Tiffin School
Tiffin School is a selective boys' grammar school in Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It has specialist status in both the performing languages; the school moved from voluntary aided status to become an Academy School on 1 July 2011. Founded in 1880, Tiffin School now educates 1,058 pupils. Entry into the school is by academic selection, using both a Mathematics test. 1,644 candidates applied for 11+ entry in 2015 for 180 places. Students can apply to join Tiffin for Sixth Form 35-40% of the boys are'new boys', from other schools. Admission to sixth form is based on interview performance. From September 2019, the Sixth Form will admit around 40 girls. Tiffin will remain an all boys’ school from Years 7 to 11; the school colours - red and blue - date from the time of its original foundation in the 17th century. The school's coat of arms with three salmon is based on that of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames; the school motto is Faire Sans Dire which translated from French, means "to do without saying".
The house system was introduced by the Head Thomas Dean in the Autumn term of 1919 and every pupil and teacher is a member of a house throughout their time at the school. There were six houses, named after famous British explorers, but this was increased to eight on 14 March 1947 due to the expansion of the school, it is not known who chose the new names of Churchill and Montgomery, but it is because they were heroes of the time following the Second World War. At the start of the academic year 1964-1965 the number of houses was reduced back to six; the names of the two newest houses were "retained so that their identity was not lost" according to the Tiffinian Magazine, but no reason was given as to why they were joined with Gordon and Kingsley. The boys in the two houses were redistributed among the other houses; the reason for the change was the reduction in the size of the school imposed by the LEA. In 2016 the school added two new houses; each house has a house master, with house captains selected from the Sixth Form each September who are responsible for overall control and organization of house activities throughout the year.
Houses have various officers and other captains for different events. Houses compete annually for the House Trophy, awarded to the winning house at the end of the competition, which consists of academic and sporting events; the house with the highest points score is presented the trophy on Sports Day the Wednesday of the last week of the Summer Term. The name of the winning House and year is recorded on the gallery in the School Hall; the school operates a head boy and prefect system. Boys in the upper sixth are appointed prefects; when on duty, the head boy wears a blue gown and the senior prefects and assistant prefects a red gown. Two prosperous brewers from Kingston and Thomas Tiffin, left money in their wills in 1638 for the education of local people. At first the money was used for scholarships to attend local schools. However, the fund grew through investment returns and additional donations, so by the 1820s nearly 110 children were benefiting from the fund. By 1869, when the charity schools had closed and the money was no longer needed by the Public Secondary School, the charity's trustees proposed to support Kingston Grammar School.
There was a debate until 1872 when it was decided that Kingston Grammar School should receive no more than a quarter of the income from the charity. Plans were therefore drawn up in 1874 for two new schools. A single building by the Fairfield housing both schools was opened in January 1880. In 1929, the Boys' School moved to its present site, in Queen Elizabeth Road near the centre of Kingston, it became a grammar school under the Education Act 1944. The school changed from being voluntary-controlled to being grant-maintained in 1992. On 1 July 2011 the school achieved Academy status. In 1937, a new building was opened for the Girls' School for 480 pupils, they had been in the same building as the Boys' School; the school site has expanded and now has a Sports Centre, Performing Arts Centre, South Building, Judge Lecture Theatre and Learning Resource Centre. The Sports Centre is used for indoor sports activities; the Performing Arts Centre is used for the teaching of Drama, Art and Design and Technology.
