Eton Wick History Group Talk - 29th July meeting - The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead's Tow Crier - Chris Brown

 

Eton Wick History Group Talk - The Household Cavalry 1660 to Date, and its work of it Charity - 18th February 2025

 

The Household Cavalry 1660 to Date, and its work of it Charity, presented by Giles Stibbe OBE. Click here to visit the Household Cavalry Foundation website.

This the first talk of the History Group for 2026.  The talks schedule can be found by clicking on this link along with a list of all the talks since the foundation of the Group in 1992.

Eton Wick History Group Talk - George Pocock - Boat Builder of Eton with Tom Wigley - 29th October 2025

 

This the fifth and last talk of the History Group's 2025 series. The talks schedule can be found by clicking on this link along with a list of all the talks since the foundation of the Group in 1992.

Eton Wick History Group Talk - Basingstoke Canal with Roger Cansdale - 28th May 2025

 

This the third talk of the History Group's 2025 series of five. The talks schedule can be found by clicking on this link along with a list of all the talks since the foundation of the Group in 1992.

Eton Wick History Group Talk - The Purfumo Affair with Nigel Smale - 19th February 2025

 

This the first talk of the History Group's 2025 series of five. The talks schedule can be found by clicking on this link along with a list of all the talks since the foundation of the Group in 1992.

Programme of talks for 2025:

Programme of talks for 2025:

The programme is subject to change.

John Purfumo

19th February - The Purfumo Affair with Nigel Smale

9th April  - The Myths and Legends of Swans with Daniel Keel

28th May  - The History oof the Basingstoke Canal and Canel Boats with Roger Cansdale

30th July -  Subject To be Confirmed - This meeting will be our Summer party

29th October - George Pocock Boat Builder of Eton with Tom Wigley

Entrance fee is £4 per person for each talk which includes light refreshment.

Eton Wick History Group Talk - Maidenhead and the Movies with Richard Poad - 30th October 2024

 

The Eton Wick History Group have a series of talks each year and they can be found by following this link or using the Programme of Talks button below the masthead.

Eton Wick History Group Talk - The Miracle of Bletchley Park with Gillian Cane - 31st July 2024

 

This the third talk of the History Group's 2024 series. The talks schedule can be found by clicking on this link along with a list of all the talks since the foundation of the Group in 1992.

Eton Wick History Group Talk - A Stroll in the Park presented by Mr Peter Holman - 29th May 2024

 

A message from Ruth Maher:

Hi all, I just wanted to let you know that the History Group have arranged a series of talks for 2024. Because of the reduced availability of the Village Hall we will be holding our meetings during the school holidays. The talks schedule can be found by clicking on this link.

Please join us and learn more about our local area. Refreshments will be provided. 

We look forward to seeing you there.

Programme of Talks 2024

There are four talks planned for this year. They are:

4 Bridges and a Ferry presented by Josh Lovell on 10th April

A Stroll in the Park presented by Peter Holman on 29th May

The Miracle of Bletchley Park with Gillian Cane on 31st July

Maidenhead and the Movies with Richard Poe on 30th October

The meetings of the Eton Wick History Group will be held at the Village Hall commencing at 7:30 pm.

The entrance fee will be £4.00.which includes light refreshments.

Eton Wick History Group Talk - A Ferry and Four Bridges: A History of Datchet Bridge & Home Park with Mr Josh Lovell

 

A message from Ruth Maher:

Hi all, I just wanted to let you know that the History Group will be returning soon and the first talk will be by Josh Lovell. Please join us and learn more about our local area. Refreshments will be provided. We look forward to seeing you there.

Eton Wick History Group Final Meeting - William Simmonds, sculptor, puppeteer & engineer and the Mystery Picture

 

7:30 pm 

13th December 2023

Village Hall

Parish Magazine - History Group Meeting Report - 'Festive Evening'

Eton Wick's thriving and enthusiastic History Group thoroughly enjoyed themselves at their 'Festive Evening' on 26th January 1996. The first half of the evening was devoted to a light-hearted Local History Quiz, which involved answering questions on photographic slides of various views in the area. Multiple choice answers were offered, which was rather fortunate for comparative newcomers, but even long term residents had difficulty with some questions, for example, would you have known why a gentleman took to the Thames on an amphibious motorcycle (he did it to win a wager!), and what was the annual event at the village ponds, which used to exist in Common Road - surely the correct answer must be the "model boat sailing competition" - but no, it was motorcycle racing (no doubt organised by the chap with the amphibious motorcycle!).

The winner of the Quiz was Dr. Judith Hunter, the local historian; however, attendance and interest in the History Group is such that her success was not easily won; it was only after a tense tiebreaker that she gained the vital point to enable her to reap the reward of a fine basket of fruit.

The Group very much appreciated the tremendous amount of work and time which Mr. Tony Cullum must have spent in pre-paring the Quiz questions, not to mention the often hilarious alternative answers which he offered; he also proved a very adept Quizmaster, with the help of Mr. Frank Bond on the slide projector.

After the competition the Group spent the remainder of the evening socialising over a splendid buffet supper and delicious punch. Earlier in the evening Mr. Bond had reported that the Group had sufficient funds, with the help of substantial donations, to cover the cost of the repairs and reconstruction work to 'The Pound' at Folly Bridge; and work would commence on 31st January.

The contract has been awarded to Mr. Livesey of Victoria Road. When the work is complete a plaque, explaining the history of the structure, will be sited inside the Pound. Mr. Bond reminded the group that the entry fee for forthcoming meeting has had to be increased from 50p to 70p in order to cover costs. 

