Two events coming up.

• On Saturday February 11^that 7pm,  Mark Anstis will be holding a quiz night in aid of Help The Heros. Please try and support this. The cost is £5 per head, to include a Ploughmans’ Supper. There will also be a great raffle.

• Over the Christmas period, Ben Gilchrist lost a young friend, Tom,  to meningitis. Obviously, this has had a devastating effect on family and friends. Ben and  Tom’s brother are running the London Marathon for the Meningitis Trust. If you feel you can help by making a donation to this trust, please subscribe to http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/26fortom

Notes from KYN meeting 2nd Feb

Plans for Diamond Jubilee and Olympic Torch celebrations

Plans are afoot to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee with a "Big Lunch" on the Rec on Sunday June 3. It will be "bring and share" like the Royal Wedding celebration last year, but we are hoping to have a beer tent on site and some children's activities. There is going to be a bunting making session in preparation, so watch out for the date!

KYN will be part of the celebrations to mark the Olympic Torch coming through Seal too on July 20th, helping to organise refreshments and activities for visitors. Plans are still being formulated at the moment in conjunction with the Parish Council and the local schools.

We also talked last night about future plans. We decided not to have a fete this year, as there is a lot going on already, and we may change the format of the Christmas event, so that it takes place on a Saturday afternoon rather than an evening, since many people don't like coming out in the dark evenings. Let us know what you think.

We are also thinking of having a (or some!) Saturday morning "drop in" Know Your Neighbours sessions, perhaps in the Village Hall,  rather than weekday evening meetings, since these might be easier for people to get to.

The full notes from the meeting are here.

Next planning meeting Thurs Feb 2

A belated Very Happy New Year .

We will be meeting at Seal Church Hall on Thursday February 2^nd at 8pm to discuss plans for KYN Events for 2012.

Please do join us, and bring your bright ideas with you!

There is a poster advertising this meeting here if you can display it anywhere to encourage others to come along, please feel free to print it off and use it (you can print it in black and white if you prefer.

Look forward to seeing you all there!

Olympic Torch plans

Seal Parish Council are making plans to welcome the Olympic Torch Relay through the village on Friday July 20th 2012. I have pasted below their message on the Parish Council website.http://www.sealparishcouncil.org.uk/
(You can also keep up to date on the parish council Facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Seal-Parish-Council/113409832097422

The Parish Council says:

The Olympic Torch Relay is coming to Seal Village on Friday 20th July 2012.
Seal Primary School took part in the Sevenoaks District launch on Monday 7th November and will play an important part on the 20th with other primary schools.
We are hoping to involve the whole community in celebrating this occassion.

If you or friends lived in Seal during 1948 and still live in the parish and remember the torch coming through Seal please contact us.

If you have a field/carpark in or on the outskirts of Seal that could be used for visitor parking on the 20th July please contact us.

If you live on the High Street we will have a large number of visitors on that day. Therefore if you are in the early stages of planning hanging baskets, tubs for this summer, perhaps consider a couple extra. The village planting in our tubs will be red,white and blue.

Planning is in the very early stages we will put updated information on our noticeboards and this website in the near future. You can visit the website below for info on the relay route.
www.london2012.com/olympictorchrelaymap

If you can  help in any of the ways the Council asks, please contact them sealparishc@btconnect.com
The Know Your Neighbours group will be involved as seems appropriate nearer the time, so watch this space.

Seal Christmas in the Chronicle

It was good to see a lovely double page spread of pictures, and something on the front page too, from our Christmas event in the Chronicle . I'm not at all convinced that the rather long quote from me was actually what I said (more of a creative reconstruction of a Monday morning conversation with the reporter...) however, the tone was right - a good time was had by all. And the children looked lovely!

Know Your Neighbours will all be meeting in January to discuss the plans for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations in Seal, so we look forward to seeing you then. (Dates to follow!)

Christmas Concert at Seal Church on Thursday Dec 22

There will be a concert at Seal Church on Thursday Dec 22 at 7.30pm.

It will be given by The Cambridge Consort, a group of former Choral Scholars, now mostly professional singers. Also performing will be several professional instrumentalists, including Florence Cooke, who teaches the violin at Russell House, and Vicky Hunt, former oboist with the Philharmonia Orchestra .
The concert will be in aid of the church and Crisis at Christmas, which works with homeless people in London and in other parts of the country.

The programme will include a beautiful Bach Cantata, no. 132 and plenty of seasonal music, much of it familiar, but including some less well known. It will  be a lovely occasion, perfect for the run-up to Christmas! Previous concerts this group have given in the church have been absolutely wonderful.Tickets are available in advance from Seal General Store, or on the door. If you would like to reserve tickets in advance and pay on arrival, (cash, or cheque payable to 'Cambridge Christmas Consort') then please e mail Hannah Cooke hannahcooke@gmail.com.

I hope very much to see you there.

Village Christmas event - well done!

Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make our Village Christmas event such a success yesterday evening. Last year we battled against snow and ice, this year it was roadworks, which made getting up to the church very difficult, but there was a good turn out, and the atmosphere was great.

Special thanks to: Linda Montgomery and the children from Seal School, who led our singing with enthusiasm and didn't seem to mind the chilly weather in their nativity costumes; John and Roz at the Five Bells who found some room at the inn for our nativity players; all those who helped at church whether getting ready for the event, manning it during the evening or packing up at the end of a long day. Thanks, of course, also to Father Christmas who helped us out so splendidly, even though it is his busy time of year...

I only managed to take one picture (I was kept busy with the children's activities in the chancel - but one child commented, with a slight air of surprise, that my colouring in was "really very good", so I was glad that I seem to have found my forte at last...) If any of you have any other pictures, send them along and I will post them here.