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

Welcome to West Farleigh’s own

ANNUAL VILLAGE PLANT SALE

Saturday 7th May 11am-4pm

Outside the church.
Tea, coffee and cake in the church.
All proceeds will be divided between the Church and Farleigh in Bloom.

Farleigh in Bloom will be selling Sunflower plants. They hope to fill the village with sunflowers to show our
solidarity with Ukraine. Also, for as many people as possible to enter the tallest Sunflower competition.

If you have any plants you can spare, do bring them along on the day. Every little helps.

Distributed freely in May 2022 Edition 543

Editors: Stephen Norman, Helen Swan and ?
Website: www.thefarleighs.co.uk Email: editor@thefarleighs.co.uk
Deadline for the next issue is 20th May 2022

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Pastoral Letter
Hello everyone,

I am writing this letter just as National Insurance payments have increased,

energy costs are rocketing, food prices rising and the cost of living is going up
and up! For some of you there is real anxiety about how you will manage to
heat your homes, feed yourselves and your children and pay the rent or
mortgage. For some the prospect of falling into debt is very real.

If the bills mount up and there seems to be no way out of the debt that you may be in, I want to tell you about an
organisation called CAP (Christians against Poverty). They have enabled many thousands of people to become debt
free and helped many folk, with managing their finances. Don’t let letters from those you owe money to pile up
unopened because you are too afraid to open them.

Give CAP a ring for advice and they will come and help you. 0800 328 0006 https://capuk.org/

It’s too easy to say ‘don’t worry’; that is very difficult – we are human beings! However, Jesus said, ‘Who of you by
worrying can add a single hour to your life? (Luke 12:25)

If we look for the good things in life that money can’t buy maybe a little happiness will help overcome the worry. I
am smiling now as I look out of the window at daffodils, hyacinths and tulips and birds singing and chasing each
other around the gardens and rooftops - it’s that time of year!

In every life we have some trouble

But when you worry you make it double Don’t worry, be happy!

These are some words from Bobby McFerrin’s song Don’t Worry, Be Happy. For 4 minutes that will put a smile on
your face listen to the whole song. https://youtu.be/d-diB65scQU

As we move into summer I pray that happiness will overcome your worries and that you will be more aware that
we have a God who loves each one of us.

Blessings to you all,

Sue Elliott – Pastoral Assistant and Ministry Team Member

Please remember that we have a Benefice Pastoral Support Team of volunteers who are very willing to visit folk
who may not have financial worries but need a friendly ear for support for a variety of other reasons. There will
soon be a telephone number to call but until then go to https://unitedbenefice.church/benefice-groups/pastoral-
support-team/ and click on ‘contact us’ at the bottom of the page.

Church Services at All Saints

Sunday 8th May 9.30am Holy Communion
Sunday 22nd May 9.30am Morning Worship

LITTLE ANGELS
Toddlers & young children, mums, dads and grandparents all welcome to Little Angels
Fridays 1pm – 2.30pm at All Saints.

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PARISH COUNCIL
JUBILEE MUGS - have you ordered yours yet?
The Parish Council is providing souvenir Jubilee mugs to all children in West
Farleigh under the age of 18. Please email Amanda the clerk to order a mug for
each of your children.
Mugs will also be available for anyone else in the village at cost price of £4. These are specially designed
Jubilee mugs exclusively for West Farleigh with National Logo on one side, West Farleigh logo on the other.
Email the clerk at westfarleighpc@gmail.com

BIG JUBILEE LUNCH ON THE GREEN

Have you got Sunday 5th June in your diary? If not, why not?!
There are to be street parties and Big Lunches all over the country to celebrate the
Jubilee. The Parish Council has booked the Samba Band and Kettle Bridge Concertinas and
an ice cream van, while the Sports Club will be organising some entertainment – it should
be a lot of fun!
You will need to bring a picnic lunch and a blanket or chairs. The Good Intent will be open for liquid
refreshment.
Come and celebrate with your fellow villagers from 12.30 pm.

ANNUAL PARISH MEETING

Monday 16th May in Bramley Barn at Dandelion Time, starting at 7.30 pm
The speaker is Adrian Berendt who will speaking about the 20's Plenty Scheme.
Everyone is welcome. Come along, hear what has been going on. Refreshments will be provided after the
meeting, when you will have an opportunity to speak with your councillor.

