LOCATION OF BILSINGTON

Ordnance Survey Map 189 - Ashford and Romney Marsh. Map Reference TR040344

Longitude 0.92ºE Latitude 51.07ºN

Post Code TN25 7JX

Population 274

Area 1900 acres (768 hectares)

Elevation 22m

ROAD NAME SIGNS – The naming of roads within the parish and the furnishing of road signs was one of the first tasks undertaken by the previous parish council when it was first elected in 2003. It is only now that some of the road signs have actually been erected (November 2006)

LUXMOORE BENCH

This seat has now been replaced on its site opposite the White Horse at a cost of £400, paid by the Parish Council. It has a small plaque attached recording that the original seat was donated to the parish by Lady Luxmore just after World War 2.

VILLAGE SIGN

The village sign fell down during the storms at the end of August 2006. It was erected some 50 years ago. It has now been renovated and re-framed and re-erected hopefully for the next fifty years.

CALOR VILLAGE OF THE YEAR

Bilsington did very well in the 2009 competition. We were awarded a ‘highly commended’ in the Community section and were also presented with an additional award for the excellence of our overall entry, being the smallest parish to enter, as against the other far larger villages who had much larger populations and more resources. Our award was a  cheque for £100 and a bare rooted tree of our choice (value £15) to be planted in the village.

PARISH COUNCIL MEETINGS                                    

The Minutes of Parish Council Meetings

are available from the Parish Clerk after

they have been approved by the Parish Council

LOCAL NEEDS HOUSING

Bilsington are in a joint venture with Ruckinge to provide Affordable Housing. At a joint meeting with the English Rural Housing Association the parishes agreed to the site at Marsh Road, Ruckinge where it is proposed to build six units comprising four 2 bed properties and two 3 bed properties. The quality of these homes is far superior to those built on normal development sites.

A public consultation took place in the summer of 2010 where local residents could make their views known. The scheme now has planning consent from Ashford Borough Council and now moves forward to the construction stage.

It is open to residents, those working or with close family connections in Bilsington to make application to rent one of these properties. This is done by telephoning the Housing Team at Ashford Borough Council on 01233 330688.

WISH LIST
We were asked, by Ashford Borough Council, along with all the other parishes in the borough to produce a Wish List as to how the Parish Council sees its community developing over the coming years. The Wish List would then form part of the Ashford Local Development Framework and would influence the Community Strategy and Regional Spatial Strategy.

All 110 homes in the parish were sent a draft Wish List, prepared by the Parish Council,
requesting their opinion and comments. 43 replies were received and the Wish List was then amended to take account of the views expressed.

To see the results of the survey and the Wish List submitted to Ashford Borough Council click the links below. The files are in Adobe pdf format and are quite large in file size so will take a while to load.

Summary of Wish List Survey
Bilsington Wish List

COMMUNITY LEAD PLAN

The Community Led Plan (previously the Parish Plan) team sent out questionnaires to the 126 households in the Parish of Bilsington in February 2011.  The purpose of the questionnaire was to gauge the level of support for developing a Plan for the village. Replies were only received from 8.4% of households. 

People love the village because:

The people, the setting, the church, the pub, the monument, the village hall.  The woods and walks. The friendship and peace/small friendly community, people look out for each other.  It’s a country village/picturesque outlook.  Their family has lived here for a long time.  Availability of the village hall.  Its position, history and traditions.  It is rural with a charming church, village hall and village pub.

Suggestions included:

Proper off-road parking/more thoughtfulness for pedestrians (parking on pavements).

Improvements to visibility at the village crossroads, including strategically placed mirror(s).

Restoration and maintenance of verges and white lining road edges on feeder roads to the village.

Drainage and improvement on road from Bilsington to Ruckinge/improvements to very narrow part of the road out of Bilsington/Ruckinge.

Permanent repair to grass verge south of Good Intent crossroads.

Speed ‘gates’ at the 30mph speed limits of the village centre to severely restrict speeding.

Improved removal of litter/bins for dog faeces.

Improvements to the public house (White Horse) area/involvement of publican in what locals want from a village pub.

