The Cake - Spring 2021
A slice of Cranbrook and Sissinghurst life
A slice of Cranbrook and Sissinghurst life
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Tasty local stories, published by Cranbrook and Sissinghurst Parish Council<br />
<strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong> | FREE<br />
Community<br />
Centre gets<br />
Go-Ahead<br />
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
Do you need help at home?<br />
Help at<br />
mealtimes<br />
Private Care Service<br />
Help at<br />
bedtimes<br />
Help at<br />
bathtimes<br />
Escort<br />
Services<br />
Domestic<br />
care<br />
Our Private Care Services provides tailored packages of<br />
care that can help people stay in their own home for as<br />
long as possible, rather than going into care home before<br />
it’s really needed. We assist those who need due to frailty,<br />
disability or illness to live a independently as possible,<br />
with comfort and dignity, in their own homes.<br />
For a free assessment of your care needs or to<br />
receive your brochure call us on 01580 762244<br />
www.townandcountryhomecare.co.uk
Published by Cranbrook and<br />
Sissinghurst Parish Council<br />
EDITOR<br />
Trisha Fermor - rt.fermor@googlemail.com<br />
ADVERTISING SALES<br />
Hayley Biddulph - 01892 677744<br />
hayleyb@spacemarketing.co.uk<br />
ADMIN SUPPORT<br />
Graham Holmes - gpholmes@hotmail.co.uk<br />
PRODUCED BY<br />
Tally Rix - Coffee Shop Media Ltd<br />
01580 848555<br />
tally@coffeeshopmedia.com<br />
PUBLISHED BY<br />
Cranbrook and Sissinghurst Parish Council:<br />
01580 713112<br />
www.cranbrookandsissinghurstpc.co.uk<br />
Cover photo courtesy of Getty Images<br />
Whilst every effort is made to ensure accuracy,<br />
the Cranbrook and Sissinghurst Parish Council,<br />
editor and authors cannot be held responsible for<br />
published errors. <strong>The</strong> views or opinions expressed<br />
do not necessarily reflect views of the<br />
Cranbrook and Sissinghurst Parish<br />
Council. Inclusion of any advertising<br />
material does not constitute a<br />
guarantee or endorsement of any<br />
products or services or claims made.<br />
SOMETHING FOR THE CAKE?<br />
We love to hear from you. Please send all ideas<br />
for contributions to <strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> to rt.fermor@<br />
googlemail.com by 19 April for publication in<br />
the June issue.<br />
welcome<br />
<strong>Spring</strong> may well be on the way but we cannot<br />
count on the place Covid-19 and its variants<br />
will still be having in our lives in <strong>2021</strong>.<br />
More than a year after the first lockdown,<br />
we have been given hope in the form of<br />
millions of vaccinations across the UK. We<br />
have seen the army standing guard outside<br />
the Vestry Hall while people were tested for<br />
Covid and many of us travelled to Headcorn<br />
Aerodrome and other centres for our jabs.<br />
Unfortunately, the battle against the<br />
Berkeley Homes development at Turnden,<br />
has been lost. TWBC agreed to 168 houses<br />
being built on the Area Of Outstanding<br />
Natural Beauty which is also outside the<br />
limits to build.<br />
However, campaigners are demanding that the government call in<br />
the application and put the decision in the hands of Robert Jenrick, the<br />
secretary of state for Housing, Communities and Local Government.<br />
Objectors to the new homes are being urged to lobby Mr Jenrik.<br />
Thanks to <strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong>’s busy team, this edition is packed with interesting<br />
features ranging from the threat of even heavier lorries using our Weald<br />
roads, how our parish council saved a Cranbrook out-of-school club from<br />
closing, and how kind-hearted people have donated unwanted computers<br />
to help vulnerable children learn at home during the pandemic.<br />
Stay safe.<br />
Cllr. Trisha Fermor, editor<br />
Inside this issue<br />
REGULARS<br />
5 Directory<br />
7 Chairman’s welcome<br />
8 Letters<br />
12 Local News<br />
16 Club News<br />
48 Parish Council Update<br />
FEATURES<br />
4 In Pictures – a majestic scene<br />
from Angley Woods by Fraser<br />
Allen<br />
11 Headline News –<br />
development update<br />
17 Covid Testing – history<br />
repeats at Vestry Hall<br />
18 Cranbrook Medical Centre –<br />
an update from the parish<br />
council<br />
21 Local Comment – Rev Ann,<br />
the hon. mayor Linda Page,<br />
PCSO Simon Humphreys and<br />
parish warden Ivor Hatcher<br />
24 MP’s comment – Helen Grant<br />
MP on our community spirit<br />
25 Councillor’s Comment –<br />
Cllr. Sean Holden fights back<br />
against mega lorries<br />
27 Running for Ariana – Sarah<br />
Calcutt on raising money for<br />
children’s cancer research<br />
28 Cranbrook School – meet the<br />
new head and life at Rammell<br />
boarding house<br />
31 Out & About – some wild<br />
finds<br />
33 John Hare – rare camels<br />
saved by local adventurer<br />
37 Treacle Mines – a sticky bit of<br />
local history<br />
36 Kids’ Corner – something for<br />
younger readers<br />
38 In the Garden – local man<br />
restores cherry trees to Japan<br />
39 Let’s Cook – a warming rice<br />
pudding with an Indian twist<br />
41 Badger’s Plot – things ramp<br />
up in the allotment for spring<br />
42 Local Farming – buy local and<br />
help stop yet more housing<br />
45 Museum News – journals and<br />
booklets ready to read!<br />
47 Arts – an introduction to<br />
more Wealden artists<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 3
In Pictures<br />
Angley Woods as captured by Fraser Allen, of Fraser Allen Photography. www.fraserallen.co.uk<br />
4 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong>
DIRECTORY<br />
directory<br />
A list of useful contacts in<br />
Cranbrook and Sissinghurst<br />
Cranbrook and Sissinghurst<br />
Parish Council<br />
<strong>The</strong> Old Fire Station, Stone Street,<br />
Cranbrook, KENT TN17 3HF<br />
Clerk – Mrs. L. Ham<br />
Deputy Clerk – Mrs. L. Thirkell<br />
Deputy Clerk - Mrs. C. Bezuidenhout<br />
01580 713112 / clerk@<br />
cranbrookandsissinghurstpc.co.uk<br />
BOROUGH & COUNTY<br />
COUNCILS<br />
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council<br />
01892 526121<br />
www.tunbridgewells.gov.uk<br />
Kent County Council<br />
03000 41 41 41 / www.kent.gov.uk<br />
USEFUL NUMBERS<br />
UTILITIES<br />
Electricity: 0800 727282 (24 hrs)<br />
Gas: 0800 111 999<br />
Water: South East Water (drinking<br />
water) 0800 0283399, Southern<br />
Water (waste water) 0800 820999 (24<br />
hrs), Emergency leak 0800 0283399,<br />
Floodline 0845 9881188 (24 hrs)<br />
CRIME<br />
Non-Emergency Police: 101<br />
Crime Stoppers: 0800 555111<br />
KCC Community Warden: Adam<br />
Osborn - 07813 695741<br />
PCSO: Simon Humphreys -<br />
simon.humphreys@kent.police.uk<br />
Neighbourhood Watch Area<br />
Co-ordinator: 01622 604395<br />
In an emergency i.e. if life is in danger<br />
or a crime is in progress call 999. To<br />
request non urgent police assistance,<br />
to report crime or to make enquiry<br />
call 101. Non urgent correspondence<br />
and crime can be reported via the Live<br />
Chat icon at www.kent.police.uk<br />
ROOMS & HALLS TO HIRE<br />
St George’s Institute, Sissinghurst:<br />
Ursula O’Connor 01580 713938<br />
<strong>The</strong> Parish Room, Sissinghurst: Sue<br />
Crowe 01580 712567<br />
ts.crowe74@gmail.com<br />
<strong>The</strong> Vestry Hall, Council Chamber and<br />
Addison VC Room, Cranbrook:<br />
01580 713112 (10am-12pm weekdays).<br />
A full list of over 30 venues for hire in the<br />
parish is available from the parish office<br />
USEFUL CONTACTS<br />
CHURCHES<br />
Congregational Church,<br />
Cranbrook: 01580 388070<br />
St. Dunstan’s, Cranbrook:<br />
01580 715861<br />
St. <strong>The</strong>odore’s RC, Cranbrook:<br />
01580 713364<br />
Strict Baptist Church, Cranbrook:<br />
01580 713212<br />
Trinity Church, Sissinghurst:<br />
01580 852275<br />
Vine Church, Cranbrook: 01580 712620<br />
SCHOOLS AND PRE SCHOOLS<br />
Colliers Green CE Primary:<br />
01580 211335<br />
Cranbrook CE Primary: 01580 713249<br />
Cranbrook Children’s Centre:<br />
03000 41 10 35<br />
Cranbrook School: 01580 711800<br />
Dulwich Preparatory School:<br />
01580 712179<br />
High Weald Academy: 01580 712754<br />
Rainbow Pre School, Cranbrook:<br />
01580 715570<br />
Sissinghurst CE Primary: 01580 713895<br />
Woodpeckers Pre School, Cranbrook:<br />
01580 720195<br />
DOCTORS<br />
Old School Surgery, Cranbrook:<br />
01580 712476<br />
Orchard End Surgery, Cranbrook:<br />
01580 713622<br />
DEFIBRILLATORS<br />
Cramp Club, Cranbrook<br />
Cranbrook Fire Station<br />
Cranbrook Medical Centre, Cranbrook<br />
Cricket Club, Sissinghurst<br />
Parish Council office<br />
Sissinghurst Castle Garden<br />
St. George’s Institute, Sissinghurst<br />
Tennis Club, Sissinghurst<br />
<strong>The</strong> George Hotel, Cranbrook<br />
<strong>The</strong> Milkhouse, Sissinghurst<br />
A <strong>Spring</strong> Poem<br />
With spring just around the corner, here is<br />
another poem from Cranbrook raconteur,<br />
bon viveur, cellist and poet Humphry Evatt<br />
I’d like to plant some fragrant roses<br />
To please our eyes and charm our noses<br />
Up the walls some scented jasmine and honeysuckle which<br />
Grow fast and tall like willow in a ditch<br />
Rosemary, lavender and thyme<br />
<strong>The</strong>ir perfumes I do find sublime<br />
While violets, stocks and honeysuckle when in flower<br />
Would make a luscious fragrant bower<br />
Sweet violets, wallflowers and some pinks…<br />
Oh! No! Ma’am – you don’t need those stinks<br />
Lilac, daphne and sweet peas<br />
And over-scented flowers like these<br />
Will only serve to make you sneeze<br />
<strong>The</strong>y’re barely fit for worker bees<br />
I’d like to plant for you some other<br />
Taught me by my dear old mother<br />
<strong>The</strong> thing you really ought to do<br />
Is plant foxglove, hemlock, red sage, yew and rue<br />
while curry, hyssop, nightshade and monkshood<br />
I find most particularly good.<br />
<strong>The</strong> wage for you is 4/6d a week<br />
<strong>The</strong>re followed a most unholy shriek<br />
As without hoe or spade or rake<br />
He wrenched and uprooted our mandrake<br />
Against this man my resolve does harden<br />
I’ll not have him in my English Country Garden<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 5
COMMENT<br />
CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE<br />
Green Shoots<br />
on the Horizon<br />
We are more<br />
optimistic<br />
with spring<br />
on its way,<br />
the Royal<br />
Engineers doing Covid testing<br />
in the Vestry Hall, vaccinations<br />
starting to have an effect and<br />
potentially better times to<br />
come.<br />
My heart goes out to<br />
those who have been ill and<br />
particularly those who have lost<br />
loved ones.<br />
<strong>The</strong> parish council continues<br />
to function and some exciting<br />
new developments have been<br />
started. Most momentous is the<br />
unanimous agreement of your<br />
councillors to start the build<br />
project for the much vaunted<br />
medical and community<br />
centre. Those of you who have<br />
had to trek to Headcorn to be<br />
vaccinated have probably felt<br />
the need for a local centre more<br />
than most!<br />
How we get this built, what it<br />
contains and at what cost, were<br />
issues discussed at length at<br />
an extraordinary meeting on 7<br />
January attended by 79 people<br />
on Zoom. This issue of <strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>Cake</strong> has a diagram of how the<br />
project is being handled, how<br />
you can express your further<br />
thoughts and opinions and how<br />
to offer your skills to help make<br />
the project a success (see pages<br />
18-20).<br />
Cranbrook in Bloom<br />
volunteers have planted the<br />
trees kindly donated by our<br />
county councillor Sean Holden.<br />
I call it the 2020 Spinney so<br />
we have a positive thing to<br />
An example of how the Cranbrook Medical Centre could look – taken from the Southborough Hub project<br />
“<strong>The</strong> Covid crisis has caused great hardship<br />
for some in our community. <strong>The</strong> number<br />
of homes paying council tax this year has<br />
dropped for the first time in my memory”<br />
remember about 2020. Thank<br />
you to the other contributors<br />
who have sponsored trees in the<br />
name of loved ones.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Covid crisis has caused<br />
great hardship for some in our<br />
community. <strong>The</strong> number of<br />
homes paying council tax this<br />
year has dropped for the first<br />
time in my memory.<br />
KCC supports the Kent Savers<br />
Credit Union where loans can<br />
be obtained at an interest rate<br />
of about 30 per cent. <strong>The</strong>ir web<br />
address is www.kentsavers.co.uk<br />
Please also consider<br />
making donations to the food<br />
bank – you can leave food<br />
at the vicarage door on the<br />
last Thursday of the month<br />
or donate online at www.<br />
nourishcommunityfoodbank.<br />
org.uk<br />
<strong>The</strong>re are green shoots of<br />
revival in the community so I<br />
wish you a healthy spring.<br />
Cllr. Kim Fletcher, chairman<br />
BAXALL CONSTRUCTION<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 7
letters<br />
www.bussmurton.co.uk | T: 01580 712 215<br />
CRANBROOK SCHOOL<br />
Please send<br />
your letters to:<br />
rt.fermor@googlemail.com<br />
or by post to Parish <strong>Cake</strong>,<br />
Cranbrook and Sissinghurst<br />
Parish Council, <strong>The</strong> Old<br />
Fire Station, Stone Street,<br />
Cranbrook, TN17 3HF. Please<br />
note, letters may be published<br />
in a shortened form at the<br />
discretion of the editor.<br />
Thanks for Cranbrook<br />
This year saw our family celebrate 20 years’ living<br />
in Cranbrook and, in some ways, we still feel like<br />
newcomers. Following a weekend visit to the<br />
area for Sunday lunch with my best man and his<br />
family, we fell in love and things quickly fell into<br />
place. With schooling, home and the commute<br />
aligning, we felt this was the change we needed<br />
after 17 years of London living.<br />
We feel very privileged to live in such a<br />
beautiful part of the country, not far from the sea<br />
and only an hour from London. What makes it<br />
even better is the town of Cranbrook (I heard it is<br />
the smallest in Kent) and the amazing facilities<br />
that the community offers.<br />
When we welcome visitors from other parts,<br />
they are in awe of the walks in Bedgebury and the<br />
Pinetum, the picture postcard town, shops and<br />
buildings etc. “What a wonderful place and so full<br />
of life”.<br />
By contrast, I have heard some local voices<br />
say “Cranbrook is dying” and I wonder if they<br />
are speaking of the Cranbrook that I know? My<br />
purpose of writing is just to say that I believe<br />
that Cranbrook is anything but dead. We believe<br />
some of the initiatives that these extraordinary<br />
times have brought about speak for themselves.<br />
Especially the response of the community to<br />
volunteer to help those who are isolated or in<br />
particular need. Clearly there are those who need<br />
support and there are things that could work<br />
better.<br />
For me, as some green shoots appear, those<br />
who have felt discouraged will have some<br />
evidence to feel more positive. <strong>The</strong>re is change<br />
in the wind and change can be a challenge. It is<br />
noisier in the countryside than it was in London!<br />
Somehow the barking of a fox and hooting of<br />
owls has become a noise we love to hear. We also<br />
