“Some sort of periodical is an essential life-line in village such as ours”

Welcome to West Farleigh’s own

LIFELINE
Distributed freely in September 2020 Edition no 525
Editors: Stephen Norman, Helen Swan and Jacky Taylor
Website: www.thefarleighs.co.uk Email: editor@thefarleighs.co.uk

West Farleigh in Bloom

The results are in!
Pauline and Peter won this year’s tallest sunflower
competition with a giant of just over 3m!
Congratulations to them and thank you to everyone
in the village who grew sunflowers, however tall –
they made a truly wonderful sight. Thank you
particularly to the children who got involved –
namely Isaac in Charlton Lane and Zak & Tilly, Poppy
& Oscar who grew sunflowers at their grandparents’
house in Mill Lane. We look forward to seeing lots
more next year!

At the moment we don’t have the results for our

South East in Bloom electronic submission – the
results should be out next month.

Our next project will be more spring bulb planting

around the village. If you have any suggestions
where we can plant please let us know
bloom@thefarleighs.co.uk . If you have a grass verge
which is visible from the road and are unable to plant
bulbs yourselves, please let us know and we will do it
for you.

We are hoping to meet sometime in September – we

will put the details on our Farleighs Facebook page – and as always if anyone wants to join us they will be
more then welcome. If you aren’t on Facebook please email us.

The editors would like to thank the Village in Bloom team for the upkeep of the planters, posting images of the
wonderful assortment of flowers and plants on our Facebook page and for the constant updates on the
competition during Lockdown. Fingers crossed your efforts will be well and truly rewarded.

Deadline for the next edition is 21st September 2020

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Pastoral letter

I wonder if you are aware of The Listening Project? If you are a regular listener to
Radio Four, you probably are. It’s a partnership between BBC Radio 4, BBC local
and national radio stations, and the British Library. The idea is to capture the
nation in conversation. Since 2012 they have been collecting conversations
between friends or relatives, to build a unique picture of life today. To date they
have collected over a thousand conversations, each about 3 minutes, and most
will be broadcast across BBC radio, while all are archived by the British Library,
preserving them for future generations. They cover a wide range of topics – from
living with Alzheimer’s to falling in love in the front seat of a Reliant Robin. About
30 of them available online are about faith.

Talking with somebody and discovering more about them is a natural, very human thing to do. We crave
relationship and even the most introvert or shy amongst us value a chance to chat from time to time.
During lockdown, when we have not been able to meet in church, we quickly realised that an important
part of being together, even online, was to chat. So we started inviting folk to stay on and go into a chat
room with 3 or 4 others after the online service was done. It has proved immensely popular and facilitated
discussions between people from different parishes, backgrounds and interests. Some people have found
new friendships and I know of some people who have since met up for socially distanced chats face to
face!

We are delighted to be running Alpha Online using Zoom starting on Wednesday 23rd September at
7.15pm. Alpha online is a series of interactive sessions designed to create and inspire conversation, with a
short talk and discussion where you can share thoughts. Each talk will look at a different question around
faith and is designed to create conversation. If you are interested in joining in, or inviting a friend to join in,
more details are available on the benefice website at www.unitedbenefice.church/alpha/ or you can call
the Rector, who would be delighted to have a chat about it – or anything else on your mind!

Many blessings
Peter

Current church services

Monday-Friday opening for private prayer will continue.

We will continue to hold online (Zoom) services each Sunday at 10.30.
Collective worship will be held as follow:
Day 8 am 9.30 10.30
st
1 Sunday No HC Hunton HC Zoom
nd
2 Sunday Linton HC West Farleigh MP Zoom
rd
3 Sunday No HC East Farleigh HC Zoom
Hunton Family Service
th
4 Sunday East Farleigh HC Linton MP Zoom
Key: HC = Holy Communion; MP = Morning Prayer

The congregation will be expecting to maintain social distancing at all times, and follow measures in place
for infection control and keeping each other safe.

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Alpha, Sign up for a free series of sessions that explore life’s big questions.

Alpha is a chance to ask big questions of life and explore the Christian faith in
a fun, non-pressurised environment. We are delighted to be running Alpha
Online using Zoom starting on Wednesday 23rd September for 11 weeks.
Each session includes a short film and a discussion where you can share what
you think. The first six sessions and the Saturday “away day” on 7th November
form the basic course, and then there are a number of optional sessions.

