Chairman
John Rowley and Ashtead school archivist Patricia Jenkins gave a presentation
after this year's Annual General Meeting on the story of their book Memories of Ashtead in World War 2, published
in December.
They
explained how it gradually took shape as a result of research and interviews
over several years beginning in May 2012. At that time John contacted Meredith
Worsfold, son of a well-known builder of homes in Ashtead before and after the
war. The initial enquiry was specifically about flat concrete Edwardian house
roofs in Albert Road
but from August 2013 he and Patricia began framing ideas for the book.
They
began collecting available local resources such as the Ashtead Residents
Association's own on-line record A
Village; school logs and memoirs, and wartime marriages from the St Giles
Church Marriage Register. They investigated the Ashtead War Memorial page on
the L&DLHS website, the L&DLHS map of local bombings, other
contemporary maps and aerial photographs, and official war diaries of the Royal
Norfolk Regiment and the Canadian Signals Corps, the two primary military units
billeted in Ashtead during World War 2.
In
November 2013 they contacted Ann Williams, née Astridge, daughter of a
well-known Ashtead family, in Calgary,
Canada, and she
helped with extensive research and interviews of veterans and the British girls
who had married them and emigrated after the war. From July 2014, John was busy
transcribing details of some 40 such weddings of local women and the following
year he and Patricia hit the jackpot when they secured typed records of the
Canadian War Diaries.
From
then on it was a matter of continuous interviews and contacts with anyone and
everyone with a story to tell about wartime in Ashtead. Eventually the book
emerged from this long process at the end of 2018 and went on sale just in time
for Christmas. Copies available from local bookshops and Leatherhead Museum
when it reopens next month.
