28

BOOKING FORM OVERLEAF

Gates open 5pm

Children’s entertainment from 5.30pm Lady Gaga Tribute from 7pm

The Upbeat Beatles from 8.30pm The evening finishes at 10.30pm

The grounds and gates close at 11pmp[

Mar 2013 No 228

Happy Easter

2 3

Heart of Kent Hospice:

Cycling for all April 28 Heart of Kent Cyclo Sportive 9.00 am A 100 km timed ride through beautiful Kent countryside, starting and finishing at East Malling Research Station. Riders are challenged to achieve a Gold, Silver or Bronze time based on their age and gender. For elite and amateur cyclists alike. Entry £30 includes chip timing, feed stations and after-ride food. Pedal for Pounds 12.00 midday A 10 km family cycle on the private roads of the peaceful East Malling Research estate. The perfect way to spend a spring afternoon with the family and raise vital funds for the Heart of Kent Hospice. Adults £10, children are £3. Family ticket (2 adults, 3 children) £25. For more information and to book, call 01622 790195 or visit www.hokh.org

4

Girls Brigade: Mondays 5.00-9.00 pm in groups from age 5-18 at Larkfield Methodist Church Hall - call Val 01634 305650. Boys Brigade: Weds 5.30-8.30 pm in groups from age 5-18 at Larkfield Methodist Church Hall - call Alan 01732 848772. Lent Blog: If you are interested in following the Lent course or interested in reading some short prayers and reflections, visit www.healingleybourne.wordpress.com or email caroline_rink@ hotmail.com in confidence. Women’s World Day of Prayer: March 1, 10:30 service at St Tho-mas Moore, West Malling. Children's Easter Fun Day: Sat March 30 2:30 to 4:30pm for pre-school and school-age children.

New Electoral Roll for 2013: A new electoral roll is completed every 6 years. Please take an electoral roll form from the table at the back of church, complete it and return it to Martin or Patrick. MAD Starfish raised £272.30 selling Christmas cards and ethi-cal gifts towards helping women in Kuayemba, Malawi learn to read and write. Easyfundraising.co.uk: Shop online through the easyfundrais-ing web site. £1,115 has been received to date from the retail-ers, as they pay a percentage of online orders to our church. The Children’s Society said thank you for the £200 including gift aid we raised at the Christin-gle service on Jan 13. Heart of Kent Hospice: Sky Ball March 15, 7:30 pm, Tudor Park, Bearsted to celebrate 21 years offering care, compassion, com-fort and hope. The James Bond themed evening will consist of a three-course meal, live entertain-ment and a fun casino. Entertain clients and have fun with col-leagues. Tickets £60. Tables of 12 available. Visit www.hokh.org or call 01622 790195.

Visit the new church website for all the latest news about the church, and for an up to date cal-endar of events and service times. Go to: www.leybournechurch.co.uk

5

Church Warden surgery: Pat-rick Tootal or Martin Luton will be available 11:00 am to 12:00 noon in church every Saturday to answer your questions while Fr Matthew is in Afghanistan. Retired? Semi Retired? Join the University of the Third Age. Monthly meetings on the first Thursday every month at 2.00 pm at Kings Hill Community Centre. Call 01622 201985, 01622 201985 or email khad.u3a.membership@gmail.com. Visit www.kingshillu3a.org.uk. LEYara (Leybourne Active Re-tirement Association) is a club for retired and semi retired people over 50. The main Club meeting is on the second Thursday after-noon of each month at the Village Hall where we have an enter-tainer or speaker. On the third Thursday of each month the Arts and Crafts, Card Making, Sketch-ing, Bridge, Board games and Watercolour groups meet. De-tails from Maggie Holmes on 01732 847121.

Bulky Waste: The council truck will be outside the shops on Little Market Row: Mar 9 9.30-10.30 am Mar 23 8.00-9.00 am Please don’t leave items on site if the truck is not there. You are responsible for putting them into the truck yourself.

Ss PETER & PAUL LEYBOURNE

“Leybourne Church seeks to serve God through prayer,

worship, action and example in the wider community.”

