Coordinates: 50°46′53″N 1°52′54″W / 50.78144°N 1.88169°W / 50.78144; -1.88169

Ferndown
Penny's Walk - Ferndown's major shopping precinct
Ferndown  Ferndown shown within Dorset
Population	17,650
OS grid reference	SZ084979
- London	100 miles (161 km)
Civil parish	Ferndown Town
District	East Dorset
Shire county	Dorset
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	FERNDOWN
Postcode district	BH22
Dialling code	01202
Police	Dorset
Fire	Dorset
Ambulance	South Western
EU Parliament	South West England
UK Parliament	Christchurch
List of places: UK • England • Dorset

Ferndown is a town and civil parish in the East Dorset district of Dorset in southern England, situated immediately to the north of unitary authorities of Poole and Bournemouth. The parish, which until 1972 was called Hampreston, includes the communities of Hampreston, Longham, Stapehill and Trickett's Cross.^[1] The latest population figure (2006 mid year estimate) for the parish is 17,200.^[2]

Ferndown is the largest inland town in Dorset in terms of population.

The district has a relatively large elderly population (38.5% are aged 60 or above).^[3]

Transport[link]

Ferndown lies adjacent to the A31 trunk road between Wimborne and Ringwood. To the east, the A31 connects to the M27 and M3 via the outskirts of Southampton to Winchester, and thence to Basingstoke and London or via the A34 to the M4 north of Newbury. To the west, the A31 links to the A35 to East Dorset and Devon. The nearest railway station is Bournemouth, 7 miles (11 km) away.

The nearby port of Poole provides year-round services to Cherbourg in France and Santander in Spain.^[4][5] Condor Ferries catamarans run seasonal services to Guernsey, Jersey and St. Malo, Brittany.^[6]

Ferndown is also only 4 miles (6.4 km) from Bournemouth International Airport at Hurn. Ryanair, EasyJet, Thomsonfly, Bmibaby and Palmair operate from the airport and provide scheduled services to destinations in the UK and Europe.^[7]

Industry[link]

On the outskirts of the town lie the Ferndown and Uddens Industrial Estates, forming the largest industrial area in East Dorset containing a wide range of both small and large businesses.^[8]

Ferndown is headquarters of the Stour and Avon Magazine (formerly Community Magazine), a free magazine which is published every Friday with a readership of over 55,000 copies a week.^{[citation needed]}

Sport and recreation[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2008)

The King George's Field named in memoriam to King George V is very large area of open space including a children's playground with equipment for children with special needs, six tennis courts, four football pitches, cricket pitch, a bowling green, boules area, croquet practice lawn and a fully equipped skateboard park.^[1]

There are two golf clubs, Ferndown Forest Golf Club, which offers a single 18-hole course,^[9] and Ferndown Golf Club, which offers two courses: The Old Course also known as the Championship Course, and the nine-hole Presidents Course.^[10]

The Ferndown Leisure Centre, situated next to Ferndown Upper School, has two heated pools, a sports hall, a fully equipped Gymnasium, Squash Courts and a rifle range as well as a power house suite.^[11]

Ferndown Community Centre is one of the town's main attractions, home of the Barrington Theatre in the main shopping centre at Penny's Walk, which also includes a large Tesco supermarket and the local branch of the county library.

Also there are large areas of woodland and heathlands around Ferndown including Holt Heath and Slop Bog. This heathland originally covered the entire area and up until the early 1900s covered many areas that are now residential. Also on many of the heaths and in much of the woodland there are many burial mounds and small ponds. However, recently Ferndown Heath, visible from King George V playing field, has been subject to several heath fires.

Education[link]

Schooling in Ferndown, as in much of Dorset, is based on a 3-tier system of first, middle and upper schools. Ferndown Upper School is a co-educational comprehensive school for students aged between 13 and 19 years, with up to 320 pupils admitted each year from its feeder Middle schools in Ferndown, West Moors and Verwood. This School is renowned for Visual Arts as it has won the Arts Council Gold award.

Ferndown Middle school (on the former Gorsemoor Middle School site) takes pupils at age 9 from Ferndown First School (on the old Ferndown Middle School site), from Hampreston First School and from Parley First School. The Ferndown school changes occurred in the late 1980s and early 1990s when the original first school was demolished to make way for a small residential area. The two middle schools combined and one became the new first school.

Twin town[link]

• Segré in the Maine-et-Loire département of France.

