The Planet Reigate Podcast
61: At Armistice, a unique local way to remember the area’s fallen… and more
Fri, 08 Nov 2024
Episode 61 – At Armistice, a unique local way to remember the area’s fallen… and more For Saturday 9th November 2024This is how we’re reflecting and celebrating our love of life around here this week:TIMECODE - 00:00 - What’s in this episode 02:15 - Planet Reigate area news 16:15 - Guest: Rob Wilson who runs Veteran Gin in Smallfield, the gin which remembers the nation’s fallen in a unique way, and whose profits go to help service personnel today. 28:00 – Planet Reigate area sports 29:35 – Planet Reigate area weather stats 31:30 – Planet Reigate Stars: thanking local heroes from Redhill 33:00 – At Armistice, the story of 15-year-old local sailor Alec Preston who served in WW1. 37:00 - The Good Time Guide: Local events for this week 42:25 – The Sixty-second Soundscape. This week from Brockham If you get value from The Planet Reigate Podcast, please give us value back in return; click here to support us with a small donation: www.buymeacoffee.com/theplanetreigatepodcast or share us with your colleagues. A list of ‘the best of the guests’, and a link to hear each one, is on this Facebook post: https://tinyurl.com/prpbest *CREDITS:The seven-note Planet Reigate Theme is ©Peter StewartOther music www.Pond5.com:GTG - inspiringaudio Item ID: 116855857NEWS - ThomPie Item ID: 75456323STARS - jwsaudio Item ID: 073206386 WEATHER - Sasha_Grey Item ID: 025133085SOUNDSCAPE PolkadotFlowersMusic Item ID: 136304431Listen: https://linktr.ee/PlanetReigatePodcast Web: www.ThePlanetReigatePodcast.com Facebook: www.Facebook.com/ThePlanetReigatePodcast Insta: theplanetreigatepodcast X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/PlanetReigateEmail: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This is the Planet Reigate Podcast.
And hello, welcome to your Planet Reigate Podcast. This is Peter Stewart. Welcome to episode 61. This is how we're reflecting and celebrating our love of life around here this week. Well, my guest this week, Rob Wilson, who runs Veteran Gin in Smallfield, the gin which remembers the nation's fallen in a unique way and whose profits go to help service personnel today.
In the news, first results are in after a series of Harlequin consultation events. Approval has been given for 120 flats in Redhill despite flood safety worries. I'll tell you details of a local drop-in event with advice on keeping your energy bills and water bills low and details too of warm hub locations locally over the winter as well.
An unusual appeal to help children in East Surrey Hospital. Details on how you can help are on the way. And a local charity quick off the mark sending me details of locally grown Christmas trees to raise funds. I'll give you a rundown of local Remembrance Day events happening as well. In sport, we feature a local pool challenge to get involved with.
We have the good time guide of events across the area across the week ahead. Local weather stats so far this winter. Planet Reigate stars from Red Hill this week. And our 60-second soundscape before we go. At the end of the show, natural sounds from a place you know. And this week, from Brockham on the banks of the River Mole with Blackbird, Wren,
great tit robin and black cap this is the planet reigate podcast with peter stewart
The Belfry Shopping Centre, Redhill.
Let's get to it with our news sequence this week. Harlequin updates the response to those open events across the borough. Remember those that happened in October? Well, the council says 160 people went to those various events and they had over 500 questionnaire responses. It doesn't seem an awful lot to me. I mean, that's barely more than the Harlequin Main Theatre actually holds, isn't it?
The council says they're looking at the feedback to help them understand community aspirations, and they'll take all that information to inform the development of options for the future provision, both short-term, medium-term, long-term as well. Not just necessarily at the Harlequin, but it may be somewhere else in the borough. It may never be called the Harlequin again, let's be totally honest.
I think from what I understand, almost everything is up for grabs. Now, with regard to the theatre building itself, they say they do anticipate reports of the rack and building surveys to be issued in the next couple of three weeks, certainly this month, for analysis and consideration, unquote.
But before any decisions are taken on next steps, then the councillors will need to have the opportunity to consider the costs involved. and obviously the implications of whatever those surveys actually come up with. And all of that will inform a report to the executive in January.
