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https://earth.google.com/web/@51.1398953,-0.68751104,112.63724356a,4518.48894138d,35y,72.17247331h,0t,0r/data=OgMKATA A view of the Chapel taken from Corner Cottage in the early 1920s. Holly Cottage, formerly Yew Cottage can be seen. It belonged to Heath Hall, the estate of the Yalden Knowles and used to be two cottages. A view of "Timbers", which used to be two cottages. The Gale family once lived in the right hand side, which had two bedrooms. The Walkers lived in the left hand side. A view of Forge Cottage which dates from the 16th Century and an anvil stands outside as a memento of the forge site. Forge Cottage was the home of the Gale family from 1932 to 1938. Miss Fulford built the extension for the Gale family. The little shed housed the engine for the pump of the well of Corner Cottage. A group by Bowlhead Green's village seat taken in the late 1930s. On the left is Margaret (Mag) Gale and Bill Cooper who married her. He was Parish Clerk from 1948 to 1983. He was also responsible for the Thor sign. On the right are friends of theirs from London. The oldest part of Emley Farmhouse which can bee seen on the right hand side. It was a four-bay timber framed house with many characteristics of immediately post-medieval period called the smoke bay period, i.e. 1550 - 1590. The house featured in an episode of "Foyle's War". Emley Farmhouse in the early 1920s. The wisteria on the front can be seen and the bay tree on the left. It was lived in by Colonel and Mrs Vesey. Mrs Vesey was the daughter of the Loring family who lived at Emley from the early 1800s. The Veseys lived at Emley until 1929. The herbaceous border of Emley Farmhouse which once boasted the best garden in Surrey. Unfortunately, in 1948 it was let to Mr Pentcheff, a Bulgarian diplomat. He completely ruined the garden by allowing poultry, ducks and pigs to free range. Emley Farmhouse showing the chimney from the bread oven. The bread oven is one of the best preserved and has an iron door hinged at the bottom. The building on the right was built to house. a pair of mongoose given to the Lorings in 1914. The barns at Emley Farm. The extensive farm buildings show that in the past a traditional mix of arable and pasture farming was practised. The driveway of Emley Farm leading to the garage and cart shed, the old granary can also be seen. Holly Tree Cottage Soldiers from the Royal West Surrey Regiment resting in Bowlhead Green Ian and Gill Mclellan, Blackhanger Farm, 1996 Tom and Grace Ranson, Bowlhead Green Farm, 1997 Ian and Aly Warner, The Old Post House, 1997 Emley Hill House and its garden (below), 1997 Robin Hill The Clockhouse, 2024 with sales particulars below https://www.knightfrank.co.uk/properties/residential/for-sale/bowlhead-green-godalming-surrey-gu8/GLD012219749

This remarkable collection of old postcards was put together over many years by Kay Cottle. Her husband, John Gunner, has bequeathed the collection to the Haslemere Museum. In the main, the back of the postcards are blank but occasionally, when the message is legible or interesting, it has been reproduced. Bowlers (now Bowlhead) Green; Brook Cottage and Horn Cottage; Broom Squire's Cottage; The Camp Churt Road to the Pride of The Valley; The Clump; Thursley Common; Cosford House; Cosford Mill Thursley Cricket Field; Devil's Jumps; Devil's Punch Bowl Devil's Punchbowl; The Dye House; Entrance to Thursley; The Four Brothers; View of Thursley; Greetings from Hindhead; Greetings from Thursley; Greetings from Witley Camp Greetings from Witley Camp; The Half Moon, Thursley; Hammer Pond; Heath View; Hill Farm; The Hindhead Story (aka The Sailor's Murder), a collection of hand coloured postcards Hindhead, Devil's Punch Bowl; Hindhead, Devil's Punch Bowl, Keeper's Cottage; Huts Corner, Hindhead; The Institute; Kettlebury, Thursley; Lea Park House; Lea Park Lake; Lea Park; Lea Park, The Fountain; The Lookout, Hindhead; Milford Camp, 1903 Milford Camp; Old Dame School; Old Parsonage; Peperharow, Yew Hedge; Pitch Place, Portsmouth Road Post Office, Thursley; Punch Bowl Farm; Red Lion Inn; Red Lion Inn, Thursley, The Garden from the South; Red Lion, Thursley; Red Lion Inn and Portsmouth Road; Red Lion Inn and Red Lion Garage, 1925; The Ridgeway; Rocky Lane, Thursley The Royal Huts Hotel; The Sailor's Stone, Hindhead; Sailor's Stone and Gibbet Hill; Sailor's Stone and Devil's Punch Bowl; The Sailor's Tombstone, Thursley Churchyard; Scenes of Beauty in and Around Thursley (Brook Cottage and Horn