Breaking News - BBC London News

To my delight and arising from the article featured by Gordon Rayner in the Telegraph yesterday, BBC London News would like to feature an article on Undershaw on their news programme. They are hoping to start filming either sometime this week or the early part of next week providing we have permission from the owners to film internally and externally at the site of Undershaw. The BBC will get back to me over the next couple of days and I will publish the dates and times here for any supporters that might be interested in coming along.

John Gibson, the Trust's director will also be present to give a guided showround to the film crew and to limited numbers of supporters, so if you would like to be included in this experience please let me know soonest.

Let me reiterate that this is pending permission from Undershaw's current owners.

I will also make contact with Richard Doyle, Conan Doyle's great nephew to see whether he will be guest of honour and to take part in an interview with the BBC.

I will keep you all posted on this successful end to 2009 and a hopeful success story for 2010.

Christmas and New Year Greetings from the grounds of Undershaw

Christmas and New Year Greetings to all my followers and supporters of the Save Undershaw campaign from the grounds of Conan Doyle's house here in the heart of Surrey.

Lets all hope that 2010 will give us reason to celebrate and that between us we are able to save the house that is surrounded in so much history and allow the public to re-enter the house where Conan Doyle wrote his most famous novel 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'. We must not allow the developers to build their apartments and take away the history that we are all so proud of.

Sir Arthur wrote to William Gillette inviting him to Undershaw for Xmas, he wrote: "My dear Gillette, You seem to have carried London once more by storm. Everyone I meet tells me the same thing. I do hope that your health is bearing the long strain.

I understand that the Company is free on Xmas Day. What I want is that you and all the American members of it should make this your home that day and not return until the 26th. I can put you all up with great ease and also Miss Healy's mother who, I understand, is with her. My wife would be overjoyed to see them both. Now do come yourself and arrange this, for if it is fine they will see a little of English country life which would perhaps be a change and a pleasant memory.
We can arrange all about trains".



A Conan Doyle

Does anyone know what year this was?

It appears Sir Arthur had many friends in many countries - perhaps the many countries would like to band together and make this a meeting place for all our friends worldwide. What a remarkable piece of history this would make!

John Gibson - The Man Who Created the Undershaw Preservation Trust

This is the official registration document for the Undershaw Preservation Trust; registering Undershaw as a museum and cafeteria.

The Trust has been registered and set up by it's director Mr John Gibson, FRICS.

Born in Oxford, England John was an outstanding athlete in his youth who voluntarily left school at an early age. He started an early career in banking and took formal examinations for university entrance in art, mathmatics and sciences. Following a short period of study, he followed his vocational interest with antiquarian books regarding literature and architecture/building.

He attended a three year course in the late 1960's in London, graduating in 1969. Subsequently John gained experience in property having worked on large Greater London Council Schemes which included the redevelopment of the Croydon Aerodrome, private landed London Estates, Oxford College property holdings, City Bank and Government Agency.

John prepared and took many hundreds of court cases, including a 100% success rate in the higher court which is reported in the legal textbooks. He owned a portfolio of property investments largely in London. He developed property and prepared and took planning appeals. Valued property as diverse as major theatres, marinas, farms, country houses, woodland, development land and shopping centres.

John retired in his mid 50's to devote time to his collections and other interests.

He is a great collector of books (100,000 volumes) and ephemera autograph material and interesting art, photographs and posters.

Following over a decade of research and the discovery of much unknown material and stories by Doyle -published as the author/editor (with Richard Lancelyn Green) "My Evening with Sherlock Holmes" (1981), "A Bibliography of Arthur Conan Doyle" (1984 - Oxford University Press) - long correspondence between Graham Greene/Gibson, who provided the Preface; a series of three books on "The Unknown Conan Doyle", "Essays on Photography", "Letters to the Press" and "The Uncollected Stories" (all published by Secker & Warburg, 1983/84).

He also produced and published privately an exact facsimile of the first Sherlock Holmes novel "A Study in Scarlet" in 1987 on its centenary - 50 copies of which were inscribed and signed by Jean Conan Doyle (the daughter of Arthur Conan Doyle). John also supplied an article and new information to the Sherlock Holmes Journal. Winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award in 1984 in the United States.

His interest in Doyle has taken him as far afield as Switzerland and California. He assisted Sotheby's, London and Pacific Book Auctions, San Francisco with Doyle collections.

John has known Undershaw for over forty years and involved the Victorian Society in the property from June 2006. Publicity against development given to national newspapers and national/international (including Russian public channel)television. Personally spoke at planning committee hearing in December 2006 where the previous redevelopment application was unanimously rejected by the Committee. John can be seen in this picture walking around the grounds of Undershaw keeping a careful eye on its developments.

Founded the Undershaw Preservation Trust in 2009 to help protect and preserve Undershaw as a single dwelling house. The Heritage Lottery Fund has indicated that it may match fund any money raised to save the historic house.

John is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in three specialisations - Arts, Building and Valuation.

An Article in the Telegraph

I was interviewed yesterday evening by a journalist from the Telegraph who is writing an article about Undershaw which is likely to be featured in the paper between Christmas and New Year.

This is just what we had hoped for, a national paper to pick up on our story, with the hope that it will raise awareness to a wider section of the public. This is now a prime time especially with all the hype of the new Sherlock Holmes film that is due in our cinemas shortly. A big thank you to the Telegraph.

Our next step towards public awareness is to grab the attention of a commissioning editor to put a documentary together on the history of Conan Doyle and his time at Undershaw, Sherlock Holmes and our efforts to save the building. As I have written in previous posts I have been in contact with a freelance TV producer who would like to make the documentary but needs the backing from a commissioning editor. Recent communication with Claire Whalley indicates that she has not had any response from the BBC. How disappointing but we must remember the saying 'No news is good news'. We positively await a response.

BREAKING NEWS - Planning application now imminent!

I have made contact with the planning department of Waverley Borough Council today. The plans to convert Undershaw into apartments and its registration is imminent. It is likely that it could be over the next several days and certainly no later than the early part of the New Year. We have said all along that the developers are most likely to submit plans just days before Christmas which then only gives us several days to object instead of the full 21 days that we were relying on. We are therefore carefully checking the local papers for these long awaited plans so that we can then object wholeheartedly and of course at the right time, against this terrible act that is being committed to Undershaw.

The offices of the planning department will close at 4.00 pm on 24th December and re-open at 9.00 am on 4th January.

I now ask for all those that claim to be in support of preventing Undershaw from being split up into separate units to get behind the Undershaw Preservation Trust and show that you are truly passionate about saving Conan Doyle's Undershaw either by urgently signing the on-line petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/undershaw or more importantly writing your own letter of objection, headed up UNDERSHAW PROPOSALS, to prevent Undershaw from being converted to residential dwellings. Please also include in your letter, which is of the most importance, that public access must be retained. All letters to be addressed to Hilary Hobbs, Planning Department, Waverley Borough Council, The Burys, Godalming, Surrey, GU7 1HR. This could be our last chance! Only YOU can help us save this very important piece of history. We are doing what we can! We may have to rely on some of you to give us the backing we so desperately need. We care enough do you?