The year 2012 was more significant than usual in terms of national events, anniversaries and commemorations.

Britain as a whole welcomed the Olympics and Paralympics, celebrated the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, commemorated the sinking of the Titanic, the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens and many more.

For Wimbledon, each of these national events had a special local significance but they also happened alongside a whole string of other notable dates.

Many famous people have been linked with Wimbledon. They are associated with every imaginable field from the arts, sciences, archaeology, architecture, entertainment and sport to education, politics, health, warfare and even crime.

Heritage Tales, the latest publication from the Wimbledon Society Museum Press, brings them all to life in the context of an anniversary of some sort between October 2011 and October 2012.

But Wimbledon is so much more than just the famous. One of London’s greenest and most pleasant areas to live, its heritage includes all those features we take for granted until they are gone.

2012 also saw anniversaries of day to day services such as the first trains and trams, landmark events for places of entertainment such as the theatres and cinemas, and the loss or memories of old hospitals, schools or pubs.

Many of these events were captured by the Wimbledon Society for a weekly Heritage series in the online version of the Wimbledon Guardian newspaper.

All of those that appeared in the first full year of this series are included in Heritage Tales – 52 Stories of Wimbledon. The book is compiled by Tony Matthews with the help of other Wimbledon Society members.

It costs just £7 with copies available from the Museum of Wimbledon at 22 Ridgway, Wimbledon Village, local outlets or online from www.wimbledonmuseum.org.uk. For more information call Tony Matthews on 020 8286 1344.

The Wimbledon Society is working with the Wimbledon Guardian to ensure that you, the readers, can share the fascinating discoveries that continue to emerge about our local heritage.

For more information, visit wimbledonsociety.org.uk and www.wimbledonmuseum.org.uk.

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