Edited, published and distributed by

Sutton Valence Parish Council

Issue 30 Winter 2011

SUTTON VALENCE

PARISH NEWS

The Parish Councillors wish all the residents of Sutton Valence a Happy, Healthy and Peaceful New Year.

The Parish Council are de-lighted that planning permis-sion has been granted for 12 low cost homes to be built at Haven Farm which will be called Haven Close. When the Parish Plan was published 5 years ago it was established that there was a need for low cost housing and since then, we have been negotiating with the various bodies to find a suitable site.

Maidstone Borough Council have reduced by 30% the money the Parish gets towards the cost of essential services such as lighting, Parish mainte-nance of playing fields, play areas, allotments, public toilets and many other facilities which, in the urban area, is paid from council tax. Our residents pay the same tax as people living in Maidstone, so MBC have re-turned some of our money to help the PC pay for these ser-vices in the Parish. The bal-ance we need comes from the precept (local tax) which is set by the PC. Because of the MBC reduction of 30%, the Parish Council have had to in-crease the precept by 5%. This will mean an increase of

approximately £4.50 p.a. on Band D. properties. Parish Councillors are very aware of the economic situation and ac-cept there must be cuts to budgets but the Rural Parishes should not bear the brunt.

Maidstone Borough Council had promised the Parish Coun-cil £20,000 towards our new Play area on the Memorial Fields; this was reduced to £10,000. MBC have now with-drawn this offer. We have de-cided to go ahead and com-plete the project and will look further afield for finance. Tricia and Richard Stileman have kindly offered their lovely gar-den for a special garden party on Sunday, 10th July; proceeds to go towards our play area.

The Kent International Gateway. The Secretary of State agreed with the people of Maidstone and stopped this development. The Parish Council will stay in the Joint Parishes Group to fight any further outlandish planning applications which affect our Rural Parishes. J.P.G. will be in-volved in consultation on M.B.C.'s Core Strategy Plan. Eileen Riden, Chair, Sutton Valence Parish Council

Sutton Valence Annual Parish Meeting To be held on Saturday 14th May 2011 at 10 am

Guest Speaker To be confirmed

This is an opportunity for all members of the community to listen to the work of the Par-ish Councillors, and members of the wider community. You will also have an opportunity to ask questions and voice your

opinions. Also in attendance Eric Hotson

Refreshments available

Parish Council Meeting

Date: 10 March 2011

Quiz Night Sutton Valence Village Hall

Saturday 5th March

at 7.30pm

Bring a Team or just join in.

Tickets £8 including ploughman

supper

Bring your own drinks

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REPORTS FROM THE PARISH COUNCIL

JUBILEE COMMITTEE

Children’s Christmas Party

This really was a fun afternoon not only for the 83 children who at-tended but the 50 parents who come along. The parents say they come to look after their children, but we know better; everyone loves to watch Professor Reg-e-Mental and his monkey.

All the Mums and Dads also get a great thrill watching their children’s faces when Father Christmas ar-rives with his Elves and very big bags of presents. Father Christmas seems to know how many boys and girls and their ages, he is so clever. For tea, piz-

Kent Police Band Concert

Only 60 people attended the Kent Police Band Carol Concert just before Christmas. Sadly, only eight of these were from Sutton Valence! This wonderful group of musicians have been visiting Sut-ton Valence for ten years and they tell us it is their favourite venue. The Jubilee Committee subsidise this concert, we provide mulled wine and mince pies. We give free tickets to many older resi-dents. This year the tickets were £6, £3 for senior and free to chil-dren. Over the past few years, interest in the Band Concert has been waning and, due to of loss of revenue, the Jubilee Committee decided that we would no longer hold the Band Concert. Please send any comments to the Clerk.

New Parish Councillor The Parish Council would like to welcome Mr Barry Armstrong who has been co-opted to fill one of our vacancies.

Christmas Hampers

We would like to thank our volun-teers who went to Morrison’s de-spite the snow and icy conditions and purchased all the items to make up the 30 or so hampers that were delivered across the parish, some were delivered by 4x4’s and others delivered by sledges, all were very gratefully received. Many thanks also to Tim and John Chambers who supplied all the lovely fresh fruits and nuts.

VIKKI STANCOMBE

We were all shocked and deeply saddened by the death of Vikki, the wife of our Vice Chairman, Maurice Stancombe. Vikki was a charming, much respected lady with great courage.

She was a wonderful mother to her boys and as well as supporting her husband in his business, she was clerk to four local Parishes. Vikki will be greatly missed not only by her family but by all those who had the honour of knowing her. Our sincere sympathy and love go to Maurice and her sons.

zas and this year, cakes made by our W.I. ladies. Then we all danced to a great disco. We thank all who made this a very special day for Sutton Valence. There were a number of parents who offered to help at future Jubi-lee events; we are desperately short of volunteers and would loved to hear from you. Pease contact Eileen Riden on 844953 or Eve Poulter on 843876.

