Making Surrey a better place

www.surreycc.gov.uk

Surrey HeritageDiscovering,

Preserving, Celebrating

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Front cover image: Strictly Cometh Dancing: this hugely successful workshop was held at Surrey History Centre in 2009Back cover image: Repair of a sixteenth century document © Grant PritchardLeft: Holiday activites for families are a popular attraction at Surrey History Centre.

ContentsWelcome from Pat Reynolds 3

Protecting and Promoting Surrey’s 5Heritage: our work in 2010

Supporting Stronger Communities 11

Supporting Children and Young People 17

Supporting Health and Wellbeing 21

Reaching out to the Wider World: 25Digital Developments and Publications

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Surrey Heritage brings together for the first time in one service Surrey County Council’s expertise in caring for and promoting our county’s rich past. We are based at Surrey History Centre in Woking, renowned for its unique collection of documents forming the written memory of our county, stored on over six miles of shelving. They illuminate all aspects of the historical, social, political, religious and economic development of Surrey but are also a major resource for national and international history. From parchment deeds of the mid-twelfth century to the records of local authorities, hospitals and organisations, we preserve historic records for the benefit of people today and in the future.

Our staff can help you to discover, investigate and protect the county’s archaeology, historic buildings, written heritage and artefacts. We can help you explore Surrey’s museums, advise you about caring for historic documents, inform you about Surrey’s historic buildings and ensure archaeological sites, monuments and discoveries are recorded and protected. Heritage is inspiring and has a vital role to play in giving people a sense of their place in the world. The thrill of reading original documents, touching a real museum object or visiting an archaeological site is intense and speaks to anyone interested in who they are and where they live. This report highlights the range of work undertaken and the services provided by the five teams that comprise Surrey Heritage:

• The Stewardship & Preservation and Public Services Teams work to collect, preserve and make accessible historic documents and books relating to Surrey from the 12th to the 21st centuries.

• The Heritage Conservation Team (HCT) provides impartial advice on all aspects of managing, preserving & understanding archaeological remains and historic buildings.

• Heritage Enterprise, (including the Surrey County Archaeological Unit), provides high quality archaeological services to commercial and public sector clients, including consultancy services.

• The Learning, Museums & Partnership Team provides a vital link with colleges, schools and museums and a wide range of other partners to help you discover Surrey’s history and ensure that the experiences of Surrey’s diverse communities are recorded for all time.

This brief document only allows space to highlight a few of our activities. I commend our websites if you would like to discover more –

www.surreycc.gov.uk/surreyheritagewww.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk

Dr. Pat ReynoldsHeritage Manager

Welcome from Pat Reynolds

4 Watercolour of the chancel of Compton Church by Edward Hassell, c.1830, SHC: PX/44/15

“my family and I are absolutely thrilled to

find such a treasure trove of information”

RC of Kentucky

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Protecting and Promoting Surrey’s Heritage: our work in 2010The archive and local studies service, represented by our Stewardship & Preservation and Public Services Teams, is a front line service that rescues, preserves and makes accessible the documentary history of our county. The high value that the public places on us is shown by the 97% public satisfaction rating in the national, independently run Survey of Visitors to British Archives 2009 and by the Four Star rating awarded to us by The National Archives. 2010 was a particularly busy year:

• nearly 6,000 people visited our public searchroom and looked at 26,737 documents

• we handled over 14,000 enquiries by phone, email or letter

• 252 of these were requests made under the Freedom of Information Act (2000) and Data Protection Act (1998) for permission to access sensitive records that we hold of Surrey’s former mental hospitals, care homes and the Surrey Coroner

• 1111 books were added to our library and 5309 illustrations and photographs catalogued by our local studies team and volunteers

• 55 requests were made to publish items from our collections in a wide range of books, magazines, websites, electronic media and exhibitions across the world

• 384,922 pages were viewed on 122,921 visits to our websites.

• We maintained a strong media presence, with frequent interviews on Radio Wey and BBC Surrey as well as features on BBC television, in Surrey newspapers and in the BBC Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine.

New Accessions to the ArchivesNew material is continuously added to our collections. In 2010 we received 302 accessions of records relating to the history of the county, amounting on receipt to over 13 cubic metres. A full list of these is available on our website at www.surreycc.gov.uk/surreyhistorycentre. We would like to express our great gratitude to all those who have helped secure the county’s archival and local studies heritage by depositing or presenting their treasured records with us.

