Church News

St. Mary's Church Upchurch.

This Sunday 11th November at 10:15 am in St. Mary the Virgin Church,..... Remembrance Day service...to include 2 minutes silence and laying of wreaths. Uniformed organisations will leave the Scout Hut at 9:45 am to march down to the church with the band of Church Lads and Girls Brigade. Laying of crosses on war graves in the churchyard will be after the service accompanied by the uniformed groups. Refreshments in the church after. There will not be a 9:00am service.

Sunday 16th December at 4:00 pm Come to our Carol Service in St. Mary’s, seasonal refreshments after and a cracker for everyone! Bring the family!

Also on 16th December we are holding a Christmas Tree Festival in the church. We invite any organisations or individuals to supply and decorate a Christmas Tree (with lights if you like), and display it in the church. It can be real, artificial or hand made – use your imagination! It is in aid of Elimination of Leukaemia Fund run from Kings College Hospital and is near to our hearts. Trees can be put in place the day before (15th Saturday) More information from our Church Warden Jill Rothery on: 01634 389530.

Wednesday 19th December Come Carol Singing! Meet at the church at 6:00pm and we will go round the village singing all your favourite carols. Bring a torch or lantern, children very welcome but must be with a responsible adult. Again, it is in aid of Elimination of Leukemia Fund.

Christmas Eve 24th December 5:30 pm in the Church, our popular CRIB SERVICE! Come and join the excitement of sharing the Christmas story and building up the Crib Scene together with singing the carols....as the clock ticks away!

Christmas Eve at 7:30 pm in the Church also, our equally popular 9 lessons and carols – a centuries old service exactly as it says, 9 lessons and 9 carols. All readers are chosen from the village. Christmas Day..... Come and celebrate at 9:00 am with a Sung Communion Christmas Service. It lasts approx 1 hour.

Forward notice...... Sunday 30th December will be Revd. Ron Partridge’s last service before retirement the next day! It will be held in Iwade Church at 10:30 am and is the only service that morning in our six churches. No service in Upchurch that day.

Visit the Church website. The Six:  www.thesix.org.uk

Revd. Jacky Davis

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Upchurch Family Fireworks - Press Release

The Bonfire Team spent a full 2 days building this years Fire !

Upchurch Family Fireworks celebrated its 17th year this weekend (3rd November) with a superb sound and light show, an impressive bonfire and spectacular fireworks display.

Turnout for the event at Westmoor Farm (off the A2 in Rainham) by residents from Medway, Swale and beyond was excellent and with the weather on our side helped make the evening a resounding success - generating much needed revenue for the Upchurch Scout Group which provides funding for a range of activities and facilities for the Scouts, Cubs and Beavers throughout the year.  

Visitors this year saw one of the best displays around !

Stall holders reported fantastic sales of everything from burgers, hotdogs and doughnuts, to candy floss, hot and cold drinks and ‘Glow’ toys.

It is estimated that 500 vehicles made use of free on-site parking but with careful pre-planning the event team managed to minimise any disruption.

The Upchurch Family Fireworks Committee would like to thank everyone who attended the event as well as all the hardworking volunteers who gave up their precious time to help organise, set-up and run the event.

We would especially like to say a huge, ‘Thank you’, to those who turned up in the pouring rain on Sunday morning to help pack things away!

We look forward to an even bigger and better Upchurch Family Fireworks 2013 – see you there !

Upchurch Family Fireworks

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PFHS - Next Meeting

Dear Parents /Carers,

The next PFHS meeting will be on Wednesday the 14th of November, 7:30pm at The Crown pub, Upchurch.

We hope you can join us.

PFHS

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The Great Hurricane of October 1987

According to the Met Office the last hurricane to hit England occurred in 1703 with serious damage and loss of life. Perhaps that’s why BBC weather forecaster Michael Fish seemed so confident when he said there wouldn’t be a hurricane on October 16^th 1987 but how wrong his prediction turned out to be. At least 13 people were known to have died across the country as roofs and chimneys were blown off houses and fallen trees caused havoc with electricity cables, railway lines and roads.

Michael Fish.

In Upchurch chimney pots and roofs were hit hard as powerful winds swept right across South-East England during the night of October 16th. The most surprised Upchurch residents were Tony Witherden and his mother Dolly at Hilda’s Cottage in Poot Lane. Tony said,

‘I was awoken in the early hours by the movement of the house and howling of the wind. To my surprise when I awoke all I could see was the orchard. The front wall of the house had completely disappeared.’

