The Kohima Epitaph:

When you go home,

Tell Them of us and say,

For your tomorrow,

We gave our today.

I have just had one of the best days out with the kids ever and it only cost £2. It was great for the following reasons:

1. It was cheap (meaning we can do this often);
2. The kids didn’t whinge once and had a great time;
3. It wore them out completely;
4. It was very educational;
5. It was an outdoor and healthy day;
6. I thoroughly enjoyed it myself too, rather than just enjoyed their pleasure in a childish activity (which is what I normally do).

So what did we do?

Well as the title probably suggests we went to Trosley Country Park, just by Trottiscliffe and Vigo. Parking for the day is £1 (half the budget gone!) and for a further £1 we invested in an orienteering course around the park. The £1 gets you a map, instructions, a plastic protector wallet and SEVEN different courses to try. Obviously we only did one today, so we’ve still got six trips left without any more expense (other than the car parking).

Trosley Country Park is run and maintained by Kent County Council (KCC) - much as I find myself normally slagging off KCC (think Highways department here), I have to congratulate them on a fantastic service. The park is accessible to all (including young Travis in his pushchair), puts on loads of events throughout the year, has lots of fun ‘trim trail’ equipment as you go round, and to top it all off is slap bang in the middle of some of the most beautiful countryside… all this and practically on my doorstep.

When you arrive there is a visitors centre with a log fire burning away to keep it heated (presumably this doesn’t run in the summer!) and some really friendly staff that run a cafe in the centre. Obviously you don’t have to spend any money at all to walk around the park and there are several maps and plans of different suggested walks of varying difficulty. Personally though, spending that additional £1 on the orienteering course meant that I could easily keep the kids occupied (in looking for our next marker) while I enjoyed the tranquility and beauty of the place.

For more information call 01732 823570, click on this link, or pop into the Tourist Information office in town and pick up a leaflet.

Today saw the start of Brunswick House Primary School joining the ”Walk On Wednesday” scheme. At it’s simplest, the idea is that pupils walk to and from school on Wednesdays. My kids couldn’t wait, as you get a sticker every time you walk. After so many stickers, you get a certificate.

It’s a well known fact that kids will do ANYTHING for a sticker, so this morning saw the kids up, dressed, washed and teeth cleaned with hardly any nagging. Even Mr. Mouse (Ryan’s imaginary friend) got ready without putting up a fight which makes a big change. Putting on our wet weather over clothes took more time than anything else, so we didn’t leave until 8:20am. Thankfully though we made it to school just in time (the walk took about 30 minutes) although we did have to walk at a very brisk pace.

As we walked into the school gates, I shouted for Rachael to run on ahead (her class starts 5 minutes earlier than Ryan’s) and encouraged Ryan to go with her. However, he pointed out that his running legs were worn out and he only had walking ones left!

Anyway - we did it - and the kids will be getting their first sticker added to their booklet. I have also requested a sticker, but it appears parents don’t qualify!

What a fantastic idea this is. We’ve (the kids and I) been toying with the idea of setting up a walking bus but in all honesty I just can’t face the walk there and back, twice every day - especially with all the car and bus fumes that we have to pass. However, once a week is certainly achievable and Rachael and Ryan really did enjoy it - I think even Travis (in sling) did too. On the back of this initiative, I’ve already hooked up with another mum, that lives around the corner, and agreed with her that we will set up a walking bus just for Wednesdays. We’re all going to walk to school, grab a cake (we’ll have earnt it) from Dunelm Mill, then walk home.

I’m sure other mums and dads will be doing exactly the same - well done whoever it was that thought up this idea!

I’m feeling really sorry for myself today. I’ve come down with tonsillitis, which I get really often. I’m already on penicillin for an unrelated thing, and top it all off, I’ve got a headache. To cut a long story short, Rachael’s going to write todays post…

Today was a grat day. I had Frech-club computr-club and Teagn Oscer Tory and Andrea came roude for tea. Travis was fast aslep all day today.

At scool we did big cat phonics. We did some litrsy some numrsy, mats praktis and lots more. I got to play with my frends. The lunch was fandabydosy. Scool is just the best place in the wolde to learn. I am in the batt family. Some pepole think we are called the batt family becase in the nite we tern in to bats but it is not true. My favret coluer is definitly pink. I wish I was still in year one tho because I want to see miss Marchant. I like her so much she was a relly cind lady so I did not want her to leave. I tryed not to cry, but when I got home I burt in to tears.

My mum has got a big head ake.

Well there you have it; the word on the street according to a six year old:

• schools great
• it’s the best place to learn
• school dinners are good too
• and most importantly, Rachael’s favourite colour is pink

I found a bookcrossing book in town today. It’s only my third find - I actually squealed with delight when I saw it.

For those not in the know, Book Crossing is where you “release books into the wild” by leaving them in findable places (this one was on the wall of a church in town). Inside the book, a [BCID] code is written which when entered into the book crossing website tells you the travelling history of the book. After you’ve read the  book, you ‘release’ it and watch it’s progression.

For book lovers, it’s great fun and gives you the oppurtunity to try out lots of different genre’s of books and different authors that perhaps you wouldn’t normally try.

 Time to go - I have a book to read!

I attended a meeting this evening organised due to the ever increasing number of  complaints regarding Anti Social Behaviour (ASB) around the Oakwood Campus. In attendance were local and County Councillors, the Police & PCSOs, heads of the three secondary schools and representatives from the Community Safety Team (Maidstone Council).

There have been a number of incidents of missiles being thrown from or around Astor of Hever school (mostly rocks, but I’ve had the pleasure of sandwiches being chucked at my car - marmite in case you were wondering). In addition, local residents have been intimitaded by large groups of students out of class hours hanging around by their properties. These ‘visits’ often culminate in large amounts of litter being left, and often with some amount of verbal abuse occurring.

The meeting today highlighted each parties problems with the estate. The general consensus was that parking (and overspill), security and lack of definition of boundaries around each school are all contributing to the problems. All three schools, Astor, St. Simon Stock & Oakwood Grammar, agreed that any allegations of misbehaviour by a student wearing their uniform will be fully investigated and dealt with. But they each went on to say that this is detracting from their main priority, which is of course to teach.

The PCSO assigned to this estate has been absent due to illness for four months and is only just back in post. Hopefully, his renewed presence on and around Oakwood will help ease some of the problems. In addition, County Councillor Dan Daley has offered to pay out of his budget for appropriate lamp posts to be wired up with CCTV cameras. Maidstone’s Community Safety Team have been asked to investigate examples of best practise on simliar campuses across the country, and we did discuss, although not in detail, the idea of students being surveyed to discover what they thought might help the problems.

All these actions will be reviewed in November, hopefully with a positive outcome. Please remember that we need you to report any issues you have either to myself or to the local police. By letting us know all the issues you have, we can build up a file and really see the bigger picture.