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

Welcome to West Farleigh’s own

LIFELINE

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY:

VILLAGE HARVEST SUPPER Saturday 29th October 7.00pm

WF FIREWORKS Friday 4th November TBA (6pm?)
PARISH COUNCIL MEETING Monday 21st November 7.30pm
CAROL SERVICE Sunday 11th December 5.30pm

NEW ON THE WEBSITE: Article on Cholera & Typhoid in 19thC Farleighs

Distributed freely in October 2022 Edition 548

Editors: Stephen Norman, Helen Swan, Sue Birchall, Katie O’Connor
Website: www.thefarleighs.co.uk Email: editor@thefarleighs.co.uk
Deadline for the next issue is 20th October 2022
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Pastoral letter by Becky Parnham

I’m writing this while the country is in a period of mourning

for her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, but by the time you
get to read it she will be buried and the country will be
returned to whatever we consider to be normal.

Hopefully we’ll have got into the habit of referring to Charles

as King, rather than the ‘pri…king’ that we’re managing at the
moment. We’ll have begun to see how he plans to rule, not
only as the constitutional head of the country but as the supreme head of the Church of
England.

I don’t know how long it will take the royal mint to begin to issue new coins with the king’s
face on, or how quickly the post office will issue stamps featuring King Charles but I think
this time of readjustment will take a while to settle down, for us all to forget habits of
decades and to confidently sing God save the King, especially as all these things don’t tend
to affect our lives on a daily basis.

But we are human, and we are nothing if not adaptable! I’m sure that when Lorna wrote
her letter last month she had no idea how much of an adventure and a month of change this
September would be! But October continues as a month of new beginnings for us here in
the Benefice as we look forward to welcoming Lorna into the permanent position as our
new rector on the 17th of October. In the past month she (and her family) will have moved
into their new home and begun to work out what life in the rectory will look like. I’m sure
they will receive much support, prayer and encouragement in this new chapter.

So October, for us here in the United Benefice of Coxheath, East Farleigh, Hunton, Linton
and West Farleigh, will continue to be a time of change and adjustment, but one that we will
embrace wholeheartedly, looking forward with positivity and trusting in our faith to help us
when worries and anxieties threaten to overwhelm us. Following the example our late
Queen set us which seems to me to be the most fitting tribute we can give.

God bless,

Becky

Becky runs our Child and Families program for the Benefice, including Little Angels

Church services Sunday 9th October 9.30am Holy Communion

Sunday 23rd October 9.30am Morning Prayer
Sunday 30th October 2.30pm to 4pm Remembering Service
Midweek Services – Coxheath, every Thursday 10am, BCP Holy Communion and Linton, 31ST
August, 12pm, Holy Communion followed by soup.

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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LORNA FAULKNER - OUR NEW RECTOR
The formal installation and institution of our new Rector, Lorna Faulkner, will take place at
Linton Church at 7pm on Monday 17th October. The Bishop of Tonbridge, Simon Burton-
Jones, and the Archdeacon of Tonbridge, Sharon Copestake, will be conducting the
ceremony. The church wardens of the 5 parishes of the United Benefice will be there, along
with representatives from the Parish Councils and local community groups, like the W.I.
Anyone living in the Benefice is welcome to attend (WF, EF, Linton, Hunton, Coxheath)

BECOME A WEST FARLEIGH FRIEND

– SIGN UP BELOW!
On 4th August, 2022 there was a big
meeting at the Tickled Trout to consider
future village events. After an enthusiastic
discussion, a program for the next year
was agreed. It was also agreed to form a
new group of volunteers, to be called
“Farleigh Friends” whose purpose is to
help to publicise, organise and staff
events in our village. Those present signed
up to become founder members of
Farleigh Friends, and since then others
have joined. The list of events which we
would like to support this/next year is
shown on the left.

There are currently 31 members of

Farleigh Friends but we’d love some
more. No commitment to any particular
event, just put your name down. Email
Katie O’Connor at katieeth66@gmail.com
including your email and (if available) whatsapp number.
NB. Film night in church, the Garden Party at the TT, Ride & Stride and the Car Rally have
already happened. Next is the Harvest Supper, Kids & Santa event and the Carol Service.

