Church Opening Times for August

St. Mary the Virgin
Photo: Kim Taylor

St. Mary the Virgin Upchurch will be open on Wednesday afternoons between 1:00pm and 4:00pm and on Saturdays between 11:00am and 4:00pm throughout August.

Jackie Giddings

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Police Station Opening Hours

Police Station opening hours are changing. With effect from 28/07/2014 all stations will be open Monday to Friday 9:00am until 5:00pm.

Stations at Medway and Ebbsfleet will also be open Saturday and Sunday during the same hours. Other stations throughout the county have had their hours reduced.

See Kent Police Website for exact details: www.kent.police.uk

Kent Community Messaging

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The Gullands Guide to Flood Risk Homes

Flooding is a growing risk for some British homes and something a number of Kent’s residents have had to deal with this winter. 

Some people will buy a property, especially those in a fantastic location, fully aware that at some time, it may suffer from flooding. However aside from the physical damage caused by floods if a property is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to:

• Obtain a mortgage

• Obtain suitable insurance cover, or

• Sell the property

Nobody can ever say that a property that has not previously been flooded will never flood and new properties in particular may be tested by the extremes of weather recently experienced. However there are steps that can be taken during the course of a property purchase to forewarn the buyer.

Solicitors are not qualified to give advice on flood risk or interpret technical flood reports but there are a number of checks that can be undertaken by the buyer or on a buyers behalf which will give them a better understanding of the risks.

The standard documentation supplied to a buyer’s solicitor (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) contains a standard enquiry of the seller to ascertain whether any part of the property has ever been flooded and if so, the type of flooding that occurred.

If flooding has previously occurred which is not disclosed by the seller, then a buyer could bring a compensation claim as a result of such an incorrect reply. A buyer’s solicitors will also carry out what is known as an Environment Report. This should disclose whether there is any known flood risk and if so this could result in more detailed enquiries being made.

The buyer would need to identify the level of flood risk, which could be from the buyer’s own personal knowledge of the property and the area, the buyer making further detailed enquiries with their own surveyor and ensuring that a physical inspection or survey has been carried out or a more detailed flood report being obtained which will help the buyer to assess the overall risk.

Alan Williams.

It is important to ensure that the surveyor instructed to act on the buyer’s behalf has local knowledge. The buyer themselves can also make personal enquiries of neighbours, local businesses and consult the Environment Agency Flood Map. This provides a free postcode search for information on flooding from rivers and the sea, but not common flood causes such as surface water and ground water.

A further extremely useful indicator is the buyer making enquiries to establish the terms on which buildings insurance (including flood risk cover) is available. A prohibitive premium or an insurance company potentially declining to insure the property would highlight real cause for concern. As the Standard Conditions of Sale in a Contract for the sale purchase of a residential property oblige the buyer to assume the risk from exchange of Contracts, then the ability to obtain insurance on acceptable terms should be known to a buyer before they become contractually obliged to purchase the property.

If difficulties are experienced in obtaining appropriate buildings insurance and having considered the matter further, a buyer still wishes to proceed, then the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, have produced a guide “Obtaining Flood Insurance in High Risk Areas” for those experiencing difficulty in obtaining flood insurance.

In brief the best advice is to ask as many questions as you can and to do as much research as you can before you commit to buying any home.

Alan Williams is head of the residential conveyancing team at Gullands and can be reached at: Email: a.williams@gullands.com or Call: 01622 689700 Website: www.gullands.com

Gullands Solicitors

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‘An Englishman in Colombia’ by David Wood

Upchurch resident David Wood has recently had his latest book ‘An Englishman in Colombia’ published as a paperback and kindle version for the UK and US markets by Matador publishing company. The book is about 140 pages long with 16 glossy colour photos.

The idea of having a book published came after he put a shortened version on his own website two years ago and this attracted over 12,000 hits in one year after very little advertising. This will be his first book for the national and international markets. His previous two books about the history of the village of Upchurch, ‘Memories of Upchurch’ and Rainham Cricket Club, ‘150 not out, The Complete History of Rainham Cricket Club’ were aimed at the local market.

Murder, cocaine, street muggings, bomb explosions and aggressive Amazonian Indians combined with exotic beach resorts and colourful characters make the book an interesting and adventurous look at the most dangerous country in Latin America during the late 1980s and 1990s.

Starting as an action packed vacation for Upchurch residents David Wood and Nigel Barling in the Caribbean resort of Santa Marta and a fascinating adventure in the Amazon, the author returns to Colombia for a ten year work experience. He portrays the capital Bogota as a mixture of colourful street people, beggars and a vibrant culture as he meets a vast range of characters. He also outlines the problems experienced in the city caused by the great contrast of wealth and poverty and the influence of the cocaine business with detailed personal accounts of incidents such as street muggings, a bomb explosion in central Bogota and the blowing up of an Avianca aircraft by the drug cartels which resulted in the death of his business partner.

David Wood.

Travelling to different locations in the country, David Wood gives a clear description of life in places like the Sierra Nevada Mountains where he treks and climbs to the Lost City of the Tairona Indians and experiences the culture of the Indian tribes who reside there, the culture they maintain and the problems they face. He also considers the history and culture of cities like Cartagena with its colonial and colourful heritage and San Augustin with its ancient stone figures.

Overall, the book portrays Colombia as a land of great contrasts with beautiful locations and lively culture contrasted with excessive violence, poverty and crime which makes the book an interesting and shocking account of one of Latin America’s most alluring countries.

‘An Englishman in Colombia’ is available online at different sites with the cheapest being  www.troubador.co.uk  (book shop) for the hard copy and kindle version. It’s also available at www. Amazon.com, Ebay, The Telegraph and at various high street bookstores priced £6-99 for the paperback and £3-99 for the kindle version.

David Wood is now working on his first novel which is set against a background of abduction and jihadism in Kashmir and he is being advised by established author Margaret James who has had 16 novels published for the UK market. At present David Wood teaches English as an Overseas Language at King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and spends the summer months in Upchurch.

David Wood.

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Break In - Upchurch River Valley Golf Course

Hartlip Newington & Upchurch Ward

Message 481 from Neighbourhood Watch

XY/025047/14: Between 14th and 15th of July, 4 industrial-sized Sheds were broken into at Upchurch River Valley Golf Course, Oak Lane, Upchurch.

If you have any information that could help investigators please contact Kent Police on telephone number 101 and quote the Crime Number.

For more information on crime prevention visit: www.kent.police.uk

Kent Police Neighbourhood Watch

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FREE Bike Security Marking in Upchurch

PCSO John Cork
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