Woking

Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Woking shopping experience:

1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Woking offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Woking at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.

2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about

3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Woking? Wrong! If the Woking is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.

4. Questions - Got a question about Woking then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....

5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Woking? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Woking and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.

6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Woking wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.

7. Feedback - happy with your Woking then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.

8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Woking site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site

9. Contact - got a question about Woking, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.

10. Payment - ready to pay for your Woking, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.

{{infobox UK place||country = England|latitude= 51.3162|longitude= -0.561|official_name= Woking|map_type= Surrey|static_image=|static_image_caption=Town Square|population = 90,700|shire_district= Woking (borough)|shire_county = [Surrey|post_town= Woking|postcode_district = GU21, GU22|postcode_area= GU|dial_code= 01483|os_grid_reference= TQ003584--> See Woking (borough) for the administrative district. Woking is a large town and civil parish that shares its name with the surrounding Non-metropolitan district, located to the west of Surrey in South East England. It functions as a dormitory town of the London commuter belt and is located 23 miles (37 km) south west of Charing Cross in central London. Woking town itself, excluding the district, has a population of 62,796, Surrey Country Council census data and the administrative civil parish, which covers part of the urban area inclusive of Sheerwater and Knaphill, has a population of 30,403.

Woking also plays a role in literature: it is the town in which the Martians landed in H. G. Wells science fiction novel The War of the Worlds (novel). It also features in Douglas Adams The Meaning of Liff, as the word for when you go to the kitchen but forget why.

Twin towns

Rastatt in Germany
Amstelveen in the Netherlands
Le Plessis-Robinson in France Woking borough twin town info

History Woking's history starts in 673AD. Woking began around this time as a settlement of a Wessex tribe, followers of Wocca. The name has been corrupted and was spelt as Woccingas, Wochinges, Wokynge, Wochynghe at different times.

Woking appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as Wochinges. It was held partly by William the Conqueror and partly by Ansgot and Godfrey from Bishop Osbern of Exeter. Its domesday assets were: 3½ hide (unit)s; 1 church, 2 Mill (grinding)s worth 13s 10d, 31 ploughs, 46 acres of meadow, woodland worth 161 hog (swine)s. It rendered £24 10s 0d. Also 15s to the sheriff each year. Surrey Domesday Book

Modern Woking was formed around the railway station built over 150 years ago at the junction between trains to the south coast, the South West England and the necropolis railway to Brookwood Cemetery. This cemetery was developed by the London Necropolis Company as an overflow burial ground for London's dead. Later, Woking was home to the first crematorium in the United Kingdom (St Johns) and the first mosque in the UK (on Oriental Road). The Shahjehan Mosque was commissioned by Sultan Shah Jahan, Begum of Bhopal, Begum of Bhopal of Bhopal (princely state) (1868-1901), one of the four female Muslim rulers of Bhopal who reigned between 1819 and 1926.

Politics The Woking (UK Parliament constituency) has historically been a Conservative Party (UK) safe seat, with the Liberal Democrats (UK) the principal opposition in the last two Elections in the United Kingdom. Its current Member of Parliament is Humfrey Malins, who has a majority of around 6,500. The borough council is currently run by the Conservatives.

Facilities Woking has a modern shopping centre called The Peacocks and an older shopping area, Wolsey Place. Wolsey Place web site

The main area for evening entertainment is around Chertsey Road Map showing Chertsey Road which contains restaurants serving a number of cuisines and there are also numerous bars and pubs. The Ambassadors cinemas Web site for the Ambassadors cinemas and New Victoria Theatre and New Victoria Theatre can be accessed via the top floor of The Peacocks.

Woking has indoor swimming pools, "Pool in the Park", Pool in the Park web site and a separate leisure centre. Outdoor facilities include a skatepark, tennis courts, five-a-side football pitches, a cricket pitch (during the summer), bowling greens, a crazy golf course, and a children's adventure playground. These leisure facilities are all located within the attractively landscaped Woking Park Woking Park web site near to the town centre.

