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>Domestic
Heating Oil Thefts in Kent - Police Advice
We wish you all a Happy New Year and would like
to extend a warm welcome to all new residents.
COMMITTEE NEWS
Committee members will be calling shortly to collect BMRA subscriptions.
These remain at £1 per adult with a maximum payable of £2 per house.
The 2011 Annual General Meeting of the Residents Association will be held
on Thursday, 12th May. Further details will appear in our next newsletter.
SOCIAL EVENTS
Coffee Mornings
Coffee Mornings are still held on Thursdays between 10.30 am and 12 noon
and all residents are welcome to come along for a chat over a cup of
coffee. The mobile library calls into the Hall Car Park on alternate
Thursdays between 10.45 and 11.20. Their next visits are on 27th January
and 10th February.
Carols & Entertainment Evening
The Christmas celebration on 11th December was enjoyed by over 40 people.
New Years Eve Party
The New Years Eve ceilidh was thoroughly enjoyed by the 30 people who
attended. More had booked but were unable to come at the last moment
because of the various illnesses around. Due to its success we hope to
have a similar event this New Year.
Royal Wedding Celebration
It has been suggested that there could be an event organised to celebrate
the above in Badgers Mount. If you have any suggestions as to what could
be arranged please contact us via the website or at a Coffee Morning.
POLICE SURGERIES
The next police surgeries will be on Thursdays 3rd February and 24th March
from 11.00 am to 12.00 noon in the Memorial Hall during the Coffee
Mornings. PCSO Jane Wright will be pleased to discuss and give advice
about any concerns you have about crimes, suspicious vehicles and callers
etc.
BROADBAND UPDATE
A total of 202 votes were recorded for the upgrading of the Knockholt
exchange and distribution, placing us in 153rd place out of about 2500
exchanges.
SNOW / SALT BINS
The heavy snow in December again caused many problems throughout the
country. Most of our bins were topped up just before the first snowfall
and replenished again before the second.
Last year KCC, who had previously refilled all of the bins, decided that
they would only maintain supplies to bins on public roads and not those on
private roads. As a result, Shoreham Parish Council has provided salt for
our bins as well as many of the other bins throughout the Parish. Can we
remind you that the salt in the bins is provided for use on the roads, not
for your own drives and paths? When there is a heavy snowfall, as happened
at the beginning of December, it would take large amounts of salt to melt
it all. It is far more effective to remove the snow first before it is
compacted and icy, and then only use a small amount of salt to remove the
residue. If those who are able were to clear the road in front of their
property and also that of their less able neighbours, this would be of
benefit for everyone. Some people did this, for which we offer them our
thanks.
Unfortunately, despite requests from us early last year, Kent Highways
will not be providing salt bins along the main roads as neither of these
meet the criteria of their Winter policy. We have since made a request to
the West Kent Footpaths team for a salt bin at the top of both steep
footpaths between the Orpington Bypass and Old London Road, but this has
also been refused.
PLANNING
The recent polytunnel application submitted by Polhill Garden Centre has
now been approved.
MOD SITE
Most people are now aware that the MOD land adjacent to the Memorial Hall,
officially known as the Chelsfield Ammunition Depot, has been sold. The
new owners, F M Conway have submitted a Lawful Development Certificate
application (SE/10/03562/LDCEX) to Sevenoaks District Council Planning
Department to allow them to use the inner area of the site for “storage
and distribution”. What they intend to store and distribute is not known,
but this could be the thin end of the wedge to far more significant
operations. If you have received a letter from SDC, comments must be
submitted by 3rd February but if you haven’t had a letter you have until
10th February. You can see the full documents on the SDC website and also
submit your comments in this way. A link to SDC is provided on the BMRA
website. Shoreham Parish Council will be discussing this application at
their planning committee meeting on Wednesday 2nd February at 7.30 pm.
NEW TODDLERS GROUP
A new group to teach toddlers up to school age arts and crafts has
recently started on Monday mornings in the Memorial Hall. If you are
interested, phone Sarah on 07931 507345 or via her website
www.creativetoddlers.co.uk
REDUCING PAPER!
We are considering going green in the production of our newsletters. We
would like to email these instead of delivering paper copies to as many
households as possible. We realise that not everyone has access to a
computer and we would continue to deliver paper copies to these residents.
The Parish Council newsletter is already available on their website and a
link can be provided to this when we advise you that our latest newsletter
is online. Newsletters will continue to be produced quarterly in line with
the SPC one.
If you would like receive your newsletters in this format please send us
an email detailing your full names, your address and the email addresses
you wish them to be sent to. This should be done via the contact link on
the website and will enable a mailing list to be organised. It is proposed
that all email addresses received by 1st March 2011 will receive their
next newsletter in this way. This information will not be passed to any
other organisation. All other households will receive a paper copy as
usual. It may take a while for this to become fully established but we
hope that eventually the majority of residents will participate.
WORLD WAR II HOME GUARD
A former resident has contacted us with a photograph of the
Badgers Mount
Home Guard and names of some of those he can recall. The photograph and
information can be viewed on our website. If you can identify
anyone in the photograph or have information on the Home Guard that we can
pass on please share this via the contact link on the website. A copy of
the photograph and information will also be available at Coffee mornings
if you would prefer to see these.
BMRA CONTACT DETAILS
Gordon Plumb – 534279
Tracey McCartney – 534471
Full contact details on the BMRA Committee
page.
News Archive - started Summer
2000
DADS ARMY: Badgers Mount Home Guard
From John Butcher:
Below are photographs of members of the local home guard, made up from
persons we believe living in Badgers Mount, Halstead and Shoreham.
These photographs are amongst those left within my fathers collection, he
was Ernest Harry Butcher and our family lived at 14 Johnson's Avenue. My
father had served for many years in the rifle brigade regiment and as a
result had travelled to various locations around the world, including
Malta and Palestine, where he was badly injured in his lungs and chest,
which caused breathing difficulties, and caused him to be discharged,
after which he became an electrical engineer, and was very active in the
local home guard and St. Johns ambulance, where he taught first aid.
The top picture shows a number of men who operated the defence equipment
shown, unfortunately we are unable to put names to any of these.
The second picture, shows the majority and we are able to identify the
following persons.
From LHS standing the first person we know was the milkman from Halstead,
but we cannot recall his name, the fifth person is Mr. Mann living at 10
Johnson's Avenue, the 10th person is Freddy Syrate one of twin boys who
lived at Christies Avenue.
From LHS seated 5th person we believe to be Mr. Vowder who lived in Hyland
Row, my father is the last person, furthest RHS.
Sitting cross legged from LHS is Mr. Powell, who lived at 15 Johnson's
Avenue, the first person after the dog is Frankie Syrate the twin of
Freddy above, who lived at Christies Avenue.
I hope you find the foregoing and the attachments of interest, should you
be able to identify any other persons in the photographs, it would be
pleased to hear from.
Best regards,
John Butcher
Click the images to view in original size (opens in new window)
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