Rolling back the years to 1982

Formed in 2014, the Thomas Aveling Society (Hoo), also known as TASH, is hard at work developing a project to formally recognise the life, work and professional achievements of notable agricultural engineer Thomas Aveling (co-founder of the Aveling and Porter Company).

Thomas was born in Cambridgeshire in 1824, although he and his mother moved to Hoo during his childhood.  As well as his business interests, his relatively short life saw him become active in the community – serving as Mayor of Rochester, a trustee of the Watts’ Charity and governor at the Sir Joseph Williamson’s Mathematical School.  He died at Boley Hill House in Rochester in 1882 and is buried in the churchyard at St. Werburgh Church, Hoo.

TASH volunteers (I am one) hope to install an interpretation board in Hoo and erect name plaques at places associated with Thomas and his family.  Work commenced a while ago on researching his life, compiling information and producing/submitting grant applications.

Back in 1982 an event was held in Hoo to mark the centenary of his death.  This included steam rollers (and enthusiasts from around the country) driving through the village and along Church Street and Vicarage Lane (to St. Werburgh Church).

If you have any old photographs of this centenary event, I would very much like to hear from you.  If you have hard-copy photographs – they can easily be scanned and returned, just get in touch by emailing me here.

  

Hoo Church needs you!

The vicar of Hoo Parish Church, Reverend John Smith, is appealing to the community to support a fantastic new fundraising project.

The church needs to raise money locally, in order to qualify for the recently awarded, but conditional, £250k grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Statement from Reverend John Smith:

St. Werburgh Church would like to offer you a unique opportunity to have your name written into the fabric of the church.

In January we announced that St. Werburgh Church has received a £250,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The grant will pay for the conservation work that needs to be undertaken to address the problem caused by woodworm infestation and for laying a new stone floor. We need a further £90,000 to pay for under floor heating which must be installed at the same time as the stone floor.

When the new floor is installed there will be more than 1,000 tiles laid in the church. You can have the opportunity to have your name and the names of members of your family inscribed on the back of the tiles. This will mean that in 100, 200 or however many years time, when the tiles are lifted for repairs to be undertaken, your name will be there!

Most of us want to leave a mark to say that we have passed this way - that we have been valued members of our family and community. That is why we purchase headstones and memorial plaques. This is an opportunity for your name to be cemented into a nationally recognised Grade 1 listed building which will continue to be here for more than a thousand years. You can also remember a loved one who has died in this way.

In addition to having your name written on a tile, if you wish, we will record your name in a book printed especially for the purpose. The book will be kept in the church and be displayed. Alongside your name, you will be able to write a short message which will be there for future generations to see. There will also be space in the book for a small photograph of yourself on your own or with other members of your family beside your name. The book will be kept as part of the archive of the church for people to see in generations to come and will form an important record of this generation of residents in Hoo.

Please inform family and friends who have moved away from Hoo who you think might like to take part in this venture.

We hope that people will be willing to donate between £30 and £50 per tile. We will be very grateful for larger donations of course! We will also accept donations of £10 or £20 as we would not want anyone to miss this opportunity for financial reasons. This is especially the case for young people of school age or in full time education who are not part of a family group.

We realise that this may seem a lot of money to some. This is because we have a lot of money to raise and the easiest way is to spread the cost evenly amongst a large number of people! Please give generously and play your part by investing in the heritage of Hoo St. Werburgh. Your contribution will be remembered for many generations through the tiles and the book.

Please contact us in one of the following ways if you would like to donate and we will send you a form. If you are a tax payer please remember to fill in the part of the form which says that you will Gift Aid your donation. The Inland Revenue will give us an extra 25%, at no extra cost to you - this will be a great help - thank you. If you have any questions about Gift Aid please contact us.

Please send your name, address and contact number by emailing here, or by post to: The Organiser, Hoo Church Tiles Project, The Vicarage, Vicarage Lane, Hoo, Rochester, ME3 9BB. You can also telephone or text the St. Werburgh Church Appeal Line on: 07530 374332.

Thank you in advance for your generosity.

Even if, like me, you aren’t a regular church goer, there’s no doubt having a church in the village does help maintain a sense of community, so please help this worthy cause.
  

Police Choir to return to Hoo Church

Some early notice now for a concert at Hoo Parish Church on Saturday 10 May. The special guests, returning for another performance in the village, will be the Kent Police Male Voice Choir.

As usual, tickets can be obtained by contacting Hoo resident Stuart Coombes, who is also a member of the choir and is pictured on the promotional flyer!