Please contact the Parish Priest or Church Wardens on any parish

matters. PARISH PRIEST

The Revd Matthew Buchan 01732 842187

matthew.buchan@diocese-rochester.org

CHURCH WARDENS Patrick Tootal - 01732 870809 Martin Luton - 01732 845280

CHURCH ADMINISTRATOR/ Sarah Kitchener

01732 521222 leybournepa@googlemail.com PASTORAL ASSISTANT

Mary Bierbaun - 01732 844706

Do you run a community group or activity and want people to know about it? Contact:

LEYBOURNE VOICE 40 Castle Way Leybourne, ME19 5HG Leybournevoice @hotmail.com

Leybourne’s plachildren who ar

6

9

The Friends of Health Needs Education is a very new charity, set up formally in September 2012, to support the work of the West Kent Health Needs Education Service. We used to be “West Kent Hospital School” which was easy to un-derstand because we educate children and teenagers who are ill. Illnesses can range from physical conditions to mental or emo-tional disorders. Younger children and some older students are taught in their homes by a tutor. In our three sites at Leybourne, Pembury & Seal, students of sec-ondary age are taught in a small and very safe school environ-ment. Many students stay with us for a couple of terms while they get back on track with their learning; then they return to main-stream school or take a place at a specialist school. Some stay longer. Where a student joins us in Year 11, they stay with us to get their GCSEs and to prepare for College or Sixth Form. Sometimes the mix of severe mental and physical health issues can be challenging, but everyone, whatever their problems, is accepted at WKHNES and, with most students, this means that they eventually settle down and make the most of their opportuni-ties. The Friends of Health Needs Education have three aims:

To raise funds to improve learning and leisure resources for our students

To provide opportunities for former students (Buddies of HNE) to visit and keep in touch with current students and staff

To create both a local and on-line support community for Health Needs Education; because our catchment is all of West Kent, we need to build a local community around our sites as well as developing links with special interest groups for specific medical conditions

The Friends paid for the recovering of the students’ pool table,

ace in educating re ill

10

Rotary Club of the Weald of Kent CANCER RESEARCH UK NORTH DOWNS WALK Sunday, June 30th 2013. Start at Harrietsham Village Hall, Church Road, ME17 1AP. From 7.30am. Last registration 11.00am. Walkers can opt for a 3, 6 or 9 mile walk. On completion all walkers are given a free Ploughman’s Lunch, strawber-ries and are entertained by a local Jazz Band. For more details, maps, posters etc, call 01622 890650 or visit www.wealdofkentrotary.org.uk In its 28 years, this Walk has raised over £420,000 for local & national charities, with over £200,000 for CRUK alone.

11

Leybourne Voice is a community magazine, published ten times a year,

which is delivered by volunteers from Leybourne Church.

We deliver 1,400 copies to the residents in Leybourne and Leybourne Chase.

Prices are very affordable with a half page advert costing £23 for a single issue,

£100 for 5 issues and £180 for 10 issues.

Alternatively you could have a quarter or full page advert.

Prices available on request. So why not support your local Parish magazine and promote your business at the same time?

For more details please contact Mark on

msallnow@yahoo.co.uk or call 07769 666561

12 13

14 15

Pictures overleaf

re

ir

s uspi-ly and

ect no

ut per-

young people with respect and trust; because

so often they do repay that trust; as they do

here. Yours

Padre Matt

One of the things that is striking about the population here

at Camp Bastion is its youth. There are some older people

(sadly, reluctantly and despite much denial, I now count

myself among their number!) but the majority are in thei

late teens and 20s. And It is remarkable to see how much

responsibility is entrusted to such "young" people: for ex-

ample, everyone apart from the padres is armed.

What is also striking is the maturity they exhibit. UK

forces are well known for how well trained they are and

this is very obvious: Their professionalism is second to

none.

This has all challenged me a lot. In our culture youth is

not always regarded as a positive force. We are often su

cious of those in their teens and twenties and frequentl

lay blame at their door. But perhaps this is our failing

not theirs? My time here is showing me that with corre

guidance (admittedly backed up by sanction) age is n

barrier to responsibility and maturity.

This is not a call for "national service", far from it, bu

haps a reminder that it is in all our interests to treat

17

PIMP MY RIDE

“PADRE MATT” GETS AROUND CAMP BASTION ON HIS CUSTOMISED QUAD BIKE.

PIMP MY RIDE

ple the same questions arise. “What’s your name? Where

do you live?” then its “What do you do for a living?”

And then when I say I’m a gardener/horticulturist the next question comes quick as a flash “How do I get my lawn looking green, healthy and with perfect stripes?” This is the same every-where I go. It seems like we Brit-ish are obsessed with our lawns however big or small.