Cottage); Smallbrook Farm, Thursley; The Stream, Thursley; The Street, Thursley. The Street; The Three Horseshoes; Thursley - view; Thursley Church Thursley Church; Thursley Common, Pathway to Moat; Thursley War Memorial; Thursley, In Denvil Copse; Thursley Sign; Thursley - views; Thursley, The Firs; Thursley, The Hollow; Thursley - view; Truxford The Vicarage; View at Brook; View at Thursley; View from Devil's Jumps; View from Gibbet Hill; View near Gibbet Hill; View from Gibbet Cross; View from Thursley Church; View in Thursley; "Peace" in Thursley Views of Thursley; Village Hall; The Street; Village, Thursley; Village, Thursley; White Horse, Hindhead; Winding Road, Hindhead; Witley Camp, "I'm Thinking of You Everyday; Witley Camp Post Office Witley Camp Witley Park

Thursley Institute , now Prospect Cottage, was originally built as a working men’s club. The Parish register states – ‘the site for the institute was given by Captain H Rushbrooke, the architect was Sir Edwin Lutyens , the builder was Mr W K Fosberry. The building was formally opened and given to the Parish Council on February 11th, 1901’. Captain Rushbrooke paid for much of the building itself and took a paternal interest in the running of the club. Reg Fosberry gave Thursley History Society one of the original Lutyens architectural drawings, as shown below, now in their Archives. The Institute with The Lodge in the distance The   Institute comprised a reading room, a billiards and games room and accommodation for the caretaker. Until 1914 one of the bedrooms was used by the Thursley Parish Nurse. The institute was disbanded in 1959 and was sold for residential use in 1968. The, then, conditions of sale included an interesting clause, presumably inherited from the rules of the institute, forbidding the purchaser to use the building for the ‘discussion of political or religious subjects ….or for the consumption of intoxicating liquors’ . Prostpect Cottage and Barbara Richmond, 1997

This article by Jackie Rickenberg was published in the Parish Magazine, May 2023 Many of us will be aware of the construction traffic around the outskirt of the village, relating to the work currently being done at Hammer Pond. If you have ventured close to the site (but still safely behind the surrounding barriers!), you, like me, may be surprised at the sheer scale of the project. But what are they actually doing? And what is the Hammer Pond? And why is this work necessary? All questions I ask myself regularly – and so, my attempt to make things a little bit clearer. Firstly, what is a “Hammer Pond”. There are innumerable references to hammer ponds and hammer woods all over the south-east of England. Most of these lakes are at least partially accessible, and blessed with an abundance of waterfowl and other wildlife. However, the historical origins of these waters were grimily practical rather than scenic or tranquil. ‘Hammer’ ponds are not natural lakes but dammed streams and rivers, crucial to the Tudor and Stuart iron industry that was established within the High Weald of Kent and Sussex, and adjacent parts of Surrey and Hampshire. The Weald was a major iron-producing region long before the Romans arrived, due to its abundant clay ironstone deposits. Smelting sites were determined by the quality of local ore, and the convenient location of other raw materials. These included naturally heat-resistant clay, or later sandstone, to construct furnace hearths, and ample supplies of wood to make charcoal for fuel. Water was essential for cooling the iron and the High Weald enjoys many swift streams in deep, densely wooded valleys, known locally as ‘ghylls’, which eventually played a pivotal role. From the end of the 15th century new developments in the industry required many of these to be damned, and the heads of water that built up used to turn waterwheels. The wheels powered furnace bellows more effectively, and also drove huge forge hammers which pounded pig iron into refined bars. Hence Furnace and Hammer/Forge Ponds. Thursley’s Hammer Pond There are three forge ponds in the Thursley National Nature Reserve. The Upper Hammer Pond has a bridge and a small spillway and is fed by a stream running northwards through a chain of ponds from Hindhead Common, via Cosford House, under the A3, and in turn feeds the (restored) Lower Hammer Pond and Forge Pond. Nearby Coldharbour Hammer Pond runs on a different stream east of the other hammer ponds, and lies partly in Thursley and partly in Witley. Warren Mere Lake, just north of here, was not