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Issue 180 The Golden Green Association Newsletter June 2014

these were all to 0800 numbers, itwould seem this should not be a prob-lem – in this age of mobile phones, itseems unlikely that anyone from thevillage relies on this kiosk. However, itis only right that we should ask every-one in the village what they feel aboutthis. If you are happy to have the vil-lage phone decommissioned then youneed to do nothing. But if you feelstrongly that it should remain as a ser-vice, please call me. The defibrillatorwill be installed in Golden Green to-wards the end of June, and dependingon your views, it will be placed eitherin the phone kiosk or on the outside ofthe Mission Hall.

Jane Rogers (850329)

From Jane Rogers: At the GGA AGM on30 April the Community Heartbeat Trustgave a presentation explaining the bene-fits of installing an AED (AutomaticExternal Defibrillator) in the village. TheGGA has kindly agreed to fund this andthe next step is to decide where to installit. It should be central to the village andmust be somewhere accessible to every-one at all times, so the two options are:on the outside of the GG Mission Hallor in the public telephone kiosk. BT arehappy to pay for the small cost of elec-tricity required to light the kiosk andkeep the AED charged and at a regulartemperature during cold spells in winter,and in many ways this would be the bestoption. To install the AED in the kiosk,the phone would need to be decommis-sioned. During the past 12 months therewere only 13 calls from this kiosk and as

The Bell Football Club UpdateDespite difficult conditions, and fourmatches postponed because of floodingin January and February, The Bell FCcame ninth in West Kent Sunday LeagueDivision Six in the 2013/14 season, andbetter still, beat Hadlow who were bot-tom with only 4 points to our lads’ 13!That’s something to take heart from.And performance is improving – you cansee that from the 2014 results, with few-er goals scored against them than lastyear. Well done our boys – keep at it!Full results at www.wksl.org.uk/. Teammanager Chris Newhouse confirmedThe Bell will be playing at Capel recrea-tion ground next season and thankedBrenchley for their hospitality this year,saying: ‘While it has been a difficult year,there are a number of positives to lookforward to for the 2014/2015 season.’

Darts Knockout CompetitionFundraiser for The Bell Football Club

11 July at 8pm in The BellTrophies! Cash prizes! Raffle!

Donations wanted for raffle prizes –please hand in to Ray at The Bell.

Golden Green Summer FeteSunday 15 June 1–4pm

Signpost Field (Recreation Ground)

Tug-of-war, Egg & spoon, Pratt’s sack races*Plants, Home-made cakes

Books, Puzzles, ‘Antiques of tomorrow’Tombola, Coconut shy, Shove-halfpenny, Wheel of fortune

Hook-a-duck, Buzzer game, Giant jigsawNEW! Piggy races!!

BBQ, Cream teas, Strawberries & cherriesPimms, Beer, Soft drinks and more!

Wanted: Books, CDs and DVDs; saleable items for the White Elephant stall;donations for the tombola and raffle. Bring to Signpost Field after 11am on

15th. Tombola donations will be picked up in advance – contact Jo on 07771593227. Help please! Volunteers needed to set up/take down, man stalls

and serve in the tea tent. Please contact Alec on 850739.*Events entered at your own risk.

Golden Green’s Defibrillator: Choice of Site

Right: A defibrillator installed in a phonekiosk, such as Golden Green’s could be.

Printed by DG AccounƟng, Orchard House, Golden Green

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What’s On in Golden Green? More info:

Mondays Zoe’s Pilates Hall 10–11am 771747

Tuesdays Coffee Morning Hall 10am 850768

Tuesdays Mobile Library Vic. Rd 5–5.15pm 0300 3336022

Wednesdays Gentle Exercise Hall 10.30am 850768

Thursdays Bat and Trap Bell 8.00pm 851748

JUNE

Sunday 15 Jun GG Summer Fair SignpostField 1–4pm 850739

Wednesday 18 Jun WI meeting Hall 7.45pm 850812

Sunday 22 Jun Family Service Hall 11.45am 850768

Monday 23 Jun Bingo! Hall 8pm 850768

JULY

Monday 7 Jul Bell Quiz Night Bell 8.45pm 851748

Friday 11 Jul Bell Darts KO Comp Bell 8pm 851748

Parish Council ContactsParish Office Tel: 851878Email: clerk@hadlowpc.co.uk.Open Tue & Thu 9.30am–12 noonWebsite www.hadlowpc-kent.org.ukGolden Green Councillors:Nick Collins: 850968nicolins@btinternet.comEd Bright: 850590 ed.bright@talk21.com

© Anne Waddingham 2014

Golden Green Association Committee ContactsChair Alec Pelmore 850739 Secretary Howard Rogers 850329 Treasurer Gabrielle Lear 851252 Hall Bookings Rob & Ros Seall 850664