So the report being given to the councillors in the next couple of three weeks, and then a big executive meeting in January. Of course, the Planet Reigate podcast will be looking over that. All of that information as it becomes available. Now, you can listen to more about the Harlequin in episode 48. We've got a breakdown of the reasons for the Harlequin closure.
Got a kind of straightforward Q&A style there. In episode 49, audio highlights of that council meeting decision on what was going to happen next. In episode 53, reaction from the Harlequin support groups Ali Bond.
And in episode 57, the reaction of people leaving the first arts and culture consultation event run by Reigate and Bandit Head Power Council, which was focused on the Harlequin, which is what started this particular story in this new sequence on this week's edition. So episodes 48 and 49, 53 and 57 of the Planet Reigate podcast.
Approval has been given for 120 assisted living flats in Redhill, as despite flood safety worries. So that draft scheme is for Noak Drive, which runs next to Redhill Brook, sits in high and medium risk flood zones, as the name might suggest, next to Redhill Brook. Did I ever tell you my first flat was on Brook Road in Redhill? To the Willows. I don't know who lives there now.
Maybe you're listening to me now. I used to live in your flat. So obviously with the risks associated with the nearby river, heavy rain, as I say, the name might suggest, Inevitably, some flats will be on the ground floor of this new building of 120 assisted living flats there on Noak Drive. Now, the decision was made at a Surrey County Council Planning and Regulatory Committee meeting.
It's not something that falls to Reigate and Banstead Borough Council in this particular instance. It was argued that flood risk considerations are minor, quote, compared to the need to build units people can live in. There's always going to be a balance, isn't there, about what one side wants and what another side wants, what one report says and what other evidence claims and so on.
And Surrey County Council actually owns the land. They want a six-storey building with, as I say, around 120 self-contained apartments for assisted living. The land, if you remember this, is the former Colebrook and Spectrum Noak Day Centre. It's part of Surrey County Council's programme to deliver 725 extra care affordable accommodation across the county by 2030.
And obviously, that's so elderly and vulnerable people as well. Not just the elderly can live by themselves, can live independently. They've still got access to support services, maybe some kind of warden on site. There may be a communal kitchen that serves up meals for everyone. It may be more of a communal kind of living area available there as well.
Obviously, the designs will be different in each different location. Planning officers say technical advice and data modelling shows that the extra care flats can be safely provided there at Noak Drive. As I say, issues of the actual design, how the building's going to look, the landscaping and so on, that's going to come later on down the line.
If you want some more information on that, you can go to the Get Surrey website and also on the BBC website as well. The cost of living, I'm sure, is something that you're concerned about. I think everyone is watching their pennies at the moment.
Even if you're on maybe a six-figure salary, you'll probably still say, turn off that light and turning down the thermostat whenever you pass it in the hall or wherever it happens to be. Maybe you haven't even put your heating on at the moment.
Maybe you are being really, really careful because you don't know what is around the corner, what with various world events that have happened and been announced and voted on even in the past few days. So drop in information sessions for Energy Action Redhill and Rygate and SES Water. And also I've got details of local warm hubs in the next few minutes as well.
So first of all, Energy Action Redhill and Reigate helps local residents keep their homes warm and cut their energy bills. Free warm home packs are going to be available as well. So that sounds really useful. And of course, it's not just energy, but it's also water bills as well as other kind of bills as well that you may be concerned about.
SES Water can provide advice on discounts, priority services for those who need extra help, and water-saving devices to help your water usage. So there are three events I want to tell you about. They're based locally, obviously. That's why they're on the Planet Reigate podcast. And they're over the next few weeks.
So first of all, first up, Reigate Library, Thursday the 14th of November, 10 till 12. And there's also going to be a 30-minute talk between 10 and half past. So if you're thinking, I'll go down there nearer the end of it, you may want to turn up at 10 just so you can be there for that informational talk. So that's Thursday the 14th, 10 till 12. Merstham Library, Thursday the 21st, 10 till 12.
