Village Amenities

Village Hall

Meeting Place

Mother & Toddler Group

Library

Health

Dering Wood

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Pluckley Village Hall Email: the clerk to the council Reg. Charity No 302818

Letting charges Main Hall per hour: £4 regular users £5 one-off hiring and persons living outside the parish. Committee Room Only per hour: £2 regular users £2.50 one-off hiring and persons living outside the parish Main Hall and Committee Room per hour: £4.50 regular users (e.g. village organisations previously affiliated to the village hall) £5.50 one-off hiring and persons living outside the parish. Children’s parties £5 per hour, plus £20 returnable deposit against damage Adult parties/discos (over 18’s and/or where alcohol is present) £50 per event. Plus £100 returnable deposit against damage Weddings Special 3-day package: book Pluckley Village Hall from 4pm the day before your wedding to set everything up and have until noon the day afterwards to clear up for just £160. Plus £200 returnable deposit against damage - payment to be made no later that one calendar month before the event. All bookings require a £5 deposit (booking fee) – this is deducted from the final cost of the hire but is non returnable in the event of cancellation. Contact the clerk for more information

What goes on in the hall... Regular meetings held in the hall include the Senior Citizens Club, parish council meetings, antiques and collectors' fairs, flower shows, a weekly dance class. While the parish council owns the village hall, it is run by the Village Hall Committee. The present village hall was opened in 1960 after 12 years of fund-raising that included dances, whist drives and a summer sports day and village fete. The cost of building the hall was £6,000: twice that of the original estimate. Building started in March 1959 behind the old hall, a plain wooden building that was afterwards dismantled and sold. The area released provided car parking. Hire  of equipment Tables, chairs, and crockery all are included in hire of hall Away from hall please go to classified pages

Mother & Toddler Group

Meeting every Tuesday between 10:30am and 12:30pm, including holidays, in Pluckley Village Hall, the group offers a cup of tea, coffee, drink of juice, and a biscuit for anyone attending. It costs £1 per child at present, and they always finish with a rousing bout of singing that the children really enjoy.

The group caters from birth to toddlers, although most children get sent off to nursery at about 2½. At present they have had a rash of new babies, with another three just about to arrive! The current batch of 2 year olds will  be leaving in September, so will the group hopes to replace the vacuum they leave. 

The meetings are friendly and members are happy to welcome anyone and try to make sure that no one is left out.
They have managed to get quite a few toys so far from the group members (who have been very generous indeed).  But they are seeking more equipment especially toys for the garden in the summer: bicycles, slides, climbing frames etc.; creative equipment (paints, paint brushes and pots, glue, sequins, glitter and paper, coloured pencils and crayons), animals/farm things/dinosaurs, musical instruments, dressing up clothes, wooden train set, child size tables and chairs.  Oh yes, and books and jig saws are always welcome!

They will be holding a party for the children once the group has settled in. There was a fantastic party last Christmas with a lovely Santa and they thought it would be a nice welcome to the new hall to have another once the dust has settled a bit, although no date has been set yet.

Members also want to continue to support the mothers that have small businesses by letting them set up their wares in the hall and sell to the other mothers, this has worked very well in the past and creates a lot of good will.  They have representatives from Phoenix Cards, Usborne Books, Wooden Toys attending regularly and contacts with a few other sellers as well.  The group usually gets a 10% commission from any sales made, which obviously helps to fund new toys etc.
They are always looking for exciting, innovative ideas for fund raising, so if anyone has any ideas - please let them know!

The Village Meeting Place

This pop-in coffee morning, once a month, on the first Tuesday, was started to encourage people in Pluckley to meet, chat, and get to know each other. Pluckley is a diverse mixture, a long, spread-out village. To work well as a community, village members to get to know others, especially newcomers, to Pluckley.

The Village Meeting Place is separately funded by several charities but is quite independent of the church for its running costs. The church was chosen as a centre as it is warm, has a small kitchen and, very importantly, a toilet and is near the shops. The cost of a real cup of coffee and a homemade piece of cake is just 50p!

An organiser is needed to run this enterprise – a job estimated to take 4 hours a week and is paid a modest sum of £7 per hour. The supporting finance also allows Wealden Wheels to go round the village to pick up anyone who needs a lift.