The two shocked inhabitants and their dog were fortunate to escape uninjured. Their house which had been partly destroyed had to be demolished at a later date but they were not the only surprised residents. Charles Barling of Colts Field Farm in Poot Lane had a close shave while rounding up his cattle when a sheet of sharp edged corrugated tin tumbled across his field at high speed and narrowly missed him. A little earlier his garage had been blown away by a powerful gust just seconds after he had removed his car. At Beckenham Park caravan site in Otterham Quay several caravans were overturned but nobody suffered injury, a boat was blown on to the seawall at Ham Green while Mike and Mary Laity from Wetham Green discovered that their shed of ducks had been blown away. However, many people slept through the worst of the storm and only realized what had happened when they looked outside the following morning and saw the damage.

David Wood.

Compared to some areas Upchurch suffered less devastation but there were damaged chimney stacks, fallen roof slates, uprooted trees and severed electricity cables. The chimney stack on the co-op building fell through the roof and caused short term inconvenience and large trees fell on to the road at Windmill Hill causing some traffic problems.

Local fruit farmers were hit hard and lost hundreds of fruit trees totally uprooted by the wind. Other trees were badly damaged and had to be grubbed and replaced during later years while storage sheds were blown away and strewn across the landscape. Farmers later received some compensation from the government. Overall, 1987 wasn’t a good year for weather conditions as heavy snow had cut the village off from Medway for several days in early January and the summer had been very wet.

The Swale council, overwhelmed by problems left in the wake of the hurricane, employed local Upchurch residents armed with chainsaws to clear up the mess left by fallen trees on roads and property and very soon everything returned to normal. The first hurricane for 300 years had left its mark but most residents hoped it would be the last in their lifetime.

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 on:  david3702001@yahoo.co.uk  or from us here at Upchurch Matters.
price £12 + p+p £2.

David Wood
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Karaoke and Disco - Tonight at The Three Sisters

Karaoke and Disco tonight (the 19th of October) at The Three Sisters Upchurch.

The fun starts at 9:00pm !

Come along for a good night out.

The Three Sisters
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Upchurch Family Fireworks - Appeal for Helpers

Upchurch Scout Group is once again holding their Firework Display on Saturday the 3rd of November at Westmoor Farm on the A2 near Rainham.

This is a charity event, raising money not only for us but could also be for You !

There will be Pitches and stalls available to Scout and Guide groups. All we ask is that you provide two marshals available from 4:00pm until the event closure and possibly two helpers for the Saturday set up, 1:oopm to 4:00pm or Sunday 9.00am to 1:00pm

Anybody who helps will be issued with a family ticket to the event. There are some conditions regarding young helpers. For any more information please contact Upchurch Scout Group on: info@upchurchfireworks.co.uk

If you do not wish to run a stall then please just feel free to support us and have a fun time with music, food and a great spectacular event and encourage as many people to attend as possible.

All stalls need to be self-sufficient for power and water.

Please visit our website:  www.upchurchfireworks.co.uk  for even more information.

The members of Upchurch Scout Group Executive Committee need to call on you for assistance again. As our firework Display grows we need to have more marshals and general helpers to ensure the safe running of the event for everyone.

If we don’t get enough Marshals we can’t run the event !

We have said many times that we are fortunate that the fireworks and waste paper collections provide enough funding for the group without the need to keep asking parents to help and contribute. Most other groups spend many weekends throughout the year trying to raise the kind of money we can raise in one weekend !

Could you spare us some time over the weekend of 3rd & 4th to assist please ?

Our primary concern is to ensure we have enough marshals but we also need assistance to set up on Saturday and clear up on Sunday. (we always get less volunteers for Sunday !) Any time you can give would be much appreciated. Many hands really do make light work. Children may assist with the clear up but we would prefer not to have Cubs and Beavers around whilst we are setting up and children under 16 are not allowed to be in or around the stalls in the evening.

In order to be a marshal you must be over 16 and attend a short, simple safety briefing on Saturday at 11.30am or 4:30pm and then be available on site from 4:30pm until approximately 8:30pm. There’s no upper age limit so Grandparents can help too provided they are physically fit and healthy !

Marshalls must not have children with them for whom they are responsible i.e. if children under 16 are coming with you, there must be another responsible adult to take care of the children. You may well be able to stand with your family but you will need to be available to move where required quickly, particularly in an emergency situation.

So if the idea of standing in a dark field on a cold November night with a silly orange jacket on doesn’t appeal to you – how about we throw in a free family ticket ? Interested ? Please send us an Email as soon as possible.

We spend an awful lot of time chasing people who we know are happy to help but we don’t have them down on our sheet. Please do it now if you can – don’t wait until later !

Email us at:  info@upchurchfireworks.co.uk

Thanks,

Upchurch Scout Group
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