WEST FARLEIGH IN BLOOM

Isn’t the village looking gorgeous at the moment with all the daffodils, and bluebells on the
way ….
The West Farleigh in Bloom team are busy growing for the Church Plant Sale on Saturday 7 May,
11 am to 4 pm. "We will be selling sunflowers which is the national flower of Ukraine. Let’s
grow as many sunflowers around the village as we can to show our solidarity with the Ukrainians
and enter the tallest Sunflower competition.”
Rumour has it there will be tea and cakes too! We look forward to seeing lots of you there.
We are taking a short break from entering the South East in Bloom competition this year; however we are continuing our
work as a group to enhance the village. We have done so well over the past three years, starting with a bronze award the
first year in the village entry, followed by silver gilt the next two years of which we are very proud. To achieve a gold
award in the Village category we would need to start projects such as a community garden (requiring a piece of land)
which would need a lot of work and money and is probably beyond our scope at the moment. However we do think we
can get a Gold in the Churchyard entry... more details on that coming soon! We will concentrate our efforts on keeping up
bulb planting around the village and keeping the planters and the Green looking pretty. We always welcome new
members and ideas so if you would like to join us please contact us on bloom@thefarleighs.co.uk

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 DAVID BANKS
13th Feb 1948 to 22nd Feb 2022
David and his friend Dale Hunter lived in the Old Vicarage for many years. They divided it into two homes. They were both
journalists. David was a big bear of a man 6ft 5ins weighing 20 stone. A larger than life character, his career started on his
local paper, the Warrington Guardian. He was senior executive on the Sun, editor of the Daily News in New York and
Editor of the Daily Mirror. He also presented a show on LBC. David and Dale are remembered for advertising nationally
“Wild West Farleigh”, a fund raising spectacular held in Elmscroft Park. A lot of visitors came along and a large amount of
money was raised.
Our thoughts are with his family.

SPORTS REPORTS
FOOTBALL Not many games played last month but I am pleased to say our long run of unbeaten
games has continued for our 1st XI. We started with a difficult away fixture versus Minster and came
away drawing 2-2, next a fine 3-1 victory over Aylesford and finally a hard fought 0-0 draw against
Bearsted. We have three league games left and one semi-final, it’s going to be an exciting end to the
season! Meanwhile our 2nd XI have only played once, unfortunately going down 3-0 away to
Ightham.

CRICKET: The Season started on the 22nd with an evening game versus a touring side. Sat 23rd
a friendly to East Sutton and another to Southborough.

A reminder that the Village vs. The President’s XI cricket match will be played on Friday
17th June. All welcome to this annual event with BBQ and refreshments.

NETBALL: The long awaited Summer Season (which hasn’t been played due to Covid) starts
at the beginning of May. Again, hopefully some encouraging results in next month’s report.

Club News: Lucky Ton up winners:-

Yvonne Martin £30 Jack Martin £20 Tony Williams £10

Yours in sport, Tel

EVERGREENS On May 10th May, the Evergreens will be going on the Kent and
East Sussex Railway for a Ploughman’s lunch. If you are retired, there may be
a seat for you! The Evergreens are all retired, but have had interesting and
stimulating careers. Conversations cover many, many topics and are always
jovial. Ages range from 50’s to 90’s There is usually a speaker, activity or
entertainment but the best meetings are often when nothing is planned and
members talk on a topic. e.g. Where were you when King George VI died? Do
come along to a meeting in the WI Hall, Forge Lane, East Farleigh, you will be
surprised. Call Helen Swan 01622 814445 for more information.

Have you ever been scammed? So many people have. We were lucky enough
to have Ian Waller from the Metropolitan Police Cyber Team visit us at our
April meeting. Ian answered all our questions in a way that we could
understand how to prevent scams and protect ourselves. It was a really
interesting meeting and we all learnt something.

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Our next meeting on 11th May is our AGM – when our new committee is elected – we will be having cheese
and wine to make this more a social event and members will be sharing ‘Kitchen Disasters! ‘
The Farleigh’s W.I are looking for new members to join our friendly group. If you would like more information
on the W.I or any of our events please e-mail thefarleighs@wkfwi.org.uk.

LITTER PICKING
As you will know there has been a dedicated group of litter pickers, who have been keeping our village tidy.
However the Borough Council put a stop to this as it was deemed too dangerous.
The Borough will come out when requested, close the road for 15-20 minutes and clear litter for us. This is not
entirely satisfactory! We have been advised by Stuart Wilson, Street Scene Officer, that they have set up a
Facebook page for volunteer litter pickers.
#CleanUpMaidstone Facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/655854115499799
This is a forum for volunteer litter picking groups in Maidstone to come together and share pictures, dates of
litter picks, ideas and other events. The page created and managed by Maidstone Borough Council. PLEASE
DO NOT REPORT PROBLEMS ON THIS PAGE
The group is moderated by the MBC account and will need to approve any members before they join.
Finally, we have populated the group page with articles/assets from the main MBC page since the start of 2022
which may be of interest to the group.
WELCOME TO SUE AND STEVE BIRCHALL
Sue and Steve moved from Grove Green, where they had
lived and raised their family of 3 boys. Steve had retired
from running his own Painting and Decorating business and
latterly being a School Caretaker. The time was right to look
for somewhere quieter. They have moved into Greta’s
house, 17 Charlton Lane, they are hoping to grow their own
vegetables and possibly keep some chickens. Sue is still
working 3 days a week as Director of Business at the
Malling school. Both are very keen to get to know people
and join in with village organisations and events.
They both enjoy walking and are looking forward to finding
all the footpaths around the village. Do make them
welcome.

