Tongham enhancements

Gill: I am Gill Picken. I was born back in 1944, 1st of April, which accounts for a lot of things. I was brought up on the story of the Tongham raid because my parents were indirectly involved in it, in that one of the incendiary bombs went through the roof of the house next door to us. I always say that the bombing of Tongham was the most exciting thing that's ever happened since the Civil War, when William Waller besieged Farnham Castle in the 1640’s. But Tongham in the 1940’s was quite a rural village and it was quite a small community. Really, I knew everybody, they knew me, the policemen knew who my parents were, so you couldn't get up to much.

During the war, a lot of the Tongham people were obviously involved, the lads had gone off to the war, and the middle-aged people, including my father, were in things like the Home Guard and the fire service. Apparently, the army had a series of munition trains which they moved round the country, so they were handy for wherever they needed to access the munitions, and this train had been parked in the sidings at Tongham Station. My theory is that the Germans were just coming back from a bombing raid on London and had a few bombs to spare, and they were lucky to hit the ammunition train. They dropped some high explosive bombs. I think there were something like 50 trucks, and they struck the end truck, which of course caught fire and started to explode, and then the fire started to travel up the train. There was a lot of speculation as to whether it was a deliberate act or just a lucky strike. You can imagine wartime with the pile of secrecy that goes on about then.

There were consequences, for example, the village school was hit by one of the incendiaries and the roof was taken off in one corner and the windows were blown in. So the school then couldn't be used and they had to have classes in the village hall and the chapel and various other things, and it was a couple of months at least before the school was fit for purpose again. In fact, there was one casualty. In the road which runs, or the lane which runs parallel to the station yard, there was a family called Friday. Little Wilfred Friday, who I think was only 12, heard all the explosions, opened the back door to see what was happening, and got hit by a piece of flying shrapnel. The really sad thing about that is that the Friday’s had one other son, and he's on the Tongham War Memorial because he was in the Navy and he was killed in the Second World War, so they lost both their sons due to the Second World War.

Well, if the whole thing had gone up, there would definitely have been structural damage in the village. I'm not an expert on high explosives, but 50 trucks burning and exploding and sending out shrapnel and unexploded bombs and God knows what. There would have been structural damage. Obviously, the fire brigade were called out and the ARP and all the other people. There was a great rescue operation going on because people had to be moved out of surrounding cottages. The two rail women who won the George medal - one saw the fire and cycled out here, summoned his mate, and they started one by one to uncouple these trucks and push them to safety. Apparently, they wanted to request an engine, but an engine couldn't be found, so it all had to be done manually. George Leach and George Keen, as I say, won the George Medal for their bravery, and it's quite ironic that they've got the kudos. There were two other army personnel who were also involved. Warren Officer Harrison was one of them. And they also got the George Medal, but they didn't get the accolades that the civilians got, whether because they were in the military and therefore it was deemed that it was their job, it was their duty to do it rather than be as volunteers. But there were other people involved. I mean, there was the local fire brigade, the Red Cross nurses were involved because they were down there helping to comfort people who had to be moved from their houses. It was a combined effort, you know, in the best blitz spirit. As I said, it's the most exciting thing that's happened in Tottenham for centuries.

Graham: I'm Graham Harrison and my grandfather was Alfred Harrison who was seconded from the military to the fire service in 1940 from Aldershot and responded to an incident in Tongham and I'll read you the sequence of events.

22nd of the 8th 1940, fire believed to be at Tongham, observed from a command fire station.

00:40 hours, telephone call from control ordering brigade to stand by as ammunition train reported on fire in Tongham. They think it was a Dornier bomber that was in the Aldershot vicinity, dropped his bombs and got lucky.

00:45 hours, brigade arrived at scene of fire, a train well alight, three or four trucks burning and the Auxiliary fire service sheltering from explosions. Brigade advised by officer in charge to return to camp as nothing can be done to save the train.