Newsletter Anne Waddingham 850048 Committee John Allen 851462, Chris Blackburn 850812, Ed Bright 850590, Nick Collins 850968, Linda Daker851969, Andrew & Judith Deckers 850039 Stan Ellis, Graham Hargrave Smith 851576, Pete Hilborn 850278 Jo Ivell 850291 Val & Michael Nobes 850768Terry Parris 850725, Jane Rogers 850329, Pat Simmons 850257, June Thomas 850842, Sean Waddingham 850048, Ray Warren 851748, A Williams Walker

Please hand in items for inclusionin the combined July/August issue

to Anne Waddingham at 13Sherenden Park or email

gghamlet@hotmail.co.uk by21 June.

The Hamlet and parish newsletterPDFs can be emailed on request.

GG Women’s Institute Reportby Iris WilsonSome of us have started learning whist inthe past few months so four members,Doreen, Pearl, Valerie and Barbara, en-tered a whist competition on our behalfand didn’t they do well! Doreen andPearl managed to come third in their firstcompetition. Meanwhile Marion andKate went to the annual parish meetingin Hadlow where local clubs and socie-ties each had a table advertising whatthey did, what they made and what theystood for, etc. To represent what we doat GG WI, Marion and Kate took withthem some lifelike dolls, about 2 feethigh, beautifully knitted by Doreen Cole,as well as some sewing examples andhomemade jewellery. We heard thatGillian is now home and is making plansto attend our meeting in June or July. Weare all glad that she is feeling better andlook forward to seeing her again verysoon. Rosemary and Rosalind went onthe District Walk which was arranged byHildenborough Afternoon.

Rosemary welcomed Jackie Hort, whowill be our representative at the AGM inLeeds, and who will be taking with herthe results of our vote on the resolution,which is about organ donation and mak-ing one’s wishes known to the family.Rosemary also welcomed Rita and Sylviafrom East Peckham WI who were ourtellers for the evening’s votes; we arevery fortunate that all our hardworkingcommittee again put themselves forwardfor re-election. President RosemaryBlackburn does a great job and we wereable to wish her a happy birthday, as itcoincided with our meeting. We’re look-ing forward to another great year.

The minutes will now be sent out byemail. The order of the evening willchange: our speaker will come first so ifthey wish, they can leave afterwards.

In keeping with the commemorations ofWWI, at the meeting on Wednesday 18June we welcome Anna Astin, who willtalk about women’s roles in the war. Andlook out for the WI cake stall at the fete!

For details of GG WI, please contactRosemary Blackburn on 850812.

March£25 J Fuller£25 R Pope£25 M Krummins

April£25 D Whitbread£25 V Boakes£25 J Thomas

GGA Lottery Results

The Village Pump* Cemetery Lane will be closedfrom 14 July 2014 for up to 5 days forcarriageway repair works. The wholelength of the road will be closed.

* Bat & Trap is back at The Bell onThursdays. Do join in this great tradi-tional sport!

* Alex Clelland found a tame ferret ina field next to the Bourne, and handedit in to the RSPCA. Know anyonewho’s lost one?

* Does anyone know why we keephaving intermittent power cuts? Just ablip in the supply but enough to knockout computers, clocks, etc. Very an-noying.

* The Hamlet will be taking its annualbreak in August, so send anything forinclusion in July/August by 21 June.

Tribute to ‘Obo’Doreen Cole of Goldhill Mill writes: ‘Youmay have noticed that our flag has beenflying at half mast, as a token of respectfor ‘Obo’, who died suddenly lastmonth. He gardened at the mill for over20 years, and lived in Golden Green allhis life. We will miss him very much.’

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Issue 180 The Hamlet: The Golden Green Association Newsletter June 2014

An eventful year finally came to an end last month for Howard andJane Rogers, when Howard handed over his chain of office. TheHamlet wanted to hear all about it.

What was the highlight of your year?

There were so many, where do I start? We attended 320formal engagements during the year and a few other oneswithout the chain. Being invited to a garden party at thePalace would be near the top – so special and the weatherwas glorious too. Welcoming and meeting Princess Anneto the River Centre in Tonbridge was special too, not justbecause it was the first time I’d met a member of the roy-al family, but to discover what an intelligent, charming,thoughtful and interested person she is. The ‘Ringathon’was great, as was meeting a lot of other Mayors aroundKent; making new friends in Heusenstamm, our twinnedtown in Germany; playing Father Christmas at the ChildContact Centre; discovering lots of places in the boroughwe’d never been to … . One really good event that weorganised we called a ‘Waste of a Day’. We invited theKent Mayors and other civic leaders on a tour of the re-cycling facilities within the borough. It was a fascinatingto visit the composting unit at Blaise Farm and alsoAylesford Newsprint, where they turn the contents of ourgreen boxes back into newsprint paper. A great showcasefor Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council. But probablythe best was the opportunity to meet so many people andorganisations that just give of themselves and their timeto help others and make their lives a little bit better.

