Churchill Place is located within Basingstoke, which is part of the borough of Basingstoke and Deane and also part of the parliamentary constituency of Basingstoke. There are a large number of roundabouts within Basingstoke and it is for this reason why it is often nicknamed “Doughnut City” or “Roundabout City”.
The name Basingstoke is believed to have been derived from the town’s position as the outlying western settlement of Basa’s people. The word ‘stoke’ means outlying settlement or it possibly refers to a stockade that surrounded the settlement in early medieval times.
Basingstoke is an old market town which expanded in the mid 1960’s as a result of an agreement between London County Council and Hampshire County Council. The area then developed rapidly after World War Two in order to accommodate part of the London ‘overspill’ as perceived under the Greater London Plan in 1944. Basingstoke market was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 and it remained a small market town until the early 1960’s. At the start of World War Two, the population was little more than 13,000.
The area of Basingstoke has a wide diversity of musical groups ranging from brass bands to symphony orchestras. The Basingstoke Concert Band, is a traditional wind band which has now been in existence for more than 35 years. The band was started in 1975 by Lawrie Shaw, who was the first headteacher of Brighton Hill Community School which opened in Basingstoke that same year. Lawrie formed the band as an evening class for amateur wind players and it was then known as the Brighton Hill Centre Band. In the years immediately after World War Two, the Basingstoke Symphony Orchestra was conducted by D. Cecil Williams. Due to its success, the orchestra was able to attract the talents of such visiting soloists as Clifford Curzon and Myra Hess.