Basingstoke: The south’s first town of the motor-car age. A shopping centre on a platform; separate routes for cars and pedestrians. It is the showpiece town of the South of England. That’s how our town was described by the Hants & Berks Gazette (which became The Gazette) in August 1962.

The new town took shape. The planners aimed to separate people from traffic, with a ring road, distributor roads around new estates and small closes or terraces of houses. House designs varied, but innovations such as split-level houses and gas warm air heating were not popular. There were to be no high-rise blocks, apart from Oakridge Towers.

Underpasses meant that it was possible to walk safely into the town centre, but it was a long walk with little children. Most newcomer families had a male breadwinner with a wife and children at home. For many of these young wives, life was very tough. Often their homes were still on a building site, estate shops not yet open and mud everywhere. Loneliness was a problem, but this too was planned for.

The Council of Community Service set up clubs for young wives on every estate, some of them still going today. New schools sprang up. Playgroups flourished. Anyone who lives here for long knows that nothing stands still in Basingstoke. The last 60 years have given us two further extensions to the shopping centre, a new hospital, library, Anvil concert hall, Sports Centre and in 2001, Festival Place and many more facilities on the Leisure Park at West Ham. New parks were created and numerous pocket parks with play equipment. Trees were planted everywhere.

With so many newcomers, it took time for people to recognise Basingstoke as their home, and to become interested and curious about its past. Basingstoke Heritage Society has worked for nearly 30 years to add historic detail and information through our 21 blue plaques, the Bluecoat Boy in Cross Street, information boards in South View cemetery, Viables Craft Centre and in Church Square as well as producing the text for the Town Trail, and a leaflet on Jane Austen’s Basingstoke.