01:05 hours, Sergeant Lloyd and myself inquire of military officer as to exact contents of train. I believe the military officer to be the 4th recipient of the George Medal. Informed that 520 tonnes of explosives were on the train. So that would have been mixed munitions from anything from aircraft bombs to artillery shells to whatever an army would need to supply itself was on that train. Sergeant Lloyd and myself approached train and came to the conclusion that several trucks could be saved if help could be obtained. Sergeant Lloyd remained on the track. I ran for assistance. On arrival with fire crew, I called for volunteers. and two civilians stepped forwards. I believe those two civilians to be George Keen and George Leach. I proceeded to train and started to uncouple the trucks, pushing them clear. After about 10 or 15 trucks had been moved, a small party of troops arrived, which would have been the Home Guard. I assisted 6 in total. Eventually 45 trucks were pushed clear. Sergeant Lloyd and myself proceeded forwards to the guard's quarters to see if anything could be done there. Found windows in Pullman carriage, all shattered and no sign of guard. Returned to fire engine and prepared to return to camp. Heard a personnel shouting that a house in the village was on fire, so proceeded with brigade to extinguish the fire caused by incendiary bomb with engine and first aid.

So for that work there, Granddad and his men was awarded the George Medal, which is a fantastic thing, which is the highest non-combatant gallantry medal that can be awarded. It's still awarded today. Granddad's would have been one of the first medals because it was early in the war. The history of the whole thing is so important, and the fact is, if that train and the munitions had exploded, it would have taken an awful lot Tongham with it and an awful lot of people. So brave actions, took place.

So I've got here the extract from the London Gazette dated the 25th of the 3rd1941 to Regimental Sergeant Major A Harrison, and it says, the King has been graciously pleased to approve the award of the George Medal for conspicuous gallantry in carrying out a very hazardous work in a very brave manner. It's interesting how with my granddad's medal, it seems to be the only one that's in existence. The others, unfortunately, are, you know, just lost to history, which is a real shame. So it's so important that the work with the benches that you're doing, the history is very important, but also the people that are using these benches, young and old, will be interested in nature, will be interested in history. So, whether you're sitting on the bench to admire a butterfly or a bee, or whether you're sitting on that bench to admire the oak and the craftsmanship, or whether you're sitting on that bench and you discover that there's some great local history, it's a fascinating, fantastic project.

Ali: Surrey Hills Arts were really pleased to be involved with developing this pocket park. Our aim is to connect people with nature and to green urban areas with the local community. The fact we've been able to bring art, nature and heritage together in this small space is wonderful and the ability to listen to different voices on each bench really adds to people's experiences sitting here. We ran a competition in Ash Manor School where pupils responded to the nature here through poetry. Let's hear some of their poems.

Olivia: Hi, my name is Olivia and this is my poem called The World is a Colouring Book.
I was sitting on a bench wondering what to write when all I could hear was drilling road works, smelling burgers from the vent and I could feel the dirt clinging into my skin.
I tried to go into a small quiet building but the wright of the pollution yanks me back down, so I stay.
How can I change this?
Then it came to me, The World is a Colouring Book.
Erase the people.
Colour the birds in all shades of blue, pink and purple. 
Erase the cars.
Colour the trees in all shades of green.
Finally, erase the buildings and the potholes and replace them with a fresh bench with wildlife scurrying round.

Sonnie: Hi, I'm Sonnie and this is my poem Wings of Glass.
Munch, munch, munch.
Cassie Caterpillar crawled along the leaves.
Many tiny, fluffy legs like little brushes, nibbling on olive edges in the summer warm breeze.
Huff, puff, huff.
Up she climbed, like a paintbrush along a leafy canvas.
Nestled up in an umber home, wrapped in silk, she slept alone, dreaming in a silver-stone dome.
Crack, crack, crack.
Tiny glass-spun rings unfurling in the sun.
Colour shimmering, Cassie's journey has come.
Fluttering freely without a care, glass rings glistening everywhere.
From grindy grub to sky so wide, beauty of a butterfly, she flaps to the sky.

Ben:  Today we're sat in Tongham surrounded by planting that was designed not just for people, but for insects, birds and smaller lives that we usually overlook. What you're hearing now is a result of a project that brought together planting, design and local young people to create a space that works as a series of micro habitats, from pollinator friendly plants to the gabions beneath the benches that are already providing shelter for beetles and other invertebrates. Today we're talking about why small green spaces in urban areas matter, how planting for pollinators actually works in practice and what simple changes we all can make, whether we have a garden, a balcony or just a bit of pavement.

