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News Archive

> 09/06/05 Clerk's News > South Darenth Village Society is launching its latest initiative for its young people next Saturday (18 June). At 11 am all youngsters aged 11 – 18 are invited to the village hall with their parents to find out how they can earn points which can be banked and then redeemed against exciting trips like paintballing and go-karting. Points will be awarded for helping out with environmental improvements around South Darenth. If any Horton Kirby kids want to join in they will be very welcome but it is stressed that all projects will be in South Darenth. All work parties will be supervised and all participants will be expected to pull their weight but the rewards will be well worth the effort.

> 09/06/05 Clerk's News > After months of hard work by the Fete Committee, Horton Kirby’s Village Fayre – a highlight of the year for many – becomes reality on Saturday. The day starts early for those setting up and any extra help in putting up tents and erecting stalls and sideshows will be gratefully received. Turn up at Westminster Field any time after 8 am and report to Richard who will happily find you a job.

The fayre itself opens at 12 noon and has all the usual events from the dog show through the country dancing and ending with the ever popular duck race down the river (no animals are hurt in staging this event!)

> 15/05/05 Clerk's News > The Village Hall is to become a no smoking venue. Members of the hall committee agreed at their meeting on 12 May that most halls and meeting places were now non smoking and that in the interests of safety from fire hazards all smoking should take place outside of the building. There was some discussion about whether a receptacle for cigarette ends should be put by the front door but it was agreed not to since the last one had been vandalised. It was also felt that it would be a more pleasant task for the cleaner to sweep up cigarette ends than to empty a special bin.

> 10/05/05 Clerk's News > Horton Kirby and South Darenth WI won the Swanley District quiz in a nail biting contest at Joydens Wood earlier this month. The team of Gill Tripp, Anita Cockrill, Mavis Botterill, Jan Ovenden, June Drew and Carol Allart won by just one point which was enough to send them forward to the County final in August. Horton Kirby and South Darenth institute has won 7 out of the last 9 District quizzes and even won the County championship in 1996.

> 01/05/05 Clerk's News > It’s hard to believe, given the very heavy rainfall we’ve had on some days recently, that South East water companies are asking everyone to use water carefully but, unless we have prolonged rain over the next 6 – 8 weeks to recharge underground sources, we shall be in trouble over the summer. They ask that you do what you can to help.

> 01/05/05 Clerk's News > Garden waste sacks are now paper instead of plastic. They will rot down along with the hedge clippings but I wonder if they will be anti environment too.

> 01/05/05 Clerk's News > The Wednesday Youth Club in the village hall wants new members. Leader Carol Blendell says the club is mainly 11 – 12 year old girls and she would like to see more young people from the 2 villages attending to give a greater mix of interests. The club is from 7.30 to 9 pm for 11 – 18 year olds. Pop in on the night to find out more about the activities that are on offer or ring Steve Hanks at Swanley KCC on 01322 662779.

> 01/05/05 Clerk's News > District councillor Philip McGarvey has spent 4 months working on the layout of the Villages Design Statement and is pleased to announce that it is nearly finished. Parish councillors will consider approving it at the next parish meeting and release funds to pay for its printing.

> 01/05/05 Clerk's News > The next meeting of our local history society is on Monday, May 9 in the village hall at 8 pm. Monty Parkin will be giving a talk called “The A25 is Interesting”. Keith Saunderson says: “We have had Mr Parkin before and he is very good.”

> 01/04/05 Clerk's News > From the crime figures for the past two months it seems that Peter and our local beat officer need all the help that they can get from the public. Crime in South Darenth has gone through the roof. In March there were 15 individual reported crimes including 2 assaults of actual bodily harm. During the same time in Horton Kirby there was just 1 crime. In February things were even worse with a total of 26 crimes in South Darenth. There were 2 assaults, 1 arson and 13 crimes of criminal damage when an individual went on a car damaging spree.

> 01/04/05 Clerk's News > Our PCSO, Peter Hylands has asked me to let everyone know that all the phone calls to him recently about the motorbike nuisance in East Hill and Rabbits Road worked wonders. Many locals let him know about the problem and he was able to stop the bike and rider in The Grange on March 31st. The driver was given a section 59 warning which means that next time the bike is seen, it can be seized which will result in a bill of more than £200 to get it back. Peter Hylands says thank you very much for all the information supplied to him and asks that people continue to supply him with details of any events that are causing concern.

> 01/04/05 Clerk's News > Local people are just beginning to hear about the latest attack on the service at Farningham Road station. Not content with reducing the number of trains, it is now proposed to reduce station master, Paul's hours to 3hours 15 mins per day i.e. 6.30 to 9.45 Mon to Fri. This will mean more buying of tickets on the train with more queuing at Victoria if you need to swap it for a travel card.

> 01/04/05 Clerk's News > As reported last week, the Environment Agency is not concerned about horse washing in the river. However, nearby resident Christine Fournel has found, not the usual empty washing up liquid bottles discarded in the lane but that of an insecticidal product that is clearly marked as a danger to fish and wildlife and should not be used near watercourses. The Parish Council has written to the EA to see if they are still unconcerned.