believe that the best is yet to come.<br />
I can see a time when a flourishing Cranbrook<br />
will exceed the heights of earlier periods – when<br />
believers help encourage the doubters who in<br />
turn help dot the necessary i’s and cross the t’s.<br />
Philip Crocker<br />
Praise for Efficient<br />
Covid Testing<br />
Congratulations to the NHS, the army and to the<br />
parish council for setting up and for the efficient<br />
and smooth running of the Covid-19 testing<br />
operation in the new Cranbrook testing centre in<br />
the Vestry Hall.<br />
I’d like to encourage everyone to use this<br />
facility. We were first through the door on the<br />
first day (20 January). Everything is really well<br />
organised, the army personnel were terrific and<br />
the results came through really quickly. Book via<br />
https://kcc.healthit.org.uk/covbook/home – there<br />
are also answers to lots of questions on the same<br />
page. It really is simple and straightforward.<br />
<strong>The</strong> more we all get ourselves tested, the more<br />
accurate figures will be, which will help the NHS<br />
better target testing, vaccinations and other<br />
Covid related care in the future.<br />
Lee Hatcher<br />
8 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong>
We have been providing expert and<br />
trusted legal advice to individuals and<br />
businesses for generations.<br />
Walking in ‘Sunday<br />
best’ in Angley Woods<br />
Responding to a<br />
Foul Problem<br />
I was dismayed by the content of the<br />
letter on dog fouling in the December<br />
issue of <strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> when we consider the<br />
needs of our children to live and play in<br />
a clean and healthy environment.<br />
Having been born and gratefully<br />
brought up in this lovely Wealden<br />
town during the post war years, Angley<br />
Woods were our playground and a<br />
beautiful place to walk in our Sunday<br />
best! (see picture). A family occasion!<br />
To have been faced with the prospect<br />
of cleaning dog poop from our shoes<br />
would have presented a problem with<br />
only a kitchen sink and no running hot<br />
water. But let us move on.<br />
As children we were never made to<br />
feel that we were intruding on someone<br />
else’s property without permission.<br />
Also, surely it should be the<br />
responsibility of dog owners to take<br />
their poop bags home with them rather<br />
than leave them to someone else to<br />
dispose of on their behalf.<br />
On one occasion, my husband and I<br />
ventured into Hemstead Forest in the<br />
hope of a relaxing afternoon exercise.<br />
No chance! Dodge the dog poop was<br />
as difficult there as in Angley Woods.<br />
We made a quick retreat warning an<br />
unsuspecting family as we left not to<br />
let the children run ahead. It was our<br />
attempt to help protect them from<br />
infection and disease.<br />
I wholeheartedly support the<br />
mother who initiated this debate and<br />
empathise with the distress that she<br />
encountered while trying to extend<br />
her children’s daily routines and life<br />
experiences.<br />
Name supplied<br />
MR NOAH’S<br />
NURSERY SCHOOL CIC<br />
https://mrnoahs.org<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 9
ENJOYING TODAY<br />
EDUCATING FOR TOMORROW<br />
PRE-PREP & PREP | BOYS & GIRLS 3-13 YEARS | DAY & FLEXI BOARDING<br />
Virtual School Tour Available<br />
registrar@marlboroughhouseschool.co.uk<br />
100% Common Entrance Pass Rate<br />
100% Cranbrook Entrance Exam Pass Rate<br />
Small classes with high staff to pupil ratios
HEADLINE NEWS<br />
Development<br />
Update<br />
Housing numbers fall but disappointment as<br />
Turnden planning application is passed writes<br />
Cllr Nancy Warne, chairman, Cranbrook &<br />
Sissinghurst NDP Steering Group<br />
Planning is a moveable<br />
feast. Since the<br />
public consultation<br />
last autumn on the<br />
draft Cranbrook and<br />
Sissinghurst Neighbourhood<br />
Plan (NDP), Tunbridge Wells<br />
Borough Council (TWBC)<br />
published a revised version of<br />
its draft Local Plan, in which the<br />
housing targets we thought the<br />
parish would be facing have been<br />
slashed in half.<br />
But at a TWBC planning<br />
committee meeting on 27<br />
January, proposals were<br />
approved for a total of 345<br />
new houses on Brick Kiln<br />
and Turnden Farms, despite<br />
vehement local opposition as<br />
well as objections from the<br />
parish council, the High Weald<br />
AONB Advisory Committee, the<br />
Cranbrook Conservation Area<br />
Appraisal Committee, CPRE and<br />
the government’s own advisors,<br />
Natural England.<br />
<strong>The</strong> story doesn’t quite<br />
end there as Natural England<br />
has requested that the<br />
Turnden proposal be called<br />
in to the Ministry of Housing,<br />
Communities and Local<br />
Government for determination<br />
by the Secretary of State, Robert<br />
Jenrick. So watch this space…<br />
As far as the neighbourhood<br />
plan goes, it is even more<br />
important to keep going and try<br />
to get the plan in place as soon<br />
as possible. <strong>The</strong> government<br />
appears to be heading in the<br />
right direction in terms of<br />
letting local people determine<br />
the design quality of new builds.<br />
Thank you<br />
On behalf of the<br />
parish council<br />
and the NDP<br />
group, I would<br />
like to say a huge<br />
thank you to all<br />
those who took<br />
the time and<br />
trouble to make<br />
comments during<br />
the consultation,<br />
especially during<br />
these challenging<br />
times. Over twothirds<br />
of those who responded<br />
via the questionnaire completed<br />
the full-length version of what<br />
turned out to be quite a lengthy<br />
survey. Thank you and well<br />
done.<br />
On the whole your feedback<br />
was mostly positive and<br />
appreciative of the work that the<br />
steering group has put in over<br />
the past few years to ensure that<br />
your views were listened to and<br />
incorporated into the plan where<br />
possible.<br />
You liked the attention paid<br />
to landscape and the natural<br />
environment, consideration of<br />
public realm space in Cranbrook<br />
and community facilities in the<br />
town, as well as in Sissinghurst.<br />
However, there was real<br />
concern about the level of<br />
development proposed in the<br />
TWBC<br />
Local Plan and the<br />
impact on our infrastructure<br />
(particularly roads, schools,<br />
health services) as well as the<br />
rural character and beauty of the<br />
parish. Worries about increased<br />
traffic and need for more safe<br />
crossings and parking featured<br />
strongly, as did the lack of public<br />
toilets in Cranbrook.<br />
Room for<br />
improvement<br />
Many felt that we did not<br />
place sufficient emphasis on<br />
the significance of treasured<br />
views, our history and our<br />
heritage assets: the buildings,<br />
the landscape, the conservation<br />
areas and the stories of local<br />
people. Others thought we had<br />
missed out information on the<br />
importance of the schools to the<br />
parish and the role they might<br />
play in the future.<br />
Some were frustrated by the<br />
lack of spatial expression of<br />
future development, wanting<br />
to see a mapped masterplan.<br />
Indeed, many of the maps<br />
came in for comments about<br />
lack of clarity or misleading<br />
information. So, we know we<br />
need to work on graphical<br />
representation in the evidence<br />
base of the plan.<br />
Thank you to those who<br />
pointed out mistakes we had<br />
made in the draft plan – such as<br />
the location of the Quaker Burial<br />
ground!<br />
All your comments have been<br />
really useful in helping us to<br />
work out how to improve the<br />
neighbourhood plan, which<br />
the NDP group will continue to<br />
do over the next few months<br />
before submitting the plan to<br />
TWBC. A second consultation<br />
period will follow before the<br />
plan undergoes an independent<br />
examination, and then returns to<br />
you for a final referendum vote,<br />
which we’re hoping will be in the<br />
autumn.<br />
TWBC PLANNING PORTAL/BERKELEY HOMES<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 11
NEWS<br />
News<br />
Parish Council<br />
Money Keeps Child<br />
Care Club Open<br />
“I am absolutely amazed,” was the<br />
response from a school club manager<br />
after the parish council saved it from<br />
closure with a £1,600 grant.<br />
Stephanie Smithers, who runs the<br />
Cranbrook Out of School Club, said<br />
just before we went to press: “We<br />
were faced with closing the club<br />
which is vital for the children of key<br />
workers and vulnerable children.<br />
“We had been running at a loss<br />
which is why I made the application<br />
to the parish council. I am absolutely<br />
amazed that they made the grant<br />
and very grateful. We would have<br />
had to shut if we had not received<br />
the grant.<br />
“I had one parent, who is a doctor,<br />
who said she would not have been<br />
able to work if the club had closed.”<br />
Housed next to the primary school<br />
but operated independently, the<br />
centre is open during school days<br />
from 7.30am to 8.45am and 12.15pm<br />
to 3pm. <strong>The</strong> financial crisis hit the<br />
club because the number of children<br />
attending had dropped during the<br />
pandemic, mainly due to parents<br />
working from home.<br />
Mrs Smithers said she was<br />
surprised that government money<br />
was available for businesses and the<br />
hospitality industry but there was<br />
nothing for child care. She had also<br />
asked the borough council without<br />
success. TF<br />
If you would like to find out more<br />
about the club, please email<br />
oosc@cranbrook-cep.kent.sch.uk<br />
Overwhelming Response<br />
to Appeal to Help Children<br />
A message on a Cranbrook and Sissinghurst Facebook chat page for people<br />
to donate computers for children learning at home has led to a flood of<br />
donations.<br />
Clare Scully, a special educational needs co-ordinator from Cranbrook,<br />
said: “It all started with Jan Smith asking for anyone with spare computers to<br />
donate them and people just flew with the idea.<br />
“Some children had been trying to work on mobile phones which is not<br />
acceptable but we have been flooded with everything from laptops to tablets<br />
and Benenden School also donated some desk top computers.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> grandmother added: “It got very overwhelming at times with my car<br />
boot full and more in people’s garages! Liam Matthews, an IT manager has<br />
been working hard going through them and getting them ready to hand over<br />
to children most in need.” TF<br />
Covid-19 Non<br />
Compliance in<br />
Abundance at Co-op<br />
Shoppers at the Co-op who refused to follow<br />
Covid-19 rules have assaulted staff and guards<br />
with one man spitting at a worker claiming he<br />
had the virus.<br />
<strong>The</strong> revelations were made by store manager<br />
Laurence Hernandez after <strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> investigated<br />
concerns that many shoppers were refusing to<br />
wear masks or social distance.<br />
<strong>The</strong> story went viral after parish councillor<br />
Andy Fairweather emailed fellow members<br />
in January to say what he saw in the Co-op<br />
“stunned” him.<br />
<strong>The</strong> building was undergoing an extensive refit<br />
and, he added: “…the aisles of approximately<br />
one metre width now form part of the store.<br />
People were literally crawling over one another.<br />
Unchecked numbers of people entering and<br />
a one-way system supposedly in place but<br />
largely ignored. Covid-19 non-compliance in<br />
abundance.”<br />
<strong>The</strong>re was criticism of the timing of the<br />
work and council chairman Cllr. Kim Fletcher<br />
contacted Mr Hernandez who assured him<br />
that efforts had been redoubled. Customer<br />
numbers were being controlled and counted in<br />
and a “greeter” ensured masks were worn. An<br />
environmental check had recorded 100 per cent<br />
compliance with rules and staff were going for<br />
Covid-19 testing every week.<br />
In an email to <strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> editor, Mr Hernandez<br />
said the Co-op had a policy of not challenging<br />
people disobeying the rules.<br />
“<strong>The</strong>re have been instances where shop staff<br />
and guards have challenged and been assaulted.<br />
In one case a shop worker was spat at and told<br />
by the assailant they had coronavirus (not in the<br />
store).<br />
“This is clearly not acceptable and we will<br />
never put our colleagues into that situation.”<br />
He said staff had done a “wonderful job”<br />
continuing to come into work “feeding the<br />
nation”. <strong>The</strong>y were considered Critical Workers<br />
and deserved respect.<br />
Concerned that people in the parish would find<br />
it difficult to shop for food, the town’s Co-op had<br />
stayed open.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> team work hard and fight through their<br />
own anxieties… A more thoughtful approach<br />
would be favourable from some of our friends in<br />
the parish.” TF<br />
12 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong>
Covid-19 Awards<br />
When the Covid crisis struck last year, a number<br />
of people were first to offer to help and organise<br />
volunteers. <strong>The</strong>y have now been thanked with<br />
certificates from the mayor of Tunbridge Wells.<br />
Pennie Durie (pictured) and Andy Fairweather<br />
in Sissinghurst, Mark Lawrence (pictured), Annie<br />
Hopper, June Bell, Garry Pethurst and Wendy Waters<br />
all received the award.<br />
As a community we thank them for their hard<br />
work ensuring everyone had somewhere to turn<br />
during the pandemic. TF<br />
NEWS<br />
‘Be Kind and Don’t<br />
Bully’ Message to<br />
Youngsters<br />
A week-long campaign to highlight the problems<br />
of bullying among school children was hailed a<br />
resounding success at Cranbrook Primary School.<br />
Run by learning and behaviour mentor<br />
Charlotte Moser, she was keen to show children<br />
that kindness matters and during the week they<br />
were encouraged to show at least one kind act to<br />
another pupil.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> children really enjoyed it and as well as<br />
doing posters they also wrote letters to people in<br />
care homes because of Covid which makes a lot of<br />
residents lonely. I was delighted to see at the end<br />
of the week a simple gesture of one child helping<br />
another putting on her coat.” TF<br />
Thanks to<br />
Volunteers<br />
Santa Claws, the Jack Russell,<br />
oversaw the planting of a<br />
spinney at the Ball field,<br />
Cranbrook, on a very wet<br />
and cold Sunday morning in<br />
January.<br />
Organised by Cranbrook in<br />
Bloom, more than 30 volunteers<br />
turned up to plant trees which<br />
ranged from liquidambers to<br />
maples and silver birches to<br />
oaks. Money for the trees came<br />
from Kent county councillor<br />
Sean Holden and people who<br />
donated them in memory of<br />
loved ones. CiB chair and hon.<br />
mayor Linda Page thanked<br />
everyone who had taken part in<br />
the scheme. TF<br />
ANNUAL PARISH<br />
MEETING<br />
28 April, online. Details from<br />
the parish council office.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 13
NEWS<br />
CUP CAKES<br />
Be in the Know<br />
To keep in touch with important updates from<br />
the parish council, sign up to ‘Be in the Know’<br />