connected to the iron works although there was a Witley Park Furnace further south, circa 1673, but the pond is long gone. A postcard from the 1920s The ironworks. The ironworks were situated near a brook on Thursley Common, which was widened in places to make the ponds, known as the Hammer Ponds. These were used for producing power for the hammer and for cooling the iron as it was smelted. The first reference to ironworks here was dated 1574. Thursley Common and the Devil’s Punchbowl possessed both iron ore for smelting and peat and wood for fuel. Peat was used to overcome the shortage of timber which beset the industry in the 16th century (no doubt as a result of the shipbuilding industry – the Mary Rose, Henry V111’s grand flagship, was built between 1509-1511 in nearby Portsmouth). Maverick ironmasters were punished by the King in an attempt to stop the destruction of timber. William Yalden, a Thursley ironmaster received a Royal Pardon in 1640 for offences committed before 1636 in destroying woods for smelting iron. During this time the industry was flourishing with contracts with the Navy for canon and shot. A lease survives, dated 1610 that refers to the Thursley works as “lately erected” and in 1617 the ironworks were leased for a yearly rental of £95. By 1666, they were let to William Yalden for £10 per annum, an indication that the demand for Wealdon iron was decreasing. Gradually, the iron industry with its attendant occupation of charcoal burning, died out - although the Thursley ironworks were the last to work in Surrey - and by the end of the 18th century, very little iron was worked. At the beginning of the 19th century, 1805 in fact, crape weaving took the place of iron smelting, and the mills were also built near the Hammer Ponds. Crape was a gauze like fabric with a wrinkled surface, or imitation silk, much used for mourning dress. Much raw silk was reputedly smuggled from France, then onto Dye House, where it was dyed before disposal. Today in the vicinity of the Hammer Pond one can find Silk Mill House and Cottages and, in the village, of course, Dye House. It is generally accepted that the first four cottages in The Lane were used as workshops, connected with the industry, while the cottages above them, on Dye House Rd, were the dwelling houses of the workmen. These industries brought prosperity and employment to the area. The ironmasters belonged to the local gentry and lived in large houses e.g. Rake and Heath Hall. Present day. Following heavy rains in December 2013 that washed away a section of the Upper Hammer Pond dam and emptied the pond, a section through the earthwork of the dam was exposed that revealed the major elements of its construction. Evidence was recorded that suggested the dam may have been rebuilt on a number of occasions. This latest project to rebuild has been a long time in the planning due to ecological restraint’s – work was only possible outside of the ground nesting bird season – and environmental requirements. Both Natural England and the Environment Agency, working alongside Waverley Borough Council and, of course, our own Parish Council, have finally come together to restore the historically significant ponds. Work has been ongoing since the 1st September 2022 and although it should have finished by 31st March, it has overrun by two months due to unforeseen problems. However, come 31st May, it is hoped our common can be reclaimed from the diggers and trucks and once more peace and tranquillity will be restored. And more importantly, Hammer Ponds and the surrounding properties will be safeguarded and restored to their formal glories for years to come. The following photographs were taken by Sean Edwards:

Heath View, now known as "Acorns", in the early 1900s. The stamp on the postcard is dated 1905 or 1908. It is situated on the Old Portsmouth Road. The Edwards family lived there. Jim Edwards was the local rate collector for the parish and collected the rates on his bicycle. The parish extended right over to Haslemere so he pedalled quite far! Jim's brother, Freddy , was quite a local character. He lived at Cosford Mill with his sister and before the first World War worked in the City for a German bank. During the war he didn't have a job because of the hostilities and he never worked again. Cosford Mill was condemned and he moved into a shed at Heath View but went to the mill during the day. He then bought a piece of woodland near Horn Cottage and it was alsways known as Freddy's property. Another lodger at Heath View was