The scene at St Peter's Church, Old Woking is an inspiration for many local artists, as is another local beauty spot at the lock at St John's Lye. (a) (b) Two sites on David Drury, a local artist

Energy policy See related article: 'Energy policy of the United Kingdom

Woking council is one of country's leaders in adopting greener energy technologies. Several cogeneration provide district heating and electricity, and electricity is also provided by a combination of Hydrogen economy cells and solar cells dispersed throughout the borough. These are linked via an innovative private electricity distribution system operating completely off the public Electric power transmission.

In order to do this the local government laid new power lines to all locations on the Woking sustainable community energy system (due to Department of Trade and Industry regulations). Should the public power grid fail, central Woking would continue to have an energy supply.

The cost for providing this is approximately Pound sterling0.01/kilowatt-hour less than for public electricity. It has been reported that the borough saves UK£974,000 a year in energy costs if the installation costs are ignored. By March 2004 the initiatives had also cut the borough's carbon dioxide by 17.24%, and those of the council by 77.4%. London Climate Change Authority Press Release

Woking Station Canopy, which was approved by Woking Councillors in March 2004, is being built in 2007. It is equipped with photovoltaic cells to collect sunlight and convert it into energy. Woking government news Final stage of the canopy to Albion Way

On Friday 23rd March 2007, Prince Charles opened a climate change exhibition in Woking. The exhibition, which is a joint venture by Business in the Community and BCSC and endorsed by the Climate Group, featured display stands with information on issues like recycling, energy use, transport, waste reduction and food sources. He also inspected work on the Albion Square canopy. After the launch, the prince took lunch at Auberge. He then gave a speech to introduce Al Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth, which was being viewed by local business leaders.

Transport Rail , Platform 5 sideWoking railway station is situated on the Alton Line, Portsmouth Direct Line, South Western Main Line and West of England Main Line. Accordingly, there are frequent trains to and from Waterloo station (via Clapham Junction), a journey taking approximately half an hour. There is also the twice hourly Waterloo via Weybridge railway service that calls at many stations between Waterloo and Woking.

A canopy has been built between the station and the main shopping area of the town. It stretchs from the railway station entrance (town - platform 1 - side) to Albion House and includes landscaping of the area which, along with the canopy, creates a new entrance to the town from the railway station. Woking borough press release

Road Woking is accessible from M25 motorway, M3 Motorway & the A3 road.

A320, the main access road, passing through the centre of town connects to the M25 motorway junction 11 to Woking's north and to the A3 road to its south at Guildford. M3 Motorway Junction 3 connects to Woking either via Chobham, Surrey (B3046) or A322 & A324.

Bus RailAir coach service connects Woking and London Heathrow airport. The service runs approximately every 30 minutes from the railway station main entrace to all airport terminals.Gatwick Airport can be accessed via Guildford railway station, Surrey or Clapham Junction.

The bus services in Woking are mainly operated by Arriva, Countryliner Coaches and Travel Surrey. The main bus terminal is just outside the station and provides services to Byfleet and West Byfleet, Camberley, Guildford, Kingston upon Thames, Ripley, Surrey and Staines.

The Bustler community transport service operates in and around Woking, serving people with a transportation disadvantage. Woking Bustler web site

Suburbs Woking has several suburban districts including :-Horsell, Hook Heath, Mount Hermon, Maybury, Goldsworth Park, St Johns, Pyrford, Kingfield, Westfield, Ridgway and Old Woking.The adjacent sub-towns of Knaphill and Sheerwater are often considered outer suburbs of Woking. Old Woking is often cited as a separate village.

Sport Football

Woking has a non-League football football club, Woking F.C., that competes in the Conference National (tier 5). The origin of the club's nickname, the "Cards", is disputed. One attractive proposal is that the name was acquired because Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, after whom the smaller of the two shopping centres is named, was staying with King Henry VIII at Woking Palace (the remains of which can be seen near the River Wey at Old Woking) when he heard he had been made a Cardinal (Catholicism) by Pope Leo X in 1515. A more prosaic alternative is that the Cards are so named because of the Cardinal (color) in one half of their home strip. It is interesting to note that this colour was chosen because of the town's link to Cardinal Wolsey.

