Iden

Abingworth, New England Lane, Playden

The main event on the horizon is the Open Gardens on Sunday June 9 from 12noon until 5pm. There will be refreshments in the Old Hall, and someone in the village makes delicious scones for the jam and cream!

The Parish Council has its next meeting scheduled for Tuesday June 4 at 7.30pm in the Village Hall. Remember that there is always a public session where you can raise anything which concerns you. The RDC and ESCC councillors are usually there.

The next Library and Pop-in Coffee morning will be on 10th June - a gap because of the Bank Holiday.

The mid-week services continue at 9.30am for Morning Prayer and 3.30pm for Evening Prayer.

The 9.30am service on Sunday will the Family Service led by the vicar.

During May the Parish Council held its normal meeting on the 4 May at which Michael Miller was elected as Chairman. This was followed by the Annual Parish Assembly on May 23 was very well attended and followed the now established format of guest speakers and the Chairman’s annual report. The Chairman gave a review of the year which had been extremely eventful ranging from the Diamond Jubilee party last June to the Robin Hood panto in April He thanked all those who had helped and supported the various activities which had added much to village community life and which had demonstrated yet again that Iden is a good place in which to live,

On the gloomier side, reference was made to the threat to the landscape posed by ash tree dieback, particularly in the churchyard and playing field where there are some fine specimens. Residents are asked to advise Councillors or the Clerk if any signs of the virus hitting the village are seen.He also referred to the crime levels seen in the village during the past 2 years where on his reckoning one in thirteen properties has been either burgled or had some other kind of theft such as heating oil. This statistic did not include the ram raid at the shop or the looting and vandalism at the Sports Pavilion. He said that the main focus had to be on giving residents confidence and reducing their fear of crime and in this respect the Parish Council is working closely with the Police.Presentations were given by Pat Hughes who talked about the Rye Community Bus Service, Janet Wood on the Bowls Club, Paula Riley on the Fete and Ray Griffin who described what his Committee have in mind to make further improvements to the Village Hall.

Earlier, Norman Kwan from Rother Planning Department had given a short talk on the latest situation regarding the Core Strategy and the need to locate suitable sites for housing- in Iden’s case this needs to be accomplished without harming its outstanding natural beauty status

The next meeting of the Council will be on Tuesday June 4 at 7.30pm in the Village Hall. This will be of particular interest as a representative from South East Water will be present to talk about and answer questions on what went wrong when Iden lost its water supply earlier in the year. Doubtless residents will have something to say to him about this!

The Iden Coffee morning will resume on Monday June 10 at 10.30am in the Village Hall when the Mobile Library visits. This get together has proved to be a considerable success and now has a regular attendance of between 25 and 30 residents.

Tickets for the Open Gardens on Sunday June 9 will be available from Iden Stores on Monday June 3. This will enable access to the 10 gardens that will be open throughout the village - teas will be available. All that is needed is good weather and flowering plants!The Annual General Meeting of the Iden Stores Association will be held on Thursday 27 June at 6pm in the Village Hall. This will be followed by a small reception in the shop for members only in order to celebrate its recent renovation. Thanks to a public appeal last autumn, the Association now has a full Committee who are all fully committed to ensuring the shop’s future as an essential village asset.