The Postcard
An S.F.S. Series postcard that was published by Surrey Flying Services of Croydon. On the back of the card they state:
"Real Photograph.
Enlargements can
be Obtained."
The card was posted in Woburn using a 1d. stamp on the 13th. June 1930. It was sent to:
Miss C. M. Goodchild,
High School for Girls,
Ashford,
Kent.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"Many thanks for your
letter.
This is a beautiful place.
We have not seen the
house, but the grounds
are magnificent.
I came to Bedford last
night by train via
Cambridge.
Love,
Mother."
Ashford School For Girls
Ashford School, which is now co-educational, has a rich history, which has seen the School teach its pupils from the High Street and become home to injured soldiers during the Second World War. The Senior School remains in the same premises to which it moved in 1913.
Mrs. Muriel Thimann opened a small school for “ladies” in Queens Road, Ashford in 1898. In 1910 Mrs. Edwards bought the school and renamed it “The Modern High School for Girls”. Within a short time the school moved to bigger premises on East Hill in Ashford in 1913.
The move to Alfred House at East Hill with its large gardens offered the opportunity of further growth and development. The School’s aim was to afford:
"A sound education under Christian
influence, giving careful attention to
the training and development of
character”.
During WWII, Ashford Girls School was evacuated to Devon in 1940, and took up residence in a number of buildings in the village of Countess Wear. The School remained there for the next 5 years, and in this time flourished. Day pupils rose from 31 to 90, and the total number of pupils grew from 211 to 272.
After the end of the war, all pupils were welcomed back to Ashford.
In 1949 Friars Prep School was established at Great Chart and rapidly became a popular and successful boys’ school, educating many of the brothers of Ashford girls and preparing them for a combination of local state, grammar and independent schools. The School registered its 100th. pupil in 1952. 1971 pupil numbers had risen to over 750.
In 2005 Ashford School merged with Friars Prep School in Great Chart and re-launched itself as a co-educational school for boys and girls from age 3 months to 18 years.
In 2006 the first boys arrived in the Senior School, and boy boarders joined the following year. Pupil numbers continued to rise and now stand at over 1,000.
Woburn Abbey
Woburn Abbey, occupying the east of the village of Woburn, Bedfordshire, is a large country house, the family seat of the Duke of Bedford. It was Grade 1 Listed in 1952.
Woburn Abbey, comprising Woburn Park and its buildings, was set out and founded as a Cistercian abbey in 1145.
The Cistercian community was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1538, and the present house was built by William Russell, 1st. Baron Russell of Thornhaugh.
Although it is still a family home to the current duke, Woburn Abbey is open on specified days to visitors, along with the diverse estate surrounding it, including the historic landscape gardens and deer park (by Humphry Repton), as well as more recently added attractions including Woburn Safari Park, a miniature railway and a garden/visitor centre.
Woburn Safari Park
Woburn Safari Park is located within the 3,000-acre (1,200 ha) deer park. The Safari Park itself covers 360 acres (150 ha).
History of Woburn Safari Park
Woburn Safari Park was opened in 1970, established by the 13th. Duke of Bedford and Jimmy Chipperfield. This was done as a means to help improve the financial position of the estate and restore the Abbey, which had fallen into disrepair as a consequence of the second world war and high post-war tax rates.
The 11th. Duke of Bedford had been president of the Zoological Society of London, and had introduced various species such as American bison, deer, antelope, lion and tiger to the park.
Starting with upgrades to the wolf facilities in 2004, which allowed the wolves overnight access to the outside enclosure they share with the park's North American black bears, the park had spent about £4 million by 2010 to upgrade off-show animal facilities in the park.
The African Ungulate Conservation Centre (or "Antelope House") was built in 2007 to help conservation efforts with hoofed mammals.
The Asian Elephant Conservation Centre, built to house the park's Asian elephants, opened in 2008. It was followed in 2009 by a new facility for housing the Southern white rhinos and other hoofed animals, as well as an upgrade to the giraffe house that doubled its size.
Animals in the Safari Park
The park allows animals to roam freely while visitors drive through their enclosures. The species held in the park include Southern white rhinos, elands, Scimitar horned oryxes, Addaxes, Gemsboks, Ankoles, Zebras, African wild asses, Asian elephants, Bactrian camels, North American bison, bongos, African lions, Canadian timber wolves, North American black bears, and Barbary monkeys.
The park also has a 40-acre (16 ha) leisure area featuring animal talks, petting zones, a gift shop, family restaurant and a Go Ape! course.
Animals in the leisure park include lemurs, wallabies, rheas, penguins, goats, ponies, reptiles, red panda, and marmosets. There is also a soft play centre called the Mammoth Play Ark and an outdoor adventure play area, Jungle Jamboree.
