As Ann continues her recovery our international reporter, otherwise known as Ann’s youngest daughter and part of the Dutch contingent, Georgina Eikelboom, offers her own impressions of Woking.
High Alert
My sister, wanting to take advantage of my being in the UK and child free, suggested that we, along with eldest sister and her husband tried out the new to us Loft Sky Bar on the 22nd floor of the Hilton Hotel in Woking.
She booked us a table for 9pm so we would get to see the sunset.
We knew it would be expensive so we weren't too surprised at the £15 cocktails, however when the final bill came in at £120 for six cocktails and two beers it was a little shocking thanks to a service charge.
I hate a hidden cost but it was not enough to put a damper on our evening; the views were, as expected, spectacular. We had a table in the middle but were able to move around and look out from all the floor to ceiling windows.
It's always fun to see things that you are familiar with from a different angle, and we could see London and the Wembley arch in one direction and the Surrey Hills in the other. We could also get a real close up of that infamous cladding that has caused so much trouble.
As always, since Mum started doing this page, we are always on high alert – in this case literally – for possible things for her to write about and so of course this trip to the Hilton was no exception.
It was in the lift up to the bar that I found inspiration that would later have me side-tracked for hours. (Now I understand why we lose her for days when she is writing her page.)
It was the list of meeting rooms that spiked my interest, seemingly named for local people of interest. The Wells and Smyth suites obviously named for HG and Dame Ethel respectively, and The Beaufort Ballroom named for Lady Margaret Beaufort, one-time resident of Woking Palace.
That left me with The Stanley Suite and The Pascoe Suite. I wondered if Stanley was named after Stanley Road, the road made famous by local lad Paul Weller but after a conversation with The Oracle (aka mother) she suggested Henry M Stanley of the famous line "Dr Livingstone, I presume?"
This, of course, led to much research on a very interesting man whose link to Woking is that in later years he bought a house in Pirbright and is thus buried in the churchyard of St Michael's and All Angels.
Finally I had Pascoe to discover. This was a name that even The Oracle couldn't help me with so I was forced to use Google instead, which took me to Amy Pascoe (1886-1917), a keen sportswoman particularly skilled at golf and an acquaintance of Dame Ethel Smyth and Empress Eugenie.
I confirmed my findings with two more Oracles, Richard and Rosemary Christophers, who went on to give me further information and tell me that when the original Hilton on Victoria Way was being fitted the company had contacted the Woking History Society for suggestions of local people to name things after; however, they used place names instead.
If anyone has any other theories about the local people listed above we'd be very interested to know.
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