FOXES…
…are beautiful animals, lovely to glimpse in the countryside. But they are wild animals and
are quite capable of searching for their own food, and cover a wide area. Human fed foxes
reduce their territory by as much as 90%. Foxes may seem hungry, but that’s because they
will take all the food given and bury some for later, usually in someone else’s garden.
Which is happening right now in West Farleigh. There have been various reports of foxes
digging holes in people’s gardens and burying food. Human fed foxes approach anyone
including children in the hope that they will feed them. This is not normal for a wild animal.
Foxes will enter properties and help themselves to anything they can eat. With Summer
coming we all enjoy opening our doors and windows to let the air through, we don’t do it
to let foxes help themselves. If those feeding foxes stop now, the foxes will go back to the wild in time. If you
continue feeding them, they will teach their young to come to you for food and before we know it West
Farleigh will be overrun with animals that carry fleas and ticks.

PLEASE STOP FEEDING THEM!

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 LOCAL TRADES LISTING
Business Service Website Contact Phone email
Firefly
Payroll www.fireflypayroll. 01622 enquiries@fireflypayroll.c
Services Payroll com Jason Hart 934110 om
Professional and
No Muck'in affordable 07885 nomuckinabout@outlook
About cleaning services Sarah Dunn 634559 .com
Heathside www.heathsideele 07976 heathsideelectrical@gma
Electrical Electrical ctrical.co.uk Sam Sephton 895001 il.com

Plumbing & 07973

D. Ward Heating services Darren Ward 314266 darren@dward.biz
www.pestpurge.co. 07758
Pest Purge Pest Control uk Richard Lee 615101 richard@pestpurge.co.uk
Top Dog Fencing and 07709 Topdogmaintenance@icl
fencing Gates Sam Morton 530166 oud.com
Castle http://www.castle
Portable Loo portableloohire.co. 07990
Hire Ltd Events uk/ Steve Millsom 606067 castleplh@gmail.com

A message from Malcolm, your Postman:

Dear Customer,
Royal Mail have recently introduced photo capture on Tracked No Signature 24 and 48 parcels. This means that if your
parcel is too big to fit through the letterbox, a photo needs to be taken of the parcel with the front door of your home
open. So, someone needs to be there to accept the parcel.
It is sometimes possible to specify a safe-place for your parcel when you place your order such as a shed, greenhouse,
fully enclosed porch, garage etc. This will allow your postie to leave it there if you are out, so long as they deem it safe to
do so.
This safe-place facility is also available for Royal Mail 24 and 48 parcels.
https://www.royalmail.com/receiving/change-your-delivery-options
It is also possible to make an online inflight request with Royal Mail, specifying where you would like your parcel to be
left, again if it is safe to do so. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

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FARLEIGH FEATHERS by Ray Morris
TURNING TURTLE
A report just published of a study, carried out by ecologists, states that our protected
National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (28% of our ‘green and
pleasant land’) are failing to protect the natural world, with only 5% of it effectively
managed for wildlife. Farmland, on the other hand, which accounts for 70% of
countryside, is generally considered to be wildlife-poor too as a result of post-war
intensive, industrial agriculture.
Warning: this is NOT a criticism of farmers, but a reflection of our desire for cheap food
and big profits for industrial food producers – we are all responsible.
But, as usual, not all is as straightforward as it seems. Some farmers have always managed their land with an eye for
nature, and many more are now taking huge strides in making sure that wildlife retains its place on their land before it is
too late. But it’s a huge challenge.
Which is why local farmers, particularly in this part of Kent, are joining the call to save the Turtle Dove – a diminutive dove
(our only one that migrates in the winter to West Africa) with soothing turr-turr call. Once common, it has now declined
by 95% in just a few years – habitat change on its wintering grounds, hunting in the Mediterranean and the almost total
loss of agricultural weeds across Europe being the cause.
Dr Kirsty Swinnerton, a scientist with Kent Wildlife Trust, is working with the RSPB, local farmers, Lincoln University and
Marden Wildlife (a local group of knowledgeable enthusiasts) to study the birds’ behaviour in this part of the Low Weald
– a Kent stronghold for the species. Although breeding doves were identified in a reassuring number of territories last
year, we know there must be more right across this part of the Garden of England – and they are very happy to feed in
gardens!
So, if one of these pretty, tortoise-shell-coloured doves appears in your garden or
is purring in a nearby copse (they love untidy, thorny hedges and scrubby bits of
woodland) please let us know at mardenwildife@gmail.com. Part of the study will
be to put coloured leg rings on the birds so they can be individually identified as
they move around the area so look out for those especially. Any photographs
(whatever the quality) of a dove in your garden will be especially valuable.You can
find out more about these delightful birds and hear their call at RSPB Turtle Dove
With the help of people around the Farleighs and the Low Weald, we’ll have more
chance of reversing this bird’s fortunes.

