Upchurch Cricket Club - Charity Football Match

Upchurch Cricket Club and Upchurch Football Club will play each other in a charity football match on Sunday the 28th of December to raise money for The Kent, Surrey & Sussex Air Ambulance Trust.

Kick off at their home pitch in Holywell Lane is at 11:00am. Food and refreshments will be available and the Pavilion Bar will be open too.

Please come along and support this very worthy cause.

Terry Lewis

Tel: 01634 230643

Email: terrylewis44@yahoo.co.uk

Space

Christmas & New Year at The Crown

Christmas Eve

Party with a Disco & Karaoke - 8 pm to 12 am

New Year's Eve

Party with a Disco & Supper - 9 pm to 1 ish

Annmarie - The Crown

Tel: 01634 233896

space

Temporary Road Closures - Oak Lane

Click Map to Enlarge

Temporary Road Closures - Oak Lane, Upchurch

Sundays 18th and 25th January 2015

Sunday closures of part of Oak Lane, Upchurch are planned for 18th January and 25th January 2015 between 9:00am and 4:00pm each day.

Oak Lane will be closed between the junctions with Bishop Lane and Chaffe's Lane (i.e. between the Doctors Surgery and the Post Office) with no through access.

The alternative routes are via: Wallbridge Lane, Horsham Lane, Horsham Hill or Bishop Lane, Chaffe's Lane and Church Farm Road.

Access will be maintained whenever it is safe to do so, but there are likely to be some delays and certain times when this is not possible, due to the nature of the works and the use of machinery.

Waiting will be prohibited on Oak Lane, between the junctions with Bishop Lane and Chaffe's Lane, to the extent indicated by No Waiting signage and traffic cones on site.

The closures are to enable safe access to underground structures for phone cabling works being carried out by Openreach.

For details of roadworks, please see: www.roadworks.org

Regards

Phil Lightman

Road Closures Co-ordinator, East Kent Division 

KCC Highways, Transportation & Waste, Ashford Highway Depot, Javelin Way, Ashford TN24 8AD

Email: roadworkseast@kent.gov.uk

space

Swale Community Safety Partnership - Have Your Voice Heard

Swale Community Safety Partnership are currently seeking the views of local residents on community safety issues within their area.

Tell us what matters to you?

The Swale Community Safety Partnership (CSP) brings together the police, councils and local authorities to more effectively and efficiently deal with crime & anti-social behaviour here in Swale.

Now here’s where you come in. To help establish where you would like us to focus our efforts, we would like to know what is important to you. Whether you want more attention to be paid to anti-social behaviour, burglary or deliberate fires your voice should be heard.

Please complete our questionnaire at: www.surveymonkey.com/s/6GD5T88 to tell us what your top 3 priorities for us to tackle are or whether you think we are already doing a good job. Your views are vital to help us to decide how to target our resources to make Swale a safer place.

The deadline for responses is Friday 12 January 2015.

Stephanie Curtis

Safer and Stronger Communities Officer

Swale Borough Council
Website: www.swalecsp.co.uk

space

Swale Borough Council - Christmas Waste Collections

Upchurch Matters
space

PFHS Christmas Fayre - Thank You from the Children

Clare Evans
Parents & Friends of Holywell School
space

Christmas Entertainment at The Three Sisters

Friday December 12th

Singer Lisa Mills

Friday December 19th

Singer Jamie from Talk of the Town

Saturday December 20th

Christmas Carols by Candlelight

led by our own Minister Will

Get into the Christmas spirit with an evening of

Christmas nostalgia, mulled wine, log fire and

a lot of sparkle to warm everybody's heart.

Children and everyone are welcome.

Song sheets will be available on the night.

