Don’t forget The Hub at Kilndown Village Hall, every Tuesday. Tea, coffee, and chat, from 2pm to 4pm.If you would like to join the team serving the teas, email alisonpaul@outlook.com
Kilndown Gardening Club
Almost ran out of chairs for the December meeting! The film Every Day Except Christmas was shown – detailing the life and times at Covent Garden Market in 1957. This was enjoyed, not just for the insight into the flower and vegetable market, but also for the historical/social aspect. Apparently, no health and safety regulations and cigarettes everywhere!
Many thanks to John Ward for a lot of ‘fiddling with technical stuff’ and to Kilndown Village Hall for the loan of their brand-new projector. Our next evening meeting is on Thursday 7 March.
After several years AWOL the Minute Books for 1956 – 1968 have reappeared, they make for interesting reading. The Society back then, was a vibrant group, with much going on between Shows. There was the village Flower Bed Fund, and it seems we took on the two beds outside Christ Church! Coach outings, visits to other Horticultural Societies events and Whist Drives – does anyone play whist these days?
The seed catalogues are arriving, the online adverts for bargain begonias, dazzling dahlias, curious chrysanthemums and pretty petunias, all doing their best to get us to part with money! Whether you are being scrooge like or splashing out on something new, don’t forget our Plant Sale on 18 May this year. The more home-grown plants we have donated the more goes into Club funds.
We still have a few copies of the History of Kilndown Gardening Club for sale - £5 per copy. Ask at the QC Saturday Shop.
The Quilting Group
Work has begun on the recently commissioned quilt. It is for a king-sized bed, so quite an undertaking! A few more stitchers would help get the job done quicker, as we’ve just taken another commission! Pop in on a Tuesday between 10am and 12 noon. Between the group we have many talents! If you need help with a knotty knitting problem, a curiously worded crochet pattern, is your embroidering making more than cross stitches or do you help making a repair to a favourite piece of clothing? Come along and ask! Or just pop in for coffee and chat.
The small quilt we raffled for Christ Church Loo Fund just before Christmas raised £26.
Thank You to the lady who brought in a bin bag full of knitting wool – marked Treasures from the Attic!.......It is! All in good condition and some of the balls must date back 40+ years judging by the makers labels. All will be used in some way or another for various projects.
The Goudhurst and Kilndown Local History Society
Meetings at the Goudhurst Social Club – 7.30pm
5th March
The Walls have Tongues – Susan Flipping translates graffiti in Medieval Churches including St Mary’s, Goudhurst
9th April
Local memories of Goudhurst – several Goudhurst & Kilndown residents offer fascinating ten-minute reminiscences.
The Quarry Centre
2023 may seem a good while ago, but to round up the end of that year at the Saturday Shop, we raised £127 from the Christmas Hamper Raffle for the QC and we raised £93.41 for the Poppy Appeal in November. Thank you, to all who participated.
Back to 2024, additional heating systems have been installed, the QC has always been a bit on the chilly side in winter, but as someone said recently “it is only a glorified shed!” Well, we do our best and have done so for the past forty odd years, updating and remodelling as and when.
In mid-January we were in danger of being overrun by paperback books! A lot of which had been on display for quite some time. These have been(are) being taken to various charity shops in and around the area. A new selection is gathering! Come in and have a look. Another used ink cartridge collection has been sent off and our total for the year is £73, the used postage stamp collection is on its way to the RNIB. Thank you, to all who regularly donate. Thinking about reusing, recycling, keeping costs down and the like, we seem to go through an inordinate amount of brown paper bags! Yes, they can be recycled, reused, but sometimes what they get used for is somewhat ‘silly’ – so, if you can do without a brown bag, we will be very pleased! What we do sell that has to go in a bag, (or own containers could be used) are loose nuts and dried fruits. This selection is being slowly increased; however, storage is an ongoing problem at the QC, we do have to remember that the place is not just a shop but hired out as well. Don’t forget we sell Eco Friendly cleaning products – bring a bottle for a refill.
Donations for the GK Community Cupboard most weeks are amounting to two or three boxes. Goods do not need to be bought at the Saturday Shop, just pop in with your donation from wherever – as long as it is in date – and we’ll deal with it. Another Thank You to all!
As we all know the climate is changing. And the extremes of heat and wet are not kind to old weatherboard buildings. You’ve guessed it…….we need to start thinking about the exterior and repainting again. Always a depressing subject! Which in a way leads us to Fund Raising. What we do already…….Easy Fundraising, TW Lotto, Ink Cartridge Recycling, sell second hand paper backs, monthly Raffle, all very well, but to be realistic just a drop in the ocean in the grand scheme of things! So………. The cogs are whirring, scribbled notes, silly ideas and all that goes with ‘Planning an Event’ is ongoing. As they say – watch this space!
At the end of January, the QC underwent a ‘spring clean’, the feather dusters and Henry Hoover have never been so busy! Thank you to Lynn and Mike for their help.
The Quarry Centre is a non-profit making Registered Charity. No. 1167410
GK Church Community Lunch/Cupboard/Care fund
Lunch is held every Tuesday at St. Mary’s, Goudhurst. Drop in between 11.30am – 1pm for a delicious bowl of homemade soup with bread and cheese, followed by a hot drink and something sweet. Children on school holidays are welcome too. Community Lunch is open to everyone in the Parish. There is no cost.
The Community Cupboard is available for anyone in need. Contact ali.williams@gkchurch.org in confidence to arrange a delivery/collection.
Care Fund provides financial assistance to individuals, couples or families through a grant system. ‘Phone Becky at the Church Office – 01580 211739.