Was there anything you didn’t enjoy doing?

A few. Nearly knocking myself out with the end of theMayor’s chain while attempting the two man sack racewith Alec Pelmore at the GGA fete! Buying an awful lotof raffle tickets at the events we attended! Jane had a par-ticularly lucky streak for a few weeks and kept collectingprizes. Don’t tell anyone, but that was really useful as theywere particularly handy when we ran a raffle at one of ourevents!! On a couple of occasions we were ‘entertained’by my least favourite musical instrument, the bagpipes,but thankfully it didn’t last too long. Oh, and one thingwe won’t miss is posing for photographs.

The most unhappy and challenging day was visiting theemergency respite centres that the Council set up afterthe floods on Christmas Eve and meeting Tonbridge andHildenborough residents who had been forced to leavetheir homes. It was such a cruel thing to happen at thattime of year. Thankfully no one was physically hurt andall were found alternative accommodation somewhere.

A Year in the Life of the Mayor and MayoressThe Hamlet’s Exclusive Interview with the Rogers!

At Buckingham Palace – The Queen’s Garden Party.

Dragon boat racing on the Medway in Tonbridge.

With Dame Kelly Holmes at the Taste of Tonbridge Festival.

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But no, I can honestly say that we never left an eventthinking that it had been boring or a waste of our time.

We’ve kept a weekly journal which is available for anyoneto read (and will be for a while yet) on the TMBC website.Most Sunday evenings we sat down together and faced thejob of writing up the previous week. At the time it couldseem a bit of a chore, but we kept at it and the result is arather lengthy but precious memory of the year. Bewarned, it’s nearly 70,000 words, so pour yourself a stiffdrink if you intend to read it all !

What charities did you support?

Probably the most difficult thing that we had to do was toselect two organisations out of the thousands of deservingcauses to nominate as the Mayor’s charities. In the end wechose the Kenward Trust and the Tonbridge Child Con-tact Centre. Both are local organisations we visited lastyear as Deputy Mayor. Kenward provides residential ac-commodation for people who have been affected by alco-hol or substance abuse and the Trust helps them to getback their lives, homes, jobs, families and self-respect.They also provide an outreach service and do muchawareness training especially with teenagers and youngpeople. The Tonbridge Child Contact Centre provides aplace where mums and mainly dads who cannot enter orare unwelcome in the homes where their children live, canspend precious time with them. Sometimes that time hasto be supervised and the staff at the Centre are able toprovide a secure and friendly environment where the par-ents do not have to meet. The centre offers play equip-ment, crafts, games or simply a comfy sofa where a mumor dad can spend time just having a cuddle with a childthat they love.

What fund-raising events did you organise?

We organised several fundraising events and are verygrateful to everyone who supported them. These includeda garden party at Hadlow College, a ‘Ringathon’, a kartingevening at Buckmore Park, a Call My Bluff quiz again atHadlow College, an evening at the Oast Theatre and afarewell gourmet dinner at the View Restaurant at K Col-lege. The Ringathon was a sponsored event where I rangthe bells at all the churches in the Borough. It took a fullweekend to get round all the 19 towers and I was support-ed by nearly 40 other local bellringers. By the Sundayevening we were exhausted with rather sore hands, but wehad managed to raise £5000 for the charities.

How much in total did you raise for your charities?

My last official duty was to present the charities with their‘large’ cheques at a press call. Each cheque was made outfor £5300 but I hope that when all the monies have beencounted, we will have managed to raise over £12,000. Doyou know that the banks don’t actually accept those bigcheques that you see on TV and in the press? They aresimply a publicity gimmick.

Move over Lewis Hamilton – kart racing charity event atBuckmore Park.

Where’s Howard? Santa drops in at the Tonbridge ChildContact Centre.

Ringing the changes at the charity Ringathon.

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How many carol services did you attend?

I do like carol singing and carol services, but I think thatwe overdid it last year! By the time we hurriedly escapedour last and 13th service we couldn’t face another ‘Harkthe Herald’. And the real reason that we shot out was be-cause the fire alarm went off as we were processing out ofTonbridge School chapel ! Oh I nearly forgot – we packedin a few Nativity plays too. It was quite a busy Christmas.

Would you be Mayor again if asked?

