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

Welcome to West Farleigh’s own

LIFELINe
Distributed freely in July 2019 Edition no 512
Editors: Stephen Norman, Helen Swan and Jacky Taylor Upcoming Events:
Website: www.thefarleighs.co.uk Email: editor@thefarleighs.co.uk See back page

In this Lifeline
Dramatic finish to village cricket match!
Village XI defeats President’s XI in the final over Pastoral newsletter…. 2
View from the garden 3
By our Cricket Correspondent
Village in Bloom….. 4
It was 21st June, the summer solstice and a Farleigh Featherss…. 5
fine, dry evening as the teams took to the The Detectorists 6
field. The captain sportingly put up a
Organisations……. 7
good selection of bowlers of varying
Events…………………. 8
accuracy. The Village XI batsmen made a
strong start. Jack Prideaux was dropped
Do visit our website for
early on and celebrated with an aerial
articles, events and
bombardment of the boundary fence, much more.
ending on 30 not out. By the end of their
20 overs, the Village had 128 runs on the
board with one wicket in hand. Please contact the
By now the BBQ was in full swing and the editors if you would like
bar staff were double banked keeping up an article in Lifeline or on
with demand. Refreshing the umpires was the Website – Email
especially tiring (see photo below). editor@thefarleighs.co.uk

Follow us on Facebook
About 90 spectators and several
canines watched as the Presidents
XI now came in to bat. They
faltered in the middle order, but
then recovered.
Top scorer was Dave Gilliver,
magnificently not out on 35. They
needed 8 to win in the last over,
then 6 off the last ball to draw. It
didn’t happen!
So a thrilling finish and the
Village XI had it, by 6 runs.
The BBQ, bar and raffle
raised raised £700 towards
new heating for the
church. A big thank you to
the Sports Club, the many
helpers, the generous
spectators and of course
the teams.

Deadline for August Lifeline: July 21st

Page 1 of 8
PASTORAL LETTER
Greetings!

July is upon us, bringing the end of the academic year and the long (some may say
too long!) summer holidays. I know that for some the summer is already here – most
of those who have sat exams, whether A-levels or GCSE’s or any other sort of
assessment have already finished.

Each school has its own traditions to help pupils celebrate the end of term. At primary school there are often
fairs, or sports days, a wide variety of events that require the attendance of a parent or carer. At secondary
school there are probably just as many events, but with much less adult attendance required – until you
come to prize giving days. As a parent or carer you are usually given a tip off that your child will be receiving
some sort of award and that you should attend, normally for a few hours in a very warm school hall with
several hundred other adults!

At least two of the secondary schools in our area have been established for over 150 years which has given
them lots of time to hone their traditions and have cups and awards for a variety of achievements often in
the name of an ex student or member of staff. But how many of the current recipients know who that person
was, and why their name is on an award? Have we lost the context over the years?
Recently in the benefice we have had groups studying ‘The Bible Course’ designed by the Bible Society.
Whilst it’s been beneficial for us to explore the words contained in the Bible this course has also helped us to
root the Bible in its historical context. We’ve explored what was happening in the world at the time different
books of the bible were written and have come away with a fresh understanding and appreciation of this
best-selling book as a source of historical reference as well as the guiding word of God.

So often in our world today we can hear/see/read a snippet of information that is taken out of context, and
on its own it can have an entirely different meaning to the one intended. These are often referred to as ‘fake
news’ and can lead to extensive threads on social media with people voicing their outrage at the idea
contained within that small snippet of the whole. These mis-quotes can be used to fuel propaganda aimed
at causing discord and disunity within our communities. I suggest that the best way to avoid these issues is to
look for the context. Question, investigate, dig deeper, to find the truth rather than just accepting what you
are told at face value. It is only through being fully informed that we can develop our ideas and take a
stance on the many issues facing our society. Understanding the context can help us to promote the peace
and unity that so many in the world want.

We intend to run the Bible Course again soon. If you would like to know more about the Christian context,
what we believe and why; even if you are not a Christian, why not start with ‘The Bible Course’? More
information from Peter Callway, the Rector.

Becky Parnham

Services at All Saints

Sunday 7th July 8.00 am Holy Communion (Traditional)
Sunday 14th July 9.30 am Morning Prayer
Sunday 28th July 9.30 am Morning Prayer with Holy Communion

Give your brain a workout

Come along to All Saints Church on Saturday 27th July at 7.00 pm for a
Quiz Night and delicious *Fish and Chip Supper (*other options
available). Tickets are just £10 from Sue O’Donnell tel. 01622 727852 or
email sueodonnell@talktalk.net (early booking advised).

