Ex Judd School teacher jailed over sex assaults....

A can't see Judd School being all that pleased with some rather unwelcome publicity on the front page of the Courier this weekend. You have to feel sorry for Headmaster, Robert Masters, in having to defend the actions of a PE and history teacher who taught at the school 30 years ago, well before his time there of course. It does serve to highlight though just how vigilant we all need to be still. We all hope that it doesn't happen but keep hearing of these isolated cases from years ago. The sad fact of the matter is that paedophiles are sad and perverted, yes, but often also highly intelligent and manipulative. They prey on the innocent and the vulnerable and don't regard what they are doing as wrong. Often they will seek positions where they are in contact with children on a daily basis and are prepared to bide their time and wait for opportunities where they think they can go undetected. Our awareness of this has of course improved dramatically over the last few years but we must never be fooled into thinking that the problem has gone away....

Horses to Hairdressing.....

Good to read in the Courier just now that K College has been saved from bankruptcy and ruin by, of all institutions, Hadlow Agricultural College. Good on them I say as they appear to do a grand job there by all accounts. But will they do as well with Hairdressing and Health as they do with Horse Management and Horticulture? Let's hope so and that we keep K College, or whatever they end up calling it, on our doorsteps for many years to come. It's a vital education facility in the heart of our community and ever more essential since from now all 16 to 18 year olds, by law, have to be in full time education or training. K College, it seems to me, is a classic example of an organisation which hasn't bitten off more than it could chew. An ambitious expansion plan to encompass other colleges spread across the county, an £80 million new building and, probably worst of all, an expensive, and arguably totally unnecessary, rebranding which opened the senior staff up to criticism and ridicule....

Kent "Freedom" Pass...

Parents of children travelling to school by bus must be disappointed when they see the cost of the, so called Kent Freedom Pass going up and up. When my son used to travel to Tunbridge Wells every day he paid a £50 "admin fee" for the pass. This subsequently rose to £100 and now they are making noises about putting the fee up to £200. It seems difficult to see how "admin" could cost £20 let alone £200. Most of the children using it have little or no choice and probably get no extra benefit other than their journey to school. At one point they were talking about extending the scheme to the young people who would really stand to benefit, the over 16s of sixth form and college age, but I'm not sure what came of that proposal. That would have given that age group real "Freedom." There is an online consultation on this whole subject coming up and you can find out details here  although good luck with that because, as with most local government forums they seem designed to deliberately put you off bothering....

Some pictures from around Tonbridge....

Even the floods were fun for some!

It's been a heck of a long, wet winter so I thought I'd add some cheer by posting a few pictures. Let's hope that there's a pot of gold at the end of that rainbow!...

 

Spot the 21 Murder weapons at Mr. Books (some more obvious than others)



Organ pipes in the parish church. Well it's different and I just like the shot!

Stained glass window at St. Stephen's church

This brightened up a wet day over Cannon Lane industrial estate recently

Fresh Muffins with Tonbridge Tom....

Tom Tugendhat, the next MP of the Tonbridge and Malling constituency, has very kindly invited me to have breakfast with him at the Hadlow Manor Hotel. Very nice of you Tom but I hardly know you and still have trouble spelling your name, let alone pronouncing it! That said I have, rather cautiously accepted his invitation on the basis that I should be able to trust him. After all, as he points out on the invitation, he is an ex-journalist, PR and Management Consultant, financier and future Member of Parliament and we know how trustworthy they all are! Interestingly he makes no mention of his having served, as I understand it, for many years as a reservist in war zones and the like. Maybe he likes to play that one down and for it just to sit there, as it were, as his ace card! Actually I'm sure that he has invited lots of my fellow Tonbridge business folk so it will be an opportunity for a bit of gossip/opinion gathering and maybe some of that, what do they call it now, networking. 7-30am is a little early for a bookseller though Tom so don't expect to see the best of me and make sure the croissants and muffins are nice and fresh please!...

