If any of you have joined us on one of our walks along the North Downs Way heading out of Guildford along the banks of the River Wey, there is a good chance that we will have included a short diversion up to St Catherine’s Chapel.  This is not only a super viewpoint across the area but is also a historically interesting structure.  It has become even more interesting recently following a landslip which disrupted the adjacent railway line.

St Catherine’s Chapel, on top of the hill, was built in the early 14^th century in the reign of Edward I.  An annual fair, also dating from the Middle Ages, was held every year until after the First World War.  But over the years evidence has been discovered of more distant human activity on the hill in the Iron Age, Bronze Age and even Mesolithic (middle Stone Age) periods.

An incredible hidden cave thought to have been used as a medieval shrine has now been discovered in the hillside by rail workers repairing a recent landslip.  Network Rail engineers came across the small cave, with markings and evidence of use in the 14^th century, while stabilising the embankment between the railway line and the A3100 Old Portsmouth Road.

The sandstone cave is made up of several sections ranging from 0.3 metres to about 0.7 metres high and it’s thought to be the surviving section of a much bigger cave.  The rest may have been lost when the railway line was carved out of the hillside in the early 1840s.

Images taken from the site show the presence of a Gothic niche decorated in dots with a Calvary cross nearby.  There are seven or eight further niches and experts found considerable evidence of writing and other markings across the cave ceiling.

The cave is partially covered in deposits of black dust, believed to be soot from lamps.  The remains of two suspected fire pits were also uncovered in the cave floor.  The hope is that radiocarbon dating can be used to establish the period when the cave was in use.

Mark Killick, Network Rail Wessex route director, said: “This is an unexpected and fascinating discovery that helps to visualise and understand the rich history of the area.  A full and detailed record of the cave has been made and every effort will be made to preserve elements where possible during the regrading of the delicate and vulnerable sandstone cutting.”

Tony Howe, historic environment planning manager and county archaeologist at Surrey County Council, added: “The discovery of this cavern is tremendously exciting.  It’s very early in the process of understanding its full significance, but the potential for knowledge acquisition is huge.  We’re looking forward to learning an awful lot more about the site as studies progress.”

You will be aware that one of the effects of the coronavirus lockdown has been the cancellation of our current events programme.  This is probably the aspect of our work seen by most of our members.  However, the Society hasn’t just pulled up the drawbridge and ceased to function.  There has been a large amount of work continuing in the background.  In the following sections we can give you an indication of some of the key topics and, in doing so, help to show how wide our range of activities has become.

AONB Management Plan

Late in 2019, the AONB Board launched the latest version of the Surrey Hills AONB Management Plan which covers the period 2020 – 2025.  Having got the strategic document agreed by all the Borough & District councils and Surrey County Council – who contribute financially to the AONB and who are required by law to implement the plan – the next stage has been to agree who is going to deliver specific activities in order to achieve the required objectives and targets.  Each objective has a lead organisation plus a number of supporting ones.  In most cases, the lead body is one of the components of the AONB ‘family’ of Board & Management Team, Society, Enterprises or Trust Fund and in many instances, the work is supported by multiple ‘family’ members.

For the Society, the biggest topic area is around communication and awareness.  This is very much our forte since we have come to be known as a public face of the Surrey Hills AONB.  Our newsletters, presence at shows and fetes, external talks and media exposure all contribute to this.  And this is also where our Events programme fits in because the more people we can get out into the area the more they learn about it and hence become ambassadors themselves.

To make all this happen, our Chairman and Vice-Presidents have been working with the AONB Board and Management to develop a detailed Delivery & Monitoring Plan which will be reviewed quarterly by the Board to track progress.  Coronavirus may have disrupted a lot of things but the clock is still ticking and hence the Society has been working away in the background to ensure that it can deliver on its commitments.

The Society’s Annual Review

Our members have recently received an email to let them know that the Society’s Annual review for 2019-2020 has been written and published.  This is the third year that we have produced a look back at the year’s activities and it has proved to be a useful record and promotional tool.  On this occasion we took the decision to issue it as soon as possible after our year end rather than wait for our AGM in the autumn.

This type of document involves input from a large number of our volunteers.  Quite apart from writing the text and providing the photos (Ken Bare), data and content was provided by our Chairman (Gordon Jackson), Finance Director (Martin Cantor), Membership Secretary (Stella Cantor) and Vice-President (Chris Howard).  One of our members (Piers Plummer) turned it all into the professional looking document that we issued and we relied strongly on the eagle eyes of our proof readers (Susie Turner, Sall Baring, Lesley Crofts and Diane Cooper).  We are incredibly grateful to all of them for the hours of work that they contributed to making this happen.

Surrey Hills Photo Competition

By the time that you receive this e-newsletter, our photo competition will have just closed.  A good number of you have submitted photos which have been placed on our website.  The Chairman and Vice-Presidents now have the tricky task of judging the entries to identify a winner.  This is certainly not the easiest of tasks since there are some stunning images.

