Iden village voice

A new venture for the village will begin on 25th June. Mr. Ray Griffen tells me that tea, coffee and biscuits will be available in the village hall each time the Mobile Library comes, from 11am to 1 pm. Not only will you be able to change your books, you could meet a friend for coffee and a chat.

If you wish to talk to Ray about it, phone him on 280 311.

Idem Parish Council met last Thursday 7 June at which the 5 Parish Councillors were present together with County Councillor Keith Glazier and District Councillor Paul Osborne. Apologies were received from District Councillor Nick Ramus. There were also 15 members of the public present

Before the meeting, the Chairman thanked everyone who attended the Parish Annual Assembly last month in large numbers. Next year the date for this meeting will not clash with the Parish Council Meeting in order to give the public more time to raise concerns and ideas for the future of the village. He also welcomed the contributions made by the Representatives of the local village organisations which were greatly appreciated and demonstrated the diversity of Iden life. He hoped that next time other societies etc could make their own contributions.

The Chairman went on to thank all those who had helped with and supported the extremely successful Picnic in the Park on the Jubilee Monday afternoon, fortunately blessed by dry weather. It was good to see children there who enjoyed the entertainments and the more senior members of the community were asked to plant the Jubilee walnut tree and unveil the new bench. Both the tree and bench will have plaques denoting the special day. Special thanks were paid to Anne Banning who had created two stunning Jubilee cakes and to Anne Hayward who had provided the strawberries and cream. After the formal cutting, pieces of the cakes were handed out to everyone and others will be given to those who could not attend. Particular thanks were paid to the Clerk of the Council who not only had acted as Secretary to the Jubilee Committee but had also organised the event to ensure everything had gone so smoothly.

Finally, the Chairman thanked the Iden Fete Committee, Rother District Council and Iden parish Council for supporting the day financially.

In all the afternoon had been very worthwhile, enjoyable and memorable and a suitable way to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee

The Chairman mentioned that Miss Winnie Coleman will be 100 on the 21 June. Until very recently she had lived in the village for many years and remains in robust health, completing her daily crossword and watching snooker on her television. The Council agreed that a special presentation will be made to Miss Coleman on behalf of the entire village together with a message of congratulations.

At the start of the meeting, Sandy Rodger, a committee member of the Rye Environmental Group, gave a short presentation on Transition Rye-building Rye into a resilient low-carbon community. This is important to small village such as Iden where many houses are dependent upon heating oil and Sandy will give regular updates as the group move through the process.

Under Public Question Time, a comment was made that the words

“Recreation Ground” had appeared on the new signage marking the transfer of the Playing Field into the QE11 Fields in Trust. The facility had been given to the village in 1934 by Eric Mason and he had always referred to it

(confirmed by the deeds) as Iden Playing Field. The Chairman agreed that it is important that the Council does not ignore what Mr Mason wanted and he said that the Council would see what needs to be done to revert to this name.

A question was also asked about the safety for people using the footpath from the War Memorial where there is reportedly barbed wire as a hazard. The Clerk will ask the Footpaths Team at the County Council to investigate and remedy.

Planning consent has been granted for Devonia in Wittersham Road and the Council supported the further application in respect of Bosney.

The Council did not have a quorum regarding the application for the lifting of the agricultural restriction at Partridge Farm House. The recent application for Sobraon in Church Lane had been refused -unfortunately the Parish Council was out of time to enable it to comment upon this.

The Parish Council is taking forward the preparation of an Emergency Plan and involving various members of the community in ascertaining what needs to be done should something untoward happen that could possibly endanger members of the public. As such, Iden needs a simple flexible plan to enable the community to initiate a response within its borders while awaiting support and leadership from District and County Council emergency services. Normally, response is expected to be generally within 15 minutes

The next meeting of the Group will be on 7.30 pm Tuesday 26 June at The Bell

The possible removal of the stile t the entrance to the Playing Field was discussed, to be replaced by a kissing gate in order to deter motor bikes from entering the area. A decision has been held over until the next meeting

County Councillor Glazier said that public consultation regarding the new speed limit of 30mph will begin soon.

The next meeting of the Council will be on Tuesday 3 July at 7.30pm in the Village Hall. There will not be any August meeting unless circumstances demand otherwise.

With regard to the Playing Field, as mentioned this village asset has been placed in Trust under the Queen Elizabeth 11 Challenge. By doing this, the Field has been placed beyond any threat of it ever being developed for all time, in accordance with the donor’s wishes, whilst at the same time enabling the Parish Council to mange it as before. In other words, nothing will change. It will be seen that many Councils locally have also entered their playing fields into this challenge. On Wednesday, during her visit to the East Midlands, the Queen received from Prince William the 1300 fields concerned, which of course including that owned by Iden.

The Bring and Share Lunch in the Old Hall is going to take place on !st July, from 1 to 2.30 pm.

The weekday services are Morning Prayer at 9.30 am and Evening Prayer at 3.30 pm on Wednesday.

The 9.30 am service for the 2nd Sunday after Trinity will be Parish Communion.

Marion Lovell, Abginworth, New England Lane, Playden