And Redhill Library, Thursday the 12th of December, 10 till 12. So all libraries, all on Thursdays, all between 10 and 12. So those details again. Reigate Library, the 14th of November. Merstham Library, the 21st of November. And Redhill Library, the 12th of December. As I said, the warm welcome scheme for this winter is launching again. It has already started up.
Now, these are essentially what we used to call kind of warm hubs. They've kind of slightly been rebranded just to make them a bit more welcoming and so on. Warm banks is another word that was used, wasn't it, a few years ago when the price of energy started going a little bit silly.
now as well as places that you can go along and you can take a book or take your knitting or whatever it happens to be and actually keep warm saves you putting on your heating at home for a few hours they've often got things like heat obviously hot drinks social activities maybe craft activities meals some of them have food banks or a food club or some kind of community fridge one or two of these have guest speakers but obviously they've all got a chance for you to meet and make friends
So not all of those things are available at all of these locations. But let me run through where those locations are. There's the Holy Trinity Church in Redhill, which is open Mondays 10.30 to 12.00. Mercedham Community Hub, 10.00 till 3.00, Monday to Friday. Mercedham Baptist Church, Thursdays 10.30 to noon.00.
Salford's and Sidlow Village Hall, the first Friday of the month between 11 and 12.30. Hawley Library, Tuesday to Saturday, 9.30 to 5.00. And Rygate Library, Tuesday to Saturday, 9.30 to 5.00 as well there. But there's going to be a hot drink and a warm welcome. Okay, let's move on. Brand new children's pyjamas are needed.
Yeah, we've often put out requests and appeals for money or various items that some of our fantastic local charities are after, whether it be food or whether it be school uniforms or baby care equipment, that kind of thing. This is a slightly different one.
Sally says I volunteer for a children's hospital PJ charity and I deliver PJs to children in East Surrey and local hospices and also women's refuges. So children have a new pair of PJs on Christmas Day. Isn't that a fantastic idea? Can you help me? She says, I've got various local drop-off points. I won't list them all, but as I say, get in touch with me and I'll put you in touch with Sally.
It's a great idea, isn't it? Just something really personal. It makes it different from a T-shirt, but pyjamas can be so much fun, can't they, with the different designs and so on and colours.
Just imagine that you open up a present at all on Christmas Day, if perhaps you're a kiddie in a women's refuge or something like that, or maybe you're in a hospital, you've got your very own brand new pyjamas, which I think is absolutely fantastic. And I know quite a few families anyway often give Christmassy pyjamas to one another on the big day.
So maybe you think, oh yeah, actually, I do that for my family. Let's do it for somebody else's family as well. Get in touch with me. I'll put you in touch with Sally. Also talking about the C word and the big Christmas event. Not so long to go now. Locally grown Christmas trees from 9th Reigate Scouts. Premium Sussex grown Nordman fir non-drop trees, £35 to £69. Visit 9threigate.org.uk today.
All proceeds go towards supporting them in providing outdoor adventure and skills for life for young people. Okay, just ahead of our big interview this week, which is going to be from Veterans Gin and Rob over there, who I met down at Smallfield.
Remembrance Day parades and services taking place Sunday the 10th of November at Redhill Shores Corner War Memorial, where I've been for the last couple of years myself. and also Hawley War Memorial Gardens as well. Let me just focus in and tell you specifically about the plans for the Hawley Royal British Legion Remembrance Day Parade down there.
10.20, participants will be assembling on Consort Way West. 10.25, the parade will form up. And then 10.35, it's going to be move-off. They're going to be headed up by the Red Hill Corps of Drums and Band, who have been previous guests on the Planet Reigate podcast, going into Victoria Road, proceeding across the traffic lights into Vicarage Lane, and then walking to the War Memorial Gardens.
But down in Hawley, members of the public are invited to join the parade. At the back of the parade, behind the Army Cadets Parade,
contingent if they want to please don't join the main body of the parade for obvious reasons because you know they're in step and they're in uniform but you can certainly go behind them then they're going to be turning up at the war memorial gardens you may want to just watch them as they parade as i say from consort way west on that route or you may want to turn up just at the the war memorial itself
There's going to be an introduction by the chaplain just ahead of 11 o'clock, followed by that main service and then that wreath-laying event. And then at 11.35, the parade will reassemble Vicarage Lane, return to the Albert Road Constitutional Club via Victoria Road and Town Precinct for the salute, and finally Albert Road again. where the parade will be dismissed.