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Highlights in 2010 have included:• The archive of The Royal Star and Garter Homes, Richmond, for

disabled ex-servicemen, established after World War I (ref 8711)

• Important collections of watercolours of Leatherhead and Chiddingfold by the 19th cent. topographical artists, John and Edward Hassell (refs 8736 and CHID)

• Notebooks, sketchbooks and other papers of the Surrey landscape artist, Edward Wilkins Waite (1854-1924) (ref 8752)

• Papers of Sir Alec Bedser CBE, OBE, one of England’s finest cricketers and resident of Woking (ref 8738)

• Maps and papers relating to Surrey’s civil defence and emergency measures in the two World Wars (refs 8718, 8751, 8760)

• An early 13th cent. deed relating to property in Beddington (ref 8692)

• A letter written by Thomas Thorp, bookseller, describing a visit to William Bray of Shere, Surrey’s great historian, in 1827 (ref 8733)

• Correspondence of the Wolfe family of Cranleigh, 1814-1857, containing many illuminating insights into life in Cranleigh (ref 8657)

• An extensive collection of pub and hotel licensing plans relating to the west of the county, including Guildford, Farnham, Godalming, Haslemere and Woking, spanning the years 1925-2000 (ref 8652)

The artist Edward Wilkins Waite in his studio

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Cataloguing developmentsUntil new accessions are catalogued, knowledge of their contents and public access to the records are both made difficult. Our archivists have been cataloguing behind the scenes all year, but it is worth picking out a handful of really significant catalogues brought to completion this year.

• The papers of the Glyn family of Ewell, held as 6832, were originally purchased by Epsom and Ewell Borough Council in three portions: some came from Leigh Vaughan Henry, inheritor of the wealth of Miss Margaret Glyn, in 1958, others came from a Surbiton antiques dealer to whom the documents had been sold for making lampshades from the parchment and the rest were acquired through gifts from local historians and benefactors. Most of the documents relate to Glyn family property in Ewell but also deal with estates in London, Dorset and Glamorgan. One of the most significant items is a 16th century copy of a 1408 survey and rental of the manor of Ewell. The Glyn family were rectors of Ewell in the 19th century

and, therefore, much of the collection relates to parish matters, such as the erection of Rectory House in the 1830s (later Glyn House) and the rebuilding of the parish church in 1846-1847.

• One of the great landed families of the county were the Brodrick family, Viscounts Midleton of Peper Harow, near Godalming. A wonderful set of their letters was deposited with us in 1976 and we have just completed an item by item description of their contents. The 1st Viscount Midleton (d.1728) was Speaker of the Irish Commons and Lord Chancellor of Ireland and a prolific letter writer, particularly to his brother in London. His letters are full of political and social interest and a rich source for this tumultuous period of Irish history. Subsequent Viscounts were less significant politically until the 9th Viscount and 1st Earl (d.1942) who also held high office. However the letters remain of the highest interest for the picture they provide of the running of the family’s vast estate in County Cork in the decades before and after the potato famine. Of particular note is a fascinating set of letters from the fiery and passionate architect Augustus Welby Pugin who was commissioned by the 5th Viscount to remodel Peper Harow church, and erect a number of Gothic revival buildings on the estates in both Surrey and Cork.

Over the course of 2010 we migrated our catalogues and accessions databases to new CALM software, a long and fraught process, now successfully accomplished. The next stage will be the design of a new public interface so users can interrogate our catalogues from anywhere in the world.

In addition, all our pre-1805 publications have now been added to the Eighteenth Century Short Title Catalogue (ESTC), an enormously important, international database.

Watercolour of Glyn House, Ewell.

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Archive Conservation and PreservationOur conservators have recently completed the repair and rebinding of a fine set of letters from Anthony Browne (1526-1592), 1st Viscount Montague, to Sir William More of Loseley (ref 6729/8/1-130). Browne, a staunch Roman Catholic, came to political prominence during Mary’s reign, being created Viscount Montague in 1554 and appointed to the Privy Council in 1555. Although he was ejected from the Council on Elizabeth’s accession, he succeeded in remaining prominent in political life, sitting as a commissioner at the trial of Mary Queen of Scots. Queen Elizabeth visited Montague at Cowdray Park in 1591 and William More remained good friends with him despite their differing religious views. The letters, in Montague’s execrable hand, range in subject matter from a dispute at Montague’s iron foundry to attacks by the Turks on Malta and Italy.

Currently under repair is the first male case book, 1899-1901, of the Manor Hospital in Epsom, which had been badly damaged by damp, and includes haunting photographs of the patients.

As important as repair of damaged documents is ensuring that records are properly cleaned, packaged and stored in the correct environment. Following the overhaul of our air conditioning plant in 2008 the temperature and relative humidity in our three strongrooms have remained impressively stable and in conformity with British Standard 5454. We have also undertaken several large scale packaging projects to improve the protection of collections. In particular mention might be made of an ongoing project to clean, flatten, folder and catalogue an enormous collection of 19th century sale particulars of the firm of White and Sons of Dorking. The particulars constitute an invaluable source for the study of the people, buildings and lifestyles of the Dorking area, and it is thanks to one of our dedicated volunteers that these hitherto inaccessible records are now becoming available.