Lest We Forget....

I'm a historian at heart and, consequently, I'm very much enjoying the various World War One documentaries which are bombarding our TV screens to mark this year of the Centenary (of the start of hostilities) such as Max Hastings insightful programme which was repeated on BBC 2 last night. The causes of WWI are a question on every history student's mind at some point or other and it seems fascinating to me that, all this time later, there is any debate about it. But, as Sir Max points out, indeed there is. Was it merely the shooting of the Arch Duke Ferdinand by the Serbians which then dragged all the others allies to a stand off? Or was it the expansionism of an imperial Germany? Max Hastings asserts that Kaiser Wilhelm was almost certainly suffering from some chronic, psychotic disorder, if not madness, which made him all the more willing to enter into hostilities. I'm sure that historians will still be debating all of this in another 100 years time but, for the rest of us I wish we could forget the whole sorry business after this year. I realise that this is a forlorn hope even though now everyone who took an active part in the Great War is no longer with us to tell the tale. But I for one think that it does us no good to keep dredging up this dark episode in our past. That said it has always fascinated me to think that there are, apparently normal people, walking among us in Tonbridge who carried acts or war beyond the comprehension of most of us. Just imagine for a moment what an veteran of the world wars has seen and done. Has he killed one or many of his enemies? Did he shoot them or even kill them with his bare hands? How can these men then go back to being an upholsterer, mechanic or teacher once they've witnessed anything like that? I hear many a story form visitors to Mr. Books of Japanese camps and falling from the skies having been shot down and they are all fascinating. But my hope is that one day the two World Wars will become such  distant events that they will be talked of only in the same way as the Napoleonic Wars are today....

Tonbridge Tories' Tommy....

The Tonbridge Conservatives have apparently made their choice. Ex soldier and all round action man, Tom Tugendhat, aged 40, is the candidate who has been chosen ahead of the other three who made the short list. Tom is still relatively young at only 40 and has a tough act to follow with out going MP Sir John Stanley having served the community for 40 years. That's a long shift by anyone's standards. I must say that I never voted for him so in a sense he didn't represent me but, that said, in my few dealings with him, he always seemed to take action where needed and seemed to care about his constituents. The new guy, Tom, is a former Army officer who, I'm informed,  served in Iraq and Afghanistan. That in itself doesn't necessarily make him a great guy but it certainly buys him a lot more respect in my eyes than if he'd been, say, a career politician or long standing borough councillor.
Tom is quoted as saying that he has no political background, but that his time in the Army and experience in working with a community would serve him well as an MP.
He said: "I grew up in Sellinge near Ashford and spent most of my holidays around Kent.
"I've just left the army and I feel it's extremely important that those who have experience are represented in Parliament. There are so many professional politicians, which concerned me, and I felt the need to do something about it."
Unless the liberals or Labour put out an extremely strong candidate Mr. Tugendhat is a virtual shoe-in at the 2015 general election in this Tory stronghold parliamentary seat. Just hope that someone will be able to pronounce his name! Any thoughts?....

There's been a murder in Tonbridge!!

The new crime scene window at Mr. Books looks good, though I say so myself. For all those people who were complaining about us not having taken down the Christmas window in my defence it was never meant to be a Christmas window but more of a seasonal window based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy story, The Snow Queen. This does seem to have been lost on quite a few passers by though. So, moving on then, the latest window is worth a look so that you can identify all the potential murder weapons scattered around the "room." Some are really obvious, the others not so much. It's like a full season of Poirot all in one small space!

140 characters....