I think my best friend's father used to run the Albert Road Constitutional Club back in the day. There's a national two-minute silence, obviously, on Monday 11th November. So we've got something happening on Sunday 10th, but also Monday 11th. It's going to be observed in the Hawley Town shopping precinct at 11. And Remembrance Day is taking place in the Belfry on Monday the 11th at 11.
They say please join us in paying respects with a two-minute silence and that drop of 30,000 poppy petals. which is obviously important. That's quite a spectacle. I've been there before. Can't make it actually this year because it falls on a Monday and I have a day job. I'll be working. So I wish them well for that.
In fact, I got onto the Belfry website just to check the details and for some rather bizarre reason, There's a picture quite close up of me at last year's event, which is rather surprising to me, but a bit by shock.
And on the evening of Sunday, the 10th of November and Monday, the 11th of November, Ryger and Banstead Town Hall will be lit up to commemorate Remembrance Day and Homestead Day as well. OK. Tell you what, we've got our sport and weather coming up in a few moments' time. But now seems a really opportune moment to bring you this week's guest.
And a few weeks ago, I made my journey down to a small field and I met up with... Somebody who I've met at a few business and networking events over the past few weeks, past few months rather, Rob Wilson. Now, he runs Veteran Gin in Smallfield. This is a special gin. If you've seen it, you won't forget it.
The shape of the bottle, the colours in the bottle, and also something unique around the neck. This gin remembers the nation's fallen in such a unique and different way, and their profits go to help service personnel who are around at the moment and who have been affected by recent wars and conflicts. I'll leave Rob to explain.
So we've got quite a unique bottle and we've gone down the kind of decanter presentation and actually put an image in the bottle. When we first did it, it was quite a unique concept of having an image kind of floating within the liquid behind the glass.
And of course, the thing with gin, of course, it is see-through, it is clear, so you can see that image and it looks... Almost like a kind of empty bottle, but with that really striking guardsman line-up in the background.
We love that image of looking into the bottle. You'll see as well, within our bottle, we talk about the synergy of looking back and looking forward, so every single...
bottle that that we have comes with a dog tag card which commemorates the life of a fallen first world war soldier yeah let's let's move over to some of these because as you say this is a really unusual kind of i was going to say marketing i mean it is marketing but it's a bit more kind of subtle and personal than that so as you say dog tag around the neck of this bottle here i'll just pick one at random private eric tyra from the royal warwickshire regiment killed in action in the somme
at the age of 24, 29th August 1916. What's your thinking behind putting a different one of those on each of these bottles?
Our gin is about honouring veterans, kind of past and present, and we're kind of disconnecting away from the loss and the sacrifice that took place in the First World War. About a million British Empire soldiers died in the First World War, and about half have no known grave. And we've got 2,500 tacks, that's matched to the resource that we can put into it.
2,500 tags of real people, real dads, real uncles, real sweethearts, real people that paid the supreme sacrifice. And I think it's really important for the very first time, open your bottle and make a toast to the person named on the dog tag. And then momentarily, that person's back in the room.
Proceeds of this gin that you buy today will go and support modern-day veterans who are commonly left behind, commonly face struggle and hardship, which doesn't sit well with me at all. So we want to make a practical difference to the lives of... of those that are experiencing difficulties.
Were there any particular stories that actually made you kind of go, that's actually made a mark with me?
So many, so many struck a chord with me. You know, as a Scots Guardsman, obviously, I instantly identify with your own, you know, and anyone who's been in the household division. However... You know, stories that stand out for me, 68-year-old Lieutenant Henry Webber, who was the oldest person to die on the Somme.
He was a teacher at Tombridge School, but just didn't want to miss out on playing his part. A 15-year-old who lied about his age in order to join his friends at the front and send money back to his mother, who was really, really struggling. Three brothers of the Australian Infantry who died on the same day in Passchendaele in 1917.