PARISH COUNCIL MEETING

The Parish Council met on Mon 26th Sept, and discussed progress on the Green:
• The painting of the fencing round the play area has been completed.
• Grass around the edges of the safety flooring is to be reinstated in October.
• The play equipment seems to be well used.
• 6 new picnic tables for the Green have been purchased and will be installed shortly. Two of them
will have wheelchair accessibility
• Planting of a tree as part of the Queen’s “Green Canopy” was discussed. 2 new trees will be
planted on the Green.
• Our groundsman will continue to keep the Greens, verges etc. smart and tidy.

The next meeting is Monday 21st November 2022 at 7.30pm

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RIDE AND STRIDE
The annual nationwide Ride and Stride event took place on Sept 11, 2022. This is a charity event
which raises money to maintain churches throughout the UK. Riders (or striders if on foot) go from
church to church, picking their route which can be as long or short as they have time and energy for.
The churches (300 of them in Kent alone, of all denominations. Did you know there was a Salvation
Army church in East Peckham, for example?) are open and provide refreshments. Normally riders
are sponsored “per church” so there is some incentive to visit as many as possible. This year, five
villagers entered and raised £235, of which 50% goes to All Saints and the rest for general
maintenance of Kent churches.

CAR RALLY and TREASURE HUNT

Contestants wait nervously at the start!

The Car Rally and Treasure Hunt took place on Sunday 25th September. 10 cars bearing 40
competitors set off from the church on a voyage of ingenuity and observation. Our favourite clue:
“Hummus, we hope.” You had to make the connection with a road sign saying “Hidden dip” just
outside Marden. The 5 hour rally – with a generous lunch hour in Headcorn – ended back at All
Saints with a fabulous tea and raffle. “Really cool and great fun,” said one young competitor. Let’s
hope the Hunter family will have recovered enough to organise another one next year! And thanks
to so many Farleigh Friends including Sue, Megan, Jill, Chris and Helen for their help.

VOLUNTEER FOR DANDELION TIME, AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Do you have a little spare time?
Would you like to do some volunteering with an amazing local charity?
At Dandelion Time, we use the benefits of nature to bring healing to children and families
experiencing trauma and abuse. The charity is set in 22 acres of land with animals to care for and
buildings to maintain. We are looking for new people to join our friendly volunteer team and help
make a difference to the lives of vulnerable families.
Develop new skills, make new friends, have fun and share your skills and knowledge with others!
There are lots of ways you can help make a difference! We are particularly keen to hear from those
with DIY or maintenance experience to work alongside our site team.
If this sounds like something you’d be interested in why not get in touch? Please see our website for
more details https://dandeliontime.org.uk//support-us/volunteer/

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NEW PERMISSIVE FOOTPATH NOW OPEN
The new Permissive Path between Charlton and Kettle Lanes is now open, which the Woodlanders
have opted to call Kettle Cut. The ground is a bit uneven but only to be expected on a woodland walk,
and there may be the odd small tree
stump we may have missed.

There is a bench for the foot weary part

way through but please observe the
signs asking to keep dogs on leads to
protect the wildlife, pick up after your
dogs and keep to the path.

Finally, the path through Dandelion

Time is now closed.

KETTLE BRIDGE CONCERTINAS OPEN MORNING

On SUNDAY 23RD OCTOBER
From 10 am to 12 noon in the WI Hall, East Farleigh
Everyone is welcome to call in to find out what we get up to, listen to some music, drink
coffee (or tea!), eat cake, and maybe try out one of our lovely vintage instruments!
Contact: Sue Walsh 01622 728252 nog_walsh@hotmail.com

HARVEST SUPPER:
The Harvest Supper is back again this year on
Saturday 29 October at the church, 7 for 7.30 pm.
We are looking for "artists" for our entertainment programme - several
acts have already been booked but we would love to hear from anyone
in the village who could sing or maybe a group of you who could do a
funny sketch ... we want to showcase local talent !!!
There will be supper and wine, beer and soft drinks available for
purchase.

Tickets are £20 and available from tracey@dward.biz (mob 07970 741454). Only a few left!

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Sports Club Report
Cricket: What a run of results from both of our sides last month, ending our league
season with five victories out of six! Our 1st XI finished with wins over Underriver and
Ightham, our defeat came against Bidborough. Meanwhile our 2nd XI completed a
perfect end, beating champions Marden, Hadlow and finally Shoreham which meant we
ended up 3rd in our division. We then had a friendly against Linton Park and what turned
out to be the tightest of all finishes. We were chasing 210 and we hit the winning run on the last ball
of the game with one wicket remaining! In another friendly we also defeated Teston.