March is the time when the garden has woken from its win-ter slumber and is looking to take its first tentative foot out of the duvet. And your lawn is no exception to this: as the tem-perature rises above 7 degrees Celsius, the grass responds by growing

By doing some groundwork now (when the weather permits) and following a few simple rules you can go some way to having the lawn that you have always wanted.

Firstly, if you didn’t scarify (raking out the thatch) in the Autumn (which is the best time

to do this task) then do this if your lawn isn’t water logged.

After that aerate by either using a hollow tiner (this takes plugs of soil out) or a garden fork. Make these holes about 15 – 20cm apart and 10cm deep.

If you have sandy soil then scatter compost over the lawn but, if it is prone to water log-ging or has lots of moss in it then throw down horticultural sand (silver not builders).If you are not sure, then spread a 50-50

19

Continued overleaf

I find myself writing this month’s column not from my usual place (in front of my

laptop) but,

on a sunbed with bright blue sky above me and sand in between my toes!

I’m on my winter holiday and I noticed when you meet new peo-

Adam McKay sets out the essential springtime steps to achieving the perfect lawn.

18

20

Barham Small Animal Hotel 5 star luxury boarding for your small animals. We are a very friendly and ex-perienced family run business for all your pets needs. Pets boarded:- Cats, Rab-bits,Guinea Pigs, Hamsters, Mice, Lizards, Tortoises etc We now also offer a Home Visit facility for those pets that you would prefer are looked after in their own home. Please contact Hazel on 01622 812653 for further details. Malling Road, Teston Maidstone.Kent.ME18 5BH Email:- barhamcats@aol.com

davidbutterfill1@o2.co.uk

mix of both. Brush it into the holes using a stiff broom. This will help to assist drainage (compost holds on to the mois-ture, whilst sand does the oppo-site) and avoid compaction (which allows rain water to sit on the surface thus promoting moss growth.

Define the edges of the lawn by using a half moon or fitting a border edging. But, please do not use log roll as it’s impossible to cut close to. They are also virtually impossible to keep level and straight. In fact I believe it should be thrown into Room 101. Sorry if I’ve offended anyone, but it had to be said. There are many pliable edgings on the market that give a clean, sharp and modern look.

A “weed and feed” can be used if your lawn has a lot of perennial weeds in it. By regular

mowing (7 – 10 days) the grass will grow stronger, thicker and eventually crowd out the annual weeds. Throwing fish, blood and bone sparingly will give the grass plenty of nutrients to keep it strong and healthy. I find clover and dai-sies make the lawn

look more natural and it’s also good for wildlife. But if you are after the stripy lawn then you will need a mower that has a heavy roller. The mowers with a plastic roller really don’t cut the mustard. A heavy back roller is the only way.

Try not to cut corners when it comes to mowing, never cut more than 1/3 of its length as this causes stress and encour-ages weeds. Also do not cut any lower than 30mm, as again you will put it under stress, this is

21

In the garden with Adam Continued from previous page

Fri 01 19:30 Rehearsal, Mary Magdalene Sat 02 11:00 Church Warden Surgery Sun 03 08:00 Eucharist 09:00 Choir Rehearsal 09:45 Sunday Club 10:00 Parish Eucharist Mon 04 09:30 Lent Course - My Grace is Sufficient Tue 05 09:15 Book Club 19:30 E100 Group, Castle Lake

Wed 06 20:00 Prayer service Thu 07 19:30 Curry & Chat Fri 08 19:30 Rehearsal, Mary Magdalene Sat 09 11:00 Church Warden Surgery Sun 10 Mothering Sunday 08:00 Eucharist 08:00 Breakfast, Castle Lake 09:00 Choir Rehearsal 10:00 All Age Eucharist Mon 11 09:30 Lent Course - My Grace is Sufficient 20:00 Home Group Tue 12 09:15 Book Club 19:30 E100 Group, Castle Lake Wed 13 20:00 Prayer Service Thu 14 19:30 Curry & Chat Fri 15 19:30 Rehearsal, Mary Magdalene Sat 16 11:00 Church Warden Surgery Sun 17 08:00 Eucharist 09:00 Choir Rehearsal 09:45 Sunday Club 10:00 Parish Eucharist

March

22

Day of Prayer for Africa

St Peter’s Church, Aylesford, March 16 10.00 am to 4.00 pm, with a lunch break between 1 and 2.15, and a short time for coffee after 11.15.

There will be a light lunch at the church for anyone who would like to join us.

