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Parish Council: Our responsibilities within the Parish Boundary
Airfield Memorial |
Jubilee Playing Field |
The Sign |
Millennium Spinney |
The Pond |
Bumblebees |
Village Field playground fencing Installed Spring 2020
We would like to thank the Roger de Haan Trust and Councillor Tony Hills (members ward grant) for their support and generous donations for this project.
Click Here to see our new play equipment.
Maintaining the Village
To keep the village ship-shape we will co-ordinate with the local authority to address issues with roads, street lighting, dog fouling, and fly tipping.
If you have any issues of this nature please contact the Parish Council.
Millennium Spinney
To mark the 2nd Millennium, 0.4ha of arable land in the corner of a field adjoining the village was set aside for the planting of a small wood or spinney where a selection of endemic tree species was planted.
Establishing trees in such a windy area has not been easy and a number have had to be re-planted. The effort of a number of villagers to re-plant, water, enrich with bulbs and mow between the trees is gratefully acknowledged.
The field was once part of a wartime airfield and an information panel about the role of the Advanced Landing Ground (ALG), as it was called, is situated in the centre of the area alongside a picnic bench. The objective to create a tranquil spot is slowly coming to fruition.
It was also an obvious place to erect a beacon to commemorate the Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II and the memorial to the squadrons operating from the field in 1943-44. You can see a video of the memorial opening ceremony here.
Jubilee Playing Field
Take a look at the recently installed equipment here.
Formerly Glebe land, the playing field was purchased from the Church by the Parish Council as a recreation ground in 1981.
With the aid of various grants, play equipment was purchased and a five-a-side football pitch marked out.
Further grants, a donation from the Newchurch Village Productions and a lot of effort from a few key residents, further additions to the play equipment have been made over the years. Progressive fencing and tree planting have made the field a useful space for recreation, picnics, fetes and celebrations, particularly the Queens Diamond Jubilee party in 2012 after which the field was renamed the Jubilee Field.
In earlier times, before the present field became available, the Bull Field, opposite the old Black Bull pub, was the place where events were held. It was also the homeground of the both the men's and the ladies cricket teams of the day. Between times, the annual fete was regularly held in the garden of the Rectory which, before the building of Newchurch Lodge and Globe Cottage, was a sizable space.
The Pond
The Wildlife pond was created in 1999 with money from Kent Pond Project, RDA, Community Action in South Kent and the Parish Council.
It was conceived as wildlife pond with shallow water to encourage great-crested newts. With any wild environment, Nature does not always dispense beauty to good intention, and careful management is required to maintain an area which will both support the biodiversity and be pleasing on the eye.
With advice from the Romney Marsh Countryside project, volunteers have worked hard over the years to keep some kind of balance and today we are indebted to a few volunteers from the Village who strive to keep the area moderately wild but accessible so that people can sit on the bench and enjoy the bees, dragonflies and particularly the newts which flourish there.
The Sign 
Each of the elements in the Newchurch Village sign were chosen to depict and represent an important element of life of Newchurch and the Romney Marsh.
From top to bottom:
- 2012 indicates the date of unveiling of the sign, during the celebrations of Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee. Approximately 18 months after the inception of the project.
- The Invicta horse represents the location of Newchurch in the English county of Kent, the "Garden of England".
- The aircraft is a Tempest and represents the role played during the second world war by RAF Newchurch, an ALG located north west of the village, In particular, the aircraft has the white wing stripes, markings added for the D Day landings.
- The church is an accurate depiction of St Peter and St Pauls, the parish church of Newchurch with it's notable leaning west tower. It is intended to represent the community of the village of Newchurch as much as the structure itself.
- The sheep, of course, are Romney Marsh breed and are an acknowledgement of the farming and agricultural roots on which both the village and indeed the Romney Marsh are founded.
- The Herons and Bulrushes serve as a reminder of the unique ecological landscape that is Romney Marsh, and forms a permanent backdrop for life in the village of Newchurch.