Social Events

3^rd July – Bucket & Spade TripCost £6 per adult £1 per child (0-11)

We are heading off to sunny St Mildred’s Bay. You can feel the sand between your toes, go for a swim in the clear water, sit and eat an ice cream on the promenade or even treat yourself to fish and chips. This beautiful unspoilt, uncommercialised bay in Thanet is a real treat. The day can either be a fun family day out or a quiet time to sit in the sun with friends and catch up. The coach will leave The Hill at 10.00 am and return at about 5 pm.

24^th July – Summer Fair & Classic Car Show 11 – 2 pm.

All the fun of the fair, there’s lots of stalls – white elephant, tombola’s, cuddly toys to win, toiletries, CD’s, DVD’s, homemade cakes, burgers, hot dogs, face painting, and this year, we have a display of line dancing and have the Medway Monkeys coming to show us their display of classic cars. Come and look at the cars of yester-year lovingly restored and cared for... do you remember the Ford Anglia, the Mark I escort, the Capri and many many more. Come and have a look. We need volunteers to set up and pack away and to run stalls. Please come forward and help us to make your fair a great success. As well as being an event which links us to our local community the summer fair is a crucial fund raising event. Please help and encourage as many people as possible to come and support the event.

Garden Trip to Marle Place Gardens7^th August 2010

Cost: £10 including admission, transport, cup of tea and cake.

In Brenchley, near Tonbridge in Kent, Marle Place is a peaceful, privately owned Wealden garden, ten acres of formal planting and many more acres of woodland and orchard. Winner of the Kent Wildlife Gardens Gold Award 2009, given by Kent Wildlife Trust. It is a plantman and artist's garden, featuring a Victorian gazebo, Edwardian rockery and walled fragrant garden. A restored 19th century greenhouse with orchid collection, a mosaic terrace and ornamental ponds. The 17th century house with a massive chimney is of architectural interest, but not open.

The gardens have been designed as a combination of hedged rooms and tree lined avenues set on a south east slope ending in a woodland planted with specimen trees bordered by a stream. These peaceful and privately owned gardens, first created in 1890, are the exceptional result of generations of careful attention. There are over ten acres of formal and informal planting, encircled by old woodland and orchards, typical of the 'garden of England'. The atmospheric feel of these grounds has evolved and matured over the years. In spring there is a mass of blossom and bulbs, followed in the summer by old-fashioned roses and scented, exuberant borders. A dazzling display of autumn colour ends the season. There are many surprising features too, as the current owners delight in the unusual, such as a mosaic terrace. The garden has historical details with Victorian gazebo, Edwardian rockery, and fragrant Italianate 1900 walled garden, all evocative of earlier times. The gardens have also been influenced with ideas from around the world as in some of the statuary, the bamboo plantation, the pretty allium pasture and the bog garden with its exotic gunnera. Several water features attract wildlife and compliment the setting.