Pram Race On New Year’s Day, Lyndon Da-vies and the QHOF team gave us all a great start to the New Year. The Pram Race started 31 years ago and the Jubilee Committee sponsored a plaque to com-memorate this amazing feat. The plaque is on the wall of the Queens Head.

Carols around the Tree

This year with the snow crisp and not so even on the ground, we had lovely turnout of over thirty people singing Carols around the Tree on the Village Green. Our special thanks go to Father Paul and his daughter Alice for the mu-sical accompaniment on their trombones. The Parish Council would also like to thank QHOF for supplying the lovely Christmas tree. See you and more next year.

Royal Wedding The QHOF are planning to hold a Children’s Tea Party to take place on the Village Green to celebrate the Royal Wedding on 29th April 2011. The play area will be the main beneficiary from this event.

May Fair This year, the Parish Council will not be holding a May Fair due to a lack of volunteers. However, Pe-ter Shayler’s Family Fair will be on the Memorial Playing Fields from Friday 13th May, so children save up your pennies... I suppose it should be £1’s now.

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PARISH ENHANCEMENT GROUP Information for the

community

Mobile Library

Guy Davison, who drives the mo-bile library for KCC, has con-tacted the Parish Council asking us to inform you of the time the library arrives. He has said that use of the mobile library service is in decline and if we don’t use it, we lose it. In these times of se-vere budget cuts, library services are endangered and this would be a travesty as you cannot put a price on culture and education.

EVERY MONDAY 3.30-4.05pm SV Village Hall

4.10-4.55pm SV Bottom of South Lane

5.00-5.30pm SV Swan Pub 5.40-6.00pm SV Maidstone Road in the lay-by opposite the

Murco Garage.

Community Orchard Project,

Sunday 27th March 10 am

This is the big project for the Spring and one that we need your help with so please come along on Sunday morning and give us a hand - see the separate notice.

Free trees and bushes A team from the Parish Enhance-ment Group, Barry, Tim, Dean and Liz and myself spent a breezy Sat-urday morning in early February planting 150 hedging slips up at Bowhalls, restocking the recently planted hedge in the middle of the fields, creating a hedge where the demolished tin shed had left a gap, and replenishing all the recently planted bush areas around the 2 fields and alongside Mrs. Argles’ Wood. These areas had all suffered since the previous planting exercise some 2 years ago because of the dry summers that Kent has experi-enced and restocking was essential if we are to achieve the low, dense bushes that are so loved by birds as well as the rough grasses under-neath that are a haven for wildlife including insects. These trees cost us nothing as a group of parishion-ers applied for the 25 free trees per household from the Free Trees Scheme, funded this time by Net-work Rail and the Countryside Part-nerships. It’s the same scheme we used 2 years ago when we planted 400 free bushes at Bowhalls – if you are interested in the scheme for your own property it is advertised in the Autumn and hopefully will ap-pear again this year.

Community Payback Team

Before leaving us for work in other areas of the borough, the Payback Team’s last job was to commence clearing the Greensand Way foot-path at Bowhalls back to the met-alled surface. When they return in

the Spring we hope to involve them with the Community Orchard Project as well as a long list of other jobs. If you can spare a Sunday morning to help monitor them and allocate their parish tasks, then I would be very grateful and pleased for a day off with my family.

Allotments and Fees

All allotments have now been let but you can still go onto the waiting list if you are a parishioner – contact the Parish Clerk for details.

Sadly due to the need to make all parish areas pay their way, we have had to again increase the allotment fee payable in November 2011 to £25 for parishioners renting a full size allotment. We are pleased that these rents are still low when compared to many other parishes.

Dog Mess

While planting the Free trees at Bowhalls, we continually had to avoid stepping in dog mess. An un-believable amount of muck was in the woods and bush areas. It’s both depressing and disgusting to find this when we are trying to do our bit for the community only to find a few irresponsible dog owners, and it is just a few, who cannot be bothered to clear up because it’s in the woods. It is still against the law, socially irresponsible to allow your dog to foul and not clear it up. If you see someone allowing their dog to foul without clearing it up, please report them to the Dog Warden at Maidstone Borough Council 01622 602202. Phil Taylor

“There is no such thing as a Dog Poo Fairy”

Parish Council Elections 5 May 2011

The Parish Council is allowed nine Councillors, at present there are eight. To hold an election there must be at least ten candidates or the sitting Councillors are automati-cally returned to office. We need new minds and people with ideas. Anyone can register to be a Par-ish Councillor if are an elector and have lived within three miles dur-ing the whole of the 12 months before the day on which they are nominated as a candidate, or are an owner or a tenant of land or premises, or their principal or sub-stantial place of work. It is much more democratic to hold an election and allows new people to come forward and get involved in running their local Community, a very worthwhile, responsible and interesting role. If you are interested in standing as a Coun-cillor please, contact the Clerk, Janet Burnett, 01622 844135 or talk to any Parish Councillor.

