Visit Friends of Wandsworth Common/ Videos for links to the original talks.
NB these transcripts are useful but not always wholly accurate renderings of the original talks on which they're based - so be cautious.
Here's why:
I have used YouTube's automated transcripts of the original talks. These were copied and fed into the AI-tool Claude, which tidied them up quite considerably (e.g. it did a wonderful job of removing "ums" and "ers", and adding punctuation, though its rendering of names is sometimes awry - my name is usually shown as "Philip Boy", Stephen Midlane's as "Stephen Midwinter", and Battersea as "Batsy".) It also did a great job of formatting the resulting text for upload as a web page.
Very helpful, yes, but there will be many errors. If needed, the text in the web pages could now be edited (checked against the spoken word, and corrected and clarified etc), and images added. Links and extra information could also be supplied.
Let me know if you're interested in doing some of this.
— Reclaiming Wandsworth’s Heritage, Bruce St Julian-Bown, with an update by Sheila Allen on the Museum of Wandsworth (Wandsworth Society, June 2026). [YouTube]
— Remembering Wandsworth Common, from the 1960s to now: Two [several speakers] (April 2026). [YouTube]
— The Geoffrey Bevington Album, Philip Boys and Sarah Vey (April 2026). [YouTube]
— Up the Junction, Sue Demont (February 2026). [YouTube]
— Remembering Wandsworth Common, from the 1960s to now: One [several speakers] (February 2026). [YouTube]
— The Falcon Brook: Hidden in Plain Sight, Philip Boys (January 2026). [YouTube]
— Lost Houses and Gardens: Nightingale Lane area (Wilby Lodge, Stanton House, Ravenslea, Fernside), [several speakers] (April 2025). [YouTube]
— Lost Houses and Gardens: The Burntwood Houses (Burntwood House, Burntwood Lodge and Collamore, Burntwood Grange), Louise Murphy, Henrietta Gentilli and Stephen Midlane (5 December 2024). [YouTube]
— Life, Death and Art on Wandsworth Common in WWI: The Third London General Hospital, Philip Boys (November 2024). There's a second version, which may be identical, at Life, Death and Art on Wandsworth Common in WWI: The Third London General Hospital. [YouTube]
— The Craig Telescope, Greg Smye-Rumsby (October 2024). [YouTube]
— Bolingbroke Hospital: A Harley Street for the Poor?, Sue Demont (November 2024). [YouTube]
— Honeywell Evacuees and the V1 Bomb, Cathy Rowntree (30 June 2024). [YouTube]
— Tales from the Surrey Pauper Lunatic Asylum [Springfield Hospital] , Philip Boys.[YouTube] (28 May 2024).
— Lost Houses and Gardens: The Five Houses on Bolingbroke Grove (Bolingbroke House, Grove House, Bolingbroke Grove House, The Elms, Dent's House), Mark Luboff, Sarah Vey, Henrietta Gentilli (April 2024). [YouTube]
— Edward and Helen Thomas on Wandsworth Common, Philip Boys (February 2024). [YouTube]
— Another Carve Up: How the Common was reshaped by the Railways, Sue Demont (January 2024). [YouTube] [Is this similar to November 2022's talk?]
— Lost Houses and Gardens: First Reports (Bolingbroke House, Stanton House, Wilby Lodge, Fernside, Burntwood House, Bramblebury House, Mulberry Cottage (The Gables)). [various speakers] (December 2023). [YouTube]
— Pioneers of Photography Part II (Paul Martin & Harry Dorrett), Chris Allies and Philip Boys (October 2023). [YouTube]
— Pioneers of Photography Part I (Hugh Welch Diamond, Geoffrey Bevington, Peter Le Neve Foster, Lewis Carroll, Henry Morris), Philip Boys (October 2023). [YouTube]
— The Quest for P.Y. Betts, Sue Delafons and Stephen Midlane (July 2023). This version was adapted and incorporated in the Chronicles for September 2025. [YouTube].
— Common Memories: Life on and around the Common 1930s—1980s [several speakers] (June 2023). [YouTube]
— An Uneducated Lady? Marjory Allen and the Adventure Playground Movement, Sue Demont (May 2023). [YouTube] ]
— Wandsworth Common in the Heritage Service, Emma Anthony. [YouTube] (May 2023). [YouTube]
— Tales from the Fitzhugh Estate, Sharon O'Neill (date?). [YouTube]
— Turf Wars Parts II and III: A History of Sport on the Common, Philip Boys (January 2023). [YouTube]
— Turf Wars Part I: A History of Sport on the Common, Philip Boys (November 2022). [YouTube]
— Another Carve Up; How the railways reshaped Wandsworth Common, Sue Demont (November 2022). [YouTube]
— The Black Sea, Philip Boys (19 October 2022). [YouTube]
— A History of Trinity Fields, Graham Jackson (June 2022). [YouTube]
— Maps and the Making of Wandsworth Common, Philip Boys (2022). [YouTube]
— Thomas Hardy, Ros Page (April 2022). [YouTube]
— Magical History Tour, Philip Boys (January 2022). [YouTube]
— In Search of mid-Victorian photographer Geoffrey Bevington and Ivy House, Philip Boys. Zoom talk to the Wandsworth Historical Society, 26 November 2021.[In Search of Geoffrey video]
Most of the earlier talks have yet to be transcribed or made into web-pages. These were on Zoom, uploaded to Vimeo. But unlike YouTube, Vimeo does not provide free transcripts. Nevertheless it's possible to do this quite easily using Apple Notes to record and transcribe the video as it plays. This should produce a fairly accurate version which can be tweaked using e.g. Claude. But when?
— The Wandsworth Common Story - Book Launch [several speakers] (May 2021). [Vimeo]
— Read All About It!, Ros Page (April 2021). [Vimeo]
— Down with the Fences! Part II, Philip Boys (May 2021). [Vimeo]
— Down with the Fences! Part I, Philip Boys (March 2021). [Vimeo]
— East Side Story, Sue Demont (March 2021). [Vimeo]
— WaterWorld, Philip Boys (March 2021). [Vimeo]
— What a Carve Up!, Philip Boys (January 2021). [Vimeo]