Louis Pecskai who was by origin and birth, a Hungarian. He had been born in Fiume when it was part of Austro-Hungary but he looked more like an Italian. Mary Bennett remembers him as a much jollier Napoleon. By nationality he was passionately British and insisted on serving in the Home Guard. Louis Pecskai had been a child prodigy as a youth, Court Violinist to Queen Margarite of Italy, and he remained a violinsit of very high standing, with honorary fellowships of both Trinity College of Music and the Guildhall School of Music, at each of which he had taught and had some reputation in London Chamber Music. He suddenly married a pupil called Bertha who was young enough to be his daughter and they built themselves, first Truxford and then Racks Close (now Cotton House). When pupils fell off during the Second World War, and his own health started to fail, the Pecskais left Racks Close and moved to Smallbrook Farm, lent to him by Sir Bruce Thomas, and there he died in 1944. Two postcards published in the 1920s From Wikipedia: Luigi Pecskai ( Fiume Veneto , July 21 , 1880 - Thursley , February 24 , 1944 ), also known as Louis Pécskai , was an Italian violinist of Hungarian origin.     In the Royal Academy of Budapest, he studied with teachers Baldini and Jenő Hubay . He made his debut in Fiume as an infant in 1886, and then appeared successively in London, Rome, Florence, Ancona, Turin, Budapest, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Venice, Milan, Padua, Graz, and in the principal towns of Italy, Hungary , Switzerland and England, the country in which he was going to die.

This photograph, inspired by the school photographs of his youth, was Peter Anderson's idea (he lived in Brook Cottage, opposite the road to Smallbrook, at the time) and 2000 was the perfect time.

Out of the Past - Into the Present. This booklet was planned as a Jubilee Anthology, to contain an assortment of items from numerous inhabitants of Thursley past and present. It was introduced and signed off by Rosemary Stephens, Thursley Vicarage, Michaelmas 1980.

In 1892, a return of Licensed Houses to Guildford Petty Sessions, show the pub as a free house. The Licensee was Arthur Steed, and the owner was Miss Rushbrooke. The usage was that of the genral public. Listed under Thursley Public Houses were Railway Hotel, Crown and Cushion and other Haslemere Pubs. This shows they were in Thursley Parish. In the early part of World War 1, the publican of of The Three Horse Shoes, Arthur Ford and his wife, were dismissed by the brewery for procuring girls for the soldiers. The Three Horseshoes re-opens after Quarantine, 4 July 2020: Photographs by Andrew Kaplanovsky

Thursley Horticultural Society has long been of importance in the village. According to records in the 1923 Parish Magazine, it was formed after a very successful Flower Show to “carry on the good work”. Various local dignitaries stood for election, and votes were counted while a musical programme, in the hands of Mr Lionel Rapley, played. The results of the election were that General Sir Joscelyn Wodehouse became President. The Treasurer was Mr J.H. Belcher and Secretary Mr H. Swallow. The committee comprised of Miss Lutyens, Mrs Blogg, Rev L.C. Wilkinson, Messrs Blogg, F. Fosberry. Hoare, T.Karn, L. Rapley. Robertson and H. Sharland. Many names that we recognise today! The Society went from strength to strength and played a central part in village life – with social events, fetes and farming as well as two or three shows a year shows being at the core. Between the wars and up until the 1950s there are records of long lunches, afternoon teas and evening dances following shows beginning at 5 o’clock! Events such as chicken plucking and tug of war were common place. Interestingly, the shows for a long while had different classes for those who in the village who had a gardener and those who did not – a social comment in itself. As travel, and the reasons to travel, were quite different from today, social life in Thursley was punctuated by the various events organised by the committee, as recorded in our minute books and through photographs and newspaper articles. Highlights over recent years have been the two Gardeners Question Time programmes made very successfully in the village hall by the BBC. Talks and visits have become and important part of the calendar, and the plant sales which were also in the village hall. Open Gardens in 2022 and 2023 have proved a huge success and shown what wonderful gardens, and gardeners, we have in Thursley. Recent