  

Village Voices for Hoo and Chattenden (Issue 44)

The latest edition of Village Voices is now available to read online. Village Voices is the community magazine for Hoo and Chattenden. Just click the image below, which will take you to the editions page on the Village Voices website - then click ‘Issue 44’.

This edition includes all the latest local news and diary dates. There’s also a photo-feature special about the recent Hoo Village Fun Day, details of many exciting events taking place at Hoo Parish Church and Rolf Williams from the RSPB gets all ‘foxy’ in his latest column! 

Village Voices - the community magazine for Hoo and Chattenden. “Your Village, Your Voice - since 2006”.

Take a look at the Village Voices website by clicking here.

  

Summer Fair at Hoo Parish Church (29 June 2013)

Hoo St. Werburgh Parish Church will be holding their Summer Fair on Saturday 29 June, from 10am until 12 noon.

A great selection of stalls, games and attractions is planned, in and around the Church, and there'll even be a Dalek popping by to enjoy having photographs taken with residents!

Take a look at the poster to find out more.

See you there!
 

A high point in Hoo

It’s always nice to see where we live from a slightly different perspective. Towards the end of last year I joined local churchwarden Mick Hollands, pictured below, for a tour of the tower at Hoo St. Werburgh Parish Church.  We were joined by Michael Pearce, who runs Village Voices.

The battlemented tower, including spire, is more than 120ft tall, and the views from the top are quite fascinating.

The photographs below show (in order) Branta Fields, the centre of the village, the now defunct Kingsnorth Power Station, the River Medway and Church Farm Close.

If you’d like to find out more about Hoo St. Werburgh Parish Church, take a look at their website by clicking here.

  

45 big voices are coming to Hoo from the Rhondda Valleys!

Exciting news reached me over the weekend. Fellow Hoo resident Stuart Coombes confirmed that the ‘Morlais Male Choir’ (or ‘Cor-Meibion-Morlais’ if you prefer) are coming to Hoo for a special concert at Hoo St. Werburgh Parish Church.

The concert will take place on Saturday 25 May, starting at 7pm, and tickets are by a minimum donation of £8 per person.

I’ll be booking my ticket without delay, and you can do the same by phoning Stuart Coombes on 01634 251705.

See you there!
  

Matthew Crane comes to Hoo!

Hoo St. Werburgh Parish Church will be hosting their second concert of the year, on Saturday 14 July. And there’s still time to get tickets!

Join local singing sensation Matthew Crane for an evening of popular music and entertainment. Click the poster below to find out more.

Although you can get tickets on the door on the night, don’t leave booking to the last minute as tickets are going fast. Tickets are by a donation of £7, so get in touch with Stuart on 01634 251705 as soon as you can to book yours.

Please come along and help raise much needed cash for urgent Church repairs. Visit the Church website by clicking here.

  

Licensing and Installation Service at Hoo St. Werburgh Parish Church

This Thursday (26 April), at a Licensing and Installation Service, Hoo will formally welcome the Rev’d John Smith as the new Priest-in-Charge of Hoo St. Werburgh Parish Church. Also to be Licensed, and taking on the role of Self Supporting Minister (Honorary Curate), is John’s wife, the Rev’d Sue Smith.

The ceremony will be conducted by the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt. Rev’d James Langstaff, and commences at 7.30pm. 

Take a look at the website of Hoo St. Werburgh Parish Church by clicking here. 

Welcome and best of wishes to John and Sue.

  

Have you got your ticket for the Hoo Church concert?

I bought my ticket last week for the concert taking place at Hoo St. Werburgh Parish Church this Saturday (St. Patrick’s Day, 17 March). It will be the first of many concerts taking place this year and I can’t think of a better way to help raise much needed cash for Church repairs.

The headline act will be ‘Paul Carpenter and Friends’ who will perform a set of well known songs and, given that date, they will also throw in a few Irish favourites. I’ll have to get practising for a few sing songs! The trio, who perform a selection of easy listening songs, spent 29 years gigging in London’s West End, including at the Langham Hilton Hotel and Claridges. They even played for royalty!

Although you can get tickets on the door on the night, don’t leave booking your ticket to the last minute as they are going fast. Tickets are by a donation of £5, so get in touch with Stuart on 01634 251705 as soon as you can to book yours.

  

Letter from America

Continuing my focus on some of the people who have recently been in touch to talk about their connections to the Hoo Peninsula, I am today looking ‘across the pond’ to the sunshine state of California.

I was contacted last week by Susan Cox (Sue), who lived in Hoo as a child in the late 1950s. Sue lived in one of the group of semi-detached houses next to Dr. Tilley’s surgery on Main Road. Sue says Hoo was lovely back in those days, surrounded as it was (and still is of course) by some beautiful countryside.

