The Town
The symbol of Leatherhead is a swan holding a sword in its beak. This can be seen on the old Leatherhead coat of arms, and on the Mole Valley coat of arms. The insignia of Leatherhead Football Club includes a swan, as do the logos of the Swan Shopping Centre, Therfield School and the leisure centre.
Bockett's Farm off Young Street has rare breeds and a petting zoo. It is open to the public almost all year round, and many local schools use the farm for teaching and day trips.
Leatherhead's Royal School for the Blind (now SeeAbility) was once the workplace for Paul Heaton; he was allegedly dismissed after he encouraged residents to try cycling. Most of the school has now been sold off as private flats.
In 2004, Leatherhead was officially twinned with Triel-sur-Seine, in the north-west of Paris, though informal exchanges have taken place since 1992. Exchanges and communication is promoted by a local group the 'Friends of Triel'.
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Famous quotes containing the word town:
“A township where one primitive forest waves above while another primitive forest rots below,—such a town is fitted to raise not only corn and potatoes, but poets and philosophers for the coming ages. In such a soil grew Homer and Confucius and the rest, and out of such a wilderness comes the Reformer eating locusts and wild honey.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Keep the town for occasions, but the habits should be formed in retirement.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)