Our secure strongrooms store millions of documents on six miles of shelves © Grant Pritchard

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Protecting Surrey’s buildings, landscape and archaeology Development control, ensuring new developments respect Surrey’s rich archaeology and unique historical landscapes, is fundamental to the work of the Heritage Conservation Team.

• In the financial year 2009-10 the team dealt with 889 planning enquiries

• put in place 377 conditions on archaeological sites and/or historic buildings

• handled over 70 statutory consultations at county, regional and/or national level.

With an average of 17 consultations a week, our team is one of the busiest in the UK.

The development control policies of the county, laid out under Planning Policy Statement (PPS) 5: Planning for the Historic Environment (2010), are an integral aspect of the development system, and contribute to Surrey’s economy. A range of archaeological organisations, including contracting units and archaeological consultancies, are employed by developers in the county, undertaking many different types of work on behalf of developers. This work amounts to several million pounds of investment every year.

The Historic Environment Record (HER) has continued to advise planning authorities and developers of the implications of proposed development. Our enquiries increased by 19% in 2010, mirroring the increase in planning consultations. At Surrey History Centre the HER has been re-housed in a larger office allowing much easier access, and its databases and map sets have been extensively updated. New team members have also been appointed. A permanent HER assistant position

to support the HER manager was created in the autumn of 2008, and a Heritage Conservation Assistant Manager was appointed in the summer of 2010 to expand the Team’s capacity.

Surrey County Council’s Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) ‘Finds Liaison Officer’ has been exceptionally busy over the past year. One of the most prolific recorders of finds among the entire national scheme, recording over 1000 new finds a year, he is ably assisted by a number of keen volunteers. His work brings him into contact with residents and visitors across the county, and has included interviews on BBC Radio Surrey and BBC TV’s Digging for Britain.

In the field, Surrey County Archaeological Unit’s programme of fieldwork in 2010 has primarily consisted of evaluations or watching briefs, mostly small scale and widely distributed across the County. Several of the evaluations produced significant archaeology that will need further work. They include:

• some interesting Mesolithic evidence from Dorking• a rare early Neolithic cremation near Staines• Bronze Age settlement at Chertsey• Saxon burials near Leatherhead• multi period evidence from Molesey and Send.

All of this work was undertaken on behalf of clients in order to satisfy their requirements in relation to planning permission. A rather different project is research into the medieval and early post medieval glass industry in the Weald of Surrey and Sussex, on behalf of English Heritage. The first steps in a programme of geophysical survey and fieldwalking to identify precisely the kiln sites began at the end of 2010, but will continue more intensively in 2011.

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"Congratulations on a very good piece of

work. I am both proud and impressed.

Proud to see photos of my ancestors and

impressed your information leaflet is so

professionally presented. Thank you and

well done to you. Lets hope more Travellers

come forward to make submissions for future

family researchers".

Our Annual Surrey Heritage Lecture is always a popular event

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Supporting Stronger CommunitiesHeritage helps people discover, understand and appreciate their local community and environment. Through an extensive programme of events, talks, displays and outreach sessions Surrey Heritage promotes learning, engagement in heritage and community cohesion.

• In 2010 we gave 41 talks about our collections and services to societies throughout the county and took part in 138 events, ranging from Who Do You Think You Are? Live at Olympia to a hugely successful talk and book signing by the novelist, Philippa Gregory, and including visits by the Lewis Carroll Society and the premiere of the film, The Mental Health Project, by Peer Productions Youth Theatre. One display, ‘Their Finest Hour: Surrey and the Battle of Britain’ was seen by 6,326 people between September and December.

Alongside our everyday work we ran a number of collaborative projects with local communities, helping them to record their own heritage and foster a sense of pride in their shared past and future. Some of these projects are described below.

Community ArchaeologyPublic involvement in Surrey’s archaeology is an important aspect of our work. A wide range of projects, organised through the Community Archaeologist, allows many people to participate. Three projects give an idea of the scope of the work.

The Preston Community Archaeology Project (PCAP) is exploring the rich archive of plans, photographs and finds from the two 1950s excavations at Preston Hawe, an important medieval moated manor house in Banstead. PCAP aims to prepare the archive so that the site can be published and leave a lasting legacy. Volunteers have met regularly for over two years in accommodation provided by the Raven Housing Trust, and the project has produced articles for local newsletters, a workshop for the local primary school, and displays at local events. Further investigation of the site is planned, along with a popular brochure and local display and interpretation board.

