February 2012 Marsh Harrier Extracts

GARDEN REPORT

Hasn't the weather been crazy this year? Roses still blooming, I have cowslips and violets in bloom, daffodils well grown and the grass so green. Yesterday I saw catkins out along the road. I think the garden and birds and us are in for a shock with the weather getting colder at the end of this week.I have seen pigeons bowing and cooing to one another and a great tit in and out of one of our nest boxes. We have been spoilt weather wise this year I would love for it to continue but I'm afraid it won't.

Mollie

SUNSHINE CLUB

We didn't have a meeting in January but at the December meeting we decided to have our fish and chip meal in February. It's sods law the the weather has been mild this year so far. I hope we don't have to cancel, as we did last year. The day of our dinner at the Britannia is on 21st February.

Mollie

November 2011 Marsh Harrier Extracts

GARDEN REPORT

The leaves on the trees are turning fast and they are lovely but, what comes after Autumn, Winter! And I don't like that thought. Still lots of colour in the garden, nerines and belladonna lilies out in bloom, several hardy geraniums still going on and roses, well they have really given us a lot of pleasure by flowering into their second or third lot of blossoms. The Choysias and Enonymous shrubs add their colour to the show. The birds are still eating us out of all the seeds we can supply.

Mollie

SUNSHINE CLUB

We had our outing to Drusillas Zoo, which I enjoyed, hope all the other members did too. The weather was kind to us, no rain but a bit blowy. We decided not to have a meeting this month as there were too few members to attend. The competition colour will still be Beige. Thanks Joan.

Mollie

October 2011 Marsh Harrier Extracts

GARDEN REPORT

The delphiniums that I cut down, have now their second blooming, not as good as last year. We have had quite a lot of rain so the garden is a bit sticky to get on to. We have managed to cut the echinops (blue thistle) down and that has got more flowers coming. This time of the year, it seems there' a lot of cutting down and tidying up to do and of course the weeds keep growing in abundance. The Cerinthe, which I have grown a couple of years ago have seeded themselves along the boarder and in the wrong places of course. Still a lot of colour in the garden. The golden Choisyia shines bright yellow also the golden rod. The roses of all colours keep going. I have watered and fed my one and only camellia, hope that does better next year. That cold frosty weather upset it. I have a strange plant growing underneath the bird feeders, I am sure that it is a thorn apple which is highly poisonous, next time Jack has a bonfire we will burn it.  

Mollie

SUNSHINE CLUB

Before I went about the meeting I have an apology to Scott from the Woolpack. No way did I mean to insinuate that he had kept the money from the quiz night but he was my only contact, sorry Scott. The meeting went well, we seem to get fewer and fewer members. We have decided as a group that the outing we have planned for next month will be to Drusillas in Sussex. It will be on 11th October 10am from the Church or bus stop at the Alliance. Please if anyone at all would like to come, get in touch with me or Pam. The finance report seems not to bad and the market raffle did well despite lack of people on the day. We had tea and biscuits and a chat then the raffle which Dot does for us. After that of course bingo, lots of giggles and 50's, a very happy meeting. I won the competition with my yellow flowers. Next month is something beige.

Mollie

September 2011 Marsh Harrier Extracts

GARDEN REPORT

Now we have had sunshine and, very welcome, rain. The roses are getting their second flowering and are lasting a lot longer. I have cut the delphiniums down and they are all growing again. I wonder if we’ll get more flowers. You all must know about our vine that’s growing on our arch. My son brought me a seed pod back from the Dominican Republic six or seven years ago. We have had lovely orange trumpet flowers for several years now, (it is bud now). We have discovered it is now sending up suckers from the roots and we have potted some of these. Poppy seeds and foxgloves have been spread around the borders where there is bare earth, they will make a splash of colour. Still lots of birds on the feeders. We don’t feed them so much at the moment, there are lots of flower seed and grasses now.

Mollie

SUNSHINE CLUB

We met on a damp and quite chilly day. With all the chat and laughter we forgot the weather for a while. We discussed another outing and couldn’t decide where to go. Eastbourne was quite nice, but it rained heavily for a while. I don’t know how the others felt. I enjoyed the day but I was so tired that evening. We have enough money for another outing. We still haven’t the money that was promised us from a quiz which was held at the Woolpack earlier in the year and I haven’t any contact phone number. I must get in touch with the Woolpack, perhaps they can help. We had our usual cup of tea with biscuits. Pam makes a good cup of tea. Then we had the raffle and of course bingo. After that it was out into a cold wind, thank goodness we didn’t have to go far. The competition next month is “yellow”.

Mollie

July 2011 Marsh Harrier Extracts

GARDEN REPORT

I'm very glad to report, my garden is beginning to look like my garden again. We have still a lot of bare patches but I hope we can soon fill them. With a little bit of rain everything is a lot fresher. Thanks to two of my friends, who gave us a gooseberry bush several years ago, Jack has picked just over 10lb of fruit yesterday. Thanks K and T. All the trees and shrubs have bloomed well but, owing to lack of water, the flowers haven't lasted long. Lots of lovely roses still to come out. The wind isn't very kind to the tall flowers, but what can we do about that! Jack still manages to mow the lawns, which looks good, perhaps not for tennis or bowling greens, but good enough for us. Lots of birds with their young ones come to the feeders. The garden is absolutely full of birds including the spotted woodpecker with young.

Mollie

SUNSHINE CLUB

All our meetings are so friendly. It's a joy to attend. I just wish we could encourage more people to come. After the financial report we decided we would have an outing to Eastbourne, on July 21st leaving Brookland at 10am. While we have our tea and biscuits we have a chat among ourselves. The raffle, which makes a bit of money towards our outings, and of course it wouldn't have been a sunshine club meeting without bingo. Thanks to all our members for making the meetings so enjoyable.