on the parish website.<br />
<strong>The</strong> regular e-newsletter delivers very local<br />
information to you including fraud bulletins,<br />
Covid testing in the Vestry Hall, road closures,<br />
the Kent Community Foundation’s Surviving<br />
Winter Campaign and updates relating to the<br />
Cranbrook Community and Medical Centre.<br />
Support for Police Camera Plan<br />
Kent Police are being supported by Cranbrook<br />
and Sissinghurst Parish Council in its plan<br />
to install more automatic number plate<br />
recognition cameras in the area.<br />
New cameras will be sited across the county<br />
in undisclosed areas. <strong>The</strong> council has accepted<br />
that the cameras are needed for national<br />
security, to fight crime and local crime<br />
patterns and give confidence and reassurance<br />
to local communities. TF<br />
Friends Help Repair Church<br />
<strong>The</strong> Friends of Sissinghurst Church have<br />
contributed nearly £700, half the cost of<br />
repairs, to the external weatherboarding on<br />
the eastern side of the adjoining Parish Room.<br />
Work also included repairs to the flooring and<br />
plumbing in the ladies’ lavatory, the Parish<br />
Room and the church.<br />
Treasurer and membership secretary Peter<br />
Mellor said: “Many thanks for making these<br />
essential repairs possible by your allimportant<br />
subscriptions and donations.” TF<br />
Dog Thieves in New Scam<br />
Police are warning people to be aware of dog<br />
thieves posing as RSPCA officers.<br />
<strong>The</strong> imposters, in a van with RSPCA stickers,<br />
approach dog walkers and tell them they are<br />
removing the animal because it matches the<br />
description of a stolen dog.<br />
Police advise never to hand over dogs to<br />
anyone. Insist the would-be thieves follow<br />
them to the vets to check the animals’<br />
microchip number.<br />
Anyone who has been approached should<br />
contact the police immediately giving as<br />
much detail as possible and, if they can,<br />
take photos of the offenders and vehicle<br />
registration numbers. TF<br />
Don’t Forget - Census<br />
Day, Sunday 21 March<br />
<strong>The</strong> national Census,<br />
which happens every<br />
10 years, provides a<br />
snapshot of our society,<br />
our population, where<br />
we all live, what we all<br />
do and how things have<br />
changed in the past 10<br />
years.<br />
“A successful census<br />
will ensure everyone<br />
from local government<br />
to charities can put<br />
services and funding in<br />
the places where they<br />
are most needed,” said<br />
Iain Bell, deputy national<br />
statistician at the Office<br />
for National Statistics.<br />
“This could mean<br />
things like doctors’<br />
surgeries, schools and<br />
new transport routes.<br />
That’s why it is so<br />
important everyone takes<br />
part and we have made<br />
it easier for people to do<br />
so online on any device,<br />
with help available, and<br />
paper questionnaires for<br />
those that need them.”<br />
In this census,<br />
questions will be asked<br />
about your sex, age,<br />
work, health, education,<br />
household size and<br />
ethnicity. For the first<br />
time there will be a<br />
question asking people<br />
whether they have served<br />
Mill Turns Green<br />
for Christmas<br />
Anyone looking out of their window at<br />
the Union Mill before Christmas could be<br />
forgiven for thinking the repairs had taken<br />
a turn for the worst.<br />
Instead of the familiar off-white,<br />
historic landmark viewers were treated<br />
to a brightly lit green edifice. Comments<br />
on the town’s Facebook page ranged<br />
from “outrageous” to “very funny”, with<br />
the building losing its green hue a few<br />
days later.<br />
Windmill Association chairman<br />
Nick Vinall told <strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> he had<br />
used green filters on the usual<br />
windmill lighting and members<br />
had the bonus of a star on the<br />
top when they logged onto the<br />
mill’s website. TF<br />
in the armed forces,<br />
as well as voluntary<br />
questions for those aged<br />
16 and over on sexual<br />
orientation and gender<br />
identity.<br />
Your personal data is<br />
safe, protected by law<br />
and locked away for 100<br />
years. No individual,<br />
organisation or even<br />
government department<br />
can gain access whatever<br />
the circumstances.<br />
Initial summaries of<br />
“stripped” data from the<br />
census are expected to<br />
be available within 12<br />
months. TF<br />
For more information<br />
please visit<br />
www.census.gov.uk<br />
14 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong>
LOCAL HISTORY<br />
History<br />
Repeats<br />
History repeats itself and the wonderful<br />
Vestry Hall in Cranbrook showed its value<br />
again during the pandemic.<br />
WORLD WAR I PICTURES COURTESY OF CRANBROOK MUSEUM<br />
<strong>The</strong> asymptomatic<br />
testing for Covid-19,<br />
organised in the hall by<br />
the army, Kent County<br />
Council and the parish<br />
council, begun on 20 January<br />
and had a parallel more than 100<br />
years ago. Looking through old<br />
photographs of Cranbrook, this<br />
image of the First World War<br />
wounded being cared for, shows<br />
how things repeat themselves.<br />
Thank you to everyone who has<br />
helped out. Cllr. Kim Fletcher<br />
If you have a test booked, please<br />
do not arrive too early as you<br />
will have to queue.<br />
Book at COVID-19 Test<br />
Appointments Home (healthit.<br />
org.uk) or Google asymptomatic<br />
covid test Vestry Hall.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 15
CLUB NEWS<br />
Cranbrook Pickleball<br />
– a Success Story<br />
Our sports writer Grahame Grant gets acquainted with a game which<br />
is rapidly becoming popular across the country<br />
<strong>The</strong> first question<br />
you are going to<br />
ask is “what is<br />
pickleball?” Don’t<br />
worry, up until<br />
recently yours truly, who<br />
has had ago at every sport<br />
from tiddlywinks to extreme<br />
ironing, had no idea either.<br />
My first port of call<br />
therefore had to be to the<br />
Cranbrook Pickleball Group,<br />
formed in 2015 and run by the<br />
experienced and enthusiastic<br />
Martin Hobbs. Apparently,<br />
pickleball was first played in<br />
the USA some 50 years ago<br />
combining elements of tennis,<br />
badminton and table tennis,<br />
using a waffle type ball, a hard<br />
bat and on badminton sized<br />
court with a lower net.<br />
Us Brits, being naturally<br />
resistant to anything new in<br />
sport that couldn’t be traced<br />
back to Alfred the Great,<br />
were slow on the uptake and<br />
it wasn’t until around 2010<br />
that our interest was aroused<br />
,starting to really take off in<br />
2016.<br />
In anticipation and seizing<br />
the opportunity Martin<br />
formed the group, printing<br />
and distributing flyers around<br />
the town and enlisting the cooperation<br />
and support of the<br />
Weald Sports Centre.<br />
From slow beginnings, with<br />
two-hour Friday morning<br />
sessions on just two courts,<br />
the group grew within the<br />
space of a month to using<br />
four courts and the whole<br />
sports hall. Each session<br />
was full to capacity and new<br />
sessions were added to cope<br />
Martin Hobbs, silver medallist at the GB Open Championships, 50-<br />
65 category in 2017<br />
with demand.<br />
<strong>The</strong> group has grown from<br />
strength to strength now<br />
competing in national and<br />
international tournaments as<br />
far afield as Spain, Holland<br />
and Germany, gathering a<br />
cluster of medals and winning<br />
the South East League in its<br />
inaugural season.<br />
But don’t let the success<br />
of the group deter you from<br />
having a go. This is far from<br />
an elitist sport with players<br />
of all abilities encouraged<br />
to participate and, when<br />
allowed, to get fit, lose those<br />
square TV eyes, sofa endured<br />
bingo wings and have some<br />
fun.<br />
Due to current restrictions<br />
the group is, of course, not<br />
active but I would suggest<br />
keeping in touch with Martin<br />
Hobbs on 07702 126571 to<br />
get involved with one of the<br />
many sessions they run.<br />
Timeless Hope for<br />
Scattered People<br />
Normal lockdown church has<br />
continued with our livestream<br />
being appreciated by people in<br />
Cranbrook and the surrounding<br />
area. Also, people have regularly<br />
tuned-in from further afield,<br />
both in this country and across<br />
the globe. We really have been<br />
a scattered congregation each<br />
Sunday morning.<br />
At the start of the year we began<br />
looking at 1 Peter - one of the New<br />
Testament biblical letters. Peter<br />
opens his first letter addressing<br />
his readers "scattered throughout<br />
the provinces" before going<br />
on to deliver a message designed<br />
to inspire gratitude and hope.<br />
Many of Peter's original audience<br />
would have been scattered due to<br />
persecution; suffering for their<br />
faith which was so counter-cultural<br />
to their society.<br />
Whilst our scattering was caused<br />
by very different circumstances,<br />
the need for hope today is just as<br />
real. Peter's words, written almost<br />
2,000 years ago, can still bring hope<br />
to us today. He reminds us that the<br />
present it not all there is; we can<br />
look beyond the here-and-now<br />
to the glorious future that God<br />
has prepared for us "through the<br />
resurrection of Jesus Christ from<br />
the dead."<br />
Want to join us for a window of<br />
hope in the week? Visit vinechurch.<br />
org.uk for details.<br />
16 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong>
COMMUNITY CENTRE<br />
It’s all Go!<br />
New community centre and doctors’ surgery<br />
finally given the go-ahead<br />
GETTY IMAGES<br />
In the last edition of <strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> we<br />
reflected on how you had said loudly:<br />
“Stop talking about it and get on with it”<br />
but “Don’t put up our council tax”<br />
Well, we have been getting on with it and<br />
our precept is lower than last year!<br />
In the past months, we have produced a<br />
final Outline Business Case (OBC) for the<br />
whole project. We also held an extraordinary<br />
parish council meeting which included TWBC<br />
and KCC representatives and, importantly,<br />
you.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Zoom meeting was attended by<br />
some 70 folk who asked questions, made<br />
suggestions and gave support. It was a lively<br />
meeting with some interesting comments<br />
from the public and was one of the largest<br />
attended meetings we have ever had.<br />
At the full council meeting in January, I<br />
am pleased to say the motion was passed<br />
unanimously by councillors that we could go<br />
ahead and progress to the next stages. This<br />
will be a long journey but the stages have<br />
been broken down into easy steps (see poster<br />
on page 20) and the community can have a<br />
say at each step.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se include gathering the needs of all<br />
interested parties, stakeholders and the<br />
likely users of the centre to understand their<br />
detailed requirements. We can then brief an<br />
“I am pleased to say<br />
the motion was passed<br />
unanimously by councillors<br />
that we could go ahead and<br />
progress to the next stages”<br />
architect in order for him/her to produce a<br />
design for approval.<br />
So, to all the groups which have already<br />
indicated what they would like, we would<br />
ask you to review what you told us. Think<br />
of your requirements, e.g. your preferred<br />
room sizes, numbers of people likely to<br />
attend, access needs, seating and table<br />
requirements, any catering, IT, Wi-Fi, white<br />
boards, screens, storage etc.<br />
<strong>The</strong> centre management committee<br />
members will be in contact so we can include<br />
your ideas in our brief to the architect.<br />
We think it’s much better to understand<br />
all the users’ needs now at the initial design,<br />
as it is preferable than trying to retrofit<br />
something once the building is constructed.<br />
<strong>The</strong> next stages will be to agree briefs for<br />
the architect, quantity surveyor and project<br />
manager, ready for appointment.<br />
BAXALL CONSTRUCTION<br />
BAXALL CONSTRUCTION<br />
BAXALL CONSTRUCTION<br />
18 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong>
COMMUNITY CENTRE<br />
FEEDBACK<br />
BAXALL CONSTRUCTION<br />
“I thought the meeting was really<br />
good. We joined because we are<br />
keen that the community centre<br />
happens. It's been talked about for<br />
years and it seems like something<br />
is finally going to happen! Joining<br />
the Zoom meeting was really easy,<br />
so thank you.”<br />
“Congratulations on the meeting.<br />
I think it seemed very successful<br />
and I have heard several positive<br />
comments about it. I am most<br />
impressed that you have been able<br />
to find funding to build a medical<br />
centre and hope to combine this<br />
with the community centre and<br />
library. Well done to everyone on<br />
the work done so far. Good luck<br />
with the project – please make it<br />
fantastic!”<br />
“It was good to have the<br />
opportunity to hear, first hand,<br />
how the plans are progressing and<br />
how it will be financed.”<br />
Medical Centre<br />
We have been in touch with the<br />
Cranbrook GPs and the Clinical<br />
Commissioning Group (CCG) regarding<br />
the medical centre. We understand<br />
their requirements will be similar to the<br />
Southborough Medical Centre.<br />
Please see the photographs included<br />
in this update which show the type and<br />
finish of reception and clinical rooms at<br />
the Southborough centre which we<br />
hope to replicate.<br />
<strong>The</strong> vote to go ahead, the user needs<br />
coming together and the prospect of<br />
appointing our professional consultants<br />
make for an exciting time for this project.<br />
I thank the team for its hard work and<br />
you for making it possible to get this far<br />
in getting our community centre off the<br />
starting blocks. Cllr. Colin Gilbert, chair<br />
of the community centre/medical clinic<br />
committee<br />
MORE INFORMATION<br />
As mentioned in previous articles, readers<br />
can find details of the OBC on the parish<br />
council website under ‘Community<br />
Centre’. For direct access to available<br />
plans please sign up to Be In the Know<br />
on our website. Please comment at<br />
cranbrookcommunitycentre@gmail.com<br />
GETTY IMAGES<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 19
DIGITAL & OFFSET PRINTERS • STATIONERY SUPPLIES<br />
MEDICAL AND COMMUNITY<br />
CENTRE ROUTE MAP<br />
♥COMING TO THE<br />
HEART OF OUR<br />
COMMUNITY!<br />
RIBA<br />
STAGE 0<br />
Start project, find land,<br />
review information,<br />
visit and learn<br />
from others<br />
RIBA:<br />
Royal Institute of British Architects<br />
FIRST 4 STAGES TO<br />
CREATE A BUILDING<br />
RIBA 2<br />
Concept design<br />
Parish Council<br />
approval<br />
RIBA 4<br />
Parish Council<br />
approve technical<br />
design and<br />
loan application<br />
Land gifted<br />
and transferred,<br />
secure access<br />
rights. Our<br />
estate is<br />
marked<br />
Business<br />
red.<br />
case & risk<br />
register written,<br />
feasibility complete<br />
CAN YOU HELP!<br />
- Communication<br />
- Fund Raising<br />
- Legal or Construction<br />
Management skills<br />
Procure<br />
and appoint<br />
architect,<br />
produce initial<br />
