Meeting held on Monday 9^th June, 2008 

 

Present:  Councillors C Boggia, A Bowles, A Jennings, L Lound, R Mitchell , T Robinson and A Stewart .

 

Litter and pedestrian use of Village Roads

The Clerk reported that all three local farmers who had been contacted regarding behaviour of migrant works had sent supportive replies.  However litter is still a problem in the Waterham Road vicinity.  The Clerk will contact Hernhill Parish Council as this area falls within their Parish.

 

Yellow Lines

The Joint Transportation Board will meet on Monday 16th June and will consider the Murton Place Parking Proposal.  There had been 8 responses, all against, and the Officers would be recommending that the scheme should not go ahead.

 

Statement of Internal Control

The Draft Statement was considered and, as agreed in May, was accepted subject to a few minor wording changes suggested by Cllr Stewart. 

 

Diversity and Equality Policy

This will be discussed again at the July Meeting in order to give Councillors more time to study the document.  A copy will be sent to Sarah Rollings the Equality Officer at Swale Borough Council for approval/comment. 

 

Finance    BTCV – Tree Warden Scheme – a donation of £35 was agreed.

 

Report from Village Liaison Group

It was agreed to press ahead with setting up the Trust to receive the proposed London Array funds.  The Clerk will contact Mike Browning and Laurence Young to establish the legal costs and obtain quotations before the July meeting if possible.

Possible Trustees were discussed and also the long term maintenance of the School Car Park.

 

Reports from Parish Councillors

Cllr Lound gave a brief report concerning Transport in Rural Areas, the Kent Carrier Scheme and Freedom Pass.

Cllr Mitchell reported a pot hole near Church Lane and will report to Highways.

The possible landscaping of the verge approaching the Village and Village sign was discussed and it was suggested that an article should be placed in the Parish Magazine to establish preferences and possibly designs.

 

Date of next Meeting     Monday 14^th July, 2008 

 

The electrical engineering works are progressing well at Cleve Hill and we are now over half way through the programme with two outages completed and the final outage planned for the beginning of July.

 

Over the next month we will be completing the overhead line diversion and dismantling the two temporary pylons. They should be removed from the site by the end of July. In order to meet the tight programme for the overhead line works, permission has been requested for some additional out of hours working over the weekends in July and notices to inform residents will be posted on notice boards in the village.

 

The work to refurbish the second circuit of the overhead line from Canterbury to Kemsley will also start in July and linesmen will be restringing in the Cleve Hill area.

 

Traffic Management Plan

The Traffic Management Plan is continuing to work well and the independent monitoring is continuing to check on drivers to ensure they keep to the rules. Since our last update, we have had no further reports of site vehicles passing through the village during school drop off and pick up times although the independent monitoring company identified a site vehicle travelling above the 20 mph speed limit through the village and back during half term week. National Grid has issued a final warning to the company and driver concerned.

 

Community Liaison

National Grid continues to liaise on a weekly basis with the school and members of the Local Liaison Committee to identify any issues which may arise in the village and resolve them promptly. The freephone community relations helpline – 0800 021 7877 has been set up to deal with any concerns, complaints or queries.

 

The next Local Liaison Committee meeting is scheduled for Monday 14 July at 6.30pm in the Village Hall.

 

After several months of pouring over calendars, head scratching and friendly debate, the Trustees have finally come up with a date for the village hall FUN DAY – SUNDAY 31^st AUGUST.  We realise that this date clashes with the hop festival, but as we are so few in numbers, we rely on other people to help us out and have to fit in with their family and holiday commitments.  We are hoping you will all visit the festival on Saturday and leave Sunday afternoon to come and along and support us.  As usual we will have a BBQ, licensed bar and music.  Hopefully Marianne will be able to do an ABBA set for us.  Out handyman hero Steve is in the throws of making a coconut shy and Carol is probably bottling jams as you read this!  We shall be holding our Grand Raffle, and will be selling tickets very soon.  A flier detailing all the attractions will be put through your door – if you don’t get one, ring us please.

 

May we apologise to the small children of the village for the fact that the new swings are all flat type- this was an installation error, and two cradle swings will be arriving soon

 

·      Huge thanks the the Windmill Pub in Faversham who kindly donated the proceeds of the fun quiz to our special fund raising account.

