Join in this sing song and help support the Demelza Children’s Hospice
SING ALONG CONCERT: Support Demelza Children’s Hospice by buying tickets to its Sing Along Concert to be held at 7.30pm on Sunday 24 November in the Otford Memorial Hall. The evening begins with the Merry Mondays Ukulele band and some easy listening and sing along music followed by a new four-piece band called Project Sorensen.
During the interval refreshments will be available and a chance to enter a prize draw which will be followed by Amanda Harkett, a professional musician and part of the famous opera Lele Duet.
The Merry Mondays Ukulele band round up the evening with a Christmas songs sing along.
Tickets (£10) should be purchased in advance and are available from Judy Cardinal by emailing judy@cardinals.co.uk or call 01959 522513.
CHRISTMAS QUIZ -MEDICS V PATIENTS: The second Patient Group Christmas Quiz in Otford is on Friday, 6 December from 7.30pm. This is just a fun evening with a Christmas twist. Up to eight per team or just come as an individual – £7 per person. Bring your own refreshments and join in the fun. Contact: margaret.robarts@talktalk.net or phone Margaret on 01959 522853.
OTFORD OAST WI: The next meeting will be held at 9.30am on Thursday 21 November at 9.30am in the Memorial Hall. A talk will be given by John Halligan on ‘How Charing got its Cross’. New members are welcome and the first visit is free. For further information email: otfordoastwi@mail.com
MEMORY CAFÉ: Vitality Home Health is inviting anyone living with dementia, their carers, family and supporters to a new Otford Memory Café on the first Monday on each month between 10am and noon. The event is free and offers activities, company and refreshments in a supportive and safe environment. Vitality Home Health is based in the former Crown Pub by Otford Pond and the first Otford Memory Café is on Monday 2 December. If you would like more information call Debbie on 01732 755582; mobile: 07522 962952; or email her on: debbie@vialityhomehealth.co.uk
OTFORD PRIMARY SCHOOL’S Christmas Bazaar is on Saturday 7 December from noon until – 3 pm. This fun family event will include a Winter Wonderland Santa’s Grotto, Christmas Market, Tombola, Face Painting, Games, Prize Draw, Refreshments and much more. Entry: Adult £1, Children Free. Everyone Welcome. If anyone would like to book a stall or request more information please contact: ptfa@otford.kent.sch.uk
OTFORD METHODIST CHURCH welcomes back the Croydon SDA Gospel Choir for a very special Christmas performance at 7.30pm on Saturday 14 December. Refreshments will be provided in the interval. Tickets (£10) are available from the church’s website or from the Sunday morning box office. You are advised not to delay in buying tickets as this is a really popular event and was in high demand last time the choir visited. For further information call the box office on 07948 309484.
OTFORD’S CHRISTMAS POST: Stamps for the Girlguiding Otford’s Christmas Post Service go on sale on 28 November for the 37th year running and will be available until Friday 20 December. The special charity post service, which is one of the longest running in the country, delivers Christmas cards with the scheme’s special stamps to addresses in Otford village.
Stamps cost 30p and are available to purchase in Otford library during normal opening hours or in the Parish Council office every weekday morning. Christmas cards can be posted in the special post boxes located in the same places. Otford’s Brownies and Guides will collect, sort, frank and then deliver the cards over the two weekends before Christmas. This year the money raised from the sale of the stamps will be donated to SERV Kent Bloodrunners, a charity that provides emergency courier services transporting blood products, samples and other essential items for major hospitals and hospices in Kent out of normal working hours.
Please support this service by purchasing the special stamps and posting your cards early. Library opening hours are Monday 9am – 1pm, Tuesday 9am – 1pm, 2pm- 5pm, Wednesday Closed, Thursday 9am – 1pm, Friday 1pm – 5pm, Saturday 10am – 2pm. Parish Council opening hours Monday to Friday 8am – 12:30pm.
OTFORD LIBRARY is hosting an exhibition entitled ‘Doodlebugs and Barrage Balloons in Otford. The Battle of the V1s in summer 1944’. This exhibition, the first in the run-up to the VE Day 75 commemorations to be held in 2020 to mark the end of the Second World War, looks at the role played by Otford on the ‘home front’ 75 years ago in the summer of 1944 during the V1 attacks. The exhibition is derived from the recent talk given to ODHS by Alan Williams and is sponsored by the 1940s Society who are grateful to Kent Library Services for hosting the exhibition. If you have any family memories of the war, please let us them know by email.
1940’s Society meets at 7.30pm on Friday 29 November for an 8pm talk by Alan Williams entitled Over-paid, over-sexed and over-here. The American Invasion of Britain 1942-1945′. Between 1942 and 1945 American service personnel flooded into Britain in what George Orwell called ‘the invasion of Britain’. Alan Williams will explore this ‘invasion’ and show the 1943 British War Office film ‘A Welcome to Britain’ which explained to American servicemen and women how strange life in Britain could be, from ‘funny money’ to warm beer. 1940’s Society Meetings are held in Otford Memorial Hall and admission is £3, refreshments are available including home-made cake.
OTFORD GARDENERS SOCIETY Quiz and Fun Night has become a firm fixture in their calendar and this year it’s in the Memorial Hall on 3 December from 7.30pm. Teams of maximum of six are invited to pit their wits against each other and have a fun evening into the bargain. Please note the start time for this meeting is 7.30pm. Please contact Society Secretary, Janet Finney, 01959 523760, e-mail: gardeners@otford.net
OTFORD LUNCH CLUB for older residents, which takes place from 11.45am every Thursday in the village Memorial Hall, is looking for volunteers to join their five friendly teams. If you can join them either as an individual or with a friend you will be warmly welcomed. Your commitment will be for about a four-hour period once every five weeks helping to serve local residents an initial cup of tea or coffee followed by a hot nutritious two course meal. To find out more please contact: 01959 524147.
DIAL 2 DRIVE is seeking volunteer drivers to take elderly/disabled people to a medical appointment or shopping just one a week. If you own a car and would like to help please contact them on 0300 777 1200 or email: driving@imago.community
The Otford village news is compiled by Kay Drake. If you have any news or events you would like her to consider for the My Sevenoaks Community village column you can email her at: drake_kay@hotmail.com
