What’s happening where you live...

Craft Christmas Bazaar: Stock up your larder for winter with Sheena’s jams and pickles or honey from James, our local beekeeper. Revitalise your Christmas tree with some sparkling decorations Bijou Nurseries will be there with a wonderful array of plants. Gifts galore for everyone on your list. Go along and find just the right thing for that difficult person. New for this year is the Teddy zip wire. Take along your teddy and for 20p teddy can have a zip wire ride from the organ loft to the pulpit. Keep your strength up with a cup of tea or coffee and a mince pie or even a glass of mulled wine. Its all at Wateringbury Church on Saturday November 26 from 11am-3pm. Admission free. Correspondent: Maureen Jopson, 68 Stockett Lane, Coxheath, ME17 4PY Tel: 01622 746086 joplot8@ hotmail.co.uk WI: The Farleighs WI has organised a Wish evening for Wednesday, November 30, when Ray Davidson will be entertaining his audience on his experience of working for the Foreign Office in North Korea, which should prove interesting in this little known area. Entrance £3 including refreshments and this meeting is open to all (men and women). Litter picking.: The next litter pick is scheduled for Sunday, December 4. Anyone wishing to volunteer, phone 01622 815267 or Brian on 01622 812341/brianc02@hotmail. com or just turn up on the day at The Green outside The Good Intent at 9am. Hot drinks and bacon butties will reward your efforts. West Farleigh School: Does anybody have any photos of the old West Farleigh School, when it was a school? If so, let me know. (Details under the West Farleigh heading). Youngsters’ football success: Yalding and Laddingford FC youngsters had a terrific weekend last week. The under 12s played Beckley and were 5-3 down with 5 minutes to go. Every players battled on and Yalding took the equaliser with the last kick of the match. Goals were from Matthew, Ollie (2) and Harry (2), with a super show at the back from Rhys. On Sunday, the under 13s defeated Sittingbourne from the league above, in the cup, 4-2, whilst the under 14s went top of the league with an 8-2 victory over Raw Skills. Goals were from Connor 3, Owen 2, Matthew, Ned and James. With Ditton’s pitch unavailable, the under 16 game was switched to The Kintons and a new look Ditton, with many new players were quickly 2-0 up. Yalding struggled to get their game together and Ryan McClaine scored a hattrick in 15 minutes, bringing the score to 3-2 in Yalding’s favour, and reaching second in the league. On Saturday, the under 8s and under 12s are at home while the under 7s travel to Aylesford for their first ever competitive game. A Bad Dream: The Russett Players’ production of Simon Brett’s play, A Bad Dream, will be performed in East Peckham Village Hall on Saturday and Sunday, November 26-27 at 8pm. There is also a Sunday matinee at 2.30pm. Tickets at £10 (concessions £8) are available from the Village Stores in East Peckham or on the door. Sunday services: All age worship takes place at St Peter and St Paul’s church on Sunday, November 27 at 10am. This 45 minute service features children’s activities in a relaxed atmosphere. Breakfast is available from 9.30am. Advent Evensong at the church starts at 6.30pm. On the same day, the Baptist service with Treasure Seekers’ Sunday School starts at 10.30am. Coffee and tea to follow the service. Temporary road closure: There will be no access for through traffic on Claygare Road between the junctions with Emmet Hill Lane and Jarmons Lane from Monday, November 28 for up to five days. The closure is to enable the installation of new drainage to prevent flooding, to be carried out by KCC Highways. Chat-a-While: The popular Chat-aWhile coffee and craft morning will next take place on Thursday, December 1 from 10.30am-noon. This will be the last one of the year, so do try to pop along for a chat and a cuppa in good company. All welcome. Village Voices: Following their amazing performances at the Songfest earlier in the month, Village Voices resumes its normal meeting schedule on Thursday December 1 at 7.30-9pm in the school hall. Successful charity night: The Ladies Pamper and Gift evening on November 11, in aid of the Heart of Kent Hospice, raised a staggering £1,110 plus another £60 through the PINK raffle for Cancer Research. Thanks for your generosity, ladies. Zarda re-launch: We were so sorry to see Kajol leaving the Zarda Indian restaurant at Swan House last month, but his lovely relatives Shah and Reshmin have become the new owners and the food is truly wonderful; the award winning new chef provides exemplary Indian food, including many traditional Indian favourites. On November 17, locals were invited along to a lively re-launch evening at Zarda Cottage Indian Cuisine, where the friendly new hosts Karen’s Dream: The church has been alive with music all weekend as a result of organiser Karen Di Marco’s dream of a music festival. Karen and Tony Di Marco are the people who, in an earlier dream 18 years ago started up the School Gambia initiative, for which the weekend was fundraising. The Village Voices group on Saturday looked, sounded and were brilliant, as were the children and indeed everyone who performed through the 12 hour non-stop Singfest. On Sunday, Sing from Scratch with anyone keen to sing, meeting at the church at 11.30am, through an amazing three hours direction from Daniel Sharman and Kristin McCloughlin took part in a delightful; concert at 5pm on the same day. What an event, what an achievement! The audience, singers and organisers all seemed to enjoy every minute. Thank you Karen for fulfilling your dream. Wetland flood mitigation: A pioneering project at a Marden farm brings the hope of relief for local flood victims. The land is to be sculpted by machine to create a wetland where flood water can be stored during flood times, to flow away gradually when the flood peak passes. The Kent Countryside Partnership has worked hard to bring this project to fruition, and with support from government agencies, politicians and voluntary associations, this model can be replicated across the Low Weald and begin to make a difference. The Medway Beult and Teise (MBT) flood group, a voluntary body led by Stephen Day, and the Joint Parish Flood Group (JPFG) are working hard to get action on such a scheme and others. Email stephen@yalding. com to receive updates. The JPFG meeting on Friday, November 25, will be attended by the Environment Agency’s area manager, and MBC’s property and procurement manager as well as MP Helen Grant, local parish council members and representatives of the MBT group. Could this be the start of something good after nearly three years of inaction? Surgery quiz: Last Saturday evening, 16 teams assembled in the village hall for the Friends of Yalding Surgery quiz, and what a night! Lively friendly rivalry, a quiz with a huge variety of subjects covered, a superb ploughman’s supper and a great raffle. Add to that, heaps of fun and banter, leading to a great night for all, and no doubt, a good amount of money for the surgery, to provide those extras which are not funded by the NHS. Thanks go to all who worked so hard to make this happen and to all who supported the event. George at Yuletide: The George is very much joining in with the Yuletide Market celebration on Saturday, December 3. There will be a barbecue and hog roast and several craft stalls in the garden. The fee for having a stall is £10, all of which will go to charity. To book a stall, call the pub on 01622 814376. When the market ends, live music will be provided by Mystery Machine from 8.30-11pm. Youngsters report damage: Town Bridge has once again been damaged by lorries. The bridge was scraped one day and then further damage occurred on the following day. We are often supported by residents taking details or photographing such incidents. This is really helpful. Thank you. Last week two Year 7 pupils who live in the village were first to take photos identifying the lorry and sharing them with me, the Neighbourhood Watch coordinator. Thank you Ted and Ruby for your prompt actions and sensible reporting. Well done!