·      Special thanks to Wendy Pryke who donated the money she raised on her sponsored bike ride to us.

·      Thank you Marcus for your hard work with the strimmer.

·      Thank you to Mr Coppins who once again weeded and tidied our garden at the hall.

·      Our heartfelt thanks also to Ben Bowles who filled the hole near the gate with hardcore and got soaked to the skin in a downpour as a result!

If you have any unwanted gifts that you could donate to our raffle or tombola’s we should be very grateful

                                                 

It will be eyes down for our usual bingo sessions on Saturday 12^th July and Saturday 9^th August – All welcome

 

Lastly don’t forget the BOOT FAIRS – 6^th July at the Village Hall and 20^th July at Abbey School

 

Penny 01795 538732

Elaine 07922 461543

Trish 07926 351628

 

 

Healthy Sports Week

This week is our Healthy Sports week with lots of fun things happening such as a martial arts demonstration, yoga, health and safety poster competitions and much more!

 

GB Sprinter working with the children

Your child will have brought home a sponsor form linked to our Sports Event on Wednesday afternoon. An athlete representing Great Britain at the Olympic games this year will be visiting Graveney to promote sports to the children. The children will be taking part in a sponsored circuit training programme and 60% of money raised will go towards school funds with the other 40% going towards training for our GB Olympic squad. It would be great if you could support your child in this event by sponsoring them.

 

Sports Day is due to be held on Thursday this week at 1.30pm (weather permitting). Please come along to support your child and his or her team.

 

Class Photographs

On Tuesday 24^th June the school photographer will be in to take class photographs. These will be on sale before the end of term. Keep an eye on the Parents’ Notice board.

 

Summer Fayre – Friday 4^th July 2pm – 4pm

Our Summer Fayre is fast approaching and the Friends of Graveney have been very busy with the organisation. It will be a great event. There will be a non-uniform day this Friday 27^th June so please supply a bottle of something for our tombola stall. Tombola prizes should be taken to your child’s class on the morning of the non-uniform day.

 

Some items for sale at our Summer Fayre:- Calendars

We are hoping to produce calendars for sale at the Summer Fayre with useful dates for next academic year.

 

Graveney CD compilation

Also at the Summer Fayre, there will be CDs on sale at a very reasonable price with songs recorded by the children

 

Graveney Story Books

Key Stage 2 have had a book published with some of their stories they have written. These will be on sale at the Summer Fayre at a price of £5.00.

Lost Property

Please check lost property if your child has lost an item of clothing as we seem to have a surplus of stock. Any unclaimed items will be re-sold at our Summer Fayre at very reasonable prices.

Medicines in school

A gentle reminder that we can only give children prescribed medication.

Gallery Stars

Gallery star winners over the last two weeks are:

Ladybirds: Ricky, Matthew, Ellis, Auryn and Kaci

Bumble Bees: Issy, Sarah, Bethany, Claire, Rory and James 

Dragonflies: Shem, Maisie, Lily and Daisy

Scorpions: Alex, All pupils in

Year 6, Lillian and Sean

The Ladybirds, Scorpions and Bumble bees have won the attendance cup for the last two weeks. Well done!

 

6^th July             Trinity 7                      10.00 a.m. Holy Communion

13^th July            Trinity 8                      10.00 a.m. Family Service

20^th July             Trinity 9                      10.00 a.m. at St Bartholomew,

Holy Communion (Art Show at All Saints)

27^th July               Trinity 10                     10.00 a.m.  Morning Worship

3^rd August             Trinity 11                     10.00 a.m. Holy Communion

10^th August             Trinity 12                     10.00 a.m. Family Service

17^th August             St Bartholomew            6.00 p.m. Evensong at St Bartholomew

(Flower Festival at All Saints)

24^th August             Trinity 14                     10.00 a.m. Holy Communion

31^st August             Trinity 15                     10.00 a.m. Morning Service

7^th September             Trinity 16                     10.00 a.m. at St Bartholomew, Holy Communion

 

From the Registers:

Funeral on 16^th June - Sidney John Newman (82) Service and Committal at The Garden of England Crematorium, Bobbing.