The Road Safari is split into various sections which house many species of animal, and visitors are able to drive around all five areas. The Northern Plains are home to Chapman's zebra, Brindled Wildebeest, North American Bison, Przewalksi's horses, and Bactrian camels. Visitors can see these animals as they approach the ticket lanes at the entrance to the Park.
The Savannah Grasslands is located in 40 acres of grounds. Animals within this section of the Road Safari include Southern White Rhino, Eland, Ankole cattle, Dwarf forest buffaloes, Ostrich, Grevy's zebra and Sable antelopes. Next, visitors can enter The Kingdom of the Carnivores, which sits amongst 71 acres, with animals within this section including Amur Tiger, North American black bears, Canadian timber wolves, and African lions.
In the warmer months, Giraffe Junction is home to Rothschild's giraffes, Blesbok, Scimitar Horned oryxes, Somali wild asses, and Addax. The African Forest houses Barbary Macaques; they share this enclosure with the critically endangered Eastern Mountain Bongo.
Once visitors have enjoyed the Road Safari section of the Park, they will progress to the Foot Safari which is home to many smaller animals including Slender Tailed Meerkats, African Crested Porcupine, Asian Short Clawed Otters, four species of lemur which include Ring Tailed Lemurs, Black and White Ruffled Lemurs, Red Bellied Lemurs and Red Fronted Lemurs, as well as many other species.
Visitors can also attend animal talks and demonstrations throughout the day. These take place daily with many animals including Greater Sulphur Crested Cockatoo, Californian Sea Lions, Humboldt Penguins, Red pandas, Capybara, and even the Asian Elephants.
In 2017, a new enclosure called 'Farmyard Friends' was opened featuring sheep, goats, ponies, donkeys and pigs. The park welcomed Red Panda for the first time in 2017, with their new enclosure Himalayan Heights being completed. A state-of-the-art Giraffe House opened to the public in 2018, giving visitors the opportunity to get up close to the Rothschild's giraffe herd all year round.
In 2019, new and upgraded animal housing was added to the camel and zebra paddocks. In addition, 2019 saw the opening of two new animal attractions, Alpaca Outpost and the immersive walk-through Land of Lemurs enclosure.
Conservation
Rothschild giraffes are rare in the wild, but Woburn has many.
The park is committed to animal conservation, and is involved in international breeding programs to help save endangered species, and includes one of the world's largest hoofstock facilities - The African Ungulate Conservation Centre, as well as an Asian elephant facility.
The park manages the breeding programme for the Mountain Bongo, and has been one of the most successful breeders of the Rothschild giraffe in Europe. Woburn Safari Park is also the only zoo in the UK to hold Vietnamese Sika Deer - a species extinct in the wild.
Woburn has won an award from the British Association of Zoos and Aquariums for animal welfare for its management of Californian Sea Lions (2008) and Rothschild Giraffe (2004) as well as winning the BIAZA award for Education and Marketing in 2008.
Woburn Safari Park is the largest ex-situ conservation facility in Europe and the first captive breeding facility to rescue a species from extinction in the wild with its success with the Pere David deer. Woburn was also instrumental in saving the Mongolian Wild Horse.
Criticism of the Park
An Early Day Motion was tabled in the UK Parliament on the 15th. March 1990 regarding the plight of two Elephants at Woburn Wild Animal Kingdom. The motion was signed by 34 Members. The text of the motion was as follows:
"This House congratulates The Mail on Sunday for
exposing the torment of the two elephants Ghandia
and Maya at Woburn Wild Animal Kingdom run by the
Chipperfield Organisation, where it is reported that the
two elephants are imprisoned for 24 hours each day in
an old barn behind an electric barrier and boarded
windows with chains restraining two legs and so unable
to take any exercise; and furthermore calls upon the
Chipperfield Organisation to bring about the end of this
downright cruelty, and asks that Ghandia and Maya are
released from their ordeal immediately."
One visitor to the park in March 2016 reported on Trip Advisor that the elephants were still being subjected to cruelty:
"I chose I safari over a zoo thinking the animal
welfare would be higher. We were watching the
elephants play & throw mud over themselves
and generally having fun.
Then two keepers came out with BULL HOOKS
and started commanding them to hold tails and
march out the the elephant encounter.
I had no idea they offered this, if I did I never
would have visited.
Bull hooks are used in the circus to control
elephants with pain and fear. So so disgusted to
see them used here."
A bullhook — also known as an elephant goad, ankus, or elephant hook — is a rod usually made of steel or wood, fitted with a sharp, metal-tipped hook. In appearance, it closely resembles a fireplace poker.
In 2010 the UK Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) criticised the park for keeping lions in overcrowded pens for up to 18 hours a day in winter, and keeping sea lions in chlorinated water.
