A GREAT aspect of the Peeps page is when extra information relating to a story is provided by readers of the News & Mail.

The 23 March issue featured an article about Brookwood Arch and a picture – dated at 1911 to 1925 – of a train steaming over it.

Reader Nigel Searle soon got in  contact by email, saying he has always known the arch as Pirbright Arch but it is also known as Dawney Hill Bridge.

He said that the arch and the surrounding area played an important role in the 1960 comedy film Two-Way Stretch. 

The storyline of the movie was that while serving their sentences, a gang of crooks planned to break out of prison, steal a fortune in diamonds and then break back in before anyone noticed. 

The cast included Peter Sellers, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Maurice Denham, Lionel Jeffries, Beryl Reid, David Lodge, Irene Handl, Liz Frazer and Bernard Cribbins. Locations for the filming included London, Berkshire, Hampshire, Sussex and Surrey. 

A website called Reelstreets features Two-Way Stretch, showing stills from the film alongside images of how those places look now. 

And the arch on the border of Pirbright and Brookwood is included. 

Visitwww.reelstreets.com/films/two-way-stretch-2to see it.

Filming at the arch took place at night. A caption on Reelstreets relating to a picture of a vehicle passing through the arch reads: “Collecting his accomplices before being joined by Ethel and Mrs Price, Soapy drives the Morris Commercial to the spot where the jewellery heist is to take place. Dawney Hill Bridge on Dawney Hill near Pirbright, with Gole Road to the left.”

Nigel said: “The opposite side of the arch to that shown in your pictures on the Peeps page had an additional bridge section added to take the track for the Bisley Bullet line which went, initially, to the National Rifle Association’s ranges at Bisley to allow visitors to get there during shooting tournaments.

“Then, during the First World War, the line was extended to take troops to and from the large military camps at Pirbright, Deepcut and Blackdown. 

“By the time of the film Two-Way Stretch, this branch line had been dismantled. 

“But the bridge abutments remained, as they still do, which must have aided the scene with a security van suspended above the road. 

“I have not come across an image of that side of the arch with the Bisley Bullet bridge in place, but I would be surprised if there is not one somewhere – a challenge to readers? 

“This is not to be confused with the lattice girder bridge that took the line over the canal nearby.

“That bridge has also been removed, with only the abutments remaining. Many images exist.”

My thanks go to Nigel for supplying these interesting additional details.

If you have memories or old pictures relating to the Woking area and its people which you would like to contribute to this page, call David Rose on 01483 838960, or write to the News & Mail.