Rusthall Letters
Feel free to EMAIL us with any views, opinions or suggestions you have about the village.
January 2012
Carol Lawrence writes regarding the proposal to move the recycling bins from Common View:
The complaints of some Common View residents about the bins are not just about noise when the lorries come early in the morning to empty them - the request to move the recycling units have been more positively to free up space for High Street shoppers during the day and parking for residents at night. It gets very congested at that point, people parking dangerously to use the chemist and One Stop as well as taking their recycling. I found out over the weekend that a number of named people from Langton use Common View as park and ride for the 281 bus, and from today (31 January) there is a daily commuter coach service to London from outside the chemist, meaning more park and ride? It would be ok if the shops got any trade from it I suppose.
I think the Common View residents have been very accommodating over the years in order to accomplish strong environmental aims.
December 2011
Howard Rockley writes
Hello,
The attached document is extracted from Colbran's New Guide to Tunbridge Wells of 1840.
It shows a building which features on Tunbridge Ware & which is known to collectors as Hurst Wood Cottage. However, in Colbran it is described as a ‘Tudor Style farmhouse' in the vicinity of Toad Rock.
Do you have any idea where it was or what it was actually called?
Best regards, Howard Rockley
July 2011
Hi, my name is mark irwin
and I have just been looking at your website – it bought back such vivid memories of my childhood I was really moved.
I moved to Asher Reeds when I was six in 1968 – well my mum and dad moved and were good enough to take me (and my 2 brothers) with them! I was in the Rusthall Cub Scouts which used to be held in St Pauls church hall which was opposite what was then the Morning Star Pub. We used to play on the common opposite and buy 10p of chips in Rod’s fish and chip shop on the way home – there was another chip shop opposite the Methodist (I think) church hall which is now a Chinese take away and has been for a few years.
When I graduated to the Rusthall Scouts I cycled to the parades which were held at Toad Rock in the big house opposite the Toad Rock Retreat. The pictures of the area – Deny Bottom etc immediately took me back – the painting of the corner of Upper Street and Apsley Street where they become a footpath and the light is particularly evocative - I could feel the bumps in the sandy stoney path as I rode my bike along it. In those days there was an off licence shop very near what is shown in one of the photos of the area as Jude Hanbury ‘Toad Rock Cottage’. There was also a corner shop opposite the Toad Rock Retreat.
I used to spend a lot of my weekends and holidays at Jockey Farm in Nellington Lane with Dave and Andy Rustbridge, in those days Mr Harris was still alive and I can remember him with a roll-up cigarette always in his mouth. At the time I think the milk round he used to do was just coming to an end but I can remember the milk being pasteurised at the farm. There used to be a fantastic allotment opposite the farm with loads of vegetables and fruit being grown – I think it is overgrown now.
I left the area in 1980 when I was 18 to join the Royal Navy. I’m currently living in Norway but will return to the UK next year.
A waffle and ramble I know but I just had to write something and send it in!!! Thanks for stirring up many happy memories
Richard Marshall writes
I am writing with regard to the Rusthall
FC under 7's football team, who my son Harry plays for, and who
are desperately looking for a new sponsor for the 2011/12 season (by which
time they will be the under 8's team).
The current sponsor (Gleeds) will no longer be sponsoring the team as of the end of this season, and I wondered if you might be able to offer some publicity on your website to assist our plight. Without a sponsor for the next season the team will not have a football kit to play in.
Ideally a local business from the Rusthall area would be the perfect sponsor. The total amount to sponsor for the season is around £800.
Any help or advice would be much appreciated.
Kind regards
Richard Marshall
Former Rusthall resident Mick Bean writes:
I'm now a once in a blue moon visitor to my home village of Rusthall. I thought I would write a few lines rescaling a few childhood memories. Perhaps others could do the same ?
Rusthall when I was a little boy stopped where the raspberry/blackberry bushes and stinging nettles started. A barbed wire fence marked the boundary between village life and nature.
Nellington Lane ran alongside the field before turning sharply right, down past the cemetery and onward to the more outlying villages.
Little could I have known then that this wonderful field full of grasses, bushes, trees and wildlife would one day become yet another concrete slab helping house the 1970s population explosion.
Nellington lane survives but is no longer the winding country road, more a short cut for speeding taxis carrying fares from middle class housing estates to the busy commuter belt railway station in the local town.
The lane, once lined with green hedges and buttercups, now show scars of skidding car tyres and wing mirror damage along an oily polluted hedgerow. Pheasants no longer roam the lane safely; bird’s nests that once littered the nearby trees have gone and bird song has been replaced by the never ending drone of the motor-car.
The first thing I noticed as a young boy when walking past the Church hall into the village was the smell of fresh baked bread from the bakery near the Morning Star pub. The rickety old green van with its back doors open displayed rows upon rows of cakes, loaves and bread rolls on wooded slats ready for the morning delivery.
I could walk the length of the high street and never see traffic. The 81 bus turned around at the end of the village where the fields began before making its way back to TW. Most of the locals used the bus service; cars were a rarity and only used by the wealthy few.
The bus route back to town would take you past the marl pit then onto Sandy bank (top of Bretland Road) before reaching the Toad Rock bus stop. By that time the bus would usually be full before continuing on past Dingly Dell, the Spa Hotel and onward down Major York’s road to the Pantiles.
As well as the bread van you could well see the coal lorry, milk floats, one man dust carts, the fish van, the rag-and-bone man, the swill-man (collecting spud for his pigs) and once every few months a man of the road (tramp) would walk through the village singing and whistling with cap in hand hoping for a few pennies from the more well off folk in the village. A twice a year visitor to the village would be the knife sharpener-man, he would up-end his bicycle in the middle of the road and spin the rear wheel which had a sharpening stone attached. He charged one shilling (1/-) for all the knives you could carry to him and one and a tanner (1/6) for sharpening garden tools like shears or mowers.
Over to you lot...............
Mick Bean
February 2011
My name is Chris Taylor from the USA. My mother Patricia Taylor (nee Hollamby) was born, and raised @ 61 Woodside Rd. Her parents were Vi & Harry Hollamby, and her brother, Richard, who still lives in Rusthall. They also lived on Erskine Park Rd.
Pat has lived in the US (New Jersey) since 1961. She frequently comes back home to visit including a trip planned later this year. She was married @ St. Paul's Church in 1954, and remembers being on Rusthall Common the day WW II started in 1939. She has many fond memories of growing up in Denny Bottom.
I have been fortunate to visit many times since I was a baby. My father grew up in Tunbridge Wells (Camden Rd. , and later Dunstan Rd.) I remember Happy Valley, the working man's club (St. Paul St.?), and of course walks w/my grandfather to the Toad Rock. Some of the shops might have changed a bit, but it all looks pretty much the same otherwise. As a kid I liked the 'Paper Shop' as it was called to buy a copy of the "Beano" comic book, and eat some 'Penguins'. lol
Rusthall, and the English countryside of Kent & Sussex are simply some of the most beautiful places ever put on Earth.
Cheers,
Chris Taylor of Cherry Hill, NJ USA
28 July 2010
Next come a couple of letters Carol Lawrence has written to Courier editor Ian Read concerning the parishing of Rusthall. She appeals to everyone else with an opinion also to write into the paper with their views.
25 Common View Rusthall TN4 8RG
01892 528273 / 07999 850 699
19 July 2010
Dear Mr Read
As the deadline of 31 July approaches for contributions to the open consultation run by the borough concerning the formation of a Rusthall Parish Council, I would like to share with your readers "Reasons to be Cheerful" about the prospect.
The whole point of a Parish Council is to improve the life of people living in Rusthall; it will give us more control over village matters, where we will foster our own distinct voice.
A more equitable distribution of council tax money would come back to Rusthall, to be spent on improving our own facilities here.
Rusthallians, with the benefit of a part-time paid parish clerk, will have deeper opportunities to work with borough and county, in order to protect and improve the unique place where we live.
More consultation forms are available from the Village Association stall at the Rusthall Fete this Saturday 24th July.
Yours sincerely
Carol Lawrence
Resident
25 Common View Rusthall Kent TN4 8RG
6 June 2010
Dear Mr Read
I write to you to express my excitement about the prospect of Rusthall gaining its own parish area council.
I used to think parish councils were something only concerning churches. The only action I had seen of a parish council was on the BBC comedy "The Vicar of Dibley." (I did however discover that the show doesn't portray reality).
In the last few years I have sat in on several parish council meetings both in Speldhurst and also in Essex, as a member of the public.
What I have learned from these meetings is that parish councils are a fine example of the extension of our country's democracy at a micro level; they have been proven to work very efficiently and are supported professionally by qualified clerks. They complement the work done by borough councillors and effectively amplify a village voice at very modest cost.
This year I heard speaking on the radio Mr Eric Pickles MP, Chair of the Conservative Party, championing the value of parish councils in both rural and urban areas.
Recent calculations made by TWBC show that a Rusthall Parish Council would mean a lower overall council tax bill to Rusthall residents and businesses, whilst (remarkably) freeing up more finances to spend on Rusthall amenities, and even opening up more avenues to apply for grants.
I appeal to all Rusthall residents and business people to immediately RSVP their invitations to a public meeting, organised by the borough at the URC Hall in the High Street on Wednesday 30 June at 7pm, which will present in more detail what a Rusthall Parish Council would involve. (Call Nicola Timms on 554106 at the Town Hall).
A consultation document from the borough has been sent to all addresses in the area asking for comments, and has to be returned by the end of July. If you have mislaid your form and reply paid envelope please go to the TWBC borough website or give them a call.
Alternatively, forms will be available at the next Rusthall Village Association meeting at the Rusthall Club 7.30pm on Thursday 22 July. Always a lively and friendly meeting. No surprise - full of people from Rusthall!
Kind regards
Carol Lawrence
1/11/2009
Rusthall is a vibrant, lively village with a kind heart.
This website is a brilliant idea, thanks to all who suggested it, planned it and produced it.
June Moore (Third generation resident).
31/10/2009
The new web site looks fresh and appealing, well done.
A Rusthall resident for some 25 years (I live in Westwood Road) I have watched with dismay as the traffic through the village makes movement increasingly difficult and dangerous. Surely there is a case for limited parking on one side of the High Street only? If we lived in an ideal world I would have car parking on the field behind Common View and a one way system from the High Street up and down to the Red Lion. The tree by the Red Lion should form the basis of a roundabout. Would it not be possible to find out using the web site if there is support for this sort of idea? Something will have to be done soon if the bus service is get through.
As I overlook the new play area I have been pleasantly surprised at the amount of use it gets since opening. I believe that Jenny Blackburn was instrumental in getting this now valuable facility built and should feel proud of a good job done. Pessimists like myself were saying that it would be wrecked within weeks. How pleased I am to have been proved wrong.
Regards
John Goodall
Editor's comment: The parking suggestion was raised at an RVA meeting once and someone pointed out that traffic congestion in the High Street is actually a useful calming measure, preventing speeding and making it easier for pedestrians to cross the road, especially with a bus ploughing its way through every 20 minutes or so!