Tonbridge Christmas Festival

The countdown to Christmas officially started this evening when the Mayor of Tonbridge and Malling, Cllr Brian Luker, and panto stars appearing in Sleeping Beauty at the Assembly Hall Theatre, Tunbridge Wells turned the town's lights on and marked the beginning of the festive season.

Thousands waited around the Big Bridge for the Christmas Lights Switch-on

Panto Stars with kmfm's Benedict Smith

Mayor Brian Luker joins Panto Stars - fingers ready for the switch-on

Tonbridge is switched-on !!!

The Tree by the Big Bridge/Watergate

Mayor Brian Luker and Panto Cast

Fireworks over Tonbridge Castle

The Gift Box Tonbridge is not Amused - and - not closing!!!!!

The Gift Box - Tonbridge High Street

Recognising Tonbridge Recognised

Many of you recognised that the letter D was part of the word COURTYARD that is inscribed in gold on the wrought iron gates of the former Courtyard Restaurant in East Street.

Thankyou for all your comments on the Recognising Tonbridge posts I am pleased that it is so popular.

The Courtyard Gates

East Street Tonbridge

Recognising Tonbridge

Somewhere in central Tonbridge ... but where?

Point of Reference

Bench mark on the former Methodist Church in East Street

Bench marks were used during the period of 1912 to 1921 as a point of reference for a measurement by Ordnance Survey surveyors.  These chiseled horizontal marks that surveyors made in walls, or permanent stone structures, consisted of an arrow below a horizontal line into which an angle iron could be placed for a leveling rod. These marks were introduced to record the height above their standard reference point of sea level at Newlyn in Cornwall.  If the exact height of a Bench mark is known, it follows that the exact height of a neighbour can be established, by measuring the difference in height with the process of spirit levelling. This all happened before the GPS satellite system took over.

The photograph above is of a Bench mark on the corner of a wall on the former Methodist Church in East Street.  There are two more known in the town.  One is chiseled into the wall of 38 High Street (Lamberts Yard) and another can be found on the wall of 10 Bordyke.

Is anyone is aware of further Benchmarks in Tonbridge?

Tonbridge Panto With A Professional Touch

The Colette Redgrave Dancers with Colette in the centre

The Colette Redgrave Dancers will add an extra sparkle to this year's Tonbridge Lions Club panto Cinderella.  Their superb dance routines are set to bring the most magical fairytale of them all alive on stage at the Angel Centre this Christmas.

“ People in Tonbridge need look no further than their own town, to find professional fun, and value for money entertainment in this local pantomime! When times are hard, what better way is there, to get into the Christmas spirit”!!  said Colette Redgrave, the panto's choreographer.

Colette has considerable experience in the theatre world, having trained at the London Studio Centre; gaining prestigious awards, alongside notable stage and screen stars, such as Liz Hurley and Tamsin Outhwaite.

Her career has been mainly in professional theatre, and she has choreographed many productions across the South East.  Her most recent work was with the cast of Sweeney Todd at the EM Forster Theatre in Tonbridge, and she is now again enjoying working and rehearsing with local dancers in this years Pantomime at the Angel Centre.

The Collette Redgrave Dancers

The retelling of the classic fairytale includes songs and laughter, cheers and boos and maybe an occasional 'No, it isn't' and 'it's behind you'.

So get ready for a pantomine bursting at the seams with local talent.  This really is the show to go and see as, not only will you and your family have a ball but, ALL the proceeds from the pantomine go to local charities.


Produced by the CLIPS Theatre Company, performances of Cinderella, will be on Friday December 16 at 7.30pm and Saturday December 17 at 1pm and 6pm.  Don't miss out - book early to avoid disappointment.

Ticket prices are £10 for adults and £8 for children/concessions
A family ticket for four is £30
Available from the Angel Centre Box Office 01732 35996

Recognising Tonbridge Recognised

Two people recognised The Pavilion shopping logo at Angel Walk. 

Tonbridge Cemetery War Graves

Foreign Military Graves

On Remembrance Sunday I visited the war graves at Tonbridge Cemetery. The grass had been freshly mown, and a single poppy tribute had been placed at the foot of each memorial where British, German and Italian soldiers lay in rest side by side.  Each inscribed stone stood in silent and peaceful dignity in the sunshine. 

I first visited this quiet place with my German mother who made sure someone remembered these fallen soldiers each year.  She affectionally called them the 'Lonely Boys' as she was convinced nobody else would visit these young men who had been laid to rest so far from their home and families.

Heinrich Bischoff - German Grenadier- aged 27 years

Equally poignant is the row of twelve memorials to local men who are buried in graves on foreign soil.  Amongst them an inscription to 'Husband and Father', Alfred Edward Barnes of the Royal Artillery who died a POW, aged 34, buried in Kanchanaburi, Siam, and 'Dear Son', Peter Terry, pilot in the RAF interred at Bari, Italy.