Eton Wick History Group Meeting 12th July 2023 - Reading's Other Industries

 

History Group Talk 24th May 2023 - Brownsea

 

From the Parish Magazine - Eton Wick History Group - 100 Years 1897 -1997 Queen Victoria's Jubilees

Frank Bond introduced the April meeting of the Group with a request for suggestions for marking the Millennium; he thanked the donors of the raffle prizes and also those kind members who provide the refreshments for every meeting. Mr. Bond gave a special welcome to Eddie Wilkes; it was "lovely to see him back again"; also, he drew the members attention to the copies of Norman Oxley's book about Arthur Young Nutt, who fulfilled a period of service at Windsor Castle from 1867 to 1912, engaged initially as a draughtsman and attaining the position of Surveyor to the Dean and Canons of St. George's Chapel, Custodian of the Royal Mausoleum and Head of the Office of Works at the Castle. 

Examples of A.Y. Nutt's work were to be seen in the photographs and illustrations of the talk which followed Mr. Bond's introduction: John Denham spoke of "100 Years 1897-1997 (Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee)" In fact, the talk drifted back even further to 1887 and covered Queen Victoria's Gold and Diamond Jubilees when Eton and Eton Wick both joined with Windsor for the celebrations. 

The Jubilees provided a wealth of proof of the tremendous loyalty and enthusiasm which the public held for Victoria and the Royal family, and the ingenuity of people like Mr. Nutt with his ceremonial arches at the College end of Eton High Street and on Windsor Bridge, the parties, the processions, the military bands and the street decorations. 

Mr. Denham was also able to entertain with anecdotes about more local everyday matters, such as the savings bank, which was introduced for local children in 1897, their increasing numbers which resulted in pupils being refused from Boveney Newtown; the licensing for marriages of Eton Wick Parish Church and its first marriage between Ann Deverill and Alfred Seymour. 

Eton Wick's Football team's game against the Eton Temperance team on 20th November 1887, when Eton Wick lost 2-0: We heard how Toddy Vaughan had planted the oak tree on the green in Common Road - this could have been in either 1887 or 1897 and the History Group are going to fix a plaque to the tree, with due celebration, later on this year. 

We look forward to our next meeting, scheduled for 25th June, when the topic for discussion will be °THE IINFLUENCE OF ETON AND ETON COLLEGE ON ETON WICK", 

Perhaps those who have not yet returned their questionnaire to Mr. Bond could do so before that meeting.  

EWHG Meeting - The Great Water Conduit of Windsor Castle

 

From the Parish Magazine - Eton Wick History Group - The National Inventory of War Memorials (UK) Project

At the Eton Wick History Group meeting in February, I spoke briefly about the above Project which came into being in the early 1990's and is on-going. Throughout the country memorials sprang up commemorating the dead of the two World Wars but no one thought to make a record of them or their location. It would appear that some have ended up in skips when a Church, hospital or other public building has been demolished. This angered members of the public and prompted 'the powers that be' to act. 

The Imperial War Museum was given funding to enable the project to get started and many groups were approached to help including the British Legion, the Western Front Association and the Women's Institutes. Now with further funding, three full time staff and two volunteers, all the information obtained (plans, photographs, newspaper cutting and the written matter) is being put on computer and will eventually be available to researchers. 

If anyone knows of a memorial which they think may have been missed because it is in an obscure place, do please let me, or Frank, know. It is as a W.I. member that I have sent the project details of all the memorials in Eton, Eton Wick and Boveney (which I know of), fourteen in all, with the exception of the one to Charles Horatio Hobbs, formerly Engineer in the Eton Fire Brigade who was killed at Kroonstad, South Africa on July 4th 1900. His memorial tablet is on the wall outside the offices of the Eton Town Council. This building, of course, was originally the Eton Fire Station. 

I have not been able to discover when the tablet was dedicated. Does anyone know whether the minutes of the Eton Volunteer Fire Brigade have survived and if so where they are? 

Colnbrook (buckinghamshireremembers.org.uk)

The unusual Colnbrook & Foyle War Memorial inscribed on a pillar in St Thomas' Parish Church. The Memorial was erected in 1935 and a further wall Memorial to the Fallen of the Second World War was added in 1945. Both memorials stand next to the Memorial Altar.

This report was written by the late Joan Ballhatchet and published in the Parish Magazine in the March 1999 edition.

Eton Wick History Group - Wednesday 22 February at 7.30pm at the village hall - 'Rock Steady - The Gibraltar Story'

 

From the Parish Magazine - Eton Wick History Group Meeting - 'The Changing Face of Eton'

'The Changing Face of Eton' was the topic explored by Dr. Judith Hunter at the History Group's Meeting on the 12th March; and, as is always the case with Dr. Hunter, the Group was treated to a fascinating blend of interesting and amusing facts and on this occasion, she covered a time span from the 16th to the 20th Century. We were told of wharfs which no longer exist, of tolls on bridges (the Turnpike Trust Act); and have you ever noticed the stone memorial outside Baldwin's Be which commemorates the death in a fire of two boys at that house? 

Some of had no idea that Eton had a thriving pipe making industry for 200 years; but were not surprised to hear that The Cockpit is the oldest surviving house in Eton, dating back to 1442, although the stocks outside came from Clever in 1920. We also heard of the various celebration archways and colonnades designed by Alfred Young Nut for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee - on which there will be much more at the next meeting on Wednesday, 30th April, a evening devoted to '100 YEARS 1897-1997 'Queen Victoria's Jubilee. This topic was previously scheduled for the 25th June but the June and April meetings have been reversed. 

Mr. Bond was pleased to announce that the Group is to award a book and certificate to pupils of Eton Wick School; it will be known as the "Eton Wick History Group: The James Kinross Award". 

During the 1990's the Parish Magazine of Eton, Eton Wick and Boveney reported on the meetings of the Eton Wick History Group. A member of the audience took shorthand notes in the darkened hall. This article was published in the April edition of 1997.