Had a bacon sandwich this morning.
Er, sorry, I thought this was twitter for a moment there! Isn't that what people are meant to be twittering about on that site where you are limited to only 140 characters per "tweet" I have been known to twitter a bit myself so I'm not going to sit here and knock it. I do find it very tricky though to get all my thoughts into such a short space though it has to be said. I mean why say it in ten words if you can say it in 50. That's what I say. Anyway, yes, the bacon sandwich? I only mention this because, for a change, I bought some sausages and bacon from Chatfield's butchers the other day, so it is sort of a Tonbridge story this. It was absolutely succulent of course, as are the baguette's I frequently buy from them and the home made sausage rolls and burgers. Come to think of it everything I've ever bought from Chatfield's has been superb so you can keep your pre-packed super market rubbish and give me a traditional butchers any day. I'm looking forward to cooking their "Tonbridge Pasties" later today. Pasty, chunky chips, peas and brown sauce. I can't wait. Now you try getting all of this into 140 characters!...

Here's the Floody update....

The park's still flooded and looks like a lake. Where there should be football matches and children playing on the swings canoeists have been spotted in their place again on there over the weekend. The river's still high. If you drive over the Medway on the A21 the flood barrier looks to be holding the water back but the whole area is just surrounded by a vast quantity of water. The Environment Agency seem to be doing a good job of controlling the flow of the river. Whether they got it wrong on Christmas Eve is another question. Will we ever find out the truth? Tonbridge Rugby Club have erected a marquee on the car park, as a temporary clubhouse and I noticed on Saturday that they were showing the international match in there. I must say though it didn't look that full; probably people preferred the warmth of the fire at the George and Dragon or the camaraderie (and the beer) at the Punch and Judy and the Chequers Inn and who can blame them?  Slade School, I'm told, had their boiler room out of action for a short time because of flooding but are very relieved not to have been hit worse than they were. Being so close to the Hilden Brook and the river someone was looking down and smiling on them that day. Or was it simple geography?! Shops in the south end of the High Street are still clearing up the mess and the Post Office opposite the Angel Centre has all the floors up and dehumidifiers blasting out (or do they suck? maybe both!) giving the place a sort of third world like quality. They could even be mistaken for the Superdry shop in Tunbridge Wells! Mr Books is okay so far but if the Castle floods then we're in trouble but I've a sneaking feeling that those Normans, when the built the stone structure, which has lasted nigh on a thousand years, knew what they were doing. A lady who lives in Yalding told me that her house is on slightly higher ground than most of the village so she managed to escape the floods, but only just. According to her the water level was even higher than the 1968 floods which so devastated Tonbridge town centre. More floody updates as they come in. Please feel free to use this as a forum by commenting below....

Poetry Competition entry form....

Roundel Poetry Competition 2014

Roundel is a Poetry Society Stanza

 

Judged by Abegail Morley

author of

 

 How to Pour Madness into a Teacup (Cinnamon Press 2009)

 shortlisted for the Forward Prize Best First Collection,

Snow Child (Pindrop Press 2011)

Eva and George – Sketches in Pen and Brush (Pindrop Press 2013)

 

First Prize         £100          Second Prize   £50    Third Prize   £25

 

Entry fee: £3 per poem. No entry form needed.  Poems are welcome on any subject. There is no limit to the number of entries per person. Each poem should be typed on a single A4 sheet. Your name must not appear on the poem. Please enclose a separate A4 sheet with your name, contact details,  email address and title(s) of your poem(s). Closing date: 31 May 2014.

 

RULES

 

Poems must be:

 

ñ the entrant's original work

ñ written in English

ñ no longer than 40 lines (not including title or dedication)

ñ unpublished and not already accepted for publication

 

Poems will be judged anonymously and the judge will see each piece. No entrant may win more than one prize. Winners will be announced at a prizegiving ceremony on Wed 2 July in Tonbridge during the 2014 Tonbridge Arts Festival.

 

Entries and cheques to: Eric Beston, Roundel Poetry Competition,

26 Dry Hill Park Road, Tonbridge, Kent TN10 3BN by 31 May 2014. Cheques payable to Eric Beston (Roundel Treasurer). Please write Roundel 2014 on the back of the cheque.

Enquiries: roundeltonbridge@gmail.com