Iden

ROY’S FUNERAL: The funeral of Roy Campion took place in Iden Parish Church, on the 18th May. Many people attended this beautiful service, as Roy was very well-respected. Sometimes, we don’t really know a person until their funeral, when their lives suddenly become an open book orated by those that loved them. Roy’s life as a pilot was brave, and colourful. His persona was a wealth of humour and intelligence. The eulogy, given by Roy and Sue’s best man was full tales of Roy’s sense a fun [an antidote perhaps to the serious, meticulous side of pilots like Roy with other people’s lives in their hands] Sue, Roy’s wife did him proud, with great forethought, arranging just the sort of funeral that Roy would have loved. He was carried out of the church to the tune of ‘Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life’, A beautiful poem was read out about a pilot feeling close enough to touch God, the sky being so synonymous with heaven. The flag in Iden Bowls Club flew at half- mast across from ‘The Bell’ pub, where Roy’s friends and relatives gathered to say goodbye to him. Roy loved his bowls, and his fly -fishing. He lived and died, a man of joy and purpose, and as Teresa, our vicar said, ‘Roy was a true gent’.

MAKE A DATE IN THE DIARY: There will be a cream tea afternoon in Iden village hall, on 3rd June, from 2.30pm-5.30pm. Tea and cakes and a friendly chat will be the order of the day. The last cream tea was very successful, so all are invited.

BOB TURK’S FUNERAL: The funeral of Bob Turk took place on Thursday May 11th.Although Bob had moved to Wittersham, he was an Iden boy through and through, and how special to have had his funeral, in the church he attended as a choir boy. How special indeed to have known an Iden many of us cannot lay claim to, the Iden of yesteryear. Bob went to school in the ‘Old School House’ in Iden. In fact he was one of it’s last pupils. Bob was a man of the soil, a keen member of ‘Iden and Playden Garden Society’, to which he donated a cup,’ The Bob Turk cup’. There is something special about a gardener, a keen gardener. Being able to nurture plants is a gift of simplicity and quietude. Being at one with flora and fauna breeds a contentment and serenity that many of us covet in this mad world. Although Bob will be missed by his family , his son Chris, daughter-in -law Tracy and his granddaughters, he is once more at peace and at one with the landscape he loved.

THE 2017 IDEN OPEN GARDENS: Iden is opening it’s gardens on Sunday 11th June, from 11am-5pm. Entry is by map, obtainable at any participating garden. [Adults £5, accompanied children free] Proceeds go to ‘Friends Of Iden Church’, to pay for restoration and repair. All are welcome. [Iden is just to the North of Rye, on the B2O82, and it’s gardens are something to behold.] You will be able to discover places to eat, model trains, art and plants for sale, ponds, and places to sit and ponder.

A SERVICE OF HOLY COMMUNION: There will be a service of Holy Communion this Sunday, in Iden Parish Church, at 9.30am.

HOME-MADE SOUP: I’m on an economy drive, so anything left lying around is made into soup, [my husband had better mind his ‘P’s and ‘ Q’s! [only joking dear!]

A bowl of soup and a hunk of bread, is so homely isn’t it? You can go any which way with it, raid the herb garden, use up half a can of baked beans, or that odd bit of frozen sweetcorn. You become an alchemist in your own kitchen, a little bit of this, and a little bit of that. It’s so nourishing, we can almost feel the vitamins getting comfortable in the contours of our alimentary tract. I have a ‘Soup Bible’, just for show on the cook- book shelf, but I rarely look at it, so it’s all pot luck, just a rounding up of bits and bobs. It’s almost like painting a picture, only with vegetables and the odd bit of chicken, something personal a ‘ soupy ’ kind of art form . ‘Master Chef’ has a lot to answer for I’ve become hugely experimental. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes it’s a little too wildly experimental, a little too much sage makes it ‘soapy’, a little too much spice knocks your socks off, a little too much garlic and you can’t sit next to anyone on the bus, so I have to ditch it, and slink off into the larder with a can opener, and open a tin of ‘Heinz’!

CONTACT ME: If anyone has anything to add to the Village voice please ring Gill Griffin {01797 280311}

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