Northiam Village Voice - 27.12.24

And so on to New Year – the festive season seems to have been especially sociable this year, with two weekends and two Bank Holiday breaks, so it has been a delight to catch up with friends and relatives – even if we did pick the weekend of Storm Bert to gather the Ayling clans in Oxfordshire! It added to the interest.

New Year's Day will be the first opportunity to ride behind steam locomotive Marcia, Kent & East Sussex Railway's smallest engine, as she hauls her first passenger services in over 40 years. The diminutive and much-loved engine was a regular sight at K&ESR special events for many years, but when her owner passed away the loco was removed to Devon and put up for sale.

Happily, Marcia was welcomed back to the railway last Summer after she was jointly bought by a longstanding K&ESR volunteer Andy Hardy and his model railway company, Rapido Trains UK. She has since undergone recommissioning work and is now ready to return to the rails.

Marcia is also being given the honour of taking part in a nationwide ‘whistle up' at 12noon, evoking one of the most iconic sounds of the early railway. She will be joining historic engines at more than 50 heritage railways around the country in the largest ever mass railway participation event, simultaneously blowing their whistles and horns to herald the start of Rail 200, a year-long celebration marking 200 years since the birth of the modern railway.

Marcia will only be running the shuttle between Tenterden and Rolvenden, but trains continue to Bodiam as usual. Visit the website to check on through train timetables. Special offers of £1 for children are available over the holiday, and it’s always better value to book online! And for those who simply want to see Marcia and witness the ‘whistle up', platform tickets at Tenterden Town are available at just £1.

I do urge you to take the time to look at the proposals for the village car park, and make your comments via the survey at www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/budget2025/, where you can also answer other questions on RDC’s budget proposals if you wish. Alternatively, you can email at [email protected] or by post by writing to: Budget 2025 Consultation, Rother District Council, Town Hall, Bexhill-on-Sea TN39 3JX. The consultation will run until 10 January 2025.

So, Happy New Year, and let’s hope that 2025 is kind to us – and the world.

St Mary’s 29th : 9am Holy Communion, 10.30am Morning Worship.