Main Road, junction with Tilley Close.

Sue’s father built a small boat for weekend jaunts on the River Medway and the river forts are imprinted in her memory from those trips. (Seeing these river forts up close is something I must try to do myself soon.) There was a meadow on the walk to the river, which Sue recalls was home to an enormous Suffolk Punch draft horse.

Her family had a housekeeper, who she thinks had many generations of family from Hoo. The housekeeper often used to take Sue and her sister to the Church graveyard to care for a family grave.

Sue also has fond memories of the old Post Office on Main Road, what is today Hoo Spice. Here is another photo from local resident Arthur Vidgeon’s website, as the building looked in 1915 - along with a photo taken a few days ago.

Thank you Sue for getting in touch and sharing your memories of living in Hoo.

Would you like to share your stories, memories or old photos of the area? Just get in touch via the contact page.

  

A concert not to be missed!

Hoo St. Werburgh Parish Church will be hosting their first concert of the year on St. Patrick’s Day (Saturday 17 March), to raise much needed cash for the Church.

The headline act is ‘Paul Carpenter and Friends’ who will perform a set of well known songs and they will even throw in a few Irish favourites too. The trio, who perform a selection of easy listening songs, spent 29 years gigging in London’s West End, including at the Langham Hilton Hotel and Claridges. They even played for royalty!

Tickets are by a donation of £5. Get in touch with Stuart on 01634 251705 to find out more.
 

Hoo Church film - orders now being taken!

Before Christmas I mentioned the news that a DVD was being produced about Hoo Parish Church.

It is a look at Church life and features many events that have taken place, like the replacement of the Church flag-pole, the Remembrance Day service and many of the different concerts the Church has hosted.

The DVD has been lovingly produced, over many hours, days, weeks and months, by Hoo resident Ralph Smythe (pictured below working on the DVD).

One person who is especially excited about the DVD is former Hoo vicar Andy Harding (pictured below with Stuart Coombes a few days before Christmas). I caught up with Andy when he was in the village visiting friends and former parishioners. He said he was looking forward to watching the film - even though it will make him miss Hoo even more than he does already!

Copies of the DVD can be obtained by making a minimum donation of £5 to Hoo Parish Church. I’m sure the DVD will make an excellent keepsake.

To order your copy, contact Stuart Coombes on 01634 251705.
 

Christmas Carols in Hoo

On my way to a family Christmas party on Saturday morning, I stopped off in Hoo Village Square to enjoy Carols being sung by many familiar faces from the village.

The event lasted a couple of hours or so and was organised by members of Hoo Parish Church. Anyone passing was welcome to grab a song sheet and join in. Fortunately for people who were out and about, I wasn't able to stop long enough to share the sound of my dulcets!
 

New DVD about Hoo Parish Church . . .

I heard some news at the weekend which will be quite exciting to those with an interest in the life of the Hoo community. It was about a film being produced locally about Hoo Parish Church.

It will be a ‘year in the life’ of the Church and will feature many of the events that have taken place.

The DVD is being produced by Ralph Smythe (pictured below working on the DVD). Ralph is Secretary of the Hoo Peninsula Model Railway Club and Treasurer of Hoo-ARA - to name but two of the local groups he’s involved with!

I popped along to see Ralph the other day and had a sneak preview of the film.

Things seem to be shaping up nicely and I was impressed with all the technology involved in producing what I’m sure will be an impressive local film.

It will also make for a really memorable keepsake.

The DVD will be available in the New Year, but orders can be placed now by getting in touch with Stuart Coombes on 01634 251705.

A minimum donation will be requested for copies of the DVD, but all money raised will go to Hoo Parish Church.
 

My first weekend of Christmas events . . .

Like many others in Hoo, I headed down to Hoo Parish Church yesterday morning for their Christmas Fair - the first of many Christmas events taking place locally. And despite getting there just after opening time, the place was already buzzing!

Hoo resident Alan Page.

It was good seeing Stuart Coombes and Mick Hollands (pictured below) handing out flyers for the Church’s special morning of carols, taking place on Saturday 17 December at 10.30am. Carol singing for an hour in the Village Sqaure followed by mince pies and coffee in the Church.

With festive tunes echoing around the Church, Ron and Muriel Bewsey (pictured below) were being kept busy cooking a hog roast which was clearly a very popular choice for many, especially with it being so cold outside.

There were lots of stalls and raffles (I won a bottle of Sherry) and plenty of handmade crafts and local produce. I picked up some very nice looking Christmas cards of Hoo Parish Church.

