Over the last few weeks, Surrey Hills Society has engaged with over 200 volunteers at a range of locations across the AONB.

Working in partnership with landowners and farmers, the Society has been coordinating volunteers to assist with the planting of native hedgerow and trees, to increase connectivity and habitat in the Surrey Hills.

The Society has engaged with members of the community, secondary school students, corporate staff teams and members of the Surrey Choices Growth Team, who all have the common aim of wanting to contribute positively to the environment. It has been wonderful to witness the enjoyment of volunteers, in learning more about both the environment and each other, as well as experiencing the benefit of being outside.

So far, this incredible volunteer workforce has helped to plant approximately 1.5km of native hedgerow, which will help to benefit both people and nature in years to come. By the end of the planting season, in March, the Society hopes to extend this by a further 1km.

The Society is currently developing Spring and Summer volunteering and community engagement opportunities, so please keep your eyes peeled for more details and please get in touch if you would like further information.

Many thanks

Christa Emmett
Project and Volunteer Coordinator
Surrey Hills Society
christa4surreyhills@gmail.com

On a sunny Sunday 9th January 37 members of the Society joined us to explore the wonderful, historic market town of Farnham.

Known as a popular Georgian market town in the far west of the Surrey Hills AONB, it actually has a history stretching back to the Stone Age.

If you look closely many of the Georgian frontages are merely facades to much older properties that were gentrified during this prosperous time.

The town continues to thrive with an active Town Council that supports it award winning Farnham in Bloom and variety of festivals, often in partnership with The Maltings – the town’s cultural centre. There is also a surprising number of independent shops, cafes and restaurants that all add to the vibrancy of the place.

The town is also home to the University of the Creative Arts which works with Surrey Hills Arts each year to install students work on the Farnham heathland near Tilford. Art work is spotted all over the town and gives the place a real vibe.

Many of our members today had never been to Farnham, and all said they would definitely be coming back for a more detailed look around in the near future.

Today’s walk was led by our President, Chris Howard and Vice President Ken Bare with assistance from Jeff Holliday, Gordon Jackson and Sall Baring.

On Monday morning Peter and Jean led everyone on our post Christmas walk, this year in a different location – Headley Heath near Epsom.  One of our members, Ray Jessop, has kindly offered to share some of the photos that he took during the walk.  It was a very enjoyable walk and one person on our walk said “It was interesting to visit different parts of the Heath that we do not normally see. It’s a very varied and interesting landscape and I must come back in clearer weather for the views”.

                                             Thank you Ray.

I joined a bunch of like-minded people at Wonersh Memorial Hall on a bright Saturday afternoon in the knowledge that this event would get me into the festive spirit.

There were around 20 of us and we all set off with baskets and bags and secateurs for a short but enjoyable walk around Wonersh taking in the view of an Edward Lutyens designed property and the house where the drawing of Christopher Robin dragging Winnie the Pooh down the stairs was drawn.

Around half of the attendees were not members of the Society and some had come a long distance to join us, one even coming from London who said that she really loved the walk, getting out in the fresh air and the beautiful Surrey Hills rather than having everything supplied to her.

We collected a number of different foliage for our wreaths and then returned to the hall.

We were provided with a demonstration of ideas together with a large variety of decorations, more foliage and straw circles which formed the basis of our wreaths.

There was Christmas music playing and we were served a huge variety of drinks with mince pies and biscuits. We were helped along with any assistance that was required and the atmosphere was really lovely and very Christmassy.

It was great to see all the different finished products even though we had access to the same foliage and decorations, each wreath was very individual.

I certainly am very happy with my wreath which is sitting proudly on my front door welcoming one and all during this festive time. I will definitely be spending two and a half hours collecting and making my own wreath next year.

Roll on Christmas Day.

Sall Baring

Society members enjoyed the annual visit to Belmont School and pre-Christmas walk on Saturday 4th December. Belmont is housed in a magnificent Arts and Crafts house designed by architect George T Redmayne in 1877, for Edwin Waterhouse one of the founders of the firm Price Waterhouse Co, in London. The house contains an original William Morris (1834 –1896) tapestry and William De Morgan (1839-1917) tiles. (They are two of the most famous designers of from the Arts and Crafts Movement).