The South Building is used for the teaching of Mathematics and Modern Foreign Languages. The Judge Lecture Theatre is used as a lecture theatre for internal classes; the Learning Resource Centre is used as IT suite and career development office. In 2011, an all-weather AstroTurf pitch was erected on part of the old grass field, funded by Jim Dixon and a National Lottery grant; the cricket nets were named the Neil Desai cricket nets in honour of his passing. Over the course of late 2017 and early 2018, a new building attached onto the existing Dempsey Centre was opened; this was funded by the government. An additional £ 250,000 was raised with donations from former teachers. In this building, a new IT room was installed, a brand new canteen and 6 new maths classrooms; the old canteen on this site was subsequently demolished prior to build. This has meant there is less space for on site car parking and recreational play during lunchtimes and breaks. There are further plans to expand the sports changing room of the Sports Ce
British Aerospace Sea Harrier
The British Aerospace Sea Harrier is a naval short take-off and vertical landing/vertical take-off and landing jet fighter and attack aircraft. It first entered service with the Royal Navy in April 1980 as the Sea Harrier FRS1 and became informally known as the "Shar". Unusual in an era in which most naval and land-based air superiority fighters were large and supersonic, the principal role of the subsonic Sea Harrier was to provide air defence for Royal Navy task groups centred around the aircraft carriers; the Sea Harrier served in the Falklands War, the Balkans conflicts. Its usage in the Falklands War was its most high profile and important success, where it was the only fixed-wing fighter available to protect the British Task Force; the Sea Harriers shot down 20 enemy aircraft during the conflict with two lost to enemy ground fire. They were used to launch ground attacks in the same manner as the Harriers operated by the Royal Air Force; the Sea Harrier was marketed for sales abroad, but by 1983 India was the only operator other than Britain after attempts to sell the aircraft to Argentina and Australia proved unsuccessful.
A second, updated version for the Royal Navy was made in 1993 as the Sea Harrier FA2, improving its air-to-air abilities and weapons compatibilities, along with a more powerful engine. The aircraft was withdrawn from service early by the Royal Navy in 2006; the Sea Harrier remained in service for a further decade with the Indian Navy until its retirement in 2016. In the post-war era, the Royal Navy began contracting in parallel with the break-up of the British Empire overseas and the emergence of the Commonwealth of Nations, reducing the need for a larger navy. By 1960, the last battleship, HMS Vanguard, was retired from the Navy, having been in service for less than fifteen years; the biggest sign of the new trend towards naval austerity came in 1966, when the planned CVA-01 class of large aircraft carriers destined for the Royal Navy was cancelled. During this time, requirements within the Royal Navy began to form for a vertical and/or short take-off and landing carrier-based interceptor to replace the de Havilland Sea Vixen.
Afterward, the first V/STOL tests on a ship began with a Hawker Siddeley P.1127 landing on HMS Ark Royal in 1963. A second concept for the future of naval aviation emerged in the early 1970s as the first of a new class of "through deck cruisers" was planned; these were carefully and politically designated as cruisers to deliberately avoid the term "aircraft carrier", in order to increase the chances of funding from a hostile political climate against expensive capital ships, they were smaller than the sought CVA-01. These ships were ordered as the Invincible class in 1973, are now popularly recognised as aircraft carriers. Upon their construction, a ski-jump was added to the end of the 170-metre deck, enabling the carriers to operate a small number of V/STOL jets; the Royal Air Force's Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR1s had entered service in April 1969. A navalised variant of the Harrier was developed by Hawker Siddeley to serve on the upcoming ships. In 1975, the Royal Navy ordered 24 Sea Harrier FRS.1 aircraft, the first of which entered service in 1978.
During this time Hawker Siddeley became part of British Aerospace through nationalisation in 1977. By the time the prototype Sea Harrier was flown at Dunsfold on 20 August 1978 the order had been increased to 34; the Sea Harrier was declared operational in 1981 on board the first Invincible class ship HMS Invincible, further aircraft joined the ageing HMS Hermes aircraft carrier that year. Following their key role in the 1982 Falklands War, several lessons were learned from the aircraft's performance, which led to approval for an upgrade of the fleet to FRS.2 standard to be given in 1984. The first flight of the prototype took place in September 1988 and a contract was signed for 29 upgraded aircraft in December that year. In 1990, the Navy ordered 18 new-build FA2s, at a unit cost of around £12 million, four further upgraded aircraft were ordered in 1994; the first aircraft was delivered on 2 April 1993. The Sea Harrier is a subsonic aircraft designed to fill strike and fighter roles, it features a single Rolls-Royce Pegasus turbofan engine with two intakes and four vectorable nozzles.