Bill: I am Bill Downey. I am the branch chair of the Surrey and South West London branch of Butterfly Conservation. I also run what's known as the Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey. I'm also part of the Surrey Biodiversity Working Group and the Surrey Nature Partnership, which looks at the creation of new local nature reserves.

Ferozah: I'm Ferozah and I work for Surrey Wildlife Trust. I'm a Team Wilder Engagement Officer, which means I work in the education team working with schools and local communities to take action for nature. One of the schools we're working quite closely with is Ash Manor, and they've been taking action here at Tongham Pocket Park, and let's see if you can spot any of the things they've done.

Ben: When people hear urban wildlife, they often imagine big parks. So why do small green interventions matter so much?

Bill: Well because I suppose basically, we need every bit that we can get. I mean, I've looked at that space in Tongham. It's basically a kind of a walkthrough, isn't it, from the road through to the estate, and you'd say it's actually quite an unpromising space, but the fact is it's the kind of little forgotten places which are so important in nature. It very often isn't the sort of the big set pieces. It is the kind of the small, forgotten, underappreciated places which are very, very important. And the other big advantage of them is that if you've got enough of them, then you have connectivity. You know, this is what we're relying on to provide connectivity across the landscape. which is very, very important for species. I mean, particularly inverts, which can be quite sedentary. Each little space if it's managed for nature, that's something which can be really, really important.

Ben: We were talking about pollinator-friendly planting. What does that actually mean and how does that look in practice?

Bill: This is a big issue. I do a lot of talks on gardening for wildlife and a lot of those are to kind of horticultural societies, and they go well up to a point, until I actually start to talk about the plants which are of real benefit to butterflies and also to moths and to other inverts. What you have to do is you have to distinguish between nectar sources and larval food plants. So, if you are growing nectar sources, then there's a great variety of plants which you can grow. I mean, obviously native plants are not plants which have been, you know, fiddled around too much with. However, if you really, really want to support butterflies and moths, you have to provide the larval food plants, which are the plants which they use to breed on, because they've all evolved in conjunction with our native wildflowers. However, gardeners will be much more inclined to see those as weeds. So the sort of things which you need to be growing to really, really help butterflies and moths are things like letting grass grow long, the sort of common species, the browns, the meadow butterflies, will use this long grass to breed on. Things like birdsfoot trefoil, which is a common plant, nettles growing in the sun, which is the food plant for things like the small tortoiseshell and the peacock butterflies, The cabbage family - now gardeners obviously do like their cabbages, but you can grow nasturtiums, and that's what the species of white butterflies will use. Things like a cuckoo flower, otherwise known as lady's smock, or garlic mustard, which are common hedgerow plants. Blackthorn, blackthorn is very, very important, and it's the food plant for a rare butterfly, but it's also really good cover for birds. It really is nasty stuff, but it's very, very important. Buckthorn, which is the food plant for the brimstone butterfly,  so if you're growing hedges, you include some buckthorn and some blackthorn in there. And then you can also grow things like disease-resistant elms, which support this rare butterfly. Well, it never used to be rare, but it has become very rare because of the ravages of Dutch elm disease. And then things like oak, if you've got oaks in your garden, things like ivy. So those are kind of the common butterflies. I mean, the thing about nectar source is that butterflies will use any type of nectar. They're really not fussy. What they really, really like is dandelions. The other thing which has to be said is buddleia. People think, oh, well, I want to do something for butterflies, let's put a buddleia into the garden. Now, a buddleia should be recognised for what it is, which is a non-native invasive. All you've got to do is take a train journey to see just how invasive it is. It's a nectar source. It is a good nectar source, undeniably, but it's not a larval food plant. So it's not actually helping butterflies. They will just go and find some other source. But we spend a long time, our conservation group, just removing as much buddleia as we possibly can. But if people do have a buddleia, then what they have to do is that they have to chop it down at the end of each season to stop it spreading, because it absolutely spreads like wildfire, and it's a real problem.

Ferozah: My colleague Christa at the Surrey Wildlife Trust worked quite closely with Surrey County Council to ensure that all of the planting will be native, and I think that was quite an important step to ensure in the design of the pocket park. She made sure that happened, which is quite cool.

Ben: That is great. That's actually, I think, one of the main things we can be doing. Why is it important to plant for insects first rather than just how things look? Is there things that we can do for the invertebrates that isn't just planting?