Other burial places are Cassino Military Cemetery and Assisi Italy, Dreiborn and Dusseldorf in Germany, four service men lost at sea and two in France including Gerald Alfred Bathurst, a Tank Wireless Operator who was killed in action in Normandy, aged 22.

Every name represents a family torn apart, fatherless children, a mother's son, a wife's husband, or lover never to return home.

English Military Memorials for Servicemen buried abroad

Who Are These Tonbridge People?

It's a sunny day in Tonbridge and a group of people pose for a photograph in front of the Boer War Memorial on River Walk.  The date is probably around the 1920's or 1930's, but who are they?  I have been told they are a Tonbridge family who lived in the south of the town. Does anyone recognise the group as distant relatives or can someone shed any light on the people in the photograph?

Tonbridge Memorial Garden

Remembrance Sunday November 2011

  

Personal Poppy Tributes

A poppy in memory of A. Lucas who lost his life to The North Sea in 1917

A Single Rose - My Dad, Robert Bradley, Love from Ann xxxx

Those who did not return home to Tonbridge

A Simple 'Thankyou' from The Girlguides

Can You Identify the Wording on this Tonbridge Ghostsign

I noticed this ghostsign high on a building at the corner of Bank Street and The High Street. As far as I can make out it is advertising 'gentlemens hairdressing', but the rest of the wording is so faded it is impossible to read.

Advertisements, just like the one in Bank Street, were painted by hand directly onto the brickwork of buildings, and would have been a common sight in Tonbridge and other towns, cities and villages. Printed billboards quickly led to a downturn in their use, but many still survive, often faded, lingering on the walls like ghosts from a past time. The skillfully painted advertisements provide us with a window into a past showing the craftsmanship of the sign writers.  However, they are now disappearing, as they have done in Tonbridge, often due to weathering but also as a result of property development and demolition.  Their faded appearance has led them to be known as ghostsigns.

Without researching this part of Tonbridge, I know little about the history of the shops and services in Bank Street.  I do know there has always been a hairdresser in this area.  The sign is very close to Mr Books and perhaps he might have some information.  

Barden Road

There is another ghostsign in the town advertising Hovis.  This is painted on the side wall of The Honeymoon Restaurant in Barden Road.  Maybe there are others in the town?  If any are spotted, or known of,  let me know!

Recognising Tonbridge

Where in Tonbridge am I today?

Armistice Day in Tonbridge

At 11am a maroon was fired from the Castle and the people of Tonbridge, together with local dignitaries and representatives of the church, gathered at the war memorial to observe a two minute silence in commemoration of the ending of World War 1, on the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month 1918, and to remember all those who have died in wars since that day.

Armistice Ceremony at the War Memorial

The Castle Watergate

Local Dignitaries

Prayers and Remembrance

The Tonbridge War Memorial

IN PROUD MEMORY OF ALL TONBRIDGE MEN AND WOMEN WHO HAVE GIVEN THEIR LIVES IN SERVING OUR COMMUNITY DURING WAR AND PEACE (War Memorial Inscription)

 

Cinderella - A Truly Local Panto

  The Collis family from North Tonbridge.  Dad (Martin) plays Buttons and Mum (Lynne) plays Dandini.  Grandad Len plays the Baron and Aunt Cheryl is an Ugly Sister

Cinderella, one of the best-loved fairy tales of all time, bursting with boos, cheers, songs and laughter is coming to Tonbridge for Christmas.

The popular pantomine produced by Tonbridge Lions Club and performed by local drama group, The CLIPS Theatre Company, will take place at The Angel Centre on December 16 at 7.30pm, and December 17 at 1pm and 6pm.

This family orientated production will be full of the usual panto humour and many favourite songs.  This really is the show to go and see as, not only will you and your family have a ball, ALL the proceeds from the pantomine goes to local charities.

Ticket prices are £10 for adults and £8 for children/concessions
A family ticket for four is £30
Available from Angel Centre Box Office 01732 359966
Book early to avoid disappointment

Recognising Tonbridge Recognised

 Recognising the single grey column proved difficult and only one person was able to locate it. 

The marble column stands by the Little Bridge in the High Street

Recognising Tonbridge

A single grey marble column stands approximately ten feet tall on The High Street.  

Do you know where?

Lead is disappearing in Tonbridge

While walking along the riverside path I noticed that the lead flashings on the Pizza Express wall had been heavily vandalised. Kent has seen a recent spate of lead being stripped and stolen from buildings, and Tonbridge has not been spared. Only last month I heard that the lead flashings from the roof of the Castle Council Chambers were taken, and one of the town's schools was also a victim.  In September the lead flashings were taken from a hall roof in Lyons Crescent, and October also saw lead disappearing from the roof of an office building in East Street and a shop in the High Street.

Could the photo above show a bungled attempt at a spot of lead pilfering?

Poppy Appeal in Tonbridge

There was plenty of poppy appeal in Tonbridge this morning. 

Tonbridge School

Sainsburys Car Park

Mrs V Jackson in Angel Walk