Woking
From Free net encyclopedia
| Borough of Woking | |
|---|---|
| Image:SurreyWoking.png Shown within Surrey | |
| Geography | |
| Status: | Borough |
| Region: | South East England |
| Admin. County: | Surrey |
| Area: - Total | Ranked 287th 63.60 km² |
| Admin. HQ: | Woking |
| ONS code: | 43UM |
| Geographic coordinates | Template:Coor dm |
| Demographics | |
| Population: - Total (2004 est.) - Density | Ranked 253rd 89,600 1,409 / km² |
| Ethnicity: | 91.3% White 5.8% S.Asian |
| Politics | |
| Image:Arms-woking.jpg Woking Borough Council http://www.woking.gov.uk | |
| Leadership: | Leader & Cabinet |
| Executive: | Conservative controlled in minority administration |
| MP: | Humfrey Malins |
Woking is a large town and local government district with borough status in the west of Surrey in South East England. It functions as a dormitory town of the London commuter belt and is located 23 miles (37 km) south west of Charing Cross in central London.
Woking also plays a role in literature: it is the town in which the Martians landed in H. G. Wells science fiction novel The War of the Worlds. It also features in Douglas Adams's The Meaning of Liff, as the word for when you go to the kitchen but forget why.
Contents |
History
Woking's history starts in 673AD or CE. Woking begins around about this time as a settlement of a Wessex tribe followers of Wocca. The name has been corrupted and was spelt as Woccingas, Wochinges, Wokynge, Wochynghe at different times.
Modern Woking was formed around the railway station built over 150 years ago at the junction between trains to the south coast, the south-west of England and the necropolis railway to Brookwood Cemetery. This cemetery was developed by the London Necropolis Company as an overflow burial ground for London's dead. Later, Woking was home to the first crematorium in the United Kingdom (St Johns) and the first mosque in the UK (on Oriental Road). The Shahjehan Mosque was commissioned by Shahjehan, Begum of Bhopal (1868-1901), one of the four female Muslim rulers of Bhopal who reigned between 1819 and 1926.
Politics
Template:GBdot Image:Woking-TownSquare.jpg
The constituency of Woking has historically been a Conservative party safe seat, with the Liberal Democrats the principal opposition in the last two general elections. Its current Member of Parliament is Humfrey Malins, who has a majority of around 6,500. The borough council is currently run by a minority Conservative administration.
Facilities
Woking has a modern shopping centre called The Peacocks and an older shopping area, Wolsey Place.<ref>Wolsey Place web site</ref>
The main area for evening entertainment is around Chertsey Road<ref>Map showing Chertsey Road</ref> which contains restaurants serving a number of cuisines and there are also numerous bars and pubs. The Ambassadors cinemas<ref name=AmbassadorsNewVictoria>Web site for the Ambassadors cinemas and New Victoria Theatre</ref> and New Victoria Theatre<ref name=AmbassadorsNewVictoria> </ref> can be accessed via the top floor of The Peacocks.
Woking has indoor swimming pools, "Pool in the Park",<ref>Pool in the Park web site</ref> and a separate leisure centre. Outdoor facilities include a skatepark, tennis courts, five-a-side football pitches, bowling greens and a children's adventure playground. These leisure facilities are all located within the attractively landscaped Woking Park<ref>Woking Park web site</ref> near to the town centre.
The scene at St Peter's Church, Old Woking is an inspiration for many local artists, as is another local beauty spot at the lock at St John's Lye.<ref>(a) (b) Two sites on David Drury, a local artist</ref>
Energy Policy
Woking has adopted a policy of operating completely off the public power grid via a combination of hydrogen fuel cells and solar cells dispersed throughout the borough. In order to do this the local government laid new power lines to all locations operating on the Woking energy grid (due to Department of Trade and Industry regulations). Should the public power grid fail, Woking would be capable of continuing to provide all the energy it needs.<ref name=Energypolicy> Template:Cite news</ref>
The cost for providing this energy is approximately UK£0.01/kWh less than for public electricity. It has been reported that the borough saves UK£974,000 a year in energy costs.<ref name=Energypolicy> </ref>
Transport
Woking railway station is situated on the Alton Line, Portsmouth Direct Line, South Western Main Line and West of England Main Line. Accordingly, there are frequent trains to and from London Waterloo (via Clapham Junction), a journey taking approximately half an hour. There is also the twice hourly Waterloo/Woking stopping service that calls at many stations between Waterloo and Woking.
There is a RailAir coach every 30 minutes between the terminus immediately outside the railway station and Heathrow Airport, using the M25 motorway. Gatwick Airport can be accessed via Guildford railway station or Clapham Junction.
Principal roads include the A320, which connects to the M25 to Woking's north near Chertsey and to the A3 to its south at Guildford. The A320 is frequently very congested at peak hours. The Basingstoke Canal passes through Woking.
Sport
Woking has a non-league football club, Woking F.C., that competes in the Nationwide Conference. The origin of the club's nickname, the "Cards", is disputed. One attractive proposal is that the name was acquired because Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, after whom the smaller of the two shopping centres is named, was staying with King Henry VIII at Woking Palace (the remains of which can be seen near the River Wey at Old Woking) when he heard he had been made a cardinal by Pope Leo X in 1515. A more prosaic alternative is that the Cards are so named because of the cardinal red in one half of their home strip.
The McLaren Formula One team is based near to the town.
Education
Secondary schools in the area include: The Winston Churchill School, St. John the Baptist School, Bishop David Brown School and Woking High School.
Woking College is located in Old Woking and provides post-16 education. Other colleges situated near to Woking include Godalming College, Brooklands College, Guildford College and Farnborough Sixth Form College.
Notable residents
Woking was home to author H.G. Wells, who had the Martians in The War of the Worlds land on Horsell Common, close to the town centre. There is a large sculpture of a (Wellsian) Martian Fighting Machine in the town centre commemorating Woking's fictional destruction. There is also, inexplicably, a Hawker Hunter jet fighter, painted silver and mounted on a pole roughly 10 metres tall.
The Jam are from Woking, and its singer/songwriter Paul Weller (who later became a member of The Style Council) was born there in 1958. Weller's 1995 solo album, Stanley Road, is named after the street in which he lived.<ref>Map with Stanley Road indicated</ref>
Other notable people who were born in Woking include:
- Ron Dennis, team principal of the McLaren Formula One team, 1947
- Susie Dent, a lexicographer and the dictionary expert on Countdown, 1964
- Harry Hill, comedian, 1964
- Sean Lock, comedian, 1963
- Liz Lynne, Liberal Democrat politician, 1948
- Rick Parfitt, guitarist for Status Quo, 1948
- Douglas Pearce, musician behind Death in June, 1956
- Delia Smith, celebrity chef, 1941
See also
Notes
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