Ferozah: So what is really cool about the design is the gabions that are being put underneath the benches. Those are the wire cages that are filled with stones. Those structures are quite unique and they provide this structural habitat, and what's cool about them is because of the way the stones are put in, it provides really good drainage and really good soil aeration as well for the health of the plants, and they're quite versatile. You can do it in your garden, and you can fill it with whatever you want, not just stones, you can put dead wood in, you can put even things like pine cones in, and all of those different materials will attract different types of species. With the way you put the stones in, it creates these quite dark nooks and crannies that many invertebrates need, and these will act as shelter and also overwintering sites for things like beetles and wood lice and spiders and solitary bees. That will recreate the secluded sort of sheltered conditions they would find in a more natural environment, and this will then create a wider food chain. So the things that will eat these insects, like toads or then birds, it's exciting because in quite a small space like the pocket park, with all of these different things that have been added to the design. You're creating this wonderful ecosystem and hopefully people at home can realise as much as we want to protect our massive beautiful nature reserves, by creating these really small micro habitats with different things that support different types of wildlife, we can overcome the effects of habitat fragmentation and help species as they travel across Surrey, they can have pit stops where they can rest and shelter and it will help species travel across the county, which is quite cool. When people are sat on the bench, if you're sat on the bench right now, you can look down and you can see this really amazing thriving wildlife going on right beneath your feet, which will be quite nice.

Ben: You mentioned earlier about keeping your grass long. Is there any helpful advice we can give to our budding gardeners that might be sat on the benches about when is a good or bad time to be cutting your grass? What should we be doing with leaf litter? Is there anything like along those lines?

Bill: Leave it. You've no doubt heard about No Mow May. Well, extend No Mow May until about September, you know, do the grass cut in September, and you know the most important thing is you just have to be more tolerant of untidiness. That's the thing. You just have to be more tolerant of it because long grass is going to provide you with more insect life. It's certainly going to provide you with more mammals, that will bring in the, you know, the small birds. But that's what you need. You need that focus on the bottom of the food chain. That's the really crucial thing because I mean, obviously inverts are the base of the food chain and everything else runs on that. It's one of the reasons why, bird life has declined so much is because they just don't have the insect life to feed to their young, you know, providing a variety of habitats. You have meadow habitat, you have edge habitat, you have some trees and shrubs, maybe a pond, of course, is a brilliant thing. And what we're really looking for is a mosaic of habitats. I mean, other things, bare ground is very important, you know, bare ground and stones. I mean, I go back to butterflies, of course, because that's my subject. But what they particularly need is areas in which to bask, because they have to raise their body temperature in order to fly, so they need to have areas, which are actually warmer than the surrounding. You'll see butterflies basking on walls or on stones or something like that. So bare ground is very, very important. And then there's a number of things which, you know, you just do not do, so please, do not use pesticides or insecticides because it's such a problem. Another thing of course is not concrete over your front garden, and ditto in your back garden. Please do not put down artificial grass which is just becoming increasingly prevalent. Then it's just the whole stuff around, just not being obsessively tidy. But, if you really, really want to support nature, you don't sort of get to the autumn and think, must tidy the garden, and you kind of put it to bed for the winter. Whereas in actual fact, what you're doing is you're destroying all the kind of the overwintering habitat for lots of kind of little critters and bugs and stuff like that. So there's an awful lot of things which you can do. Gardens are really important because they're a huge area. The total area of gardens in the country is greater than all the sort of the triple SI’s and national nature reserves. So it's a huge, huge area. And the fact is that it's the one space where we have some control over. We can actually do what we want with our gardens. So people have to decide really what sort of garden do they want? What do they want to use it for? It's really sort of embracing untidiness. But within that, you can still do something which looks very beautiful. There's this whole sort of movement around wildflower gardening. I think also the monitoring element is very important because you can monitor all sorts of things with apps now. So we have an iRecord Butterflies app and everything which is recorded into that goes straight through into our verification group. So that's verified and it will go into the national records. So that's all recorded nationally. That's important because we need to know where things are.