There will be raffle prizes to win and a fun evening guaranteed. Please
bring your own drinks. All proceeds towards a new upgraded church
heating system (hooray!)

Page 2 of 8
 In the Garden with Jon Fenlon

During July keep checking your flowers to see if

they require dead heading to prolong the
season. Check Roses, Penstemons, Lupins and
Foxgloves. Check down the stem when dead
heading to spot the next flush of flowers or leaf
and cut down to this point.

You can cut hardy geraniums and delphiniums

back to encourage new growth. Make sure to
water them well afterwards to give them the best start of bouncing
back. Sweet peas can go on for months if dead heading is done
frequently, so you will also get lots of cut flowers for your home.

If you have overcrowded Irises in the garden now is a great time to lift and divide them, do this with
a border fork to prevent damage to the roots. Once lifted, cut off any parts of the rhizome that are
damaged or soft. Cut the leaves down to 2/3inches, once replanted in the chosen bed keep on top
of the watering. Irises should be planted with only half the rhizome below the soil level. You will notice
the rhizomes have a front and a back so when replanting note which way around you are placing it.

Lilies will now be flowering in the garden and smelling lovely. Keep an eye out for the Lily beetle, it is
bright red with a black head and legs so it’s very easy to spot, also keep an eye out for their larvae
which just look like brown lumps. If you only have a couple of lilies then removing by hand is best.
Keep on top of tying in climbers, sweet peas and clematis. You will want to check your climbing roses
as the new young growth is easily broken in high winds.

By July your tomatoes will be cropping

which will make them very hungry for
extra nutrients; you can help them out
by feeding them once a week with
high potash feed. Make sure you water
the soil well as the fibrous roots run just
under the top soil.
This is a good time to spray the lawn
with a selective weed killer. Once the
weeds are dying off, feed the lawn
with a nitrogen based fertilise to bring
back its lush green colour and strong
new growth. A liquid seaweed feed will
do the trick nicely.

The one thing you must do this month is to just enjoy your garden. I hope to see lots of our neighbours
on the 30th June NGS open day – see below!

NGS Open Gardens Sunday 30th June 2019 from 11am to 5pm at Smiths Hall

Smiths Hall’s delightful 3 acre gardens surrounding a beautiful 1719 Queen Anne House (not open).
Lose yourself in sunken garden, iris beds, scented old fashioned rose walk, formal rose garden,
intense wild flowers, peonies, deep herbaceous borders and specimen trees.

Home made quiche, cakes and other refreshments available.

Page 3 of 8
 West Farleigh In Bloom

Our bug hotel (left) on the wildlife triangle at the top of Teston
Lane needs a name!

We would love the children of West Farleigh to suggest a new

name – and the person who comes up with the best name
will win their very own bug hotel (right)!

Please send your suggestions to bloom@thefarleighs.co.uk by

15 July.

The South East in Bloom judges are coming to West Farleigh

on 4 July to assess our efforts this year – both in the village
and the churchyard.

You may not be aware of

what we have been
doing but can see our
presentations to the
judges on the Farleighs
website.

Let’s hope we get some sun before then to get those

sunflowers flowering!

Date for your diary: on Sunday 11 August 3-5 pm we will

be holding our first ever GARDEN PARTY!

Tickets are £7.50 each – please ask one of the Bloom

team or email us at bloom@thefarleighs.co.uk if you
would like to come. The ticket includes afternoon tea
and entertainment from the fantastic Pete & Co. Prosecco will be available for a donation.

PS. How to Grow Sunflowers in Your Garden?

Peter Weeks is the Writer of The Daily Gardener blog. After
reading about West Farleigh Village In Bloom he sent us his blog
about growing sunflowers. For the full blog with beautiful photos
and more information about growing sunflowers, please visit

https://www.thedailygardener.com

Page 4 of 8
 Farleigh Feathers by Ray Morris

The bird with the Coat of Many Colours

Or Joe Starling, as I call him, wearing his ‘Technicolour Dreamcoat’. In winter,

Eastern European hordes (Joe Stalins?) swell our native population to create
the magnificent murmurations captured on mobile phones across the
country. But at this time of the year our garden feeders and lawns are filled
with their noisy, squabbling offspring. Not everyone though recognises the
dull, uniformly brown youngsters as being the same species as the iridescent
bluey-green, multicoloured-and-spotted adults.