It has two landing gear on the fuselage and two outrigger landing gear on the wings. The Sea Harrier is equipped with four wing and three fuselage pylons for carrying weapons and external fuel tanks. Use of the ski jump allowed the aircraft to take off from a short flight deck with a heavier loadout than otherwise possible, although it can take off like a conventional loaded fighter without thrust vectoring from a normal airport runway; the Sea Harrier was based on the Harrier GR3, but was modified to have a raised cockpit with a "bubble" canopy for greater visibility, an extended forward fuselage to accommodate the Ferranti Blue Fox radar. Parts were changed to use corrosion resistant alloys or coatings were added to protect against the marine environment. After the Falklands War, the Sea Harrier was fitted with the new anti-ship Sea Eagle missile; the Sea Harrier FA2 featured the Blue Vixen radar, described as one of the most advanced pulse doppler radar systems in the world. The Blue Vixen formed the basis for development
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers just called the Royal Engineers, known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is headed by the Chief Royal Engineer; the Regimental Headquarters and the Royal School of Military Engineering are in Chatham in Kent, England. The corps is divided into several regiments, barracked at various places in the United Kingdom and around the world; the Royal Engineers trace their origins back to the military engineers brought to England by William the Conqueror Bishop Gundulf of Rochester Cathedral, claim over 900 years of unbroken service to the crown. Engineers have always served in the armies of the Crown. In Woolwich in 1716, the Board formed the Royal Regiment of Artillery and established a Corps of Engineers, consisting of commissioned officers; the manual work was done by the Artificer Companies, made up of contracted civilian artisans and labourers. In 1772, a Soldier Artificer Company was established for service in Gibraltar, the first instance of non-commissioned military engineers.
In 1787, the Corps of Engineers was granted the Royal prefix and adopted its current name and in the same year a Corps of Royal Military Artificers was formed, consisting of non-commissioned officers and privates, to be led by the RE. Ten years the Gibraltar company, which had remained separate, was absorbed and in 1812 the name was changed to the Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners; the Corps has no battle honours. In 1832, the regimental motto, Ubique' &'Quo Fas Et Gloria Ducunt, was granted; the motto signified that the Corps had seen action in all the major conflicts of the British Army and all of the minor ones as well. In 1855 the Board of Ordnance was abolished and authority over the Royal Engineers, Royal Sappers and Miners and Royal Artillery was transferred to the Commander-in-Chief of the Forces, thus uniting them with the rest of the Army; the following year, the Royal Engineers and Royal Sappers and Miners became a unified corps as the Corps of Royal Engineers and their headquarters were moved from the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, to Chatham, Kent.
The re-organisation of the British military that began in the mid-Nineteenth Century and stretched over several decades included the reconstitution of the Militia, the raising of the Volunteer Force, the ever-closer organisation of the part-time forces with the regular army. The old Militia had been an infantry force, other than the occasional employment of Militiamen to man artillery defences and other roles on an emergency basis; this changed with the conversion of some units to artillery roles. Militia and Volunteer Engineering companies were created, beginning with the conversion of the militia of Anglesey and Monmouthshire to engineers in 1877; the Militia and Volunteer Force engineers supported the regular Royal Engineers in a variety of roles, including operating the boats required to tend the submarine mine defences that protected harbours in Britain and its empire. These included a submarine mining militia company, authorised for Bermuda in 1892, but never raised, the Bermuda Volunteer Engineers that wore Royal Engineers uniforms and replaced the regular Royal Engineers companies withdrawn from the Bermuda Garrison in 1928.
The various part-time reserve forces were amalgamated into the Territorial Force in 1908, retitled the Territorial Army after the First World War, the Army Reserve in 2014. In 1911 the Corps formed the first flying unit of the British Armed Forces; the Air Battalion was the forerunner of the Royal Flying Royal Air Force. In 1915, in response to German mining of British trenches under the static siege conditions of the First World War, the corps formed its own tunnelling companies. Manned by experienced coal miners from across the country, they operated with great success until 1917, when after the fixed positions broke, they built deep dugouts such as the Vampire dugout to protect troops from heavy shelling. Before the Second World War, Royal Engineers recruits were required to be at least 5 feet 4 inches tall, they enlisted for six years with the colours and a further six years with the reserve or four years and eight years. Unlike most corps and regiments, in which the upper age limit was 25, men could enlist in the Royal Engineers up to 35 years of age.
