Parish Newsletter MAY 2020 Issue 550 http://fordcombechurch.org Delivered to every home in the Parish—free of charge ST. PETER’S CHURCH, FORDCOMBE fordcombechurch.org Rector of Penshurst & Fordcombe The Revd. Tom Holme, MA. The Rectory, Penshurst 870316 CHURCHWARDENS Mike Gilbert Rockydene, Chafford Lane, Fordcombe TN3 0SH Email [email protected] 740371 Peter Waghorn Woodpeckers, The Green, Fordcombe, TN3 0RY Email [email protected] 740645 PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL Hon. Secretary Linda Naidu 740724 11 The Drive Hedge Barton TN3 0SL Treasurer/Gift Paul Reeves Queens Spinney, Ashurst Road 740837 Aid Recorder Ashurst, Tunbridge Wells TN3 9SU Deanery Synod Representative John & Christobel Sworder 740345 Electoral Roll Officer Vacant PCC. MEMBERS June Gilbert 740371 Helen Morrison 740211 Isobel Smith 740404 Vacancy Organist & Director of music Bob Wilson 01732832444 St. Peter’s Fellowship Peter Waghorn 740645 Sunday Club Leader Mrs Hayley Collins 01892544458 Church Flowers Mrs. June Gilbert 740371 Mrs. Sandra Arnold 740283 NEWSLETTER - PLEASE NOTE THE COPY DATE IS 16th OF EACH MONTH Newsletter copy by e-mail please to: [email protected] Neither the Editor nor the Newsletter can be held responsible for its content. Editor and Advertising: Mike Gilbert. Rockydene, Chafford Lane, Fordcombe. TN3 0SH 740371 Advertising rates per annum: £100 full page, £60 one half, £40 one quarter, Printer: St. Mary’s Church, Leigh 01732-832236 ALL PHONE NUMBERS ARE PREFIXED 01892– ... UNLESS OTHERWISE SHOWN 2 FROM THE CHURCHWARDENS PEW Church Services At present I am sure everyone understands that the Church cannot be opened at present to allow services to take place. However the Reverend Bill MacDougall at Chiddingstone is conducting weekly services each Sunday on YouTube and indeed daily thoughts. These videos are extremely good and I am sure many would find them most helpful. Please take a few moment to check them out. If you go to YouTube and search under Chiddingstone you will find them. St Peter’s Fellowship - Peter Waghorn Fellowship meetings are suspended for the time being We pray: Heavenly Father, Keep us under the shadow of your mercy. Sustain and support the anxious, be with those who care for the sick, and lift up all who are brought low; that we may find comfort knowing that nothing can separate us from your love in Christ Jesus our Lord. Support for the Parish Volunteers Over 20 volunteers have kindly come forward to help anyone in need of help with shopping, collecting medication, running errands and importantly perhaps having a chat. If you or anyone you know needs help please do not hesitate to contact me, my details are below, or our other Church warden Peter Waghorn. The calls for help have not been that great so far and therefore not all of the volunteers have been called to help but as time goes on of course that may change. However many thanks to those who have unstintingly given of their time to help. Email list I have a village Email list of 68 so that information can be disseminated and messages have already been sent out on initiatives to help with food supplies. This message and all future ones will be carried on the Church website. (http://fordcombechurch.org) If you would like to be included on the list please do make contact with me Please also see the centre pages for more information on local initiatives Best Wishes Mike Gilbert 740371 [email protected] 3 FORDCOMBE LUNCHEON CLUB Fordcombe Luncheon club usually meets on the second Thursday of each month at 12-30pm. We have space for new members to come and join us for food and pleasant conversation with old and new friends. LUNCHEON CLUB WILL OF COURSE NOT TAKE PLACE AT PRESENT For more information please contact Mrs Kate Hargrave Tel 861047 CHURCHYARD TIDYING NO CHURCHYARD AT PRESENT Helen Morrison 740211 CHURCH COFFEE MORNING NO COFFEE MORNINGS WILL TAKE PLACE AT PRESENT Christabel Sworder 740345 WI Hello everyone, in taking it forward into the future. CURRENTLY THERE ARE NO WI MEETING PLANNED Best wishes Angie 4 District Councillor’s magazine article for May 2020 April has been a month like no other in any of our lifetimes and although I would love to be writing about something else, I will, of course, have to focus on Coro- navirus in this piece. As this article is only going to be distributed on-line, and therefore hasn’t the same pressure on wordcount as my usual monthly articles, I hope you will find this longer missive both interesting and reassuring that we are coping well in our villages. I want also to balance my focus on the Coronavirus response in Penshurst, Fordcombe & Chiddingstone, with some ‘business as usual’ matters because I think it’s important that we don’t all become zombies spending