Higham Parish Council - Special Announcements

To be held at St. Johns Church, Vestry Hall, Hermitage Road, Higham. Come and have a chat with your local KENT COMMUNITY WARDEN STEVE GRAY on:

All villagers are invited to drop in for a cuppa and a chat with the Community Warden. For more information - Telephone 07811 271256.

The winners and runners-up of the Higham Gardens for Pleasure Competition 2009 have been announced. Our heartiest congratulations go to outright winners, Anne and Rob Miles of Highwoods Close. Prizes and celebrations were presented at the Parish Council meeting, Monday 14th September 2009.

The Kent Messenger Medway Band presented...“FRIDAY NIGHT AT THE PROMS”. A little light music coupled with glorious summer weather happened at Higham Recreation Ground on Friday 3rd July. For some photographs, please click here. Diary Date - 2nd July 2010 for the next Higham Proms.

The annual gathering in Lower Higham to sing Carols and other seasonal songs was on Sunday 20th December at 7.30pm. One of the people there sent in this report.

"We had our Lower Higham Christmas sing song the Sunday before the big day. It was very cold and icy, but we still had about 45 villagers. We all sang our socks off, with much mulled wine to keep the icy weather at bay.

This is a great time to catch up with the good people of Lower Higham with a few new faces coming for the first time. Rebecca and David kindly host this event very well, and we all feel this small but important event has really become something we look forward to.

We raised £35.00 for the Friends of St Marys. Afterwards, a few went to The Railway pub for a warm up afterwards - it looks so good in there, and a good atmosphere.

A few of us spent some time decorating the wall opposite the ex Chequers PH with greenery. Linda brought some sloe gin [homemade] and this went down very well!!

Another small but important event for us in Lower Higham. Soon we will be having the first meeting for the Scarecrow Festival due to be held in September 2010. So even, though it is cold now, we are plotting for the warmer weather!"

[Sent in by Fiona Spirals]

The next Police Neighbourhood Surgery is on Thursday 11 February 2010 between 2.00 PM - 3.00 PM at Higham Library, Villa Road. Come and talk to your local Police team about any issues or concerns you may have. Find out what is happening in Higham to make our village an even better, safer community for all to live in.

Lower Higham's Scarecrow Festival'09 happened on Sunday 13th September. More information, photographs and the winners, please click here. More details from Fiona 01634 711161 or Linda 01474 823129. Higham Parish Council was pleased to be able to financially assist this years Festival.

Teenagers on the booze? Not always! One of the Youth Club members speaks his mind about alcohol in a BBC2 'Revealed' interview.

Jamie is one of the Higham Youth Club Monday members. The Club was approached by the BBC who said they wanted to interview young people as part of their Revealed programme. After due consideration and discussion with various youngsters they interviewed Jamie, filming him for the TV programme.

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Higham Youth Club arranged a village tidy up on 11 October. See photographs here.

The Partners and Community Together (PACT) Panel for Higham is a range of local people plus representatives from Parish Council, the Kent Police and the Community Warden. We meet quarterly to discuss any concerns about the quality of life or community safely issues within the village. Regular reports and liaison with the Parish Council, Police, Community Warden and other key partners allow free and frank examination of things that may be of concern. At our past meetings we have had officials from Gravesham Borough Council and Kent Highways who advised us and assisted in discovering solutions to local issues.

If you have a concern about your local neighbourhood or have ideas that would improve your quality of life in Higham then do either come to a PACT Panel meeting or a Parish Council meeting to speak your mind. For more information, please visit our website at www.higham-pact-panel.btik.com.

The Parade started at the top of the village, went down Forge Lane, School Lane and finished on the school playing field where villagers had a picnic. They brought their own food & drink and picnic blankets/chairs/tables. To see some photographs of the Parade please click here.

The Thames and Medway Canal Association have some BIG NEWS!! They are pleased to announce that, through Gravesham Borough Council, funding has been obtained from the Department for Communities and Local Government for restoring over 1,000 metres of the Thames and Medway Canal.

Restoration work will start on the first section of the Canal from Mark Lane to Shornemead Crossing and will include dredging, securing banking and creating a water pumping facility to top up the water level in the canal. Work is due to start later this year, as soon as land permissions and contracts are in place. This will provide a much needed area of safe water alongside National Cycle Route 1 which passes through Gravesend and Higham.