years have seen the Society’s numbers fall and then rise again. There is a lot of support in the village for the Thursley Horticultural Society now, though we still look for committee members to reach the numbers of the 1923 committee! In 2023, the Society celebrated its centerary with the publication of this booklet which can be obtained by the Society: Contact Thursley Horticultural Society through email: thursleyhortsoc@hotmail.co.uk or find our Facebook page. The following contemporary photographs are courtesy Valérie Ferris (VF), Andrew Kaplanovsky (AK) and Sean Edwards (SE): Plant sale in 2019 (VF) Autumn Show 2019 (AK) Autumn Show 2022 (AK) Spring Show 2023 (VF) Spring Show 2023 (AK) Celebrating 100 years of the Society at Lower House The following photographs of the 100 years event are by Sean Edwards: Open Garden, June 2023 Spring Show, 13th April, 2024 Mrs Nicky Cornell receiving the Marshall-Hall Plate from President Patricia Coles Autumn Show, September 2024 Photographs from Patricia Clake, Adam Gardner and Tim Walsh

Thursley History Society recently made a small contribution to the fund established to save the Rural Life Living Museum. Just over £150,000 was raised and the museum has been saved from closure. https://rural-life.org.uk/ This is the beginning of a notification from the Rural Life Living Museum: From Wikipedia:

Tony Kelly, of Bedford Farm, gave a talk in the village hall in October 2024 about his extraordinary feat. The text and the ppt below are condensations of his talk which was appreciated by the packed audience. From Thursley Village Facebook page: Climbing Mount Everest, 8848m, in 2003 The highest point on Earth. A summary of Tony Kelly’s story   The presentation will cover the lead up to the climb and our summit bids. I’ll also touch on some history of the mountain, as in 2024 its 100yrs since the famous 1924 Mallory and Irvine Expedition (and the mystery of did they summit or not). Their route was on the North side of Mount Everest and we are attempting the same North side route from Tibet. We are attempting the north route because its technically much harder than the south and consequently climbed much less. Back then around 1200 people had summited Mount Everest but only approx. 200 of them from the North side. It's worth dwelling on George Mallory and Sandy Irvine briefly. Mallory’s body was eventually found on the North Face in 1999 with torso bruising indicating a serious fall whilst roped. The remains of his mid layer jumper were still visible supplied by W Paine, 72 High Street, Godalming. Yes, he was a local. Originally from the north west but settled in Godalming as a teacher at Charterhouse and married Ruth, a Godalming girl. Sandy Irvine’s remains were only found in September this year, 2024, on the north face directly below but much further down than Mallory’s body indicating they were almost certainly roped together when they fell. I will also bring to the talk a section of telegraph wire, used for Advanced Base Camp communications in 1924, that I found on the East Rongbuk glacier in 2000. I was with Graham Hoyland at the time (he was on our 2000 expedition) who had been responsible for the search that found George Mallory in 1999. Graham was the great great grandson of Howard Somervell who was on the 1924 expedition with Mallory and Irvine. So where did it all begin for me? After hiking in the UK through my 20’s I got introduced to rock climbing and quickly progressed to rock, ice and mountaineering in the Alps. After 10 years of multiple annual trips to the Alps, I was looking for a bigger challenge and met the internationally renowned expedition leader, Russell Brice, in a bar in Chamonix. My friend and mountain guide, Mark Seaton, was able to reassure Russell I was technically more than competent to join him but we didn’t know how my body would react to extreme altitude. In 1999 I went with Russell Brice to Cho Oyu, the 6th highest mountain in the world at 8,188m to find out if I was ok at altitude. As a test it went well. The weather was brutal. In the end we didn’t make a summit attempt because of extreme snow conditions but I was the only member of the expedition, westerner or sherpa, to reach the expeditions high point of 7,900m and I did it solo. Mt Everest was on! I had mentioned, summit bids, plural. In 2000 we took an expedition to Mount Everest to climb the North side from Tibet. After 2 months on the mountain we made 2 attempts on the summit. The first one was aborted at 7900 metres due to atrocious weather