Holmbury Hill is a pleasant (if steep) walk from the school grounds up through the village of Holmbury St Mary. This village is supposed to be the influence for local author, Edward Morgan Forster’s book, “A Room with a View”. The summit of the Holmbury Hill is the site of an ancient hill fort. At 856ft above sea level it is one of the highest points in the south of England and appears to have been a fort since at least 100BC.

After our compulsory annual photograph at the summit, the group returned to the school to meet the long serving Headmistress, Mrs Helen Skrine and learn more about the history of the house and the school (originally a prep school but now being a weekly boarding school for the up to 16 year olds). For more details click here.

President of the Society, Chris Howard said, “I love returning to Belmont School each year on the first Saturday in December. It kick starts the festive season with a bracing walk to a stunning viewpoint in the Surrey Hills and then mulled wine in the gorgeous galleried front entrance hall of Belmont School.”

Chris Howard

Our regular First Sunday of the Month walk for November explored Farnham Heath and the edges of Bourne Wood.

Although there was a brisk wind at times we enjoyed blue skies and warm sunshine that highlighted the autumnal colours of the heathland and the statuesque pine. Led by Gordon Jackson and Colin Crofts, our party of 30 (and two dogs) enjoyed a gentle walk through the heathland which is owned and maintained by the RSPB.

En route we stopped to admire the sculptures that are a legacy of the annual Surrey Hills Arts Heathland Trail run in partnership with the University of Creative Arts in Farnham.

The highlight of the walk involved a short climb to Walter Bailey’s House of Invisible Hands, which the artist sees as a shrine to those whose labours shaped the landscape of Surrey in the making of forest glass during mediaeval times. This practise involved working within the forest using the raw materials of the landscape to keep the furnaces going.

The views to the South from this forest artwork are truly stunning and it was a perfect day to appreciate the beauty of the Surrey Hills landscape. 

We all had a most enjoyable morning exploring in the west of Surrey.  Next month’s free walk is over in Dorking.

Thank you to all who shared their photos for everyone to enjoy.

Gordon Jackson, Chairman

We met up at the War Memorial on the airfield and were guided around by Linda who had a plethora of images taken of the airfield over the decades. She was ably assisted by Alan, Tony and Neil who were all very knowledgeable about the history of the site and each had their expertise in differing areas.

The airfield was heavily involved in the Battle of Britain.

Douglas Bader was based at Kenley and is famous for losing both his legs in a plane crash but he went back to fly many successful missions.

We were shown the E shaped blast pens which were designed and built to deflect the blast of German bombs away from the aircraft, and some of these are still intact from when they were originally built.

One of the most terrible onslaughts at the airfield was at lunchtime on Sunday 18th August 1940 when 9 low flying German planes attacked the airfield. There was total devastation but 4 of the attacking planes were brought down, 2 crashed and the other 3 were badly damaged.

Kenley is identified by English Heritage as “The most complete fighter airfield associated with the Battle of Britain to have survived”.

The airfield is now used by gliders for enjoyment and also for training.

We are organising a return visit next year to include refreshments in the RAFA.

Sall Baring

We are delighted to welcome Christa Emmett as our new Surrey Hills Society Volunteer Coordinator which has been made possible by 2 years funding through the Trust Fund, the Community Foundation for Surrey and the AONB Board.

Christa will be working with local charities and other community groups to facilitate voluntary conservation activity in the Surrey Hills.  She will be providing advice and support to parish councils and community groups in the Surrey Hills AONB to take practical action to implement and maintain conservation projects supporting the Society with fundraising.

Christa will also be ensuring effective communication and coordination of programmes with partners.  She will be working in close cooperation with Surrey Wildlife Trust.

Christa says ” I am really excited to join the Surrey Hills family. My background is in ecology and conservation, however, I also have a fair bit of experience working with young people. Having grown up in the Surrey Hills, I am passionate about protecting this beautiful area and what it provides for both people and nature.

I hope I can use my experience to bring together volunteers, landowners, parish councils and other community groups to protect and enhance our local biodiversity. There are a range of exciting projects in the pipeline and I am eager to meet the large voluntary community of the Surrey Hills, to make these projects come to life.”

Gordon Jackson says “This is a new post within the Society and represents an exciting opportunity to develop the Into the Wild concepts that the Society has been supporting over recent years.  All the evidence now shows that enabliing people to work in and enjoy the countryside is massively beneficial to mental and physical health.  Christa brings special expertise which will enable us to take the Society forward and to work on important projects that will enhance the Surrey Hills.”