Proposal to move Hoo Post Office - have your say!

Residents are invited to take part in a consultation to move Hoo Post Office from its current location in the village centre, to 112 Main Road (near the junction with Pottery Road).

If you'd like to have your say, click here to give your feedback, and to see the proposals in full.

The consultation ends on 27 June 2013.
 

Stegosaurus seen in Hoo!

Despite a sprinkling of snow and a chilly breeze, it was good to attend the opening of a new play park in Hoo a couple of weeks ago (on 23 March), along with the Mayor of Medway Cllr Vaughan Hewett.

Located behind Hoo Swimming Pool on Main Road, the dinosaur themed park is called ‘the lost world’ and is equipped with eye-catching play equipment, ranging from dinosaur springer and dinosaur eggs (which are a roundabout and seats), a rope swing, climbing tower and a Stegosaurus sculpture for children to climb.

The colourful playground is apparently the only one like it in the whole of Medway and cost around £120k to create. The funding came from a developer contribution, resulting from the Coes Green housing development in Chattenden.

Many thanks to Sheila Mudge for supplying the photo.

  

Doing ‘The Windmill’ walk

We’re very lucky on the Hoo Peninsula to have so many good, and sometimes quite dramatic, walking routes. However, a popular walk for many people living in Hoo is what I call the ‘triangular walk’ around the village.

This includes Bells Lane, the old Ratcliffe Highway and Main Road. I’ve met a good many locals whilst out enjoying the fresh air and views.

Conveniently, The Windmill pub is on the old Ratcliffe Highway and marks the half way point of the walk.

Just along from the pub, in the direction of Chattenden, is the now rather dilapidated Mill House - believed to have been built in 1799 and, according to Philip Macdougall’s book about the Hoo Peninsula, the home for many years to the Ballard family, who were a local farming family.

I like this building a lot, and only wish that I could win the lottery to pay for its renovation, before it collapses!

Depending on how fast you walk, I’d say this walk takes about an hour to complete - that’s without stopping at The Windmill for a swift pint!

  

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.

  

World’s Biggest Coffee Morning (Hoo), Friday 23 September 2011

Hoo Village Institute (Main Road, Hoo) will be putting on the kettle to take part in Macmillan Cancer Support’s ‘World’s Biggest Coffee Morning’ event this Friday (23 September), from 10am till 1pm.

Pop along to Hoo Village Institute (pictured below) and show your support - all are welcome!

This local event is being organised by Heather Sherman - find out more about the work of Macmillan Cancer Support by clicking here.
 

Midsummer Tea Party - St. James’ Church (Cooling), Saturday 19 June 2010

St. James’ Church, Main Road, Cooling will play host to a Midsummer Tea Party on Saturday 19 June, between noon and 2pm. Although admission is free, sandwiches and refreshments will be available upon the giving of a small donation. All proceeds from the event will go towards the upkeep of the Church, as well as other projects managed by the Conservation Trust. An expert will be in attendance to talk about the history of the Church.