Runnymede Remembered

12/09/2025

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The 85th anniversary of the Battle of Britain is being commemorated in a flag raising event at the Civic Centre in Addlestone on Monday.

The date 15 September 1940 is usually seen as the day when the battle in the skies over the south east reached its peak.
 
Our short flag raising event will be at the flag pole at 10am and will be led by the Mayor.

If remembering the Battle of Britain and the air and ground crews who fought, as well as those local people who died, please do join us.
 
North Surrey has a strong connection to the RAF in the Second World War. The Hawker Hurricane was first flown in prototype form at Brooklands in Weybridge in November 1935. Altogether, 3,012 Hurricanes were produced at Brooklands – one-fifth of the total built. Those Hurricanes, the pilots who flew and ground crews who maintained them made a significant contribution to victory in the Battle of Britain alongside the Spitfire.
 
Photos at the event will be taken and shared on our social media platforms.

Our photo in this post shows Hawker Hurricane mkI P3717 whuch was built at Brooklands.

08/05/2025

As the nation commemorates 80 years since the end of the Second World War in Europe, we remember both the military and civilian Fall of the Borough

Roll of Honour of Military and Civilian Fallen from the Borough of Runnymede 1939-1945

07/05/2025

On the eve of the VE Day commemorations - here's what happened in the area 80 years ago

19/08/2024

Last week there were various news reports about the discovery of the wreck of HMS Hawke in the North Sea 70 miles east of the Scottish coast (see https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9qg4z1149eo). There was a Runnymede connection through one of the survivors, Harry Cecil Thomas Evitt.

HMS Hawke, a Royal Navy cruiser, sank in less than eight minutes with the loss of 524 lives after she was torpedoed by a German U-boat on 15 October 1914. Harry was one of 70 survivors who were rescued by a Norwegian steamer and landed at Aberdeen on the following day.

Harry was born in Brixton in 1879 and was an errand boy before he joined the Royal Navy in 1897, serving all over the world in a career ending in 1922. His posting to HMS Hawke in June 1914 was his first as a gunnery warrant officer. He survived another sinking in 1917 while on board HMS Ben-my-Chree - a seaplane carrier destroyed by Turkish artillery while she was anchored offshore in the Eastern Mediterranean. Harry was mentioned in dispatches for his involvement in that action. He received his commission when he was recalled to the Royal Navy on the outbreak of the Second World War. He served in home waters throughout the war.
Harry married his wife Bertha at the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in Chertsey in 1906 and he became a Methodist lay preacher there. He and Bertha had a son and two daughters. They moved to Ottercroft, Chobham Road, Ottershaw in 1934 and Harry became a churchwarden and lay preacher at Christchurch. He took a keen interest in Ottershaw’s local affairs and activities, notably with the Old Folks Club and the British Legion. He served as a councillor on Chertsey Council for a short time before his death in 1959. In its obituary notice The Surrey Advertiser recorded “With his jovial and friendly disposition, added to his keen sense of public service, he gained the esteem and affection of Ottershaw’s residents and will be greatly missed.”

Article by Jim Knight

06/06/2024

Remembering Private Ernest Newsome of New Haw Road, Addlestone, killed by shellfire on D-Day, aged 25, and the other 13 Runnymede Borough residents who lost their lives in the subsequent days, weeks and months of the Normandy campaign. Lest We Forget

04/06/2024

CAN YOU HELP?
Since completing our First World War project in 2018, Chertsey Museum has been working on a similar Second World War project. We are currently compiling a Roll of Honour for the Borough’s Fallen using the Commonwealth War Graves database, local war memorials, and Surrey Herald newspaper articles, as we did for the Great War. However, there are significantly fewer published photographs of those who died during the Second World War, and we would dearly love to add more images to the Roll so these men and women can have a face to their name. So, if you are related to a Runnymede resident who died during the War and have a photograph of them to add to the Runnymede Roll of Honour, please get in touch

24/07/2023

Do you have a connection with Private Albert William Bensley from Chertsey who was killed in action in The Netherlands in February 1945? Or with a Mrs Chittey (or possibly Chitty) who lived in Firfield Road, Addlestone in 1952? If so, please get in touch with us.
We have been contacted by a Dutch historian Henk Penders who is researching the soldiers who lost their lives during the liberation of his region towards the end of the Second World War. Henk has discovered an article in The Surrey Herald and Middlesex News on 12 December 1952 which links Private Bensley and Mrs Chittey and wants to find out more.
Henk has created a website about each of the fallen soldiers.