April News from Upchurch Horticultural Society - From the Potting Shed

Sponsored by Upchurch River Valley Golf Course Ltd

April is here and Spring does appear to have come early. March was a mix of lion and lamb but at least we didn’t get a return of winter. So unless April brings a very unexpected surprise we can really take to the garden this month and get the year going in earnest.

If you got going on lawn repairs last month you will be off to a flying start but if not April is also a good time to get this job done so that you have an even lawn again in time for the summer. If you have sown seed avoid those areas when applying a weed and feed, if not do the weed and feed first then wait a week or so before sowing seed. Remember that a lawn requires a high nitrogen feed in the Spring to get it greened up and growing. Use a garden fork to aerate the soil by digging the tynes 6” into the ground and slightly lifting the soil to break it up under the surface. This will allow air into the soil and provide drainage in the event of April showers. The soil will quickly settle back into place due to normal foot traffic. Get into a cutting routine but avoid the new growth from seed. Let this grow and get established before cutting it for the first time in June. When it is growing vigorously after this, apply a weed and feed to get rid of any weeds that have become established amongst the new grass.

Lift and divide perennial plants to improve vigour and increase numbers, particularly primroses as soon as they finish flowering. Divide hostas before they come into leaf. Pinch out the tops of sweet peas and fuchsia to encourage the plants to get bushy. Any perennials showing good basal growth like penstemons, phlox and chrysanthemums can be pruned back to the base and basal cuttings can be taken if required. Deadhead daffodils and tulips and let them die back naturally. Also prune forsythia as soon as the flowers fade and ensure that there is no wood more than 3 years old left in the plant as this will not produce much flower next year

Finish preparing the vegetable plot and fill up the bean trench with any left over compost before raking the soil level. Mark the corners of the trench with canes so that you will know where to erect the frame in May. Continue sowing seed either in trays or individual pots but do not over water, just keep the compost moist to avoid damping off or larger seeds rotting before they have chance to germinate. Once germination has taken place remove tops to allow air to get to the seedlings. Carrots, parsnips and salad crops can go straight into the soil. If you are lucky enough to have an asparagus patch, harvest the spears while they are still short (12” - 18”) and tender as the stems harden up quickly. Also aim to get your maincrop potatoes in the ground by the end of the month and they should be ready in September. I will stick with the allotment favourite, Cara, because it is such a good all round spud, but there are so many varieties available that we are simply spoilt for choice.

Apply a slow release fertiliser to your fruit trees, shrubs and roses and water in. Check that containers are not getting dry and keep an eye out for the unexpected hot day that can cause havoc with seedlings. It is hard work this time of year and May is another busy month but come June you can start to enjoy the garden with outdoor living and a cold beer in the evening. But I don’t think I am going to wait that long.

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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The Great British Spring Clean - Upchurch - Thank you

Upchurch Parish Council once again pledged its support for this year’s Great British Spring Clean, organised by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy and supported locally by Swale Borough Council and Biffa.

The Great British Spring Clean is the country’s biggest mass-action environmental campaign and aims to bring together individuals, community organisations, businesses and councils to make a difference to the environment on our doorstep.

The campaign was first run in 2017. In 2018, despite the Beast from the East, more than 371,566 litter heroes (including more than 126,651 school children) collected over 630,000 bags of rubbish. In total 13,500 events were held over the campaign period and 300 local authorities took part.

All set to Spring clean Upchurch!

Heading off along Chaffes Lane.

Looking for litter on the Recreation Ground. 

Busy filling sacks.

Litter pickers at the ready.

Cleaning up in Chaffes Lane.

Well done Holywell. Look at all that rubbish you collected!

Sunday's volunteers.

Another huge pile of rubbish was collected again this year.
You wouldn't believe some of the things we found!

2019

Our Great British Spring Clean in Upchurch took place this year on Friday the 5th and Saturday the 6th of April.

Friday 5th

Young people from Holywell School went out litter picking around the village, accompanied by their teachers and members of staff. Sittingbourne and Sheppey MP, Gordon Henderson came to the school to help too, along with Councillor's Tyrone Ripley, Alan Horton and teacher, Mr Ball. Upchurch super litter pickers, Helen and Eddie Tydeman collected a dozen sacks between them. Regular volunteer, Margaret Packer and Dave Warren helped as well. Cliff our village caretaker also went out litter picking.

Saturday 6th

Rain didn't stop volunteers setting off from the Recreation Ground car park in Oak Lane shortly after 10:30am, to litter pick the planned routes around the village. 1st Upchurch Brownies and Guides were there in force, accompanied by their parents and leaders, Tracey and Sophie Snellings. Helen and Eddie Tydeman joined the litter pick for a second day as did Margaret Packer and Dave Warren. Jan Bunting came to help as well. Councillor Richard Palmer litter picked, helping organisers, Councillor's Tyrone Ripley and Alan Horton who drove around the routes collecting the full sacks and large items of rubbish, before dropping them to the Recreation Ground car park to be collected later by waste contractor, Biffa.

Another tremendous village effort resulted in dozens of sacks of litter and large items of rubbish being picked from our public spaces and the surrounding country lanes. 

Well done everyone. The village looks lovely!

Thanks to Swale Borough Council for the loan of the equipment again, and to Biffa for collecting all the rubbish.

To find out more, visit >> www.keepbritaintidy.org

#GBSpringClean

Upchurch Matters

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Poolside Bar & Courtyard - Live Music with Victoria Cluskey - Twisted Diva at Upchurch River Valley Golf Course

Jenny Giles - Upchurch River Valley Golf Course

Telephone: 01634 360626

Website: www.rivervalleygolf.co.uk

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Who Do You Recognise From This Old Photograph? And What Was The Occasion?