They trained at the Royal Engineers Depot in the RE Mounted Depot at Aldershot. During the 1980s, the Royal Engineers formed the vital component of at least three Engineer Brigades - 12 Engineer Brigade. After the Falklands War, 37 Engineer Regiment was active from August 1982 until 14 March 1985; the Royal Engineers Museum is in Gillingham in Kent. Britain having acquired an Empire, it fell to the Royal Engineers to conduct some of the most significant "civil" engineering schemes around the world; some examples of great works of the era of empire can be found in A. J. Smithers's book Honourable Conquests; the Royal Engineers, Columbia Detachment, commanded by Richard Clement Moody, was responsible for the foundation and settlement of British Columbia as the Colony of British Columbia. The Royal Albert Hall is one of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, recognisable the world over. Since its opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from every kind of performance genre have appeared on its stage.
Each year it
Hawker Sea Fury
The Hawker Sea Fury is a British fighter aircraft designed and manufactured by Hawker Aircraft. It was the last propeller-driven fighter to serve with the Royal Navy, one of the fastest production single reciprocating engine aircraft built. Developed during the Second World War, the Sea Fury entered service two years, it proved to be a popular aircraft with a number of overseas militaries, was used during the Korean War in the early 1950s, as well as against the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba. The Sea Fury's development was formally initiated in 1943 in response to a wartime requirement of the RAF, thus the aircraft was named Fury; as the Second World War drew to a close, the RAF cancelled their order for the aircraft. Development of the Sea Fury proceeded, the type began entering operational service in 1947; the Sea Fury has many design similarities to Hawker's preceding Tempest fighter, having originated from a requirement for a "Light Tempest Fighter". Production Sea Furies were fitted with the powerful Bristol Centaurus engine, armed with four wing-mounted Hispano V cannons.
While developed as a pure aerial fighter aircraft, the definitive Sea Fury FB 11 was a fighter-bomber, the design having been found suitable for this mission as well. The Sea Fury attracted international orders as land-based aircraft; the type acquitted itself well in the Korean War, fighting even against the MiG-15 jet fighter. Although the Sea Fury was retired by the majority of its military operators in the late 1950s in favour of jet-propelled aircraft, a considerable number of aircraft saw subsequent use in the civil sector, several remain airworthy in the 21st century as heritage and racing aircraft; the Hawker Fury was an evolutionary successor to the successful Hawker Typhoon and Tempest fighters and fighter-bombers of the Second World War. The Fury's design process was initiated in September 1942 by Sydney Camm, one of Hawker's foremost aircraft designers, to meet the Royal Air Force's requirement for a lightweight Tempest Mk. II replacement. Developed as the "Tempest Light Fighter", the semi-elliptical wing of the Tempest was incorporated, but was shortened in span by eliminating the central bay of the wing centre-section, the inner part of the undercarriage wells now extending to the aircraft centreline, instead of being situated level with the fuselage sides.
The fuselage was broadly similar in form to that of the Tempest, but was a monocoque structure, while the cockpit level was higher, affording the pilot better all-round visibility. The project was formalised in January 1943 when the Air Ministry issued Specification F.2/42 around the "Tempest Light Fighter". This was followed up by Specification F.2/43, issued in May 1943, which required a high rate of climb of not less than 4,500 ft/min from ground level to 20,000 feet, good fighting manoeuvrability and a maximum speed of at least 450 mph at 22,000 feet. The armament was to be four 20mm Hispano V cannon with a total capacity of 600 rounds, plus the capability of carrying two bombs each up to 1,000 pounds. In April 1943, Hawker had received Specification N.7/43 from the Admiralty, who sought a navalised version of the developing aircraft. Around 1944, the aircraft project received its name. Six prototypes were ordered. Hawker used the internal designations P.1019 and P.1020 for the Griffon and Centaurus versions, while P.1018 was used for a Fury prototype, to use a Napier Sabre IV.