Alpha online is a series of interactive sessions designed to create and inspire

conversation, with a short talk and discussion where you can share thoughts. Each talk will look at a
different question around faith and is designed to create conversation. There’s no charge, no pressure and
no follow up. The sessions will be on Wednesday evenings at 7.15 pm.

To register or get more details, go to www.unitedbenefice.church/alpha or contact the Rector.

The Friends of Kent Churches Sponsored Ride & Stride takes place annually
on the second Saturday in September (Saturday 12th September this year).
Riders choose their route and bike from church to church (all
denominations!) with refreshments at each. If you fancy a not too serious ride for a good cause with a few
neighbours, email stephennorman49@gmail.com. All ages and abilities welcome, you can do it! We also
need volunteers that day to welcome riders to All Saints, contact Sue O’Donnell on 01622 727852

Green Card Helpers

Please can you cross Emily Hunter off the list of willing helpers, she is going back to university in
September. It will, no doubt, be a very different experience from previously. Thank you Emily for all you
have done during Lockdown, it has been much appreciated.

Next Litter Pick

Our monthly litter pick is back on Sunday 6 September, 9:00 a.m. on The Green, as usual.
We might even get to do coffee and bacon butties! We look forward to seeing you....

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Princess Croy

Two of the most distinguished personages buried in the churchyard at All Saints are Prince Alexander Croy
(1912 – 2002) and Princess [Ethel Evelyn] Primrose Croy (1928 - 2016).

West Farleigh is not known for its nobility so how did this come to pass?

The answer goes back to Victorian times and the brewery of Edward Winch
and Sons, a family of brewers from Chatham. Edward Winch was born in 1807
and died in 1885, but the brewing business stayed in the family. In 1899,
Edward Winch and Sons merged with A F Style and Co, owners of the
magnificent brick-built Medway Brewery which used to stand near Maidstone
Bridge. The combined firm had 356 public houses and was a force in Kent and
London.

Primrose Winch, Princess

The Winch family, true to Victorian tradition, had many offspring and the
Croy seventh son of Edward Winch was Thomas Winch, (1848 – 1912). Thomas
Winch himself had many sons and the third son was Colonel Aubery Brooke
Winch, who became a director of the family firm, now known as Booths Style and Winch.

Aubery married Marie Elspeth Agnes Makgill (1895-1939), the daughter of Sir George Makgill and Frances
Grant. The Makgill’s were Scots, but Sir George had spent some years in New Zealand where his father had
an estate, and his wife Frances was a New Zealander. Sir George was a prominent and colourful right wing
political activist and writer (he wrote several stirring adventure novels). During the First World War, he was
secretary of the Anti-German League, and after the war set up a private intelligence network, the Industrial
Intelligence Network to monitor communists and other “subversives”. In 1926, he ran the day to day
operations of the Organisation for the Maintenance of Supplies, whose mission was to provide sustenance
to workers breaking the General Strike of 1926.

We don’t know much about Colonel Aubery Winch. He served in the Royal
Scots Greys, a dragoon regiment. In 1919, he was awarded the OBE for
“distinguished services during the War”. During the 1930s, he and Marie lived
in “The Croft” at West Farleigh (Elmscroft or Smiths Croft?). Marie Makgill
was an author, like her father.

Aubery and Marie Winch had four children, all girls: Elinor, Mary, Primrose
(born 22 March 1928) and her twin Eve, although sadly Eve died before the
age of one. Mary Winch was married at All Saints to John Godfrey. The
Godfreys emigrated to Tasmania, and created a new dynasty.

Marie Winch nee Makgill took her own life in 1939, when Primrose was 11
Colonel Aubery Winch years old. Her husband Aubery was allowed to have her buried in the
churchyard at All Saints in an unmarked grave. Her daughter Primrose was
barely a teenager at the time of her mother’s death, and suffered greatly. Aubrey himself died at sea in
1951 on his way to Hobart, Tasmania to meet his daughter Mary Godrey and family.

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 Primrose made her own way in life. She was sent to a convent school in
Maidstone, and then to the Lycee Francais in London. Then she joined the
Foreign Office. For most of her life, she lived in Eland Road, Clapham, but
she was occasionally posted abroad, including to Japan. She was a lifelong
friend of another West Farleigh resident, Jean Landale, the daughter of
Captain Landale of Ewell Manor, and came down to visit friends in Kent
often. [Jean Landale married Lord Fynes Cornwallis].