Mollie

June 2011 Marsh Harrier Extracts

Brookland Parish Council - Chairman's Report, 14th May 2011

During October 2009 the Clerk to Brookland Parish Council received a request from local residents via Ann Norton, Shepway District Council's Community Liaison Officer, for a bus shelter by St Augustine's church. This request was discussed by Brookland Parish councillors and a decision was agreed to pursue enquiries regarding planning consent, a suitable location and a suitable design. The planning application was made as an initial step. A design and site was agreed which would be in keeping in the High Street conservation area and detail plans of the shelter and construction method with a design and access statement was submitted to Shepway District Council's planning department who eventually gave consent with certain conditions. It was then discovered that the triangle of land in front of the church on which it was planned to build the shelter is subject to a legally binding covenant placed on it by the Secretary of State for Transport which decrees that it "cannot be built on and shall remain forever open to the sky" and that "the transferee and its successors in title will not use the land transferred other than for the purposes of public open space". Therefore the project has been put on hold pending ongoing enquiries with Shepway District Council's legal department or the possibility of an alternative site outside of the conservation area being agreed upon. Consideration should be given to the fact that no-one knows at what point they may need to use public transport or may loose a partner who drives or indeed, may possibly have to stop driving for health or economic reasons. Therefore a shelter in that vicinity could prove to be a positive asset. This application was displayed on the light pole opposite the church for the mandatory 8 weeks. This was the opportunity for anyone objecting to do so. Not one objection was made. I would add that parish councils are empowered by Act of Parliament to provide bus shelters if they wish to do so, also maintain them - Local Government Miscellaneous Provision Act 1953 section 4.

Colin Hill - Chairman

GARDEN REPORT

The garden looks quite good except we really do want some rain. The roses are coming out, (early) but the blooms won't last long if we don't get water. I have had some lovely flowers on the lilacs, there are three trees white, lilac and a darker one. They have done well, also lots of blooms on the snowball bush. The Banksia rose has climbed right up to the top of the acacia tree which is very tall.The delphiniums are about to come out, all different shades of blue, luckily that awful wind we had didn't break them. We have watched the blackbirds struggling to feed their young, how they find the worms when the ground is so dry I don't know. The tits have nested in three of the boxes. We still have lots of birds on the feeders but only two greenfinch. That disease we had last year must have killed a lot of them. I expect a lot of you have heard the cuckoo. That bird drives us mad sometimes. The other morning it woke me up at 4am. The marsh frogs are also croaking like mad, all hoping to find a mate.

Mollie

SUNSHINE CLUB

15 members were able to come to our meeting. It was nice to see Joan, she was able to walk around. We discussed our outing for next week. A trip around Sussex countryside, then to Jempsons for a cream tea. Hope the weather is nice. For our next outing we have decided, maybe, to go early July, so members can think of somewhere to go! The lady who makes tea makes a good cuppa and the biscuits were delicious. Everyone brings raffle prizes, that makes us some money. After tea and the raffle we had our usual bingo, lots of laughter and comments. Then clear up and home. The competition was won by Joan Shaw. Next month it will be something the colour orange.

Mollie

New Non-Emergency Number for Kent Police

As from Monday 14th November 2011 there is a change to the Phone Number that you should use to contact your local Kent Police for non emergency calls.

101 is the new national non-emergency number to contact Police in your area. Residents in the Kent policing area should call 101 to contact their local officer, make an enquiry and to report non-urgent crimes. The current non emergency number (01622 690690) is being phased out.
 

Examples when to use 101 are:

• if your car has been stolen,
• if property has been damaged,
• if you suspect drug use or dealing,
• to report a minor traffic collision,
• to give information about a crime or criminals in your local area.

Each call will never cost more than 15p. Callers will be put through to Force Control Room in Kent and not a national call centre.  As always, dial 999 in an emergency when life is in danger or a crime is in progress.

About the Television Signal Digital Switchover

TV is going digital all over the UK, and the traditional TV signal will be switched off in our area during the Summer of 2012. This means that if you haven't got digital TV already, you will lose your current analogue TV service.  But you don't need to worry -- help is available to convert your TV to digital if you:

What do you need to do?

•If you have Freeview, Top Up TV or BT Vision, you will need to retune your digital TV or box at switchover or you will lose channels. Switchover is a two-stage process and you need to retune at both stages.

•If you have a satellite or cable service on all your sets, you will not need to retune as these are not affected by switchover.

•If you have 5 channels or fewer (i.e. analogue TV) on any of your sets, you will need to convert them to digital.

•are aged 75 or over; or

•get or could get Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance, Constant Attendance Allowance or mobility supplement; or

•have lived in a care home for six months or more; or

•are registered blind or partially sighted.

There is more about a Help Scheme to make sure your TV set will work with digital. The Switchover Help Scheme is run by the BBC under an agreement with the Government. If you are eligible for the Help Scheme, they will write to you to offer you practical help to convert one of your TV sets to digital. For more information ring 0800 40 85 900 for free or e-mail info@helpscheme.co.uk.

When your home switches to digital will depend on where you live in the UK. All households with a Freeview TV or box will need to re-tune at both stages of switchover and from time to time to keep receiving channels and services.

You can find out when your ITV region switches to digital by checking where you live on this map.

You can find out much more here about digital tv and the switchover or call Digital UK on 08456 50 50 50.

Copyright © 2009-2012 Brookland Parish Council
Last revision: 08-Feb-2012