“They are an absolutely lovely, amazing bunch of teachers and teaching assistants here in Rusthall, who are really committed and positive and know the children incredibly well. It’s a special place. I wouldn’t work here if I didn’t like it…Rusthall school should be protected, nurtured, cherished and protected by its community.”

“It brings me such joy to come and sit in a beautiful place like this and see people moving around my painting. I feel a part of the place, it’s a long-term reward.”

“We are often taught poetry as if we must unlock its meaning, when in fact we should experience it, let it wash over us and whatever it means to us is its meaning. Once I have written a poem it belongs to the reader. A good poem gives the reader space to own the poem, so you can put something of yourself into the understanding of it and take something away.”

Bertha Bracey was recognised as a British Hero of the Holocaust in 2010 by Gordon Brown, for her work in helping to bring 10,000 Jewish Kindertransport children from Germany to Britain between December 1938 and September 1939.

In 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, sixty Basque refugee children arrived at The Beacon on Tea Garden Lane in Rusthall. The local community’s role in welcoming, healing and nurturing these traumatised children should be celebrated.

From far away, the sight of the beautiful world makes her realise that home is everything she wants. “I’ve glimpsed heaven, and it’s here,” she says, back down to earth again on Rusthall Common.