each day at home waiting for the daily news briefings from 10 Downing Street; we also need to exhibit some of the oft cited Churchillian ‘keep buggering on’ spirit (yes, it is a direct quote, so please forgive the profanity!) and not to put our lives completely on hold. Local residents expect transparency from the Council as much as taxpayers ex- pect it of the Government, so I want to explain what SDC has been asked to do, and how we are discharging that responsibility. There are many consequences of Coronavirus, some perhaps unexpected, and it is so much more than just a health emergency, it goes beyond economics too (hugely important though that is) and in my view demands a vigorous social response as well. Whilst simulta- neously we must not let the necessary emergency response undermine other essential services (in the council’s case, services such as refuse collection), so operational resilience has been at the heart of SDC’s response plan. Health related council responsibilities and actions As you will know, early in the pandemic the Government tiered the population according to their Covid-19 risk factors and announced that people falling into Tier 1 (these are the 1.5m individuals who have been told to ‘shield’ themselves completely for 12 weeks) would receive priority support, to include free emer- gency supplies sent directly to their doors from government in cases of need. Those falling into Tiers 2 and 3 would be able to request emergency food par- cels through local volunteer networks such as the one I set up and wrote about in my article last month. That’s not how it worked in practice. In fact councils, not central government, were expected to organise the Tier 1 support response and I’m pleased to say SDC were the first council in Kent to arrange a District Emergency Centre to do so; open from 7am to 7pm, 7 days a week. In the Sevenoaks District this meant contacting and arranging support for 1,933 Tier 1 individuals, of whom 404 requested and have been receiving regular food deliveries, including 23 new requests over Easter weekend. SDC has been ful- filling this demand from local supermarkets/catering supplies companies, with Continued on page 6 5 Continued from page 5 local officers doing the work splitting and packing these supplies into individual parcels and then arranging delivery to the Tier 1 group, this has been a huge logistical task which is completely over and above their normal jobs and on your behalf I have already written to the council Chief Executive to thank them. I have also managed to get the composition of these food parcels changed a little to ensure a good balance of proteins as well as store cupboard staples like rice and pasta. No vulnerable person in the District will go without nutritious food be- cause of the lockdown. Separately SDC has focussed also on Tier 2 & 3 individuals who are in need but fall outside the Tier 1 government scheme, such as people who might be self- isolating with symptoms and do not have family and friend networks available to help them with shopping, collecting prescriptions and social phone calls etc. As I reported last month, I have set up a database of local volunteers who can help, co-ordinated by Rob Rees in Penshurst (01892 870823), Mike Gilbert in Ford- combe (01892 740321) and myself in the Chiddingstones (01892 870435); if you have to self-isolate and need practical support do please call one of us and we will put you in touch with a volunteer. At SDC, these networks of local Care for Community volunteers have been co-ordinated to ensure safeguarding re- sponsibilities are not compromised, and volunteers have been issued with au- thorised ID for example. Across the district 868 Tier 2 individuals have request- ed support (with 40 being in Penshurst, Fordcombe & Chiddingstone) – these requests have been serviced by 1407 volunteers (of whom 52 are in my Ward). The system, despite being developed completely from scratch in practically no time at all, is working well and no-one locally has missed out on a meal or a medicine. From previous articles my interest in helping elderly residents will be evident, but one particular request I would make at this time is for everyone to phone a friend or neighbour who might be desperately lonely, it takes so little time but can mean so much. Economic related council responsibilities and actions Although announced by Government the burden of administering Small Business Support grants of £10,000 or £25,000 (for businesses in the retail/leisure sectors with Rateable Values below £51k) has fallen on SDC. As at 15th April the council had dealt with over 2000 general phone call and email enquiries, validated 327 applications and distributed over £6m of Government funding already.