block<br />
designs<br />
Refine<br />
designs, room<br />
layouts, size<br />
and feel<br />
Your Views<br />
NEEDED<br />
Prepare for start on site<br />
Prepare<br />
legal documents<br />
with<br />
NHS and KCC<br />
Check<br />
financials<br />
and contact<br />
loan board<br />
WHERE?<br />
Refine design<br />
specification,<br />
check<br />
feasibility<br />
Your Opportunity<br />
to Comment<br />
TELL<br />
TWBC<br />
YOUR<br />
VIEWS<br />
Check Loan<br />
arrangements<br />
with Public Works<br />
Loan Board<br />
www.pwlb.gov.uk<br />
Parish<br />
Council Approval,<br />
January<br />
<strong>2021</strong><br />
Appoint<br />
technical project<br />
manager, engage<br />
with NHS<br />
and KCC<br />
Consider<br />
procurement<br />
of building and<br />
contractors<br />
Refine detail<br />
design, colours<br />
and materials<br />
TELL US<br />
RIBA 1<br />
Preparation &<br />
Brief<br />
TELL US<br />
What you<br />
NEED in the Centre-<br />
Family • Business<br />
Society • Groups<br />
Teams<br />
Organisations<br />
Young • Old<br />
RIBA 3<br />
Parish Council<br />
approve design<br />
and submit<br />
to planning<br />
THE PARISH COUNCIL INTENDS TO TAKE OUT A 50 YEAR<br />
MORTGAGE TO BUILD THIS.<br />
EMAIL YOUR COMMENTS TO - CranbrookCommunityCentre@gmail.com<br />
Stationery Express<br />
WE NEED TO START FUND RAISING TO MEET OUR TARGET OF £2 MILLION
LOCAL COMMENT<br />
<strong>Spring</strong> message from the<br />
vicar Rev Ann Pollington<br />
As with many businesses<br />
in the town, St<br />
Dunstan’s church has<br />
been closed, then open,<br />
then closed, then open,<br />
then closed. Let us hope the pattern<br />
will end with the great opening at<br />
Easter, but who knows?<br />
As I write, it is open every<br />
Saturday between 11am and 3pm<br />
– the only other time is, sadly, for<br />
funerals.<br />
How does that make you feel?<br />
My Spiritual Director asked me. My<br />
answer – not sure. I do know that<br />
one of the joys of being the vicar<br />
of Cranbrook is the opportunity to<br />
enter into people’s lives at particular<br />
moments dear to them and Sunday<br />
by Sunday through the church<br />
services. Take those away from your<br />
vicar and how does she feel? Perhaps<br />
a little powerless, as I am sure we<br />
have all felt at some time or another<br />
during this pandemic.<br />
We have found different ways<br />
I am guessing that by the time you<br />
read this we will be a year from<br />
<strong>The</strong> Great Lockdown. What an<br />
anniversary to keep!<br />
of worshipping together – online,<br />
Facebook, Zoom, the phone and<br />
perhaps some living the other side of<br />
the world. We have become a wider<br />
community and not just because we<br />
have put on weight during lockdown!<br />
We know spring is around the<br />
corner, a time of new life in our<br />
gardens and the countryside. More<br />
and more vaccinations have been<br />
given and hope administered by<br />
dedicated doctors and nurses. Easter<br />
is on its way; a time when the church<br />
remembers how down the disciples<br />
were on that first Good Friday and<br />
then with what joy they celebrated<br />
the new life on the first Easter Day.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re is hope for us all and that<br />
is Good News to carry along our<br />
journey, put a spring in your step, a<br />
smile on your face (under the mask<br />
– for now?) and one day soon we will<br />
sing out those glorious Alleluias, for<br />
I do believe we are an Easter people<br />
and Alleluia is our song.<br />
With love and prayers Rev Ann<br />
Mayor’s<br />
Message<br />
As Cranbrook’s new Honorary Mayor,<br />
I would like to share with you some<br />
of my intentions.<br />
First, I want to encourage the right kind of<br />
representation for tourism and economic interest.<br />
I will actively be pushing for Cranbrook and<br />
Sissinghurst tourism with a bold new website<br />
for visitors to visit our parish and the many<br />
surrounding places of interest, historic and leisure.<br />
I want to encourage townsfolk to communicate<br />
their desires to the parish council, on matters they<br />
are responsible for and things they can change, like<br />
litter, planning, public toilets and in particular the<br />
new Community and Medical Centre. Vandalism<br />
and petty crime have held back any progress on<br />
having public toilets but surely there must be an<br />
answer!<br />
Please write to me if you have something to<br />
suggest, or something to get off your chest. We<br />
all want Cranbrook, Sissinghurst and our country<br />
to get back to ‘normal’ again. We want to start<br />
planning events again. We so miss the community<br />
events, which give an even better reason for<br />
visitors to come to Cranbrook. Nuts in May cannot<br />
go ahead, but maybe we can squeeze in the Apple<br />
Fayre, or Music Festival.<br />
We need to be ready for when the lights come<br />
back on. More events on the horizon, more visitors<br />
to the town and a tremendous support for all our<br />
local businesses. We need to look forward to new<br />
ideas, drive, support and backing to change things<br />
for the better.<br />
And don’t forget to ‘Try Cranbrook First’ for all<br />
your shopping and business needs, as soon as we<br />
all can.<br />
Honorary Mayor, Linda Page<br />
(mayor@cranbrooktown.co.uk)<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 21
LOCAL COMMENT<br />
Squirrel Trouble<br />
An unusual visitor causes Rev Ann a furry problem, writes parish warden Ivor Hatcher<br />
I<br />
had just finished my<br />
dinner when my mobile<br />
rang. That usually means<br />
there is a problem<br />
somewhere in the parish.<br />
It was the Rev Ann who<br />
had a very unusual request<br />
– “I have a squirrel in my<br />
“As I undid<br />
the towel,<br />
immediately the<br />
squirrel made a<br />
run back towards<br />
the open door”<br />
wood burner! Do you think<br />
you could remove it for me<br />
please?”<br />
Nothing really surprises me<br />
these days so I told the vicar<br />
I was on my way. I grabbed a<br />
thick pair of gloves and set off.<br />
<strong>The</strong> car refused to start, so I<br />
had to use the Land Rover. I<br />
arrived at the vicarage, gloves<br />
and mask on, and asked the<br />
Rev Ann for an old towel.<br />
Making my way into the<br />
living room, I opened the wood<br />
burner to see a fluffy ball and<br />
two little eyes staring at me.<br />
Quickly, I closed the doors<br />
again. I considered my best<br />
strategy and opened the doors<br />
with fear that the squirrel<br />
would escape and be running<br />
around the vicarage.<br />
I made my move… and<br />
grabbed the squirrel while it<br />
grabbed my finger causing me<br />
to shout “Oh bother”, at the<br />
top of my voice (it just got the<br />
glove).<br />
With the squirrel wrapped<br />
in the towel, I made a dash<br />
for the front door, past the<br />
laughing vicar (I am sure she<br />
heard me!) into the garden.<br />
As I undid the towel,<br />
immediately the squirrel made<br />
a run back towards the open<br />
door. It had seen the light!<br />
I shouted to the Rev Ann to<br />
close it. As the door shut, the<br />
squirrel did a right turn and<br />
disappeared under the garden<br />
gate.<br />
It was gone. I left a laughing<br />
Rev Ann and set off home<br />
with yet another tale for my<br />
collection.<br />
New PCSO,<br />
Simon<br />
Humphreys<br />
Having joined Kent Police in 2005, our<br />
community support officer’s beat is<br />
Cranbrook, Sissinghurst, Frittenden and<br />
Benenden.<br />
Simon sees his role as helping the<br />
communities and in particular the<br />
elderly and the vulnerable. He took over<br />
responsibility for Cranbrook earlier this<br />
year following in the footsteps of former<br />
PCSO Lee Jules.<br />
Describing his role, Simon said: “We<br />
are out and about in the community and<br />
meeting members of the public, dealing<br />
with a number of issues including deterring<br />
low-level crime and anti-social behaviour.<br />
We can provide crime prevention advice<br />
and we fall in the remit of the Community<br />
Safety Unit based in Tunbridge Wells.”<br />
Even though Simon spends much of his<br />
time walking the Weald streets, he still<br />
enjoys walking and music in his spare time.<br />
TF<br />
22 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong>
Helen Grant<br />
MP for Maidstone<br />
and the Weald<br />
I am here to help you in any<br />
way that I can. If there is<br />
an issue of concern to you,<br />
where you believe I can<br />
assist, or if you would like to<br />
arrange a meeting with me,<br />
please email me at helen.<br />
grant.mp@parliament.uk<br />
or<br />
telephone 020 7219 7107.<br />
PROUD TO BE SERVING THE<br />
COMMUNITY SINCE 1852<br />
Your fully independent, family owned, Funeral<br />
Directors serving the local community with<br />
compassion and the highest standards of<br />
service and professionalism.<br />
With our 24-hour emergency service, we are only<br />
a telephone call away.<br />
At the earliest stage possible, you will speak directly<br />
with one of our experienced Funeral Directors, who<br />
will be there to help, support and guide you through<br />
the whole of the funeral process.<br />
helengrant.org<br />
@HelenGrantMP<br />
helengrantmp<br />
Produced by<br />
Helen Grant MP,<br />
House of Commons,<br />
London SW1A 0AA<br />
Bank Street, Cranbrook,<br />
Kent TN17 3EF.<br />
01580 713636<br />
enquiries@jperigoeandson.com<br />
Dixter Road, Northiam,<br />
East Sussex TN31 6LB.<br />
01797 260316<br />
www.jperigoeandson.com<br />
J. Perigoe & Son is a Trading Division of West & Coe Limited,<br />
602 Rainham Road South, Dagenham, Essex RM10 8YP.<br />
SPONJEM UK Limited<br />
Capital Allowances Consultants<br />
Helping people in the area save money upon<br />
their commercial buildings such as offices,<br />
shops, restaurants, hotels and holiday let cottages<br />
For Information contact Paul Jempson on<br />
Tel: 0800 954 5081 Mob: 07957 822110<br />
Email: mail@sponjem.co.uk<br />
Caring for you at home<br />
Well established, family run business,<br />
providing care for people living in the Weald<br />
of Kent. Our tailored service allows you to live<br />
at home with independence and dignity.<br />
Call Karen Irving at our Tenterden office to<br />
arrange a no obligation visit.<br />
01580 762202<br />
www.carecompany.care<br />
LETTINGS AND SALES PROPERTY EXPERTS<br />
Local Experts with a Network of London & Regional Offices<br />
FOR YOUR FREE MARKET APPRAISAL PLEASE CALL US<br />
cranbrook@jackson-stops.co.uk<br />
www.jackson-stops.co.uk<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 23
MP’S COMMENT<br />
FAR LEFT: Helen at<br />
a fundraising event<br />
with the Sissinghurst<br />
community in 2018.<br />
Covid has brought out<br />
the best in the community<br />
Writes MP<br />
Helen Grant<br />
I<br />
don’t venture to compare<br />
this past year with the<br />
Luftwaffe blitz of WWII,<br />
but in my lifetime this is<br />
as close as I’ve come to<br />
witnessing a war in England’s<br />
green and pleasant land; the<br />
enemy all about, everything<br />
shut down, many people dying<br />
and sick, health and emergency<br />
services stretched to the limit.<br />
But, as it has always been in<br />
this country during a national<br />
threat, the strength of our<br />
community has risen to the<br />
battle. Over the course of the<br />
pandemic I have been constantly<br />
uplifted and in admiration of the<br />
way people across this wonderful<br />
constituency of Maidstone &<br />
<strong>The</strong> Weald, and not least the<br />
good people of Cranbrook and<br />
Sissinghurst, have come together<br />
and supported each other.<br />
Early this year, by way of<br />
example, the stream of those<br />
most at risk from Covid-19<br />
heading to Headcorn or Ticehurst<br />
for their vaccinations was, thanks<br />
in large part to the Herculean<br />
efforts of Dr Faye Hinsley and<br />
her fantastic team at <strong>The</strong> Ridge<br />
Primary Care Network. <strong>The</strong><br />
Ridge PCN, in turn, have been<br />
supported in their challenge<br />
by Tunbridge Wells Borough<br />
Council (TWBC), alongside a<br />
team of volunteers, playing a<br />
critical role in booking people for<br />
their vaccination appointments.<br />
TWBC has also worked<br />
extremely hard administering<br />
financial grants provided by the<br />
government to help businesses.<br />
I am under no illusion as to how<br />
much of a hammer-blow the<br />
lockdown restrictions have been<br />
for our small businesses, but<br />
these grants have made things<br />
just slightly easier for some, as<br />
well as protecting many jobs.<br />
From recent conversations I<br />
have had with the head teachers<br />
at Cranbrook School and High<br />
Weald Academy, I also know of<br />
some of the remarkable lengths<br />
teachers have taken in the past<br />
few months; going way aboveand-beyond<br />
the basic teaching<br />
requirements to create enjoyable,<br />
interactive, virtual lessons for<br />
their pupils, even whilst their<br />
schools have been closed.<br />
British stoicism in the face<br />
of adversity has been the tenet<br />
throughout our Wealden villages,<br />
with so many acts of individual<br />
help and kindness from countless<br />
residents; checking-in on their<br />
neighbours, delivering essential<br />
food and medicine, telephoning<br />
and chatting with those whom<br />
they know to be self-isolating.<br />
All of these combined efforts<br />
have made an enormous<br />
difference to the lives of<br />
thousands. I would like to offer<br />
a huge thank you to every single<br />
person who has contributed to<br />
this inspirational community<br />
effort.<br />
With the vaccination<br />
programme continuing to unfold<br />
perhaps this year we shall<br />
once again be able to enjoy the<br />
Garden of England together, in<br />
the style of the Darling Buds of<br />
May.<br />
24 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong>
COUNCILLOR’S COMMENT<br />
Get<br />
Lorries<br />
out of<br />
Lives<br />
Kent is beset with big, growling<br />
lorries which may soon get<br />
bigger if hauliers have their way,<br />
says Councillor Seán Holden<br />
Our county council is speaking<br />
up for residents in the face of<br />
a government consultation to<br />
raise the weight limit for lorries<br />
from 44 to 48 tons. An average<br />
11,500 pass through Kent, to and from the<br />
Channel, every single day. Many bully their<br />
way through narrow lanes, tight villages and<br />
people’s lives.<br />
For two years I’ve led a personal project<br />
to bring the monsters under control. <strong>The</strong><br />
mission is to ‘get lorries out of lives’ and it’s<br />
gone up a few gears. It’s Kent’s version of the<br />
“It means we can go ahead with our own trial, probably<br />
south of Maidstone, to confine HGVs to strategic routes<br />
unless they’re working locally”<br />
London Lorry Scheme which will fine or clamp<br />
heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) which leave<br />
strategic through-routes without good cause<br />
or overnight in laybys.<br />
Now the 48-ton consultation is a new<br />
battle. I called it in to KCC’s environment and<br />
transport committee, which I chair. Members<br />
gave it the thumbs down for our roads.<br />
<strong>The</strong> proposal was a four-year trial of 48-ton<br />
lorries on so-called “intermodal routes” which<br />
are journeys of up to 50 miles to rail depots.<br />
<strong>The</strong> idea is that raising trucks’ carrying<br />
capacity would mean fewer would be needed.<br />
Requiring a rail element in journeys would get<br />