Social Media

In parallel with our photo competition, we have been expanding our presence on social media including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram where a number of our active members have been submitting images.  We are in the early days of developing these lines of communication but they are already showing success in helping us to reach new audiences.

As a reminder:

• Facebook: @SurreyHillsSoc (https://facebook.com/surreyhillssoc)Stay up to date with upcoming events.
• Instagram: @SurreyHillsSociety (https://www.instagram.com/surreyhillssociety/)See our latest photographs of the Surrey Hills. 
• Twitter: @SurreyHillsSoc (https://twitter.com/surreyhillssoc) Follow our Twitter to see what our members have been up to.

Events Planning

Whilst our current programme of events may have gone on hold, we want to be able to hit the ground running when the right time comes.  Many of the events organised by the Society have a long lead time – up to a year in some cases!  To enable us to give our members a programme to look forward to, our Events Team have been working away in the background.  Hopefully we will be able to revive some of the visits which were planned for 2020 and include them in our 2021 schedule.  Meanwhile, other topics come to light or opportunities arise and our Team is always on the lookout for these.

One specific element of our events programme which has become very popular is our involvement with local walking festivals.  We had planned to participate in Farnham Walkfest in May, a new event planned for the Dorking area and, of course, our major involvement with Guildford Walking Festival in September.  At the moment, it is unclear whether Guildford Walking Festival will be able to go ahead but we are continuing to work as if it will – even if it’s in a modified form.  The Society normally hosts numerous walks during this month long festival – and also provides several of the core organising team – so a significant amount of work is involved.

Late in 2019, the Surrey Hills AONB appointed a new Chairman to replace David Wright who had retired following the local elections last year.  We are delighted to be working with Heather Kerswell as she steps into the role and drives the AONB forward.  Although she has been trying to meet many of the Surrey Hills people and get to know more about what we do, she has clearly been hampered by the current disruption.  It is therefore with great pleasure that we give Heather the opportunity to contribute to this e-newsletter.

Well done to Surrey Hills Society for sending its newsletter electronically!  A sign of the times…..

It was a huge privilege when the Board of Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty invited me in December last year to become its independent chair, helping to bring together the Surrey Hills family – the Society, Enterprises and the Trust Fund.  It is a privilege because I get to work with the small but extremely expert and enthusiastic staff (many currently co-ordinating local crisis help), with a Board of councillors and other experts all giving us their time and advice, all driven by a common purpose, with the chairs of the ‘family’, and with the fantastic volunteers whose work is crucial in turning ideas into reality.

Some of the things we all want to achieve are:

•   To extend the AONB, agreed locally in 2013 but still with Natural England for decision

•   To reinforce the greenness of the AONB, reverse the decline in nature and help tackle the climate crisis

•   To enable sustainable visiting

•   To strengthen community, sustainable prosperity and a sense of locality

•   To work with other protected landscapes around London on a joint vision for the region

I will be putting my time and skills to work to help us make progress on all these fronts.  By way of background I am a geographer, so imbued with Wealden geology, professionally a planner, starting as Waverley’s conservation officer, moving to strategic planning in London and the southeast and then serving as Mole Valley council’s chief executive for twelve years.  Since retiring I have been working with property based charities.

So how can we view the ambitions of the Surrey Hills family in the current virus crisis, when so many people are dealing not only with isolation but with danger and bereavement?  Are there some glimmers of hope?  Maybe we can all observe changes which could be influential in future:

•    We have adjusted to travelling less – working at home, meetings by Zoom, conversations by Facetime, schooling via IPads, shopping on-line. Could this continue post crisis and lead to a permanent reduction in road traffic passing through the Surrey Hills?

•   Will visitors come by public transport or if car-borne look to stay over and walk or cycle from their stop-over place?

•   Surrey Hills Enterprises have put on the website a list of local produce available for delivery.  We are certainly discovering and using more local suppliers – Mandira’s Kitchen and Hampton Estates for instance have been a lifeline – and we intend to go on post crisis.  Delivery of Surrey Hills produce could become much more important commercially; it helps the environment and brings a quality product to your door.

•   Everyone is feeling deprived of access to nature and open spaces.  This will surely bring a crusade to reverse decline and a search for ways to intensify the wildness of our natural places.

•   We are leaving the European Community and have a chance with legislation progressing now to set our own standards and bring nature more firmly into the equation in giving grants to the farmers and landowners on whose skill and goodwill we all rely for managing our green areas.

And we will never again take for granted the things which can only be experienced live – like hearing church bells, singing in a choir or walking in the Surrey Hills.

Our Vice-President, Chris Howard, is also the Chairman of Visit Surrey.  Wearing that hat, she has been one of the driving forces to create Surrey Day and to make it such a success.  In the following article, she explains a little more about this year’s special day.

Surrey Day, a national celebration of everything that makes the county so special, returned for a second year on Saturday 2 May.  This time, the concept had to be re-thought to make it viable during lockdown.  The result?  A virtual Surrey Day.  Jointly hosted by the county’s tourist board, Visit Surrey, along with BBC Radio Surrey and Surrey Life magazine it was recreated for an online audience that tuned in to BBC Radio Surrey from all around the world.

