Knaphill FC

Knaphill 1 Staines Lammas 3 - Combined Counties League, Division One

Combined Counties League

Knaphill is a dispersed urban village in Surrey, close to Woking. The village name was first recorded in 1225 as La Cnappe. Since then there has been various spellings of the name including 'Nap Hill, Naphill and Knap Hill. One of the major employers in the area until its closure in the 1990s was Brookwood Hospital, a vast, rambling lunatic asylum that dated from the late Victorian era. The northern edge of the hospital grounds adjoined the Broadway with the southern edge being denoted by the Knaphill side of the Basingstoke Canal. Most of the old hospital grounds have been redeveloped, the wards having made way for the Sainsburys and Homebase superstores and a large number of houses and council flats. The central building, which is 'A' listed has been retained and converted into luxury flats. Several of the new residential roads were named after the old hospital wards. The former chapel is now a Buddhist temple and the hospital morgue is now living quarter's for the temple's monks. Mark Toole lived nearby at St Johns.

The choice was between Liverpool v Chelsea, Champions League on TV or Knaphill v Staines Lammas in the bottom tier of the Combined Counties League. No competition as far as this journalist was concerned, as I headed for Woking via London Waterloo, accompanied by the legendary Nigel Maitland. We were particularly grateful to Nic Adamou for the lift from and to Woking station, saving us a lot of time. Brookwood station is nearer to Knaphill’s Redding Way ground but has a less frequent and slower train service.

Redding Way is a smart venue. The pitch was in fine condition and far greener than many for this stage of the season. The ground is surrounded by new looking high fences on three sides. The remaining side being enclosed by a thicket of well established trees.

The club building, containing the changing facilities and refreshment area, is situated behind one of the goals. The only covered accommodation for spectators is provided by an overhang to the building. A nice touch here was the row of chairs put out by the club in this area. To the side of the clubhouse is the entrance kiosk.

Visitors Staines Lammas FC, in a good position to win the championship, required 10 points from their remaining five matches prior to this fixture to do so. They look an impressive outfit too and after some slick early play, were ahead after 15 minutes, following a fine strike by Joe Johnson. A second goal from Jay Coombs followed a few minutes later and it was clear that the home side would have to step up a gear to compete.

This they did in the second half but not before going a further goal behind scored by Chris Baker shortly after the break. Knaphill finally grabbed a consolation goal with a fine header from Matt Baker as the light faded.

The match kicked off at 6.45 but by the time the referee signalled full time, it was getting quite dark. With players and officials travelling from work, it would be difficult to start any earlier.

Them hopper chaps I think

Knaphill FC is a friendly club. The match programme is very impressive. This issue contained 56 pages with plenty to read and a good mix of colour photographs and articles.

Knaphill: Shelley, Barbato (Roissetter), Batchelor, Crozier, Pritchard, Fastnedge, Timblick, Taylor, Springett (Hutton), Baker (M), Hughes. Sub Not Used: Coles.
Staines Lammas: Pisani, Ryan (Ridley), Webb, Munns, Willmore, Collins (Bullen), Azagba (Smithers), Piper, Baker (C), Coombs, Johnson.



Admission: £3-00
Attendance: 71
Programme: with admission
Tea: 50p
Mars Bar: 50p
Crisps: 40p
Fare: £6-60 (with Gold Card discount)

Charleswood Shopping Centre Plaza

The Charleswood Shopping Centre Plaza is a community shopping centre on Grant Avenue. At one time, it was an enclosed mall and went by the name Forest Park Mall. It was built around 1978 by my recollection. In 2004, the owners of the mall announced that they were going to do a convert the mall to a big box strip mall. This was precipitated by fact that one of the anchors of the mall left to occupy Wal-Mart's old location at the Grant Park Shopping Mall. Zellers had not been the original department store tenant. That distinction went to Kmart which died a slow death in Canada and was bought over by Zellers in 1998.

The departure of Zellers caused a re-think of what the mall should look like to ensure success in the future. The problem with enclosed community shopping centers as time went on was that many of the smaller businesses had difficulty staying economically viable. The initial attractiveness of an small enclosed mall supported by anchor stores was starting to wain. Zellers wasn't exactly the draw it used to be (if it ever was) and the mall, like so many in the suburbs, was starting to look dowdy and unappealing.

For anyone driving past the Charleswood mall, it was easy to see that the place had no street presence. Aside from Safeway, McDonald's and the Zellers, no one was sure what the mall offered unless they parked and went inside. With the departure of it major anchor, it seemed the wisest choice was to turn the mall inside out.

It has been a long process with renovations continuing well into the fall of 2007 and with new tenants taking a very long time to occupy the new space. In the spring of 2008, there are only three smaller units still left to lease out. The latest tenants to move in are major additions at least in terms of unique and attractive businesses to draw shoppers in the Charleswood area. One first is Sushi Park, a family owned sushi restaurant tucked in close to the Safeway. It is an attractive place with good food and an excellent addition to the area. The other new business to move in this spring is Blockbuster.

For a number of years now, Charleswood has been underserved by the presence of a video store. Between Assiniboine Park and beyond the Charleswood Parkway and from the Assiniboine River to Wilkes, there hasn't been a video store of any sort for some time. While some people say that video stores are becoming less relevant with the Internet, Video on Demand, cable and satellite movie channels, there are still many people who like to rent videos and games. This can be witnessed by observing the Rogers Video store at the Kenaston Village Mall. It is filled with people; some no doubt from video store-starved Charleswood.

Safeway continues to be the main anchor on the west side of the mall along with McDonald's which sits out on the corner of the lot. On the east side of the mall, the new anchor is Shoppers Drug Mart. Many of the small pharmacies have fallen due to competition from the grocery chains. Shoppers has emerged as a formidable challenger to that trend.

The east corner of the mall opposite Royal School is reserved as park and ride lot for Winnipeg Transit. Beside that is a Tim Horton's to cater to the commuters travelling down Grant Avenue.

A Liquor Mart and a Dollarama round out some of the larger retailers to rent space in the mall. One unique entry to the mall is City Looks Spa and Salon. The salon business has really taken off and several regional shopping centers have benefited from this type of business moving in.

The 2007 revamp of Safeway has given the store a much better deli selection as well as a Starbucks. The outside of Safeway still looks boring but the inside is clean and generally an improvement.

A Quiznos, a Pet Valu a Bank of Montreal branch and a local insurance office round out the services at the mall.

So as the mall nears full occupancy, what is the verdict?

I'd have to say as far as community malls go, it has found the right formula and the right mix of stores to appeal to its residential core and to the commuters along Grant. The mall's street appeal has improved and the selection of stores has improved. All in all, it is a welcome re-development in the Charleswood neighborhood.




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