conditions and massive snow loading. That first attempt had high attrition and resulted in 6 of the 7 climbing members pulling the plug. Consequently, on the 2nd attempt, it was only myself, 3 professional mountain guides and 3 sherpa’s that made the attempt. At camp 2, 7500m, our tents got avalanched overnight and buried. It became a matter of survival, avoiding carbon dioxide asphyxiation overnight by punching holes through the snow and ice over the tents and the following day using a quite dangerous technique to deliberately trigger avalanches to clear the massive snow load in front of us to be able to down climb. To cap it off in our exhausted state when we pulled off the mountain a melt water lake had broken out of the East Rongbuk Glacier and we had to build a raft out of barrels and wood to ferry the 20 expedition members and 10 tonnes of equipment out! I’m reminded of the definition of an Adventure: “an undertaking with an uncertain outcome”! So the 2003 Expedition was “Unfinished Business”. We returned to Kathmandu, Nepal, in late March and after assembling some 11 tonnes of equipment and “shopping” in the local markets for 2 months plus of provisions for 17 team members we made our way via Lhasa, Tibet to Mount Everest basecamp at 5200m and set about the expedition proper. High altitude climbing is a combination of technical competence, mountaineering experience and a “head game”. It’s a marathon not a sprint. You’re going to spend months in daily calorie deficit, physically and mentally stressed by the environment and the challenge. -50 deg C and 150mph winds are regular features. You’ll spend a lot of time climbing at 10/10ths of your ability and experience but to be successful you will have to spend some time at 11/10ths or worse and make the judgement call on when to take those risks and how long to stay exposed. Tenacity, stamina and will power will count for a lot. On arrival at basecamp team members blood oxygen levels of mid 70% were not unusual. That would be an A&E visit back home at sea level. Acclimatisation to get the blood oxy levels into the 90%’s takes weeks as you teach your body to produce more red blood cells to cope with the ¼ of sea level oxygen availability we’ll have to deal with higher up the mountain. Acclimatisation starts in base camp knocking off 6000m peaks to warm up and then moving up the glacier to work on the mountain. The route will take a month and half of preparation work putting in fixed rope and installing and provisioning four high camps. We’ll be going up and down visiting and revisiting these camps. This will mean we will effectively climb the height of Mount Everest several times in the process before we even consider a summit attempt. The north side route is not only technically more difficult than the south side by it is much longer. Its 22km from Basecamp to Advanced Basecamp. From ABC we must establish camp 1 at 7050m, camp 2 7500m, camp 3 7900m and camp 4 at 8300m and fully stock them. That includes lugging oxygen bottles (about 6kg each) up which we will use (3 each) from camp 3 7900m onwards. The climbing is a mix of technical ice climbing and massive snow slopes, rock sections of scrambling and massively technical vertical rock climbing at 8600m on the 2nd Step (this is the crux of the climb). Having got the infrastructure of the route set up we had to retreat to base camp because of a massive storm. It wiped out a significant portion of our camps on the mountain ripping tents stocked with personal kit, food and oxygen off the mountain and depositing it on the glacier below. When we went back up to ABC we had to find the debris on the glacier and icewall, extract it from crevasses, uncover the snow buried ropes, rebuild the camps and route. (when l say “we” went back to recover things it was actually only 2 of the 7 client climbers (Trynt and myself) together with sherpas). We then set about a summit attempt in late May. Two of the seven climbers pulled out sick. The rest of us pushed on. Five climbers with sherpa partners and a mountain guide. Herman, the guide, was focused on Zedi, Matt and Gernot. Sue and Chung were sick. Myself and my sherpa partner, Dorje, were operating pretty much independently. It’s typically a six-day push, four days up and two off. Leaving camp 4, 8300m, at circa 10pm/11pm to climb through the night. Intending to reach the three steps on the north east ridge by dawn. But we experienced some delays en route due to some slower expeditions blocking the route in front of us. It wasn’t busy