However, DEFRA acknowledged that the park was already working to correct these issues, and praised other newer facilities within the safari park. Although a new, larger overnight facility for lions was already under construction and would allow outside access as well, Woburn Safari Park commented that even the old facility was large enough, because the lions could move between the pens.
Despite initial plans to move the sea lions to another park, the animals were retained and a new biological water treatment system installed. A new lion facility was completed in autumn 2010. A new tiger house was completed in 2013, with room for up to nine tigers.
In March 2017, the safari park was criticised for neglectfully allowing the death of a peacock, and for failing to report the repeated escape of a monkey from its enclosure. A peacock had been placed in isolation, but was forgotten about and not fed, leading to its death from starvation. A Barbary macaque fled its enclosure at Woburn Safari Park three times in one day, but remained inside the Bedfordshire zoo's grounds.
Born Free Foundation head of animal welfare Chris Draper claimed there was:
"A systematic deficiency in the current
system of zoo inspections across the
board".
In January 2018, a fire claimed the lives of thirteen Patas monkeys. According to the safari park’s website, the monkeys had 6.5 hectares (16 acres) in which to roam, but were confined to their house at night-time during the winter.
The Captive Animals’ Protection Society said the fire showed the dangers that animals were exposed to in zoos, Nicola O’Brien, a campaign manager for the charity, said:
“It’s just one of the risks of having animals
trapped in cages. It must have been an
absolutely horrific death for them. Obviously
accidents do happen, but we do think it calls
into question the whole point of why we
place animals in captivity in the first place".
The Railway
There is a 20 in (508 mm) railway, the "Great Woburn Railway" that (as of 2011) is free to use by Safari Park customers. It takes guests on a tour to Alpaca Outpost to see the alpaca herd and around to Elephant Junction in the Foot Safari.
The train departs from Bison Halt Station runs every half hour, from 12.30pm to 3.30pm.
The track is singular, and consists of one near-circular loop.
Entry Fees
Day tickets currently (2022) cost £24.99 per 16+ adult, and £17.49 for individuals aged 3 to 15. Very young children have free entry.
Sir Henry Segrave
So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?
Well, the 13th. June 1930 marked the death of Henry Segrave.
Henry Segrave was born Henry O'Neal de Hane Segrave on the 22nd. September 1896 in Baltimore, Maryland, United States.
Henry was an early British pioneer in land and water speed records. Segrave, who set three land and one water record, was the first person to hold both titles simultaneously, and the first person to travel at over 200 miles per hour (320 km/h) in a land vehicle.
He died in an accident shortly after setting a new world water speed record on Windermere in the Lake District, England. The Segrave Trophy was established to commemorate his life.
Henry Segrave - The Early Years
Segrave, who was a British national, was born to an American mother and an Irish father. He was raised in Ireland, and attended Eton College in England.
He spent some time at Belle Isle House, near Portumna in County Galway, Ireland, and learnt to drive the family houseboat.
Henry Segrave in the Great War
At the outbreak of war, the Sandhurst officer training course was drastically reduced from two years to three months, and Henry was commissioned in November 1914.
Anxious to immediately enter the fray, he applied to join a unit that had suffered heavy casualties, and so joined the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Always in the thick of the fighting, his soldiers referred to the 18-year-old subaltern as 'The Lion's Cub'.
Wounded in the wrist at Aubers, he was again wounded in hand-to-hand fighting on the 16th. May 1915. His revolver was clogged with mud, so he threw a belt of ammunition at the German he was fighting, and the resulting shot went high and hit him in the shoulder.
Whilst recuperating in England, he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, joining 29 Squadron flying the DH2 fighter. On the 1st. May 1916 he shot down a German Aviatik two-seater, but was hit by anti-aircraft fire over the Somme in early July and crashed, severely breaking an ankle.
This effectively ended his combat flying. He described himself as the world’s worst pilot, and said:
"I was a rotten pilot, I always
seemed to make a mess of
landing."
Segrave became the ground controller of the first unmanned powered aircraft, the Aerial Target. This was the first drone to fly under control when it was tested in March 1917.
On the 31st. January 1918, Sir Henry Norman, the Munitions Inventions Department's permanent attaché to the French Ministry of Inventions, requested Segrave be assigned to assist him.
Segrave was sent to the US in the autumn as part of Brig. Gen. Charles Frederick Lee's Headquarter's Staff on the British Aviation Mission. Henry sent reports to Norman, including details of the US enquiries into their aircraft production failures.
After the war, Henry transferred to the Royal Air Force Administrative Branch in 1919, but soon resigned his commission due to his war injuries.
Motor Sports
After the Great War, British motor manufacturers were starting to build more reliable and faster vehicles, although motor racing was still in its infancy. Segrave would soon become a championship winning driver.
