Elizabeth Irene Worsfold

Elizabeth Irene Worsfold and June Denise Quennell were found drowned in Frensham Little Pond.

A verdict of death by accidental drowning was returned at their inquest on Saturday 2 July 1960.

It was heard that they had drowned in less than 5ft of water in the pond whilst hundreds of people swam nearby or sunbathed on the banks.

Frensham Little Pond was described as a beauty spot between Farnham and Hindhead and to have attracted hundreds of holidaymakers.

They were found after a fourteen hour search. The search for them began on the Saturday night when a 54-year-old pond attendant found the girls clothes under a bush.

The girls parents joined in the search later that night until 2am when it was called off for the night. The search then resumed at 8am and involved a chartered BEA helicopter from Gatwick Airport and fifty soldiers, tracker dogs and police frogmen who groped about in the muddy bed of the pond.

Later twenty paratroopers in bathing trunks formed a chain and slowly waded through the water and on their second sweep they found the girls in their pink and yellow swim suits in a part of the pond where the water was six feet deep.

A friend of theirs said that Elizabeth Worsfold could swim a little bit but that June Quennell could not swim and that she had been bathing in Frensham Little Pond with them before several times. She added that she didn't think that it was dangerous but noted that it was very dirty.

A police spokesman said, 'It is fantastic that no one saw them in difficulties. We cannot understand how it happened'. They were also quoted as having said that it was a complete mystery how they came to be drowned.

It was reported that no one heard them cry for help or even saw them in the water although another report stated that they had been seen splashing in the water and later running round the edge of the pond in their bathing costumes.

The Coroner suggested to the representatives of Frensham Little Pond Ltd at the inquest that warning notices should be displayed around the pond, but the representative said that the owners were alive to the situation of putting up warning notices but said that it was a difficult problem as other signs that they had put up had been damaged by hooligans.

Elizabeth Worsfold had lived in Middlefield Green Lane and June Quennell had lived in Upper Way in Farnham, Surrey.

They were described as inseparable friends.