June 2024
Summer, “What Summer”. Cold evenings and rainy days seem have become the norm so far this year. I am still having open fires and the shorts have only had a rare outing. Hopefully this cycle will soon be broken and we can have some warm sunny days as we progress into July.! However this weather has promoted very rapid growth of almost all vegetation and no sooner have I cut the grass than it needs doing again.
There has been talk of looking out for Asian Hornets which attack our important bees. However there is little mention of the Box Moth which has destroyed box hedges locally. The caterpillars are large, green and black and totally voracious. They spin small webs before leaving bare bushes and short of searching out and picking off the large number that attack each bush it seems almost impossible to stop them. Other hedging varieties seem to be the only solution. As I understand it they are yet another result of climate change.
Anyway, onto village matters. We recently had our first Parish Council meeting of the year where all positions had to be re-elected. I was re-elected as Chairman and Dr. Mike Parks was elected as Vice-Chairman. We also re-elected the various committees that we operate for : Planning, Events, Finance, Allotments and Social Media. We would like to welcome two new councillors : Andy Bateman and Stuart Wilson who were unanimously co-opted onto Parish Council. We still have a couple of further vacancies and any parishioners who would like to make a contribution to the village are welcome to apply to Andy the clerk.
We recently had a small commemoration for the 80th anniversary of D-Day with ringing of the church bells and also the lighting of the village beacon at sunset. It was accompanied by a short reading from the Revd Ian Parrish and music from the 1940’s. The weather was typically damp but 40 to 50 villagers joined us on the village playing field to share the commemoration. We would like to thank the Clerk Andy and Steve Price for gathering the wood and filling the basket of the beacon.
A few days later we helped the Temple Ewell School PTFA with the organisation of the first village car boot fair held on the King George V playing field. We were lucky in having a dry bright morning with well over 20 cars displaying their wares and many villagers who attended and bought a variety of items. There was also a BBQ that carried out a brisk trade in bacon and sausage rolls and hot and cold drinks. The fair raised over £ 600 for school PTFA funds. Spokesperson Kirsty Price said they were very pleased with the result and hoped to repeat it with another boot fair in the coming months.
The Temple Ewell School PTFA Summer Fete was scheduled to take place on the King George V Playing Field on the afternoon of Thursday 27th June. There were plans to make this a more extensive event than in recent years and a more extensive report will come next month.
Also concerning the King George V Playing Field is the long overdue refurbishment of the play equipment which will be taking place during August and will be ready for use by the returning school children in September.
We recently had our annual update meeting about our Highways Improvement Plan (HIP) with the representative from KCC. We were once again talking about speed tables in London Road to slow traffic through the village. We were also looking at signage at the bottom of Templeside to prevent any HGV’s using this totally unsuitable road in an attempt to reach the A2. We once again visited the problem of the junction of the Alkham Road and London Road. We looked at possible plans to improve and make this busy junction safer, especially as more traffic destined for the new houses in Whitfield uses this route to Folkestone and beyond. There were a number of lively discussions and we hope to report on any decisions made in the near future.
Last month we spoke about the unpleasant problem of dog waste and have to report that the dog bin at the bottom of the allotment path has been damaged by vandals. We hope this will be repaired/replaced in the near future.
It may be time to get outside while there is no rain and mow the grass once again. I am also hoping that some long overdue roof work and painting can be carried out before the next shower ! I look forward to writing to you again next month.
Glenn Mousley - Chairman of Parish Council, Temple Ewell