The Woking Palace Community Excavation is a partnership with Surrey County Council, Woking Borough Council, Surrey Archaeological Society, Friends of Woking Palace and Quest (Reading University environmental and geo-archaeological services). It has led to much greater understanding of the manor house and royal palace that existed from around 1200 to 1630 and enabled better management of the site. Public

Volunteers excavating at Woking Palace are filmed for the Digging for Britain television programme.

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participation was crucial and 180 local people took part in 2010. Special sessions on site were held for young and hard to reach audiences including a Cranstock group (adults with learning difficulties), four school classes, a cub-scout group, home educators and a children’s session. This major heritage site has been widely publicised in local papers and radio. Nearly 500 people attended the open days on site in 2010.

Since 2008 we have been working in partnership with Surrey Youth Justice (SYJ) and Surrey Youth Development to investigate a demolished stately home in the grounds of High Ashurst Outdoor Education Centre, near Dorking. Initially, the project was an activity for Youth Engagement Scheme (YES) participants and Community Reparation groups, but it has developed into a weekly activity for the Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programmes (ISSP). The young people work alongside archaeologists, youth workers and SYJ Officers. The participants must demonstrate an understanding of practical archaeological skills and the historical development of the site and 17 young people have achieved the Open College Network unit ‘Remembering, Researching and Recording the Past’. In September the site is open as part of Heritage Open Days, attracting 135 people for tours and an exhibition of archive material and finds. Many Adult and Young Persons community groups have also visited the site over the past three years.

Different Stories: New Perspectives - Community Engagement in MuseumsInvolving museums across Surrey and the Southeast region, this Renaissance Southeast funded project aimed to assist museum links with local communities under-represented in their visitor profiles. Emphasis was placed on the process of building relationships, allowing time to engage with and consult on mutual needs and interests. Work undertaken by each museum was delivered under one of three broad

Working with the Youth Justice team at High Ashurst

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headings: Working with Young People; Consulting with Disabled Visitors; or Uncovering Hidden Histories. Outcomes included a young curators course, a teenage photography course, improving visitor experiences for people with visual impairments, raising awareness of regional gay heritage and collecting histories of a diminishing local industry community. Inspirational projects and experiences culminated in a final training and workshop day at The Lightbox in Woking, though the benefits of the project continue.

Tariq ToursWorking in partnership with the Old Surrey Downs Countryside Project, the Learning, Museums and Partnership Team has provided opportunities for day trips throughout Surrey to underrepresented Muslim groups that do not usually visit archives or the countryside. The day allows Muslim groups from Surrey to visit Surrey History Centre and enjoy a behind the scenes tour to understand the breadth of our work. The day then finishes with a trip to the historic Shah Jahan Mosque in Woking and a visit to the countryside. Participants have shown great interest and many have offered to bring items to add to our collections.

Tactile Book ProjectThe Museums, Learning and Partnership Team coordinated a project creating tactile books based on museum collections. In a series of free workshops, these wonderful sensory books were produced with hands-on involvement from sighted and visually impaired (VI) children, families, local special needs schools

and professional advisers. The project involved partners from museums, Surrey Heritage, the Tactile Book Advancement Group (TBAG), Barefoot Books children’s book publishers and Surrey Association for Visual Impairment (SAVI). The books have since been used at schools, disability fairs and for visual impairment consultation to inspire further support in heritage for blind and partially sighted people.

Volunteering169 volunteers gave us 14,416 hours of their time in the financial year 2009/10, working across all five teams in Surrey Heritage. We constantly update a list of projects in which volunteers can be involved and there is currently a waiting list of prospective volunteers.

Many of the indexes and finding aids they have helped us to prepare are now accessible on our website and more are being created all the time: work is about to start on indexing the Application and Report books for Richmond Board of Guardians and the index to pupils at the Princess Mary Village Homes in Chertsey, 1872-1890, is about to go online. Our archaeology volunteers have worked on a range of projects, from processing finds to creating video diaries/blogs of the 2010 Woking Palace dig (see www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/wokingpalacevideoblog).

A fantastic team of volunteers is forging ahead with the project to transcribe the Surrey tithe apportionments. This volunteer project, in collaboration with Surrey Archaeological Society and Surrey Wildlife Trust, aims to transcribe the tithe apportionments for all tithe districts within the modern county (excluding Spelthorne Borough at present). The transcribed apportionments and high resolution images of the related tithe maps will then be made available to researchers at the History Centre and Archaeological Society Library and it will also be possible to purchase CDs containing the map and apportionment for

Inspirational examples of tactile books.

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a single parish. To date 48 apportionments are completed and all bar two of the remaining 55 are in progress. Through the project one of the fundamental sources for the history of the county, its people and communities, will be far more accessible than has ever been the case before.

