Getting into the festive spirit in the Surrey Hills

For the 11^th consecutive year, the Surrey Hills Society have walked from Belmont School to Holmbury Hill, near Dorking, as part of their festive season celebrations. Originally designed as one off event for the charity’s members, it was requested again the following year and then again, until it became a regular festive date in our packed events calendar.

All proceeds from the walk go to support the work of the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), which covers about a quarter of our county. Over the years the event has raised well over £1,000 for our charity, thanks to the generosity of Belmont School, who have hosted the mulled wine and mince pies at the end of the walk.  The main building of the school is a Victorian Arts and Crafts designed house, created for Edwin Waterhouse – one of the founders of Waterhouse Coopers, the internationally known business consultancy firm. The house, originally called Feldemore, contains beautiful elements, including a tapestry by William Morris and De Morgan tiles.

Chairman of the Society, Gordon Jackson commented that “it is always such a pleasure to come to Belmont School and see the beautiful Arts and Crafts designs in this building, as well as see how the children have decorated their school each December.

The other treat is reaching the summit of this once Iron Age Hill Fort at Holmbury Hill, to take in the breath-taking view from the summit.”

The Surrey Hills Society has an eclectic mix of events and activities throughout the year which showcase all aspects of the Surrey Hills AONB, from its wildlife and conservation work, to its interesting architecture, music and cultural activities which includes walks, talks, visits and practical volunteering.

New members are always welcome – why not make 2020 your year to get out and about learning more about our wonderful county?  See surreyhillssociety.org for more details.

Our Natural Health Service

We were delighted to support the Surrey Hills AONB Symposium, which was organised by the AONB team and our Chairman, Gordon Jackson, in his capacity as Chairman of the Advisory Panel for the Surrey Hills Trust Fund. This was a great event which brought together over 400 people with an interest in the Surrey Hills.

The theme of the Symposium was the importance of nature in improving society’s health and well being and we were honoured that Dame Penelope Keith, as Patron of the Surrey Hills, opened the evening and introduced the first guest speaker.

We heard a fascinating talk from Dr William Bird MBE, who founded the Walking for Health charity, which demonstrated the many medical benefits that are associated with being out in the countryside.

This was followed by a talk from Professor Caroline Scarles from the University of Surrey, who presented her research about Living Environments for Healthy Ageing. We heard how tests have shown that the elderly derive great benefits from experiencing the countryside through immersive technology even though they have been unable to go outside. In some cases this even encouraged people, who had not previously ventured out for some considerable time, to go on walks and enjoy the outdoors.

Dr Birgitta Gatersleben, also from the University of Surrey, concluded the presentations by giving the audience a brief summary of the findings of a research project carried out by Genevieve Lebus, under Birgitta’s supervision, entitled “Into the Wild”. This project was commissioned by the Surrey Hills Trust Fund in association with LC Energy and the University.

The detailed research runs to 100 pages and highlights the significant deprivation that exists in some parts of Surrey and identifies that some 10,000 young people aged between 5 and 15 suffer from mental health issues. It also reviews the many studies that demonstrate how young people’s health and well being can benefit significantly from being outdoors. There is clear evidence that mental health issues can start at a very young age and early intervention can prevent a person suffering later in life.

The study also identifies youth groups in Surrey that would like to do more in the countryside, as well as those that could help and the barriers that are encountered.

There was an enthusiastic question and answer session at the end of the presentations and the evening was concluded by the High Sheriff, Bridget Biddell, whose theme for her shrieval year is “Nurturing through Surrey’s Nature”. Gordon Jackson promised that the Surrey Hills Trust Fund and the AONB would establish a steering group to spearhead a concerted effort to work with all interested parties so as to develop ways to improve the opportunities for Surrey’s youth. The focus would be on young people from deprived areas and would look at ways to overcome barriers in order to capitalise on the many opportunities that already exist and facilitate engagement with the countryside through our beautiful Surrey Hills.

The presentations and the full text of the Into the Wild research project can be seen at https://www.surreyhills.org/symposium-2019/

Earl of Wessex presents the Surrey Hills Society with The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service

The Earl of Wessex KG GCVO presented The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (QAVS) to the Surrey Hills Society on Wednesday 6 November 2019 at a ceremony attended by over 40 of our volunteers.  The presentation took place at Albury Old Saxon Church.  The Award has been presented to the Society for “encouraging people to explore and learn about the special qualities of an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty”.  It is the highest award given to local volunteer groups across the UK to recognise outstanding work done in their own communities and was created in 2002 to celebrate the anniversary of HM The Queen’s coronation.