The first Fury to fly, on 1 September 1944, was NX798 with a Centaurus XII with rigid engine mounts, powering a Rotol four-blade propeller. Second on 27 November 1944 was LA610, which had a Griffon 85 and Rotol six-blade contra-rotating propeller. By now, development of the Fury and Sea Fury was interlinked so that the next prototype to fly was a Sea Fury, SR661, described under "Naval Conversion." NX802 was the last Fury prototype, powered by a Centaurus XV. LA610 was fitted with a Napier Sabre VII, capable of developing 3,400 to 4,000 hp. With the end of the Second World War in Europe in sight, the RAF began cancelling many aircraft orders. Thus, the RAF's order for the Fury was cancelled before any production examples were built because the RAF had excessive numbers of late Mark Spitfires and Tempests and viewed the Fury as an additional overlap with these aircraft. Although the RAF had pulled out of the programme, development of the type continued as the Sea Fury. Many of the Navy's carrier fighters were either Lend-Lease Chance-Vought Corsair aircraft and thus to be returned, or in the case of the Supermarine Seafire had considerable drawback
Claremont (country house)
Claremont known as'Clermont', is an 18th-century Palladian mansion less than a mile south of the centre of Esher in Surrey, England. The buildings are now occupied by Claremont Fan Court School, its landscaped gardens are owned and managed by the National Trust. Claremont House is a Grade I listed building; the first house on the Claremont estate was built in 1708 by Sir John Vanbrugh, the Restoration playwright and architect of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard, for his own use. This "very small box", as he described it, stood on the level ground in front of the present mansion. At the same time, he built the stables and the walled gardens probably White Cottage, now the Sixth Form Centre of Claremont Fan Court School. In 1714 he sold the house to the wealthy Whig politician Thomas Pelham-Holles, Earl of Clare, who became Duke of Newcastle and served twice as Prime Minister; the earl commissioned Vanbrugh to add two great wings to the house and to build a fortress-like turret on an adjoining knoll.
From this so-called "prospect-house", or belvedere, he and his guests could admire the views of the Surrey countryside as they took refreshments and played hazard, a popular dice game. In the clear eighteenth-century air it was possible to see Windsor Castle and St Paul's Cathedral; the Earl of Clare named his country seat Clare-mount contracted to Claremont. The two lodges at the Copsem Lane entrance were added at this time. Claremont landscape garden is one of the earliest surviving gardens of its kind of landscape design, the English Landscape Garden — still featuring its original 18th century layout; the extensive landscaped grounds of Claremont represents the work of some of the best known landscape gardeners, Charles Bridgeman, Capability Brown, William Kent and Sir John Vanbrugh. Work on the gardens began around 1715, by 1727 they were described as "the noblest of any in Europe". Within the grounds, overlooking the lake, is an unusual turfed amphitheatre. A feature in the grounds is the Belvedere Tower, designed by Vanbrugh for the Duke of Newcastle.
The tower is unusual in that what appear to be windows, are bricks painted black and white. It is now owned by Claremont Fan Court School, situated alongside the gardens. In 1949 the landscape garden was donated to the National Trust for protection. A restoration programme was launched in 1975 following a significant donation by the Slater Foundation; the garden is Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. When the Duke of Newcastle died in 1768, his widow sold the estate to Robert Clive, founder of Britain's Indian Empire. Although the great house was little more than fifty years old, it was aesthetically and politically out of fashion. Lord Clive decided to demolish the house and commissioned Lancelot "Capability" Brown to build the present Palladian mansion on higher and dryer ground. Brown, more accomplished as a landscape designer than architect, took on his future son-in-law Henry Holland as a junior partner owing to the scale of the project. John Soane Sir John Soane, was employed in Holland's office at this time and worked on the project as a draftsman and junior designer.
