Iden

IDEN PARISH COUNCIL MEETING: The meeting on Tuesday 2nd May was chaired by Ray Griffin, who began the meeting by congratulating Ken Fairhall on his 90th birthday. Ray was elected to remain chairman for another year ,and Greg Say was elected vice chairman, following in the footsteps of his father Jed. Jim wood will hopefully continue to represent ICE [Iden Community Emergency Forum], and it is hoped that Tony Stanton will continue as Parish auditor. Paula Riley will continue to represent the Children's play area in the park . Councillor Paul Osbourne, from Rother District Council, said that police are now actively enforcing parking regulations in Rye. Paul said that 12, 000 people visited Camber during our previous hot spell, a good test for their new parking regime. By the end of this month Camber parking machines will accept credit cards. Two potholes were reported in Elsmead, which Parish clerk Mary Philo will photograph. Mary explained Council expenditure in detail. The precept remains at Â£14, 000. Money has been spent on the burial ground, high visibility jackets for volunteers, new waste bins, repair and painting of village signs etc, a myriad of continuous small and large expenditure as it arises. Â£5000, will be given to new equipment for the play area, which is hugely expensive, and will require yet more money and research. Councillor Paula Riley remarked on how nice it was to see young families bringing youth to the village. The Council consider it wise to pay for a Data Protection Officer. Dog waste bins were discussed. There are to be two new bins at the entrance to the park. As a matter of conscience, and Health and Safety, villagers are asked to bring their dog waste to those bins as they exit the park. There is to be a new bench in the Play area. Â£150 is to be donated to the Air Ambulance.

TWO IMPORTANT MATTERS DISCUSSED AT THE MEETING: THE IDEN STORES ASSOCIATION A.G.M is to be held in the village hall, on Thursday, 14th June at 6pm. All customers, suppliers and staff of the shop and post office are welcome to attend.

THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING: This is to be held on Saturday, 2nd June, from 10am-12 noon. The council would welcome stalls from local groups such as WI, Friends Of Iden Church, Iden Bowls Club, Coffee Morning, Bingo and Iden Players. The entire village is welcome for what is hoped to be a rounded insight into what Iden has to offer. The next Parish Council meeting is on Tuesday 5th June, in Iden village hall.

FULL TO CAPACITY: Our latest heat wave at Bank Holiday weekend couldn’t have been nicer could it? Camber, Winchelsea, Rye Harbour etc were full of people in shorts and flip flops. We queued up for ice cream. I had cherries and cream and honeycomb. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven [what is it about Bank Holiday ice cream?] Lovely to see so many people borrowing our sun spots, knowing that this is where we get to hang our hats all year round!

TONIGHT IS BINGO AT THE BOWLS CLUB: AT 6.30PM for 7PM tonight, there is Bingo in Iden Bowls [club opposite ‘The Bell’ for anyone in the area who would like to attend, There will be a raffle and light refreshments

THE QUIZ AT THE BELL: There is a quiz this Wednesday at ‘The Bell’ pub, at 7.30pm. The quiz is held on every third Wednesday in the month, and is a fun evening out. All are welcome.

A SERVICE OF HOLY COMMUNION: There is a Service of Holy Communion this Sunday, at 9.30 am, in Iden Parish Church.

HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY!: My mum was always careful not to throw out flowers unless they were absolutely dead. She treated flowers as though they had feelings. This reverence has filtered down to me [what’s born in the blood comes out in the bone!]. Now I can’t leave just one flower in a clump in case it get’s lonely. I imagine a flower spending a night on damp earth suddenly bereft of it’s siblings, so I either pick a whole clump, or leave two flowers for company. I know it’s daft, but there you go. My mum was crazy about flowers, and always celebrated each wild flower as it came into bloom. I have a real thing about cow parsley. It’s so lacy and delicate, and for months it transforms our hedgerows, to resemble the trim on Edwardian petticoats. Another thing I’m very fond of is ‘Honesty, which has been prolific this year. I love it’s purple flowers that grow where ever it’s seed haphazardly lands. Honesty is a clever old flower the way it morphs into that papery white everlasting stuff similar to baking parchment. When I was growing up, a lot of my life, as I’m sure many of yours did, revolved around collecting and appreciating wild flowers. I’d come home with foxgloves and all sorts of flowers. Wash your hands, be careful of the Digitalis my mum would say. During a country drive, I once asked my grandchildren to repeat ‘Cow Parsley’,and went on and on about how lovely it was. Now they think Cow Parsley is a family joke “Oh yeah that stuff “, they say, but at least they get their heads out of their phones long enough to recognise a wild flower!

CONTACT ME: If anyone has anything to add to the Village Voice, please ring Gill Griffin [telephone 01797 280311]