more freight on trains.<br />
Committee members could see a Trojan<br />
horse! <strong>The</strong>re would soon be pressure to get<br />
costly new 48-tonners into the mainstream.<br />
Economics says if bigger wagons make road<br />
transport more efficient, freight will move<br />
to it, not from it. A four-year “trial” was an<br />
introduction not a trial. We told government<br />
Kent didn’t want it.<br />
In the meantime, my HGV group of<br />
councillors and officials working to get lorries<br />
out of lives has had a breakthrough. <strong>The</strong><br />
government has agreed to give us powers to<br />
enforce moving traffic offences, like London<br />
boroughs. It means we can go ahead with<br />
our own trial, probably south of Maidstone,<br />
to confine HGVs to strategic routes unless<br />
they’re working locally. Of course, we know<br />
hauliers are economically vital but their<br />
commercial interests can’t keep trumping the<br />
quality of people’s lives.<br />
Lorries split communities, like Sissinghurst;<br />
they wear down people’s souls; they pay<br />
fractions of the cost of their damage to<br />
infrastructure and environment. US studies<br />
show it redoubles by the ton. One 40-ton<br />
lorry’s impact on roads equals ten-thousand<br />
(yes 10,000) one-ton cars.<br />
Getting lorries out of lives has a rare quality<br />
for a political campaign. Everyone agrees with<br />
it! So I promise I’ll keep on rolling.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 25
Chartered Accountants<br />
helping you, your business<br />
and your family<br />
We specialise in farms, families, trusts and estates and have a dedicated<br />
team who can help you manage your financial needs. We have direct<br />
experience with equestrian and farming matters, and we also offer an<br />
extensive range of services including:-<br />
Bookkeeping<br />
Succession planning<br />
Accounts preparation<br />
Inheritance tax advice<br />
Tax returns and VAT advice<br />
Estate planning<br />
Payroll and Auto enrolment<br />
Probate and Estate Administration<br />
mark.howard@charter-tax.com • Telephone 01580 313108<br />
www.charter-tax.com<br />
Suite 1 Bedgebury Business Park, Goudhurst, Kent TN17 2QX<br />
CLAIR’S<br />
FOOT CARE<br />
GIVE YOURSELF A TREAT<br />
CLAIR SIMPSON Dip CFHP, MPSPract<br />
•Toe Nail Trimming • Diabetic Foot Care<br />
• Fungal Nail Treatment • Corn Removal<br />
• Callus Reduction • Verruca Treatment<br />
• Ingrowing Toe Nail • Foot Care Advice<br />
Appointments on request<br />
Tel: 07443871266<br />
Email: clairsfootcare@gmail.com<br />
Private Parking<br />
28A Quaker Drive, Cranbrook, Kent, TN17 2HL<br />
26 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong>
FEATURE<br />
Running<br />
for Ariana<br />
Ariana in October<br />
Sarah Calcutt writes on her efforts to raise money<br />
for the Cancer Centre at the Royal Marsden<br />
Those that know me<br />
well know that my<br />
life usually resembles<br />
that of a sloth in the<br />
amount of exercise I<br />
take, but not in January.<br />
I was part of a team of friends<br />
running (jogging and staggering)<br />
my way through the month<br />
raising money for the amazing<br />
Royal Marsden Hospital in<br />
Surrey.<br />
Last November, life changed in<br />
the worst way for my dear friends<br />
from Goudhurst, Steph and Chris<br />
Gabbitas when their vivacious,<br />
bright and beautiful five-year-old<br />
daughter, Ariana, was diagnosed<br />
with Acute Lymphoblastic<br />
Leukaemia. Thanks to the<br />
outstanding intuition of the first<br />
doctor they saw at Pembury her<br />
diagnosis was rapid and transfer<br />
to the Marsden was within three<br />
days.<br />
<strong>The</strong> treatment is brutal; great<br />
advances have been made but<br />
the fact remains that children’s<br />
cancer research needs a lot more<br />
investment. <strong>The</strong> money that we<br />
raised in January will help build<br />
the new Oaks Cancer Centre at<br />
the Royal Marsden. It will have a<br />
massive impact on research into<br />
childhood cancers and the lives<br />
of cancer patients all over the<br />
world.<br />
Along with Steph and Chris,<br />
her two sisters, and more than 40<br />
friends we are doing our bit and<br />
raising funds for the new centre.<br />
In January, we all jogged 40 miles<br />
or more and raised more than<br />
Ariana in December<br />
£40,000, just in our little group.<br />
We will go on raising funds<br />
during the two and half year<br />
duration of Ariana’s treatment.<br />
We are going to help<br />
improve the quality of life<br />
during treatment and invest in<br />
improving children’s chances of<br />
survival. Please join us in helping<br />
beat children’s cancer. If all of<br />
us gave or did a little to help<br />
<strong>The</strong> Royal Marsden our children<br />
and grandchildren will stand<br />
a better chance of surviving<br />
such traumatic illnesses and<br />
treatments.<br />
To donate to the team effort visit<br />
https://www.justgiving.com/<br />
fundraising/teamarianagabbitas<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 27
FEATURE<br />
Will Chuter, his wife<br />
Hannah and children,<br />
twins Aggie and Bea and<br />
son Teddy<br />
Finding his way around Cranbrook<br />
School has been not been a problem<br />
for Will Chuter as he returns as<br />
headmaster.<br />
<strong>The</strong> former pupil now makes his<br />
home in School House with his wife Hannah, a<br />
nursery teacher, twins Aggie and Bea, aged nine,<br />
and son, Teddy, seven. He took over from Dr John<br />
Weeds whose six-year tenure came to end in<br />
December.<br />
Mr Chuter, 42, who worked in publishing<br />
before deciding to become a teacher, went to<br />
Durham University and then studied teaching at<br />
King’s College, London. He taught Uppingham<br />
School and came to Kent from Gresham’s School<br />
in Norfolk, where he was the deputy head and<br />
boarding house master.<br />
He told <strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong>: “I don’t think it was ever a<br />
long-term plan to return to Cranbrook School<br />
but when the position came up I screamed at it! I<br />
loved my time at Cranbrook so much.”<br />
He has fond memories of living in a cottage<br />
a stone’s throw from Wilsley Pound and<br />
remembers with affection his ancient history<br />
teacher John Badcock who lives in Cranbrook.<br />
A devotee of ancient history, Mr Chuter said<br />
his top priority was to get through Covid-19 and<br />
then talk to staff, pupils and parents about the<br />
school’s future.<br />
He was looking forward to spending time with<br />
his family, including his “ancient spaniel”. His<br />
interests are music – he plays the guitar – and<br />
he loves sport as well as riding his bike “as often<br />
as I can”. He added he was looking forward<br />
to meeting and working with members of the<br />
Cranbrook community. TF<br />
From Pupil<br />
to Head<br />
Will Chuter returns to Cranbrook School<br />
as headmaster, writes Trisha Fermor<br />
BOARDING LIFE IN<br />
RAMMELL HOUSE<br />
Harry Cheung<br />
I’m Harry Cheung and I am a<br />
Hong Kong student My time at<br />
Cranbrook School has been really<br />
fun, much sportier than I had<br />
expected. I’ve learned how to play rugby since<br />
we have games every Thursday. At first, I didn’t<br />
even know how to play and made a lot of fouls,<br />
I even ran backwards while holding the ball.<br />
Luckily everyone was very supportive, so we had<br />
a laugh about it. <strong>The</strong> teachers also took time to<br />
demonstrate how it should be done, and rugby<br />
has become a sport I enjoy very much.<br />
Rammell House is a nice house to be in. Before<br />
Covid-19 we had house trips every one to two<br />
weeks; it is great fun when the whole house goes<br />
28 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong>
FEATURE<br />
together and does activities. <strong>The</strong>re is always a<br />
lot of food making going on – matron makes<br />
“house snacks” on school days and during<br />
the weekends and the seniors make food and<br />
share it around with the whole house.<br />
Our house master, Mr Crews, and our new<br />
deputy, Mr Mercer, are very nice to us and are<br />
always very approachable. It’s very easy to<br />
have a chat with them. <strong>The</strong> same goes to our<br />
other Rammell tutors, duty staff, matron and<br />
cleaning staff, who all take the time to get to<br />
know us and are happy to help with anything<br />
we need.<br />
Since joining Rammell, I’ve picked up<br />
playing chess. Before I tried playing chess<br />
online a bit, but it was nothing compared to<br />
the real thing. Mr Crews is always happy to<br />
play anyone who wants to challenge him in<br />
chess. I turned out to do surprisingly well in<br />
chess, and beat him once, although that was<br />
more of a coincidence than skill, as he was so<br />
much ahead of me and until I found a surprise<br />
check mate! Unfortunately, Mr Crews didn’t<br />
have any photo evidence of me winning, so<br />
here is a photo of him playing Rhys.<br />
My time in Rammell so far has been short<br />
but great, and everything is starting to run<br />
seamlessly. I believe it is going to be an<br />
amazing experience and I look forward to<br />
becoming a leader in the house in years to<br />
come!<br />
Jasper Chou<br />
My name is Jasper Chou<br />
from Hong Kong. I am a<br />
boarder and student of<br />
Cranbrook School and am<br />
a part of Rammell House. Our fantastic<br />
boarding house never ceases to keep us<br />
entertained with never-ending activities,<br />
time with our friends and experience we<br />
will always remember. All of which make<br />
Rammell House feel much more than just a<br />
boarding house, but also our home.<br />
We all work together in Rammell to<br />
create an atmosphere which is as close<br />
to home as possible, with very few rules<br />
as everyone is considerate of each other.<br />
Our matron and cleaning staff ensure that<br />
our house is clean, hygienic and always<br />
have time for a chat when we see them.<br />
Matron not only keeps the house running<br />
smoothly but she also makes us regular<br />
after school treats and can always help with<br />
any problems we have, whether it is finding<br />
something we have lost or fixing a shirt<br />
ready for school.<br />
Rammell boys have a huge appetite for<br />
food! <strong>The</strong> best thing that I find to do in<br />
Rammell is cooking and socialising. On<br />
the first weekend of October, I cooked the<br />
house Vietnamese noodles, Pho, which took<br />
me and a few other housemates from 10am<br />
till 8pm to finish cooking. I have a passion<br />
for cooking and Rammell offers me an<br />
opportunity to cook in the house and share<br />
my creations with others.<br />
It is always enjoyable to socialise in the<br />
many communal areas, where we have talks,<br />
chats, play games or check our social media<br />
profiles… We find it enjoyable to talk to<br />
the staff members in Rammell too, who are<br />
always interested and it’s nice to spend time<br />
with them and do activities together. I love<br />
being a boarder in Rammell!<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 29
OUT & ABOUT<br />
Weeds?<br />
Weeds or native wild flowers? Asks<br />
the Bemused Biologist<br />
Weeds... What<br />
are they? (apart<br />
from the source<br />
of my current<br />
bemusement).<br />
As a biologist who has worked<br />
as such in countries round the<br />
world I can confirm that they are<br />
purely of human construct.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y’re not an ecological<br />
group. <strong>The</strong>y don’t have traits<br />
that enable them to be classified<br />
like, for example, mammals.<br />
<strong>The</strong> only thing that holds them<br />
together in the<br />
negative bracket<br />
of “weed” in<br />
the shifting sand<br />
of popular opinion.<br />
But, this does change. Poet<br />
Wordsworth - as well as liking<br />
daffodils - also waxed lyrical<br />
about ragwort. But, what has<br />
bemused me - walking around<br />
town - is the way we treat our<br />
native wild flowers locally.<br />
Species like the ones below<br />
are beautiful, harm no-one and<br />
are hugely beneficial to insects<br />
including butterflies and bees,<br />
which are declining everywhere.<br />
So, why do we mow them off in<br />
the churchyard, or pull them<br />
up when they spring up at the<br />
side of the pavement,<br />
or spray them with<br />
toxic chemicals on<br />
the allotment?<br />
Wouldn’t it be better<br />
to let them bloom,<br />
enjoy them, and do<br />
something positive for<br />
wildlife?<br />
On late summer<br />
hawkweed there are small copper<br />
butterflies feeding. This is a<br />
much declined species that feeds<br />
on docks and sorrels which also<br />
hang on in “scrappy” corners of<br />
Cranbrook.<br />
Birds foot trefoil - survives in<br />
the churchyard by the skin of its<br />
teeth. It would cover the grass<br />
if we let it, providing nectar for<br />
countless insects and a food plant<br />
for common blue butterflies and<br />
dingy skippers to name but two.<br />
This also applies to fumitory - a<br />
rare arable plant - that now clings<br />
on in corners of the town and at<br />
the allotment.<br />
Orchids in a pot by the<br />
churchyard steps are fantastic<br />
flowers that will bloom naturally<br />
in the type of grassland that<br />
would be created if only<br />
footpaths were mown.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> would like to thank<br />
the Bemused Biologist for his<br />
sage words. Steps have been<br />
taken in the churchyard at St<br />
Dunstan’s Church to create a<br />
wildlife haven to counteract<br />
the “sterile view” opinion of<br />
judges in the South and South<br />
East in Bloom competition<br />
in 2019.<br />
30 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong>
From Devil’s<br />
Fingers to<br />
Bearded Teeth<br />
It would seem that walking through<br />
the Weald countryside is turning up<br />
more and more natural surprises by<br />
the week.<br />
Following our story of a dog walker’s<br />
rare find of a devil’s fingers fungus<br />
in a Cranbrook field another canine<br />
companion has stumbled across an even<br />
stranger one.<br />
Francis Rogers was walking his<br />
<strong>Spring</strong>er spaniel Nell – he is not giving<br />
the exact Sissinghurst location to protect<br />
the mushroom – when he came across<br />
what turned out to be a rare bearded<br />
tooth fungus. It is also known as the<br />
lion’s mane fungus, tree hedgehog fungus<br />
and the bearded teeth mushroom. <strong>The</strong><br />
extraordinary tufty sight was clinging<br />
to a tree and its face-like features were<br />
looking towards the ground.<br />
About the size of a football,<br />
this splendid find makes<br />
a cushion-like mound<br />
with white to yellow<br />
strands that look<br />
like fur or icicles.<br />
<strong>The</strong> flesh is said to<br />
be tough and elastic<br />
with a delicate<br />
musky smell which,<br />
when it ages, becomes<br />
unpleasant.<br />
<strong>The</strong> species, which<br />
includes three similar<br />
mushrooms, has the highest level of<br />
protection in this country under the<br />
Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.<br />
Despite its protection, it faces threats<br />
from unscrupulous collectors who pick<br />
them to eat or for medicinal use.<br />
According to eastern folklore, anyone<br />
who eats this mushroom will enjoy<br />
increased vigour. Research has shown it<br />
contains compounds that are effective<br />
against a host of conditions including<br />