We have also provided regular work experience for an employed young man with severe Aspergers and for other long term unemployed people.

Working with the Gypsy and Traveller Community Surrey Heritage has been successful in a bid to the European Commission’s Culture programme to secure funds for a two year project to work alongside partners from Germany, Slovenia, Greece and Romania, developing a network of heritage organisations and representatives of Gypsy and Traveller communities. Each country will have events showcasing Roma culture, laying the groundwork of a Roma Route of Culture and Heritage, supported by the Council of Europe. Heritage provides a means of engagement which is a non-confrontational and attractive method of communication, allowing Gypsy and Traveller culture to be seen and understood, away from the tensions of policing, housing etc. Roma have the opportunity to communicate with knowledge and confidence and Roma and non-Roma people can meet and develop understanding. In October there was a high profile conference ‘Visibility of Roma’ in Strasbourg, chaired by Surrey Heritage. The UK activities include research into archive and museum collections to identify existing Roma heritage and encourage further growth of the collections. We are planning to have Gypsy performances at the 2011 Derby. June is a busy time on the project as we celebrate the government sponsored Gypsy, Roma, Traveller History Month.

Bourne Hall Gypsy Day

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We also participated in Celebrating Gypsy Life at Bourne Hall, Ewell. This very successful day, built on the success of events in June 2008 and 2009, was an opportunity to see beautiful traditional Gypsy and Traveller vardos (wagons), horses, cookery demonstrations, arts and craft activities, exhibitions, music and much more. Traditional Gypsy and Traveller ways of life are changing very fast and this is an opportunity to see something of the past, and for people from Gypsy and Traveller and non Gypsy and Traveller communities to talk to each other. Our staff offered Gypsy and Traveller family history advice and helped a Gypsy and Traveller family with poor literacy skills to use ‘Ancestry’ to trace a family member. A display on Gypsy and Traveller family history was also taken to the event. Attendances at this enjoyable and relaxed event are high – usually around 250 people in the course of the day.

Surrey Heritage has now produced a dedicated family history resource guide for Gypsy and Travellers which was compiled in consultation with Gypsy and Traveller family history experts from the Romany & Traveller Family History Society, and Gypsy and Travellers themselves.

Celebrating the LGBT CommunityWe are committed to ensuring our collections are representative of all sectors of society and in 2010 we particularly focussed on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Questioning (LGBT) heritage.

In February 2010, we held the first ever LGBT History Month event in the county. Liaison with the charity Gay Surrey since 2008 has forged a new relationship with the LGBT community and resulted in the deposit of Gay Surrey’s records. Research by LGBT volunteers helped produce the display which, due to popular demand, was extended for an extra month. The event was favourably covered in the LGBT press and a comments book recorded very positive feedback. Consequently, Surrey

Heritage was asked to provide a display for Surrey’s 2010 IDAHO (International Day Against Homophobia) celebrations. Valuable contacts for future partnership working were made and our Collections Development Archivist, won the Heart of Equalities award that evening for her work with Gay Surrey and developing the LGBT archive.

In December 2010, Surrey Heritage staff attended the Annual LGBT Archives and History Conference for the first time. In spite of the poor weather and travelling conditions we were able to promote our work with the LGBT community and attracted a lot of favourable attention for our inclusive and accessible approach to outreach.

For 2011, Surrey County Council has committed to the Gay Surrey Manifesto, aimed at combating exclusion and homophobia. As part of this, Surrey Heritage will increase the online presence of its LGBT collections and produce an LGBT sources guide. We are also partner to a joint HLF project with the Youth Development Team, which will focus on the impact of World War II and the holocaust on the LGBT community. From this will come workshops and information packs for schools to use in history and citizenship lessons in throughout 2011.

Further details of our LGBT projects and Gay Surrey work can be seen at www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/themes/subjects/diversity

LGBT On Tour Group at Surrey History Centre.

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‘I love arts and crafts. Making things

is great fun. This place is great!’.

Aimee, aged 8½

Sure Start Session at Surrey History Centre

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Surrey Heritage provides a variety of opportunities for children and young people. Heritage can inspire creative writing and activities and support school work and future career development. These examples illustrate the potential of what Surrey’s heritage can offer young people.

Family ActivitiesSurrey Heritage provides free school holiday family activities based on a historical theme that include simple, fun and fact filled exhibitions together with creative learning related craft and art activities. New this year was the development of story and craft sessions for under 5s in partnership with local Sure Start Children’s Centres. This introduced a new audience of future heritage users to some basic history themes and stories in a safe and fun environment.