Kilndown Community Choir
Ten years on and the choir is still going strong. Meeting in Christ Church at 7.30pm every Monday evening during term times. During the year they perform at various events in and around the parish. For details email Tina on tinagallagher22@aol.com
Christ Church Flowers
Rota for 2024 is now in the church, Ideally, we would like people to sign up for two weeks in a row. We’re hoping that the use of floral foam will diminish, however a lot of our vases do not work too well without. Alternatives are chicken wire/ tape/ sand. Come along to our ‘demo’ and get some ideas on arranging flowers in the church.
HAVE A GO!
Saturday 23 March -11am Christ Church
Come along and have a go at flowering arranging in the church, Angie & Lynda will be on hand to give tips and advice on “How to do the Church Flowers”.
Bring flower scissors.
**
Coffee and Cake
Christ Church Organ
Sharp eyed villagers May have noticed that work has recently been carried out on Christ Church organ, this work was to refurbish the 1985 II/P four rank extension organ with a new processor-based switching system, incorporating MIDI facilities.
In February 1984 the village was nearly halfway in the fundraising for the estimated £13,000 to have a new organ built within the case of the old one, using as many old pipes and parts as possible. The organ had been moved from the other end of the church in the 1900’s. The original organ was a gift from Viscountess Beresford in 1840.
The Organ Fund launched in April 1982, and by October that year £2,500 had been raised. A long way to go as costs were rising all the while. Several people made interest free loans. Fund raising activities were many and varied! You name it, we did it! The list is endless – does anyone still have Kilndown Tablemats? Or a Kilndown key fob? Ann Olley and the late Betty and Gordon Batchelor put their artistic talents to great use during the fund raising!
In February 1985 the order had been placed. The November issue of the Village Newsletter proclaimed, “WE HAVE MADE IT”! when the organ was dismantled, it became apparent how precarious the whole structure was – Edna Percy the organist at that time may well have descended through the floor with the instrument on top of her.
Bus shelter area - as written by Sam Golding in 2000
‘In 1956 the Kilndown Horticultural Society took over the area of ground at the telephone box end of the now Quarry centre. This was a rough piece of land where old farm implements had been dumped and sting nettles and brambles were rampant. The ground was cleared and in spring it was planted with tulips followed by summer bedding. Dame Edith Evans contributed to this project. After a while ‘the council’ erected the village noticeboard, which caused the flowerbed to be divided by a path. At a later date the notice board was moved to its present position and replaced with the bus shelter (which had previously been at Kilndown Corner on the northbound A21 side outside Nursery Farm). This brought about the end of the flower beds, as people using the shelter walked over the planted beds, which also became strewn with paper etc. The Horticultural Society decided it was a waste of time and abandoned the beds, so now, it has returned to almost the state it was in 1956.’
Lately GPC have maintained the area, with the Quarry Centre Committee carrying out much of the work needed on the shelter but not the flower beds. What with one thing and another, mainly Covid 19, rejigging our lives and to cut a long story short, money the QC acquired from the National Lottery for an event in 2020 has now been allocated to the bus shelter area. The useful, but ‘eyesore’ salt bin has been moved to a better position, trees and shrubs removed/pruned, and at long last replacement timbers have arrived. There has been some comment on what could be done with the shelter, and this is being considered. In the meantime, we have the preservative, the timber and nails, the ideas for replanting, just need to get on with it now!! It is hoped to raise the bed borders, these have been driven over so many times, they have all but disappeared. Volunteer help will be sought soon!
David’s stuff
It is nine months since David Denton ‘popped off’ and those that relied on him for so much, are still getting used to finding someone else to do their printing jobs. There are remaining, several boxes containing DVDs, videos, slides and video camera cassettes, all of Kilndown events and also some of the late George Hammonds, that had been passed to David just before he died. A couple of framed ‘photos of specific properties in the village, found in Quary House, have been bought and the proceeds donated to the Christ Church Loo Fund. As to the videos, these can be transferred to DVD at not a great cost and at some point, maybe they could be shown. The slides are being worked through, squinting through a slide viewer is somewhat tedious, but you never know, there might be some hidden gems!
Join a group.
Take a look on the Village Hall website, there are a few groups to join in - Pilates, Yoga, Adult Tap & Ballet, Baby Massage, Tip Top Toes (ballet for little ones) and the new one Senior Exercise Classes.
Kilndown is part of the Goudhurst U3a, they have many groups to join, look on; u3asites.org.uk/goudhurst
Their next meeting is on Wednesday 21 February at 2.30pm Goudhurst Village Hall. Talk is Think Global, Act Local. And don’t forget there is a Scout Group in Goudhurst.
Kilndown in the Past
Looking at the February 1984 copy of the Village Newsletter, the village was a busy place! The front of the QC had been tidied up, the Quilting Group were raffling a quilt, the village branch of the Royal British Legion had won two trophies for efficiency. A Coffee Morning, held for budding church flower arrangers, the Village Hall was being rebuilt, so the Spring Flower Show would have to be held at the Globe & Rainbow, an outing to Romsey Agricultural Show was being organised, the Childrens Play Area being planned. A Pancake Race had taken place, the Coffee Snowball was underway. And in the pipeline for later in the year an Organ Recital, Easter Fayre, Garden Fete, 50/50 Auction, Flower Festival, Jumble Sales, Fete Week, (yes, a whole week of events), Bingo, Sponsored Walk, Disco, Old Folks Party, Christmas Bazaar………..Phew!!
This was on top of all the other ‘run of the mill’ meetings held by the: Bell Ringers, Chess Club, Cricket Club, Horticultural Society, Youth Club, Keep Fit, Petanque, PTA, Angling Club, Royal British Legion and not to mention – G&K Local History Society, Parish Council, Conservative Association, PCC, Quarry Centre, Quarry Management Committee…….
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