like photo’s you may have seen of the south side but this was 2003, the 50th anniversary of the 1953 success, there were a few more climbers than normal and its the nature of the route on the north that is much more constraining. I got further delayed by having to rescue a climbing colleague (Zedi) who made a massive error and found himself hanging on the rope at the 2nd Step, 8600m, swinging over the north face of Mount Everest with a mile of fresh air between his legs. It cost me, and Dorje my sherpa partner, a lot of excess oxygen usage fighting to save him. We got him back in and back enroute. It took Dorje and I a while to sort ourselves out and get going again. The others, including Zedi, who I had rescued, were ahead and summited, albeit late (having breached the turnaround time limit we had all agreed to). I calculated I was about to run out of oxygen probably on top and that would risk death. I made an incredibly difficult decision to turn back 48metres from the top which would have taken another 1.5hrs! I radioed Russell to advise and we turned back. On descent I did actually run out of oxygen around 8500m but we still had to get down so Dorje and I pressed on without. We also had to help rescue (again) the same guy I had recovered on the way up because now he had gone snow blind and couldn’t see to down climb. The climb was incredible but a massive blow to turn back so close. After getting back to Advanced Base Camp and feeling pretty low the next morning Russell came to my tent with a mug of yak milk tea and a large shot of whisky and told me to shut up and say nothing. He said everyone else is leaving, there’s a narrow weather window opening and I think you have it in you to go back! Basically he convinced me to attempt what no climber (professional or amateur) other than a small number of sherpa’s had ever attempted on Mount Everest and that was to climb the mountain twice in one season and I was going to try twice in two weeks! So nine days after returning to Advanced Base Camp Sue and Chung, my colleagues who had been sick on the first attempt and myself together with our sherpa climbing partners mounted what was to be my second attempt this season and my fourth summit attempt on Mount Everest. The weather was going to be challenging. We didn’t have the requisite four days up and two off. We had to wait out a storm in Camp 2 and then pushing very hard from camp 2 we missed out camp 3 by a continuous climbing push stopping very briefly at camp 4 (not for rest, food and sleep as normal) we picked up water and oxygen and continued climbing into a 33-hour continuous aggressive push right through the night to summit early in the morning, for me at 7:03am, May 31st. It had been amazing as every other expedition except ours had left the mountain so Sue, Chung and myself had the entire mountain to ourselves. This is unheard of and although we had climbed through a storm the summit day was blue sky with the curvature of the earths horizon visible for a 100miles. There were tears. Which immediately froze! Getting up is of course only half way. Getting off is essential and almost as hard as going up. In my case very hard having only nine days prior albeit but for 48metres been on the summit. It becomes a massive head game. Your body is screaming for rest telling you its done in and there’s nothing not even fumes left in the tank. You want to stop. But if you stop and rest there is a very high chance you’ll slip into dozing followed by hypoxia and then hypothermia and death. So keep moving. I made it back to camp 1 at 7050m and rested for the night before descent to ABC the following day. 2003 was the 50th anniversary of the 1953 successful first summit by Hilary and Tensing via the South side Route and associated with that anniversary the Nepali Mountaineering Association were at the 2003 Kendal Mountain Film Festival awarding medals for significant achievement on Mount Everest. I was on stage in the company of Chris Bonington and Doug Scott (1st brit), Stephen Venables (1st brit no Oxy) and others including Mike Westmacott and George Band members of the 1953 expedition. I was awarded a Gold Medal with the citation from the NMA president: “an outstanding rescue, wise turn around at 48m, subsequent success after only nine days and in aggressive style, extraordinary & exemplary mountaineering”

Grade II listed buildings, 2nd August 1977. See pdf report made by Surrey Domestic Buildings Research Group Mike and Debbie Spencer with Edward, 1997 Photograph by Sean Edward s