Following last year’s inaugural celebration, which saw several hundred special events taking place across the county, everything had to happen ‘virtually’ this time.  However, if anything, the day proved to be even more successful, as it meant people could get involved from wherever they were based – making it a truly global event.  It even included two of our Swedish SHS members, Gunnar and Katarina Nyman, who phoned in from Sweden to talk about why they love visiting the Surrey Hills.  Closer to home, our Chairman, Gordon Jackson and Rob Fairbanks, Director of the Surrey Hills AONB, were both interviewed as part of the day.

BBC Radio Surrey made Surrey Day the focus of their entire programming from 6am to 6pm and managed to include a whole host of different topics.  There was everything from online tours of the county’s museums, galleries and attractions to special interviews.  They pre-recorded potted histories of many of Surrey’s towns – read by local experts such as museum curators – and included numerous clips produced by their own staff explaining what they liked about where they live and what they could see from those places.

People also took to social media to share their favourite local views – and, for the grand finale, Guildford Cathedral was lit up green, thanks to Peachy Productions, in homage to England’s most densely-wooded county.  No wonder then that #SurreyDay was also trending on Twitter.

The Society’s congratulations go to all the people involved in making this such a wonderful day.  There was clearly a vast amount of work involved but it resulted in a really successful celebration and promotion of what makes Surrey special.  Now we are looking forward to Surrey Day 2021!

Editor’s Note:  Until the end of May 2020, the Surrey Day broadcasts can be heard on the BBC Sounds app by clicking here.

WHAT THE SURREY HILLS MEAN TO YOU

We thought it would be nice to celebrate the Surrey Hills and although we can’t get out into them at the moment, many of us have photographs and special memories.  We are therefore having a competition and asking you all to send us up to three photographs that most encapsulate what the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty means to you. 

The competition will be judged by me, and our two Vice Presidents, Chris Howard and Ken Bare.  The winner will receive a bottle of wine from one of our Surrey Hills Wine Producers.  To get the Gallery started Chris, Ken and I have included some of our favourite photographs, although these will not of course be entered into the competition. These and all of your photographs can be seen in our Events section of the website – click here   Please send the photographs by email  to info@surreyhillssociety.org, ensuring that you give us your name so that appropriate credit for the photographs can be given.  Images may be landscape or portrait shaped and please let us know where they were taken. Entries must be submitted by 15 May 2020 and the winner will be announced on Monday 25 May 2020.

Entrants will retain the copyright in their photographs, but by entering they consent to the Surrey Hills Society and the Surrey Hills AONB reproducing them on their respective websites and on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

To see entries submitted so far, please visit our Events page which we have temporarily converted into a Gallery.

Our competition is now closed for entries – judging is in progress.

Stay safe, stay well and most important, let’s dream of our wonderful Surrey Hills.

Gordon Jackson

We may not be able to go out and about, but there are still so many ways to benefit from the wonderful products and services that we have on our doorstep in the Surrey Hills.

Surrey Hills businesses are offering a whole range of deliveries of local Surrey Hills produce and services offered on-line. These businesses are members of our sister organisation, Surrey Hills Enterprises and have been awarded the ‘Trade Mark Surrey Hills’, a mark of local provenance, quality and sustainability. To see the inspiring range available, go to the Surrey Hills website:

www.surreyhills.org/surrey-hills-businesses-bringing-products-and-services-to-your-home/

Stay safe and stay well.

Gordon Jackson

Hiding away near the centre of town is Grayshott Pottery. 

We had a dedicated table for us in their lovely café for drinks and some rather tasty food.  We were split into two groups with one chatting in the café getting to know not only current members but non-members who were happy to come along to a SHS event and also expressed interest in joining our fold.

We were shown around the workshop by Giselle Snell who has been at the Pottery for over 30 years and consequently was incredibly knowledgeable.

We were given a demonstration of pot throwing and right before our eyes a beautiful vase was produced in around 5 minutes.  It was amazing to see such skill in something so simple and yet beautiful.  There was also a lady showing decorating skills.

We then entered the main part of the pottery.  Giselle showed us the various parts of the workshop, explaining the different methods used to produce a variety of products from plates, tea-pots and tea spouts to bowls and jugs and also informing us of the consistency the clay needed to be in order to make the best of each product, depending on whether it was machine made or hand thrown.  There were a couple of young ladies who painstakingly took any excess clay off the rims of plates and bowls.  There were many skilled people there who had been with the company for many years.

We were told of some of the famous restaurants and chefs who used the pottery produced there, including Nando’s.  When you are next in Nando’s have a look at their serving platters as these are likely to have been made at Grayshott.

After a very lovely lunch in the café we were let loose in the shop to admire (and purchase) some of the beautiful products produced here.

A most enjoyable few hours were spent here and I would go back to make some future purchases and partake of a cappuccino!

Sall Baring