A unique dog tag in a sense that it's one of the few bottles that will have more than one dog tag on it. We've got a father and son, a Lieutenant Colonel Morehouse, a Captain Morehouse, again died on the same day within kind of sight of each other. So really, really kind of poignant and incredible stories from people that just gave their all. Battle of the Somme, 1st of July 1916.
60,000 casualties on the first day, 20,000 dead.
And of course, that's why those crosses were put up in town centres or beside the side of the road, say at Shaw's Corner, there's one, of course, which is particularly dramatic there with that sculpture. Or, of course, the one down near the air balloon pub in Hawley. Or maybe you're thinking of the one in St Michael's Churchyard in Betchworth.
All of those were put up after the First World War and then the names added after the Second World War as well. The First World War just touched so many families, didn't they? Either directly or indirectly because... They were workers on some of our local farms in this area.
Absolutely. And, you know, generations of men kind of wiped out, really. And we want to keep these names kind of alive. We're really good at remembrance in this country for about a week. And then we switch it off again through the gin. We want to keep this spirit alive throughout the year because...
You know, it's a huge sacrifice that's kind of come before us and it's really important to keep that on at all times, I think.
How come you made that leap from being in the military, wanting to do something to remember people and to go forward as well? Why gin?
I was really keen on doing something charity kind of focused and... I love gin and I just thought it was really odd that there was no representation of the military, of our armed forces within that really, really busy gin space. A quarter of the population last year bought gin. It's an incredible gin.
You upgrade your gin experience through this so you're not compromising on quality in order to support something. You're actually upgrading your gin experience but at the same time, You're honouring a really special group of people. This whole thing's a voluntary campaign. It's all profit goes out the other side through our community interest company. So it's a registered CIC company.
Every penny of profit that comes from a bottle or a glass of gin comes out the other side. Now, what does that mean? In the past, we've worked with a bigger military charity to send funds into a quick reaction fund. The danger with the bigger charities is that sometimes the individuals on the ground can get lost.
So we keep some back so when we hear a hardship story, we can kind of move really quickly. We will pay for a veteran networking breakfast, which is amazing. You know, 60 veterans in a room. So much positive can come from that kind of experience. Last month, the gin paid for some PPE for a veteran who really wanted to attend a training course, but he couldn't afford the PPE to do it.
We did a one-off grocery shop for a former Royal Marine last month as well. So I'm just really, really struggling with that cost of living crisis. So working with some mainstream charities within their quick reaction funds, but also actually kind of having the ability to If we hear a story, if we hear any local hardship stories, we can strike kind of really, really quickly.
So everything's going through and has that has that practical action.
And some of this work, for example, I know you support the veterans breakfast up at the Garibaldi in Red Hill, don't you?
Yeah, we've done that. We've done that. And that's amazing. You know, you have a 19 year old former Royal Marine opposite a D-Day veteran. It's amazing. Only good comes from that kind of.
experience whether it's someone looking for for work or someone needs some help with a contact we want to do more the more we sell the more we can do the gary baldy in in red hill call it the win-win gin because that's what it is it's providing a really high quality kind of gin experience, but equally supporting an incredible cause through practical action.
The design of the bottle also, it's just occurred to me, is upright and solid, isn't it?
Like a military person might be. It is. It's really strong. It is solid. It's kind of robust and rigid. And yeah, there's some overlaps there with kind of military language as well.
So tell me about those kind of botanicals, what flavour it is.
We didn't want to necessarily go down a flavoured route because that can be very...
incredibly subjective so we wanted to kind of get a good classic elegant london dry gin started in the military by the dutch you know in the 1600s uh by the british and india to kind of combat malaria it's it's a military drink it's smooth enough to drink neat most gins you can't can't really do that because it's just there's that alcohol burn that comes Very elegant, very craft kind of premium.