memory loss, depression, dementia and<br />
neurological conditions. It is widely eaten<br />
in China and Japan. TF<br />
OUT & ABOUT<br />
Your Country Lifestyle<br />
Department Store!<br />
Formerly known as Hartley Dyke Farm Shop<br />
Our departments are:<br />
Equine • Small Holder • Pets & Wild Birds<br />
Garden • Gifts and Cards • Fuel<br />
Clothing including:<br />
Joules, Seasalt, White Stuff, Toggi, Jack Wolfskin, Hoggs,<br />
Thought, Jack Murphy, Hunter Outdoor and more...<br />
We have plenty of free parking, and we offer a free local<br />
delivery for orders over £50 (£2.50 charge for under £50)<br />
Fresh Fruit & Vegetables • Flowers • Plants<br />
•Shrubs • Hot & Cold Foods • Drinks<br />
• Groceries & Delicatessen<br />
Charity Farm, Swattenden Lane, Cranbrook, TN173PS<br />
Tel: 01580 712546<br />
www.cranbrookfarmshop.co.uk<br />
Open 8.30-5.30 weekdays, 9-5 Satudays and 10-4 Sundays<br />
Swattenden Lane Cranbrook, TN17 3PS<br />
01580 713189 | info@charityfarmcountrystore.co.uk<br />
www.charityfarmcountrystore.co.uk<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 31
SALES AND SERVICE<br />
M&A Brown & Sons Ltd, Iden Green Farm, Cranbrook Road, Goudhurst, Kent TN17 2PA<br />
info@mabg.co.uk ✆ 01580 211599 www.mabg.co.uk<br />
32 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong>
FEATURE<br />
Saving the Camels<br />
Rare wild Camels saved by Weald adventurer star<br />
in David Attenborough’s Perfect Planet, writes Trisha Fermor<br />
Conservationist and explorer John<br />
Hare who has devoted much of<br />
his life to saving<br />
a rare species of<br />
camel, has watched<br />
them feature in the new David<br />
Attenborough documentary,<br />
<strong>The</strong> Perfect Planet.<br />
However, Mr Hare who<br />
lives in Benenden, was not so<br />
delighted when the veteran<br />
broadcaster referred to the<br />
double humped creatures<br />
as Bactrian camels, a belief<br />
which was proved wrong in<br />
2008. Camelus ferus were<br />
confirmed as a unique species<br />
which had been roaming the earth for<br />
750,000 years.<br />
Mr Hare, 86, was awarded an OBE for<br />
dedicating much of his life to protecting the<br />
wild camels which were filmed by the BBC<br />
crew in the inhospitable Gobi<br />
Desert. <strong>The</strong>re, temperatures<br />
plunge to -40C and in China<br />
there is only salt water for the<br />
animals to drink. <strong>The</strong>y also<br />
survive by eating frozen snow<br />
blown in from Siberia, often<br />
walking 100 miles to find it.<br />
As the co-founder of<br />
<strong>The</strong> Wild Camel Protection<br />
Foundation, whose life patron<br />
is Dr Jane Goodall, Mr Hare<br />
has ridden camels thousands<br />
of miles across deserts in<br />
China and Mongolia, written<br />
books on his hair-raising exploits and is still<br />
fighting for the survival of the 1,000 rare<br />
camels that are left in the wild.<br />
“We are very pleased that they featured<br />
on the programme although the name was<br />
wrong. <strong>The</strong> camels mate at the coldest<br />
time of the year but they couldn’t find any<br />
mating although they did get some shots of<br />
them eating frozen snow. I think the chance<br />
of them finding mating camels was pretty<br />
slim.”<br />
In 1993 Mr Hare took up a chance offer<br />
to research the status of the wild camel, the<br />
eighth most endangered large mammal on<br />
the planet. Two years later, he was allowed<br />
to enter the nuclear testing site in China<br />
where the camels had amazingly survived.<br />
Mr Hare was the first foreigner to enter the<br />
site for 45 years and it was there he and<br />
Chinese scientists set up the Lop Nur Wild<br />
Camel National Reserve, two thirds the size<br />
of France.<br />
In 2003, the foundation began a breeding<br />
centre in Mongolia with eight wild camels.<br />
Today there are 35 and the site has reached<br />
capacity. <strong>The</strong> Mongolian government has<br />
given Mr Hare permission for a second<br />
centre to be set up.<br />
<strong>The</strong> foundation, which is supported by<br />
the Prince of Wales, is now busy raising<br />
funds for the new venture and Mr Hare is<br />
appealing for donations. Anyone who would<br />
like to donate can go online at<br />
wildcamels.com or johnhare.org.uk<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 33
34 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong>
LOCAL HISTORY<br />
Frittenden’s<br />
Treacle Mines<br />
For readers who may be unfamiliar with the historic treacle<br />
deposits to be found at Frittenden, Anne Historian takes us for a<br />
tour of these precious deposits<br />
<strong>The</strong> first recorded discovery of<br />
sub-terranian treacle deposits<br />
in the area date back as far as<br />
1123AD when Clarence Croucher,<br />
a travelling shot putter, noticed<br />
grazing cattle slowly sinking into the<br />
blackening Wealden clay in a field in Dig Dog<br />
Lane.<br />
After many months of research ,which<br />
included snorkelling for samples and<br />
“bending”, the medieval form of divining for<br />
treacle deposits using two ferrets, Richard II<br />
issued a royal decree allowing the first bore<br />
hole to be dug.<br />
Mr Croucher was awarded the title of<br />
Treacle Baron for his efforts and organised<br />
for short-legged London townsmen to be<br />
trained in the skill of drilling through feet of<br />
soil using nothing more than a wooden hand<br />
drill called a “sod borer”. In this context the<br />
miners were seen as exceedingly boring…<br />
men.<br />
Treacle bending continued in Frittenden<br />
on a small scale for centuries until treacle’s<br />
remarkable healing qualities, when used as<br />
a dressing for arrow wounds, was discovered<br />
during the 100 years’ war. Thus the military<br />
tradition, which is so obvious among<br />
Frittenden people today, was formed.<br />
At the outbreak of the civil war in 1647,<br />
the Kings Own Frittenden Fusiliers were<br />
despatched to the Battle of Bettenham where<br />
Milkhouse roundheads were routed after<br />
getting stuck in the treacle. Frittenden sons<br />
were frequently warned against fighting<br />
without a pair of skis on.<br />
It took the industrial revolution to bring<br />
the industry of treacle mining to its peak<br />
in the village. Helped by the benefit<br />
of the deepest natural harbour in the<br />
Weald, the tall ships would moor in<br />
the harbour. <strong>The</strong>y delivered migrants<br />
to work in the mines before loading up<br />
with fresh treacle. This was taken to<br />
all four corners of the globe to supply<br />
the ingredients for the very puddings<br />
which were the foundation of the British<br />
Empire.<br />
But it was not long before the mines<br />
were beginning to run short of their liquid<br />
blackness. People across the world were<br />
becoming more sophisticated and treacle<br />
pudding was giving way to such French<br />
delights as gateaux, pomme calvados and<br />
corolla abricots au beurre d’oranges, recipes<br />
which had been handed down secretly<br />
by villagers who had befriended French<br />
prisoners during the Seven Years’ War when<br />
they held captive in the nearby Sissinghurst<br />
Castle.<br />
Alas, nothing lasts for ever. Progress<br />
and invention took their toll and the need<br />
for fresh, raw mined treacle diminished as<br />
cheaper sugar-based substitutes took its<br />
place. <strong>The</strong> natural sea-shelf silted up, turning<br />
Frittenden harbour into what is now the<br />
village centre but the old Harbourmaster’s<br />
House still stands opposite the Bell and<br />
Jorrocks pub.<br />
Relics can still be found of the treacle<br />
mining era; the sweet smell that invades<br />
the village when ghosts fire up the stone<br />
works’ furnace in Dig Dog Lane, the treacle<br />
burning out of the local clay; a sheep or<br />
cow stuck 20 feet below ground after falling<br />
down a forgotten "Pudding Well", the webbed<br />
feet of workers from the local community.<br />
Pre-regulations, pre-health and safety, pretelevision<br />
- Pre-posterous.<br />
As Rosie Croucher from the pub says:<br />
"When you tell visitors about the Treacle<br />
Mines, they just look at you as if you’re stark<br />
staring mad".<br />
<strong>The</strong>re's nowt so<br />
queer as folk.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 35
KIDS' CORNER<br />
Kids' Corner<br />
Colour<br />
me in<br />
36 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong>
KIDS' CORNER<br />
Find the<br />
seven<br />
differences<br />
bettween<br />
the two<br />
pictures<br />
My Experience of Home-schooling<br />
by Leo Bourne, aged 9<br />
Like for many children, sadly the New Year didn’t<br />
mean a new term in school but a return to home<br />
learning for me.<br />
Due to the rise of coronavirus cases around<br />
the UK, Boris Johnson decided to put us in<br />
another lockdown, which included closing<br />
schools, in the hope of stopping cases rising<br />
any higher and to protect the NHS.<br />
I am getting to grips with learning from<br />
home but is still tricky from time to time<br />
as having my sister doing lessons in the<br />
background makes it a bit hard to concentrate.<br />
My school has provided online lessons that my class do every day, so I am quite<br />
happy home learning but I do miss school and my friends. Even though I have<br />
the guidance of my Mummy and Daddy, it’s just not the same as being in the<br />
classroom.<br />
School is so much more than learning and education. I miss assemblies and<br />
break time. I miss school dinners and playing football – it’s different playing a<br />
match in the garden with just Mummy, Daddy and my little sister!<br />
I’m keeping fit with Joe Wicks and lots of walking but I’m really looking forward<br />
to a time when Covid-19 is gone and things return to normal.<br />
Toys Out and About<br />
My Pokemon love the snow! - William, 6<br />
GET PUBLISHED!<br />
Please send a picture of your favourite toy out and<br />
about in Cranbrook or Sissinghurst or 100 words on<br />
the part of Cranbrook or Sissinghurst you love the<br />
best for a chance to be published in the next issue!<br />
Email rt.fermor@googlemail.com<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 37
KITCHEN & GARDEN<br />
ALAMY<br />
IN THE GARDEN<br />
Lost cherry tree returned to Japan by Weald man, writes Penny Royal<br />
Japan has long been home<br />
to millions of cherry trees<br />
but it is not widely known<br />
that a Benenden man<br />
returned a long-forgotten<br />
species which was extinct in its<br />
homeland.<br />
<strong>The</strong> man was Collingwood<br />
Ingram, later to be called<br />
“Cherry” Ingram, who lived and<br />
gardened at <strong>The</strong> Grange, a grand<br />
country house in Benenden, now<br />
a care home.<br />
A former First World War<br />
compass officer with the Royal<br />
Flying Corps and the RAF, he<br />
joined the village Home Guard<br />
during the Second World War.<br />
<strong>The</strong> son of Sir William Ingram,<br />
the owner of the Illustrated<br />
London News, Cherry’s uncle<br />
Sir Edward Stirling fuelled<br />
his interest in nature and<br />
particularly ornithology. Skins<br />
were collected in Australia and<br />
Cherry identified and catalogued<br />
them at the Natural History<br />
Museum in London.<br />
But after the First World<br />
ERNEST AND VERYAN POLLARD<br />
War horticulture took over and<br />
Cherry collected plants from<br />
across the world for his famous<br />
garden. His most outstanding<br />
trips were to Japan in 1926 and<br />
South Africa in 1927.<br />
By 1926 he was a world<br />
authority on Japanese cherry<br />
trees and accepted an invitation<br />
to the country to talk about their<br />
national tree which to this day<br />
still draws millions of people<br />
from around the world each<br />
spring to marvel at the blossom.<br />
During this visit he was shown<br />
NAOKO ABE<br />
a painting of a beautiful white<br />
cherry, believed to be extinct in<br />
Japan. He recognised it as one<br />
he had seen in a sorry state in<br />
a Sussex garden. It had been an<br />
early import from Japan.<br />
On his return to England<br />
he took cuttings from the<br />
tree – later known as Tai-haku<br />
meaning Great White Cherry<br />
– and was able to re-introduce<br />
it into the gardening world. He<br />
also imported many Japanese<br />
and other species of cherries to<br />
the UK as well as introducing his<br />
own hybrids. An avenue of his<br />
Asano cherries became one of<br />
the features of Kew Gardens. One<br />
of his many generous acts was to<br />
give a cherry plant to each of the<br />
Walkhurst cottages in Benenden.<br />
But it is not just cherries for<br />
which he is remembered. <strong>The</strong><br />
herb Rosemary “Benenden<br />
Blue” was a natural variant of<br />
Rosmarinus officinalis which<br />
he found in Corsica. He also<br />
produced many rhododendron<br />
and cistus hybrids.<br />
He did not give up his love of<br />
birds altogether and while his<br />
planned book on the birds of<br />
France was interrupted by the<br />
First World War, he did produce<br />
Birds of the Riviera in 1926. He<br />
was an accomplished artist and<br />
his published war diaries are<br />
packed with his pencil sketches<br />
of birds, people and landscapes.<br />
He was a member of the British<br />
Ornithologists’ Union for a<br />
record 81 years.<br />
MORE INFORMATION<br />
If you want to hear more<br />
about this remarkable story, a<br />
wonderful book called ‘Cherry’<br />
Ingram: <strong>The</strong> Englishman Who<br />
Saved Japan’s Blossoms’ by<br />
Naoko Abe is available from all<br />
good book sellers.<br />
38 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong>
KITCHEN & GARDEN<br />
LET’S EAT<br />
Kheer<br />
Rice pudding to me has always<br />
conjured up school lunches - dollops<br />
of sticky grains smothered in oversweet<br />
jam but this recipe could not be<br />
more different. From India, kheer is<br />
made with basmati, not pudding rice,<br />
and is a wonderfully delicious end to<br />
any meal. Surprisingly, it is served<br />
cold.<br />
INGREDIENTS<br />
Serves 6<br />
110g basmati rice<br />
1.2lt full fat milk or semi skimmed if<br />
preferred<br />
75g granulated sugar<br />
4 cardamom pods, shells removed and<br />
seeds crushed<br />
150ml whipping cream, softly whipped<br />
1tbsp rosewater<br />
50g raisins<br />
1oz unsalted pistachios or toasted,<br />
flaked almonds<br />
A small pinch of cinnamon<br />
Rose petals (optional)<br />
WHAT TO DO<br />
1. In a heavy-based saucepan, bring<br />
the milk to the boil and stir in the<br />
rice, sugar and cardamom seeds.<br />
2. Turn down to a gentle simmer,<br />
cook gently, uncovered for about 45<br />
minutes until the mixture is thick<br />
and creamy. Stir frequently and when<br />
cooked, cool.<br />
3. When cold, stir in the whipped<br />
cream, rosewater, raisins and nuts.<br />
Put into attractive dishes or glasses<br />
and sprinkle with a little cinnamon<br />
and, if you can get them, a final<br />
flourish of rose petals. Do not serve<br />
too cold as this will spoil the flavour.<br />
Bon appetite!<br />
Emma Fraser<br />
RARE BREED & NATIVE<br />
LIVESTOCK PRODUCING THE<br />
BEST QUALITY GRASS FED<br />
MEAT<br />
Shop online at paleyfarm.co.uk<br />
For delivery or collection from our farm<br />
butchery just outside Cranbrook<br />
_____________<br />
Please call 01580 891046 or email us at<br />
peter@paleyfarm.co.uk to discuss any<br />
bespoke requirements you may have.<br />
Paley Farm, Paley Lane<br />
Cranbrook, Kent<br />
TN17 2LX<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 39