In 1921 Segrave won the first long-distance car race to be run in Great Britain. The 200-mile race, which was organised by the Junior Car Club for 1,500 c.c. light cars, was held at Brooklands in Surrey. Segrave won in a Darracq-made Talbot.
In the same year, Segrave competed in his first ever French Grand Prix. In the 1922 French Grand Prix, Segrave was forced to retire in his Grand Prix Sunbeam 1922 because of chemical burns.
When Henry won the 1923 French Grand Prix in a Sunbeam, he became the first Briton to win a Grand Prix in a British car.
In 1924 he won the San Sebastian Grand Prix at Circuito Lasarte in Spain. After a further win at Miramas in France, he retired from racing to concentrate on speed records.
Henry Segrave's Speed Career
(a) Land
On the 16th. March 1926, Segrave set his first land speed record of 152.33 miles per hour (245.15 km/h) using Ladybird, a 4-litre Sunbeam Tiger on Ainsdale beach at Southport, England.
This record was broken a month later by J. G. Parry-Thomas driving Babs, a custom-built car with a 27-litre 450 HP (340 kW) V12 Liberty aero engine.
A year later Henry became the first person ever to travel at over 200 miles per hour (320 km/h) when he regained the land speed record at the Daytona Beach Road Course on the 29th. March 1927.
Using Mystery (but also known as 'the Slug'), a 1000 HP Sunbeam, he recorded a speed of 203.79 miles per hour (327.97 km/h).
On the 11th. March 1929, Segrave set his final land speed record, again at Daytona Beach. Using a new car designed for him by Captain Jack Irving and named the Golden Arrow, he set a new record of 231.45 miles per hour (372.48 km/h).
Segrave never attempted another land speed record after witnessing the high-speed death of American racing driver Lee Bible, who was trying to set a new land speed record on the 13th. March 1929, at Ormond Beach, Florida.
The Golden Arrow, which was never used again, has only 18.74 miles (30.16 km) on the clock. The vehicle is on display along with Segrave's Sunbeam 350 HP and Sunbeam 1000 HP at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu.
On the 90th. anniversary of Segrave setting his first historic record, his original Sunbeam racing car returned to Southport where it was driven down Ainsdale beach in March 2016.
(b) Water
Segrave had Miss England I built in 1928, in an attempt to retrieve the Harmsworth Trophy from the American Gar Wood.
Wood's series of high-powered aero-engine-driven Miss America boats had made him a multiple water speed record holder, and the first man to travel over 100 mph (160 km/h) on water.
Although Segrave had already used aero-engines in some of his land-speed record setting vehicles, Miss England I used a single Napier Lion engine.
Segrave believed that the boat's speed would come from its advanced lightweight planing-hull design. Wood - along with other American boat designers - thought the design was too flimsy for the speeds. Wood sportingly offered to help Segrave, particularly sharing his experiences in propeller and rudder design.
After his 1929 land speed record, Segrave immediately went to Miami for his speedboat race with Wood which he won. It was the American's first defeat in nine years.
After Segrave returned to Britain, he was knighted for his many accomplishments.
The Death of Sir Henry Segrave
On Friday the 13th. June 1930, a few months after receiving his knighthood, Segrave drove Miss England II to a new record of 98.76 mph (158.94 km/h) average over two runs on Lake Windermere, Westmorland, England.
However, on the third run the boat capsized at full speed. Chief engineer Victor Halliwell was killed by the boat rolling over on top of him as it crashed.
Mechanic Michael "Jack" Willcocks survived with a broken arm after being thrown from the craft. Segrave, who was rescued unconscious as the boat sank, regained consciousness for a moment, and asked about the fate of "the lads".
Shortly after being told that he had broken the record, he died at the age of 33 from acute lung haemorrhages. Although a large floating branch was discovered near the crash, there was no definitive cause attributed to the accident.
Some commentators queried the boat's construction. Concerns were raised that its hull was too light in design and construction, particularly around the craft hydroplane which was found partially detached after the crash.
Kaye Don subsequently broke two more world water speed records in Miss England II.
Sir Henry Segrave the Aircraft Designer
When Segrave's interest in flying returned in the late 1920's, he designed an aircraft for luxury touring. The prototype, known as the Saro Segrave Meteor was a wooden twin-engined monoplane. It first flew on the 28th. May 1930.
However, development was delayed due to Segrave's death two weeks later. Only three metal versions of the Segrave Meteor were subsequently built.
Sir Henry Segrave's Legacy
In 1930 the Segrave Trophy was established to recognise any British national who demonstrated outstanding accomplishments in the possibilities of transport by land, sea, air, or water.
The trophy is awarded by the Royal Automobile Club. Recipients include Malcolm Campbell (1932), Stirling Moss (1957), Richard Noble (1983), Lewis Hamilton (2007), and John Surtees (2013).