18th-22nd June - keep going
Hello, and welcome to my Village Diary, my week in the life of a village in Kent. My thoughts have been far and wide this week, but it is the every day chats and rituals in the community that give me strength and hope, so it seems important to keep going.
Return to the village
At the start of the week the Rusthall Life team sent the July issue off to the printers. It’s a colourful issue, and I can’t wait to see it in real life at the start of the month.
Along with director of Rusthall Life and Langton Life Ed Langridge, I met up with chair of the Parish Council Cllr LIz Ellicott and Jenny Blackburn in Daily Bread on Wednesday. We are grateful for the support of the Parish Council, and Jenny has been brilliantly organising the distribution of Rusthall Life since it began. She is deservedly retiring from the role in January and so we are looking for a new volunteer to coordinate the distribution of magazines to the existing team of wonderful volunteers who deliver it through people’s doors. There will be an article in the September issue of the magazine about this but if you think it is something you could help with and want to find out more, please email rusthalllife@gmail.com
I’m looking forward to being at the Rusthall Village Fete this year with the Environment Committee team. We will have copies of the Declaration of Climate Emergency for residents to look at, as well as lots of tips on reducing carbon emissions from our homes, and bringing our energy bills down. The Parish Council has approved the purchase of a thermal imaging camera so that in the autumn and winter residents will be able to see where they are leaking heat from their home - useful information! My daughter and I have made one placard for our stall, and hopefully another poster will take shape this evening!
I’m starting to think about the next issue of Langton Life, due out in August. One issue affecting both villages is the cancellation of school buses that take children from Speldhurst, Groombridge, Langton Green and Rusthall to schools in Tonbridge. The most likely result of this will be more cars on the road, so it is a regressive move environmentally. It seems the cuts are being made because the routes aren’t profitable for the bus companies - but why would we try and make profit from a basic need like transporting children to their education?
My boyfriend and I have been kept apart this week by rail strikes - a sacrifice we don’t begrudge - and we did manage to have a date at Coco Retro on Wednesday night. It was third time lucky after two previous bookings were cancelled due to Covid factors, and it felt good to be back at this lovely independent French bistro.
It was great to be able to go to my daughter’s Sport’s Day at school on Thursday, back for the first time since before the Covid lockdowns. The rain showers held off and all the familiar events were back including hop, skip, jump. My daughter did well in the standing jump, I came last in the parents’ race!
My Couch to 5K runs this week have been a bit random, but I’ve kept them going. The Commons in the sunshine have been idyllic, huge dragon flies passing my nose, butterflies everywhere. I also enjoyed an evening walk with my children to my son’s school to find out about his forthcoming activity week trip to Devon. Coming back into the village when it is still light I always think what a beautiful place we are lucky enough to live in.
As I write this on Friday morning I’m looking forward to heading over to Sunnyside Pre-school in the village to catch up with manager Joby. The last time I visited they had just started and had no children on their roll at all, and now they are thriving with lots of happy children and parents. It’s part of Play Place, who also run Friday Fun at Mary Caley Park and have exciting plans for a summer holiday play scheme. I know this could be so helpful to parents in the village.
As well as the fete, I’m also looking forward to my friend Sophie’s wedding, and I might make it to the Friends of the Earth Great Get Together in Calverley Park as well. I’m not going to be around now for the Play in the Moment at Rusthall Club on Tuesday 28th June, but if you are do go along - it’s in aid of Tunbridge Wells Welcomes Refugees.
Thank you for reading - I really do appreciate it. If you see me at the fete on Saturday do say hello!
Jayne