 

Ros’s Jottings

I don’t know who passed it on to me, but I wish they had kept it to themselves. You could call it a ‘virus’, or fluey cold – the effect was to make me feel very unwell and to confine me to my favourite armchair for several days. It happened to be Ascot Week with full television coverage. Having worked for several years in Berkshire, not far from Ascot, I had endured or avoided the regular traffic jams on Race Days. But I had never seen a race! Now I watched with great interest; the BBC coverage was excellent, interesting and fun! The horses were described with care, giving sufficient details to understand their characters. Interviews with jockeys, owners and trainers revealed a great team of people involved in the breeding and running of the horses. By the time each race started I was keen to see how the personalities (horses and jockeys) worked together. And then there were the clothes, women and men looking fashionable, glamorous or humorous; all a delight to the eye. A daily BBC Fashion Show kept the viewer up to date with what was ‘in’ at Ascot. There was no way I could crawl out of my front door – but should I go there in my dreams I knew that I could be suitably clad for the Royal Enclosure.

 

There was great delight when the 7 year old horse, Yeats, won The Ascot Gold Cup for the third year in succession, only the second horse ever to do so. A particular poem of W. B. Yeats was read several times during the programme. In ‘He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven’ the young man wishes he could bring down the finest embroidered cloths from the heavens for his true love ‘But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; tread softly because you tread on my dreams’. We are so fortunate to have the peace to enjoy the delightful gathering at Ascot and to dream our dreams (even from an armchair).

 

And many miles away, in Afghanistan, three young British soldiers were killed. They were keeping and maintaining peace in that country and limiting the possible effects of any terrorist operating from there. Please keep the women and men of our armed forces in your prayers – we owe them so much. Their life is hard and harsh, they risk so much, yet they too have their dreams!

 

God Bless you!

Ros Parrett (Local Priest) 

 

Sadly, the speaker for last month’s meeting did not show up, however, members enjoyed plenty of banter and games.

Plans were made for the car treasure hunt being held on Wednesday 9th July. Cars are to meet at 6.30pm outside the Four Horseshoes and will return there afterwards for a meal.

Several of our members are going on a trip to Buckingham  Palace in August.

 

If you end up with steak cut the wrong way or from an old animal it may be tough. Here is a recipe that will turn the toughest steak into a tender, tasty entrée.

Swiss Steak

Brown the steak in a frying pan. Put the following in a slow cooker or oven proof pot:

 

1 x 400 gm can chopped tomatoes, 1 diced or sliced onion, 1 tsp garlic puree, powder or crushed clove. A dash of salt & pepper, Sliced mushrooms – optional. Add the browned steak and any bits from the frying pan. If the steak is not covered add beef broth until just at top of the meat.

Cook slowly on low heat – GM 1 to 2 if in oven - for at least 4 hours.

 

You can do this with good steak as well but why would anyone do that? 

 

It is with regret that we report the death of Sidney Newman. In 2001 Sid returned to Swale from Hertfordshire for his retirement and he took up residence at the Four Horseshoes Park.  He spent much of his working life in photography and the press, and was a keen amateur naturalist.

Our thoughts are with his wife Gloria. 

 

Pleae be wary!

Bogus callers purporting to be Water Board Officials have been operating in the Swale area.  A recent visit to a house resulted in money and personal items being stolen.  Always ask for identity or ring the utility service concerned if unsure. 

Ring the NHW office if you have any information about this or any other crimes on freephone 0800 100 3308 or the police on 01795 477055.

 

Farmers beware.  A Massey Ferguson tractor was stolen recently from a neighbouring village - do all keep you eyes peeled.

 

For those of you who will be going to Kent County Show, there is a NHW area within the Kent Police Marquee – To find out more about NHW do visit and ask questions.  PC Mick Wright who is the County organiser will be there. 

 

Do keep deadheading your roses and pansies so as to prolong the flowering period

There have been an abundance of slugs and snails after the wet May and early June – if they are still an issue try some beer traps.  If you use slug pellets do make sure you place them under a stone or tile so the birds do not eat them.

Cut your lupins and delphiniums down to the ground after flowering

Now is the time to think the apples and pears on your trees if there are heavily laden

It is a good time now to take cuttings of your pinks and layer the carnations.

Lastly keep onto of those weeds who are doing well due to the heat and rain by reguaraly hoeing your beds. 

 

1. David Coultard in 1999 and 2000
2. Bastille Day
3. Winchester
4. Vertical stripes of Black, Yellow and Red
5. Southport