to engage with the landscape we passed through, and the wildlife that lives there. When we arrived at Farnborough North we went to Reggie’s Garden, which is a lovely community green space created in the garden of the old station master’s house. Some members of Blackwater Valley Trust led a walk to the nearby fishing pits and pointed out some of the wildlife along the way. After a tour of Reggie’s Garden, we had lunch, then I got to see the Surrey Wildlife Trust offices when Christa and I popped over to pick up some resources for tomorrows activities.

Friday:
Today we went to Astolat House to discuss ways to improve the green spaces around the building. We met with some people from the organisations that worked in the office block, along with several members from Surrey Coalition for Disabled people. Once introductions were made, we walked around the building to see the spaces available which quickly pinpointed some accessibility issues that were a quick fix, but also sparked some good ideas. On the walk we also spotted a bee orchid, the first one I’d ever seen, which was an inspiring reminder that even the act of not mowing the lawn can make our green spaces a little bit wilder. After that, we reconvened in the board room to share ideas over lunch. It was a very constructive and productive session; many ideas were presented, and everyone got involved.

When the meeting ended it sadly marked the end of my work experience with Christa the Project and Volunteer Manager and the Surrey Hills Society, but I am so grateful to have had this amazing opportunity and to have met so many incredible people.

Rebecca Worley