Holder of the KCC Award for Volunteering Excellence

www.valleyconservation.co.uk

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­­­­­MEMBERS’ NEWSLETTER  No 103                                                               _            October  2009
 

Beauty and

the Beast

MEMBERS may recall that this time last year we were visited by the Fairgame Theatre group who entertained us royally with  “When The Lights Went Out” - their excellent story about life on the Home Front during the War.

Now Fairgame are back with the classic love-story Beauty and The Beast.

You all know the story  - originally a French fairy tale from the 1700s, it has been filmed at least four times and even turned into an opera. Most recently it was immortalised as a Disney classic.

Belle is held captive by the Beast, who is fact a handsome prince under a curse. Only true love can save him. Hairy-backed, bulbous-nosed, cauliflower-eared: surely the Beast doesn’t stand a chance of winning Belle’s heart?

With plenty of songs and fast physical action, the cast wring every bit of fun from the story.

The play is billed as “suitable for beauties, beasts and children of all ages.”

Tickets are £8 for adults and £4 for children, on sale now.

Seating is at tables, with guests invited to bring their own drinks and nibbles. Teas and coffees will be available. We have invited Boughton Monchelsea Scouts to join us at this production, so there may be some competition for seats! Book early to avoid disappointment! The hall has disabled access and a large car park.

It’s fete

Peter Carroll visits the VCS stand

YOUR Society was represented at Tovil fete with an information stand, book stall, cuddly toy sale and pinball game.

Peter Carroll, the Lib Dem Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Maidstone and the Weald,

proved himself a dab hand at the latter, easily winning the prize for the highest score of the afternoon.

The stall raised £42 for the group’s funds.        The following weekend, we were back in action at the Loose Fete on the King George V playing field, where we were a little surprised to find ourselves the only conservation group to be represented.   Book and toy sales raised £28 and eight new members were recruited.   Right: Our chairman Bryn Cornwell chats to the Mayor and Mayoress of Maidstone

 Bydews

GLYN Charlton, chairman of Tovil Parish Council (and a member of VCS) contacted the editor regarding the article in our last newsletter about enforcement issues at Bydews. Glyn asked that we make it clear that the parish council had not sought the help of planning agent David Hickin solely in respect of enforcement problems at Bydews, but about the difficulties that the parish was having with the borough council over a number of planning issues in Tovil.

The parish had held several meetings with the borough over enforcement issues but had received either a negative response or worse still no response. Glyn said: “It was often not getting any answer that was so frustrating. There may well be very good reasons why the borough has not acted on some issues, but it would be good to be told what they are.”

Since the intervention by Mr Hickin, the borough has issued one enforcement notice on a property at Bydews and others are expected to follow.

One of the planning officers formerly responsible for the Bydews case has left the council in the meantime.

So far, David Hickin Associates has not billed the parish, and Tovil Parish Council are hopeful the firm will do the work gratis as a goodwill gesture.

Quiz Night

THE North Loose Residents’ Association is holding a quiz night on Saturday, 28 November, at Loose Junior School. Tickets are £5 per person, to include a plougman’s supper. Take your own liquid refreshments. All are welcome. Ideally teams of six, but smaller numbers can be joined together on the night.

Tickets are available at Loose Post Office, or the Dolly Tub launderette in Boughton Parade. Details from Joan Simkins on 01622 744291.

Traffic-calming

TOVIL Parish Council is still chasing Kent Highways to finish off the traffic-calming scheme

through the Lower Loose Valley. A number of “making-good” points are still awaited, while there is also dissatisfaction about the small size of the gateway features, and the lack of angle on the timber posts at the bottom of Cripple Street.

We are hopeful that KCC don’t yet think they’ve finished. “Work” is still continuing – last week bicycle-sized reflective strips were added to the timber posts!

Harder than Japanese arithmetic

KNOTWEED has been found on the bank of the Loose Stream between the Cowshed and the bridge in Cave Hill.

Walk the Valley

A SECOND walk the valley event organised by the Loose Valley Conservation Area Partnership was held on September 16.

Something to remember

FORMER committee member Jim Williams, a founding member of the Society, was presented with a framed picture of the Valley as a thank-you to mark his huge input over the years.

Park and Build

MAIDSTONE Council has found somebody to purchase its former Coombe Quarry Park and Ride site and the former council vehicle depot off Armstrong Road. A previous deal with a private developer fell through at the time of the credit crunch, but now both sites are to be sold to Maidstone Housing Trust for redevelopment as affordable housing.

The trust has submitted plans to build 130 homes in total: 47 flats and 48 houses on the council’s vehicle service depot in Armstrong Road, with a further 12 flats and 23 houses on the Park and Ride site off Enterprise Road.

Part of the deal is the provision of a pedestrian crossing from the depot site to South Park opposite.

Both sites would be developed to the same design, featuring a mixture of two-storey terraces, with three-storey “feature” homes.

The depot site would be developed at a density of 78 dwellings per hectare. Existing access from Armstrong Road and the mini-roundabout in Enterprise Road would be retained and a further two access roads made from Enterprise Road.

