Southborough Society & Southborough Library

Heritage Open Day Family Creative Workshop

Saturday, 16th September.

Session 1: 10am – 11am

Session 2: 11am – 12pm

Max. 10 participants for each session and primary aged children must be accompanied by an adult.

Please note:  This workshop is dependent on the English weather!

Each print takes about 10 minutes of bright sunlight to expose. In the event of cloudy or wet weather, participants can come along learn about the process and how to create and develop the prints. You will then takeaway a small pack of pre-coated paper and some materials to create your own cyanotypes at home!

We’d love you to share with us your finished prints: Take a pic and email it to thesouthboroughsociety@gmail.com or DM us via social media. We’d love to see your wonderful work and share it with our followers!

You are invited to join us for our next in-person talk about the Society's digital archiving project, where you will be taken through some of the highlights from the different collections that will be available online. Following the talk, our Annual General Meeting will take place and refreshments will be served after.

Please join us for a guided walk around Southborough Common led by David Warwick, focussing on wildflower identification. Suitable for most ages capable of walking on and off footpaths across the Common for approx. 1-1.5 hrs. Due to the length of the walk and the terrain covered, this walk is unlikely to be unsuitable for younger children. There will be plenty of opportunities for refreshment stops and photography throughout the walk.

About David:

David has been a conservation volunteer for over 25 years, with a particular interest in fungi. Whilst living in South East London he led walks and surveys for the London Wildlife Trust and the London Natural History Society among others. He moved to Southborough in 2017 with his young family where he has enjoyed exploring the natural history of the Weald.

Event Information:

Date: Sunday, 21st May. 

Time: 2.00 pm

Meeting point: St. Peter's Church car park.

Book your place by emailing: thesouthboroughsociety@gmail.com

Booking opens on: Monday, 24th April

This is a member only event and there are limited places, so we are unfortunately unable to accomodate guests this time. 

High Brooms Heritage Walk: Made by the High Brooms Brick and Tile Company

St. Matthews Church, High Brooms Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN4 9BW

Discover how the community of High Brooms was formed and shaped by the arrival of the High Brooms Brick and Tile Company in the late nineteenth century with their handiwork on a variety of buildings: houses, shops, places of worship, schools

A heritage walk focussing on the development of High Brooms from the late nineteenth century to the present day.

This walk is the last of three Heritage Open Days events in High Brooms, with the first event taking visitors through the early centuries in Barnetts Wood and the second event providing an opportunity to learn about Georgian and Victorian milling in Powder Mill Lane. This walk, which will last around two hours or so, will lead you through the streets of the local community in the Victorian era and explores the development of the town which was so closely influenced by the arrival of the High Brooms Brick and Tile Company.

Our walk leader is local historian Fiona Woodfield, who will highlight some of the surviving evidence of the skill of the Victorian craftsmen and will recount stories of the company, its workers and those who have lived in the wider community of High Brooms since the late nineteenth century.

Our meeting point is outside St Matthew's Church, with the walk at 1430 repeated at 1630

Event Times

Sunday 18 September: 1430 & 1630

Booking Details

Pre-booking: Preferred
Booking Contact: Fiona Woodfield
Email: fionahgwoodfield@outlook.com

Access

The walk is completely on pavements but High Brooms is on a hill so using wheelchairs and pushchairs could be hard work

COVID-19 Considerations

This event will run in line with local & national government guidelines at the time of the festival.

Additional Information

Max 24 people per tour/session. Walk takes around two hours Contact for the day: Fiona Woodfield 07483 884871

Directions

Parking in High Brooms is sometimes not easy. Visitors might prefer to park on Powder Mill Lane, near the school opposite the end of Great Brooms Road

Organised by

Southborough Society

The Pennington Road area of Southborough is one of the town’s most historic neighbourhoods with the road documented back in 1476. Join a Southborough Society heritage walk to learn about medieval farms, schools and educational establishments, Great War VAD hospitals, mansions, a Georgian lodging house and several listed buildings. Our walk goes past houses of widely varying styles as well as retail, commercial, warehouse and industrial premises. Hear more about the lives of landowners, residents and working people of the neighbourhood over the past six centuries.