FOOTPATHS
The permissive footpath that goes between Charlton
Lane and Kettle Lane is to shut, in order that the clients
of Dandelion Time are given privacy.
This will be an inconvenience to many of us, who use it
regularly, but we must be mindful of the stresses and
problems their clients may have and give them space to
recover.
That’s the bad news! The good news is that the steps at
the end of KM33, the footpath from Kettle Lane to
Gallants Lane, have been renovated and handrails
fitted. Many of us avoid these steps, especially when it
is wet, as they get very slippery. The steps known
locally as the ‘Steps of Doom’ are now the ‘Stairway to
BEFORE Heaven”! AFTER!

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 NEW: 2022 EVENTS CALENDAR

Sat 7th May PLANT SALE, All Saints Church, West Farleigh.
11.00 am - 4.00pm See front page.
Mon 16th May ANNUAL PARISH COUNCIL MEETING. The speaker is Adrian Berendt who
will speaking about the 20's Plenty Scheme. Light refreshments will be
7.30pm onwards
served. Everyone is welcome. NB. Bramley Barn is Dandelion Time’s new
Bramley Barn meeting room on Charlton Lane.
Sat 28th May Join Philip Day and Brian Cushing for a film evening about the Battle of
Britain, in two parts:
7.00pm
1. BATTLE OF BRITAIN – FRANZ VON WERRA.
All Saints Church
2. MEN WHO FELL FROM THE SKY. On September 15th 1940, all hell breaks
Free entry loose in the skies over a Kent village. For a 19 year-old Hurricane pilot, this
will be a day unlike any other
Sun 5th June THE BIG LUNCH
12:30pm – 4.00pm The Parish Council is hosting a celebratory BIG LUNCH on the Green.
Samba Band, Concertina Band Fun and Games, the Ice Cream van and of
Village Green course the Good Intent for liquid refreshment.
Fri 17th June Join the annual VILLAGE BBQ and Cricket Match. No entry fee, donations bar
and magnificent burgers. Will the President’s XI finally defeat the Village XI?
6pm – 9pm
Not to be missed. Would you like to play? Text William on 07943209619.
Cricket Ground
Sat 2nd July DR JAZZ RETURNS! The ever popular, everlasting Jazz players from Ryarsh
will be back. Tickets £15 now on sale. Search Eventbrite for DR JAZZ
7pm
RETURNS or click the link if you have eLIFELINE.
All Saints Church
ORGAN RECITAL. International Organist D'Arcy Trinkwon will be giving a
Sat 9th July
recital on the wonderful Willis organ. Tickets at £15 will be available from Liz
7pm Oliver at liz.oliver@waitrose.com and Sue Scott at
St Mary’s Church sue@cheveneyfarm.co.uk.

Hunton

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IN THE GARDEN with Sara Cushing
May is a hugely busy time to be in the garden. After the very dry April we’ve had, it makes it
more challenging when the ground is so arid and hard. I’ve had to keep borders watered so
that tulips aren’t stunted, which can happen, and so that the outdoor seeds I’ve sown have a
fighting chance!
Frosts can still be an issue early in the month, so I tend to keep tender perennials under
cover until towards the end before I plant outside, until risk of frost has passed, and protect
any susceptible veg, such as potatoes, with horticultural fleece.
In the garden
Summer bedding can be planted out when temperatures
allow. Pelargonium and Begonia are favourites of mine to add
zingy colours and interesting shapes to front of border. Some
of the varieties available now have equally showy leaves as
they do flowers, are drought-tolerant and are not the old-
fashioned standard bedding that were grown many years
ago. The Rex or Regal varieties of Begonia are particularly
striking.
Annuals such as poppies can be sown straight in to fill spaces
that may have housed forget-me-nots. I always shake a few
seeds back down for next year after i pull these pretty little
blue flowers up. Dahlia and Canna can be planted out now,
and I always dig a bigger hole and backfill with compost to
give them a good start.
Shoots from cllimbers, for example clematis and honeysuckle,
can be tied in and any Spring-flowering shrubs can be pruned
back. Pests such as lily beetle and slugs will now start showing
up and should be dealt with straight away!

In the Veg Patch

Potatoes need to be earthed up and fed with a good potato fertiliser. The last of the summer crops, courgette, squash
and beans should be sown by the end of the month ready for planting out next month, and greenhouse crops, such as
tomatoes and cucumber love a feed every couple of weeks to ensure a good fruit!

Happy gardening!

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