Holland's interiors for Claremont owe much to the contemporary work of Robert Adam. Clive, by now a fabulously rich nabob, is reputed to have spent over £100,000 on rebuilding the house and a complete remodelling of the celebrated pleasure grounds. However, Clive never lived here; the estate passed through a rapid succession of owners, being first sold'for not more than one third of what the house and alterations had cost', to Viscount Galway to the Earl of Tyrconnel and to Charles Rose Ellis. A large map now situated in "Clive's room" of the mansion is entitled "Claremont Palace"; the map dates back to the 1860s when the mansion was occupied by Queen Victoria, thus it being christened a palace. In 1816 Claremont was bought by the British Nation by an Act of Parliament as a wedding present for George IV's daughter Princess Charlotte and her husband Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg. At that time the estate was valued to Parliament at 60,000 pounds: "Mr Huskisson stated that it had been agreed to purchase the house and demesnes of Clermont...
The valuation of the farms, farm-houses, park, including 350 acres of land, was 36,000/. The mansion, in good repair, could not be built now for less than 91,000/." To the nation's great sorrow, Princess Charlotte, second in line to the throne, after two miscarriages, to die there after giving birth to a stillborn son in November the following year. Although Leopold retained ownership of Claremont until his death in 1865, he left the house in 1831 when he became the first King of the Belgians. Queen Victoria was a frequent visitor to Claremont both as a child and as an adult when Leopold, her doting uncle, lent her the house. She, in turn, lent the house to the exiled French king and queen Louis-Philippe and Marie-Amelie after the revolutions of 1848. In 1870, Queen Victoria commissioned Francis John Williamson to sculpt a marble memorial to Charlotte and Leopold, erected inside the house. Victoria bought Claremont for her fourth and youngest son Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, when he married Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont in 1882.
The Duke and Duchess of Albany had two children -- Charles. In 19
Esher
Esher is a town in Surrey, England, to the east of the River Mole. Esher is an outlying suburb of London, with Esher Commons at its southern end, the town marks one limit of the Greater London Built-Up Area. Esher has a linear commercial high street and is otherwise suburban in density, with varying elevations, few high rise buildings and short sections of dual carriageway within the ward itself. Esher covers 15.4 miles southwest of Charing Cross. In the south it is bounded by the A3 Portsmouth Road, of urban motorway standard and buffered by the Esher Commons. Esher is bisected by the A307 the Portsmouth Road, which for 1 mile forms its high street. Esher railway station connects the town to London Waterloo. Sandown Park Racecourse is in the town near the station. In the south, Claremont Landscape Garden owned and managed by the National Trust, once belonged, as their British home, to Princess Charlotte and her husband Leopold I of Belgium. Accordingly, the town was selected to have a fountain by Queen Victoria and has an adjacent Diamond Jubilee column embossed with a relief of the monarch and topped by a statue of Britannia.
Unite, the union, trains representatives at its Esher Place centre, the town has the offices of Elmbridge Borough Council in its high street. Esher lay within the Saxon feudal division of Elmbridge hundred. Esher appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Aissela and Aissele, where it is held by the Abbey of the Cross in Normandy, its domesday assets were: 6 ploughs and 2 acres of meadow. It rendered £6 2s 0d per year to its feudal overlords. In the 16th century King Henry VIII annexed several of the manors to the Honour of Hampton Court to form a royal hunting ground, new residences were permitted by a number of wealthy courtesans. Esher's town grew as a stagecoach stop on the London–Portsmouth road, numbered the A3, although it was bypassed in the mid-1970s when it became the A307. Clive of India built the Claremont mansion and this became a royal residence used by Queen Victoria. In 1841 Esher had 1261 inhabitants across 2,075 acres. Queen Victoria lent Claremont to the exiled French King Louis-Philippe and his consort Queen Marie-Amelie after the revolution of 1848.
Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg lived there until he became King of the Belgians By 1908, Esher contained the fashionable residences of several important figures including Lady Emma Talbot. C. M. G. Who was created 1st Viscount D'Abernon. George Harrison of the Beatles had a house in Esher, during the 1960s; the other Beatles were regular visitors to the house, Harrison's primitive home recording studio. Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees owned a house called The Firs in Esher, during 1970s-2004 and sold after his death; this is where the hit single "Juliet" was written and recorded by Maurice & Robin for brother Robin's solo album project in the 1980s. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, placed the murder of fictional character, Mr. Garcia, in and around Esher in his Sherlock Holmes mystery, "The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge". In the mystery, Dr. Watson described his and Sherlock Holmes' arrival in Esher by stating, "It was nearly six c'clock before we found ourselves in the pretty Surrey village of Esher, with Inspector Baynes as our companion."
Esher is within the Esher and Walton parliamentary constituency, represented by Dominic Raab, a member of the Conservative Party, since 2010. The predecessor Esher parliamentary constituency was replaced on boundary changes before the 1997 general election. Esher is part of the East Esher ward of Surrey County Council; the ward is represented by a Residents' association councillor. The town is covered by the Esher ward of Elmbridge Borough Council, which has elections in three years out of four represented by: Esher has a mix of state and private schools. There are four state primary schools across the area of Esher, Esher Church School, Hinchley Wood and Claygate. Esher Church of England High School is the state secondary school in the town of Esher. Hinchley Wood School in Hinchley Wood has been an Academy since February 2012. Hinchley Wood is one of the Further education establishments in the area. Esher College is in nearby Thames Ditton. Esher has office buildings in the High Street and its continuation, Portsmouth Road, which has a cluster of entertainment and dining venues.
Esher has a local farmers market held on one Saturday every month, moving forward one week each month. Vendors sell locally sourced produce and two riverside farms on the edge of town, one with large shop and grow-your-own are open to the public. A light smattering of small businesses in construction and landscaping pervades the town. A large hospice in Esher serves North Surrey, with field staff providing relief to cancer patients. Otherwise the town's residents do business or create products from home or elsewhere, such as in the M4 corridor and the City of London; the Everyman cinema is a central feature of Esher's High Street with four screens. Esher Rugby Club have several training grounds there. Esher Cricket Club play 1st and 2nd team matches in the Esher Park private estate, in New Road, have a youth cricket training and playing squad and have seven corporate sponsors. AFC Westend Football Club West End Cricket Club Esher Lawn Tennis Club have 5
Hawker Aircraft
Hawker Aircraft Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer responsible for some of the most famous products in British aviation history. Hawker had its roots in the aftermath of the First World War, which resulted in the bankruptcy of the Sopwith Aviation Company. Sopwith test pilot Harry Hawker and three others, including Thomas Sopwith, bought the assets of Sopwith and formed H. G. Hawker Engineering in 1920. In 1933 the company was renamed Hawker Aircraft Limited, it took advantage of the Great Depression and a strong financial position to purchase the Gloster Aircraft Company in 1934; the next year it merged with the engine and automotive company Armstrong Siddeley and its subsidiary, Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft, to form Hawker Siddeley Aircraft. This group encompassed A. V. Roe and Company. Hawker Aircraft continued to produce designs under its own name as part of Hawker Siddeley Aircraft, from 1955 a division of Hawker Siddeley Group; the "Hawker" brand name was dropped, along with those of the sister companies, in 1963.
The Hawker legacy was maintained by the American company Raytheon who produced business jets under the "Hawker" name. This was the result of purchasing British Aerospace's product line in 1993; the name was used by Hawker Beechcraft after Raytheon's business jet interests were acquired by investors and merged. In the interwar years, Hawker produced a successful line of bombers and fighters for the Royal Air Force, the product of Sydney Camm and his team; these included the Hawker Hind and the Hawker Hart, which became the most produced UK aeroplane in the years before the Second World War. During the Second World War, the Hawker Siddeley company was one of the United Kingdom's most important aviation concerns, producing numerous designs including the famous Hawker Hurricane fighter plane that, along with the Supermarine Spitfire, was instrumental in winning the Battle of Britain. During the battle, Hawker Hurricanes in service outnumbered all other British fighters combined, were responsible for shooting down 55 percent of all enemy aircraft destroyed.
