Keeping an ear to the ground for the local community
Open Dawes: events, workshops, activities
There will be hot drinks & food on sale from the village hall kitchen tonight:
Tea / coffee 50p
Hot Chocolate with marshmallows 50p
Hot dogs 50p
Mug of home-made soup £1
Crisps 30p
2 biscuits for 10p
![MC900441747[1]](https://hernhillforum.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/mc9004417471.png)
so please search under your sofa cusions and bring along some coins – all proceeds to pay for village hall hire & other expenses
The Exchange Cafe will not be running this term – we will be back in April and will run along-side after-school tennis lessons for children with a professional tennis coach. Day and Time to be confirmed, please email miriam@machin.f9.co.uk to register your interest and we will keep you informed.
Thank you to everyone who has supported the Cafe over the last year and we look forward to seeing you after Easter!
As part of the Jubilee celebrations, Open Dawes propose a PHOTO EXHIBITION of “A Day In the Life of Hernhill Parish”, a snapshot of village life in one day, capturing the ordinary, every-day activities of everyone living, working, walking or just passing through the village. We would like everyone to join in and photograph themselves, their neighbours, the post-man, the workmen, animals, plants, buildings, everyone and anyone, anything and everything, they see in the parish on the day, doing their every-day activities.
If you have a digital camera and are willing to volunteer as an amateur photo-journalist for the day, (or evening) please contact me. If you would like to be included in the project, or have any suggestions of what should be included, but do not have a camera, we can send a volunteer with a camera out to you on the day. We would like to include as many residence of the parish as possible (everyone, ideally!) If you do not have a digital camera, but would like to take your own photos, I do have a scanner and can scan photo prints for inclusion in the project. We will ask for photos to be submitted by 8th May, so that we can display them over the Jubilee weekend, they will then be made permanently accessible via the hernhill.net website. Please contact Miriam with offers of help or suggestions on 01227 752189 or Miriam@machin.f9.co.uk.
All photos should be taken on Tuesday 1st May 2012 please – Get your cameras ready!
David Shire lead a group of Hernhill locals on a fascinating misty-morning walk from The Red Lion, Dunkirk to Crooked Oak and through North Bishopden Wood. David and Beatrice Shire are volunteers for the Blean local heritage initiative and were able to reveal to us the natural and man-made landmarks within the ancient woodland.
Deep in the wood we found the impressive Crooked Oak and a moated site, thought to date from the 14th century – perhaps once a hunting lodge, or the King’s residence when visiting Canterbury. We walked along a boundary marked by a bank and tree pollards and learnt to recognise the evidence of traditional uses for the woodland resources.
Much of this evidence is, sadly, being lost as the uses for the woodland have changed in recent times, these ancient crafts are being forgotten and their evidence erased. The Blean Heritage & Community Group & the Blean Initiative aim to “encourage people to visit The Blean, to experience and enjoy its heritage and wildlife”. They have produced a series of leaflets with circular walks through the woods, which identify landmarks to be found along the way. These can be found, along with more information about The Blean on their website: http://www.theblean.co.uk/.
If you are interested in joining us on other history or nature walks, please contact Miriam@machin.f9.co.uk.
Donations were collected for Tree Aid, find out more about the charity here: http://www.treeaid.org.uk/
Apologies!
The Exchange Cafe will not be running today because of illness – we will be back next week and making Valentines gifts.
Friday 27th January 3.00 – 4.30pm in the Village Hall
Table Tennis for children plus:
School children welcome and use the DCA tennis court – bring racquets & balls.
All Welcome!
Thank you Alan Johnson, for another fantastic guided bird walk.The Oare marshes were packed with wading and sea birds, we also saw Greylag geese, a White Egret, a Kestrel, and caught a glimpse of a Marsh Harrier. The Highland Cattle looked pretty impressive too!
You can visit Oare any time and it is the perfect bird-watching experience for children, with hundreds of birds within a few steps of the car park. Find out more here: http://www.kentwildlifetrust.org.uk/reserves/greater-swale-wetlands/oare-marshes/
Watch this space for more walks.
Friday 20th January 3.00 – 4.30pm in the Village Hall
School children welcome and use the DCA tennis court – bring racquets & balls.
All Welcome!
Walk to Crooked Oak
Sunday 29th January
Families and individuals are invited to join us for a guided walk in Blean Woods Nature Reserve with
Local Expert David Shire
We will visit the moated site near Crooked Oak and look at other archaeological and natural landmarks on the reserve.
10.00am Meet in the car park of The Red Lion, Dunkirk
for a 1 – 1 ½ hour walk and a drink/meal in The Red Lion
Roast Dinners available
Please ring Miriam on 01227 752189, or email miriam@machin.f9.co.uk if you would like to join us.
Please bring a donation for Tree Aid.
No Dogs
The Bird Walk on Sunday has been moved to OARE!
Because of the dry weather there is not much to see at Elmley at the moment so we will now be visiting Oare wildlife reserve instead, where it IS wet and there are lots of birds to see.
We will visit Elmley at a later date TBC.
10.45am Meet at Hernhill Village Green to drive in convoy
11.00am Meet at Oare Reserve Car Park
The walk will be approximately 1 – 11/2 hours, with a stop in a hide.
Directions: http://www.kentwildlifetrust.org.uk/pdfs/reserves/oareMarshes.pdf
Photo: tripadvisor.co.uk
Apologies if you are disappointed because we are not going to Elmley this time, but there really will be more to see at Oare!
Please contact miriam@machin.f9.co.uk if you would like to come.
