Club News
August Lunch: Chairman, Andrew Carver, welcomed 20 members and our own member speaker Paul Sandford. £40 was raised for the Chairman’s Charity, Cystic Fibrosis Trust. The raffle raised £27.
News of Members: Absent last month, and we hope to see today: Bill Ainsworth who had a hospital appointment, and Jim Mulvey who had a cataracts operation. Owen Kelly has been in touch – he sends his regards but is now housebound and can only walk with a wheel frame.
Birthdays in September: Brian Blakeney, Darryl Cabral, Jim Mulvey, Brian Udell.
Outings/Events: Skittles match with Sanderstead and Riddlesdown Probus Tuesday 23rd September – includes light lunch. Please Contact Terry Ribbens on tribbs42@gmail.com.
Speaker today: Andre Potocki ‘Roald Dahl’.
2nd October 2025: Member David Carpenter ‘Helicopters’.
Welfare Officer: Please contact Tony Farrell if anyone knows of a member in difficulty: tonyfarrell1953@gmail.com
Lunch changes by 10.30am the prior Tuesday to chris@moniz.co.uk T: 020 8660 6063. Please email vincent@fosdike.com with articles for the Newsletter.
August Speaker: Our own Paul Sandford ‘The Bourne Society’
Last month’s speaker was our own Paul Sandford, who as current President (and a long-time member) of the Bourne Society, is more than qualified to address our members on the history, function and some of the present activities of the Society.
The Society is named after the two bournes (underground streams) which emanate in Coulsdon, and in Caterham, which eventually drain into the River Wandle (which in turn flows into the River Thames). These bournes periodically rise to the surface following a lengthy period of consistent rainfall, typically every seven years or so. In recent years significant flooding has occurred in Purley where the two underground streams converge.
The Society was formed by two local teachers (in the Caterham vicinity) in 1956 and is now a registered charity which promotes the preservation of the local heritage and history, typically in nearby schools and clubs. In fact this popular Society has continued to expand not only with an increased membership, but also with a broader geographical area which now includes the village of Godstone. The Society continues to liaise with other neighbouring history clubs such as Coulsdon History Group and The Sanderstead Local History Group, and over the years has affixed about 32 blue plaques. Members were however saddened to hear that such a plaque had been stolen from the Webb Estate in Purley. The Society is sometimes consulted when new developments are proposed.
The Society now has a membership of about 1,500, but only a small proportion are generally actively engaged. It was in 1963 that the local history records, including accounts from recollections, were first collated and articles published, and in more recent years with annual publications known as The Bulletin. Nowadays, local history records are published three times a year and subjects have included The History of Coulsdon Grove Estate, The Byrons of Coulsdon, Coulsdon Downland Village and The Caterham Water Works.
Paul also highlighted a number of famous residents and others associated with the area; these include Hilary Page, the co-founder of Kiddicraft who invented the concept of moulded plastic toys (later taken up by Lego). Sir Joseph Swan inventor of the lightbulb is of course a figure of international significance.
In addition, Edmund Byron of Coulsdon Manor was the principal person of note mentioned in connection with a map of Byron land in Coulsdon Parish. The map (which the writer has hanging on the wall), dates to the early eighteenth century and was shown to our members, together with a book on the Byron family which was complied from the Byron archive initially with The Bourne Society and then handed over to the archivist at Croydon Archives.
Sir Geoffrey Howe, a Society member and East Surrey resident, wrote the forward in the Society’s first photographic book Now and Then, published in 1986.
Village History series of books published since 1986 are written and researched by local residents. Forums are held every month at the De Stafford School (which itself has an interesting history). Outside speakers are frequently hired and The Society arranges a number of outings which have included visits to Croydon Aerodrome, Farthing Downs, and Place Farm in Bletchingley (where Anne of Cleaves lived following her divorce from Henry VIII). In fact, the Society provided volunteers over 15 years during the 1980s add 1990s for an archaeological investigation at Place Farm. Today, the only visible parts of Place Farm are parts of the gatehouse and the old barn.
Heritage tours are also arranged, in association with other groups, for instance including the Surrey Archaeology Society, and further afield to Northumbria, the Isle of Wight and the Peak District.
The 1915 Re-enactment of Recruiting during the Great War has been acted by The Society in collaboration with other interested bodies.
Paul informed us that The Society is forever adapting with changes in technology, for instance with local history records now being collated and downloaded in Bangalore.
The next event of note will be The Society’s 75 anniversary planned for 2031.
In addition, our eminent speaker also finds time to run a local history group which has been meeting for once a month over the last 25 years or so.
Many thanks to Paul for enthusiastically introducing our members to The Bourne Society
Observation Point by Vincent Fosdike
Lloyds Insurance is said to have grown from a coffee house of that name in the city where merchants gathered to do business over coffee. Today my favourite coffee house fulfils just that function via groups of headphone and key board patrons holding one-way conversations with thin air.
The subjects range from inane to just interminably boring but always in tones of news at ten at a volume set for to ensure that we lesser mortals are suitably impressed.
One day it was different. A man by the front window with a throat mike and very clear pronunciation seemed to be speaking mainly in the phonetic alphabet whilst occasionally shifting his glance from the street to his screen. Nearby boredom dispensers could just manage to listen in, catching bits such as “OP 5 the mark should be on the next bus”. “ZT hold your position: three minutes to drop-off.”
Obviously information was coming back and being confirmed “Black cap and Orange carrier bag”.
Gradually the noise of the regulars diminished as they switched their attention toward a more meaty subject than room occupation rates in Bournemouth. One by one they put their spreadsheet-based chitchat to sleep. Even those at the back of the room, late comers to the party knew something was happening, one closed a phone call saying that he would be on a latter train not wishing to miss the climax.
Halfway down the room just one girl stayed true to her tedious screen unwilling to join the audience. On a small table
next but one to her, another man seemed to have broken off in mid call though the phone still seemed alive. The man at OP 5 raised his voice, gave his call sign together with the message “All units COFFEE CUP is about to cross the road prepare to assist if needed at your initiative”.
All eyes locked on to what they thought must be the mark. A voice from the man with the stalled phone call could be heard in the tense silence “leave it, leave it” the orange bag man was entering the cafe. People held their breath as they could see he would be trapped, ZT had closed in behind him.
They missed the few formulaic words uttered by the girl in the middle as she turned to her near neighbour and snapped on the hand cuffs “you are under arrest………”.
OP5 man was shaking hands with the mark and congratulating him on his imitation of the mark. The man in the newly acquired metalwork was being further informed of his rights and the list of suspected offences which should keep in a rather small room for the foreseeable future.
It took a little while for the humdrum buzz of commerce to re-fill the room.