More houses to suit village people – enough houses to warrant a village shop/post office.

A better bus service.

Upgrade/improvements to the village hall.

Facilities for young people/children’s play area.

A community village shop, staffed and run by the community, which could become a self-financing social asset.

Despite these good ideas only 3.9% of households would support and help the development of a Community Lead Plan and its potential for approaching the available funding bodies in the region.  As a result we do not feel justified in pursuing the matter.  We appreciate that many people do not have a lot of spare time, but those residents who are willing to help in any small way will be contacted to see if their talents could be put to use for other village projects that may interest them.

Many thanks to those of you who took the time and trouble to consider these matters and complete the form.

BILSINGTON MAP

Further copies of the Bilsington Millennium Map (approximately 60cm x 40cm) have been printed. Produced by local artist Mary Webb to celebrate the 2000 millennium these maps show a thumbnail painting of every house in the parish, a descriptive map, notes on significant buildings and the flora and fauna of the parish.

Copies are available from Terry Tarrant (Tel 01233 720404 or Email terry@tarrants.demon.co.uk) and are priced at £20 plus £5 postage and packing.

BILSINGTON PEOPLE 1800 - 1900

A well produced 32 page booklet with photographs, written by Margery Kenyon describing life in Bilsington during the 19th century. Available from Terry Tarrant (Tel 01233 720404 or Email terry@tarrants.demon.co.uk)  price £5 plus p.p

BILSINGTON PEOPLE 1900 – 2000

The Bilsington Society wishes to announce the publication in mid-December 2007 of their book “Bilsington People 1900 – 2000” based upon the memories of Bilsington residents and information gained from local and national archives. This book contains many previously unpublished photographs and provides a unique account of how a small rural, virtually self contained parish, transformed into the community that it is today through two world wars, steam to nuclear power and telegrams to emails.

Copies are available from Terry Tarrant (Tel 01233 720404 or Email terry@tarrants.demon.co.uk) priced at £7.50 plus postage and packing.

BILSINGTON RAINFALL

Despite warnings of global warming and water shortages, Bilsington has experienced above average rainfalls (28.49 inches) over the last ten years - the long term average being about 25 inches. In the past there have been wide variations, notably 1921, 11 inches, 1996 20 inches and 2000 38 inches.

The outstanding features of the rainfall in 2010 are ‘not very much’. It was a very average year with the exception of the February high rainfall.

VILLAGE ACTIVITIES

CRAFT FAYRE

Bilsington Art, Craft and Country Fayre was first conceived in 1986 as a fundraiser to replace a much needed roof to the Village Hall. That was achieved; and as it was such a great success, it was decided that it should not be a 'one off' event but should be continued; the money raised going to local charities and good causes. To date the Fayre has been held every year and has raised in excess of £150,000.

In 2006, £10,000 was given as a contribution to the William Harvey Hospital Appeal for a Cancer Diagnostic Machine in memory of Mary Webb who was raising monies for this machine before she died in January. Mary allowed her home to be used every year for the Fayre and gave it magnificent support.

The 2007 was the last fair to be held at the Priory. The Fayre, now titled 'Bilsington at the Rare Breeds' has been transferred to the South of England Rare Breeds Centre, Woodchurch, Ashford, Kent and will be held on last Saturday and Sunday in June.

For further information Tel 01233 861493

BILSINGTON SOCIETY

The next meeting, in the Village Hall, will be held on 14 October 2011.

 Further details from Eileen Mills 01233 720566

BILSINGTON LADIES

Bilsington Ladies is a social group, unattached to any other organisation, which meets once a month. Membership is open to all ladies resident in Bilsington and neighbouring parishes.

Programme for 2011 (Village Hall at 2.15 unless stated otherwise)

Further details from Eileen Mills 01233 720566.

HASSOCKS

This group of ladies meets socially at Stephne Mytton's home to sew hassocks for use in the village church. At the present time we are concentrating on sewing a hassock to commemorate the wedding of Prince William to Catherine Middleton.

