Great Christmas Giveaway! 

Saturday 18 December 2004

The Great Christmas Give-Away

Dressed for Christmas, the Friends of Brightwells “gave away” the contents of a large, empty Christmas box, empty but for leaflets explaining that Waverley’s hoped for £20 million dividend (from the East Street Development project) is fast disappearing -- and our heritage with it!

The East Street redevelopment affects not just the Redgrave Theatre but Brightwells Tennis and Bowling Clubs too.

Brightwells was bought by Farnham Urban District Council in the 1920s for the community and has been in continual use since then for public leisure and recreation.

Now, the future of Brightwells Bowling Club and Green, Tennis Club and Courts is uncertain and it is planned to demolish the Redgrave Theatre. Moreover, Waverley has allowed the Grade II Listed Brightwell House to deteriorate and suggestions are being made that it should also go.

(More on this...)

All this - the wonderful recreational and cultural facilities at the heart of Farnham - is at risk so that Waverley Borough Council can cash in on the commercial potential of the site. And yet, and yet... the much-vaunted bonanza is likely to be much less than the £20 million that was originally claimed: sources now suggest as little as £3 million. What a give-away.

Putting a brave face on it: the Friends of Brightwells demonstrating outside Sainsbury's

Contact Friends of Brightwells: David Wylde on 01252 722193 or

Email: cooperstudio@mac.corn