It is good to see the return of the cricket fixture between a Hambledon CC XI and a Merry Harriers pub XI, the game taking place this Sunday (July 27^th) played in a Twenty20 format. The match starts on the Cricket Green at 1pm and all villagers, family and friends are welcome. Please make a noise!

This fixture has a long and glorious history. According to Arthur “Ginge” Blackman, Hambledon CC’s long serving president, it goes back until at least the 1960s and possibly earlier.

Ginge’s wife Sue grew up in the Merry Harriers and it was her father, David Pearson, landlord at the time, who is known to have arranged games with the village side.

Hambledon Village Cinema is pleased to present the classic 1972 rockumentary/concert film at the Village Hall on Saturday August 9th. Head back to the 60s/70s and see it on the big screen and enjoy the full experience of our sound system!

Doors/bar open at 7pm and the film starts at 7.30pm,

Tickets £5 from the Village Shop or online here by clicking this link

Hambledon Parish Council has been notified by Surrey County Council’s Countryside Access team of Notices of Section 31(6) of the Highways Act 1980 relating to land on both Burgate Farm and Pockford Estate. This notice allows a landowner to acknowledge the existence of rights of way already in place across their land, but prevents any new ones from being created. The landowner deposits a map with SCC showing the extent of their land and what rights exist across it. Hambledon Parish Council will look into whether there are any rights of way that have been missed off the maps. 

If you are a regular user of the footpaths or bridleways across these areas, please take a look at the deposited maps to ensure your favourite exists.

Further details are available on the Countryside Access website under the Landowner deposits tab and can be searched for via the name of Burgate Farm or Pockford Estate.

Local Government is changing in Surrey. There are currently 12 councils within Surrey, these will be reorganised in order to simplify the services provided to the public. Waverley Borough Council is holding a number of in person sessions at 4 venues across the borough to explain the proposals. Two options are being considered: reorganising Surrey into either two or three unitary authorities. Surrey County Council support having two (East and West Surrey), whilst Waverley support having three (East, West and North Surrey).

The sessions will be hosted by the Leader of Waverley Borough Council, Cllr Paul Follows, together with local ward councillors. These sessions will explain what Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) is, outline the different options being considered, and show you how to get involved.

You’ll also have the chance to ask questions about what these changes could mean for you, your family, and your community.

Parking at the Hascombe Village Hall Car Park, Mare Lane. Organised by the Dunsfold & Hascombe Horticultural Society and the Friends of Hascombe. The event is FREE

Hambledon Village Trust has owned the freehold of the shop and attached cottage since 2003. During annual maintenance inspections it became very clear that a new roof was needed. The Trust’s only income is from the rent of the shop and cottage which meant that money needed to be secured before any work could start. Fundraising began at the village fete in June 2024, with an initial target of £100k.

By the end of last year we were nearly half way to the fundraising target, thanks to a sizable donation from the Hambledon Festival profits and many donations from individuals. Then in January this year we were delighted to be awarded a £20k Surrey County Council Your Fund Surrey grant, facilitated by our Ward County Councillor Kevin Deanus. With this, by the middle of March, we had reached nearly £90k, enough in the pot to start work. 

Let’s Celebrate 40 years of Oakhurst Cottage being open to the Public.

Do you remember something significant that you did in 1985? Well some of our amazing Hambledon residents were volunteering as guides or supporters to open Oakhurst Cottage for the first time to visitors.

To celebrate this 40th anniversary, we are inviting all past and present volunteers and active supporters to join us for some tea and cake on Saturday 26th July from 10.30am to 12.30pm at Oakhurst Cottage. Please see the invite below and RSVP to [email protected].

If you have been involved at any time over the last 40 years I would love to hear from you – even if you can’t attend our little celebration. We would so appreciate any photos, stories, research or anecdotes. Please do get in touch with Camilla Edmiston ([email protected]).

Following the retirement of Cllr Stewart Payne after 24 years of service to Hambledon Parish Council, there is now a vacant seat on the Council. Waverley Borough Council’s Electoral Services team have confirmed that the official Notice of Vacancy of 14 working days has been completed with no request for an election from the electorate. This means the Council will now move to co-opt a suitable candidate. 

Number 15 Gallery’s late night shopping event is this Thursday 19th June… and many of the Old Coal Yard businesses will be open donating a portion of their takings from the whole day to the Prostate Project.

Visit the Man Van!

From 4pm till 8pm the charity will be providing simple finger prick blood tests (for £40) plus advice and support in their Man Van.

If you have a prostate you should test from the age of 50, and if you have a family history of prostate, ovarian, or breast cancer, or you are black, you should test from 45 as you are at higher risk.

If picked up early, it is much easier to treat and manage so early diagnosis is key. We look forward to seeing you and thank you for your support.

For more info visit: https://www.pth.org.uk/news-and-events/events/upcoming-events/bramley-open-gardens*/

I would like to use our village website to thank all those villagers who contributed to a generous leaving gift and signed card following my departure as a Hambledon Parish councillor after 24 years, the last four as Chair.

As many will know, I decided a year ago that it was time to step down, knowing that we have a strong and well-organised parish council with dedicated councillors and an extremely capable clerk.

My resignation took effect at the May AGM earlier this month, when the card and wine vouchers wine were presented to me by deputy Alison Scott-Bishop.

Following my departure, Alison was voted in as the new chair and Robin McKeith as deputy. A vacancy now exists to replace me as a councillor and Clerk Catherine Russell has started the necessary legal process with Waverley Borough Council. If any villager is interested in applying, please contact Catherine at [email protected] and she can explain what to do.

The photographs show Alison presenting me with my gift and card (above) and my final meeting at the village hall with parish council colleagues, from left to right Andy Hinde, Alison, Robin, myself, Simon Rhodes, Catherine, and Sean Sinnott, with our Ward County Councillor Kevin Deanus and Ward Waverley councillor Michael Goodridge. Missing from the line-up is parish councillor Jude Milan and Waverley Ward councillor Jane Austin.

It has been really rewarding to have been a parish councillor and I have reflected on this in more detail in a short article in the June edition of Hambledon Parish Magazine. If you are not a subscriber, copies are available in the village shop. Details of council, Agendas and Minutes etc, can be found on the Parish Council pages on this website

Thank you to the people of Hambledon for supporting the parish council over the years and making my time there so fulfilling.

He was, quite literally, the spy who came in from the cold.

Not the fictional one created by John le Carré in his novel of the same name, later turned in to an award-winning film starring Richard Burton and Claire Bloom.

The one sitting huddled by the inglenook fireplace at the Merry Harriers on a chilly winter’s day was a genuine Cold War spy whose escape to the West was as daring as any espionage book plot – a Russian KGB colonel turned double agent.

It’s hard to believe that this year Oakhurst Cottage is celebrating 40 years since it first opened as a museum.

This little labourer’s cottage, set in the edge of the woodland just off the cricket green, has been owned by the National Trust since 1954. It was given to them by the Allfrey sisters, Vera Margaret and Beatrice Evelyn, along with a number of other cottages in the village. The sisters had originally acquired them to save tenants from eviction. When these were passed to the Trust, it was upon the condition that they were ‘not let to well-to-do people’. At the time the tenants were Ted and Elsie Jeffery, who lived there until Ted’s death in 1983.