Ferozah: The Surrey Wildlife Trust has a range of monitoring equipment available that you can borrow free of charge. So if you do want to look for moths, we have a moth trap we can borrow. Or you can borrow things like looking at soil and all sorts of different techniques so if you are interested, check out on our website and you can come and borrow some equipment. So if you type in wildlife recording kits from the Surrey Wildlife Trust, you'll be able to borrow all sorts of different recording kits and go out and see what's out there and you might find some surprising things and you'll be able to let the different organisations that look after the different species know what's there. That's really important because by monitoring what's happening over time, we're able to notice the trends of what's happening. We're able to know if what we're doing is even helping because that's important to know. Is the things we've put into the pocket part, which I'm sure we're very hopeful that they will. But what's coming in? Is there anything that's new that's come into the area because of our interventions? So it's super important that we have that data as well.

Ben: These spaces create a really invaluable opportunity for kids and students to also get involved, and I know that you've been doing some work with a local school. Do you want to tell us a little bit more about that?

Ferozah: So I've been working with the local school, which is Ash Manor School, and we've been taking action for nature both in the school grounds and in the local community, and this is part of our Wilder Schools project, which aims to improve students' mental health and well-being by increasing their connection to nature. We've been working with year 7 and 8 students from Ash Manor, and they're just a brilliant bunch of young people. They're so engaged and they're so focused on taking action for nature. When I've introduced these concepts to them, they've picked it up so quickly and they've been a delight to work with. Something we've been doing in this space is we've worked with Ben to create a sculpture, which is an insect hotel, and each student has made a small part of it and it's come together to create this wonderful habitat. So there'll be one in the pocket park and one in the school. So that will be that really great habitat for our insects. The students have also worked to plant into the pocket park as well, so they're taking part in the planting. I think it's really important because we've really thought about our role in the wider community, not just what we're doing in school, and it creates a sense of ownership and a bond with their local green spaces. When you work with secondary school students, it's quite fun because they're a little bit more independent. They're going out into their local area. They tell me all the time about going to the canal and the wildlife they spotted or when they go fishing, what they see there. And if they put a bird feeder up, what the birds they've noticed have been eating in their feeders. So it gives them this opportunity to make a difference in their community. and hopefully create that bond. It's nice because the park will then reflect the community that helped create it, which is really cool. In the school itself, we've done a really great range of different things, and it's not just been what I want to do. They've worked with me and they've created their vision for nature for their school ground. So we've done all the things mentioned already, which is creating no mow zones, and we've installed a bucket pond and pollinator pit stops, and we've made bird boxes and bird feeders. We've created a meadow. These are all quite small changes that we've put across the school to help species move across Surrey.

Ben: Giving people agency is really key, I think, because it makes something as abstract as, plant more trees, become a little bit more concrete and practical. If someone was to live in a flat or only has a tiny outdoor space, what would be the simplest thing that they could do to help their local invertebrates.

Ferozah: Well, the first thing I'd do is flip that on the head because something we've spoken about with the students is actually the value of green spaces and nature for their mental health and well-being. We know the colour green is shown to improve mood and we know spending 20 minutes a day outside in nature can improve your mental health. So firstly, just learning to use that as a resource and that's for people of all ages and that will hopefully make you want to take action for nature. If you're in a small space you can do really small actions. You can go out to your local community, join a volunteering group, take action for nature with a wonderful group of people, or you can have small pollinator pit stops in your flat. You can make small differences. If you're living in a flat and there's a communal area of green space, can you talk to the relevant authorities and install no mow zones and think about the different types of habitats you can create. Everyone has agency. We sometimes feel like there's nothing we can do to help nature and everything is looking a bit depressing because species are on the decline and things like that. But actually, there's wonderful communities and wonderful organisations working all across the country. When we talk about access to nature and people not being able to use their green spaces, it's really important that we find different ways to get people involved. And if that's through art or through gardening or through just going on simple walks, we have to think of alternative ways to make nature more inclusive. And it can't just be one thing for one group of people that we've been doing in Surrey for hundreds of years because there's amazing work that's been happening, but we know it's not enough. Any alternative ways we can get people to enjoy the space. If you just live in Tongham and this is a spot you take a 5 minute break from your normal walk, like enjoy the space and think about it, about how this space makes you feel. Does it relax you? Do you find joy in nature? And just hold on to that, I think, and take that forward.