Hernhill Open Gardens

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Open Gardens 2018

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Concert at St Michael’s Church Fri 18 May: University of Kent Chamber Choir

On By Tom O'BedlamIn arts, EventsLeave a comment

We’re very much looking forward to a visit from the University of Kent Chamber Choir and Sinfonia, who will be coming to St Michael’s Church on Friday 18 May for a concert at 7.30pm.

Conducted by Dan Harding and Matthew Cooke, the event brings a blend of sacred and secular music from across the centuries, featuring especially the Stabat Mater by Pergolesi, a popular work from the Baroque period for which the Choir will be joined by players from the String Sinfonia.

Here’s the Choir singing My Lord Has Come by Will Todd, one of the pieces which will be included in the concert:

The performance is free, and includes refreshments; there will be a retiring collection in aid of St Michael’s Church. Put the date in your diaries!

Image gallery: Village Fete 2018

On By Tom O'BedlamIn EventsLeave a comment

Fair weather and glorious skies greeted the annual village fête yesterday afternoon, which saw a bustling community turning up to the playing fields for a traditional event, complete with maypole dancing from children at the primary school. Joe’s Bows were present with a fine display of birds of prey; Spikes Hedgehog Sanctuary raising funds to protect endangered hedgehogs; a Messy Church stall; live music from YMS Steel Pan band playing everything from Bob Marley to the ‘Cantina Band’ music from Star Wars; a beat-the-keeper competition featuring the Hernhill Herons; a tempting array of homemade cakes and marmalades; a well-stocked second-hand bookstall; a thriving tea service in the village hall, and many other stalls tempting visitors to part with cash to raise funds shared equally between the Village Hall and St Michael’s Church.

Huge thanks to all the participants and to the team who managed the event so succesfully; here’s hoping for equally fine weather next year!

Plastic-free adventures: SodaStream

On By Tom O'BedlamIn Village VoiceLeave a comment

Our endeavours to cut down on single-use plastics coming over the doorstop as part of Say No To Plastic In Faversham Week continues with our moving away from buying carbonated drinks, and making our own using a SodaStream carbonator and syrups. These allow customers to create their own carbonated water and flavoured drinks (there’s a rumour that one can even create Prosecco-style drinks using white wine, although we’ve not tested this theory. Yet…).

Instead of buying individual bottles of fizzy drink, which invariably come in plastic bottles, we are using filtered tap-water which is then carbonated by the SodaStream device as required. This reduces both the number of plastic bottles coming into the home, but also saves money – we’re not paying petrol costs on transporting a boot-load of two-litre bottles of lemonade, Coca-Cola, tonic water and sparking water each shopping trip; and we are pouring away less liquids that have gone flat.

Get busy with the fizzy…

Additionally, the carbon cylinders can be re-charged at most stores which sell SodaStream products, reducing the cost of manufacturing additional cylinders. The customer also benefits by getting an average of £10 back when returning a cylinder at the point of purchasing a new one (the Range currently offers this facility on recharged cylinders retailing at £18.99). It’s not possible to get away entirely from plastic containers, as the syrups come in such bottles, but the syrup-bottles are smaller (concentrated products) and we are purchasing fewer of them compared to buying 2-litre bottles of fizzy drink. Each carbonating cylinder costing £9 (with the £10 cylinder return by the customer) boasts that it can carbonate 60 litres of water, which means we are bringing home at least 29 fewer plastic bottles (assuming each bottle is a two-litre bottle); each litre therefore costs a mere 15p, compared to on average £1.50 for a branded two-litre bottle of drink. Factoring in the cost of a syrup bottle (£4) which flavours approx 8 litres, that works out at 50p/litre – overall, then, the combined costs-per-litre is 65p, but there are reduced transport costs and little packaging consumption impacting on the environment.

So, on balance, a saving of 20p on a two-litre bottle and significantly fewer plastic bottles coming into the kitchen. (And we run out of tonic far less often than before, always a risk in our household…). A small but significant way of making a difference…

No Plastic ? Fantastic! Making a difference this week

On By Tom O'BedlamIn Village VoiceLeave a comment

It’s ‘Say No To Plastic Week’ in the Market Town of Kings all this week, as Faversham makes a difference to levels of plastic pollution.

Between 18 – 24 February, we’re being encouraged to re-use, recycle or simply take measures to reduce the levels of plastic our households consume; with heart-rending videos of high levels of plastic filling the world’s oceans going viral on social media, now’s the time to assess how we can make a difference. With news this week that China is no longer taking plastic from the UK for recycling, it’s only going to become increasingly important that we do what we can; and it all begins at grass-roots level, with movements like Say No To Plastic raising awareness, sharing alternatives and skills, and lobbying local businesses and companies to take part. Here’s a few of the ways we’re going to be contributing to the week.

Recycling aluminium trays: all those trays that come bearing fresh meats can easily be washed and re-used, it saves on consumption of aluminium foil.

Soap-nuts from India are an organic, natural detergent that are a great alternative to laundry detergent (and also means avoiding purchasing plastic bottles / containers in which it is packaged). The Salveo ones are allergy-free and kind to skin, and are cultivated through sustainable agriculture. The sacks come with cotton drawstring bags for placing in with your washing, so there’s no need to wander around the kitchen looking for those errant plastic mini-tubs under the chairs and table any more either…Beeswax wraps; these are made from cotton material (off-cuts or any suitably-sized piece), onto which one irons small beeswax beads, to make a durable alternative to cling-film. The wax-coated cotton wraps can be readily laundered, and are great for keeping food fresh in the fridge or taking your sandwiches to work instead of using plastic tupperware.

And just to show how easy making these wraps is, here’s Madam Forum with a short vlog following her first attempt to make one herself (the cotton used here comes from the excellent The Fabric Man, a stall at Faversham market on Saturdays)…

Loose-leaf tea; it came as something of a shock to realise that tea-bags are made using plastic and as such aren’t always readily recyclable. Instead, use loose-leaf tea – and actually create a much more flavoursome cuppa into the bargain…

Homemade soaps: instead of buying plastic- or paper-wrapped bars of soap, it’s possible to make your own using a pre-made base made from shea butter and oatmeal, which you melt and pour into a suitable mould combined with your favourite essential oils. Ours came from The Soap Kitchen.

Yesterday, the team behind the Faversham initiative were busy at a stall in the market-place, sharing ideas and encouraging people to make a pledge, written onto a paper leaf and attached to an ever-growing pledge-tree; the tree was festooned with leaves, a sign that many are really getting behind the initiative.

On Wednesday this week (21 Feb), there is a drop-in event in the Fleur de Lys centre off Gatefield Lane in Faversham, where between 3-8.30pm people can can find out about a variety of ideas for combatting plastic consumption, share their ideas and skills and find out more about how to get involved.

Click to enlarge

We’ve made our pledge, and are looking forward to taking part in the skills-sharing event on Wednesday. It’s projects like this, started by volunteers with a passion and commitment towards protecting the environment and preserving it for future generations, that can really make a difference, and make big business and politicians sit up and take notice of customer power (Faversham’s own MP, Helen Whately, is also getting involved this week) and the concerted will of consumers to make a change.

Of course, it’s taken as read that we are all assiduous in our household recycling habits; the real cultural shift, and the next stage in our domestic environmental thinking, concerns making efforts to ensure that even those products that can be recycled aren’t making their way over our doorsteps in the first place. Make sure you’re involved this week, and make a difference to your environment. Find out more about the project on Facebook here or follow updates on its Twitter page here.