BRAMSHOTT and Liphook Preservation Society celebrated its 50th anniversary with a party at the Millennium Centre’s Heritage Centre.

It was attended by a number of civic dignitaries including East Hampshire District Council chairman Lynn Evans and her consort, David Evans.

Preservation society chairman Adrian Bird and president Tony Rudgard welcomed a host of supporters, which included members of the committee past and present, as well as volunteers along with district councillors Angela Glass, Bill Mouland, county councillor Floss Mitchell and parish council chairman Jane Ives.

During the evening’s celebrations, Roger Newman, who was second acting-chairman of the society in 1968, presented Adrian and Heritage Centre volunteer Chris Sibley with the last surviving plate from a dinner service, dating back to 1815, which was on the wall at The Royal Anchor pub, in the village centre, and which will now become part of the centre’s local memorabilia collection.

On display were facts and photographs of the last 50 years, starting in 1967 when the society was formed and chaired by RD Payne, presenting the history of the parish.

The first local history exhibition was held at The Anchor Hotel in 1968, when alarms were raised by then chairman Sydney Carver over Hampshire County Council’s plans to widen Haslemere Road as well as the deteriorating condition of the Elizabethan gatehouse at Bramshott Place – now part of the entrance to the exclusive gated retirement development.

The timeline revealed that in 1976, Midlands Farm, on Longmoor Road, was identified as the new secondary school site – which is now home to Bohunt School and its new sixth form, which officially opens next month.

The restoration of the Radford Bridge aqueduct in 1982 led directly to the forming of the River Wey Trust, championed by Adrian Bird.

In 1986, Laurence Giles, whose extensive files form a large part of the Heritage Centre archives, published a book entitled ‘Bramshott Liphook and the Canadians,’ followed by several more, and the society made representations regarding the proposed A3 bypass route, which was given the go-ahead in 1989, with work starting in 1991.

The unforgettable storm of 1987 caused widespread destruction of trees around the village, in particular in the sunken lanes at Chiltley and Bramshott.

The completion and opening of the A3 bypass in 1992 allowed Liphook’s Square to be “re-posessed” and an award-winning enhancement scheme to be started by Liphook In Bloom in 1997.

The same year, Sainsbury’s bought the OSU site to build a supermarket, community centre as well as a large housing development.

The society launched the Bramshott Lanes project and accepted the offer of space for a Heritage Centre at the Millennium Centre, with building work starting in 2000.

Two years later, the society proposed inclusion of the whole parish in the forthcoming South Downs National Park, which faced opposition by East Hampshire District Council and was rejected by a government inspector.

In 2004, Laurence Giles donated his entire archive material to the society, which has since become the backbone of local history, containing more than 10,000 documents of information.

In 2007, work started on the A3 Hindhead Tunnel, which was completed in 2011 as part of the four mile dual-carriageway bypass replacing the last remaining key stretch of single-carriageway on the London to Portsmouth Road.

In 2009, Bramshott Place retirement village opened on the old King George Hospital site, with the newly restored Tudor gatehouse at its entrance, and a year later the South Downs National Park designation finally came into effect, including only small sections of the village.

After a successful application for funding, the Heritage Centre was launched at the Millennium Centre, in Ontario Way, in 2011, and short-listed for a BIFA Award national “best of”.

One of Liphook’s oldest pubs, The Green Dragon on London Road, caught fire in 2012 and suffered devastating destruction, re-opening a year later after extensive repairs were carried out to the listed building.

The society also helped compile the Bramshott and Liphook Village Design statement and the Parish Plan, which is now being used as a reference document for the Neighbourhood Development Plan which will help shape’s Liphook’s history of another 100 years.

In 2014, the Heritage Centre documented the rush of planning applications in the parish, including Bohunt Park inside the SDNP boundary, Chiltley Lane’s chicken farm, and Lowsley Farm, which was given permission by EHDC to meet its allocated housing target – as well as celebrating 20 years of the Bramshott Lane Project in 2016, with a tree ring-dating spectacular.

The post of president was created in 1971 and held by Ian Campbell QC until 1977, when Ann Stanley took it on. She was followed by Eric Jelley in 1998, who retired and handed over to Tony Rudgard, in 2013, and who is still acting in the role today.

Former chairs include RD Payne in 1967, Roger Newman and Sydney Carver in 1968 – the latter held the post until Mr Bird took over in 1977.

Currently, the Heritage Centre features displays on the 100th anniversary of Flora Thompson coming to Liphook, her literary works and involvement in the post office, as well as 500 years of Royal Mail and the 100th anniversary of WWI based on local memories.

lThe centre is open on Monday and Friday (10am-noon), Wednesdays (2pm-4pm), and every second Saturday of the month (10am-1pm).

For more details, call 01428 727275, e-mail [email protected], or visit liphookheritage.org.uk.