Toddlers, mothers, and grandparents of the preschool children being picked up at noon are most welcome. Dogs coming back from their walk with their owners often visit. 
Do come, you will be made most welcome. Contact Ann for more information, or if you would like to help

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Library services

A mobile library van from Ashford calls every Thursday in the Street, near the Black Horse, and on alternate Thursdays at Pluckley Thorne and the Station Approach. A public lending library in the school opens Tuesday and Friday afternoons between 3:30 and 4:30, during term time only. This is staffed by trained volunteers. The mobile library is used by 42 residents, while the school library has less use, only 22 people saying they patronised this facility.
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Health

There is a doctors’ surgery at Charing three miles from the centre of Pluckley. (Until the late sixties, they held a surgery in the village.) There are four doctors, three male and one female, and a dispensary and chemist shop within the surgery. No bus goes directly to Charing and people rely on the services of Grapevine if they have no transport. District nurses visit patients in their own homes and practice nurses see patients in the surgery.

Attached to the surgery, two midwives work within a midwifery group practice. Home and hospital deliveries are undertaken in addition to antenatal and postnatal care. A health visitor and her assistant promote health care for babies from ten days old until five years old. Clinics are held at Charing Surgery. Many other medical and social professionals attached to the surgery organise care for all ages.

Grapevine started in 1978 as a voluntary help service to aid people in the village who needed a contact point in an emergency. A loyal group of members provided help over a number of years. There is a list of volunteers who may be contacted if there is a genuine need for transport to and from the Charing surgery and the William Harvey hospital. The list is available in the post office at Pluckley. Medications are transported from the surgery to the post office on Thursdays for collection.

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Dering Wood Dering Wood was bought by the Woodland Trust, thanks to generous donations from the local community who raised the funds to help buy the wood in I 997. The appeal was also supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. It is one of the largest woods in the area, covering I 47ha (308 acres) and consists mainly of sessile oak and hornbeam, with some sweet chestnut and one or two wild service trees. Now that the wood is in Woodland Trust ownership, the public have free pedestrian access and opportunities to enjoy the pleasures of quiet, informal recreation. The Trust will safeguard Dering Wood as part of the landscape and protect its woodland habitats for the benefit of wildlife.

A history
Dering Wood is designated as a Semi-Natural ancient woodland, which means the wood has been in existence since at least 1600 AD. It also appears in the Doomsday Book. Up until the mid 1920’s the wood was owned by the Dering Estate. It was well managed with wide grassy rides and used by the family as a place of recreation. Indeed, Edward VII was a frequent visitor.

However, much of the timber was felled in the First World War for which a steam powered saw mill was setup.

In the Second World War troops were based here for D Day and bombs stored in nearby Frith woods, across the road. Since then there have been several different owners. In the 70’s and 80’s there were many development threats. These included a ‘euro’ town, golf course and caravan park. Now the wood is saved from such threats for all to enjoy.

Nature
Once the wood was acquired an intensive survey was undertaken with ongoing monitoring. There are 36 ancient woodland indicator species and it has been declared a Grade I site of conservation interest. There are some particularly rare butterflies, including the silver washed fritillary, white admiral and grizzled skipper.

Wood anemone and bluebell are rampant in the spring and heath milkwort and violet heliborine are amongst the rarer plants. In early summer nightingales can be heard.

Management
Since the Trust acquired the wood much work has already been undertaken, including opening of the rides, provision of a car park and clearance of rhododendron. The wood is managed for conservation, public access and small-scale timber production. The works planned over the next few years include thinning of some areas of oak and the control of rhododendron. Coppicing, or cutting, of small areas of trees will continue. This helps rejuvenate the tree and provides a varied habitat. The thinning of the oak will allow the remaining trees more room to grow and light to penetrate to the forest floor Management is greatly assisted by the Forestry Commission and is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The local volunteer group, the ‘Dering Woodlanders’, helps the Trust in its management. Tasks include coppicing, rhododendron control and footpath maintenance. They meet on the first Sunday of the month and always welcome new helpers.

The Woodland Trust
The Woodland Trust is the UK’S largest woodland conservation charity. It was started in 1972 and now has almost 1000 woods throughout Britain and Northern Ireland. The Trust manages important woodland habitats for the benefit of wildlife and to protect the place of woodland in the surrounding habitat while encouraging public access for quiet, informal recreation.

If you would like to know more about the wood, the volunteer group and the Trust please contact our central office at:
The Woodland Trust, Autumn Park, Grantham, Lincolnshire NG3 I 6LL. Telephone:01476 581111
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