Hinchley Wood GuidesThis work formed part of a Heritage Lottery Fund project celebrating the Guiding Centenary in 2010. The Hinchley Wood Guides learnt how to catalogue and care for their extensive archive and used Surrey Heritage’s facilities and staff expertise to digitize precious items in order to build a fascinating exhibition of the group’s history. They discovered letters from Olave Baden Powell and other leading members of the early days of the guiding movement. Some of these have been read for exhibition by Penelope Keith (actress and former High Sheriff of Surrey). The Guides also conducted oral history interviews with founding members of their group. The work has been displayed in Guildford Cathedral, Hinchley Wood Library and the Clore Education Centre at Hampton Court Palace.

SchoolsSurrey Heritage works with teachers to explain how Surrey’s heritage can complement the curriculum and a range of local history source packs and archaeological loan boxes were used by schools in Surrey throughout the year. During this year we also worked with Abbey School, Farnham, to create a ‘Time Scarf ’ looking at local history in the area. Working with felt artist Karen Lucas, Year 7 and 8 children with special needs created an innovative felted scarf which was displayed at the ‘Celebrating Surrey’ at Loseley Park in June 2010. Teachers and staff saw the children’s skills and confidence develop through the project. In addition, many of Surrey’s 44 museums and galleries offer a wide programme of schools workshops and loan boxes and the Museums, Learning and Partnership Team support their development and delivery.

Supporting Children and Young People

Admiring a 15th cent. Advent Antiphoner (ref:621/-)at the Heritage Open Day display at Surrey History Centre, 2008.

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Colleges and UniversitiesSurrey Heritage staff are actively involved in College career days and this year attended the Annual History Conference at Woking sixth form college, providing students with an insight into Tudor life and thinking through the challenge of reading Tudor handwriting. Surrey Museums also worked with secondary schools as part of the ‘Learning Links’ project to create collaborative lessons using original artefacts. Surrey Heritage staff also feature as guest lecturers for the Royal Holloway University of London MA in public history.

Work experience placementsSurrey Heritage offers work experience placements for schoolchildren, A-level students and new graduates helping to prepare them for the workplace and support them to gain employment. The broad scope of our service provides the ideal environment for training in a wide range of careers across the heritage sector.

Creative ApprenticeshipIn 2010, with the support of an MLA grant, we have appointed an apprentice as part of Surrey County Council’s apprenticeship scheme. The two-year apprenticeship enables a young person not in education, employment or training to work for two years and achieve a NVQ level 3 qualification in Cultural and Heritage Venue Operations. Since his appointment in May this year, our apprentice has been closely involved in our outreach work, helping to create family activities, design posters and publicity and manage mailshots of our events list. He worked with an archivist on an exhibition on the Battle of Britain which he then uploaded as a virtual exhibition on Exploring Surrey’s Past (www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/themes/subjects/military/battle_of_britain).

Discovering eighteenth century Costume at Painshill Park

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Combined with his experience at the Surrey History Centre, our apprentice has taken the opportunity to broaden his skills and understanding of a range of heritage organisations across the county through placements in Surrey’s museums.

Surrey 14-19s work-related learning experienceThrough the Museums, Learning & Partnership Team, a number of Surrey museums partnered with local secondary schools and colleges to

provide 14-19 year old students with work-related learning experiences. Placements offered opportunities for young people to make a direct contribution to the museums’ development by implementing an aspect of their forward plans whilst acquiring transferable skills in communication, planning, publicity, budget management and commitment to a professional organisation. With future programmes planned, the partnerships are proving to be sustainable, enabling young people, educators and museums to continue to benefit.

In addition, the support and work experience offered to college students this year by Surrey museums and the Museums, Learning & Partnership Team has enabled them to continue studies into successive years.

TV archaeologist Julian Richards at Heritage Open Day at Surrey History Centre in 2008

20 A group of children from displaced persons camps helped by the Ockenden Charity

“I was with the Ockenden Venture from late

1959 until 1966... Exploring the web has

brought back memories and it would be lovely

to think I may be able to find out or be

reunited with some of the girls from that time

who may remember me.”

Basia Moore, née Barbara Mlynowska

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Heritage has a vital role to play in stimulating life long learning, personal discovery and tackling specific wellbeing issues such as mental health. This has been a particularly strong feature of our work throughout 2010.

From Vision to Venture: The Story of Ockenden InternationalThis Heritage Lottery (HLF) funded project, which concluded in August 2010, celebrated the Woking-based refugee charity, Ockenden International. Its main aims were the production of a catalogue of the charity’s extensive archive, an oral history project, and the production of a specially written play ‘The Vision: Tales from Ockenden’, which was performed over 2 weeks by Woking Community Play Association (WCPA). The play involved people of all ages and ethnic backgrounds, both on stage and behind the scenes, and workshops were held in local schools and community centres. Local reaction was very positive and many people connected with the charity, both staff and recipients of aid, attended performances. To rally support for the play an empty shop in the local Wolsey Shopping Centre was used as an information centre and a venue for volunteer workshops. The play elicited support from many local connections, both voluntary and commercial, for example The Woking Asian Business Forum and North West Surrey Synagogue.