Click on the photograph to enlarge.

Thanks to Bryan Veale for sharing this old photograph of what is believed to be children from Upchurch, and possibly neighbouring villages.

Who do you recognise from this old photograph?
And what was the occasion?

Some local children have already been spotted, they are:

Bob Barnes
Pat Simmons
John Swift
Neville Busbridge
John Gilbert
Jayne Batchelor
Grahame Daniels
Evelyn Coe
Adrian Wildish
Audrey Spree
Margaret Everest
Evelyn Champion
Margaret Stevens
Mary Batchelor
Shirley Swift
Frank Cook
Edward Williamson
Peter Boakes
David Bronger

Upchurch Matters
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Poolside Bar & Courtyard - Live Music with JUST ONE MORE at Upchurch River Valley Golf Course

Jenny Giles - Upchurch River Valley Golf Course

Telephone: 01634 360626

Website: www.rivervalleygolf.co.uk

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Upchurch Disasters by David Wood

Strong winds, the river, fire, war and accidents have all caused disasters in the parish at different times, sometimes death or extensive damage.

Click photos to enlarge.
Burntwick Island. Photos courtesy of Kevin Thornton.
The flooded close ups were taken from a boat in 2017. The long distance
photo in the centre with Greenborough in front, then Barksore was taken in 2016.

During the mid–eighteenth century the river swallowed up about 500 acres of land between Bayford and Burntwick Island which had formed part of the parish of Upchurch. This proved disastrous for some local farmers who had used the land for agriculture. Sheep grazing continued on Burntwick Island until flooding ended it in 1905.

The Great Flood of 1953 seriously damaged land and property near the river. A surge of water in the North Sea sped down the eastern coastline of England and caused massive damage. In Upchurch a tidal wave about fifteen feet high rushed over the seawall at Bayford during the early morning hours of February 1st and continued past Ham Green to Twinney. This resulted in Charles Barling’s herd of 25 milking cows locked in a cattle shed on Bayford Marsh being drowned and Frog Farm Cottages flooded. The village football and cricket pitches at Piwit Marsh in Poot Lane and a large acreage of farmland stretching from the lower end of Poot Lane to Twinney were submerged in salt water and damaged.

A boating disaster which claimed the lives of three Upchurch men on Whit Monday in May 1910 remains the most serious recorded boating disaster in the parish. James Hatton, brothers James and John Shipp and their friend James Boyst set off on a flat bottomed punt with a sail attached from Motney Hill to Otterham Quay when a sudden gust of wind caught the sail causing the boat to capsize and throw the occupants into the river. Although all the men could swim three were drowned but John Boyst survived by clinging to the side of the boat until he was rescued. The bodies of the three drowned Upchurch men were never recovered.

Powerful winds have caused damage to buildings and trees at different times but the hurricane of October 1987 is the most serious in living memory. Nobody died or suffered serious injury but thousands of fruit trees were uprooted or damaged and outbuildings destroyed on local farms. Some houses lost chimney stacks and roof tiles, electricity and telephone cables were severed. The hurricane inflicted so much damage on Hilda’s Cottage in Poot Lane that the dwelling had to be demolished and its occupants Dolly Witherden and her son Tony rehoused.

The most notable fire disaster led to the destruction of the historic windmill located on Windmill Hill in 1910. The windmill had existed since the beginning of the nineteenth century and belonged to farmers Wakeley Brothers from Rainham. The cause of the fire remains unknown but tar and wood which formed part of the construction played a part in the rapid spread of the fire. The fire brigade tried to extinguish the blaze but they failed and the windmill burnt down.

The biggest single disaster of World War Two in Upchurch concerned the destruction of the railway bridge in Oak Lane and the resulting train crash caused by a doodle-bug (A German V1 rocket) in August 1944. An RAF fighter plane had chased the rocket above the Kent countryside but the pilot had unsuccessfully tried to shoot it down. He then flew his plane alongside it and managed to use one of the aircraft wings to flip it over. Unluckily, the rocket plunged down and destroyed the Oak Lane railway bridge in a big explosion which killed a railway worker sheltering under it and created a huge gap where the bridge had stood. Soon after this a Victoria to Ramsgate train approached and crashed into the gap killing 12 passengers and injuring 34. During the chaos the train fireman managed to escape from the wreckage and run to the Newington signal box to warn the signalman. Trains travelling in both directions were then stopped which prevented another disaster. A new bridge was later constructed.

Click photo to enlarge.
The Barbara Webb Memorial Tree was planted at Upchurch
Village Hall during a ceremony held on Friday 8th August 2014,
to commemorate the 50th anniversary of her death.

The tragic death of Carnival Queen Barbara Webb aged only 19 from Drakes Close, killed when she fell off her float (a decorated lorry) in Chaffes Lane in 1964 became the greatest Upchurch disaster of the 1960s. As driver Myles Murr was driving Barbara Webb home to Drakes Close after the carnival procession a vehicle approached from the opposite direction. Myles Murr braked and steered the float onto the side of the road. Because the right side of the float was passing over a dip in the road the throne on which Barbara Webb was sitting toppled over causing her to fall over the side of the vehicle and under one of the wheels which killed her. The incident proved disastrous for the Webb family and for the 1964 carnival but the event continued in future years.

The incidents outlined show that disasters are a possibility given certain circumstances. Fortunately, these have occurred infrequently in Upchurch over the centuries.

About David

David Wood was born, raised and still lives in Upchurch today. He is able to write from personal experience about village life and the changes that have taken place over the years, making ‘Memories of Upchurch’ a very readable book and 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

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