A recipe as good as the cause and purpose. So a lot of work went into that to make sure we've got an ultra premium liquid. We've got a secret ingredient. We've got about 10 botanicals, all kind of vapour infused, not macerated. Very old distillation method, which dates back to 1651, I think.
very very kind of craft driven when we met again this afternoon a few minutes ago you told me about one local place where you've just got in but where else can people find it yeah so we're based in red hill and we've hit a lot of red hill in terms of independent venues restaurants a consumer can buy online direct through the website we're just trying to kind of get more venues all the time and it's a it's a very very hard market but
Again, we have a degree of uniqueness that others simply don't have in terms of that practical output, that practical action that comes when the bottle's empty. We are Redhill, Reigate, all around East Surrey really. Equally, we do have a good presence in London, three or four hotels on Park Lane. We've got Partridges in Sloane Square. We've got the Cadogan in Chelsea.
So we're knocking on doors all the time.
And Stars and Stripes in Redhill, the new pool centre.
Yeah, that's incredible. Lovely. I think it's 13,000 square foot, a snooker room, a pool hall. And that's amazing. And they've got some great ideas linked to the gin there. to do some veteran kind of contests and Army versus Navy on the pool table and what have you. So, yeah, for us, local connection is really, really important. And the Belfry and Reds Hill have been incredible.
We've had a showcase in there since June. Amazing opportunity to showcase what we do. Yeah, it starts with local, really. We have a real focus to try and do as much locally as possible. Dame Judy Dench is a fan of the gin. She's very local and, yeah, doing all we can to knock on doors and just broaden our expansion, really.
And so many fantastic pubs across the area. So hopefully if you're perhaps working in one of those or you're listening to this, then you think to yourself, OK, well, it would be fantastic to have this looking proud on the shelf behind the bar. So I guess on this weekend, more than any weekend, it's an opportunity to remember and also to raise a glass, isn't it?
100% you know we are we are a gin built on honouring veterans on honouring our extraordinary armed forces past and present and the peak of that is remembrance and yeah it's fantastic to use the gin buy some gin and actually honour those people remembrance for us is is a 365 thing and and obviously it peaks in November it peaks on on Armistice and Remembrance Sunday however
the purpose and the sentiment that's in the gin should be a kind of an all year round kind of thing. Yeah, remembrance is hugely important and certainly really poignant when you see the dog tag cards
on the bottles again real people that sacrificed so much in order to achieve democratic freedoms for us all so there's a gin that you can ask for by name when you go to a pub or you go to a bar or somewhere locally maybe you're involved with a pub or somewhere else that serves drinks and you think to yourself that sounds really special and really different and what's more it's local as well
So let's get in touch with Rob and find out whether we can stock Veterans Gin in our hostelry as well. I'm sure it would be appreciated not just by him, but also by those other people who benefit from the profits which are achieved through the sale of Veterans Gin.
From Reigate and Redhill, Buckland, Betchworth and Brockham, great stories from places you love and people you know. This is the Planet Reigate podcast.
the good time guide planet reigate stars from red hill and our 60 second soundscape before we go at the end of the show also our weather almanac from professor weather in a few moments time first of all let me just remind you about a very special social networking event for local businesses and their staff
to come together and battle it out across 32 pool tables of the new Spots and Stripes pool hall in Redhill. You would have heard us talking with John about that last week. Yeah, really pleased to be an official supporter of this with the Planet Rygate podcast. So it's going to be fun pool matches in a round-robin format. Prizes awarded for various categories. Spots and Stripes, Redhill.
Also behind this, the Belfry Shopping Centre, RH Networking, Baird Consulting as well. And the team entry is only... Five pounds for a team. And all of that's going to be supporting the Redhill Town Square Christmas lights. So to enter a team, you just need three players, maximum of five. Companies can enter multiple teams as well. More details, info at spots8stripes.com.
dot co dot uk for more information on that all tables and queues are provided free of charge and it's for all players of all abilities to join in so the details again info at spots digit eight stripes dot co dot uk info at spots eight stripes dot co dot uk and uh tell john you heard about it on the planet reigate podcast Let's move our attention to weather. From Professor Weather, Andy Herrods.
You can follow Andy on Twitter X and Insta as well. And every few weeks he sends us through details from his local weather station. His weather almanac comes into play as well. He's been collecting data for years and years now, so he's able to tell us the highs and the lows. And he says for the first time since April, 2024 is not currently the wettest year we've recorded locally.