The cataloguing of the archive has already proved vital in helping those who were once aided by Ockenden. For example, BBC South East contacted us regarding the making of a programme about Viktoria Cowley, a Vietnamese orphan who was brought to Britain on the 1975 Daily Mail airlift. With government approval, the Daily Mail editor

chartered a plane to ‘rescue’ children from orphanages before the fall of Saigon to the communists and Ockenden International was chosen as the charity to care for the children on their arrival in Britain. Viktoria was taken to an Ockenden home briefly before adoption, and we were able to show her the airlift lists that included her. Given that any piece of information, no matter how small, was of vital significance (for example she did not know her date of birth), the real benefit of keeping the archive and its role in helping refugees achieve ‘closure’ regarding their past became very evident. The addition of a Refugee themed page to our Exploring Surrey’s Past website has led other Vietnamese refugees and people from the post-World War II displaced persons camps aided by Ockenden to contact us. Basia Moore, née Barbara Mlynowska, who was with the Ockenden Venture from late 1959 until 1966 told us that “exploring the web has brought back memories and it would be lovely to think I may be able to find out or be reunited with some of the girls from that time who may remember me.”

Supporting Health and Wellbeing

Ockenden p roject archivist, Jill Hyams.

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Addressing the Stigma of Mental IllnessEarly in 2009 we worked with a local youth drama group, Peer Productions, who, with HLF funding, used our Brookwood Mental Hospital archive as the basis of a play for young people, called The Mental Health Project, that explores the history of mental health and the issues that people with mental distress still face today. They talked to mental health experts and ran workshops at Surrey History Centre with the Woking MIND community – many of whom are former Brookwood patients. The result was an extraordinary and very powerful performance that toured 33 secondary schools in and around Surrey in the summer of 2009. The cast have subsequently made a film of the production which will be provided to further secondary schools on DVD. The premiere of the rough cut film showing was held in June 2010 at Surrey History Centre and co-artistic director, Nina Lemon, said ‘Without the continual support of the Surrey History Centre the project would never have been able to happen and we are so grateful they have allowed us to stage the premiere here.’ Further details can be seen on the Peer Productions website, www.peerproductions.co.uk/schools/productions/previous/0/mental-health-project/37/.

In 2010 we were given two awards in recognition of our work to make Surrey’s heritage more accessible to mental health service users. Both awards were part of joint funding with the Lightbox in Woking with a total value of some £7000. With funding from ‘Paralympic Region - Revisiting Collections’ (part of the Cultural Olympics offer) Surrey Heritage will extend earlier work with Woking MIND to mental health service users in another part of the county. The results of the Revisiting Collections work will improve access to Surrey History Centre’s extensive archives from the county’s former mental hospitals, particularly Netherne Hospital in Coulsdon, for which we hold hundreds of photographs of daily life at the hospital in the late 1950s, and will engage mental health

An Image from Peer Productions © The Mental Health Project

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service users with their documentary heritage. The Mental Project, funded by Rennaissance South East’s SEWS (Surrey East and West Sussex) is enabling members of Woking MIND to visit heritage sites and museums across the county, armed with cameras to record what is of significance to them. Their work will form a small exhibition to be shown at heritage sites which will complement the creative writing and drama performance which will be the strand of the projects undertaken by The Lightbox in Woking. The first visit was made to Surrey History Centre in December and was greatly enjoyed and the group produced some telling photographs!

In addition to this work, we are now working with Richmond MIND, whose members include former patients of Long Grove Mental Hospital in Epsom. They have prepared an exhibition of their personal

histories of mental illness that also explores the impact on individuals of the transition from institutional life to ‘care in the community’. Copies of hospital records have formed the basis of discussions and artworks at workshops at their drop-in centre and copies of their oral history interviews will be deposited with Surrey History Centre.

Who Do You Think You Are? Sessions in Surrey LibrariesThese informal family history sessions provided by our staff at Surrey Libraries are increasingly popular and, with the Libraries Learning Team, sessions in 2010 were held at some of the county’s more remote libraries. At Tattenham’s Library eleven people received one to one advice by a single archivist in the first hour alone and users had an opportunity to learn new skills for taking their research further. With increased computer literacy we are finding that more people are interested in their family history and do their research online. The monthly family history internet workshops we provide are fully booked. In 2011 we plan to combine the advice and internet sessions, creating a more focused learning opportunity. The sessions will be held to complement learning initiatives such as Adult Learners Week and ‘WebWise’ in order to maximize publicity and take-up.