In 1978 and at the mature age of 50, Primrose married Prince Alexander
Croy and the couple moved to Friezley House in Cranbrook. The House of
Croÿ is an international family of European nobility which held a seat in the
Imperial Diet from 1486, and was elevated to the rank of Imperial Princes in
Primrose loved cats
1594. In 1913 the family had branches in Belgium, France and Prussia. This
dynastic house, which originally adopted its name from the Château de Croÿ
in what is now Belgium, claimed descent from the Hungarian Prince Marc who allegedly settled in France in
1147, where he married an heiress to the barony of Croÿ. The Croÿ family rose to prominence under the
Dukes of Burgundy. Later they became actively involved in the complex politics of France, Spain, Austria,
and the Low Countries.

Prince Alexander was Austrian, and from a strong Catholic background, while Primrose was an
Anglican. Her niece remembers them as a devoted, loving and very happy couple, and despite Alexander
having a long illness, the house was ‘often filled with laughter and music’. Knowing Primrose’s desire to be
buried at West Farleigh near her mother, Alexander converted to Anglicanism, so that he could be buried
next to her.

Primrose Croy left a generous legacy to All Saints Church in her will, which contributed greatly to funding
the repairs of 2018.

Coxheath Military Camp

O the Grand Old Duke of York
He had ten thousand men
He marched them up to the top of the hill
And he marched them down again.
And when they were up they were up
And when they were down they were down
And when they were only half way up
they were neither up nor down.
Who was this Duke of York? He was the
second son of George the III and put into the army by his father. He was posted to Cocksheath Camp to
oversee the training of thousands of men.
A camp was established there, at the start of the Seven Years War, in 1756. Cocksheath was an area of
rough heathland 3 miles by 1 mile, 3 miles from Maidstone. The camp was established to train raw recruits.
The Camp was seasonal. The soldiers moving to winter quarters in November. Clock House was built as the
Head Quarters and The Officers Mess.
From 1778 with the threat of invasion by France. The Camp became very large. Soldiers from Hanover and
Hess were brought over by the King to augment our army, to protect our country. Coxheath was ideally
placed to protect London. (There was a similar camp at Braintree Essex). Raw militia were trained to use
weapons and drilled to work together as an army.

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FARLEIGH FEATHERS
by Ray Morris

It’s That Time of Year Again.

“Where are they? My garden’s normally full of birds, but now there are hardly
any!” So goes the most asked question of birdwatchers at this time of year. And
with good reason. At the very time when the country’s bird population is
probably at its greatest with all this year’s youngsters swelling the total, not only have the birds gone quiet,
they’ve deserted our garden feeders too.

There’s a perfectly simple explanation. To begin with, Nature is providing a veritable smorgasbord of food:
insects, seeds, berries and fruits of all kinds fill the hedgerows so suddenly the sunflower hearts and
fatballs may seem less appealing to our regular garden visitors, and the smaller, or less dominant, birds
don’t have to queue for their turn when there is so much available in the nearby bushes.

And a nearby bush, especially if it’s a thorny bramble, sloe or hawthorn, is a good place to be for many
birds as most are now moulting. Not only does the cover afford food within easy reach, it means safety
from predators at a time when birds’ flying is impaired because they don’t have a full set of flight feathers.
They can still fly, but not so well as each wing could have three or four feathers either missing or not fully
grown. Their body feathers are all being systematically replaced too, and this all adds to the energy
requirement for new feather growth, so sitting quietly doing nothing
frees up the calories for it.

It has to be said that they don’t look their best either - a bit tatty, if
we’re honest. Young starlings still have a mixture of brown juvenile
feathers sticking out of their iridescent adult plumage; normally
smart robins can look as though they’ve been in a stand-off with
another robin that ended in fisticuffs; and a bald-headed blackbird
that may have finally finished raising its second or even third brood
appearing to gone ten rounds with ‘our ‘Enery’.

