A true friend of Taplow and a founder member of the Taplow and Hitcham
Preservation Society
Anne's loving defence of Taplow and its environs was rooted in her family's long
connection with the parish. She continued their stewardship by always
advocating a policy of responsible and necessary development. She was never a
die-hard opponent of change, but was one who saw how an untenable situation
could be transformed by planning decisions which respected the legacy of the
past.
Anne was one of the original members of the Taplow and Hitcham Preservation
Society recruited, like those of us who remain from her generation, by the
indefatigable Dr. Maurice Rogers and inspired by the example of villagers who
earlier had combined to buy the land now known as the recreation ground to save
it from developers.
She recognised the vital importance of strong local support for the elected
authorities which would ultimately be responsible for the future of Taplow. As
a member of the Preservation Society and as a councillor, she valued the support
and strength of the Society as an auxiliary to the work of the Parish, District
and County Councils on all three of which she served.
It was in the 1950s when Taplow was a rare, rather Edwardian, survival in a
vulnerable part of the Green Belt, that Anne returned to live here with her
family and it was the moment when gravel extraction for new motorways and the
imminence of main drainage made change inevitable. She played a leading role in
the 1960s transformation of Taplow from a community of large and decaying
mansions with a few very small houses, mostly occupied by pensioned or working
retainers, to the present village with its wide range of housing, styles and
sizes.
It was not easy to convince developers that large gardens need not be
transformed into grid pattern estates and without Anne's strong advocacy of a
development plan, based on sympathetic retention of the footprints of the
original buildings combined with the local need for family homes, it is probable
that Wellbank, Stockwells and Cedar Chase would now be part of the less
attractive legacy of that time. Also, her enthusiasm, vision and purposeful
co-operation with fellow Taplow residents in local government gave us our
village green and ensured that our school would continue to give Taplow children
a full primary education..
Anne's life was spent in service to her country in war and to her neighbours in
peace; may her successors work as she did. If you seek her memorial, look
around you.
Helen Grellier
