The Queen's Diamond Jubilee - New Picture Gallery of the Village Celebrations

Upchurch celebrated The Queen's Diamond Jubilee over a long weekend at the beginning of June. Our thanks to Ben Walters Photographer for Upchurch Parish Council for sending in this selection of just some of the pictures he captured at various events over the weekend.

Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Children and Parents enjoying the Street Party in Crosier Court.

The Riverside Fire & Rescue Service Team at the Party in Crosier Court.

Alison Lewin and Kate Walters Performing in The Jubilee Concert.

Crowds Watching the Bonfire / Beacon Lighting at the Recreation Ground.

The Jubilee Jolly in Full Swing in the Village Hall.

The Sunday Morning Parade to the Church.

Dancers at the Street Party in Bradshaw Close.

Crowds Gathered at the Bonfire / Beacon Lighting at the Recreation Ground.

Dave Candy Performing in The Jubilee Concert.

Union Jacks and Crowns were put on all the Lamposts in Crosier Court.

Upchurch Matters

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Kent Police - 101 Non-Emergency Number

101 – national non-emergency number for police

You can now call Kent Police for non-urgent issues on 101. The number is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

To make it quicker and easier for the public to get in contact with their local police, 101 has been introduced in England and Wales. It gives a single, easy-to-remember number to call to report crime and other issues which do not require an emergency response.

You can also call 101 to speak to your local neighbourhood officer, to make a general enquiry or to make us aware of a policing issue where you live.

What classes as an emergency?

Calling 101 for situations that do not require an immediate police response helps keep 999 available for when there is an emergency. An emergency is when a crime is happening, someone suspected of a crime is nearby, someone is injured, being threatened or a life is at risk, or there is a traffic incident involving personal injury or danger.

Each call to 101 will never cost more than 15 pence - no matter what time of day you call, how long your call lasts or even if you call from a mobile. We do not receive any of the call cost.

Call 999 if you can see a crime in progress

Call 999 if someone's life is in immediate danger or they are hurt

Call 101 to report a theft after it has happened

Call 101 to report nuisance vehicles or to speak to your local officer

Call 101 to report minor collisions or if you suspect drug use or dealing

PSE Helen Marshall 57873
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Holywell School Summer Fete

Holywell School Summer Fete is on Sunday the 1st of July from 11:00am - 2:00pm with the grand final of Holywell's Got Talent, BBQ, Tombolas, Dancers and Games, Competitions, Inflatable Slide and much more !

Also your chance to win an iPod Touch in the Raffle and this year there will be a special Football Raffle with a fist prize of a signed Liverpool FC football and a second prize of a signed Gillingham FC shirt !

Please come along and support their biggest fundraising event !

Upchurch Matters

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Upchurch Twinning Group News

Upchurch is twinned with Ferques-Elinghen in Pas de Calais, France.

Try the Holywell School website  www.holywell.kent.sch.uk  for our news as well. In addition, visit  www.ferques.fr  for interesting stuff!  

Sunday 1st July – come and find our stall at Holywell School Fête – we will be running some games this year.  Fun for all!  We hope to have “garden” type games – giant Connect 4 and giant Snakes and Ladders!  Also we will have boules for you to have a go at. The Fête begins at 11am and goes on until about 2 or 3pm.

Saturday 14th July – Bastille Day in Ferques – We’ll be having a stall at the street fair in Ferques as usual this year.  We will be plying everyone with English food and beverages, plus we will sell good quality, donated items to raise some funds.  This event is well worth a visit as part of a day out and to see if you can pick up any bargains on the other stalls!   If you have any items that would be suitable for our stall, do let us know – we can collect if required.  See you there, hopefully!

Saturday 25th August. 2012 – Sports Day – The annual Sports Day will be in Ferques this year.   We will be arranging a coach so think about a day out with lots of sporty fun in France that day, plus food will be available. Cost of a seat on the coach will only be £10.  This is always most enjoyable and well supported so register your interest as soon as possible – seats have been booked already!  We hope that both individuals and Upchurch organisations will take an active part, or just come along to observe and cheer on!

