The Oxted and District History Society
is concerned with furthering the interest in history from ancient times to the present day. The society is not particularly involved in local history although parochial subjects are covered from time to time. Neither should the reader believe history is all about rape, pillage, death and destruction as might be inferred from the picture!

Lectures are presented fortnightly on a wide range of topics as you will see from the programme below.

We meet in The Oxted United Reformed Church (OURC), Bluehouse Lane on Tuesdays at 8pm.

Membership. There is a very modest annual membership subscription of £12. This entitles members to attend all lectures without further charge. New members are welcome to join at any lecture. Should you want to attend a lecture as a visitor, there is a charge of £3 which is payable on the day. If you would like to know more, please contact one of the people below.

Committee 2009-2010

Joint Chairmen. Betty and Brian Shearing 28 Padbrook, Limpsfield, Surrey RH8 0DW
01883 717677. E-mail: shearingbh@aol.com
Vice-Chairman. Trevor Burrage 01883 723204
Hon. Secretary. Moyna Bridge 01883 716257. E-mail: moynabridge@yahoo.co.uk
Treasurer. Anna Burrage 01883 723204 E-mail: annaburrage@googlemail.com
Programme Secretary. Kathleen McCarthy 01883 715611 E-mail: kath.mccarthy@hotmail.co.uk
Membership Secretary. Shirley Dunnicliffe
Equipment. Peter Bush 01883 713629 and John Fogg-Elliott
Publicity. Stuart Paterson. 01883 714642. E-mail: paterson901@btinternet.com
Joint Newsletter Editors. Brian and Betty Shearing

The Society Library. The library used to be in bookcase in the Red Cross Centre but there is nowhere for it in the new venue (OURC). At the moment most of it is stored in the Secretary’s house, although the editor has some volumes and Keith Addis has back copies of History Today. In past years the librarians have put out a selection of books at each meeting. This might not be possible in future, although it is hoped to be. Members do not use the library much but it is important for two reasons. Firstly, the society only has three 'activities'; lectures and parties, the annual outing and the library. Secondly, the library includes the complete series of the Surrey Archaeological Collections from 1858 to the present, all 92 volumes. It would be a pity to lose one of ODHS’s 'activities' and now that the Surrey County Library has sold off the volumes which were in Oxted, there is no collection here and no complete collection in Caterham. Volumes can always be sent from the County Library,but for browsing among the very many entries for Tandridge District and other places and to refer to an index, it might be necessary to go to the Surrey History Centre in Woking. You can do an on-line search for information and see books which you can buy through association with Amazon at www.surreycc.gov.uk/libraries
Members can obtain a free catalogue of the library.

The East Surrey Museum in Caterham has a collection of archival material and historical records for the Tandridge District. See History & genealogy for more information sources.

Progamme 2009-2010

NEWSLETTER, AUTUMN 2009 .pdf Left-click to read, right-click to download here

October 6th Nick Pollard. Heathrow—from stone age to jet age
October 20th John Tolley. The Lithuanian Empire
November 3rd Brian Walters. Agincourt
December 15th Christmas Party
November 17, 2009 Matthew Piggott. A Community in peace and war—Surrey in film 1914–1953
December 1st Robert Simonson. Broadway pianos—200 years of musical history

2010

January 5th Mini-symposium. What were we doing when the Society was founded 50 years ago?
January 19th Jim Farrell. Aspects of Oxted History
February 23rd Mini-symposium Oxted in the 1950s and 1960s
February 16th Glyn Sherratt. History of Gatton Park
March 16th AGM
March 2nd Bob Ogley. Surrey at War

The Matrix Coin Project
According to our lecturers on this topic (March 6th 2007), no coins were issued during the Commonwealth following the execution of Charles I. When coinage ran short, traders issued their own tokens. Our lecturers are interested in all tokens even modern ones such as 'British Restaurant Tokens' and 'Coop Tokens'. They would be very pleased if members would tell them of any tokens they have.

Click on the links below to read previous lectures.

Tuesday 7th February 2007 19th Century Kent by Bob Ogley. more
Tuesday 23rd January 2007. ’The Crimea’ by John Tolley. more
Tuesday 20th February 2007. ’John Evelyn’ by Beryl Saich. more
Tuesday 6th March 2007. The Matrix Coin Project by Brian Wood and John Theobald. more
Tuesday 6th October 2007. Edward the Caresser by Elizabeth Lanyon. more
Tuesday 16th October 2007. Starborough Castle by Roy Eaton. more
Tuesday 30th October 2007. From Bletchley Park to the World Wide Web. Brian Shearing. more
Tuesday 13th November 2007. New Anglo-Saxon Discoveries at St. Martin-in-the-Fields. Alison Telfer. more
Tuesday 27th November 2007. Sir William More of Loseley: A Tudor Gentleman of Surrey. Mike Page. more
Tuesday 8th January 2008. Let Nature be your teacher. Betty Shearing more
Tuesday 22nd January 2008. The Cold War revisited. Part 1: a war of religion. Keith Addis more
Tuesday 5th February 2008. Richard Owen: the Man Who Invented Dinosaurs. Chris Duffin more
Tuesday 19th February 2008. Jeremy Harte. The Derby. more
Tuesday 4th March 2008. David Carpenter Virago Potentissima: Eleanor of Provence. more
March 18th Annual General Meeting and Party. Read the conclusions more.

Synopses of Lectures from October 2008 onwards can be found here.