Hawker Duiker 1923 prototype – first original design by Hawker, 1 aircraft built, J6918 Hawker Woodcock 1923 Hawker Cygnet 1924 Hawker Hedgehog 1924 prototype Hawker Horsley 1925 Hawker Heron 1925 Hawker Hornbill 1925 Hawker Danecock 1925 Hawker Harrier 1927 prototype Hawker Hawfinch 1927 Hawker Hart 1928 Operators of Hawker Hart and variants Hawker F.20/27 1928 prototype Hawker Hoopoe 1928 Hawker Tomtit 1928 Hawker Hornet 1929 Hawker Osprey 1929 Hawker Nimrod 1930 Hawker Fury 1931 Hawker Fury variants Hawker Audax 1931 Hawker Dantorp1932 Hawker Demon 1933 Hawker P. V.3 1934 prototype Hawker Hart 1934 Hawker Hind 1934 Hawker Hind variants Hawker P. V.4 1934 prototype Hawker Hartbees 1935 Hawker Hurricane 1935 Hawker Sea Hurricane Hawker Hurricane variants List of Hawker Hurricane operators List of surviving Hawker Hurricanes Hawker Hector 1936 Hawker Henley 1937 Hawker Hotspur 1938 Hawker Tornado 1939 Hawker Typhoon 1940 List of Hawker Typhoon operators Hawker Tempest 1942 List of Hawker Tempest operators Hawker F.2/43 Fury 1943 prototype Hawker Sea Fury 1944 List of Hawker Sea Fury operators Hawker P.1040 1947 prototype Hawker Sea Hawk 1947 List of Hawker Sea Hawk operators Hawker P.1052 1948 prototype Hawker P.1072 1950 prototype Hawker P.1078 prototype Hawker P.1081 1950 prototype Hawker Hunter 1951 Hawker Hunter variants List of Hawker Hunter operators Hawker Hunter in service with Swiss Air Force Hawker P.1127 1960 prototype Source: Hannah Hawker P.1000 Hawker P.1004 Hawker P.1005 Hawker P.1007 Hawker P.1008 Hawker P.1014 Hawker P.1017 Hawker P.1021 Hawker P.1025 Hawker P.1027 Hawker P.1028 Hawker P.1029 Hawker P.1030 Hawker P.1031 Hawker P.1037 Hawker P.1041 Hawker P.1044 Hawker P.1048 Hawker P.1049 Hawker P.1050 Hawker P.1051 Hawker P.1053 Hawker P.1054 Hawker P.1055 Hawker P.1056 Hawker P.1057 Hawker P.1058 Hawker P.1063 Hawker P.1064 Hawker P.1065 Hawker P.1069 Hawker P.1070 Hawker P.1071 Hawker P.1073 Hawker P.1077 Hawker P.1079 Hawker P.1082 Hawker P.1084 Hawker P.1085 Hawker P.1088 Hawker P.1089 Hawker P.1092 Hawker P.1093 Hawker P.1096 Hawker P.1098 Hawker P.1103 1950s interceptor project Hawker P.1104 Hawker P.1106 Hawker P.1107 Hawker P.1108 Hawker P.1121 late 1950s fighter project Hawker P.1124 Hawker P.1125 Hawker P.1126 Hawker P.1128 Hawker P.1129 Hawker P.1131 Hawker P.1132 Hawker P.1134 Hawker P.1136 Hawker P.1137 Hawker P.1139 Hawker P.1141 Hawker P.1143 Hawker P.1149 Hawker P.1152 Hawker P.1214 Harry Hawker Thomas Sopwith Sydney Camm Roy Chaplin Robert Lickley Richard Walker George Bulman Bill Humble Wimpy Wade Neville Duke Alfred William Bedford Aerospace industry in the United Kingdom Hawker – British Aircraft Directory
