Sunbury Matters Articles

Thank you to Jan Williams who contacted us with the story of her husband’s grandfather, Alfred James Johnson. He was a Sunbury man through and through. Baptised, married and buried at St Mary’s.

Peggy Brunt of Sunbury had the surprise of her life when she was clearing up some of her husband’s things. He had passed away several years ago but for some reason Peggy had been looking through some old documents in the lead up to the centenary of the Armistice.

Volunteering is such a worthwhile activity. There are plenty of options if you look around. Giving people some freedom and independence as well as a bit of company must come as priorities. Sunbury neighbours gives those less mobile, the ability to get to appointments or do some shopping.

In 2016 Dart House on Thames Street, Lower Sunbury, was sold at auction for £1.2million. This has taken many immediate neighbours by surprise. More of a surprise was finding out that there were plans to demolish it and build a 5 storey block of 7 flats with underground parking.

We were contacted recently by the owner of a Honda Jazz who had their catalytic converters removed in broad daylight by thieves in the Sunbury area. Owners are being left with bills of hundreds of pounds

It was exciting to see the scaffolding coming down from Pomfret Cottage on Thames Street recently. The grade 1 listed house is going through a major refurbishment having been sold around 18 months ago.

This photo shows dozens of military lorries lined up at the Army Service Corps Depot, Kempton Park, during the First World War. The racecourse grandstands can be seen in the background of the picture with, just in front of them, wooden huts used to house all the troops based at the depot.

Yes, it was back in 1968 that Elizabeth Beresford first introduced the Wombles to the world. She had taken her young children for a walk on Wimbledon Common which her daughter mispronounced as “Wombledon Common”.

This article certainly hit the mark last month. We had many emails and comments from readers on the subject of speeding and antisocial or plain careless driving.

I have had the pleasure this year of attending a couple of top notch events in the village. In March I went to the Friends of St Mary’s fund raiser at the church where a Steinway took pride of place at the altar, and enjoyed a recital from two very talented 19 year old students from the Royal College of Music.

This month many of you may be attending music festivals. Just look at this line up for the 1968 music festival at Kempton Racecourse. Can you imagine? The National Jazz and Blues Festival preceded both Woodstock (1969) and Glastonbury (1970’s) and is considered the precursor to the Reading Festival.

A couple of months ago we reported on local teenager Ben Neale (pictured right) who is learning bell ringing from Dennis Brock at St Mary’s as part of his Duke of Edinburgh Awards.

Most of us accept the rules and laws governing standards of driving and our conduct as motorists, and it is our responsibility to stick to them for our own safety, and those of other road users, including pedestrians.

A perfect Summer’s day in early June brought crowds into Lower Sunbury village for the annual Open Gardens event. As seems to be the way during our village events (I am thinking Christmas market last year), Thames Waters saw fit to once more shut Thames Street

As we mark the centenary of the Royal Air Force, it seems fitting to recall events in the life of Flt.Lt. Dominic Bruce, who once lived at Blakesley Lodge, 2 Green St, Sunbury.

In the May issue of Sunbury Matters we mentioned in our welcome page that the Lower Sunbury Business Community (LSBC) had plans to erect a boat filled with flowers on Thames Street. Group members were very keen on this idea. Partly it would fill an empty space (where the old public loos used to be!) and of course it would brighten up the village.