Everyone is warmly welcome to the Southborough Society Sunday afternoon heritage walk, but booking a place is required as spaces are limited.

Our walk commences at 2:30 pm on  Sunday 1 May, repeated on Sunday 8 May.

We meet up on Southborough Common next to Stuart Cottage (just north of the end of Pennington Road).

There  will be a refreshment stop. The walk is almost all on pavements and road surfaces, suitable for wheelchairs or pushchairs.  To book your place on the walk, email our guide Fiona, mentioning which date you will be coming, on fionahgwoodfield@outlook.com

Join Roger Evernden for a tour of this interesting church and an illustrated talk, followed by refreshments. Find out why Mrs Pugh decided to build her own church here, discover who the many memorials on the church walls commemorate and, if you are lucky, listen to a little music from the fine church organ.

All welcome.

Please join us for our next online talk 'Tudor Southborough & High Brooms', presented by Fiona Woodfield from 7pm, Thursday, 7th October.

The talk will last approximately 40-45 minutes, following the conclusion of the presentation and after a short five minute break, our Annual General Meeting will commence for members of the Society.

Join local historian, Fiona Woodfield as she shares her research into Tudor Southborough and High Brooms, looking at the town from three perspectives:  

· The Lords of the Manor or owners of the manor house (in particular five of the most important and influential men of their day, looking at their importance within wider Tudor society and any known involvement in the local community). 

· Buildings in Southborough - a dozen or so have a history dating back around five hundred years.

· A miscellany including local industry in both Southborough and High Brooms, the two ordinary families and two charitable benefactors.

The online talk is free to attend and available to non-members. To RSVP and Zoom invitation, please email us as thesouthboroughsociety@gmail.com

*VERY FEW PLACES LEFT FOR THE 2:30 PM WALK*

ADDITIONAL WALK AT 4:30 PM NOW AVAILABLE TO BOOK, PLEASE CONTACT FIONA ON THE DETAILS BELOW.

Lovely Southborough Common is now a tranquil green space, the centre of the town's conservation area surrounded by a variety of interesting historic buildings. But the Common was once home to numerous workplaces and businesses most now vanished or in buildings whose history might easily be overlooked.  

Until the early twentieth century Southborough Common had been a workplace for over a millennium for farmers and agricultural workers.

 Our walk begins next to the Hand and Sceptre then traces a wide variety of occupations, businesses and industries from Tudor times to the present day. These include: transport, shops, tanning, carpentry, education, agriculture, ironworking, court house and more. You will hear about a range of individuals who help shape the history of the town.

Our walk is linear, ending at Holden Pond, five minutes or so away from the car park next to St Peter's Church.

Fiona Woodfield, who will lead the walk, moved to Southborough Common almost forty years ago and has been fascinated by its history ever since.

This is a free event. By joining the Southborough Society (starting at £10 per year) you will be supporting us to continue organising events like these and many more. You can request a membership form here.

Duration: Approximately 1.5 hours

Access: Good access but part on grassy pathway which could be a little less easy for a wheelchair.

How to Find: Nearest car park is adjacent to St Peter's Church TN4 0RX, meeting place is the Hand & Sceptre, TN4 0RJ, assembling on the grass below the Sceptre (Meadows School side).

How to Book: Register your place from 1st September, please email fionahgwoodfield@outlook.com or telephone on 01892 544 429.

Maximum of 25 participants.

*VERY FEW PLACES LEFT FOR THE 2:30 PM WALK*

ADDITIONAL WALK AT 4:30 PM NOW AVAILABLE TO BOOK, PLEASE CONTACT FIONA ON THE DETAILS BELOW.