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Census 2011 Posters will soon be up in the no-tice boards around the village in-forming us that

Sunday 27th March 2011

will be the census day. The cen-sus is a valuable tool for the au-thorities to gather information about the needs of individual com-munities so as to plan for future budgets and housing needs. How-ever, from an historical viewpoint, the information is a perfect snap-shot of life in the early 21st cen-tury. For those of you researching family ancestry, you can see the value in the census information and the difficulties in tracking an-cestors through parish records pre 1801. Fill in the Census form and leave a little piece of your life to posterity.

Age Concern Age Concern has started a new project, Community Hubs. They are designed to reach older citi-zens who live in rural areas of Maidstone, such as Lenham, Sta-plehurst, Yalding, Thurnham, etc. It will provide services, activities and events that make for a more comfortable and entertaining liv-ing environment for those who may not be able to reach their services in central Maidstone. The Age Concern Community Hub Project is welcoming help from anybody who is willing to give it! They are looking for volun-teers with all different kinds of skills, experiences and back-grounds. To find out more, come along to the open day at Maid-stone Community Support Centre (Marsham Street, ME14 1HH) on Monday 14th February 1.30 until 4.30, or call Sinead on 01622 753618 or email communityhub-project@gmail.com

INFORMATION FOR THE COMMUNITY

Alzheimer’s Society Natalie Humphreys works for the Alzheimer's Society in Kent and Medway and for the new year she is looking for new Volunteer Fundraising Committee members to join them in the Maidstone and surrounding villages to start some exciting new fundraising events and activities and increase de-mentia awareness ventures in the local area. The Committee will be actively supporting the work they do at the Alzheimer's Society by funding local services for people with dementia and their carers and into research programmes into finding a cure for demen-tia. For more information contact Natalie on telephone 01622 747 181 or 07889 604 619.

natalie.humphreys@alzheimers .org.uk,

LOCAL HISTORY The first of this year’s local history exhibitions will be in St Mary’s Church between 10 o’clock and 12 noon on Saturday, April 2nd and will be followed in the afternoon by a guided stroll around and through the village. The stroll will start at 2.30 p.m. in the car park at the east end of Sutton Valence School chapel and I have permission for anyone coming by car to park there. The total distance covered will possibly be little more than a mile but the stroll may take any-thing up to two hours, depending on the weather, the number of people on the stroll and how many questions they ask.

If we stick to the established pat-tern, further exhibitions will be set out in St Mary’s next summer on the first Saturday of each of the subsequent months up to and in-cluding September. It is usually possible to arrange alternative openings for anyone unable to come on a Saturday morning. There is no charge for these exhi-bitions or for the walk. Michael Beaman 01622 842278

New to Sutton Valence Farmers Market

The Queens Head Odd Fellows (QHOF) will be holding a regular Farmers Market at the Sutton Va-lence Village Hall on Saturday mornings from 9.30am to 12.30pm on: May 21st June 18th July 16th August 20th September 24th October 22nd Stalls cost just £5.00 for residents of the three Suttons, and you need to provide your own table. The Market will be held outside at the Village Hall if weather allows, if not then indoors but this could restrict space per stall. We al-ready have a number of pre-booked spaces and we are keen to attract a good variety of mer-chandise from fruit and veg, pre-serves, bakery, meats, pastries, cakes etc. If anyone wishing to have an informal chat or book a stall please contact Mark Heath on 01622 843723

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REPORTS FROM THE COMMUNITY

Having arrived in Sutton Valence just over six months ago I thought it was about time I put pen to pa-per and produced an article for this fine publication of yours. For those that don’t know us Sarah, myself and our three teenage chil-dren moved into the vicarage on Chart Road at the end of June last year, having moved from Bear-sted where we had lived for the past 22 years. As curate to this parish, and those of Chart Sutton, East Sutton and Headcorn, I am working alongside the vicar, Brian Curnew as a ‘trainee’, for want of a better way to put it. This is my first post in ministry having been ordained at Canterbury Cathedral last July. Since then we have been gradu-ally getting to know the people of the parishes and the local geogra-phy. An abiding memory of these early months was Remembrance Sunday in November – to see so many gathered on the hill by the memorial, despite inclement weather, was very moving and a tribute to the work of the Royal British Legion in these parts. I have also greatly enjoyed making

links with the Primary School and am grateful to them for their wel-come. It is a great privilege to help with assemblies and to have the school in church from time to time so I hope we can build fur-ther on that connection. Certainly Christmas was a magical time and it was wonderful to see their nativity play, and other things go-ing on.