Netball: Our girls, newly promoted from last season, found it tough going into our first
fixture, going down 36-8 versus “Attack”. Let’s hope our results slightly improve in the
coming weeks!

Football: our footballers have struggled to find victories so far at the start of the
season with only one win in six. Our 1st XI, newly promoted to Division I of the Kent
League have lost all four of their games so far, losing to ‘K’ Sports 4-2, Greenways 2-0,
Ashford (Cup) 4-1 and Snodland 5-0. Our 2nd XI lost their first game 4-2 to Tatsfield but
pleased to say we recorded our first victory 5-1 over West Kingsdown.

Club news :
Rounders: Many thanks to all who supported our first Rounders day. Hopefully everyone enjoyed it
and we hope to do a similar event next year.

Ton-up: Our lucky ton-up winners last month were :

159 Ann Ayears £30 76 Alex Baggott £20 18 Alan Godfrey £10

Yours in sport – Tel

PS. The apples on the trees around the football hut will ripen in September. If villagers want to pick
some for themselves, they are most welcome to do so.

EVERGREENS
Helen Swan and Jack Martin talked about hop growing and picking in the Farleighs.
We had some fresh hops to smell and look at (thanks to Terry Baines for growing
them). Some younger newcomers had never seen hops before! The history of the
hop was talked about. It is thought the Romans brought them across. The growing of
them was discussed and photos of Jack on stilts extending the wiring, to grow taller hops, were
shown. Jack then produced the very same stilts that he had worn, over 60 years ago. Hoppers huts
and the lack of sanitation was brought up with reference to East Farleigh Cholera outbreak and the
Typhoid epidemic in Maidstone. Even in the 80’s when Terry Ayears came to the area as farm
manager, one of the first things he did was to install toilets on the farms. The Evergreens are going
on the Kentish Lady and travelling along the Medway, enjoying a Fish and Chips lunch.

Dates for your Diary 2.30pm 11th Oct: Chair exercises with Catherine,
12:30pm 25th Oct: Pie & Mash.

New members welcome at the WI Hall East Farleigh. Ring Helen 01622 814445 for more info.

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 The Farleighs W.I.
At the September meeting we saw everyone up dancing with Melody
Dunn, this was a very enjoyable evening. The October meeting will be our
annual competition night when members enter various categories and try
to win the coveted trophy for overall winner. Categories this year are a
Sunset/sunrise Photo, a bookmark for the Craft entry, Flowers in a jam jar,
Baking a Swiss roll and a humorous Poem on current affairs. This is a really sociable evening and a
time to catch up with everything being planned for the future.

Dates for your Diary

Everyone is welcome to join us at our Open meeting on Wed 30th November at 7pm. Tony Harris -
speaker and comedian - will be giving his view of the sinking of the Titanic. W.I members -£6. Guests
£7 to include refreshments. To reserve tickets, please email thefarleighs@wkfwi.org.uk

If you are interested in meeting others, if you like craft or art, darts, walking or just talking, come
and join us for a free taster session. You have nothing to lose and who knows you may find you
would like to join the other 200,000 women who are the W.I. If would like more information on the
W.I. or any of our events please e-mail thefarleighs@wkfwi.org.uk.

Diane Scott- President.

The Farleighs W.I Hall – Forge Lane East Farleigh.

LOCAL TRADES LISTING

Business Service Website Contact Phone email

Firefly Payroll www.fireflypayroll 01622 enquiries@firefly
Services Payroll .com Jason Hart 934110 payroll.com
Professional and
affordable 07885 nomuckinabout
No Muck'in About cleaning services Sarah Dunn 634559 @outlook.com
www.heathsideele 07976 heathsideelectric
Heathside Electrical Electrical ctrical.co.uk Sam Sephton 895001 al@gmail.com

Plumbing & 07973 darren@dward.bi

D. Ward Heating services Darren Ward 314266 z
www.pestpurge.c 07758 richard@pestpur
Pest Purge Pest Control o.uk Richard Lee 615101 ge.co.uk
Fencing and 07709 Topdogmaintena
Top Dog fencing Gates Sam Morton 530166 nce@icloud.com
http://www.castle
Castle Portable Loo portableloohire.co 07990 castleplh@gmail.
Hire Ltd Events .uk/ Steve Millsom 606067 com
Facebook/Instagram
Hairdressing & @hairtraditional.ma 01622
Hair Traditional beauty idstone 817800