Despite my enthusiasm for ‘cake tasting’ I managed to resist the temptation this time - even though there were more cakes than I had seen in one place in a long long time!

With that, and having caught up with local news and gossip, I headed over to the Isle of Grain to catch the Christmas Fair organised by GOFFS (the Grain Over Forty Fives group) at Grain Village Hall. There were lots of stalls, so I thought it best to catch my breath first and have a quick cuppa and bacon roll!

I had a good look round, but my nose seemed to be taking me in the direction of a cake stall at the far end of the hall. My earlier resilience was waning.

And they were fantastic looking cakes too! I had a good chat with the stallholders (pictured below) before finally giving in and buying four cakes which were neatly boxed up and kept aside for my collection later.

I had a chat with Veronica Cordier and Moira Pearn, who were on the stall for the Showin’ Grain Theatre Group. Moira (pictured below) is directing the panto, which will be performed on Friday 9 December and Saturday 10 December. I’m looking forward to hearing Veronica singing - I’ve been told she’s very good!

There were some really fantastic looking raffle prizes dotted around the hall, including amazing Christmas hampers - like the one pictured below on a stall belonging to Jenny and Pat (pictured below with Nigel).

The two Christmas events in Hoo and Grain yesterday were really enjoyable and I’m looking forward to attending some more soon.

Don’t forget - click the ‘Christmas Event 2011’ label below to see all the Christmas events taking place locally (those that I have been told about anyway).

Sorry, but before I forget . . . no I didn’t leave my boxed up cakes behind!
 

The Beacon, Parish Magazine of Hoo St. Werburgh (December edition) - Out Now!

The latest edition of The Beacon parish magazine is now available. Copies may be purchased from local shops in Hoo, including Choicemeats at 1 Fourwents Road and the Newsagent at 35 Knights Road.

For further information, contact the Editor (Mrs Muriel Bewsey) on 01634 252129.
 

Lots of ‘Ho Ho Ho’ in Hoo this Christmas!

There’s lots of festive fun to be had in Hoo this Christmas, with at least four Christmas events taking place in the village. Well that’s four I’ve already been told about anyway!

The fun begins this coming Saturday (26 November) when Hoo St. Werburgh Parish Church hold an Autumn/Christmas Fair - with lots of entertainment for the whole family. This is taking place from 10am until 1pm. Click the image below for more information.

Then there’s a Christmas Bazaar, which is being held at Hoo Village Hall (Pottery Road), on Wednesday 30 November. This is being organised by Hoo District Girlguiding - with cakes, competition prizes and crafts on offer. Click the image below to find out more.

On Saturday 3 December it’s the turn of the Red Cross Christmas Fayre, at the Red Cross Centre just along Stoke Road (from the Village Square). The fun will include a raffle, tombola, refreshments and much more besides, so please pop along and show your support. Take a look at the image below to find out more. I bought some very tasty cakes at last year’s event, which, needless to say, didn’t quite survive until Christmas.

And on Saturday 10 December Hoo Village Square will come alive with the Hoo Village Events Committee presenting their Christmas Fayre. There’ll be lots going on, so you’d better make time to pop along and enjoy the festive atmosphere. There’ll be live music and entertainment (including local singing sensation Matthew Crane), seasonal stalls, local produce and a great deal more! Last year’s event was a stonking success, and there’s sure to be something for everyone again this time. Click the below images to find out more.

My apologies if I haven’t mentioned your Christmas event - just let me know all the details by getting in touch using the contact page.

I’m hoping to include Christmas events taking place in other parts of the peninsula shortly, so please get in touch if you’d like your event to appear on this site.

I hope to see you soon . . .
 

Don’t miss out on Police Male Voice Choir concert tickets!

Tickets are going fast for the Kent Police Male Voice Choir concert at Hoo Parish Church in a couple of weeks. But there’s still plenty of time to book your place, although I wouldn’t leave it too late!

The popular Choir will perform at the Church on Sunday 4 December at 6.30pm.

Book your ticket(s) soon to avoid disappointment and to help raise much needed cash for the Church restoration fund.

For tickets (a donation of £7) contact Stuart on 01634 251705.
 

Kent Police Male Voice Choir - coming to Hoo in December!

Hoo St. Werburgh Parish Church hosts many exciting concerts and performances, and that trend is set to continue. Following an enjoyable performance from Soprano Beatrice Danesfield earlier this month, the Kent Police Male Voice Choir (pictured below) will perform at the Church on Sunday 4 December at 6.30pm.

Book your ticket(s) early to avoid disappointment and to show your support - not least because the event will help raise much needed cash for the Church restoration fund.

For tickets (a donation of £7) contact Stuart on 01634 251705.