None of us had quite bargained with the pre-Christmas weather conditions and I hope that your plans were not disrupted greatly and that Christmas was a joyful time. Such conditions go to show how little control we have over things and despite best laid plans the elements can conspire against us. Perhaps, in the cir-cumstances, we just need to be thankful for the blessings we have ~ certainly one of the positive things to come out of such disrup-tion was that there seemed to be many who would go out of their way to help someone in a fix. We seem to have come through the worst of it now (hopefully) and perhaps can now look forward to daylight hours getting longer,

which means that spring is on the way. In the Church’s calendar we will soon be in the period of Lent (an old English word meaning ‘lengthen’) which begins on the 9th March with Ash Wednesday. Lent is a period of preparation for Easter that Christians use to re-flect upon the need for forgiveness and upon the events leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion. Ash Wednes-day is so called because palm crosses from the previous Easter are burned and then used at ser-vices on that particular Wednes-day to place a mark on the fore-heads of the congregation to dis-play a commitment to Christ, and the desire for forgiveness. With those thoughts in mind perhaps I need to spend a bit of time reflect-ing on what I am giving up for Lent – hmm, so much to choose from! Every blessing, Rev. Chris Lavender A recycled

comment This week I have taken possession of two new recycling containers. I now look upon my array of waste bins and wistfully reminisce. Gone are the days when there was one bin in my house, one large bin containing one black bin liner which I would fill to the brim every week. The five bin bags filled with all the waste of a young family, including my very large contribution to the nappy mountain that will biode-grade long after my children col-lect their pensions. The wheely bin would be crammed full and to get in that last bag, I would put my young son on the top of the bin and make him jump up and

throw one into waste and one into cooked food waste, the or-ange juice carton goes into waste and the apple core into compost waste. At least ten min-utes of my day is now spent on rubbish sorting and further time is spent trying to explain the process to the rest of my family. This does not include the time spent explaining to my dear hus-band what bins go out on Tues-day nights, if we remember. These are the new challenges facing us all for the sake of do-ing our bit for the planet. I wish you all the very best of luck with your recycling project. Just one final query - what shall I do with the wax that covers the Baby Bel cheese ...? Eve Poulter

down to compress the rubbish so as to squeeze in the fifth bag. Alas, that was a simpler life. Now my conscience has been pricked and I, like the rest of us, have started the confusing task of recy-cling. Composting is simple, vege-table peelings, tea bags and the like have gone into my compost bin. Glass, also simple - I drive once a month to the glass recy-cling centre. The green bin deliv-ered by MBC is slightly more con-fusing as it only takes some types of plastic and conversations would ensue as to what constitutes recy-clable plastic. However, it is the food waste bin that has thrown my family into total confusion. The lunch box for example – I have to unpeel Clingfilm from left over squashed up sandwich crusts,

A VIEW FROM THE VICARAGE

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REPORTS FROM THE COMMUNITY

Can you help?

I am a retired Kentish Man living in Devon. Back in the late 50's/early 60's the vegetables for my school dinners was delivered in a rare bright red Jensen lorry owned by Buttifans of Langley Sutton Valence with another depot at Hall Road Aylesford. I am seeking in-formation and photos of this com-panies vehicles as part of my Ve-hicle historian/magazine writing hobby. Is there anyone in the Parish who you can help, please? Any help very gratefully received, my phone number is 01363 776091. Allan B Bedford al-lanbbedford@yahoo.co.uk

Little Stars

"Little Stars" - a group for pre-schoolers and their Mum's, Dad's

and carer's held in St. Mary's Church, 2pm - 2.45pm on the fol-

lowing Thursdays; February 17th , March 24th

April 28th, May 26th Stories, singing, crafts and a

prayer, followed by drinks and a biscuit. Contact Anna Kish on

01622 842814 for more details.

5 (Term time only) and have ses-sions available. Please contact us on 01622 842388 if you would like any further information or visit our new designed website at www.suttonvalencepreschool.org.

Sutton Strollers The next walk is on Sunday 20th February, starting at Sutton Va-lence village hall at 1.30pm. The walks take place on the third Sun-day of each month and are be-tween 4 and 6 miles. They vary

Sutton Valence Pre-school held a coffee morning on the last day of Autumn term and the children per-formed a Christmas play for the parents/carers. Santa managed to visit us even though he had a busy schedule and party food was enjoyed by all the children. This term our Topic has been ‘Winter’ and the children have made bird feeders. They have also been making boomerangs for Australia Day and Chinese Dragons for Chinese New Year. We are plan-ning our Barnardo’s Sponsor Tod-dle which is taking place in April and our topic for next term will be Animals. For those of you who do not know us, we offer Full Day Care for chil-dren from the age of 2 years up to

A chance to be involved in com pleting our lovely new Play Area.

