Staines is an urban area in the Borough (Hundreds) of Spelthorne (Spelethorne). The main towns in Spelthorne are Staines (Stanes), Ashford (Exeford), Stanwell (Stanwelle), Shepperton (Scepertone), Sunbury (Sunbarie). Staines is the administrative centre of the Borough and has the largest shopping area. Spelthorne is a district of London, that has a population of approximately 90,000, and covers 21 square miles.

(words in brackets are from the Doomsday Book. c.1086.)

Dragonfly Dezignz, Web Dezign, is located in Staines.

I, Gloria, have been making web sites since 1998, both here and in America. Right now I do it for fun, not for business, as I love building the sites. I use HTML coding, not the cut and paste way of making them. I learned the coding back in the old days of sites, 1998, I took a couple of Open University courses to get my basic knowledge of coding. I had never done anything techie before but this craft got under my skin and I have built many sites since then, some obviously are no longer on the web as (1) Geocities, where I hosted many sites closed down, and (2) some of the people I made them for just let them go by the wayside. Back then I didn't save anything as it was harder to save, no memory sticks, just floppy discs that didn't have much space on them, so sadly I don't have anything much to show from those days.

On the computers back then there was hardly any memory, and the internet connections were awful and you could only use a specific amount of space so every bit and bite counted. I really don't know how I had the patience to do such creative work, but I persevered and now things are so much easier to do we are spoiled for space, so I can be more creative. I tend to use the older 'Dreamweaver 4', to put my ideas in a format that I can see but still have the coding there in front of me as well, so can switch from one to the other when I want to. I use 'Paint Shop Pro 6' for all of my graphic design work, again a really old version, but I know it back to front so it is good for me to use.

I was living in Minnesota at the time of starting on this road, and began making sites over there mainly for Native Americans that I knew, (my late husband was Native American, Dakota,) a few are still up and running, although not usually updated anymore. I also made sites for people I knew in New Jersey, where I previously lived. I came back to Staines quite often and picked up a few sites over here as well, so it was an International business. Especially when people from Australia, South Africa and the Netherlands asked me to make their sites too. I let people choose their own price to pay for the site (plus domain and hosting site costs) and that was a pretty new idea at the time. I also made many sites for charities for free. You can see a few of these below.

Dakota 38 + 2 Memorial Virtual Ride 2020
Gathering the Kokums 2012
Marge DeRuyter 2008
No Guns On Sacred Land 2008
Reiki 2002
Quarriers Guild 1999

I moved back to Staines in 2011 after my husband passed away

Since 2011, until 2022, I was a Volunteer in the Spelthorne Museum, Staines, building and running their website, among other things, but they are at present changing all of their media programs to match and are getting a 'cut and paste' site made up to match. I do not make that sort of site, and so I stopped working on their site as soon as their new one was done. So I needed something else to do and because their new Facebook page is being done in their new way, their original one that I made for them became defunct and so I decided to change it's name to 'Staines', and use it for a link to this site that I first put online in 2002. However it badly needed updating and so I have been busy the past few months updating, researching and adding new pages to the site. It is becoming quite large (40 pages so far!). Who knew that Staines had so much history? I am loving every minute of learning about my home town, it is bringing memories back of when I was a kid walking along these streets I am writing about. I hit the ripe old age of 77 in January (2023), and so have loads of memories.

I will keep these pages updated, so when a new shop, company or restaurant opens I will add it. So far 6 new places have opened since I have redone the pages. I have added a red NEW next to them so that you can see who the new ones are.

Thank you for taking the time to visit this site. I hope that you enjoy it. Any questions do please email me.

These are some of my qualifications and memberships through the years

Awards

I won this award for a different site in 2001 prior to this site winning it in 2003 (see below)
'International Association of Web Masters and Designers'
'Only the best sites are voted to receive the Golden Web Award. The criterion for winning remains a challenge to even the best Webmaster, artists and designers. That being said, the primary benefit of the Golden Web Award is the recognition of your commitment to the pursuit of website excellence. Further, it represents that your work is considered an outstanding website, incorporating high standards of design, originality and content. Most importantly, the Golden Web Award lets others know you're viewed as a respected professional by your peers, one who is deserving of recognition.'

December 19, 2001, 'The Superior Eagle cannot be applied for it only goes to very special sites and I found your site special.. Display them with Pride you have Earned them!!! '	December 19, 2001 'Congratulations, you have a really "GREAT" site, here is the Award'

The amazing awards below were for the following site that I researched and Built.
Ancient Voices 2006

Thank you for sharing the stories of these incredible women. I'd heard of many of these women before but some were new to me.	Excellent site! Clean design, good layout! Great job!   Your scoring went as follows: 20 points for Design 20 points for Layout 20 points for Graphics 40 points for Content _____________________ 100 points = Platinum Award    Congratulations on winning AIHC's Platinum Award
	This is our Eagle Award, which will be given out to those who truly demonstrate, for lack of a better phrase, Indian Spirit. I am also including the AIHC Eagle Award because I feel your site exemplifies its meaning. Again, my heartiest congratulations Mary J. York (Penobscot/Mohawk) Executive Director/Webmistress American Indian Health Council

I have been asked through the years, why Dragonfly Dezignz? Well Dragonfly is the name I was given by two Native American men in the 1980's, one, Ojibwa, Sun Bear, told me at a gathering I attended in NY State, to 'keep the kids dancing, Dragonfly'. This was a few weeks after I had attended a talk by a Cherokee, David Wingedstone, in North Carolina, who was talking about the power of small animals and insects, and he said looking and pointing at me with his chin, 'A Dragonfly, although small, is powerful as it can fly from reality to reality and never get bogged down, as you would know Dragonfly!' I asked him afterwards why he said that to me, and he just said quite nonchalantly, 'Well because that is your name' I knew better than to question him further.

Various Staines information, historic or otherwise, are listed on the page Links below. Art Works in Staines Ashby's Banks Books Church Street Churches Cinema's Clarence Street Common Land Companies Destruction Digs Dragonfly Dezignz Extras 1 Floods Golden Boy High Street Iron Bridge Links The Lino Maps Museum Talks 2023 Oast House Photos plus Premier Inn Pubs Research info Restaurants Roman Medical Instruments Shops Alphabetically Part 1 A - K Shops Alphabetically Part 2 L - Z Shops - Now Shops thru the years - High Street Shops thru the years - Other Streets Smiths to Banks Stations Thames Street Town Hall White Lion Extras (not mine)

Thank you for visiting this site. I will continue to update the pages, so do please come back soon!