From small beginnings in the 1870’s High Brooms grew to be a thriving community. This Southborough Society guided walk highlights the history of many shops and small businesses which have now vanished. If you have ever wondered about the reason for some local street names or wanted to know more about Stewart Fish Shop (whose ghostly sign can be faintly made out at the junction of Stewart and High Brooms Road) do join us on this walk to find out more.

Hear the stories of the men and women who operated a wide variety of businesses over the past one hundred and fifty years or so, including the post office, pubs, shops, laundries, brick making, printing, cafes, nurseries, transport and haulage, even a private lending library. Some were successful enterprises which lasted many decades. Others were just fleeting. Discover more about the occupation of men and women in the Victorian censuses of the town. Hear about the ups and downs of businesses much valued by the local community because they provided day to day essentials for everyone and jobs for many. Find out too about less popular trades whose disappearance is probably not regretted! Discover the hidden history of present-day homes so altered that their varied past as the location of assorted thriving small businesses is virtually invisible.

The topic of vanished shops and businesses is part of the family history for our walk leader, Fiona Woodfield, who is married to a great grandson of High Brooms' first postmaster.

This is a free event. By joining the Southborough Society (starting at £10 per year) you will be supporting us to continue organising events like these and many more. You can request a membership form here.

Meeting place: Corner of Nursery Road and Colebrook Road, TN4 9BS.

Duration: Approximately 1.5 hours

How to Book: Register your place from 1st September, please email fionahgwoodfield@outlook.com or telephone on 01892 544 429.

Maximum of 25 participants.

Personal memories of Southborough’s lost Secondary Modern school from 1969 to 1974 by Gary James.

Gary was born in Tunbridge Wells in 1958 and grew up in Silverdale Road and the Montgomery Road estate off Powdermill Lane. He was schooled at St Lukes Infants’, High Brooms Boys and then Ridgewaye in Southborough before leaving for college in 1974.

He trained for theatre at the Royal Court in London’s Sloane Square in the late 1970s as a founder member of the Young People’s Theatre Scheme and has worked extensively in theatre, television and radio. He is probably best known by those of a certain age for co-presenting on the ground breaking TV music show 'The Tube' for Tyne Tees TV/Channel 4 in the early 1980s.

In 2019 his memoirs were published in a book called ’Spangles, Glam, Gaywaves & Tubes’ - a title which he freely admits rolls off the tongue like a brick. The first part of the book is about growing up in the 1960s and 70s in High Brooms and Southborough.

The Ridgewaye School, unlikely as it might sound, became the catalyst for his acting and creative career. His illustrated talk will outline the history of the now demolished seat of learning from a personal perspective rather than historical and acknowledges his fondness of what were, for him, halcyon days.

Free to members and non-members. For non-members, please email us at thesouthboroughsociety@gmail.com to request an invite to the Zoom presentation.

Looking forward to ‘seeing’ you all there!

Come and test your knowledge, have fun and help us in our fundraising! All members and their friends are invited to come along to our first big fund-raising event in our 50th Anniversary Year.

Guest quizmaster, table nibbles provided, raffle, desserts for sale. Teams of 6-8 or come along as an individual to join a team on the night. Bring your own drinks and glasses.

All money raised will go towards helping us achieve our ambitions of enhancing our contribution to community life and making our historical archive available to the public.

Christ Church Hall, Prospect Road
Doors open at 7.00pm for a 7.30 start.
£7 payable on the door.

Book your place, call Roger Evernden on…
Tel. 01892 536972
Email. rogerevernden.38@gmail.com

Local author Julian Wilson will present an illustrated talk of the rich political history of Tunbridge Wells; based on his recent publication ‘Revolutionary Tunbridge Wells: The Remarkable Role of Tunbridge Wells in the Development of Revolutionary Politics in Britain 1883-1919’.

An illustrated talk by Anne Cowardine on the women of Tunbridge Wells who fought for the right to vote. All welcome (you do not have to be a member to come along - although we’d love you to join!) and there will be refreshments provided.

Please note: There will also be an exhibition of the latest Southborough Hub plans, so if you missed the presentation at the Library you will be able to view the plans again.