GOOD FRIDAY EASTER EGG TREASURE HUNT Starting at 11am

An opportunity for families to have fun and contribute towards this great project.

The idea is to get sponsors for your walk around the Village. We will start at the Village Hall, through the Playing Fields, then on to the al-

lotments around Mrs. Argles’ Wood, back to the Village Hall for Easter eggs. This will be a fun morning for everyone.

MBC have withdrawn promised funding and the Parish Council need our help. So we are having a ...

Phone Di on 843371 for more information.

Sponsor forms can be collected from the Post O ffice or Parish Council-lors. Di Hunt is the organiser, we will need lots of help on the day.

from month to month by going to different parts of the 3 Suttons parishes, with different start points. Keep up to date by looking at the villages section in the KM or request an e-mail notification from davidgray236@btinternet.com. There's no charge, just turn up on the day and friendly dogs are welcome.

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REPORTS FROM THE COMMUNITY

Public Toilets

For the second time this year the public toi-lets be-

hind the village hall have been vandalised and have had to be locked. The automatic locking system has been smashed be-yond repair after it has been fixed by our village hall maintenance contractor. Last year MBC handed over the management of the public convenience to the Parish Council. This means that the cost of supplies, cleaning and repair fall on the already stretched budget of the Parish Council. The PC now need to consider whether there is actually need for a public lavatory in the village. Your com-ments would be welcome.

Please email clerk@suttonvalence.org.uk

CALLING ALL PARISHIONERS - COME JOIN US AND PLANT A

FRUIT TREE,

10am Sunday 27th March at BOWHALLS On Sunday 10am March 27th at 10 am the entire parish is invited to come along and help us plant fruit trees to create our COMMUNITY ORCHARD. Bring a spade and

some gloves and join in the creation of our very own Parish orchard of over 30 trees -

Eating Apples, Cooking Apples, Pears, Cherries, Plums and Gages.

This won’t cost you or the Parish a penny - all the trees have been paid for by the Parish Plan Steering Group and the Garden Safari Fund.

Even if you can’t plant a tree, why not come along and tell us how we should really have done it, it’s all meant to be fun, for the parish and for the future.

Phil Taylor 843214

Sutton Valence & District

Royal British Legion

I would like to thank all who at-tended the War Memorial in the torrential rain on 11 November. Thank you also to all the Scouts, Cubs and Beavers, the Combined Cadet Force for attending the Ser-vice at the Memorial and church on 14 November. Many thanks to all residents and business in Sutton Valence for the massive amount of £3,511 raised during last year. I would also like to thank Brian and Gillian Gray our Poppy Appeal Organisers who retired last year, and not forgetting the Poppy collectors who called upon most of you. I am pleased welcome our new Poppy Appeal Organiser , Mr David Gallafant. In January The Kent County Annual Conference was held at County Hall, Maidstone. There were 27 branch delegates in at-

tendance and 11 members from our branch. It was an enlightening conference with some interesting debates on the way forward. The guest speaker was Mr Edwin Boorman, Chairman of Royal Brit-ish Legion Industries who gave us a presentation on how the indus-tries work in helping disabled ex service personnel and their de-pendents. The latest figure for the National amount raised on Poppy Appeals £1,086,104 and still rising. There was a disappointing turn out for The Three Suttons Memo-ries despite an interesting presen-tation by Andrew Clarke. For this year’s 90th Anniver-sary celebrations, we are having a dinner in April and a Concert in Canterbury on Saturday 7th May There will also be a 90th Anniver-sary Service and Parade at St Mary’s Sutton Valence on Sunday 15th May. . Please see What’s on Guide for meeting dates. Stan Heather, Branch Chairman

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SUTTON VALENCE

MUSIC SOCIETY In Groves Hall Sutton Valence School

Friday, 11th March, 2011 at 7:30pm Tim Lowe, a gifted cellist who holds the Silver Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, will perform Marin Marais, Saint-Saens, Bloch, Schubert and Martinu. He will be accompanied by Stephen Gutman, Professor of Piano at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Tick-ets £10 at door. Enquiries to Hilary Northcroft at 01233 756672 orhilary@northcroft.uk.net.

Sutton Valence Tennis Club

New members of all ages welcome.

Located at the back of the War Memorial playing fields at North

Street. For Membership enquiries call:

Mrs J Waterman on 01622 768654 or email

at:jennywaterman@btinternet.co Normal Club sessions:

Tuesday 6.30pm. everyone Wednesday 6.30pm, every-

one Friday 10.30 am, everyone

The tennis courts can be hired by non-members at

other times. Ask for details at Sutton Va-

lence Post Office.

