21st-27th May: learning to run;Jubilee edition

Good afternoon, welcome to this week’s Village Diary, I hope you have all had a good week?

Last Saturday I enjoyed a trip to St Leonard’s on the train. The sun shone, but the sea was cold - I did dip my feet in! We had coffee at our favourite Goat Ledge cafe, walked to Hastings Old Town and back, and discovered Kino Teatr on Norman Road, a cinema, gallery and cafe that we will definitely go back to.

There was rail replacement between Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge on Sunday, but luckily my friend Felicity was also headed into London for the Malory Towers series 3 premiere at the BFI and gave us a lift to Sevenoaks station. The sun was out again for our walk from London Bridge to the Southbank, and we loved seeing a sneak peak of the new series and hearing what the actors think of their characters afterwards.

I loved going along to the Langton Pavilion Cafe’s afternoon tea-themed community lunch on Monday to mark the jubilee. There were smoked salmon sandwiches, sausage rolls, a glass of something lovely - and cakes, of course. The singer was Jessica Louisa, who takes people back to their youth with a repertoire from the 1950s and 1960s. Couples got up to dance when she sang the Elvis classic, I can’t help falling in love with you and a Cilla Black number also went down well. “It’s about drawing community together and making connections stronger,” said guest Daphne Streeter, who also told me that all the money raised by the volunteers who run the cafe is going to Ukraine.

I dodged the rain for most of Tuesday, but it caught me in the afternoon while I was waiting in town to collect my daughter from her theatre class. I was in serious danger of being washed away, so I was grateful to have another well placed friend with a car to give us a lift home! Safely ensconced in a huge and eccentric BMW we quite enjoyed the dramatic weather.

On Wednesday morning I visited Clive and Susan, who manage Muskerry Court, independent living retirment flats, on Nellington Road . One of the residents is Brian Ellis, who had the idea of gathering together the residents’ memories of the 1953 Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II for everyone to enjoy. It was great to chat with him about his own recollections - he had been given the day off school to go to London and wrote an essay about it when he got back which he has kept - so his memories are very ‘hot off the press’! I’d never been to Muskerry Court before - it’s tucked away - but it’s very pretty and pristine.

I set up a magazine exchange box in Rusthall Library on Thursday, with the permission of the librarians Susan and Sally. The idea is that anyone can take magazines to read or use for art projects or studies. People can also leave magazines they don’t want anymore, so they get reused. It’s on the table to the right of the door as you come in if you want to take a look. While I was there I was also impressed by Sally’s display of books published through the years of the Queen’s reign - it showed history from a different angle, and had a diverse range of perspectives on life in Britain and the monarchy.

Today, I was proud of myself for going out for the third run of my first week of doing Couch to 5K, an app that is (in theory) going to ease me into running 5k in 9 weeks time. This was the crazy idea of Felicity when I vaguely said on Sunday that I should take up running, and she said, ‘let’s do it together, let’s hold each other accountable!’ I wasn’t loving it when it was time for the first run, but I think I’m getting used to it. At least the weather was better today, the skies over the common a glorious clear blue. It’s also nicer running with someone else (I thought it would just be embarrasing) as well as safer (I’m reminded of my History professor who asked a police officer if she and her daughter’s should learn self-defence, and was told no, it was more efficient to get fit, learn to run - away).

I’m just back from the Community Larder - this week’s haul has included chicken kiev, Gu chocolate mousse, potatoes, pepper, pineapple, pecan danish, french stick and cherry coke. Thank you to Clive on the door, for being a regular reader and asking me when he can expect the next instalment! If you have ever thought about donating to the larder, there is a donation bin in the One Stops, but don’t forget Nourish Foodbank too who provide more critical help.

That’s all for this week. Over the weekend I’m looking forward to going to the Community Coffee morning on Saturday between 10am - and 11.30am , as well as getting to a swimming lesson. My wish for the half term holiday next week is for a bit less rain! Thank you for reading, I hope you have a great weekend and week ahead.

Jayne x