Before presenting the Award, the Earl, HRH Prince Edward, spent time talking to the Society’s volunteers about the work that they do.  He heard about the Heritage Lottery funded Tales of the Tillingbourne project, which sought to encourage various communities along the valley of the River Tillingbourne to engage in the unique and beautiful landscape by researching its industries, promoting heritage trails throughout, capturing local knowledge through oral histories, and monitoring and recording the ecology of the river. Part of the legacy of the project is a permanent display at Shere Museum that includes 7 (1.2m high) puppets, that were specially loaned for the occasion.

The Earl was shown a short play by Nick White of Geeyou entitled “Tales of the Wey”, which the Society hopes to develop as part of a sequel to the Tales of the Tillingbourne Project.

His Royal Highness was also presented with two books.  One entitled, “Our Changing Landscape”, written and researched by Society Vice President Ken Bare, tells how the Surrey Hills AONB came into being 60 years ago and how the area has changed since.  The other “Walks for All Ages” was written by the Society’s other Vice President, Christine Howard and features 20 Surrey Walks ranging from 2 to 6 miles long. 

The Earl heard how we promote the special protected landscape and cultural heritage of the Surrey Hills, through activities such as:

• manning stalls at local shows handing out free walks leaflets and showcasing the special attractions of the area
• giving talks to other groups and organisations
• running local interest events to educate Society members and residents
• leading free walks across the county
• supporting and promoting the work of other related charities

Our volunteers share a passion for everything to do with the Surrey Hills – from its wonderful flora and fauna and rare habitats to its unique culture and heritage, and leisure opportunities.  They also collaborate with other organisations across the Surrey Hills to raise funds for agreed worthwhile projects within the area, which benefits both wildlife and the residents of Surrey.   

A massive “Thank You” and “Congratulations” to all our volunteers – past and present.

On a glorious mid-September day, members of the Society visited Manor Farm at Wotton to learn more about farming in the midst of the Surrey Hills. After a brief introduction in the farmyard, we climbed into a large cattle trailer and were taken for an extended trip around the area to see various aspects of the business. 

We were privileged to be hosted by Paula Matthews and her husband Laurence – both of whom took time out to give us a fascinating insight into their work.  Whilst Laurence joined us in the trailer to give a commentary on what we were seeing, Paula did a sterling job driving around opening gates for our tractor / trailer and keeping everything running smoothly.  However, once we arrived at the Belted Galloways, we had a complete role reversal.  These are clearly one of Paula’s loves and the time we spent on that aspect gave us a much better understanding of the rearing of the animals, how they are used effectively for conservation grazing and, ultimately, how they become part of the food chain.

This latter aspect was particularly relevant since Laurence had taken the landrover at that point and dashed back to base to get the barbeque sorted out ready for our meal of home-made Belted Galloway beef-burgers plus all the trimmings.  Truly an example of “from farm to fork”.

Manor Farm is one of the larger farms in Surrey with the Matthews family managing about 3000 acres as tenant farmers, under about 10 landlords, plus another 30 or so of their own land.  We learned a little about the complexities of such an estate and the way that global economics play such a major part in modern farming.  One example of this was how the selling price of different grades of wheat are impacted not only by international demand but also by exchange rates and climatic issues – which are well beyond the control of the producer.

We all had a great time on this visit, learning a lot, seeing another important aspect of our Surrey Hills, and gaining a better appreciation of the way that farming shapes our landscape.  Oh, and we had some brilliant food as well!  The finale was the opportunity to order “Beltie Beef Bags” for the next sale of meat from the farm.  More details of this aspect can be found on their website www.manorfarmsurrey.com.

On an extremely wet day in August, a group of members visited two venues in Horsley engaged in growing things.

We arrived at Grace and Flavour while it was still fine and so opted to do the tour of the garden first. This is an amazing set up, totally run and worked by volunteers. For their pains they become members and can then purchase the fresh produce which is harvested weekly. The cost of the vegetables for you is then set depending on how much work you have put into the garden.

It is a no-dig system which seems to work very well – we certainly saw an awful lot of produce which would be harvested in the coming weeks. All the plants are grown from seed and the rotation of crops is carefully planned. There is fruit too – soft fruit and apples, pears and plums.