Christmas Eve Wednesday December 24th

Karaoke with the Fabulous Luke

New Year's Eve Wednesday December 31st

New Year Karaoke with G & S

Sally & George

Telephone: 01634 231991
Email: sallygodden@btinternet.com

Website: www.threesistersrainham.com

Otterham Quay Lane, Rainham, Kent, ME8 8QR

space

Upchurch Parish Council - Vacancy for Parish Clerk / Responsible Financial Officer

VACANCY

Upchurch Parish Council wishes to appoint a Parish Clerk / Responsible Financial Officer with effect from January 2015.

The role responsibilities include:

Preparing agendas and minutes for monthly evening council meetings (usually first Thursday of a month); attending and recording ad hoc meetings; managing budgets and preparing annual precept submissions; arranging annual audits; HMRC / Payroll administration; administrative duties such as emails, phone calls and general correspondence; managing external contractors; managing the parish burial ground and allotments; updating the website and being custodian of all parish documentation and relevant paperwork.

The pay is set nationally and starts at spinal column point 15 at £8.42p per hour rising to spinal column 21 which is £10.04 per hour, as a guide our current Clerk works for 50hrs per month. Hours are flexible. Holiday and sickness entitlement are pro-rata according to the hours worked.

The clerk is required to work from home with adequate provision for office facilities. Equipment such as printer, stationery and laptop will be provided and payment will be made towards office overheads.

The successful applicant will have the following attributes:

· Self motivation with an ability to work on their own

· Strong financial awareness, knowledge of a financial package an advantage

(Scribe is the package used by the council)

· Willingness to learn and attend training courses

· Discretion

· Organisational and administrational skills

· Flexibility / adaptability

· Interpersonal skills, both written and verbal

· Neutrality when recording council business

Knowledge of local government procedures would be a benefit.

The closing date for this application is Friday 19th December and interviews will take place with the chairman, vice chairman and one other councillor. The start date for the successful candidate will be 5th January 2015.

Please apply by sending a CV and brief supporting letter explaining how you meet the requirements to the Chairman, either by emailing: chair@upchurchpc.kentparishes.gov.uk or via post to 1, Jubilee Field, Upchurch, Kent ME9 7AQ

Sara Tucker

Chairman Upchurch Parish Council

space

UK Power Networks - Extra Support During Powercuts

Upchurch Parish Council
space

Upchurch at War in December 1914 by David Wood

With the war almost six months old the opposing armies were involved in a long battle of attrition along a line of trenches on the Western Front in Belgium and France. Already men from the village had been killed or wounded but life in Upchurch continued without much change and with various war based activities taking place.

Pupils of Holywell School held a Christmas bazaar to raise money for the HRH Princess Mary’s Soldiers and Sailors Christmas Fund. They formed a branch of the League of Young Patriots at the school with various officers and a committee. The pupils decided to run the bazaar themselves although parents helped them collect various items for the event. At the pupils request the school managers voted a half day holiday so that the bazaar could take place. Stallholders were appointed to sell needlework, fancy articles, stationary, cards, fruit and sweets while a bran tub, a weighing machine and a tea buffet were available and a raffle also took place. After a successful session all the items were sold and £10/7d raised. Pupils provided entertainment with songs and music while the national anthems of the five allied nations concluded the event. The school closed for the Christmas holidays on December 18th.

The Parochial Working Party proved to be very productive in December making 62 articles of clothing followed by a further 61. Of these 28 were sent to Fort Pitt and St Bart’s Hospital while two mufflers were sent to the Jodhpur Lancers in India. Mrs Trew, the vicar’s wife, wanted to publicly exhibit all the goods but the cold weather required that everything should be sent away immediately.

The harsh reminder of war remained close with the announcement of fatalities which in the December edition of the parish magazine included Herbert Hodges a private in the Buffs from Ham Green and Charles Gransden a lance-corporal in the Grenadier Guards from Seager’s Cottages, Gore Bank. Both men were killed in action in October and November respectively. Better news regarded George Sharp who had been wounded by shrapnel but had recovered from his wounds after spending time in Warrington Infirmary.

