Heyshott Church - August 1995 Crooks steal church registers Church raiders who thought they had seized a chest of holy treasures made off instead with baptism, marriage and burial registers going back 200 years. The theft has baffled the rector, the Rev. Chris Boxley. He said "I can't imagine what they would do with the registers. They are not at all saleable". "The chest they were in isn't worth much either. The thieves obviously thought there must be something valuable in it." But Mr. Boxley says the registers are of value to the village & families whose important events they record. They are the original records although some are held as photocopies at the County Record Office. One of the documents was a significant link with Heyshotts history. It records the marriage of Jane Fisher-Unwin, daughter of Richard Cobden who also worshipped at the church. The registers, some of them in copperplate handwriting, are bound in book form. Villagers were asked to keep vigilant in case they had been dumped in the area.

The Rev. Chris Boxley with the only remaining record of services after the raid on Heyshott church photo and part of the article from Midhurst and Petworth Observer 24 August 1995 To date the registers are still missing...April 2024

Heyshott women in Race For Life 2007 Left to right: Donna Dudman, Kate Dudman, Anna Dixon and Trudy Dudman

- KATE -   KATHERINE DUDMAN 22 Jan.1964 - 16 Sep.2008   After a long brave battle with her illness Kate passed away peacefully at home on Tuesday 16 September 2008   Funeral at Heyshott Church, Wednesday 24 September.   Our Kate   Every now and then in life we find a special friend together we'd do everything, first at school, then at home never a chance it could end   We used to talk, we used to laugh, we were the very best of friends We thought that's how it would always be But a good thing always ends   We thought of Kate with love today. But thats become nothing new. We thought about her yesterday. And the days before that too.   We think of her in silence. Yet we often speak her name. Now all we have is our memories. And her picture in a frame.   Her memories are our keepsake. With these we'll never be apart. Now God has Our Kate in his keeping. We have her in our heart.   We knew she couldn't stay with us and dreaded her slipping away But we'll all meet up again, on our own special friend day.

Margaret Thatcher visits Canine partners 02 June 2009   Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher arrives to attend the opening of a new Canine Partners training accommodation building at the National Training Centre in Heyshott in West Sussex The former prime minister began to develop an interest in the work of Canine Partners when she was a guest at its charity auction at the Imperial War Museum in London last November. Lady Thatcher performed the official opening ceremony for Bradbury Lodge, which will enable Canine Partners, for the first time, to provide its own on-site training for applicants.

1st Graffham and Heyshott Guides photo- Ms C. Tickner 1st Graffham and Heyshott Guides enjoying lunch in Interlaken 2003 source- https://www.ventureabroad.co.uk

The Hindu - India's National Newspaper Sep 4, 2006 Heyshott Brothers in Gumball Rally Here's a novel idea that two boys from Britain came up with. Two Sussex students are hoping to set a record for economy in the inaugural Student Gumball Rally, which has set out from Dover for Croatia on 3 September. The two students Ben [20] and Max [18] Constanduros from Heyshott, are driving a Toyota Prius, the world's leading hybrid car with perfect student economy of around 65 mpg. source: www.hindu.com read more here

Heyshott Britains walking-stick Centre
by: Bob Constanduros
Surprising though it may seem, almost half of all Britain's walking sticks are supplied from Heyshott. And it's all thanks to Sammy Frankham and his team who send as many as 200,000 sticks per year to Britain's 2 biggest companies.
Actually, Sammy doesn't just supply walking sticks, but also shepherds crooks, umbrella handles, Knob, thumb and hikers sticks. Most of them are in chestnut, but the more expensive are in ash and hazel. A huge proportion of the chestnut sticks go to the National Health Service.
Cuttin sticks' is a well known local job, and Sammy employs 11 cutters who work on mainly Cowdray land, coppicing 3 year old chestnut from September through to April. They also cut 40.000 ash and hazel sticks on the Goodwood estate, these being 5 times more expensive than chestnut and many of them are exported.
Sammy operates out of Fielders Barn, loaned to him by Cowdray, about half a mile north of the village, surrounded by fields in the most idyllic setting. Half of his output goes to Coopers in Godalming who send the sticks to Germany for peeling and bending.
But the other half, which go to Phoenix at Nailsworth in Gloucestershire, are peeled at Fielders. This involves boiling green sticks for half to three quarters of an hour and dry sticks for an hour and a half before peeling the bark from the stick. They're then dried and bundled up. Sammy, his wife Di and the others can peel up to 60 bundles per day and they should finish peeling by mid-June. These sticks are then bent in Gloucester, the knots are touched up, they're then varnished and fitted with metal or rubber terrells. 'They can't get enough of them' says Sammy, who has been cutting and peeling sticks for 28 years now.
He's obviously a leader in his industry - and it's right here in Heyshott.
source:
article St. James, Heyshott Newsletter 1999