We will be hearing first-hand from organisations and individuals directly involved in Africa. For a detailed programme, visit www.aylesford-church.org.uk

The day is divided into quarter-of-an-hour sections so that it will be easy for peo-ple to drop in at any time. - do pop in for as short or long a time as you wish.

We look forward to having you with us!

23

Mon 18 09:30 Lent Course - My Grace is Sufficient 19:45 Social Committee 20:00 Standing Committee Tue 19 09:15 Book Club 19:30 E100 Group, Castle Lake Wed 20 20:00 Prayer Service Thu 21 19:30 Curry & Chat Fri 22 19:30 Rehearsal, Mary Magdalene Sat 23 11:00 Church Warden Surgery 19:30 Mary Magdalene the musical Sun 24 Palm Sunday 08:00 Eucharist 09:00 Choir Rehearsal 10:00 Parish Eucharist starts Donkey Field with Sunday Club, 7UP. Mon 25 19:30 Compline

Tue 26 09:15 Book Club 19:30 E100 Group, Castle Lake 19:30 Compline Wed 27 10:00 Easter School service in church 19:30 Compline Thu 28 19:30 Mass of the Last Supper Fri 29 09:30 Good Friday Liturgy 11:00 Walk of Witness, West Malling Sat 30 11:00 Church Warden Surgery 14:30 Children’s Easter Fun Day 19:30 Easter Eve Vigil Sun 31 Easter Sunday 06:15 Outside Easter Dawn Ser- vice, field opposite church 08:00 Eucharist 09:00 Choir Rehearsal 10:00 All Age Eucharist

Calendar

Minutes of a Meeting of Leybourne Parish Council held Jan 8 2013. Chairman’s address: Because of the many questions and con-cern raised by Parishioners re-garding the need and cost of the forthcoming parish council elec-tion, it is appropriate under chairman’s announcements that I give a short state-ment to clarify the matter. Let it be clear that Leybourne Parish Council prides itself on its support of the rights of democracy for its parishioners. We understand that 19 Leybourne pa-rishioners amongst our constituency of 3,500 signed a peti-tion sent to the bor-ough council calling for an election under their de-mocratic right to do so, this how-ever for just one mid-term va-cancy on the parish council, which with past vacancies would have been filled democratically by co-option, and at no expense to the community. In these times of financial constraint and hard-

ship I, and my fellow council-lors, are at a loss to be able to justify to the many parishioners who have questioned the expen-diture and need for this election on the 17th January, called by these 19 parishioners, who have exercised their rights under Lo-

cal Elections (Parish and Communities) Rules 1986, which as stated would under normal circumstances have been filled by co-option. The cost of the election will be in the region of £5500, or nearly 6% of our annual precept, and which will have to be paid from the Parish Council’s budget, and ultimately by our pa-rishioners. This, not-withstanding the in-convenience and cost for the many Pre-

school Parents who work, be-cause the village hall will be closed on 17th January for the election, and who will have to make alternative childcare ar-rangements or take the day off work. I trust this clarifies the background to why the election has been called.

24

Parish Council

25

Crime: In December, Ley-bourne experienced 3 burglary dwellings which has been a trend over the Mallings Area. There have been no calls to the police in relation to ASB issues which would be associated with youths. I continue to patrol Ley-bourne’s known problem areas and happy to report that I have not come across any problems of note this month. November saw 2 Anti-social Behaviour inci-dents, 1 Criminal Damage/arson. In comparison there were 9 crimes in November 2011. Cllr Ulph reported that several empty drug wraps have been discovered at the toddlers play area and bomb hole and these have been passed on to the po-lice and this is being recorded by the parish council. Cllr Ulph confirmed that the police would not investigate what substances have been in these wraps. It was noted that they appeared to be bags for tablets. Cllr Ulph ap-pealed to members of the public to report any incidents to the police on telephone number 101, no matter how minor. Castle Way priority signage: The design of the priority sign-age was circulated to council-lors prior to the meeting. Cllr Hohler explained that she had requested the Kent County Council officers consult with the

parish council prior to ordering the works. Parish Newsletter: All agreed to change the parish newsletter to a monthly edition on glossy paper. [For the avoidance of doubt, this does not refer to Leybourne Voice, which is published by Leybourne Church, independ-ently of the Parish Council.] Borough Council Planning: TM/12/03046/FL – 1 Pinewood Close : Conversion of garage to habitable room – Approved (LPC Object).

26 27