Pink Connect 210x128 advert 01.21.qxp_Pink Connect 210x128 advert 01.21 19/01/<strong>2021</strong> 15:00 Page 1<br />
Is your IT fit for business?<br />
At the workplace or at home, you can’t do business without having the right telecoms and IT.<br />
Pink Connect has twenty years of experience providing telecoms and IT solutions to small and medium size businesses. No issue is too big or small<br />
for us, and it’s delivered with our commitment to great personal service, allowing you to get on with making your business more successful.<br />
PINK CONNECT CAN ADVISE YOU ON:<br />
■<br />
Business grade connectivity – FTTP, FTTC, leased lines, 4 and 5G routers<br />
■<br />
VOIP hosted phone systems, mobile networks, and handsets<br />
■<br />
Outsourced IT managed services<br />
■<br />
Microsoft 365 for Business<br />
■<br />
Data security systems<br />
■<br />
Laptops and PCs for your business and much more…<br />
Call Jules Rastelli to find<br />
out more on 01892 354 555.<br />
We’re rated EXCELLENT on Trustpilot.<br />
www.pinkconnect.com/local/tunbridge-wells/<br />
40 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong>
BADGER’S PLOT<br />
<strong>Spring</strong> Words<br />
Welcome to the first column of <strong>2021</strong>!<br />
<strong>The</strong> lengthening days<br />
and a gradual rise in<br />
average temperatures<br />
marks the beginning<br />
of an important<br />
period on the allotment or<br />
kitchen garden. You should now<br />
be satisfied with your plan for<br />
this season and may even have<br />
purchased your seeds.<br />
Many gardeners allow some of<br />
last season’s vegetables to go to<br />
seed and then harvest them for<br />
use this year.<br />
It is also important to spend<br />
time preparing your plot for the<br />
coming season. Weeding might<br />
seem like a chore but it will<br />
pay dividends later on if kept<br />
under control. If temperatures<br />
rise you will notice grasses<br />
and chickweed beginning to<br />
appear along with others such<br />
as bindweed, dock, shepherd’s<br />
purse, nettle and mares tail. Try<br />
to remove as much as possible.<br />
It is assumed that composting<br />
your beds has already started,<br />
but if not, begin by spreading<br />
well-rotted compost on the soil.<br />
So, what varieties can be<br />
sown or planted out in early<br />
spring?<br />
• Sown under glass or in the<br />
greenhouse: dwarf French<br />
beans, beetroot, sprouts,<br />
leeks, kale and cauliflowers.<br />
• Sown in the open: broad<br />
beans, parsnips and peas.<br />
• Planted out: shallots and<br />
early potatoes in March.<br />
Once into April, think about<br />
sowing or planting other<br />
varieties.<br />
• Sown under glass or in<br />
the greenhouse: tomatoes,<br />
peppers, broccoli, celery and<br />
beetroot with later sowings of<br />
lettuce, courgettes, cucumber,<br />
leeks and squash<br />
• Sown in the open: parsnips,<br />
radishes and carrots<br />
• Planted out: garlic<br />
and onion sets,<br />
with later<br />
plantings of<br />
maincrop<br />
potatoes,<br />
cauliflowers,<br />
peas and<br />
spinach.<br />
It might be advisable<br />
to avoid sowing all your seeds<br />
at once, keeping some back<br />
as a guard against failure to<br />
germinate as well as having a<br />
succession of fresh vegetables to<br />
harvest.<br />
At this time of the year the<br />
ground can still be quite cold,<br />
affecting germination of seeds,<br />
so some gardeners prefer to<br />
lay fleece or sheeting over<br />
designated beds to ensure that<br />
when the time comes, the soil<br />
temperature is higher.<br />
I am not an advocate of using<br />
any chemicals on the soil, so you<br />
might like to consider what is<br />
known as companion planting<br />
as an aid to producing healthier<br />
crops. <strong>The</strong> concept suggests that<br />
some vegetables will grow better<br />
if they are in close proximity<br />
to certain other plants. For<br />
example, when sowing carrots,<br />
sow a row of spring onions every<br />
third or fourth row. <strong>The</strong> strong<br />
aroma of the onions will deter<br />
carrot root fly – which can be<br />
very destructive and, of course,<br />
you will also have some spring<br />
onions to harvest later on.<br />
Nasturtiums can also be<br />
sown around the base<br />
of runner beans or<br />
climbing French<br />
beans. <strong>The</strong>y will<br />
attract the clouds<br />
of blackfly that<br />
tend to target<br />
and damage<br />
the beans. Some<br />
gardeners will plant<br />
or sow Nicotiana close to<br />
their brassicas such as cabbage,<br />
sprouts and broccoli. Sometimes<br />
called the “tobacco plant” due<br />
to its aroma, they act as a useful<br />
deterrent against attacks by<br />
whiteflies. Basil, planted among<br />
tomatoes, is said to deter aphids.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se are just a sample of the<br />
methods that can be employed<br />
rather than spraying with<br />
chemicals.<br />
Among other issues in the<br />
next edition, we’ll take a look at<br />
the problems caused by snails<br />
and how to deal with them. Until<br />
then, enjoy your gardening!<br />
Badger<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 41
LOCAL FARMING<br />
Our British farm champion, Sarah Calcutt, looks<br />
at the threat from even more housing unless<br />
people buy home-grown produce<br />
What does your<br />
investment<br />
in a pack of<br />
apples pay<br />
for? I was<br />
challenged recently by someone<br />
who thought that apples were<br />
overpriced. Given that we’re<br />
paying pretty much exactly<br />
what we were paying for fruit 10<br />
years ago and the costs of every<br />
single input has risen, they<br />
are astonishingly cheap. But<br />
we are an industry under great<br />
pressure.<br />
We are so lucky to live in<br />
Cranbrook, surrounded by<br />
beautiful farmland which<br />
produces so much world class<br />
produce. All those lovely<br />
orchards – but by the time you<br />
pick up a pack of apples in the<br />
Co-op you’re paying for possibly<br />
more than you think.<br />
Starting from the beginning<br />
– when the farmer plans the<br />
layout of a new orchard, all<br />
the trees need a cane, wires to<br />
support the rows, the kit to lay<br />
the trees out and then planted<br />
in precise rows. Orchards of<br />
stand-alone trees are no longer<br />
productive enough to turn a<br />
profit; Gala apples need to be<br />
cropped at 60/70 ton to the<br />
hectare to make a profit; each of<br />
the two to three thousand trees<br />
in each hectare costs about<br />
£11 planted for their first year.<br />
You’ve got to sell an awful lot of<br />
apples to make enough profit to<br />
plant a new orchard these days.<br />
<strong>The</strong> ground is prepared, trees<br />
planted and wildflower and<br />
grass mixes sown between the<br />
rows to help beneficial insects<br />
which pollinate the blossoms<br />
and take out the pests. This is<br />
also investment in people and<br />
equipment.<br />
Through the year the grass is<br />
mown, the hedges maintained;<br />
if you’ve got a footpath<br />
you’ve mown, strimmed and<br />
maintained that includes<br />
picking up the bags of dog poo<br />
(please take it home with you).<br />
Every tree is pruned, blossoms<br />
are thinned, nutrition and plant<br />
health treatments applied.<br />
Auditors in legions are paid<br />
to ensure that every grower is<br />
doing all they can to care for<br />
the countryside and is abiding<br />
by our very, very strict controls<br />
on farming, employment and<br />
environmental practice.<br />
We have more audits and<br />
controls here than anywhere;<br />
our systems for food safety are<br />
incredible detailed and exacting.<br />
Large crews of pickers need to<br />
be recruited, accommodated,<br />
trained and cared for on farms.<br />
GETTY IMAGES<br />
“In the UK last autumn we harvested 1.2<br />
billion apples and pears, of that number<br />
only those that are in a pack of Class 1<br />
fruits paid for themselves”<br />
Tractors and trailers are needed,<br />
bins to hold the fruits purchased<br />
or maintained, sophisticated<br />
fridges to keep them until<br />
the best time to sell them.<br />
<strong>The</strong> lorries to take them to be<br />
packed, the machinery, the<br />
skilled people, the packaging<br />
they are placed in, the rental<br />
of the crate they are put into<br />
and the transport to depot. All<br />
this needs to be paid for by the<br />
purchase of packs of fruit.<br />
Costs are roughly attributable<br />
into thirds – growing, storing,<br />
grading/transport/sales. <strong>The</strong> last<br />
two are costs that are often out<br />
of the grower’s control. If you<br />
haven’t got a big enough farm<br />
to build stores or a pack-house<br />
42 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong>
LOCAL FARMING<br />
generations that produce is<br />
cheap, perfect looking and<br />
always available.<br />
So before Trisha cuts me off<br />
for spending too long on my<br />
soap box, food is cheap in the<br />
UK – it is the third cheapest<br />
nation vs average income<br />
globally. Profit isn’t a dirty word<br />
either, unless farmers make<br />
some profit there’ll be more<br />
houses than trees in our parish<br />
before you know it.<br />
Please pick up British fruit,<br />
veg, meat and dairy. Please buy<br />
bread made with British grain,<br />
please, please don’t choose out<br />
of season, imported food. Please<br />
go to retailers who supply local<br />
and seasonal. <strong>The</strong> butchers<br />
and farm shops are exceptional<br />
value for money and what you<br />
are buying is better value, better<br />
for you and the planet. Everyone<br />
is so sad at the news of more<br />
planning approvals. <strong>The</strong>re<br />
will be more opportunities for<br />
developers unless we learn<br />
to eat with the seasons and<br />
support our farmers with every<br />
plate we put in front of our<br />
families.<br />
you are paying someone else’s<br />
business to do this for you.<br />
In the UK last autumn we<br />
harvested 1.2 billion apples and<br />
pears, of that number only those<br />
that are in a pack of Class 1<br />
fruits paid for themselves. Those<br />
packs of ‘wonky’, kids Class 2<br />
and all the other names we give<br />
the non-perfect fruit don’t make<br />
any money – they cost money<br />
to get onto a shelf. Farmers are<br />
berated for wastage but the<br />
British apple and pear share of<br />
the UK market place is around<br />
35-40% of the shelf. Pink Lady<br />
apples account for 11% of apples<br />
sold. In Sainsbury’s 22% of<br />
apple shoppers pick up Granny<br />
Smith, which aren’t home<br />
grown. <strong>The</strong>y’ve been shipped<br />
by sea and road from other<br />
parts of the world and reduces<br />
the opportunity to sell British<br />
apples and pears.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y take up a lot of shelf<br />
space that could have a lot<br />
more sizes, shapes and colours<br />
of home-grown but because<br />
shoppers pick up carbon-loaded,<br />
water thieving apples from<br />
other nations (which cannot be<br />
environmentally sustainable)<br />
we’ve now taught several<br />
GETTY IMAGES<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 43
We’re passionate<br />
about creating and<br />
maintaining beautiful<br />
outside spaces.<br />
Tompsett Landscaping<br />
A well designed and maintained garden or outdoor space can do amazing things for your home or<br />
business. Whether you want to make the most of your garden, give your customers an excellent<br />
experience or even add value before a sale Tompsett Landscaping are the landscaping company<br />
to make it happen.<br />
We are a Kent based landscaping company operating throughout Kent, London and the South East<br />
providing a whole host of landscaping, garden and grounds maintenance services to commercial<br />
companies, private clients and parish councils.<br />
Free Written Quotes • Fully Insured<br />
Office: 01580 713599 • Mobile: 07856 947840<br />
Email: the-wright-way@outlook.com<br />
www.the-wrightway.com<br />
44 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong>
LOCAL HISTORY<br />
Museum Matters<br />
Mike Huxley reveals the many rich secrets hidden in the archives at Cranbrook Museum<br />
While<br />
coronavirus<br />
has seen the<br />
museum<br />
closed, it has<br />
been a busy time for both research<br />
and the publication of material<br />
relating to our extraordinarily<br />
rich, local history.<br />
Did you know there has been<br />
a journal, produced annually,<br />
for the past 31 years detailing<br />
every aspect of Cranbrook’s past?<br />
Subjects as diverse as <strong>The</strong> Sheep<br />
Stealer’s Grave, Clockmakers in<br />
Cranbrook, Mary Sheafe School,<br />
<strong>The</strong> Weald of Kent Fire Brigade<br />
and <strong>The</strong> Pest House and Smallpox<br />
are just a few of the informative<br />
articles detailing our history.<br />
In addition to the Cranbrook<br />
Journal, the local history society<br />
has produced small booklets<br />
on specific subjects. Cranbrook<br />
Broadcloth and the Clothiers<br />
details the rise and fall of the<br />
cloth industry in our town. This<br />
phrase caught my eye: “…in May<br />
1337 a further step was taken to<br />
foster the development of the new<br />
industry, by the passing of a law<br />
prohibiting the import of cloth<br />
from Europe. This reversed the<br />
existing trade policy.” So trade<br />
agreements with Europe were<br />
taking place then just as they are<br />
today!<br />
Dissenting Congregations in<br />
Cranbrook, explores the early<br />
nonconformist movement. Today,<br />
plaques show where some of<br />
these chapels and meeting houses<br />
stood. You may have spotted the<br />
one where a Presbyterian chapel<br />
of the 1800s existed on <strong>The</strong><br />
Hill, but which is now the site<br />
of three cottages. As well as the<br />
Presbyterians there were Quakers,<br />
Baptists, Particular Baptists,<br />
Methodists and Wesleyans.<br />
Our currently rather sad<br />
looking Providence Chapel was<br />
once a very modern construction,<br />
being “prefabricated” in 1803 and<br />
brought to Cranbrook in sections<br />
on horse and cart. It was originally<br />
referred to as the Huntingtonian<br />
Chapel after William Huntington,<br />
the pastor who was born at<br />
nearby Four Wents. Other titles<br />
in the series include <strong>The</strong> Inns of<br />
Cranbrook, Dence’s School and<br />
Schoolmasters and Cranbrook<br />
Charities.<br />
To mark the millennium<br />
Cranbrook Voices from the<br />
20th Century is a collection of<br />
memories highlighting facets<br />
of life in Cranbrook during the<br />
past 100 years. Many wellknown<br />
people, including Charles<br />
Evernden, Peter Jempson<br />
and Sidney Barham had their<br />
recollections recorded for this<br />
anthology.<br />
We do have authors who have<br />
written very comprehensive works<br />
which are available through the<br />
museum, A History of Cranbrook<br />
by Peter Allen and Sporting the<br />
Oak (Life and Times of Thomas<br />
Dearn) by Paul Donovan, among<br />
them. After Joe Woodcock and<br />
Jenni Rodger produced their<br />
pictorial books on Cranbrook 35<br />
years ago, the museum thought<br />
it time to produce a new one.<br />
<strong>The</strong> most recent publication is<br />
Glimpses of Cranbrook which<br />
illustrates such topics as policing,<br />
the town band, Union Mill and fire<br />
brigade.<br />
All the publications are<br />
available from the museum and<br />
local history society. (details can<br />
be found on our website www.<br />
cranbrookmuseum.org). <strong>The</strong><br />
