Blog

Gemini Images have zero tolerance for hate speech, discrimination and bullying. Recent events within the Camping and Caravanning Club directed towards both members of the public, customers and their own members of staff are of great concern to us and we will not be associated with an organisation where racism, homophobia, elder abuse, disability discrimination and bullying of customers & staff has been allowed to become the “norm”.

On reflection, we can no longer associate ourselves with the Camping and Caravanning Club and we are taking steps to remove imaging of their campsites we have previously provided.

Another hidden gem in the Surrey Hills AONB is the old Saxon Church on the Albury Estate. Whilst the estate is private, there is public access to the church.

The church dates from Saxon times and has had additional parts added to it over the centuries giving it its distinct Norman look. The church is an incredibly peaceful place to visit and reflect and the decoration in the Drummond Chapel is beautiful. In the summer months the graveyard is left to grow with wild flowers, birds, wildlife and insects making it their home. The church is a popular stop off point for walkers and cyclists as they explore the Surrey Hills.

2023 saw the Surrey Archaeological Society carried out excavations around the church where the deserted medieval village was located.

Gemini Images have provided a virtual tour for the church at no cost to them which can be seen at www.gemini-images.co.uk/360/alburychurch until it is uploaded to their own website.

Please visit the church if you are in the area and support them if you can.

Wisley Airfield is in Ockham, Surrey near to RHS Wisley.

Taylor Wimpey are planning to develop this area into a large a large housing estate. There is local opposition to the plans despite the airfield being abandoned for over 50 years. It currently has some use as farm land and for the VOR (aircraft beacon) however the hangers and control tower building are long since demolished and only the concrete runway, hangar bay and taxi way remain. Public footpaths weave across the runway and it is still used by dog walkers and horse riders.

You can read more of the history of Wisley Airfield and see some of the images on our Places of Interest page

On 14/15th October 2023 a new bridge across the A3 was constructed at Wisley Lane linking Wisley Airfield to RHS Wisley. This is part of the M25 J10 Improvement Scheme. We captured some images as the work was in progress which can be seen in our Places of Interest section

How many of us have driven along Broadmead Road near Old Woking and wondered what the building in the middle of the field is? We took a look at the building earlier in the year whilst using our drones to help search for a missing dog.

The aerial view identified circles in the grass (crop marks) which suggest that there was a structure/earth works there at some point and it appeared to be a military building. This week we went there again with our cameras to create a 360° virtual tour of the building so you can look around for yourself. The building is a shell now and heavily graffitied however it gives us an idea of what the battery was like when it was operational.

The virtual tour is at https://gemini-images.co.uk/360/oldwoking

The building was a command bunker for the Old Woking Heavy Anti Aircraft Battery which was built in WW2. The anti aircraft defences were situated there as part of the Brooklands Gun Defended Area as Brooklands was used to build the Vickers Wellington bombers for the RAF. In 1942 the battery was equipped with 4 x 3.7″ mobile anti aircraft guns operated by the 109 Heavy Anti Aircraft regiment rather than Home Guard. The guns were not permanently emplaced and were on a wheeled chassis so they could be redeployed. There was no radar at the site. The Regiment later redeployed to France on D-Day as part of 30 Corps and fought to Germany.

Drones give us an ability to see areas from above and we can often see features that are not visible at ground level such as were the gun emplacements were.

Gemini Images can assist you with your archaeological research and projects. We can use our drones to search areas for features, photograph the area to create orthomosaic maps and generate 3D models using photogrammetry as well as ground and 360° photography to assist with recording a site.

COVID-19 makes it difficult to attend churches and war memorials on Remembrance Day this year. One of our team managed to pay their respects in their own way by using 360° virtual tours of two local churches which were created for them at no cost.

Firstly was St John the Evangelist Church in Merrow. The link to the virtual tour is www.fostj.org/360 and there you can view the war memorial and the names of the fallen soldiers, sailors and airmen from Merrow. For information on the men who died you can read about their service history at https://www.merrowresidents.org.uk/Warmemorialbook.htm
There are very few war graves in the cemetery as many are buried abroad in the various theatres of war where they died.

Burpham in Surrey has two churches. The website for both 360° virtual tours of the Burpham Church is at https://gemini-images.co.uk/360/burphamchurch

St Luke’s is the oldest church and has the graves of 6 men who died in military service in WW2. An intersting fact is that 5 of the 6 men had connections to aviation.

F/Sgt Derek Lord was a pilot in the RAF Volunteer Reserve. When he died he was flying a Boulton & Paul Defiant interceptor aircraft. He was on a training flight in L6981 over Yorkshire with a trainee air gunner Sgt Arthur Potts. They were attacking a drogue when their aircraft went into a spin and crashed into the ground near Hutton Cranswick. Both Lord and Potts were 20 years old when they died in 1942.

Sgt Clive Hammond was an Observer on a Bristol Beaufort at the Torpedo Training Unit with the RAF Coastal Command at RAF Turnberry in Ayrshire, Scotland. He was in L9803 on a training exercise with three men from the Royal Canadian Air Force when the aircraft crashed into high ground on Ben More, Mull. He was 20 years old when he died in 1942.

Sub Lieutenant Aubrey Collins was in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve and served on the aircraft carrier HMS Victorious. He was 20 when he died in 1942.

James Cross was in the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm and was training as an Air Mechanic 2nd class at HMS Daedalus (RMAS Lee-on-Solent). He died aged 18 in 1943.

Lieutenant Frederick Ranger was in the Royal Artillery. He served in 6(M) “Z” Anti Aircraft Regiment and was 42 when he died in 1944.

Private Samuel Reid served in the Pioneer Corps. He was 43 when he died in 1945.

LEST WE FORGET. WE WILL REMEMBER THEM