Like its Biblical namesake, Joe is resented by some because he attracts all the attention as he hogs the
best food on the bird table, or a swarm of them overwhelms the blackbirds and thrushes probing the
grass in fields or on hitherto quiet garden lawns.

But starlings don’t have it all their own way.

Sparrowhawks are desperately hunting small birds to feed
their own youngsters, and these birds are a favourite
prey; not only are starlings a good sized catch for a male
sparrowhawk (the larger females are busy brooding their
own youngsters in the nest) they are often so busy
squabbling they don’t spot the stealthy hunter until it’s
too late to escape.

Like most other birds too, starlings have suffered from our
regime of sanitising our gardens and countryside. Their
insect prey is being sprayed out of existence, and war is
waged on the leatherjackets (the larvae of daddy-
longlegs, which starlings have evolved to depend on) by
gardeners looking for the perfect lawn. Leatherjackets
feed on the roots of grasses, making it difficult for us to
achieve the impossibly uniform lawns promoted by garden chemical manufacturers. The Lord is certainly
quoted as saying “Go forth and multiply” - hence all the starlings at this time of the year - but I’ve yet to
find a reference to “Go forth and spray”. Enjoy their clownish antics while you still can.

Ron Taylor 8th November 1946 to 2nd May 2019

Jacky, Michael and Paul would like to thank their family and friends from
around the UK and Ireland and the local Villages for the huge support
they gave at Ron’s funeral on 30th May at All Saints, West Farleigh. They
were overwhelmed at the number of people who turned up to pay their
respects, there was standing room only in the church for the service.
There was a poignant moment as his sons carried him from the church to
music from the film the ‘Battle of Britain’ - End Theme (The Final Journey)
when as if on cue a Spitfire flew over.

Later family joined friends at the Good Intent to celebrate his life when a
few ‘Ron drinks’ (Vodka and Coke) were downed.

Ron had always supported RNLI since he started his apprenticeship to be

a Marine Engineer in 1961. A huge sum of £670 was donated to the
charity on the day.

Thanks also go to Angels Funeral Care, The Good Intent, All Saints Church
and to Darren and Tracy and West Farleigh Sports Club who opened their
fields for parking

Page 5 of 8
Farleigh’s Detectorists

Hi Treasure Hunters, welcome to my monthly update.

News:
I am hosting a rally at chez Meddemmen on Sunday 7th July. The weather looks kind, the grass has been cut
and the Farleighs Detectorists will be hunting the fields. We would like to invite everyone to join us, have a go
at detecting and hopefully find something interesting. We’ll have 2-3 hours detecting, then some tea and
cake.
Meet at Ewell Manor, Ewell Lane (plenty of parking) at 9:00am

Find of the month:

Goes to our own Martyn Jones.
“I started getting interested in metal
detecting when I needed some rare down
time from the hard slog of work
commitments. I gained permission to detect
on local land. On my first trip out with my
new detector I came across a strong signal
which was not a constant even reading. I thought I would dig it anyway. as I started
to reveal the item I noticed that there were decoration lines and bronze /brass
colouration. I wasn't sure what I had found so on researching on the Internet I found
it to be a medieval purse bar of between 400 and 450 years old. Keen to follow the
correct procedures in reporting the find I contacted the counties finds officer, following his advice I sent
pictures of the find so it could be correctly recorded. The finds officer commented that it was one of the best
examples that they had seen. It has driven me to search for more exciting finds.”

What a fantastic fine Martyn, well

done!

Completion time:
A chance to win this ‘Very fine’
George VI sixpence. I will prepare it
in a presentation case.

Here’s the question. The 3 George VI sixpences on the right were all found by me in West Farleigh. Why is
coin 3 so dull compare to its peers ?

A high resolution image can be found at http://www.thefarleighs.co.uk/farleigh_detectorists.html

Answers to metal@thefarleighs.co.uk

Happy hunting folks!

Page 6 of 8
View from the Scoreboard by Terry Baines

CRICKET : Good news for our 1st XI after the first few games. We are currently sitting on
top of the table, let’s hope we can stay there! Our fixtures last month were victories over
Otford, The Weald and Luddesdowne and an amazing game against Halstead in which we
tied on 171 each! There were no defeats. Meanwhile out 2nd XI have had mixed fortunes.
We started off beating Bidborough but lost the following week to Speldhurst. Finally, rain
resulted in no play against Kilndown and our game versus Withyham being abandoned. If you want a break
from shopping why not come down and support our lads, you will be very welcome.
We are still looking for some more local talent for cricket. If you would like to give it a go, please get in touch.
01622 815267. Yes, this means you!