Speed watch The Parish Council are looking for volunteers to take part in our speed watch. Full training will be given

Please join the team

Call the Clerk on 844135. Remember

many of the fast drivers on the A274 are local. Kill your speed, too.

Pot-holes Hotline Report your favourite

pot-holes to Kent High-ways on

08458 247800

Sutton Valence WI We ended 2010 with a good Christmas party and a District carol service and we are looking forward to an interesting year with a varied selection of speakers and activities. We meet on the second Tuesday of the month at 7.30pm in the Vil-lage Hall. New members and visi-tors are always welcome. We have a selection of activities during the month including craft, book club, darts, scrabble and a lunch club. For information please ring please ring 01622 842034. We are having a Jumble sale on 2nd April at 11.30 am in the Vil-lage Hall so please come and find a bargain.

REPORTS FROM THE COMMUNITY RNLI

Maidstone Villages Branch

Our busiest time of the year is over, so thanks to all the Coffee Mornings and Branch fund raising events, the cards, calendars and diaries have been sold – and we thank you over and over again! (I’ve always got a few RNLI sou-venirs here, with notelets and gifts of course). Our AGM is looming, where we will meet our new Area Organiser. Areas have been changed re-cently and the South East is now part of London. The Headquarters in Uckfield is now closed, ho hum, changes everywhere. Our Branch is not resting on its laurels, as we are now planning to support the RNLI’s annual fund raising event, called SOS. Ours will be called “Sample Our Shiraz” – like it? Then support it when we get it off the ground - please! I still collect postage stamps of all denominations for the RNLI, just tear them off leaving a good half inch around them (or 12mm for those more up to date than me!) So, watch this space for the latest fund raising event …………. Audrey Bishop, Chairman, Maidstone Village Branch

Sutton Valence Choral Society

Spring Concert 2011 As part of its 21st season, Sutton Valence Choral Society presents a richly contrasting concert of devo-tional music for Lent, with perform-ances of Stainer’s Crucifixion and Palestrina’s Stabat Mater. The concert takes place at All Saints Church, Mill Street, Maidstone, ME15 6YE on Mothering Sunday, 3rd April, at 7.30pm.

Musical Director Bryan Gipps con-ducts the choir of 100, accompa-nied by organist Martyn Williams. The choral society is delighted to welcome two distinguished solo-ists for this special evening – Tenor, Jeffrey Gray and Baritone, David Hill.

Tickets, priced £10 (£5 for under-18s and those in full-time educa-tion) are available from choir members or Sharon Music, 65 High Street, Maidstone, (Tel: 01622 761 649), or by ringing 01622 842 269. Further informa-tion may be found at www.suttonvalencechoral.co.uk Sutton Valence Choral Society (regd. Charity no. 1119160) sup-ports Kent Air Ambulance Trust (regd. Charity no. 1021367)

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REPORTS FROM THE COMMUNITY

Warmlake Short Mat Bowling Club

Short mat bowls is played in the Village Hall every available Thurs-day from 8.00 – 10.00pm.

This thoroughly engrossing game is suitable for all ages above 9 years and can be played by al-most anyone who is able to bend.

Coaching is available free of charge. When proficient, an eve-ning’s entertainment, including tea and biscuits, is available for a modest £2.50 per head.

The only equipment needed to start is a pair of flat soled shoes although carpet slippers will usu-ally do provided they have no tread on them.

Do come along and try – there is a very friendly atmosphere and you will be most welcome. Please ring Brenda on 01622 843560 to ensure that we will be there the day you choose to come and that we have spare bowls for you to use.

PARISH WEBSITE

Janet Burnett and Eve Poulter have updated the Parish Council website. To find agendas and minutes of par-

ishes council meetings, log on to www.suttonvalencepc.kentparishes.go

v.uk Our village website is still being up-

dated.

The Beavers continue to have fun and adventure and make friends and the leaders have lots of inter-esting activities planed for them. 2011 is the official 25th birthday of Beaver Scouting so I am sure there will be lots of chances for the beavers to celebrate. Article written by our Beaver leaders Clare, Marilyn and Ca-rina. Unfortunately, due to the severe weather, the Christmas event at the Grange had to be cancelled. The Spring term finds us with 21 cubs all eager to celebrate 95 years of Cub scouting. This term’s activities will include basic Scout-ing skills, IT badge, looking at the My Faith badge which will include a visit into our local church and completing the Personal Safety badge. We hope to finish the term with a Spring walk. In March the cubs will have the opportunity to visit the Science Museum and the IMAX cinema in London with cubs from all over Maidstone South. In June a limited number of cubs will have the chance to attend a county run water activities day at Sheerness. We have recently welcomed Billy, Miles and Finlay into the pack and we hope they will enjoy their time with us. Article written by Linda Waring Cub Leader. The last half of the winter term saw the weather closing in but the Scouts, as well as the rest of the Group, provided a good turn out