This year is their 10th anniversary and they have certainly come a long way from the walled area that was very overgrown with brambles and had become a dumping ground. They managed to secure a grant which helped them to build their large ‘potting shed’ which provided shelter for us as the rain hammered on the roof while John, the head gardener, told us all about the project.

Thanks to all at Grace and Flavour who gave up their time to show us around and particularly to John Fluker, a Society member and erstwhile chairman of Grace and Flavour who helped us set up the visit.

After warming up over lunch in the pub, we made our way to Plantpassion. We were particularly pleased to include a visit to a member of Surrey Hills Enterprises, another part of the Surrey Hills family. Claire Brown is indeed passionate about her flower growing and about providing flowers that are actually grown here locally. She gave us a quick introduction to what she is doing and then we wandered round the flower growing area looking at amazing dahlias amongst other things. Again the weather was not kind, but a cup of tea and homemade cake soon made up for it.

We then had a demonstration of how Claire puts together a bouquet from her flowers. We raffled the result which not only by chance gave the Chairman’s wife, Sue Jackson, a very attractive bouquet to take home but also raised some extra funds for the Society.

Everyone felt that we had made the most of a pretty awful weather day with interesting things to see at both venues.

1st September saw the start of Guildford Walking Festival – a month long series of free walks in and around Guildford Borough. Walks have been organised by a whole range of organisations and walking groups – including Surrey Hills Society (SHS) who are also joint sponsors of the festival. Of the fifty or so walks scheduled, ten of them are organised and/or led by us – a significant percentage!

The Society has always had a strong focus on getting the public out into the Surrey Hills and local communities so it should not come as a surprise that we have been strong supporters of the walking festival for some years. However, in recent times that involvement has grown significantly. For a good number of years, our then chairman – Christine Howard – formed part of the organising team but when the chairmanship of Walkfest was vacated, Chris stepped up and got the organisation back on track.

Helen Barnsley, representing Guildford Borough Council (GBC) was already involved but is also an active volunteer for SHS – particularly helping at our external shows and on our own walks. Other SHS members have also taken on various organisational roles: Jeff Holliday from our Events team, Pete Lambert organising and leading walks, Ken Bare helping to produce the brochure and as author of the Walkfest Blog, Steve Peacock – who undertook much of the mapping and walk development of our Tales of the Tillingbourne project – is leading a walk as is our new Chairman, Gordon Jackson.

All of the events with which we are involved are appearing on the Events page of our website and it was good to see a number of our members turning up for the launch walk on the 1st – clearly the advertising is working.

With Guildford Mayor, Richard Billington, cutting the tape to get the festival off to a start, this first event was a gentle stroll from Spectrum Leisure Centre. It took in nearby ancient woodland, WWII defences and then followed the paths around Stoke Park to discover some of the lesser known features. The 24 attendees thoroughly enjoyed themselves in the warm sunny weather and everyone discovered places and facts that were new to them whilst benefiting from fresh air and gentle exercise.

Why not take a look at the Walkfest programme at www.guildfordwalkfest.co.uk or pick up a brochure from Guildford Tourist Information office in the High Street, GBC reception at Millmead or various other locations across the town. Walks vary from less than a mile – for example Town Guides walks and many of the Walking for Health events – through to a small number of long distance walks along sections of the North Downs Way. There is even a sponsored walk on Saturday 28th September from Guildford to Dorking in aid of Guildford Street Angels – led, as you might expect, by SHS.

There really is something for everyone and as it says in the Walkfest advertising – Keep Healthy, Keep Walking.

Following the recent announcement of our Queens Award for Voluntary Service (QAVS), we received an invitation from the Chairman of Mole Valley District Council (MVDC) to attend their full meeting on 9^th July.   Chris Howard, Ken Bare and Martin Cantor represented the Society and Ken talked for a few minutes over a slide show about the role of the Society and the importance of all the work done by our volunteers.

Mary Huggins, the Chairman of MVDC, then presented the Society with a certificate to recognise our achievement.

The slideshow/talk can be found as part of the MVDC webcast click here with the relevant section beginning about 10 minutes into the recording.

It was also pleasing that Carmel O’Shea from the Dorking based Patchworking Garden was also presented with a certificate for their QAVS.  The Society has visited the garden on two occasions and one of our key volunteers is also a core volunteer of that group – mainly as a result of being on our first visit there.