Football: Our Ringstedt Friends from Germany are coming over on 26 th July – more details in next month’s issue
Our lucky TON UP WINNERS last month were

No 62 Yvonne Martin £30 No 99 Keith Dalton £20 No 83 Trevor Fermor £10

Yours in sport Tel 815267

Evergreens

It was planned that on Tuesday June 11 the Evergreens would visit ‘Timbers’ a garden
located on Dean Street in East Farleigh for a look around some 5 acres of superb gardens
and woodland and enjoy a cream tea, plus an explanative talk by the owners.

In the days leading up to the event an amber weather warning of very heavy rainfall and local flooding in this
area was given by the meteorologists, but the Evergreens were not to be put off and advised to wear stout
shoes and to bring a raincoat just in case. As the date neared the forecast improved and some 28 Evergreens
cast off their anoraks and enjoyed a brilliant hot sunny day for their visit, a few even looking to shelter from the
sun. What is that saying about the righteous and the sun? The next Evergreens function is a luncheon on
Tuesday 25 June when a speaker will be talking about his grandfather being a spy! Miss it at your peril!

On July 9th, we will be visiting the gardens of Smiths Hall and enjoying afternoon tea.
On the 23rd we will be having lunch in the WI Hall Forge Lane East Farleigh.
If you would like to join us call Terry 814561 or Helen 814445, who can arrange transport if required.

THE FARLEIGHS WI

The Farleighs WI will be celebrating its 100th birthday in July. On the 6th July there will be a
lunch at the Masonic Hall Tovil, Smart summer dresses will be worn. On the 10th July, our
usual meeting night, members have been asked to come along in Edwardian costume.
No WI lady at the time would be seen without a hat.

The meeting will be conducted as it would have been 100 years ago. No Christian names all Mrs and Miss.
There was always a competition. Members have been given a bar of soft soap to carve into something
interesting.

Past members have been invited and there will be entertainment from the Farleighs Choir.

A report of the meeting, with photos, will appear in next month’s Lifeline.

A team of WI ladies attended East Farleigh Fete, providing tea and cake (there’s a surprise!) Another group of
ladies sold preloved bags and beads and yet another two sold raffle tickets. When anything needs doing the
WI ladies are there!

Page 7 of 8
Village Events

Thursday 7th July 7.30pm The White House –Kits Coty and Boughton Monchelsea Morris Dancers
will be performing for your entertainment – do go and support them

Saturday 13th July 7.00pm The Good Intent – Back again for a 3rd year The Accidents will be
performing on The Green – there will be a noodle bar available for food

Monday 15th July 7.30pm PARISH COUNCIL MEETING at Good Intent

All parishioners are welcome to come along and hear what is
going one in and around the village.

Saturday 27th July 2.00 pm The Good Intent’s Beer Olympics in aid of the Heart of Kent Hospice.
Teams of 2 or more including children. Registration is required

Saturday 27th July 7.30pm ALL SAINTS ANNUAL QUIZ NIGHT

Whey-hey! Pete and Den will be in charge again! Everyone is welcome.
Make up a team or turn up and we will make up a scratch team or two.

Come and say goodbye to Malcolm.....

Huge thanks to all the villagers (and some ex-villagers) who signed
Malcolm's farewell card with those lovely sentiments and those who
gave some cash to his collection. Final amount is not yet known but
it is in excess of £550.00.

Question – can you join us once more between 10 am and midday

on Saturday 6th July at the Good Intent for free coffee (courtesy of
Pauline) and free cakes (courtesy of Jill) and a chance to say
goodbye to our wonderful postie, Malcolm, who will be there with his wife to collect the card. and what he
thinks is a small collection for his benefit. (Sshh, don't tell him the amount).

West Farleigh litter pick: Sunday 7 July 2019

If you plan to join us, please congregate on the Green by the “Good Intent”, at 9:00 a.m. on the day, when
we’ll make up our teams.

Just an hour’s litter picking will be rewarded with hot coffee and a bacon buttie! Please phone
Tel on 815267 or Brian on 812341 (brianc@hotmail.com). We look forward to seeing you!.

Page 8 of 8