It's actually slipped to second place. and been replaced by 2023, which saw 80.8mm of rain in the first five days of November, compared to only 0.4mm of rain in the first few days of November this year. Apart from that, he says, nothing really remarkable about October's weather. Temperatures... Just about bang on average. Rainfall, also pretty average.
The only standout was the 23 days of rain, six higher than average. And 2024 continues to be wet. But as I say, for the first time since April 2024 is not now the wettest year ever. that Andy has recorded. Professor Weather on the Planet Rygate podcast. And please remember to subscribe to the show so you don't miss an episode. You can do that via your favourite podcast app.
So get on there, go on to settings, look for where you're listening to me now. And it may be called favourites, it may be called subscribe, something like that. But touch that and that will mean... that every episode of the Planet Rigate podcast will be automatically downloaded to your phone as soon as it's released. And that means you'll be able to listen at your leisure.
Woodlands Lettings. Connecting landlords with tenants for over 20 years. If you have a property to let, pop into our office on Station Road by the Belfry Main entrance for a coffee and a chat. Or call 01737 372797.
planet reigate stars thanking local heroes who are out of this world and don't forget you'll find the time that each of our features and guests are on in our show notes so you can scooch straight through to that point And I also put out social media posts during the week with links that take you straight to those specific parts of the show.
So follow us on TwitterX, Facebook and Insta to get those. OK, let's move on to this week's Planet Reigate Star Awards. And this from Jane, who said... This isn't for any praise, they just did it as kind, caring people. It made me cry to see how good people are. We often read media posts that are so very sad, but don't forget, the world is full of good people too.
so
I wanted to bring you this story this week above all other weeks. Graham Norris, you may know the name, he does an awful lot of good work. And what he does with some of his friends and colleagues is to go around some of our local churchyards and put in some hard yards with some hard grafts.
For example, St Mary's Church in Reigate, crawling around and trimming and weeding and pruning and washing and tidying various graves. Now, there was a post that he did in September, which I kept for this particular week, where he says, so hot and humid crawling around with the ants, a job well done with John and Alex, well...
popped back in the week and put down some new stones on the grave that we tidied up today. Great work. Thank you, everyone. And thank you to young sailor Alec Preston, whose grave we tidied today. Alex Preston sadly died of pneumonia at the age of just 15 years old. And Graham linked to a newspaper article...
which I thought I'd bring you today in our Remembrance edition of the Planet Reigate podcast. The newspaper article says, Under very sad circumstances, the death took place on March 8th at the Naval Hospital Shotley from pneumonia of Alec Preston of Reigate, aged 15 years. The young man joined the Royal Navy as recently as January 27th.
For some time he was a member of the Reigate Company Church Lads Brigade, the King's Royal Rifle Cadets, joining the junior section on September 15th 1914 and being transferred to the company on April 11th 1916. The funeral took place last Saturday at the Reigate Cemetery when his late comrades of the Church Lads Brigade under Captain Stone paid him military honours.
The coffin was draped with the Union flag. The officiating clergyman was Canon F.C. Davis, and he gave a touching tribute to the memory left behind by the deceased. The mourners included the parents, brothers and sisters and other relatives of the deceased lad. There were a large number of wreaths. The funeral arrangements were carried out by Mrs J. Stoneman and Sons in Redhill.
No more information is immediately available of the life, the short life, of Alec Preston, who died of pneumonia, but who had served in the Royal Navy in the First World War, who's laid to rest in St Mary's Churchyard, and whose grave, Graham Norris, tidied and trimmed and replaced the gravel of back in September.
This is the Planet Reigate podcast with Peter Stewart. The Good Time Guide. Things to do and places to go on the Planet Reigate podcast.
Please remember to subscribe to the show so you don't miss an episode. And if you want to mention for your charity or non-profit event, we always look kindly on those. Let us know about it. You can fill out the form you'll find on theplanetrygatepodcast.com. So, Saturday the 9th of November, Rygate Rugby Club Fireworks Night. It all starts at 5.30 through till 9 o'clock.