for the Remembrance Day pa-rade, even though the rain was very persistent. And as the snow fell in December we unfortu-nately had to cancel one evening but for our last evening, the swimming at Larkfield Leisure Centre all went to plan. The new term, and New Year, has seen another 3 new mem-bers to the Troop, with one com-ing in from the outside and the other 2 progressing from cubs. Although our outdoor activities are always limited in this part of the year, we still have an active programme planned including a quiz, some cooking, a hike and sleepover and even a 5-a-side district football tournament. Article By Tim Waring Scout Leader. We recycle waste paper, used computer ink cartridges and un-wanted mobile phones; phones and cartridges can be handed to your leader (with charger pre-ferred and Sim card removed) or taken along with your waste pa-per to Norton Lea Farm Chart Sutton (Linda Waring’s House) and placed in the dedicated bin for paper or separate box for phones and cartridges. Thank you to everyone that recycles with us helping the environment and raising funds for our scout group. Photographs If any one has any digital photo-graphs of recent Scouting activi-ties for example the Remem-brance parade and you are will-ing to share them, we would love them to add to the groups photo-graph albums, please email your photographs to suttonss-couts@yahoo.co.uk thank you. Scouting achievements We congratulate Tim Waring our scout leader for being awarded his wood badge.

10

COMMUNITY

Police Surgery

A combined surgery with the Parish and Police. The aim of the surgery is an op-portunity for parishioners to discuss par-ish matters, particularly some of the is-sues raised in this newsletter, and air any concerns. The Parish Council and Kent Police and will be available to talk

to you. Please see notice boards for the date of

the next surgery

Unsavoury behaviour

Please be aware that a man was seen in the vicinity of the Bowhalls allotments perform-ing a lewd act, if you should notice this sort of unsavoury behaviour taking place, any-where in the village area please contact the police.

Potholes

Information from Kent Highways Following last year's successful response on weather damage repairs we had planned further action for this winter should it prove necessary. Due to December's harsh weather it is re-quired. We have therefore instigated this plan by expanding fur-ther the number of crews working on safety repairs. We have increased crew numbers via our own maintenance con-tractor, but have also engaged the local contractors we used last summer. Their additional crews are reinforcing our response to this weather damage. This takes the total number of crews working on potholes in Kent to more than 60. This arrangement will help us improve our response and continuity of resource even if we have further weather emergen-cies. Crews will be directed to tackle safety critical repairs first.

We want you to let us know the location of potholes in your Par-ish. Please report them on-line or by calling our 24 hour helpline on 08458 247 800. Richard Dixon CommunityLiaison Officer - Maidstone (South) Kent Highway Services

Wine, Tea and other refreshments available for suggested donations

Sutton Valence Parish Council warmly invites you to a

Garden Party on Sunday 10th July 2011

to be held at Boyton Court, Sutton Valence

From 3pm until 7.30 pm Richard and Tricia Stileman have kindly agreed to open their

beautiful garden to enable the Parish Council to hold a party in order to raise money to complete the play area at the Memorial

Playing Fields.

Tickets ~ adults £4, children free Available from Roger Peverett 843198 Eve Poulter, 843876, Barry Armstrong,

842129 and the Post Office

Directions: From SV Post Office, up Tumblers Hill for ½ mile, then right into Boyton Court Road; house and parking down hill on left.

11

YOUR PARISH CONTACTS

Parish Councillors Cllr. Eileen Riden, Chairman (844953) Cllr. Maurice Stancombe Vice-Chairman (844845) Cllr. Peter Green (843230) Cllr. Phil Taylor (843214) Cllr. Eve Poulter (843876) Cllr Roger Peverett (843198) Cllr Ian Robinson (840231) Cllr Barry Armstrong (842129) Clerk to the Parish Council Mrs Janet Burnett (844135) Email: clerk@suttonvalence.org.uk Borough Councillor Cllr. Paulina Stockell (842508) Email: paulinastockell@maidstone.gov.uk County Councillor Cllr. Eric Hotson (01580 892312) Email: eric.hotson@kent.gov.uk Village Hall Chairman: Martin Stokes: 842024 Bookings: Jenny Weller: 843273

Please send your news / events /

activities to the Parish Clerk:

SV Parish Clerk Warmlake End, Chartway Street,

Sutton Valence Maidstone, Kent ME17 3JA

Tel: 844135 e-mail:

clerk@suttonvalence.org.uk Or to Claire and Eve atsvnews-

letter@live.co.uk

COPY DEADLINE FOR THE NEXT NEWSLETTER:

30 April 2011

Police matters

Information and Parish contacts

The Three Suttons

Helpline Telephone Numbers:

843235 842530, 843248, 842436

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Arsons This is a joint crime and community message from Maidstone & District Neighbourhood Watch and Mid Kent Maidstone Police. We would like to in-form you of the following information for your area.