The photo has been taken from Marden Wildlife - a Facebook page dedicated to the wildlife of a Kent country parish
NB Blackcaps have a black 'cap' normally, this is a juvenile bird that we ringed a few days ago, so it has a brown cap

In a matter weeks though, their smart new plumage will be ready for the rigours of migration for those
that do it, or for surviving an English winter (whatever that may turn out to be like) for those that don’t.
The robin, furthermore, unique among our garden visitors, will then be singing its mournful autumn song
in preparation for establishing its winter territory. Autumn will be well underway.

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It is now five months since we last had a WI Meeting at the Farleighs Hall and I know the members are
missing seeing their friends. One of our members suggested why don’t we meet in
the Park and I arranged for as many who felt safe to come to Teston Park on 14th
August, members brought their own chairs and kept social distance. Some
members came who had not been out for months and felt safe to stay for a
while. A good day was had by all and I have arranged another date in
September. The hall committee have been working hard to ensure the WI Hall is
complying with Government regulations for Covid. We have now liaised with our
hirers at the Hall and they will be returning to start their classes in September. We would like to thank all
the Clubs, Associations and Parish councils who have helped with donations in order to maintain the
upkeep of the hall.

EVERGREENS Another month passes and we still have not met! Hopefully the Newsletter
sent around made a little difference. Most mail is junk, so personal letter is a treat.
As far as we know all members are still bored and lonely. However, some are seeing
family and going out to lunch etc. Not many have ventured into a shop. Peggy Kinnear,
has been in Pembury for a revision of her hip replacement. We wish her well and hope
her walking will be improved.

The WI Hall is preparing to reopen, with strict rules in place for cleanliness and isolating.
They will be no preparation of food and no drinks will be served. The Evergreens have an additional
problem of transport. It appears that only one passenger (not one of the household) can be given a lift.
They must sit in the rear of the car diagonal to the driver. This will be a problem as we often fill a car up
with members!
However, things are changing all the time, so we will wait and see what transpires - Keep well, keep
cheerful.

Sports Report

Cricket: Great news that the cricket is up and running again, albeit in a different format. It all started
with an inter-club match, this was followed by two friendlies, our first losing to Ightham while our second also
lost to Knockholt. Next came the start of our mini season this year, our 1 st XI began with a
fine victory over Meopham, this was followed by another two wins over Betsham and
Halstead, our only defeat so far came the following week against Luddesdown. cont’d

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Sports report cont’d

Cricket cont’d We also played in the National Knockout Village Competition which unfortunately lasted just
one round, losing in a close and good game versus Bearsted. Meanwhile, our 2 nd XI had their first league game
abandoned due to the rain, next came Bidborough 3rds which we lost but then played Bidborough 4ths the
following week which we won. Finally, we lost to Kilndown

Football Not to be outdone by their cricked friends our footballers have been busy preparing
for the coming season, which hopefully starts on 5th September. They have been training
twice a week for many weeks. Also we have had time to have a few friendlies as well. All
being well we will be ready and raring to go when the season starts.

Netball I have just heard on the news that recreational netball can start up, let’s hope it
won’t be too long before our girls start playing again.

Ton Up Club – Our lucky winners for last month were:

No 86 Sue Day £30.00 – No 87 Ed Boyd £20.00 and No 64 Kevin Shilling £10. If you would like to find out more about
sports in West Farleigh, please visit http://www.westfarleighsportsclub.com/ Yours in sport Tel (

Kettle Bridge Concertinas

Kettle Bridge Concertinas have a membership of around 30,
and in normal times we have three or four groups meeting,
either in the WI hall, or in members’ homes. Our main band
meets every other Sunday, we have a beginners and improvers
group on Monday afternoons, an advanced Thursday morning
group and a small group meeting on a Wednesday morning. So,
usually we are pretty active! All these groups are on hold at the
present time, of course, but we have mastered the technology
and we are running a social chat once a week, and a playing and
learning session once a week, both on Zoom. The playing
session is great fun, and having the power to mute everyone is
a superpower which would be awesome to have in our normal sessions!! We have a new beginner joining
us next week - our beginners have found the sessions liberating because no one can hear what they are
playing, and their confidence is coming on in leaps and bounds.

If you feel you have the time and inclination to learn to play a concertina, then do get in touch. We have
club instruments that we hire out to get you going and tuition is free!

Sue Walsh
secretary@kettlebridgeconcertinas.org.uk
01622 728252

NB
More information on local trades or articles of interest, please visit www.thefarleighs.co.uk also check out
our Facebook page

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