The Park and Ride site would be developed at a density of 58 dwellings per hectare and retain its existing access from the mini-roundabout.

Details of the applications can be found on the Maidstone council website:

 www.digitalmaidstone.co.uk under reference numbers MA/09/1562 and MA/09/1563.

Remembering Maidstone’s disasters

ROAD and rail crashes, air raids and other disasters in Maidstone will be recalled when the Loose Area History Society resumes its monthly meetings at 7.30 pm on Monday, October 12.

The speaker will be Andrew Clark and his illustrated talk will be entitled ‘Maidstone’s Fire, Floods, Bangs and Crashes’.

Andrew went to school in Maidstone and Sutton Valence then worked for more than 40 years in the town, first at the National Provincial Bank and then for 32 years in the Clarke family’s house furnishing business.

The Loose Area History Society will meet on the second Monday of the month from October to May at Loose Infant School Hall, Loose Road, Loose, Maidstone.

Non-members are welcome. Admission £2.50. Pay at the door. There is ample free parking in the school grounds.

For more details phone 01622 741198 or visit http://looseareahistorysociety.webeden.co.uk

North Loose Residents’ Association

THE North Loose Residents’ Association exists to promote the interests of residents in “North Loose”. That is the area of South Ward outside the parish of Tovil, and not in Loose parish itself.

The association does splendid work and is well supported, but would always like more members and volunteers. If you qualify residentially and are not yet a member, you can call the NLRA membership secretary Sandra Carr on 01622 752168.

Big changes at Loose Amenities Association

LAST November many VCS members voted to help Loose Amenities Association win the People’s Millions Big Lottery Grant on Meridian TV.

We were all delighted to see the association awarded £57,500 towards the establishment of a permanent footpath through the Valley, but since then there has been growing concern at the apparent lack of progress.

The project was due to have been completed by next month (November).

LAA first ran into planning difficulties with Maidstone council and then suffered some management problems.

However we are delighted to report that the association seems to have overcome its troubles and is (literally) back on track. An extension has been negotiated with Lottery Fund and a project manager appointed. A new committee is expected to be elected at the association’s AGM this Wednesday (October 14). The candidates say: “Our aim is to make LAA more involved and open within the community.”

Roy Hood who founded the Association 50 years ago and has run it ever since has taken the opportunity to retire. 

Because the immediate focus will be on the footpath project, the new committee will be unable to organise the LAA fireworks night this year, but they will be doing Christmas carols around the tree as usual on Thursday 17 December.

Many VCS members hold dual membership with LAA and they are encouraged to attend the AGM in the King George V Pavilion on Wednesday at 8pm to show support for the new committee.

Others who have allowed their membership to lapse, might consider now is a good time to rejoin.

For details, visit LAA’s newly updated website on www.loose-amenities.org.uk or write to the society at:

4 Walnut Tree Avenue, Loose, Maidstone, Kent. ME15 9RN

Work party

The work party have re-instated a bench by                      the newly re-built ragstone wall alongside our ponds at Crisbrook. We are grateful to Steve Small who completely renovated the bench.   The work party team have now taken delivery of a new batch of Siltex and a second treatment of the ponds with the de-silting material will take place soon.   Anyone able to join the work party which operates every Tuesday should call Bryn for details on 01622 746514.

De-silting Reeds Pond

Sheep lend a hand

ANYONE taking a walk around the Yalding fens may be surprised to see a distinctive breed of rare sheep now grazing the area.  The 40 Hebridean sheep have been introduced by the Medway Valley Countryside Partnership as part of a conservation grazing project.

The area was once part of the Zeneca chemical plant site, but had been allowed to become overgrown over the years. A rigorous decontamintaion programme on the factory site has now been completed and land on the periphery of the site has been dedicated as a conservation area.

It includes areas of wetland marsh, neglected orchards and roughland, all abutting the River Medway, and is home to a host of mammals and birds. The MVCP has the task of bringing this area back to its former glory and sees the introduction of grazing as a first step.

Hebridean sheep are hardy animals well suited for grazing roughland, and the partnership hopes to add some Shetland cattle soon.

  And returning to the fold…

     THE Loose Valley Conservation Area Partnership were delighted to welcome Stephen Munford of

     the Boughton Amenity Trust to  their September meeting. The partnership seeks to share

     information and expertise between all the groups that operate within the Loose Valley - in Boughton

     Monchelsea, Loose and Tovil.

The next meeting of LVCAP is at 7.30pm on Wednesday, 18 November, in the Loose Swiss

 Scout HQ in Pickering Street. All the meetings are open to the public.

Next meeting

THE next meeting of the VCS executive committee will be on Wednesday, November 4, at 7.30pm at Flat 3, The Manor, Hayle Place. Members are always welcome to attend. Details from the Secretary, Alan Smith, on 01622 751926, or email a128smith@btinternet.com

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Printed and published by Alan Smith, Bockingford House, Cripple Street, Maidstone, ME15 6DN.