An entry for the Queens Award for Voluntary Service was made in 2004. The deputy Lord Lieutenant of Kent carried out an inspection and commented as follows:

‘The standard of nomination was high. While the panel that considered your nomination was extremely impressed by the work being done by the group for the local community, I am afraid it was not one of those selected this year.

I know that this will come as a disappointment, both to you and the group. I hope that it will be of some consolation to you to know how highly voluntary work is regarded by Her Majesty The Queen and the Government. They recognise that the time, talents and commitment invested by volunteers make a real difference to people's lives.'

For more information contact:-
Stephne Mytton,
Cross House,
Bilsington,
Ashford
Kent, TN25 7JX
01233 720311

TREE WARDEN

The village has a tree warden, Mike Lay (01233 720739) who is available to advise on the care of trees and woodland within the parish.

BILSINGTON CRICKET CLUB

The cricket club play on the field adjacent to the Cosway monument. For details of membership contact:-
Mrs Sylvia Leaning,
Eversleigh,
Westwell Lane,
Ashford,
Kent, TN26 1JA.
Sylvia.barry@btopenworld.com.

Website www.bilsingtoncc.co.uk

BILSINGTON ART GROUP

Beryle Bell who is the leader of the Art Group writes as follows:-

“In 1986 I retired as an art teacher at the Adult Education Centres of Folkestone and Ashford. Many of my students left with me and asked me to start a private class. I chose the village hall at Bilsington. It was a hall with good light, small, cosy and the publican at the adjacent ‘White Horse' pub allowed us to use his car park. Many of the class also lunched there.

The class is held each Monday from 10am to 3pm . We cover a wide variety of subjects and mediums including watercolour, oil, acrylics, pastel and pen & wash. Landscape painting is the most popular subject. 

We also have visits to local and London art exhibitions.

The 2010 exhibition, held over a weekend in October, was opened by Fergus Garrett, the head gardener at Great Dixter. It was a huge success with an interesting variety of paintings covering a wide range of subjects and styles. It was the best attended exhibition for a number of years, with plenty of visitors on both days. Many exhibits were sold. For the second year running the group organised a raffle with one of the exhibits as the prize - a painting by their founder Beryle Bell. This raffle was very generously, in aid of Bilsington Village Hall, and the sum of £404 was gratefully received by the Village Hall Committee.

The class consists of 25 students, a class secretary and me. There is a waiting list, but because of the loyalty and enthusiasm of the students I have yet to take any one off the waiting list!”

For details contact:-
Beryle Bell,
9A Dukes Meadow,
Hamstreet,
Ashford ,
KENT TN26 2HD
Tel. 01233 732963

The Annual Exhibition will be held in the Village Hall on the 22 and 23 October 2011.

NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH

Hugh Webb has taken over the position of co-ordinator.  Recent statistics from Kent Police confirm that Bilsington is a low crime area.  The appointment of a village policeman and visits by the mobile police station has enabled parishioners to have direct contact with the police.  The parish is part of the Ringmaster email system with provides swift notification of local crime activity.

Contact Hugh Webb - hughwebb1107@live.co.uk

BILSINGTON FLOWER AND VEGETABLE SHOW

The show in September 2010 maintained a traditional village event. Entries were less this year than last but as ever it was enjoyed by all who entered or attended. This year the show will be held on Saturday 13 August .

Contact Charlotte Kerr 01233 720878

BILSINGTON VILLAGE HALL COMMITTEE

At the AGM in November 2010 the committee

was re-elected, with Alex Miller as Chairman (01233 720456), Hugh Webb as his deputy, Liz Webb as Secretary and Terry Tarrant as Treasurer. Improvements to the hall have been made and further changes are planned during the

coming year

There have been various fund raising events in aid of the Hall notably a talk by the head gardener of Great Dixter, Fergus Garratt, whose generous donation of his valuable time, a fascinating talk, and overwhelming local support  resulted in the committee raising  in excess of £600 towards  the proposed repairs

Bookings for the hall should be made through

Secretary Liz Webb (01233 720818) or at

villagehallsec@hotmail.com

Contact Liz Webb 01233 720818