Adult £7 is a guide price. Visit reigaterugby.com for details. You may want to check whether tickets are still available for that. Obviously, with some of these events, particularly the fireworks and the bonfire events and so on, usually only a certain number of people can actually turn up. St Mark's Church have an autumn fair. So if you're interested in this, it's Saturday, 2 till 4.
Books, films, music, bric-a-brac, plants, tombola, cakes and preserves, the whole nine yards. For more information, 01737 210 785. For more information on that... Rygate Library have a Christmas craft fair Saturday, 10 till 4. Handmade crafts, gifts and much, much more. Rygate.library at surreycc.gov.uk. Wednesday the 13th, it's Rygate Evening WI.
They say if you're interested in meeting like-minded ladies and joining in activities in the daytime or the evening, we'd like to welcome you to our WI group. So, the Rygate Evening WI. has over 60 members and they meet monthly at the Reigate Community Centre behind the Methodist Church on the second Wednesday of the month. So that'll be this coming Wednesday then, 7.30 to 9.45.
And not only do they have their main group, but they've also got subgroups as well for things like book club, poetry, wine appreciation. I like the sound of that. In fact, I think I'd go to the Wine Appreciation and the Book Club and join the two. Talk about a book, have a glass of wine. There's a card-playing group, music appreciation, current affairs, local walks, gardening.
In fact, they all sound interesting, don't they? Their members also organise lunches, dinners, charity fundraising events and much, much more. Rygateeveningwy.org.uk for more information on that. Betchworth Operatic and Dramatic Society presents Salad Days between the 13th and the 16th of November. It's at Betchworth Village Hall, so more information on that.
BODS, Betchworth Operatic and Dramatic Society, and they're all over social media, so you should be able to find them there. Thursday the 14th, Radio Marsden presents a big night of comedy at Reigate Manor. It starts at 7 o'clock, tickets £15, always a big night of comedy there. This coming Saturday, it's the Belfry Christmas lights switch on between 12 and 4.
Now, usually you might be thinking to yourself, it's taking an awful lot of time just to flick a switch. There are all sorts of various events, gift buying, the big light switch on, and also a certain Red Hill favourite to actually do the big flick.
So if you're a fan of the Red Hill pantomime in years gone by, you may be interested to go down to the Belfry from noon this coming Saturday or next Saturday, the 16th. Merstham Women's Group, they have a subtitle of Rebels with a Cause and a cuppa and they present the cohort's folk band at Canada Hall. Tickets £10 and Saturday the 16th at 7.30.
Tickets can be bought on their website and refreshments are going to be available there as well. fundraising, paint and sip at Nutfield Village Hall. I was there a couple of weeks ago for another event. You'll hear about that soon on the Planet Ryko podcast. Grab a drink and a brush and join in the fun.
There's going to be step-by-step instruction, all materials provided, no experience is necessary, and all profits go to Age Concern. That's South Nutfield Village Hall between 6 and 10 on Saturday the 16th. Sue got in touch. I know Sue because she looks after the Ree Betchworth site, which we were talking about about three or four weeks ago. Went along to their Apple Fest day, didn't we?
Buckland and Betchworth Choral Society she's involved with as well. Sue wears various hats, and this is their 101st year of singing and still going strong with great gusto and... Lungs full of air. Their next concert is an ambitious event. They're going to be performing Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle. Hopefully I've got that right.
With four professional soloists, an organist and piano accompaniment as well. 16th of November, 7.30, St. Matthew's Church in Redhill. Guide price for tickets £15. Get this...
under 16s go free well that's pretty good value isn't it go to www.bbc don't worry s at info.org if you want some more information on that so buckland and betchworth choral society is bbc s.info.org for more information on that and that concludes the good time guide for this week on the planet reigate podcast
The 60 Second Soundscape. Local natural sounds uninterrupted.
Before we go, at the end of the show, natural sounds from a place you know. This week to Brockham on the banks of the River Mole with Blackbird, Wren, Great Tit, Blackcap and Robin.
The Planet Rygate podcast was produced and presented by Peter Stewart.