The improvements form part of a wider strategic project to create a series of waterfront spaces linking the Town Centre to the countryside and also include upgrading the cycle route and enhancing Gravesend Riverside Area; projects that will be of great benefit to users and encourage more visitors to enjoy the river front and countryside.

‘After years of lobbying, profile raising and voluntary activity it is great that the value of the canal, as a piece of history, recreational resource and wildlife corridor has been recognised’ says Brian Macknish, Chairman of The Thames and Medway Canal Association.’ The restoration of this first section of canal running alongside the RSPB reserve at Shorne Marshes, together with the sea wall, Saxon Shore Way and the crossing footpaths from Chalk, Shorne and Higham, will make this area very attractive for long or short walks and easy cycling with a boating option.’

Access is easy at Mark Lane, Queens Farm Road, Canal Road Higham or even The Ship and Lobster pub, frequented by Charles Dickens, where real ales and food can be enjoyed while overlooking the river.

April 2009

The Thames Estuary Partnership (TEP) is a forum for local authorities, national agencies, industry, voluntary bodies and local communities to work together for the good of the Thames Estuary. The Partnership is a charity which co-ordinates projects and holds events and workshops to provide information and to gather feedback.

The threat of climate change and increased flood risk is an ever present feature of the Estuary, yet many local people are not aware that plans are already being developed to help those responsible to adapt to these threats. More detailed information can be found on the TEP website, www.thamesweb.com

Viewable Thames Estuary & North Kent flood risk map - click here.

format, needs

The Parish Council is sponsoring the new Walking Bus at Higham Primary School which launched after Easter 2008. This new initiative is to get children to and from school and to reduce the amount of traffic congestion on the village roads in the vicinity

The Walking Bus is an organised column of children who are escorted to and from school along a set route. All involved wear high-visibility tabards for safety and routes are approved by council traffic engineers.

To find out more about this initiative or to become a volunteer helper on the Walking Bus please contact Higham Primary School.

Hi Kent is the country of Kent's deaf and hard of hearing registered charity, established in 1986 and last year we were the only Kent organisation to win the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service. We provide free advice on how to cope with hearing loss and can provide a wide range of assistive equipment to help deaf and hard of hearing people.

In Higham we run a monthly hearing aid aftercare clinic at Highcliffe Medical Practice in Hermitage Road on the second Tuesday of each month from 2.30 to 3.30pm, where people can come along to get their hearing aids cleaned and retubed, and pick up free replacement batteries.

Volunteers Sought for Higham Youth Club

The Club is appealing for voluntary helpers to offer a couple of hours on a Wednesday evening (between 7.30 and 9.30) to enable it to expand for the village youngsters to have a dedicated place to meet and enjoy organised activities.

You do not have to have experience or a degree in 'youth work' just a respect for young people (dependent on an Enhanced Criminal Records Bureau Disclosure).

Maybe you have skill or hobby that you would like to share with them? All offers of time, help and skills will be greatly appreciated.

Please speak to or telephone Jo 07934 562 085, HYC Leader. Website, click here. Email, click here.

kentcarshare is a free, simple, secure, internet-based service that enables you to register your car journey on-line and match drivers and passengers with those who do similar journeys, sharing driving costs and reducing congestion.

Over 1,750 are now members of kentcarshare since the launch by Kent County Council in September 2005 and more and more people are discovering the benefits of carsharing. New members join by registering for free on the site www.kentcarshare.com and record their journeys. The system matches those traveling similar journeys and members then make the arrangements to start car sharing.

More than 1700 people countywide have already joined the scheme. As a result they have reduced the number of miles traveled on Kent's roads by over a million miles a year. Kent has one of the largest road networks in the country and the volume of traffic creates a high demand for road maintenance.

Every user who signs up to the scheme will be entered into a free prize draw for a year's car tax.

To find out more, or register visit www.kentcarshare.com

Allotments are small plots of land set aside for local people to rent and grow plants, vegetables, fruit, etc. Allotment size can vary or be divided up to provide variety of produce for your own requirements. Click here to go to the informative BBC allotment web page.

Last season the Parish Allotments showed an increase in the number of plots rented for cultivation. This was most encouraging and the Parish Council decided to undertake a survey of the condition of all the plots. The survey was completed in November 2004 and showed that there were a number of overgrown plots. The Parish Council has cleared the top vegetation from some of these plots which are now available for cultivation.

Water stand-pipes are within reach of all the allotments, so if you are interested in finding out more, please contact the Higham Parish Clerk on 01474 822642 or email enquiries@higham-kent-pc.gov.uk.

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