Thumbs Up
We’re down to the last few days on the mural before it’s finished. Had a productive day and people seem to be driving by and giving us the thumbs up. Here’s a few photos.
Mural design
We’ve been sketching and gathering and have finished the design for the Our Green mural. Click to view the LONG sketch with our notes about all the Stanwell characters and stories that have inspired the mural.
View the full design sketch ›
Bat
Bats are amazing creatures. These nocturnal flyers are Stanwell residents, if you look out, you may just glimpse one at dusk. Apparently the reason they hang upside down when they’re asleep during the day is so they don’t have to get up in the evening, they just let go, flap and they’re off.
King Henry VIII ruins Christmas
This is an interpretation of the time when King Henry VIII visited Lord Winsor at his home around christmas time. It was just for a few days…
The Historians tell me that King Henry VIII (not known for his flexibility) during his stay, found Stanwell manor such a pleasant place, his majesty took it upon himself to demand it be handed over to the throne.
Lord Windsor’s family protested, they had held the manor for generations and he begged the King to reconsider.
The King would hear none of it. He helped himself to the manor of Stanwell, and sent Lord Windsor to a new manor far far away.
Rabbits
I have heard lots of rabbit hunting stories from Stanwell residents. In the old days people used trained ferrets to chase them out of burrows. There were several ferret keepers in Stanwell. Aparently, you have to beware around ferrets, not only do they really stink, but loose trouser bottoms are as inviting to a ferret as a rabbit hole… must have been murder when flares were in. Nowadays slingshots sets are sometimes used by expert young marksmen, on this project we have witnessed some amazing accuracy.
Carp fishing
Some of the fish experts down at charlies cafe showed me some pictures of huge carp they had caught in lakes all around Stanwell. I asked them what they used for bait, they told me: bread. I caught this mirror carp in my book today, and nearly went blind trying to draw all the scales.
Can somebody please take me fishing?
Elephant
That elephant story again. I wonder if elephants dream..?
Working elephants swim in between islands for kilometres in India they are also known for having long memories.
Horse and Wagon
True Romanie travellers settled and live in Stanwell. The horse and wagon is their trademark and hangs on the wall of many homes. The old days of living in a wagon are remembered fondly by those who lived in the fields and worked on the farms in Stanwell for many generations.
Sonny Loveridge grew up with his family living in wagons on the nearby farm he says: “It’s the best life living outdoors, I loved the horses. People were much friendlier, everyone was your uncle or auntie in those days”.
Floating London Decoy
During world war II the reservoirs next to Stanwell were used as a decoy for London. The water was lit up at night to confuse enemy bombers into thinking they were above central London. The officers kept the practice top secret right up until the end of the war.
When the reservoirs were eventually cleaned out, huge rusty unexploded bombs destined for London were found at the bottom.
Anglo-Saxon stream
There has been a settlement in Stanwell from long before Anglo-Saxon times. Discoveries of flint tools in the area show this to be true. No one knows exacty how old the settlement is, but experts believe that the Anglo-Saxons may have given it the name: ‘Stanwell’ meaning ‘Stoney stream’
Over the years it has been known by many abbrieviations: ‘Stannel’ in the 1920s and today to some locals its ‘Stanweazy’ or ‘Stanwizzle’
Tales of mythical beasts such as dragons and phoenix were popular in the Anglo-Saxon times as there was no 3D cinemas and you went to war with an axe at an early age. How peaceful it would have been in those times to find a quiet spot by a stoney stream in springtime with the bluebells all around…
Scrumping trees…
I have heard Scrumping stories on this project, an plenty of them-from elderly women in their 90’s to surprisingly young grandmothers with sparkly eyes and bewitching smiles, you’ve all done it c’mon admit it… and how you loved it.
Stanwell has its very own apple the Cox’s Orange Pippin.
The fruit trees saw you all having your fun and eating your own body weight in apples and plums.. but did you know what the trees did when you weren’t there? Maybe they had fun of their own…
Fish eats bird
Long time Stanwell resident ‘Maggie’ of Holywell way tells the tale of taking her children to a nearby lake for fishing when she was a young mother. She would tuck jam sandwiches and a fishing rod in the pram with her kids and spend the day by the water. The story goes that whilst enjoying the tranquility of a summers day she saw a huge pike come up from the deep and swallow a swan! – Pike are known by local anglers to be dangerous fish having rows of razor sharp gnashers and growing up to 8 feet long in some rivers. Local fishermen from the Charlies Cafe area claimed that the story could be true, they had also seen coots and ducks swallowed by pike, they said for a pike to take a swan down it would have been a monster…
Bendy toys
Bendy toys were hand painted by the children of Stanwell!
In a conversation with Sharon M, Kevin,and Jimmy yesterday it became clear that they had painted these toys as children.
“mum would get the work..we would do it” – Jimmy (local artist)
The factory van would drop off a box of 1000 and they would line them up in the kitchen and spend all day painting the boots ,eyes,hats on these well loved toys. When the paint was dry the van would drive round to the houses and pick up Noddy, Popeye, Donald,and whoever else was in stanwell,
they were boxed and then it was off to the shops to be sold.
These spongey characters are now collectable as the hand finished mickey has been replaced by nintendo wii on childrens xmas list.
Maybe this donald once paid a vist to stanwell.., maybe it was Sharon who gave him his bow tie?
digger
The diggers have been at work on holywell way, These slow moving mechanical giants are tools of demolition, they are also strangely elephant like…
Elephant bones
Many Stanwell residents can remember the local factory where the ‘recycling’ of animal parts was done on an industrial scale. Bones and fats were extracted from the remains as they where key ingredients used in the production of soaps and glue. Many people have told tales of the strange smell emanating from the boiling tanks when they were fired up. The aroma was so pungent that it became known as ‘The stink factory’ The story goes that when an elderly elephant passed away at whipsnade zoo,the body was transported to stanwell to be processed,this involved sawing through huge bone and cartilage,to break the carcass down so it would fit the huge boiling tanks. It would seem the job was too big, workers elected to bury the elephant in a nearby field. some say it was done at night so as the bosses didnt find out. some say that elephants are not the only big animals buried in stanwell…
Stanwell Christmas Mural
The village of Stanwell near Heathrow Airport is about to be disrupted by the demolition of temporary World War II houses and their replacement with new homes fit for the 21st Century. Artists Luke and Boyd from Signal Project were asked to paint a Christmas mural by A2Dominion Group for the local community. Their idea was to create something that was a living artwork in the community, something personal, based on stories and suggestions from the community.