7th October – Anniversary Event – We hope to have an outing to Chatham Historic Dockyard, to include a meal at their restaurant.  A coach load of Ferques residents will be coming over the water to join us. Watch this space!

Jim Harman (Chairman) tel: 01634 235420 & Sue Rossiter (Secretary) Tel: 01634 234780.

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Local Needs Housing - Postponement of Drop In

Members of the Council regret having to postpone this event which was due to be held on 11th June 2012 and apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Please note that the Local Needs Housing Sub-Group have advised the following:

• • The ‘drop-in’ event will be rescheduled for a date in September. Further details will be advertised shortly.
• • If you have already voted, this will remain valid and opened at the Public Count.
• • f you have not already voted, you can still use the voting form that was delivered to you, even though the dates shown are now incorrect.
• • If you wish to change your vote, please attend the rescheduled ‘drop-in’ or contact the Clerk to obtain a new voting form.
• • The closing date for the return of voting forms will be extended to ten days after the rescheduled ‘drop-in’.
• • The date of the Public Count will be rearranged for fourteen days after the rescheduled ‘drop-in’.

Claire Attaway

Clerk to the Parish Council

Tel: 01634 363906 Email:  clerk@upchurchpc.kentparishes.gov.uk

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Upchurch Village Centre in the 1840s

Dominated by the church which served the community and was used as a navigation point for boats sailing up the River Medway, Upchurch was much smaller and quieter than today with hop gardens, orchards and thatched cottages. Motor vehicles did not exist and horses and carts were used as transport. People also walked greater distances to get from one place to another as a public transport service did not pass through the village. 

Between Forge Lane and the vicarage there were not any houses, only fields and orchards. A large orchard with a pond, owned by farmer Thomas Dodd stretched from behind the Street at Church Farm to about halfway down Forge Lane. Contemporary maps show that a large house known as Church Farm Cottages, a barn and yard existed on the top right of Forge Lane and another farm building a little further down on the right. On the top left was a blacksmith's forge and garden. Behind this was Forge Field owned by farmer Richard Mitchell. All other houses were situated opposite and on the same side as the Crown Inn. Beyond these, on the right, was a cottage owned by George Seager then fields and orchards until Poot House on the corner of Poot Lane. 

David Wood.

The vicarage, formerly known as Parsonage Farm, was situated in six acres of ground including the paddock. According to the 1841 National Census 25 inhabitants lived there. These included the vicar John Woodruff, his elderly mother, farmer Richard Hubbard, and an assortment of maids and agricultural labourers. 

A school did not exist on the Infants School site or at Holywell until Holywell School opened in 1847. Until then the village children were educated in the church within the framework of a basic Christian education paid for out of local charitable donations. 

The people who lived in the centre of Upchurch were mainly agricultural labourers, 39 lived in The Street. Of these were familiar recent names like Wildish, Boakes, Smitherman and Bishenden. Most worked for local farmers like Thomas Dodd from Rainham, Richard Mitchell from Holywell then Ham Green, John Walter from Gore Farm and John Green from Horsham Farm. Other residents included Thomas Taylor, publican of the Crown Inn and village grocer, William Friday a corn miller, John Chapman, a butcher, John Castle, a shoemaker, William Mudge, a carpenter and James Kerslake, a blacksmith. 

Most male inhabitants worked on the land and those without work had spells in the Milton Union workhouse. Women went into domestic service with others doing seasonal work on local farms. People were generally poor and were backed up with bread handouts from the vicar every year. The oldest inhabitant of The Street was 70 year old Thomas Holland while the biggest families were those of John and Linda Coveney and William and Mary Friday, both families supported seven children. Farmer John Green supported a wife and fifteen children just down the road at Horsham Farm in a small village where most residents lived out their entire lives.

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  price £12 + p+p £2.

David Wood
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