The big house immediately opposite us on River Lane, the first big house on that side of the road, it was put on the market. A Colonel and Mrs ‘something-or-other’ had lived there and then he had died and she moved out, moved into Richmond and she put the house on the market. It was bought by a developer, who decided that he was going to pull it down and build all over the land, the garden and everything. He was going to build a positive estate there. The other residents of Petersham were furious; my husband and three other people decided to form a thing called the Petersham Society to object to this, which actually we won.

It was just when the hole in the road was finished. One or two very strong-minded residents of Petersham decided we were going to put up a case to stop this developer pulling down Rutland Lodge, successfully, in the end. It was turned into flats, but at least it remained standing. It’s one of the really beautiful old houses. So that was the foundations of the Petersham Society, which went on for quite a long time. I think it’s petered out now, I don’t think there’s a Petersham Society anymore. At the time it also had a social side to it; people got together, we had little get-togethers and things in the Village Hall.