Charles Gransden is commemorated on a plaque
inside St. Mary's Church, Upchurch.

With Christmas approaching local businesses tried to cash in on the war with various offers. ‘Dolding’s The Overcoat Shop’ in Sittingbourne High Street advertised items for ‘Xmas at the Front’ in the East Kent Gazette. They offered warm cardigans, knitted vests, flannel shirts and sleeping helmets, obviously aimed at local men fighting in the war. The Queens Theatre in Sittingbourne held plays related to the war such as ‘The Bells of Rheims,’ a war drama based on the German bombardment of the cathedral. They also showed ‘Our Helpless Millions Saved,’ a drama about German spies who make an attack on English reservoirs.

During the Christmas week a ferocious gale of about 100 mph, the most powerful in living memory, struck the area uprooting trees and damaging roofs and chimney pots. The barge ‘Alpha’ moored at Otterham Quay suffered a battering and the folded sails were loosened and ripped to shreds by the power of the wind.

The pupils of Holywell School were unable to begin the new school term on January 5th due to gale damage to large trees situated around the perimeter of the playground and these had to be cleared because of the danger posed. After an extra week at home the pupils returned to Holywell on January 11th.

The December edition of the parish magazine announced the marriages of Fred Manser to Annie Tumber on November 4th, Stuart Mercer to Elsie Singyard and Jonathon Baker to Ellen Whiddett on November 14th. Stuart Mercer’s marriage proved to be short lived as he died of an illness aboard HMS Dominion in 1918 while serving in the Royal Navy as a stoker.

As people in the village celebrated Christmas in 1914 they probably thought of the young men from Upchurch serving in the war, although news later emerged that after a short truce on the Western Front German and British soldiers came out of their trenches, met up in no man’s land, celebrated Christmas, exchanged presents and even played football together. This turned out to be a temporary respite before the conflict resumed and claimed more lives during the following year.

David Wood.

About David:

David Wood was born and raised in Upchurch and is able to write from personal experience about many people and aspects of the village and of changes that have taken place over the years making ‘Memories of Upchurch’ a very readable book and a detailed historical study of the village. David's book ‘Memories of Upchurch’ is available direct from David at: david3702001@yahoo.co.uk or from us here at Upchurch Matters. Price £12 + £3.50 postage and packing.

David Wood

space

UpARA - Latest Schedule of Events

Upchurch Active Retirement Association

Our forthcoming meetings are as below;-

Monthly Meetings (2nd Friday of the month)

(Members Free; Guests £2.00)

*

Friday 12th December 2014 - 12:00am

Christmas Special by Ticket Only

*

Friday 12th December 2014 - 2:00pm

With Entertainment

*

Friday 9th January 2015 - 2:00pm

Coffee Mornings (4th Tuesday of the month)

(Members £1.50; Guests £2.00)

*

Tuesday 23rd December 2014 - 09:30am until 12:30pm 

*

Tuesday 27th January 2015 - 09:30am until 12:30pm

Village Walks (1st & 3rd Friday of the month)

*

Friday 5th December 2014 - 10:00am

*

Friday 19th December 2014 - 10:00am 

Outings

*

Thursday 11th December 2014

Winchester Christmas Market

*

Thursday 22nd January 2015

Jersey Boys, Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury

David Powell - Chairman

Email: davidrpowell5@hotmail.co.uk

Telephone: 01795 843550

space

Kent Police - Shutting the Gate on Rural Crime

Help Kent Police protect rural communities by making sure your property is secure.

If you live in rural areas then isolated buildings, farms, machinery and livestock
are all targets for criminals.

Kent Police work with residents, landowners and organisations such as Country Eye to reduce crime in our rural communities and protect our countryside.

They have just produced a helpful leaflet full of advice and top tips called
“Shutting the Gate on Rural Crime”

You can download here in PDF format via the following link ☞ http://tinyurl.com/c7q9shk

Kent Association of Local Councils

space