Newington History Group

Newington used to be famous for its cherries and bees were important in pollinating the crop. Eric Layer will talk about bee-keeping and the insect's declining numbers at Newington History Group's annual meeting on Thursday, May 11th.

Guests are welcome to attend meetings on the second Thursday of the month in the Methodist Hall, Church Lane at 7:30pm. A 'Show and Tell' will hear members' stories of historic interest on June 8th.

The group seeks to unearth, preserve and promote the history of the village and neighbouring areas. An annual subscription is £15.

For more details contact Thelma Dudley on 01795 842711 or

Email Thelma@newingtonhistory.co.uk Follow the group's activities on Twitter @newingtonhg

Richard Thompstone - Newington History Group

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May News from Upchurch Horticultural Society - From the Potting Shed

Sponsored by Upchurch River Valley Golf Club - www.rivervalleygolf.co.uk

May is another busy month in the garden but it is when all the hard work starts to show and you can sit on the patio in the sunshine with a drink and start taking some satisfaction.

The lawn will be well under way with regular mowing required with the blades low. The weed and feed in April should be producing results and new seed will start to germinate. Avoid cutting new grass until it is 3” long. Good maintenance through the year with another weed and feed later in the summer (avoiding times of drought) will keep it looking lovely.

Deadhead spring bulbs but avoid cutting down foliage and just let them die back naturally. Harden off seedlings and plug plants by putting them outside during the day. Herbaceous perennials can still be divided and now is the time to prune penstemons. Trim back spreading plants like aubretia and the dead stems of lavender. As the early flowering shrubs finish, prune them back to encourage new growth which produces the flowers next year. However, after June stop pruning. Also tidy up the spring flowering clematis by cutting out dead or overcrowded growth. Start tying-in and supporting new growth where needed. Now is also a good time to take cuttings from tender new growth. Evergreen hedges can be clipped.

Maintain a routine of watering and feeding containers and give them a top dress and even mulch with bark or decorative stone to retain moisture and suppress weeds. A balanced liquid feed every 4 weeks will keep them in good shape. Keep an eye out for pests and diseases which will start to get to work especially rose blackspot which can be treated with a systemic fungicide. Remove infected leaves and do not compost.

Make up new pots and containers especially hanging baskets and let annuals harden off for a couple of weeks. Use good quality compost and add slow release fertiliser and water retaining gel or crystals. Plant up around the edges to give good visual impact.

The vegetable patch should be up and running. Pick asparagus when it’s about 8” long and unforced rhubarb should be ready but only take about one third of the new stems. When the broad beans start to develop pinch out the top leaves to control blackfly and bump up the bean pods. Continue to earth up potatoes (although personally I don’t bother). Harden off tomatoes, climbing beans, marrows and pumpkins ready for planting out and erect bean and pea supports. With runner beans it is good idea to dig a trench in the Autumn and collect all the compost over the winter and spring which can now be raked over with soil all ready for planting. With tomatoes, marrows and pumpkins dig a pocket about 12” square and 12” deep and fill with well rotted compost from the bin. Fill with water and give it a stir to get a compost soup. Rake over the soil and plant out when hardened off. Avoid tying tomatoes to canes at first let them thicken up a bit and remember to keep spares as tender plants easily become casualties. Brassicas and leeks can go into their final positions. Firm brassicas in place and if growing blanch leeks use a dibber to produce an 8” deep hole and pop the leek in and water, allowing it to earth up over time. Protect carrots with horticultural fleece.

Maintain your ponds and remove duckweed and blanket weed leaving it beside the pond for a day or so to allow any pondlife to escape back into the pond, hopefully you have plenty of tadpoles.

We are always looking for new members and try to encourage a fun attitude towards friendly competition. So if you want to grow your own fruit, vegetables and flowers or even enter any of the 3 shows we hold each year, then please get in touch, we would be happy to hear from you.

If you are interested in becoming a new member, (all ages are welcome), please contact Rosey on: 01634 377812 (evenings) or Email: rosemary@ringwoodaccounting.co.uk

Sean Barry - Upchurch Horticultural Society

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Friends of Upchurch Village Hall, Wine & Wisdom Quiz - Thank You

We held our first fund raising evening on Friday the 28th of April and a great success it proved to be, we raised in total £559.30 with our Wine & Wisdom Quiz.

The group would to thank all those that came along and made this evening such a success. In addition we would also like to thank all the helpers from UpARA, and other groups who promoted and helped run the event.