journals, all 31 of them, have<br />
recently been put on DVD or are<br />
available individually in hard<br />
copy.<br />
We can post to you or, if you<br />
live fairly centrally in Cranbrook,<br />
pop an order through your<br />
letterbox. Finally, when children<br />
were at home during the first<br />
lockdown a series of short<br />
educational films were put online.<br />
<strong>The</strong> first was about the Great Fire<br />
of Cranbrook in 1840, followed by<br />
Cranbrook’s Old Shops and then<br />
<strong>The</strong> Cranbrook Colony of Artists.<br />
Although intended for children,<br />
do go to our website.<br />
So while lockdowns have<br />
stopped us opening our doors to<br />
the public, we have continued<br />
to be active behind the scenes.<br />
Hopefully, <strong>2021</strong> will enable us to<br />
welcome you back.. Keep an eye<br />
on the website for updates.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 45
We’re proud to support<br />
your local community<br />
Hello<br />
neighbour<br />
Your Cranbrook’s Co-op has had a makeover<br />
and we’re looking forward to welcoming<br />
you to your new look store.<br />
FREE *<br />
Free home delivery<br />
when you spend<br />
£25 or more instore<br />
Send & receive<br />
parcels<br />
Bakery<br />
Costa<br />
Express<br />
Amazon<br />
pick up instore<br />
High Street, Cranbrook, Kent TN17 3DQ<br />
Open 7am-10pm Mon – Sat, 10am – 4pm Sun<br />
Now open earlier Monday through Saturday<br />
£5<br />
OFF<br />
COUPON<br />
When you spend £50 or more<br />
on groceries at Cranbrook’s Co-op<br />
Valid until 31/03/21<br />
Shop with confidence<br />
Your safety is our priority<br />
Terms and conditions<br />
Exclusions apply including; cigarettes tobacco, first stage baby milk, postage stamps, lottery tickets & scratchcards, gift cards & vouchers, instore concessions, PayPoint, mobile phone top ups & saving<br />
stamps. No change given. Original coupons only. One coupon valid per transaction. Valid in Cranbrooks Co-op store. Full T&C’s apply: http://coop.uk/tcs
ARTS<br />
❶<br />
❷<br />
1. Late Night Fire by<br />
Nick Hampshire<br />
2. <strong>The</strong> Horse Whisperer<br />
by Amanda Averillo<br />
3. Days End by David<br />
Winston<br />
❷<br />
Artists, Restorers and<br />
TV Stars!<br />
NICK HAMPSHIRE<br />
Cranbrook-based artist and<br />
picture restorer Nick Hampshire<br />
left school at 16 – he was<br />
only ever interested in the art<br />
world! His grandfather was an<br />
avid collector of 19th century<br />
paintings and Nick was fascinated<br />
and inspired by his collection.<br />
Nick was offered a twoyear<br />
apprenticeship in picture<br />
restoration and also worked in a<br />
gallery, accompanying the owner<br />
to auctions. He he learnt about<br />
the art market and after finishing<br />
his apprenticeship took private<br />
lessons in painting in oils. For<br />
the next 40 years Nick worked as<br />
a picture restorer for galleries,<br />
churches, auction houses and<br />
private clients.<br />
He started painting in oils<br />
some years ago with knowledge<br />
picked up restoring 18th and 19th<br />
Grierson Galleries’ joint owner Annie Watsham<br />
explores talents of local Weald artists<br />
century paintings and learned<br />
he techniques of Victorian<br />
artists. Several years ago, he<br />
had his first highly-successful<br />
solo exhibition. President of<br />
the Maidstone Art Society, he<br />
is Grierson Galleries’ bespoke<br />
picture restorer.<br />
AMANDA AVERILLO<br />
Living on the Cranbrook-<br />
Sissinghurst border Amanda’s<br />
love of art began as a child when<br />
she painted alongside her father.<br />
Aged 11 she won first prize in<br />
a painting competition on TV's<br />
Magpie. She designed a children's<br />
game, Don't let the Leaves Fall,<br />
manufactured by Airfix and<br />
appeared on national TV.<br />
She studied Fine Art at<br />
Croydon College where she<br />
gained Distinction in Painting<br />
in 1985. A child portrait<br />
photographer, she kept her<br />
hand in at life drawing and<br />
printmaking adult education<br />
classes. In 1995 Amanda joined<br />
Skylark Gallery on London's<br />
Southbank and in 2001 moved<br />
to Kent and set up her own<br />
printmaking studio where she<br />
taught her skills and exhibited<br />
her work locally and in London.<br />
Reflecting the beauty of the<br />
Kent countryside, she made<br />
layered mono prints, particularly<br />
focusing on the magic of morning<br />
and late afternoon. Amanda<br />
then turned to the East Sussex<br />
coastline with images of horses,<br />
dogs and people in silhouette<br />
against the sparkling sea.<br />
More recently: images of quiet<br />
interiors.<br />
DAVID WINSTON<br />
Photographer David Winston<br />
lives in Cranbrook, was born in<br />
Los Angeles and moved to the<br />
UK in 1970. Drawn to Venice as a<br />
constant source of inspiration, he<br />
divides his time between the city<br />
and the UK.<br />
David has always sought ways<br />
to work beyond the constraints<br />
of modern, digital photographic<br />
imagery. This led him to look<br />
at the earliest photographic<br />
processes and develop his own<br />
alternative ways of producing<br />
images. David is also a renowned<br />
restorer of musical instruments.<br />
“I spend my time seekingout<br />
lost sounds, bringing<br />
voices of long dormant musical<br />
instruments back to life. I see<br />
these ancient instruments as<br />
recording devices, which have<br />
captured and stored all the<br />
sounds produced on them over<br />
often several hundred years, and<br />
as I work, they slowly emerge<br />
from silence.<br />
“I find much similarity with<br />
photography, which is captured<br />
light and have always been<br />
fascinated by old images;<br />
the life and light contained<br />
within them. But especially it<br />
is the painterly quality of old<br />
photographic images, as opposed<br />
to the exactness of modern<br />
photography, which lends them a<br />
different emotional impact. This<br />
naturally led me down the path of<br />
studying the early 19th century<br />
photographic processes.”<br />
For more information<br />
www.griersongalleries.com<br />
www:wealdofkentartsociety.co.uk<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 47
A different kind of funeral director<br />
for a changing world.<br />
At Holly’s Funerals we treat all<br />
our customers as individuals.<br />
We’ll work closely with you to<br />
help you achieve exactly the kind<br />
of funeral that’s right for you.<br />
For more information please feel free<br />
to call us at any time or look online.<br />
From love comes beauty<br />
01580 389184<br />
www.hollysfunerals.co.uk<br />
Hartley Dyke, Cranbrook • Coombe Lane, Tenterden<br />
Home from home, as individual<br />
as you are, offering general nursing,<br />
dementia care, respite.<br />
• Dedicated, qualified, caring staff<br />
• Specialist Dementia service<br />
• Respite and Day Care available<br />
• Nursing specialities include MS, Parkinson’s<br />
Disease, non-age related PVS and palliative care<br />
• Single or shared room and choice of<br />
lounges for residents<br />
• Regular outings, entertainment and activities.<br />
Close to local amenities<br />
• Weekly GP visits and out of hours service<br />
• COVID-19 secure visiting<br />
• Visiting hairdresser, chiropodist and aromatherapist<br />
Iden Manor, Cranbrook Road, Staplehurst,<br />
Kent TN12 0ER Tel: 01580 891261<br />
care@idenmanor.co.uk | www.idenmanor.co.uk<br />
48 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong>
Update Parish<br />
News and views from<br />
Cranbrook & Sissinghurst<br />
Council<br />
Policy and<br />
Resources<br />
Committee<br />
Cllr. Robin Beck presents the budget<br />
precept <strong>2021</strong>-22<br />
As chairman<br />
of the Policy<br />
and Resources<br />
Committee,<br />
I have<br />
responsibility for the financial<br />
governance of the parish<br />
council so it is appropriate<br />
that I report to you on the<br />
budget that has been set for<br />
the current year commencing<br />
in April <strong>2021</strong>.<br />
In conjunction with the<br />
chairman of each of the other<br />
committees, and the expertise<br />
of former councillor Brian<br />
Swann, during November and<br />
December we build budgets for<br />
each of the committees.<br />
This year, we are particularly<br />
mindful of the financial impact<br />
on households caused by the<br />
pandemic and wanted the<br />
parish council element of your<br />
council tax bill to remain the<br />
same.<br />
As a result, we will use<br />
reserves to cover emergency<br />
activities, we will not seek to<br />
increase our reserves this year<br />
and have reduced funding for<br />
some “nice to have” projects.<br />
We hope that the owners of<br />
new houses being built in the<br />
parish will start paying the<br />
precept next year and help our<br />
finances.<br />
A Band D property will still<br />
pay £134.35 for the year, under<br />
37p a day, which I would hope<br />
you consider excellent value<br />
for money.<br />
Here are the actual sums<br />
spent by each committee and<br />
show the responsibility we<br />
take as councillors.<br />
2020 <strong>2021</strong><br />
Properties & Burial Grounds £11,100 £14,600<br />
Environmental Management £69,750 £68,250<br />
2020 <strong>2021</strong><br />
Policy and Resources £262,950 £259,253<br />
Economic & Community £9,500 £9,500<br />
Contingency £3,000 NIL<br />
<strong>The</strong> overall budget of<br />
£351,000 compares to last year<br />
of £356,000, and a decrease<br />
of 0.09% was presented and<br />
accepted by a majority at the<br />
full council meeting in January.<br />
All the detailed figures are<br />
available on the parish council<br />
website.<br />
<strong>The</strong> community centre and<br />
medical project is at long last<br />
taking shape and, whereas there<br />
will be a significant investment,<br />
MORE INFORMATION<br />
clerk@cranbrookandsissinghurstpc.co.uk<br />
www.cranbrookandsissinghurstpc.co.uk<br />
this should not affect the<br />
precept. <strong>The</strong> centre will provide<br />
essential services to the<br />
community and, in the longer<br />
term, be an extremely valuable<br />
capital asset.<br />
Should you have any<br />
observations or issues regarding<br />
the parish council finances that<br />
you wish to discuss please email<br />
the clerk who will contact me.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 49
LOCAL LEGEND<br />
Brigid<br />
Longley<br />
Tributes have been paid to one of Cranbrook’s mostadmired<br />
women. Family and friends have shared their<br />
memories with <strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> editor Trisha Fermor<br />
Anecdotes of tadpole<br />
hunting, delivering<br />
messages by pony,<br />
farming, and even<br />
working as a level<br />
crossing attendant, have come to<br />
light following the death of Brigid<br />
Longley at the age of 95.<br />
Born at Maybank, in Cranbrook<br />
High Street, on 8 February 1925,<br />
she was the only child of dentist<br />
Arthur and Helen Campbell, Irish<br />
emigrants.<br />
As a youngster, Brigid, also<br />
known as Biddy, fell in love<br />
with animals and set her heart<br />
on being a farmer. During her<br />
lifetime, she reared horses,<br />
ponies, donkeys, cows, goats and<br />
budgerigars – a big draw for many<br />
young girls who helped look after<br />
them.<br />
She studied agriculture at<br />
Reading University and enjoyed<br />
sculling in her spare time. On<br />
graduating, she quickly found<br />
work looking after cattle. In her<br />
20s, she worked for the Queen<br />
of Yugoslavia, who was in exile<br />
at Buckhurst Farm. Brigid cared<br />
for the family’s cows and even<br />
made their butter. When the farm<br />
replaced hand milking with a<br />
machine, she realised that cows<br />
were nervous of this new method.<br />
As a result, she drove around<br />
the UK in her Austin 7 Ruby<br />
training both farmers and cows.<br />
During these trips, she ate with<br />
the gentry’s staff in the kitchen,<br />
or with poorer hosts, where “oil<br />
lamps and pit toilets” were the<br />
norm.<br />
In 1952, she married Dennis<br />
Longley at St Dunstan’s Church<br />
and went on to have two sons,<br />
Dan and Rob. <strong>The</strong> family made<br />
their home at Breach Farm.<br />
She set up Hooves in Harness<br />
for horse-drawn weddings and<br />
provided horses and carriages for<br />
film sets. She also entered many<br />
carriage driving events and was<br />
thrilled when Prince Philip, an<br />
ace driver, passed her calling out:<br />
“Morning, Mrs Longley!” Another<br />
royal highlight for her was<br />
meeting the Queen at the South<br />
of England Show with her oxen,<br />
Stuff and Nonsense.<br />
She built up a fine herd of<br />
Jersey cattle and sold milk and<br />
cream. Every cow had a name<br />
inspired by subjects such as<br />
the weather, an example being<br />
‘Cirrus’.<br />
Brigid, who was a parish<br />
councillor in the 1990s, retired<br />
to a cottage in Cranbrook High<br />
Street and continued to be busy<br />
with her allotment, and as a<br />
volunteer at the museum.<br />
She died peacefully on 4<br />
December and a simple cremation<br />
took place at Tunbridge Wells.<br />
A service of thanksgiving will<br />
be held in the future when<br />
circumstances permit.<br />
MEMORIES<br />
Among the many memories,<br />
were several from Rob’s<br />
daughter, Harriet. “Furzie [the<br />
dog] getting shorn every year<br />
with the sheep….Visiting<br />
Cranbrook Museum with<br />
my class from school and<br />
feeling proud Granny worked<br />
there……Having sherry<br />
in the front room after the<br />
Remembrance Day Service.”<br />
Cate wrote: “Being the horse<br />
groom at the weddings, it<br />
was my job to help the bride<br />
into the carriage and make<br />
sure she didn’t fall out…and<br />
help old Seamus, [the horse]<br />
all whilst wearing top hat and<br />
tails”.<br />
50 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Cake</strong> • <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2021</strong>
An extra pair of hands<br />
when you need them!<br />
• Bookkeeping<br />
• Credit control<br />
• Data entry<br />
• Back office support<br />
• Training course<br />
organisation<br />
• Newsletters<br />
...and more<br />
Can you relate to one or<br />
more of these statements?<br />
“I want to spend time building my business - not doing paperwork”<br />
“I want to take control of my accounts rather than have them<br />
controlling me”<br />
“I need help in the office but don’t have the equipment<br />
or space for someone else”<br />
“I could do with an extra pair of hands but can't justify the cost<br />
or commitment of employing staff”<br />
“I need to improve my brand, online presence and market<br />
my services, but I don’t have the time ”<br />
If the answer is Yes, we think it's time you<br />
called Pink Giraffes Limited!<br />
if the service you are looking for isn't here please call us<br />
T. 01580 848190 E. enquiries@pinkgiraffes.co.uk<br />
www.pinkgiraffes.co.uk
Local firm of solicitors for all your<br />
personal and business needs<br />
Property Conveyancing<br />
Family, Children & Divorce<br />
Employment law<br />
Wills, Trusts and Probate<br />
Litigation & Dispute Resolution<br />
Company & Commercial law<br />
Our Cranbrook Office:<br />
Clermont House<br />
High Street<br />
Cranbrook<br />
Kent TN17 3DN<br />
T: 01580 712 215<br />
E: info@bussmurton.co.uk<br />
www.bussmurton.co.uk<br />
CRANBROOK | TUNBRIDGE WELLS | EAST GRINSTEAD<br />
Buss Murton Law LLP is a Limited Liability Partnership No. OC345994 and is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority