Tonbridge Civic Society new programme out now....

The Tonbridge Civic Society ain't such a bad thing you know. I've been actively involved with them for around six years now both just as a member and, for three years, as a committee member and I can only see good in their heart. This sounds a bit corny in a way but sometimes it's easy to be cynical about some society's and charitable organisations. The philosophical question being: does anyone do altruistic things with no gain for themselves even it it just makes them feel good? Sadly most of the time not but I genuinely believe that the Civic Society (at least ours in Tonbridge) is run and attended by residents who care very deeply about the town in which they live. Their aims are pretty simple really: "...to care for the history character and beauty of Tonbridge and it's surroundings.... preservation, development and improvement (for) general public interest.... high standards of architecture and town planning in the Tonbridge area." to quote the society's latest membership card. Easily said but not so easy in practice. In fact, in my experience they need lots of understanding of the detail, particularly of planning applications, and more than a good deal of patience. Don't forget that, since most of the society's members are made up of people past retirement age, for the most part they are fighting Tonbridge's corner for the good of future generations. The A21 dueling project for example is many years away from completion even it gets the go ahead in the current parliament. So the society's heart is very firmly in the right place and all you have to do is go along to one of their meetings at the Angel Centre and listen. The first will be from 7-30pm on Tuesday September 21st with a talk on Bewl Water by Tony Lloyd; there's always a coffee and a chat first and it's very friendly. Try it....