If you would like to be part of the future of this fund raising group, please contact John Tutt via his Email address: captaingrandpa@hotmail.co.uk

John Tutt

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Rainbow Café - 1st Birthday

On Thursday 13th April Rainbow Café celebrated its 1st Birthday – and I would really like to give a big thank you to everyone who helps make Rainbow happen - from those who help move the tables and chairs and set up the Café, to those who bake and donate cakes, biscuits and savouries, to those who take time to chat and play, to those who help clear away – thank you so much, without you Rainbow wouldn’t happen. And that would be a real shame because the older folk, the mums and children who come say they really love coming to Rainbow – and it doesn’t end there.

Rainbow is now attended each month by a couple of people from ‘Early Help’. Early Help are a team trained to support children, young people and families in Kent. They are able to give advice and support on a number of issues that affect children and families. They deal with issues around grief, bullying, anxiety and any other issue that affects a child or young persons’ well-being – come and have a chat and a coffee with them – children struggle with a variety of things these days they may be able to help.

Rainbow is also using some of its income to support 3 children in Uganda. Through Lesley Ambrose, a missionary in Uganda, we have had the privilege to pay for the fees, required books, pens etc. along with uniforms and shoes for Raymond and Deborah and we also give financial support to another child called Andrew who we hope to be able to put through school in the near future. So eating cake at our Café makes a real difference.

Another issue we are really aware of at the Café is that more people are struggling in our local community and each week our church family at both St. Mary’s and Uplift donates food to the Sittingbourne Food Bank. Recently Julian our Rector has become a Food Bank voucher holder – which means he is now in a position to give vouchers to anyone in need, which will enable them to go to a Food Bank centre and get food for themselves and their family. We know that getting there may not always be easy so we have decided that at Rainbow Café we will hold emergency boxes of food. We haven’t worked out all the ins and outs yet but look for Julian, Elizabeth or Gill at the Café and we will certainly sort something out if you need help.

Our next Rainbow Café is at St Mary’s, Upchurch on May 11th from 2:30pm until 5:00pm. Come and enjoy our yummy home-made cakes and savouries and a very warm welcome. All are welcome. We also do a great deal for the kids – 5 items plus juice for £1.

Gill & The Rainbow Team

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Open Day at The Oak Grove - 27th May

Here at The Oak Grove we are hosting an Open Day on Saturday 27th May, 11:00am till 4:00pm. We would be delighted if you could join us for a glass of fizz and to take a look around.

We will have a number of suppliers to meet and chat to (more announced soon), as well as all of us in The Oak Grove team.

Please click where it says “Please Register Us For The Open Day” to let me know by Email if you can make it.

For directions, please go to our website - www.theoakgrove.uk or click here for Google maps.

Stay up to date with more info at our Facebook Event - click here 

We look forward to seeing you on the 27th.

Best Wishes

Sam Holland - The Oak Grove
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UpARA - A Sporting Day Out In Ferques

A small but hardy group of UpARA members have been playing Petanque for a little while now. Hardy because we play in just about any weather condition and on not really appropriate surfaces. However, on Thursday 20th April, thanks to the Upchurch Twinning Committee, we were able to engage in a more serious contest with our “Twins” in Ferques, Picardy, France. So a small convoy of three cars and twelve passengers met up at the Chunnel terminal, a bonne heure, for the short dash under the channel. Off the Shuttle and just a 20 minute run to Ferques. That part of Northern France is very much like our home territory. Very rural, other than some enormous marble quarries.

The rendezvous was actually in a very pleasant municipal park in Elinghen on the outskirts of Ferques. Given the hour time difference, first item on the agenda was a snack lunch. Not surprisingly le picnic was baguettes and wine, or softer drinks if you preferred. The weather was very kind to us, being bright and sunny, if a touch cool, and we commenced this year's sun tans. We did rather eye the four Petanque pitches nervously, as they were a lot better than anything we were used to. They were flat and looked very “fast”. First sight of our opponents was also somewhat daunting, as a number of them seemed young and fit, and the rest older and looking very skilled. Clearly there was not too much common ground in terms of language, but signing and Gallic shrugs worked well enough. Our hosts had anticipated our relative inexperience, and paired each of us with un homme ou une femme. However, once we started playing we did not look totally the English amateurs, and acquitted ourselves quite respectably. The knock out tournament was a little hard to follow, but at the end of the day our Chairman, David, and his French partner, Roger, emerged triumphant.

We rounded the day off with a very pleasant dinner at a local Auberge in Weirre Effroy, and a speedy hoof up the motorway back to Calais. Unfortunately the machinations of  Le Shuttle side tracked one of our cars to a later train, but notwithstanding that we all had a great day out. Obviously this sort of activity is what ARAs are about, and with a very timely grant from Swale Borough Council, we are soon to have our own Petanque pitch. More than that the sheer exercise of “going foreign” is that this is a stimulating and very positive way to reinforce our personal confidence and self esteem. Which must be the very core of the ARA ethos.

Plus le meme...

Jacques Boules

UpARA

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