> 03/03/05 Clerk's News > A big apology to South Darenth Village Society for getting the date of their next litter pick wrong in the newsletter. Please note that it is actually this Saturday, March 12th and not as shown in the leaflet. If you want to help keep your village clean join everyone at 10 am at the Mill Green. The Village Society’s AGM is on Wednesday March 23rd in the legion hall at 8 pm.

> 03/03/05 Clerk's News > Jacqueline Webb, owner of Weaverknits (currently closed for renovation) told me that on Friday February 25th she looked out of the building and saw a bus pull up at a very funny angle in front of the shop. The reason was that kids had thrown stones at the bus, one of which had broken a window and hit the driver. They ran off down Devon Road. This was at about 2.30 pm when they should have been in school. On Saturday, February 26th, Betty Cassidy who lives by the river near the gallops had children aged about 10 in her garden , taking wheelbarrows which they later found in the river further down stream together with, worryingly, a life belt from the nearby fishing lakes. As she said, that life belt being missing could have meant the difference between life and death. It’s a pity that these youngsters don’t think about that before they play around with other people’s property.

> 03/03/05 Clerk's News > Stephen Allport, chairman of the 1st Horton Kirby Scout Group is delighted with the generous grant of £400 given to the group recently by the parish council. He said: “We have a significant amount of work on the Scout hut planned for the spring and summer much of which requires expensive materials or specialist skills which we do not have within the group. The grant will help significantly in defraying these costs.”

> 03/03/05 Clerk's News > Some of us have a whole new view now that the massive leylandii have gone from Nursery House, Forge Lane. Peter Bradley who lives opposite is really pleased. He is amazed at the amount of light that is now coming into his sitting room and the fear of a tree falling onto his property in high winds has now gone. Of course, the trees did mask the ugly architectural features of the flats but they had been allowed to grow much too tall and must have been a constant threat to bringing down the overhead wires.

> 17/02/05 Clerk's News > Graffiti seems to be the word on everyone’s lips at the moment – so many people feel depressed to see so much of it around and think it has brought the village down. Hopefully next week we should get the Probation Team in to South Darenth to spend a whole day or two getting to grips with the problem. In the meantime we still have the graffiti kit which individuals can borrow. It’s had its first use – June Drew of Paddock Close borrowed it last week for her home and it was quite successful. There are different chemicals for different surfaces and various brushes, goggles, etc. Give me a call in the office (01322 865193) if you can make use of it.

Every month the parish council gets an update of the register of electors from Sevenoaks District Council and I noticed in February that there were quite a lot of long-standing residents whose names were being added who must have been left off when the list was compiled in the Autumn. This is the first time that Sevenoaks has not sent staff out to chase up those forms that didn’t come back and it appears that quite a few people either forgot or didn’t bother to send their forms back. That’s OK as long as you don’t want to vote in the forthcoming election. We definitely have a County Council election on 5 May and there’s a good chance of a general election on the same day. If your name is not on the list, you can’t vote, it’s as simple as that. It might be worth checking now, as I know there are still lots of gaps on the register.

There is a possibility that Franks Hall and its grounds will become a new conservation area following a proposal by Sevenoaks District Council consultants. It has been suggested along with other historic parks and gardens such as Hever Castle. A whole list of new village conservation areas as well as parts of Sevenoaks have been put forward and the District Council has asked parish councils if they know of any other areas of special architectural or historic interest.

> 02/02/05 Clerk's News > Mrs Reynolds, manager of Riverside Pre-School Kindergarten is keen for everyone who might need to phone her during a playschool session at the village hall knows her new contact number. Now that the hall phone has been allocated to the villages’ PCSO, she is using a mobile number: 07968 019759. Mrs Reynolds can be contacted on this number between 8.30 am and 1 pm on weekdays.

1st Horton Kirby Scout Group is going to produce a fund-raising calendar for 2006 and is holding a photographic competition to get photos for each of the 12 months. The subject is every aspect of village life from social occasions to interesting views, buildings or wildlife - in fact anything that will reflect South Darenth and Horton Kirby through the seasons. The competition is open to all and there are 3 age groups (under 11s, 11 – 17 years and adults). There will be one winner from each group and 9 other photos will be chosen. Judging will take place at Horton Kirby’s village fayre on June 11th so get snapping now. Each entry will cost £1 (all proceeds to the scouts) and forms are available from Julie (01322 862268), Glenda (860701) and Kim (866196)

> 27/01/05 Clerk's News > Horton Kirby School raised nearly £470 for guide dogs for the blind from its Christmas charity.

Parish Council Budget 2005/2006

The Parish Council’s Westminster Field Advisory Committee has decided that a klaxon is needed to alert people with vehicles in the car park when the gate is about to be shut. Committee chairman, Malcolm Dunn decided this was needed when he heard that Keith Phillips was having trouble with cars still in the field when he wanted to lock up. So, if you hear a loud noise at dusk in the winter and 7 pm in the summer, hurry back to your vehicle if you don’t want to be locked in overnight.

Vodafone has had permission refused for its 15 metre high lattice tower on farmland near Skinney Lane. Sevenoaks District Council has said that because the land is in the Green Belt the proposal would be harmful to the character of the open countryside. Vodafone wanted temporary permission while it got approval to use the nearby pylon.

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