Emergency Road Closure - Lower Rainham Road, Upchurch

It will be necessary to close Lower Rainham Road, Upchurch from Sunday 20th September 2020 for up to 1 day.

The road will be closed at Otterham Quay Lane to Station Road.

The alternative route is via Station Road, High Street and Otterham Quay Lane.

It is planned that the road will be closed between 09:00 hrs and 16:00 hrs.

This is to enable carriageway resurfacing to be carried out by Mostrim Groundworks.

For information regarding this closure, please contact Kent County Council on:

03000 418181 (9:00am - 5:00pm)

03000 419191 (5:00pm - 9:00am)

For details of roadworks see: www.kenttraffic.info

Kent County Council - Highways, Transportation & Waste

Newington History Group - Newington Uncovered 2020

Email: newingtonhistorygroup@outlook.com

Website: www.newingtonhistorygroup.btck.co.uk
Facebook: Newington History Group

Follow on Twitter: twitter.com/NewingtonHG

Richard Thompstone - Newington History Group

September News from Upchurch Horticultural Society - From the Potting Shed

Sponsored by Upchurch River Valley Golf Course Ltd

As we move into September the evenings and mornings are certainly getting nippy, but the day time temperatures are lovely and we are being promised an Indian summer. Personally, I take that sort of talk with a pinch of manure and still haven’t forgotten Gordon Brown’s BBQ summer. I believed him, got the BBQ out and watched it go rusty. This year actually reminds me of 2008, which may not have been too memorable, other than the fact that Autumn arrived at the start of October and produced a cold winter. The fruit seems early this year, the pears are picked, and the apples are huge. My Braeburns are a month early, there is a mass of berries and the starlings are starting to flock together. There is always talk of hard winters at this time of year but there may be some truth in it this year.

My poor lawn has been clobbered again this year, just when it had almost recovered from a couple of years ago. It's greening up again after the summer but will need a lot of scarifying with a spring tyne rake to get the dead thatch out. I gave it an Autumn weed and feed with low Nitrogen (N) and high Phosphate (P) and Potassium (K) which will help to strengthen the roots through the winter. In a previous house, I dug up the lawn and re-seeded it with Canada Green. This is a mix of Red Fescue, Rye and Kentucky Bluegrass. It produced a thick mat of vigorous grass that was drought resistant but needed a lot of cutting. So that’s the plan for next year.

I finally managed to weed the borders recently after two years and they do look bare, although the spring bulbs will hopefully provide a good show. The perennials from a “local nursery” have taken well and provided more colour and the dahlias are looking good despite a couple of casualties. The plug plants did not do well, but really need to be raised under glass. The Duchess threw me out of the conservatory this spring to make room for her house plants so I need to get a greenhouse.

In my fervour to face up to pandemic, I tried to get ahead of nature in the vegetable patch this Spring and got caught by a late frost. The climbing beans have come to nothing and a late sowing just hasn’t made it in time. A solitary marrow has struggled into growth and I am patiently waiting for the first stuffed marrow of the year. Curiously the sweetcorn survived but has produced a lot of small cobs which have ripened but are half bald! Potatoes have been excellent along with the broad beans which this year were Exhibition Longpod. A mass of beans but no opportunity to exhibit them.

Earlier in the year, I noticed that my plums were oozing a clear resin so when it came to harvest I opened them up for signs of sawfly. Some were maggoty but not all, so I do not think that this indicates a parasite. All the plums that were infected had a neat little hole in them about 1mm wide where the larvae had burrowed their way in.

Next month is the big tidy up and this year I am going to lift the potatoes, just in case. The log store is full with plenty of kindling and I will steadily retire from the garden. There are parsnips in the ground waiting for the first hard frost to sweeten them up and a late sowing of leeks to go in because I lost those as well. It’s been a strange year and still strange and it is difficult to predict where all this is leading. Hopefully, things will get back to normal, the pandemic will pass and we can all enjoy a good Xmas. But one thing I will do is always making sure that I drink from a clean glass and remember to take the mask off.

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

New Litter & Dog Waste Bins at the Recreation Ground

Upchurch Parish Council has installed two new litter & dog waste bins at the Recreation Ground.

Dog owners can also make use of the 2 TiksPac Station Dispensers, one situated on the Chaffes Lane side of the Recreation Ground, the other at the entrance to the tramline footpath in Chaffes Lane, leading to Forge Lane.

Bagged dog waste can be disposed of in any public litter bin or take it home to your household green bin.

Please leave the Recreation Ground and our village spaces clean and tidy for others.

Thank you

Cllr Pam Denny

Cllr Tyrone Ripley

Upchurch Parish Council

Temporary Road Closure - The Street, Hartlip

Kent County Council has made an order to temporarily prohibit through traffic on The Street, Hartlip from Monday 5th October 2020 for up to 2 days between the hours of 08:00 and 18:00.

The road will be closed in the general vicinity of Swan Cottage, to the extent indicated by signs and barriers on site.

The alternative route for any through traffic is via The Street, Mount Lane, Place Lane, Dane Lane, Munns Lane and vice versa.

Access for emergency service vehicles and pedestrians will be maintained at all times during the closure.

The closure is required for the safety of the public and workforce while works to transfer underground equipment are undertaken by BT.

For information regarding this closure, please contact BT on: 0800 800150, who will be able to assist with the scope of the works.

For details of roadworks see: https://one.network

KCC 24hr Contact Centre: 03000 418181

Kent County Council - Highways, Transportation & Waste

Swale Borough Council - Coronavirus Cases Remain Low

Cllr Roger Truelove.

With recent reports of cases of coronavirus in the area, Swale Borough Council wants to reassure residents that the number of local cases is still low.

Cllr Roger Truelove, leader of the council, said:

“We know there may be some concern about the number of cases of coronavirus being reported in local schools and businesses, but I want to reassure people that the number of cases in the borough remains relatively low.

Thanks to the vast majority of people doing the right thing - regularly washing our hands, wearing face coverings when required, keeping our distance and getting tested if displaying symptoms – we have been able to avoid the situation seen elsewhere in the country, where local lockdowns have been imposed.

However, it has been a timely reminder that we cannot afford to be complacent.

The new rules coming in from Monday about not gathering in groups of more than six people might not be a return to the full lockdown, but they are a reminder that it remains a possibility.

I urge everyone, particularly young people who are more likely to carry the virus with no obvious symptoms, that we need to continue taking these precautions if we want to avoid further restrictions.

No-one wants to be the reason a vulnerable family member or friend becomes ill, or much worse. To avoid having to live with that on your conscience, please keep taking this terrible virus seriously.

All local agencies - ourselves, the county council and colleagues in the NHS and public health - are working to try to make sure we are kept safe, but ultimately it is the individual actions of each of us that will stop the spread.

Yes, it seems inconvenient, yes, it means we can’t do everything we might like to do right now, but that seems a small price to pay in the short term to prevent unnecessary suffering and deaths.

So please, keep following the health advice - regularly wash your hands, wear a face covering, keep your distance and if you have any of the symptoms, get tested.”

For the latest information and advice about coronavirus, visit: www.gov.uk/coronavirus

Swale Borough Council