Weald craft show will support ‘Canine Partners’ which helps transform the lives of people with physical disabilities

A CRAFT SHOW in support of Canine Partners is being held on Saturday 8 December from 10am to 1pm in Weald Memorial Hall. It will give visitors the opportunity to buy some Christmas presents and support a fantastic cause at the same time. All the items – pottery, glassware, enamel pieces, decoupage, patchwork, hand painted silk scarves, unusual sewn gifts, candelabra, cakes, chutneys, jams, sweets, Christmas floral arrangements – are made by local artists and most of them living in the village.

As part of the fee to attend, stall holders have been asked to donate a piece of work for a prize draw. Plus many of the stall holders are donating the money taken on the day to help support the registered charity ‘Canine Partners’ which helps to transform the lives of people with physical disabilities by partnering them with assistance dogs. These amazing dogs not only bring a greater independence and quality of life to their partners, offering security, companionship, and practical help with everyday household tasks they also provide psychological and social benefits including increased independence, confidence, social interaction and self-esteem.  f you would like to find out more about their work, go to:  www.caninepartners.org.uk

COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS. Weald is celebrating the countdown to Christmas by opening windows of the ‘Living Advent Calendar’ again this year. Twenty four households and community hubs are taking turns to reveal their illuminated festive themed windows throughout December. The first window was unveiled at St George’s Church on Saturday 1 December. A full list of ‘windows’ being unveiled on the Weald Living Advent Facebook page and on a poster displayed in the Community Shop.

REMEMBRANCE 2018. The poppies around the village have been removed and the ‘ghost’ figures in the church have been stored but the stitched wall hanging representing a set of five medal and the 18 men who fell, is going to hang permanently in the Memorial Hall.

WEALD HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY has been holding a series of talks throughout the year. In January, Fidelity Weston explained how she and her husband have developed Romshed Farm so that they now specialise in grass fed meat. She outlined for us the theory behind ‘mob grazing’ which involves no ploughing, looking after the soil and growing grass, rich in nutrients.

In February Colin Tomlin talked about his nursery and growing azaleas, camellias and magnolias. As a result of this talk Doris and Jack Wheeler invited members to visit their garden. In the years since Jack retired they have constructed a magnificent Japanese Garden, right in the heart of Sevenoaks.

In March Jeanette Lerwill spoke about using plants in garden design and outlined the planning process. Each year a local garden visit is organised and, this year, it was to Maurice Foster’s garden at White House Farm Ivy Hatch. It has been described as a ‘hidden gem with wisteria and rhododendrons weaving around a beautiful selection of trees’.

In early June, WHS’s coffee morning was held in a garden of Sam and Paul Mitchell’s garden in Hurst Farm Road, Weald and over the weekend of 29 June to 1 July, a full coach load of members of the Society went on the annual garden weekend visiting six very different gardens in the Oxfordshire and Wiltshire area.

Later in July was the popular summer supper held in the Grady’s beautiful garden at ‘Southmead’.