Crockham Hill Jul/Aug 2025 Newsletter - Flipbook - Page 34
Despite Chartwell being within the ecclesiastical parish of Crockham Hill,
Churchill had little to do with either the village or the church. When Nesbitt
Tredennick arrived as the new incumbent at Holy Trinity in 1952, Winston
told him: 8I9d do anything for you, Vicar, except come to church!9 But he did
open the house and grounds in support of the parish - and that of
Westerham - and contributions to the annual church fete were often sent
from Lady Churchill and Mary Soames. Grace Hamblin, who became
personal secretary to both Winston and Clementine (and afterwards was
appointed the first Administrator at Chartwell for the National Trust), was
brought up on Froghole and educated in the village school.
Crockham Hill featured in a 1951 House of Commons debate about
parliamentary privilege. The so-called 8red vicar9 of Holy Trinity (Oliver
Fielding-Clarke) wrote a letter to the MP for Sevenoaks, which was passed
to the Bishop of Rochester. 8The circumstances are somewhat peculiar,9
announced Churchill. 8I dwell in the diocese of the Bishop of Rochester, I
am a parishioner of the Vicar of Crockham Hill, and I am a constituent of
the Hon. Member for Sevenoaks. Therefore, it makes for me what is called,
in racing parlance, a triple event!9
Puzzle for July and August
Complete the word ladders by changing only one letter each time.
All words used, must be in the dictionary.
Example:
Rich to poor
Winter to
Fairy to tales
Fish to hook
summer
Fish
dish
disk
dick
dock
hock
hook
Rich
Winter
Fairy
tales
poor
summer
Good luck and we would love to receive your entries.
Challenge: please invent your own word ladders and we will publish them
in our next edition.
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