Notes from the Past February 2023
In February 1963 the village was coming out of the deep freez with spring just around the corner. Looking back in time, in 1883 it was reported that the choir was given new robes thanks to a donation of £9-19-0 (RPI £959.38) from Mr Greenwood and the vicar was given a set of parish OS maps for anyone to look at. The school concert in 1893 raised £2-18-0 (RPI £295.51) for Horsham Cottage Hospital.
In 1903 the village received a letter from Mr Watson, a church warden of Southwater who had moved to South Africa, saying he was happy but life was rough within 24 miles of Cape Town. There was a big turn out for thefox hunt meet at the Cock Inn on the 3rd of February and the stage hunt meet a week later.
In 1913 the flower show committee called its AGM in the parish room. They hoped that all those at the AGM would attend the flower show on August bank holiday. In February 1943 the Southwater Home Guard football team beat the Searchlight Battery based at the bottom of station road by 8-1 at the away game and 10-2 at the home game the followinging week, Squadron Leader William Harvey Hatkin of Southwater was awarded the DFC with bar. Miss W New gave a talk to the WI on personal preparedness for an air raid and recipes for cooking on wartime rations. The village newspaper reported that a Mr Eldon Willington a Canadian Gunner based at Denne Park was the father of a child born to a 17 year old girl from Southwater whom he met at the village hall dances. Because he would not marry her, the court ordered him to pay £1 (RPI £36.16) per week for maintenance until the child was 16 years old.
In 1953 the youth club was lookingfor anyone who could help teach the younger members of the community to dance on a Friday night in the village hall. The village sent £7 to the flood relief fund . In May 1953 the village was looking forward to HM Queen’s coronation. The vicar was looking at ways to mark the coronation as a lasting legacy in the village. He hoped that the village could fund a flag pole, water to the cemetery plus a seat and flowering shrubs and trees in the cemetery.