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WWC member Alan Dale found the right recipe for success when his 250-word short story ‘The False Note’ recently won second place in a National Association of Writers’ Groups competition. The Pam’s People competition includes among its prizes some Hungarian cookbooks. ‘The False Note’ tells how the main character’s wife vanishes after he sees an apparition. It’s another of Alan’s potboilers …
Out in the countryside between Woking and Chobham a transformation has been taking place. A 17-acre former mushroom farm that was largely covered over in concrete is being turned into a wetland to attract birds – and the public – by Horsell Common Preservation Society, the charitable membership company that owns great tracts of green land around Woking, (see map, right), about 80% of the town’s public open space.
I took a tour of the Heather Farm site the other day with the society’s estate manager, Paul Rimmer, to see the progress that has been made. The society took over the site, which is on the flood plai
n of the river Bourne, in 2010 after a land-swap planning deal that enabled McLaren to expand. Later that year demolition work began of a number of buildings, including asbestos sheds and a boiler house with oil tanks, plus removal of 14 acres of concrete. A main lake and five wildlife ponds have been created with the help of the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust. Paul said: “As soon as we dug the hole, water started to appear, and it was helped by the heavy rains of last winter. We dug a channel from the river bank, so that as soon as it floods, this land floods, too. It’s good for flood defences, and fluctuating water levels are good for wildlife.”
On the day that I visited there were a pair of swans, ducks, and a flock of geese. Grebes and tufted duck have also been spotted. When opened to the public the wetland will have observation areas for the public, as well as a café from where you should also be able to see the birds, in the one remaining farm building, which will also accommodate storage areas for the Lightbox art gallery and local drama groups. It is hoped that all the facilities will be complete for an opening on June 21 2015. Other plans include a biomass boiler using woodchip from the society’s land, which should be able to heat the building and drastically cut bills. There will also be a reed bed filtration system to treat sewerage.
Earlier this year a team of around 100 volunteers planted 15,000 aquatic plants, such as reeds, flag iris, and marsh marigolds. Dogs will be barred from the site, but the society also owns the land that borders the wetland, and Paul said dog walkers would be encouraged to use that perimeter, which it is also hoped will relieve pressure on other parts of the common where ground-nesting birds need protection.
Horsell Common Preservation Society came into being in 1910 when the-then Earl of Onslow wanted help in administering his land. That arrangement lasted until 1966, when the land was offered for sale. The society bought Horsell common, while Surrey county council took over Chobham common. Since 1995 the amount of land owned by the society has increased by 35%.
At the same time as it has been carrying out the transformation of Heather Farm, the society has also been restoring the Muslim burial ground created in the woods outside Woking for first world war soldiers, completion of which will include an Islamic garden within its walls. Paul said he visited Heather Farm three or four times a week. “Every time I come I just can’t stop smiling. I look at this now, and think, ‘Bloody hell, we’ve done well.’ It’s very satisfying.”
Compiled by Dermot Hoare
It’s all going a bit HG Wells crazy in Woking this year, his 150th anniversary – and why not? Now here’s a short story competition for all ages. With the theme Alien – naturally – wordsmiths of all ages have until midnight on Wednesday 20 July 2016 to pen their masterpiece and challenge Wells for Woking’s science fiction crown. There are various categories for children and youngsters up to the age of 18, plus a category for adults as well. Prizes are £50 voucher (1st), £25 (2nd), and £10 (third). You can enter by downloading the entry form. Email your story and entry form to celebratewoking@woking.gov.uk with the subject line: Wells in Woking Short Story Competition. Limited to one entry per person. Prize winners will be notified by 1 September 2016. You can find more details here
We pay a handsome annual affiliation fee to the National Association of Writers’ Groups (NAWG). So let’s make sure we put in a few entries to their writing competitions (deadline 30 April)
And here’s a useful link to a wealth of writing competitions coming up this year
Poetry competitions
Ware Poets are running their 2016 poetry competition with a closing date of 30 April. Three prizes range from £600 down, with a special £150 for the best sonnet. Entry fee £4 each for up to three, £12 for four and £3 each after that. Full details
It’s the 150th anniversary of the birth of HG Wells this 
year – and the 70th anniversary of his death as well. He may have lived for only a short time in Woking, but he put the town well and truly on the map by beginning his world-famous sci-fi novel The War of the Worlds on Horsell common, the place where his Martian invasion force lands. Wells lived in a small semi-detached villa in Maybury Road facing the railway line, “where all night long the goods trains shunted and bumped and clattered without serious effect upon our healthy slumbers”. He had a good word to say for the nearby Basingstoke canal … “Close at hand in those days was a pretty and rarely used canal amidst pine woods, a weedy canal, beset with loosestrife, spiraea, forget-me-nots, and yellow water lilies, upon which one could be happy for hours in a hired canoe”. But The War of The Worlds 
is why we remember Wells in Woking. Over the next few months there is packed calendar of events commemorating the man and his book, and culminating in the unveiling of a statue of Wells in the town. The HG Wells Society is staging a three-day international conference on the great man in Woking in July, and you can find a guide to all the upcoming events, including walks, talks, exhibitions and performances here. The Lightbox has kicked off the celebrations with its own exhibition – and Woking Writers Circle member Greg Freeman went along to take a look at it.