Sunbury Matters Articles

Interact is part of the Rotary organisation, and is specifically designed for those between the ages of 12 and 18 who wish to serve their community. Sunbury Manor School has recently celebrated the first year of its Interact Club.

You could not imagine driving or walking through Lower Sunbury without seeing the beautiful Church of St Mary’s overlooking the river. Immortalised in literature thanks to Charles Dickens, St Mary’s is part of the fabric of our little village and something to be preserved.

The Sunbury and District Welsh Society is 60 years old this year. The present-day members were delighted to welcome to their annual garden party and AGM in July Helen Birnbaum, whose father, Islwyn Morris, founded the society with a group of fellow exiles in 1957. She travelled from Lancashire to be there.

Over the years we have run a few stories about the houses and residents of Wheatley’s Ait which seems to leave an impression on many of those who have lived there. The antics of Florence Glossop Harris, the esteemed Shakespearean actress and her entourage of luvies was well known in the area. We received an

Chinese medicine has recognised for thousands of years that there is more to health than taking pills. Acupuncture has long been a mystery to me but we were recently offered the chance to try it out so I volunteered Mr C!

What a stunning sight. The Queen’s row barge, ‘Gloriana’ moored at King’s Lawn, Sunbury on a Saturday morning. Alongside was the ‘Jolly Brit’ one of the three original tenders to the Royal Yacht Britannia, and the ‘Impossible Dream’ the Sailability boat equipped for wheelchair users.

One hundred years ago, during the First World War, the then Anglo-Persian Oil Company founded its research centre in Sunbury. Anglo-Persian had been founded in 1909 as a result of a large oil find in Persia, the first of the big Middle Eastern oilfields.

The Thamesmead School Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) Partnership is a highly graded teacher training provider in North West Surrey

Of all of the visits during my year as Mayoress H.M.P category Bronzefield which is the largest women’s prison in Europe touched my heart. The wonderful work done there by Ian Whiteside the director and all the staff helping to turn these women’s lives around and giving them back their self worth is amazing.

Lynn Stanier, Founder and driving force behind charity Their Future Today has received the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire M.B.E in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, for her community services in Sri Lanka.

There was a lot of chatter on Facebook last month as Raj’s homeware shop was found to be closed. We hope this is not permanent but the effects of shopping moving more online for our convenience is a factor we all have to face and take responsibility for.

The new Mayor of Spelthorne is starting her term in style. The River Day on June 24th will be the start of a weekend of river activity, culminating in Staines upon Thames Day on June 25th. But the weekend starts in Sunbury and you must not miss this spectacle.

If you have not yet discovered the monthly Sunday evening jazz at the Riverside Arts Centre (RAC), courtesy of Mood Indigo Events, then you have been missing out on something special. In the heart of Sunbury we have been treated to some sensational quality playing.

In April we said goodbye to another Sunbury stalwart. David Brown had been a long term Sunbury resident and was the originator of the idea of the Millenium Embroidery.

The annual Spelthorne Civic Awards are a chance to recognise those in our communities who have selflessly served and who deserve recognition and thanks. Where would we be without the many unsung heroes who give so much of their time for others.

In April, the month ANZAC day is still commemorated locally, we wrote about the 27,000 soldiers from New Zealand who were cared for at Mount Felix on the banks of the Thames opposite Shepperton during WW1.