Maybe, but certainly not for a while. It was an extraordi-nary experience but has taken over our lives for the pasttwo years, if you include the 60-odd engagements that Iattended as Deputy Mayor. Our friends, families and mywork colleagues have been very understanding and it willbe good to spend more time with them again. We havejust had a second grandchild so that will be keeping usoccupied and has been timed perfectly.

What happens next?

While I was Mayor, I was still your local borough council-lor and dealt with local issues, attended borough councilmeetings, both Hadlow and East Peckham parish councilsand my other duties such as being a representative on theMedway Drainage Board. The role of Mayor is an apoliti-cal one so, apart from chairing meetings of the full Coun-cil, I was given ‘light’ duties from much of the usual com-mittee work. That’s all changed now and I’m back as amember of a raft of committees and advisory boards andchair the Finance Committee.

Has a Golden Green resident ever held such an exalt-ed public office before?

I’m not aware of anyone in our hamlet being a mayor oreven a borough councillor in the past 20 years. If anyoneknows before that time, I’d love to know. Of course JillAnderson in Hadlow was Mayor about 10 years ago andbefore that both Janice and Stephen Cresswell from EastPeckham wore the chain for a year. I’m not sure that I feltexalted, certainly very privileged and honoured. Even to-wards the end of the year, it still felt rather strange walkinginto a very formal event and being announced as ‘TheWorshipful The Mayor of Tonbridge and Malling’. Wewould usually make a point of then walking up to the hostand introducing ourselves simply as Howard and Jane.

Jane was apprehensive about taking on the role of Mayor-ess, especially the prospect of having to wear formal hatsto events! She has been a terrific support to me during theyear and attended most of the engagements, even wearingthe requisite headwear! We have probably spent more timetogether than we would normally have done and she’sbeen brilliant at the organising and planning side of thejob. It’s very much been a team effort that we’ve both en-joyed and I’m really grateful to her for being at my side.

Thank you Howard & Jane!

‘Bend it like Beckham, lads!’ Advice from Howard ‘Hodgson’Rogers to young players at the Tonbridge Football Fiesta.

Silver service: enjoying luncheon at Cobham Hall, nearGravesend, as guests of the Mayor of Gravesham.

Of course therewas also the im-portant task ofopening GoldenGreen’s newbridge over theRiver Bourne.Howard wields theshears with prac-tised aplomb.Photo: Jane Rog-ers

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Wild About Gardens?Do you like to keep it natural? Are you proud of your(water) butt? No, this isn’t related to the above article! Ifyou steer clear of pesticides and peat, and like to gardenfor nature, why not enter Kent Wildlife Trust’s WildAbout Gardens Award Scheme? Details from 01622662012 or at www.kentwildlifetrust.org.uk/. The closingdate is 30 June. By the way, if you tried peat-free com-posts years ago and were disappointed, try again now. Thenew formulations are miles better. Look for the bags thatsay peat-free because the garden centres are wising up tothe fact that more and more people are avoiding peat – sothey often don’t label it as such any more! But you canonly be sure it’s peat-free if it says so. Why does it matter?Peat is created by bog mosses that form deep layers doz-ens of metres thick over thousands of years. Large-scaleextraction is simply removing peat faster than it can growback. Nearly all Britain’s peatlands have been destroyed ordamaged but while there is demand, peat mining contin-ues. We can make a difference by going peat-free (thatincludes sphagnum hanging basket liners too).

Speed Watch is BackYes, those people with hi-vis jackets and clipboards arehanging around the roadsides once more. Speed Watch isagain operating in Golden Green and Hadlow. Please canyou spare an occasional hour to help discourage excessivespeeding through our village? Training is very straightfor-ward and only takes an hour. Contact the parish officefor details (851878).

Photo: Chris BlackburnChris Blackburn emails: ‘As you know, the workers havebeen back at the Golden Gate bridge looking for buriedtreasure. In this case, hunting for the three water mainsthat the contractors buried in getting the tarmac down. Itwas only reports of low water pressure that had SE Waterreturn to find ‘they was gone!’

They dug down by the power pole on the north side andfound it, they dug down by the pole on the south side andfound it, but where was the third one? They had somedifficulty locating it but eventually that one was foundtoo.’ Phew. It’s always in the last place you look, isn’t it?

Topping up the TanAs reliable as the swallowsreturning to our shores everysummer, the year’s firstsighting of the Naked Cyclisttook place last month, a suresign that the weather is turn-ing balmy. Seen and face-booked by one GG residentwhile out for a ramble, andsnapped along the road toEast Peckham, here’s thenaked truth.

The Hamlet issue 180, June 2014

Opening the new Reading Room at Ditton Primary Schoolwith Tracey Crouch, MP for Chatham & Aylesford.

Handing out the medals at the Tonbridge Triathlon.

Have You Seen My Pipe?