Groups of youngsters congregated outside the Infant’s School to socialise during the 1960s because there wasn’t enough to occupy them. Rich Boakes ran the youth club every Sunday evening and played music on his loudspeaker system in the village hall which proved popular but youths still got bored. Some played football or climbed trees in The Paddock and often had to be ejected by Reverend Bradshaw.
At the October meeting of the Women’s Institute Mrs Dickinson showed the ladies the art of dressmaking and answered questions. Mrs Stevens then read a letter about the history of Upchurch Women’s Institute and mentioned that Illness had caused her to retire from regular active participation at the institute. Following this Mrs Tress won the competition for an embroidered handkerchief with Mrs Wraight second and Mrs Fisher third. The evening concluded with country dancing organised by Miss Staines.
In village social affairs an Autumn Fair took place in the village hall where donations of fruit, flowers and vegetables were on sale. The only other village social event of the month was the cricket club’s Annual Dinner and Dance in the village hall on Saturday October 30th with Kent cricketer Alan Dixon the guest of honour. Ted Tress gave a speech about the past season which had proven to be satisfactory after which the guests tucked into a dinner and then danced the night away.
If you had walked through The Street in October 1965 you would have seen far fewer vehicles parked on the side of the road than today and a Maidstone & District bus service ran through the village with greater regularity and operated from early morning until late at night. Not so many people had cars in those days so there were more customers for the buses. Unlike today general satisfaction existed with regard to bus regularity.
On October 17th for the first time Reverend Bradshaw tried to encourage more people to attend church by holding a Children’s Eucharist in the church which turned out to be very successful with many young parents and their children turning up and taking communion together. However, the evening service which followed this was less successful while Sunday morning services were very well attended with regular churchgoers.
Because the church required money for the repair of the church tower the Friends of Kent Churches donated £100. The Historic Churches Preservation Trust also promised a grant of up to £750 for the church tower which had suffered damage as a result of vibrations from the ringing of the church bells which had been taking place for centuries. Bell ringing had to be suspended until further notice.
Baptisms of village children during October included Karl Ronde from Chaffes Lane, Alison Singyard from Gillingham, Catherine Rush from The Street, Ruth Watts from Church Farm Road and Thomas Smith from Windmill Hill. There were not any recorded marriages and the only burial was that of Robert Dennis aged 75 from Hubbard’s Cottages at Otterham Quay. This ended a fairly typical month in the life of the village in 1965.
About David
David Wood was born and raised in Upchurch and is able to write from personal experience about many people and aspects of the village and of changes that have taken place over the years making ‘Memories of Upchurch’ a very readable book and a detailed historical study of the village. David's book ‘Memories of Upchurch’ is available direct from David at: david3702001@yahoo.co.uk or from us here at Upchurch Matters. Price £12 + £3.50 postage and packing.
David Wood
