"To preserve, protect and, if possible, improve the local environment"
As stated elsewhere, every committee member is willing to offer help and advice regarding local matters. We will do our best to help - if we do not know the answer, we generally know someone who does!
Here's some background on the "nameless faces" you see at the AGM...
Alan took up residence in Hever with his wife, Pat, in 1987 and lives at Lodgewood Cottages near the Hever Hotel and Golf Club.
He joined the HRA committee in 2004 and is a committee member of a number of local organisations including the Hever Rose & Horticultural Society, Hever Port Society and Sevenoaks District Sports Council.
Educated in Surrey and Kent, Alan spent the first ten years of his working life in the printing industry and then served as a police officer with the Metropolitan Police Service for thirty years, ending his career with the Flying Squad at New Scotland Yard in May 2006.
Alan now runs his own consultancy business, linked into his previous police career and his pastimes include travel, rugby (now a spectator), reading, land management and tasting port.
To email Alan, .
I'm Jan Ryan, Secretary to HRA.
I took the minutes of the very first, inaugural Meeting (largely I suspect because I foolishly admitted that I could write !) way back in January 1990. As nobody dared to tell me to go away, I have taken the minutes of every Committee Meeting and Annual General Meeting ever since.
One of my proudest moments was seeing the Association's name in print, as an advisor to a House of Lords Select Committee which was directly instrumental in getting a law changed. Never again will Villages such as ours be plagued with a rash of Distinctly non-agricultural new built 'barns' which do not need planning consent. I wonder what their Lordships thought H.R.A. really meant!
To email Jan, .
Adrian and his wife Zoya (yes she is foreign - Russian) moved into Hever in the Summer of 1997 and since then have added a daughter Katya and son Alec to the family. Greeted on their first day by past Chairman Christopher Dane, Adrian and family have remained connected to the HRA ever since.
Educated at Tonbridge and later at Durham University, Adrian grew up in Rotherfield and after Uni spent the next 19 years in London. Marriage and impending insanity led to a break for the country from where Adrian commutes to London where he runs a business that designs and implements solutions that help organisations move from paper based, to electronic business systems.
To email Adrian, .
John Scott arrived in Hever August 1983, accompanied by 200 or so dairy cattle. He had relocated his family and farming business from the Wirral in Cheshire to Polebrook Farm in Hever.
After the Great storm in 1987, he gradually diversified into a sawmilling business which, given the current state of farming ,was a wise move!
He has enjoyed being a part of the community and in his spare time he rings bells with the Hever tower team. He has been a member of the H.R.A. almost since it's inception and is a Councillor on the Hever Parish Council.
To email John, .
Easily the oldest Member, Gerry actually hails from Halifax,Yorkshire' but educated at Liverpool University (yes, it's true he had 'digs' in Penny Lane, and his Landlady's evening paper was delivered by Paul McCartney!).
Now living above his station (in this case Hever Station), he has spent his working life in IT, from it's birth in the late 1950's. He was IBM (UK)'s 100th employee, and continued with Philips, Polygram, and his own Company, GRIT until about two years ago when he 'retired'. He now finds he has much less leisure, as his time is occupied by being:-
He was dragged onto the Hever Residents Committee by Jan, his wife, many years ago, and organises the Fireworks Display, together with his son Ben and Andy B.
To email Gerry, .
Katherine moved to Hever approximately 12 years ago and lives in Pigdown Lane, which in itself is a fun and friendly "community within a community" and known for its occasional "house to house" New Years Eve and Summer street parties!
Katherine has lived in the Sevenoaks area all her life, having been educated at Walthamstow Hall School in Sevenoaks, and after a short spell working and living in London, decided she was better suited to country life and returned to Sevenoaks. She has been involved in the "property" business for her entire career, firstly in the auction department at Allsop and Co, followed by 12 years running an office for a major Corporate Property/Insurance Company, and latterly managing the Hildenborough office of James Millard Independent Estate Agents which specialises in the sale of country houses.
Katherine got "roped-in" to Hever Residents Association in early 2004, where she serves as the representative for Pigdown Lane.
To email Katherine, .
Andy was dragged "kicking and screaming" onto the committee in January 2004, and is almost a "lifer" in the village. Born and bred in Uckfield Lane (the Markbeech end), other than a short "break" in the 1980's when marriage (to Gloria) and property prices forced a move to the far-flung reaches of Tunbridge Wells for a while, he has lived here all his life.
Educated at Hever and Skinners schools, Andy is a self confessed geek, he currently works as a Senior Network and Systems Support Engineer for Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council.
His hobbies include Technical Theatre (Semi-Pro), "tinkering" with computers, building web sites (yes, this is one of his) electronics, photography, DIY and gardening. He is a mine of useless information and a great believer in "engineers derive it from first principles".
After many years being "institutionalised" working for various government bodies he's finally plucked up enough courage to think about working for himself.
He's also one of the "qualified nutters" responsible for the November Fireworks Bash...
To email Andy, .
Jeanette moved to Hever in October 2000 and lives here with her Scottish husband David and West Highland terrier Fred, and Cairn Rosie. Born in Munich, Germany, she came to England in 1976 in order to improve her English language - and never left.
Jeanette studied law at the London School of Economics in London and subsequently qualified as a Solicitor. After some 18 years of living and working in the City, she decided to move to Somerset. It was in her village in Somerset that, during a dispute between local residents and a housing developer, Jeanette became actively involved in village community issues by researching and advising residents as to their legal position. Through her personal contacts with music event organisers and motivated by her Salsa class, she was subsequently instrumental in setting up a monthly live music and food venue at the local Village Hall, which, together with strong local interest and hands-on support, remains to this day a hugely popular, lively and respected community venue with charity status, drawing large numbers of villagers and those from surrounding areas to each event.
Believing strongly that a Village Hall ought to be the active centre of a village community, Jeanette's main interest lies in the development of a wider and more varied use of Hever Village Hall as a local community focus. She hopes that some of her previous experience will help make that happen.
To email Jeanette, .
Ellie and Peter came to Hever in 1983. Educated at St Paul's Girls' School, Ellie went on to train as a children's nurse at Great Ormond Street in the halcyon days of "proper" matrons. Having qualified as a general nurse in Guildford she studied pain control and termin care at St. Christopher's Hospice under Dame Cecily Saunders.
Since moving to Hever, Ellie as worked at Edenbridge Hospital and been Chairman of The League of Friends. She has been a committed member of the congregation of St. Peter's Church, and was a Churchwarden for eight years.
She and Peter have a busy boarding kennels in Hertfordshire so, when not commuting via the M25, Ellie's hobbies are gardening, tree planting, dog walking and avoiding anything remotely connected with IT!
Editors Note: Ellie has now confessed that she owns a mobile phone!