See also[link]

• List of King George V Playing Fields (Dorset)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ferndown

• Ferndown Town Council
• Ferndown at the Open Directory Project

Peter Alliss
Personal information
Full name	Peter Alliss
Born	(1931-02-28) 28 February 1931 (age 81) Berlin, Germany
Nationality	England
Residence	Hindhead, Surrey
Spouse	Joan (m.1953) Jackie (m.1969)
Children	Gary, Carol (with Joan) Sara, Simon, Henry (with Jackie)
Career
Turned professional	1947
Retired	1975
Professional wins	25
Best results in Major Championships
Masters Tournament	CUT: 1966, 1967
U.S. Open	DNP
The Open Championship	8th/T8: 1954, 1961, 1962, 1969
PGA Championship	DNP
Achievements and awards
World Golf Hall of Fame	2012 (member page)

Peter Alliss (born 28 February 1931) is an English professional golfer, BBC television presenter and commentator, author and golf course designer. Alliss is known for his charismatic and unique style of commentary, often displaying a witty demeanour. Since the death of Henry Longhurst, he has been regarded by many as the current "Voice of (British) Golf", along with long time commentating partner Alex Hay.^[1][2] In December 2011, he was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in the Lifetime Achievement category and was inducted in May 2012.^[3]

Biography[link]

His father Percy was a professional golfer who won several tournaments on the European golf circuit in the 1920s and 1930s, and Peter was born in Berlin while his father was employed as a club professional there.

Alliss left school at the age of 14 (then the minimum school leaving age in the UK), and began his career as a professional golfer in 1947, at the age of 16. In his 27 years of professional competition, he won three British PGA Championships, and was semi-finalist in the British PGA Matchplay Championship. Alliss played on eight Ryder Cup teams (1953, 1957, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1965, 1967, and 1969), compiling a 43 per cent winning percentage. He played on ten teams representing England in the World Cup. He had five top-ten finishes in the Open Championship, coming closest in 1954 at Royal Birkdale when he finished just four shots behind Peter Thomson. Percy and Peter Alliss were the first father and son to both participate in the Ryder Cup (Antonio Garrido and his son Ignacio later became the second). He won 23 tournaments, and gave Sean Connery golf tips before he filmed Goldfinger. His competitive career was almost over by the time the European Tour was formally established in 1972, but he played in some events in the Tour's early years, making his last appearance on the tour in 1975.

Alliss was the Captain of The Professional Golfers' Association twice, the president of the British Greenkeepers` Association, and was the first president of the European Women's Professional Golfers' Association. He has worked as a commentator for the BBC, ABC, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In Britain he is probably the best known golf broadcaster. He has hosted a total of 140 Pro Celebrity Golf TV programmes, was the host of Around with Alliss, and is currently starring in A Golfer's Travels, which is airing worldwide. He has written 20 books, the last of which was Golf Heroes, as well as articles in Golf International and Golf World Magazine.

Alliss is also involved in golf course architecture. His first course design partner was Dave Thomas, with whom he created over 50 courses, including The Belfry, which is now the home of the Professional Golfers' Association and has staged the Ryder Cup several times. He then joined forces with Clive Clark, and added another 22 courses to his portfolio (including Old Thorns Golf Course in Hampshire).

In 2002 he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by Bournemouth University. In July 2005, he was honoured by the University of St Andrews, shortly before The Open Golf Championship, with the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.

Alliss's distinctive voice has featured on numerous golfing video games.^{[citation needed]}

Tournament wins[link]

this list is incomplete

• 1952 British Assistants Championship
• 1954 Daks Tournament
• 1955 Dunlop Tournament
• 1956 Spanish Open
• 1957 British PGA Championship
• 1958 Italian Open, Spanish Open, Portuguese Open
• 1959 Dunlop Tournament
• 1960 Sprite Tournament
• 1961 Brazil Open
• 1962 British PGA Championship
• 1963 Daks Tournament (tie with Neil Coles)
• 1964 Esso Golden Tournament, Swallow-Penfold Tournament
• 1965 British PGA Championship, Jeyes Tournament
• 1966 Martini International (tie with W. Large), Rediffusion Tournament
• 1967 Agfa-Gevaert Tournament
• 1969 Piccadilly Medal

Results in major championships[link]

Note: Alliss never played in the U.S. Open nor the PGA Championship.
DNP = Did not play
WD = Withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Yellow background for top-10

Team appearances[link]

• World Cup (representing England): 1954, 1955, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1967

References[link]

External links[link]

• Home page
• Profile from ABC Sports