What is "Know Your Neighbours"?

"Know Your Neighbours" is a grass-roots community group in Seal, near Sevenoaks in Kent. The group is made up of anyone in the village who wants to get involved - individuals, clubs and societies, businesses, church and schools, parish council,and many others.
We organise local events through the year - fetes, street parties, Christmas events etc. - and we hold social gatherings, just so that people can get to "know their neighbours". There's no "committee" - anyone who turns up for meetings is welcome to help in any way they are able.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO KNOW MORE, OR BE ADDED TO THE EMAIL LIST, contact Marion Gilchrist , who coordinates the group, or Anne Le Bas, who maintains this blog.
This Blog will be archived from July 7 2024 following the retirement of Rev Anne Le Bas who has maintained it. Know Your Neighbours will continue however. Please email Marion if you would like to know more!

Friday, 26 April 2013

Seal Fete - Sept 21 - would you like a stall?

We have started planning for the village Fete on Sept 21. 
Notes from the meeting on April 25th are here

We are actively looking for prospective stallholders, so if you have something to sell, or know someone who might, please get in contact.
Pitches are £25 (£35 for a double), but charities are free.


Thursday, 25 April 2013

Thurs 25th April - Planning meeting

We will be meeting in Seal Church Hall on Thursday April 25th at 7.30pm .
During this meeting, we will be making plans for the Village Fete and Dog Show, to be held on September 21st. We would also like to catch up with any of our volunteers that can make it on this evening.

Village Fete:-
Chris has already had a few stalls and stands booked, and the fairgrground rides are booked but please encourage as many people as you can to join us on this day, and bring any ideas with you on 25th April. Anybody out there that may want to volunteer for any stall holding or preparation for this event will be made very welcome on 25th, but if you cannot make the meeting, please e mail me and I will add your name and details to the list.

Friday, 15 February 2013

Know Your Neighbours drop ins


KNOW YOUR NEIGHBOURS
We will be holding 3 drop-in sessions of Know Your Neighbours in this coming week.
If you belong to any local organisation, please do bring along any literature on your group, so that we can promote and help to grow them with potential new members. There will be refreshments on offer at all the drop in sessions, and we would love to see you there.
The times and venues will be as follows:
Thursday February 21st 2.30 - 4pm in Seal Church Hall.
Thursday February 21st 7.30- 9pm in The Five Bells
Saturday February 23rd 10am - Midday in Seal Village Hall.

Saturday, 19 January 2013

What's planned for 2013?

Happy New Year to you all (though it probably doesn't seem quite so new anymore).

We will be holding 3 drop-in sessions of Know Your Neighbours in February. We have decided to make 3 sessions at different locations and differing times of day. Hopefully, we will be able to reach more people this way! It would be great to see as many of you as can come, and please encourage anybody that has not been along before.
If you belong to any local organisation, please do bring along any literature on your group, so that we can promote and help to grow them with potential new members.

The times and venues will be as follows:

Thursday February 21st 2.30 - 4pm in Seal Church Hall.
Thursday February 21st 7.30.- 9pm in The Five Bells
Saturday February 23rd 10am - Midday in Seal Village Hall.

At these Drop-in sessions, we will be putting our 2013 plans in place, but here are a few dates various organisations already have:-

Sat Feb 16th 7pm Seal Church Hall for 'Musical Bingo' Evening
Saturday 9th March - Seal Scouts fund-raising event - WATCH THIS SPACE FOR MORE INFO.
Saturday 27th April Seal Church Hall for Help For Heros Quiz Night
Sunday 30th June Seal Church Patronal Festival Strawberry Tea.
Sunday 25th August Village Picnic
Saturday September 21st Seal Village Fete
Saturday October 5th Seal Church Harvest Hog Roast
Friday December 5th Seal Church Hall for 'Christmas Chaos' - Make Your Own Christmas Decoration Evening.

Please help us to add to this list by giving your ideas, time and talents! As usual, we will be begging for help for all of these events, so if you want to commit yourselves now, you will be more than welcome to contact me!

We look forward to seeing as many of you at one or more of these Drop-Ins as possible. Anybody who can spare some time to meet and greet, please let me know!

Many Thanks,
Marion.

Tuesday, 4 December 2012

Village Carol Singing - Friday Dec 15

Meet outside Five Bells Pub at about 5.30pm for carols with children from the school, then on to church for mulled wine, mince pies and hot chocolate, and some activities for the children.
We will also need a few volunteers to help serve the pies and drinks, so if you can spare any time from between 5pm and about 8pm, please let Marion know and she will add your name to the rota.

All Welcome!

Tuesday, 6 November 2012

Village Carol Singing - Dec 14 - and other news

We are holding a Community Carol Sing-In on Friday December 14th.
We do not have a firm time yet, but we plan to meet up with the children from Seal School at around 5pm after their School Christmas Fair. We will meet outside the 5 Bells and sing in the village for probably about half an hour or so, then on to the church for mulled wine, hot chocolate and mince pies. We hope many of you will be able to join us, and please watch out for firmer timings over the next couple of weeks.

In January and February, we intend to organise some Know Your Neighbour meetings in various venues and different times to enable as many people to come along as possible. The idea behind these meetings is for people in this community to get to know each other better, and to remind ourselves of what is going on in the village.  If you would be interested in helping to facilitate any of these meetings (you won't be alone!) please e mail Marion and let her know. Equally, if you would like to come along and represent a local organisation and bring along any information, please just let Marion know.

Finally, our Village Volunteers project is very close to being ready to roll out.....Watch this space!

Thank You All for your support with Seal Know Your Neighbours!

Monday, 5 November 2012

Childsbridge Lane Road Safety Campaign



A group of local residents has organised a petition asking for measures to be taken to make the stretch of road between Seal and Kemsing safer for motorist, pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders.
They are asking for the following ideas to be considered:
Reduce the speed limit from 60mph to 40mph.
Create a “priority to oncoming traffic layout at the Childsbridge Lane Railway Bridge.
Erect barriers to protect a pedestrian walkway on the southbound side of the road to make the crossing safe for non-vehicular road users.

If you would like to sign the petition  you can find it online here.

The organisers of the petition are also asking for any experiences you have of problems on this stretch of roads. Any stories they can gather to support their case will help, so if you have ever had a near miss (or an actual accident) on Childsbridge Lane please let them know. You can email on reducespeed.childsbridgelane@gmail.com .