Hoo Clean Up - July 2012

The next Hoo Clean Up community event, organised by Hoo St. Werburgh Parish Council, is taking place this Saturday (21 July). Local residents are encouraged to come along and get involved.

The plan will be to start out from the car park at the rear of the Village Square (at 9.30am) and work around the centre of the village, including sections of Church Street, Bells Lane, Main Road and Stoke Road. The session will end at 11am with free tea and cakes.

Parish Councillor Ron Sands will co-ordinate the Clean Up morning for the Parish Council. Get in touch with Ron by phoning 07770 747820.

  

Hoo Clean Up - May 2012

A team of enthusiastic local residents (all volunteers) met on Saturday morning to help clear litter from around the village square.

Up until now, the Parish Council run Clean Up event has been organised every other month, but now the Clean Up activities will take place every month. And the next opportunity to get involved and help make Hoo look tidy will be on Saturday 16 June at 9.30am - meeting point to be confirmed.

So, if you have a spare 90 minutes or so - pop along next time and join in! There’s a promise of some free tea or coffee and a nice slice of cake after!

Well done to all those who gave up their time to lend a hand on Saturday and to Parish Councillor Ron Sands for motivating the troops.

If you’d like to find out more about getting involved, get in touch with Ron on 07770 747820.

  

Picking at the litter in Hoo!

The latest Hoo Clean Up took place on Saturday with a litter pick around Hoo Village Hall and the recreation ground along Pottery Road.

Despite being a very foggy morning, the Parish Council event attracted a good bunch of residents keen to help make our community a bit cleaner. Some of those who came along are pictured below - many thanks to Sheila Mudge at Village Voices for the photograph.

After all the hard work everyone headed back to the Village Hall to enjoy a nice hot cuppa and a few cakes, kindly donated by ‘Icing on the Cake’, the bakers shop in Hoo Village Square. Thanks for the cakes - they were lovely!

The next Hoo Clean Up will be on Saturday 12 May, from 9.30am until 11am. This time the meeting point will be the car park behind the Village Square. If you'd like to get involved, and for more information, contact Parish Councillor Ron Sands on 07770 747820 or send him an email here.

Look forward to see you!

  

Hoo Clean Up - March 2012

Back in January, local residents got together and collected 25 bags of rubbish from the back of Hoo Village Square. Although it was a shame that so much litter had to be cleared, all those who came along to help had a good morning getting their hands dirty. 

Hoo St. Werburgh Parish Council have organised the next Clean Up event, taking place on Saturday 24 March. Kicking off at 9.30am the meeting point will be at Hoo village hall on Pottery Road.

The plan will be to start out from the recreation ground and work to the Knights Road shops and nearby alleyways. The session will end at 11am with free tea and cakes back at the village hall.

Parish Councillor Ron Sands will co-ordinate this Clean Up morning for the Parish Council. Get in touch with Ron by phoning 07770 747820.
  

Hoo’s up for a great Christmas!

Yesterday was the Hoo Christmas Fayre - a fantastic afternoon of festive celebrations, once again organised by the Hoo Village Events Committee.

Local singing sensation Matthew Crane - the UK’s youngest classical baritone - captivated the crowds with an hour long performance of classic tunes, before switching on the Christmas tree lights. Matthew, who was the champion of the 2006 BBC talent show ‘Let Me Entertain You’, is pictured below with event organisers Maureen Tong-Ralphs, Linda Perfect and Nancy Waller.

And Matthew wasn’t the only entertainment on offer!

Not only was everyone treated to belly dancing (Yes, belly dancing in December!), there was live music from duo ‘True Blue’ - featuring Grain’s soprano sax playing Parish Council Chairman, and singing local Councillor Chris Irvine (both pictured below).



Chris Irvine with Hoo Parish Councillor Ron Sands

I was in good company for much of the time, wondering around the square with Hoo Parish Councillor Ron Sands (pictured above). Ron is a former wrestler and once had the ‘pleasure’ of going head to head (or should that be belly to belly?!) with the legendary Big Daddy.

Despite the nip in the air, the sun shone brightly across the Village Square and the event was a tremendous success. There were lots of stalls offering local produce, mulled wine, mince pies, cakes and much more besides! I’m a bit of a big kid when it comes to Christmas, and it’s at times like this that I really do wish it were Christmas every day!

I wrestled past a queue of eager children to get a photo of Santa and his helper in Santa’s Grotto. Sorry kids for pushing through to the front - but it was important to get evidence that he is real to prove any doubters wrong!

Santa gave me his assurances that, despite not being at the North Pole to supervise the toy making, all is in hand for the Christmas Eve deliveries.

But Santa wasn’t the only special guest. We were joined by royalty too!

It was good to be able to chat with John and Peggy Scott who, although from Hoo, are the Pearly King and Queen of Highgate. John and Peggy have spent 40 years fundraising for good causes and charities and were delighted to be on hand to support the Anim-Mates Animal Sanctuary (based in St. Mary Hoo), as well as the whole Christmas Fayre.

Despite getting bitterly cold towards late afternoon, everyone had a great time catching up with friends and enjoying some good old fashioned festive spirit!