Kay Hills   1919 - 2010
Kay Hills was born 1st October 1919 at Madams Farm, Easebourne, close to Henley. In October 1940 aged 21 she married John Hills, raising 3 children, Nancy, James and Peggy. After marrying John they moved to Cranmore Farm, Heyshott, living there for over 50 years. Kay, with her husband, ran a milk round in Heyshott. She was also a governor at Graffham school, a member of the Heyshott Parish Council and Vice President of the WI.
source : Heyshott Newsletter March 2010

Anne Maddocks   October 1911 - October 2006
Anne Maddocks was born in Heyshott, on October 23 1911. Her parents were enthusiastic amateur musicians and by the age of 14 Anne was playing the organ for services at two village churches. In 1942 she was appointed Assistant Organist at Chichester Cathedral by Horace Hawkins who was the cathedral's Organist & Master of the Choristers. She was the first woman in Great Britain to hold such a post in the cathedral. She had perfect pitch and as Hawkins put it, she played Widor's music 'with the master's interpretation'. She gave the first British performance of Poulenc's Organ Concerto in Chichester Cathedral in 1943.
She was married to Morris Maddocks in Chichester Cathedral in 1955. In 1983, she and her husband started the Acorn Christian Healing Foundation. 11 years later, Anne and Morris retired to the Cathedral Close, Chichester where they frequently attended Evensong in the cathedral.
Anne died in October, 2006 and her funeral was in Chichester Cathedral, where Charles Widors Mass was sung.
source : wiki

Vehicles banned from part of South Downs Way
Feb. 01 . 2005
WSCC has imposed a Traffic Regulation Order or 'TRO' banning recreational motor vehicles from the South Downs Way and some associated feeder routes near Graffham. Parts of the track had been reduced to knee deep mud slurry by inappropriate use in wet weather.
A Site of Special Scientific Interest and Scheduled Ancient Monument on the SDW at Heyshott Down, it is reported that log barriers that protected the Neolithic [Stone Age] and Bronze Age site had been pulled away. Motor bikes and 4x4s have carved up the flower rich downland turf and made deep ruts in the prehistoric burial mounds. It is the first TRO imposed by WSCC for over a decade.

The New York Times
Dec.18 1988
Cynthia Mary Elizabeth Parzych, a daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Parzych of New Britain, Conn., and John Anthony Aldren Turner, a son of Dr. and Mrs. Anthony Turner of Heyshott, Sussex, England, were married yesterday in the chapel of Trinity College in Hartford. The Rev. Allan Tull, the Episcopal chaplain at Trinity, performed the ceremony. The bride, a graduate of Trinity, is president of Cynthia Parzych Publishing Inc., book publishers in New York.
 

Thomas Bayley Potter
29 Nov.1817 - 06.Nov.1898
 
Born Polefield, Lancs, son of Sir Thomas Potter & Esther Bayley.
Educated at Rugby School & London University.
Founder of the Union & Emancipation Society, MP for Rochdale from 1865 to 1895.
Died 6 Nov. 1898, aged 80, Oatscroft, Heyshott
Buried 10 Nov. 1898 St. James Churchyard, Heyshott, West Sussex
Founder of the Cobden Club, Heyshott
 
Married twice.
1) Mary Ashton,
daughter of Samuel Ashton and Mary Turner in Hyde Old Chapel, Cheshire on 5 February 1846
2) Helena Hicks,
daughter of John Hicks in St Paul's Church, Lambeth, Surrey on 10 March 1887.