Rugby

Woking has a rugby union union club Woking RFC that competes in Surrey League 3 (Level 11).

Chobham Chobham Rugby Rugby club won their league in 2006/07 and now play in London 2 South (Level 6) and have over 1200 members. They have recently had Dan Frazier (prop) signed by NEC Harlequins from their Youth Development system.

Hockey

Woking Hockey Club Woking Hockey Club women's first XI compete in the English field hockey League Women's League 1 (tier 2); the men's first XI compete in a regional league. The club has two AstroTurf pitches at a clubhouse based in Goldsworth Park.

Cricket

Woking also has a number of cricket clubs including Old Woking CC, Woking & Horsell CC, and Westfield CC.

Motor Racing

The McLaren Formula One motor racing team is based near to the town, as is Räikkönen Robertson Racing, begun by Ferrari driver Kimi Räikkönen.

Education Infant and junior schools in the area include: Goldsworth Primary School, Knaphill Junior School, Knaphill Lower School, Horsell CofE Aided Junior School, Horsell Village School, The Prins Willem-Alexander school (Dutch private primary school), St Hugh of Lincoln Catholic Primary School, St. Dunstan's Catholic Primary School, Barnsbury Primary and Infant School, The Hermitage Junior School, Sythwood Primary School and The Oaktree School,Beaufort Primary School.

Secondary schools in the area include:Bishop David Brown School (Woking) , St. John the Baptist School (Woking), St Andrew's School (Woking) The Winston Churchill School (Woking), and Woking High School.

Woking College is located in Old Woking and provides post-16 education.

There are also private sector schools. There are several private preparatory schools in Woking: Hoe Bridge, St Andrew's, Greenfields and Ripley Court are all mixed, while Halstead School is girls only.

Healthcare Woking comes under Surrey PCT (Primary Care Trust), administered and run by NHS. Group of GP's together with Woking Community hospital List of GP's & Woking Community hospital serves the local resident's primary healthcare needs.Specialist hospitals near by are St Peter's Hospital, Chertsey (for Emergency_department) and Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford.

For Private_hospital needs, Nuffield Hospital Nuffield Hospitals, Woking Community hospital mainly serves Woking's local residents.

Notable residents Woking was home to author H.G. Wells, who had the Martians in The War of the Worlds (novel) land on Horsell Common, close to the town centre. There is a large sculpture of a (Wellsian) Tripod (The War of the Worlds) in the town centre commemorating Woking's fictional destruction.

The English composer Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944) lived and died in Woking.

The Jam are from Woking, and its singer/songwriter Paul Weller (singer) (who later, together with Mick Talbot, formed the The Style Council) was born there in 1958. The song A Town Called Malice was written about Woking, and Weller's 1995 solo album, Stanley Road, is named after the street in which he was born and lived. Map with Stanley Road indicated

Other notable people who were born in Woking include: Ian Ogilvy, actor, 1943; Ron Dennis, CEO/Chairman of the McLaren_Group, 1947; Liz Lynne, Liberal Democrats (UK) politician, 1948; Rick Parfitt, guitarist for Status Quo, 1948; Douglas Pearce, musician behind Death in June, 1956; Sean Lock, comedian, 1963; Susie Dent, a lexicographer and the dictionary expert on Countdown (game show), 1964; and Harry Hill, comedian, 1964.

Trivia - There is also a Hawker Hunter jet fighter painted silver and mounted on a pole roughly ten metres tall outside the Big Apple family entertainment complex. This was used to promote the previous Planets family entertainment complex, designed to look like a space craft, and has never been removed. However, originally the craft was black with various logos and livery on it. These were removed when the Planets complex was taken over.

- Douglas Adams defines in The Deeper Meaning of Liff woking (ptcbl. vb.) as:Standing in the kitchen wondering what you came in here for.

Emergency services Woking is served by these emergency sevices:

Surrey Police.
South East Coast Ambulance Service as of 1st July 2006, is the local NHS Ambulance Services Trust. The Surrey Ambulance Service, Sussex, and Kent Ambulance services have all merged, and have now ceased to exist.
Surrey Fire & Rescue Service.

2 x Water Tender Ladder