Reigate's horses

Visitors to Reigate might be unaware of its equine history. There isn't a single horse or even a donkey alive in the central part of the town nowadays, whereas there were several at the stables in Reigate's Priory Park as recently as forty years ago.

There is actually a rather high class wooden rocking horse which has been used as the symbol for Reigate Priory Museum since it was founded in the 1970s. The museum is open during school term times on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons, and additionally for special occasions such as Heritage Weekend in September each year. At the top of the grand staircase is the rocking horse which used to belong to Mr Clifford Price, former headmaster of Holmesdale School and Reigate Priory School. It was adapted from a fairground horse.

The unique notebook illustrated is one I had made as a gift for CHASE children's hospice.

This second photograph shows the 2010 remains of the beautiful old thatched stables looking from Park Lane with the Priory Park and hills in the background. This is where Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother visited many of her champion racehorses who were trained here over the years. Surrey County Council is responsible for the site. My mother wrote in her book, Discovering Reigate Priory: "In 1997 the buildings were sold for conversion into desirable homes" but there have been no signs of developments since then except decay, neglect and arson.

Reigate Priory's ancient horse ponds were just by the new Pavilion, (now covered up); 6 strong horses were needed to pull carriages up Reigate Hill; do you know about the famous Reigate Mare, or a horse called Plowman which had won the Prince's Plate at Newmarket, the hunting horse that was so admired by King Louis XV that it was given to him, and Reigate's American Countess Beatty who loved to hunt?

A really big secret

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If you have ever had this magnificent silver cup sitting on your mantelpiece, then either you are in the Board Room of Reigate Grammar School or you were awarded it one year. It's the Mitchiner Cup.

And who was Mitchiner? Well he was a 'notable' Old Reigatian - a star pupil, a top consulting surgeon, a Major-General in the Territorial Army, Honorary Surgeon to George VI and Elizabeth 2 and a lot more besides - until his early death aged 64 in 1952. And the rest of the story is a secret. I am offering to tell people about this 'funny little man' - the methods and medicines that he used with such great success and taught many a student doctor in his time - the lives he saved, secretly, and the confidences he kept, secretly and forever. This was all in the days before methicillin (of MRSA fame) was discovered, just down the road in the village of Betchworth. We are so lucky that there are still a few of his former students still alive who remember him personally, and with such affection and respect.

Great tales!

My presentation is called Bowels & Bullets so if you are interested, do please get in touch. The number is 01737 217013. You would think a huge charitable organisation like the Wellcome Trust would jump at the chance to highlight the lifetime's work of this great chap, but no - they even expected to find it freely available on the internet! No fear. I wasn't born yesterday!

This is what people are saying:

Age Concern: "they loved your talk and were talking about it"

"they would like another talk"

"most impressive slideshow"

Private View: "I am inspired"

"I can hardly wait to tell my daughter all about it this evening"

"It was very nice to have a reminder of the connecting themes"

"Fascinating - definitely makes you think!"