13/07/2026
More than 70 people packed into the Saltwood Village Hall Open Day on Saturday. The highlight of the afternoon was a talk by local historian and author, Mike de la Mare, on the varied occupants of Saltwood House, once the rectory, over the last 700 years.
A fabulous photographic history of Saltwood and the surrounding area was on display, assembled by Iris Pearce from the Saltwood Village Society. The original deeds of the Village Hall and Saltwood almshouses were also laid out for inspection.
The Robert Thompson Charities produced an exhibition board to acknowledge and thank all the contributors to last year’s Village Hall Roof Appeal. Photographs traced the roof renovation project, and showed a small selection of the individual contributors to the appeal, all holding either the tile they had signed or their certificate, which verified their donation to the appeal.
In his welcome and introduction, Rory Love, one of the Robert Thompson Charities’ Trustees, thanked all the individual donors, who sponsored tiles with nearly 90 names in the 'Sign a tile' initiative, as well as the major grant donors. Grants towards the £70,000 roof renovation were made by:
Action with Communities in Rural England - ACRE, who managed the Platinum Jubilee Village Halls Fund, supported by Kent ACRE
on behalf of the Department for Environment, food, and rural affairs. (Defra)
Social Enterprise Kent
The Roger De Haan Charitable Trust
Kent County Council, through their Village & Community Hall Grant Scheme
The Bernard Sunley Foundation
