2015 Celebrates the 800th Anniversary of the Sealing of the Magna Carta

One of the neighbouring villages to Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire is Odiham, home to the RAF Chinook helicopters.  It is also famous for Odiham Castle, found a short walk along the Basingstoke Canal tow path that borders the Hotel.  Odiham was the stepping stone on the medieval journey to parliamentary democracy and liberty as it was from this castle that King John is thought to have set off from on June 10, 1215, to meet baronial leaders at Runnymede.

It was there that he agreed to demands of the barons, including the principle that no free man should be arrested or imprisoned “unless by legal judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land.”

This milestone anniversary celebrates the sealing of the Magna Carta, a document often cited as establishing one of the fundamental principles of today’s legal system.

A specially commissioned anthem has been composed, the local school has been selected to design the Constituency flag that will fly at Westminster and a weeklong festival has been arranged that includes the unveiling of the Odiham Embroidery made by 70 volunteers over the past two years. On the June 14, the bells rung at All Saints Church will be broadcast on Radio 4 and there will be a nationwide "Libertea" to celebrate the democracy and liberty that we enjoy today.