Surrey Museums MonthThe Museums, Learning and Partnership Team coordinate a number of heritage promotion campaigns throughout the year to raise public awareness of the outstanding opportunities available. Of these, Surrey Museums Month each April is a month-long focus on Surrey’s 44 museums and galleries that aims to engage Surrey residents and visitors in local heritage. In April 2010 the launch event attracted over 300 people, and museums inspired visits throughout the month, with a packed schedule of family activities, exhibitions, talks, workshops, arts and crafts events providing something for all ages and interests, and a taste of what’s on offer all year round. We are now looking forward to Surrey Museums Month April 2011: A History of Surrey in 50 Objects.

Electric Therapy treatment at Brookwood Hospital, Woking.

24 A booklet on the community excavations at Woking Palace, produced by SpoilHeap publications

“The excavations at Woking Palace were

an impressive site and a most worthwhile

enterprise. To see so many people of all ages

on their hands and knees was very inspiring.

This is a project that really deserves to

succeed and prosper”

Simon Thurley, Chief Executive, English Heritage

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The Exploring Surrey’s Past website has now completed its implementation phase, which was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. It is a portal for searching datasets from Surrey History Centre and local museums and also for accessing the Historic Environment Record (HER). It showcases information about Surrey related themes and projects.

• Between January and December 2010 there were 200,708 visits to ESP and 623,706 pages viewed. On average we have hits from 100 countries per month; in October 2010 this peaked at 108 countries.

• The November 2010 ESP visits totalled 21,476. This is a 148% increase on the January 2009 visits. Between January 2009 and December 2010 the average number of page views was 44,331 a month.

Themed pages have recently been added on Surrey’s mental hospitals, on the county’s diverse cultures, on fairgrounds and refugees, and a Learning Zone for children has been developed. Links are now being made from catalogues to digitised images, and plans drawn up for the addition of new data.

With the help of Surrey Record Society all our watercolours by the topographical artists John Hassell (d.1825) and Edward Hassell (d.1852) have now been digitised and can be accessed via Exploring Surrey’s Past. Many of the watercolours depict the county’s churches before Victorian restorers got their teeth into them and others offer tantalising glimpses of towns and villages.

Looking towards 2012, the 1948 Olympics torch run is being re-created on Exploring Surrey’s past utilising Flickr www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/themes/subjects/sports/1948_olympic_torch). This will form part of a broader history of sport in Surrey which will feature in the Our Sporting Life exhibition in 2011.

Reaching out to the Wider World: Digital Developments and Publications

Exploring Surrey’s Past website home page

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We have continued to develop our own website, with more user guides and volunteer-prepared online indexes to particular sources such as the Chertsey Poor Law Union admission and discharge books, Godstone PLU application and report books, Dennis Specialist Vehicles drawings and photographs and admission registers of the Royal Philanthropic School, Redhill. We are linking these resources to the relevant theme pages and archive records on ESP so that browsers (particularly family/social historians) can easily find these valuable resources.

We are currently liaising with our IMT department about the possibility of developing online payment facilities and our migration to CALM archives software will for the first time allow us to consider online document ordering. Through the county library terminals in the History Centre we can renew loans, reserve library loan stock and generally offer a more ‘seamless’ service.

We are now exploring the possibility of digitising some of our main family history sources and are participating in a regional consortium to digitise all our pre-World War I school admission registers.

Finally, it is vital that a full report is prepared whenever archaeological discoveries are made, and that wherever practical this is published. This ensures that the knowledge gained is shared with the widest possible public. Highlights for SCAU in 2010 were major monographs on Roman and medieval Staines and on Oatlands Palace (built by Henry VIII), near Weybridge. These were produced as part of our own SpoilHeap Publications series. A number of other major reports made excellent progress, and the next two SpoilHeap monographs will be on prehistoric sites near Chertsey and on the nationally important Late Upper Palaeolithic sites at Church Lammas, Staines, and Wey Manor Farm, near Addlestone.

Excavating a 14000 year old hunting camp at Wey Manor Farm

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“Thank you for the work

and service you do to help

us keep our history alive”

Joyce P

Stonehead from Chertsey Abbey and Oatlands Palace ELMBRIDGE MUSEUM

Originally from Chertsey Abbey and dating to the 12th century, this sandstone head stands witness to some

of the most pivotal and calamitous events in Tudor and Stuart England.

Photography by Brian Wood

Saxon broochGUILDFORD MUSEUM

An intricate brooch that is a symbol of the origins of Surrey, buried with an Anglo-Saxon woman in the

pagan cemetery on Guildown c. 500 AD.

Photography by Brian Wood

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