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FARLEIGH FEATHERS by Ray Morris
Rifling raspberries
As a birdwatcher, one of the most frequently asked questions directed at me
at this time of the year is “Where have all the birds gone? My garden’s
empty!”. The standard response is always twofold: there is plenty of food for
birds in the wider countryside, so they aren’t so dependent on gardens, and
many of them are moulting all their feathers so they make themselves scarce –
and safe from sparrowhawks – by skulking out of sight in the shrubbery.

Just to prove the accuracy of my wise words, data from more than 22,000
garden birdwatchers who participate in the British Trust for Ornithology’s
(BTO) Garden Birdwatch survey for one of our commonest garden birds, the blackbird, is shown in this graph.

As I’m writing this in the middle of September, it appears this year’s sightings have been consistently below
the average for the previous twenty-six years. This could be explained by two things. The most obvious reason
this year is the extreme heat we’ve experienced which has baked the ground and made it harder for blackbirds
to find the worms they need to feed their young, so many fewer chicks survived.

Could the second reason be that gardens are becoming less nature-friendly? There
are many reasons this might be the case: understandably, the average size is possibly
getting smaller to accommodate more new houses per hectare and more front
gardens are disappearing under concrete for cars. Another could be the perverse
proliferation of plastic lawns. Why move to the country and cover your tiny part of it
with plastic, then be persuaded to pay a small fortune for chemicals to clean it of
dog, cat and fox (but sadly not many bird) droppings?

Back to blackbirds. The graph suggests I might have just one in my garden. But I am
regularly counting four or five, some mornings. Again, the explanation for this could
be twofold. The heat that probably contributed to fewer chicks fledging also ripened
wild berries earlier – there certainly appear fewer than usual about in my neck of the
woods. And, if they do need to turn to my garden for an easy meal, they have my crop of autumn-fruiting
raspberries awaiting them. All the hard work carting bowls of dirty washing-up water out to the vegetable
garden paid a handsome dividend in tomatoes, courgettes, and French beans – and now in raspberries. And in
their egalitarian world the blackbirds are making off with their share!
I should be pleased. And yet?

I know. I’ll put in plastic raspberries.

Ray Morris

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Page 10
IN THE GARDEN with Sara CUSHING
And just like that! Autumn has truly landed with misty mornings and
colder nights. The gardens are starting to lose the amazing zingy Summer
colours, to be replaced with reds and browns and are starting to look a bit
jaded, especially after the challenging year we’ve faced.

There is still plenty to do in spite of the fact growth has slowed, so now is
a good time to be pruning hedging and some taller shrubs and with less to
be doing in the borders, I take this time to have a really good clear out. The greenhouse is cleaned
before tender perennials are lifted and stored, old pots are binned and useable ones are cleaned
ready for next year. My greenhouse is a heap of chaos at
the moment so I always find it quite a satisfying thing to
do!

In the garden
Tender tubers such as Canna, dahlia and Begonia should
be lifted and stored. Take off any dead or compromised
parts and pot up into dry compost and keep frost-free
over winter. I protect larger semi tropicals like banana
plants and palms with horticultural fleece. Shrub roses
can be reduced by about half to prevent wind rock, and
climbing and ramblers can be pruned back and ties in to
minimise damage in breezy conditions. Any leaves
contaminated by black spot should be cleared. I still spray through autumn and over winter with
Sulphur Rose, which is brilliant for this disease and is non-
harmful to bees.
Bulb planting can still be done, I tend to leave tulips until the
end of this month though, as they prefer to be planted in
the cold.

In the Veg Patch

Runner beans, french beans and peas are just finishing
though an early start can be made on planting Broad beans
(a well established winter-sown variety is Aquadulce), and
pumpkin and squash should be harvested before the frost
gets them! Garlic and onion can be planted this month and
now is also a good time to lift and divide established
rhubarb clumps. I try and do this every two or three years.
Grease bands should be put around fruit trees to prevent winter moth and will help stop caterpillars
in apples, plums and pears next year.

And composting the veg patch…another satisfying Autumn job!

Happy gardening!

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