Kent Police is investigating a series of fires in the Maidstone area and is ap-pealing for the public's help to catch the person responsible.

The link has been confirmed after police received information from someone claiming responsibility.

The following five fires are being investigated as a series of linked arsons:

1 - 28th October 2010, Lenham Ironmongers. 2 - 29th December 2010, Boughton Monchelsea Service Station 3 - 28th January 2011, Warmlake Bathroom Studio, Chart Sutton. 4 - 30th January 2011, Garages off the High Street, Headcorn 5 - 29-30th January 2011, Car garage in Ulcombe. Superintendent Andrew Rabey from Kent Police said: "We are working alongside our Major Crime Department to catch the person responsible for this series of fires and it's crucial that anyone with information comes for-ward. These are unusual circumstances and we're keeping an open mind as to the reason why the person has committed these offences and why some-one has made contact in this way. Kent Police was already aware of three fires, which occurred in the last few days, but the information we have re-ceived has prompted us to link two others, which occurred at the end of last year.

"I would like to appeal directly to the person who is responsible for these fires to call Kent Police or equally if anyone knows who might be responsible to please get in touch. We're taking this investigation very seriously and our neighbourhood officers are on standby to talk to anyone who might have con-cerns. Clearly our main priority is to protect people's lives and their property so any information that could help us catch the person carrying out these arsons is vital."

Anyone with information should call Kent Police only 01622 690 690 Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. If you have any information in connec-tion with any of these messages or you would like to talk to anyone please call Lorraine on 01622 604395 Reply using email mailto:kcm.maidstone@kent.pnn.police.uk?subject=Ringmaster Reply:Arsons

12

Don’t

Forget! Census Day 27 March

Spring “What’s On” Guide 2 March  Three Suttons  8pm        The  Enchanted Road, Music Room, SV  School 5 March    7.30pm  Quiz Night, Village Hall 8 March   WI  7.30pm  Talk, Mrs Ronald Grenville and Polesden Lacey 11 March  Music Society  7.30pm  Music Concert, Groves Hall, SV School 19 March  MBC  12.40 pm  Freighter Service, South Lane 20 March  Gardeners    Sue Marshall – My experience at Chelsea with Irises 24 March  Little Stars  2pm  St Mary’s Church 27 March  PEG  10am  Plant a fruit tree,  Bowhalls. Sutton Valence 27 March  CENUS    Form Filling Day 2 April  Archives  10am &  St Mary’s Church, 2.30pm stroll around Sutton Valence     12pm 2 April   WI  11.30 am  Jumble Sale, Village Hall 3 April   Choral Society    Spring Concert – see main article 4 April  RBL  7pm  Music Room, Sutton Valence School 6 April  Three Suttons  8pm  Touring Battlefields Music Room, Sutton Valence       Preceded by the AGM at 7.30 pm 10 April  Gardeners    Spring Show 14 April  Parish Council  7pm  Parish Council Meeting ~ all welcome 22 April  Easter Egg Hunt  Details to follow 28 April   Little Stars  2pm  St Mary’s Church 29 April  Music Society   7.30pm  Concert ~ Hew Morgan, Trumpet, Timothy End, Piano. 30 April  Newsletter    Closing date for submission for newsletter 1 May  Gardeners  2.30pm  Visit to Hole Park Rolvenden 4 May  Three Suttons  8pm  Jane Austen’s Kent Connections, Music Room, SV School 5 May  Parish Election    Village Hall 10 May  RBL  7pm  Annual Meeting, Village Hall 12 May  Parish Council  7pm  Parish Council Meeting ~ all welcome 13 May  Jubilee    Peter Shayler’s Fair arrives for the weekend 14 May   Parish  10am  Annual Parish Meeting, all welcome 15 May  RBL    90th Anniversary Service & Parade, St Mary’s Church 21 May  QHOF  9.30 am  Farmer’s Market 26 May  Little Stars  2pm  St Mary’s Church 28 May  MBC  12.40pm  Freighter Service, South Lane 5 June   Gardeners    Visit by car to SV allotments 

And finally... It is not only the mo-

bile library that is suffering from under use. The Post Office needs its customers and for you to let

him know what you wish him to stock. It

is the heart of the village and we ask that you support

Kieron and his team who do a wonderful job. Please don’t let

Sutton Valence become another

Post Office casualty.

One more reminder, Phil and his team need

Volunteers to help plant the Community Orchard at Bowhalls,

on Sunday 27th March 2011 at 10 am