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Bearsted Remembers: An interview with Ron and Shirley King
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Bearsted Remembers: An interview with Ron and Shirley King
Location: Kent
(This interview features residents of Bearsted whose personal histories are linked to the remaining open land. Ron and Shirley King own the land and lakes adjacent to the eastern boundary of the BWT in Major’s woods and are members of the BWT.)
Strolling along the footpath on the eastern boundary of the BWT from Ashford Road to Holy Cross Church, one catches the occasional glimpse of a shimmering lake, flowering trees and a gem-like setting of bucolic beauty. Ron and Shirley King are largely responsible for this lovely scene. They have lived in Bearsted since 1972, when they purchased a small bungalow on the Ashford Road, next to Major’s wood, from the record-breaking England cricketer, Alfred Percy ‘Tich’ Freeman. Ron says that Tich was ‘a sort of Freddy Truman slow bowler’ who earned a place in the Guinness Book of Records. By the mid-1990s, Ron and Shirley were thinking of their retirement when the lake at Major’s wood came up for auction. Deciding in 1996 to purchase it, they boldly set about reclaiming the lake for their own enjoyment and as a retirement project for Ron. At the time, however, the lake had not been dredged for many years and was badly silted up, the trees and the fish needed attention and the neglected land was covered with debris from the 1987 hurricane.
According to local historians, Walter Fremlin, after moving to Mote Hall in 1894, built a dam on the Lilk brook, thus creating the lake for duck shooting. This land, which formed part of the Fremlin estates, was also the site of Fremlin’s pumping station at ‘Daddy Drake’s Well’ that supplied the village with piped water.* Village animals were allowed to drink from the lake and one can still see the avenue of trees planted to demarcate the track they used to reach the lake. Daddy Drake’s well continues to supply fresh spring water, but the pumping station has now disappeared.
At the time of the Kings’ purchase of five acres, the lake was a silted up swamp, filled with old, rotting trees. Before dredging, the depth of the water was no greater than two feet and it was teeming with thousands of crowded skimmer bream. With planning permission granted in 1998 to dredge the lake, the Kings contracted Ralph Stevens and his crew who proceeded to remove over 1,000 tons of silt that was subsequently tipped into pits 25-30 feet deep. JCBs were engaged to remove debris, brambles, barbed wire and other detritus. As the water gradually drained away, the Kings created two lakes out of one large one, with depths ranging from 3 – 14 feet.
The next task was to restore the landscape by planting 50-100 trees as well as 2,000 crocus bulbs donated by Dr. Vaux of the Yeoman Lane surgery. Today one can see wild cyclamen, daffodils and bluebells blooming around the lakes, as well as flowering trees, but unfortunately the squirrels ate all the crocus bulbs! To this day, Ron continues to cut the grass and maintain the trees as well as caring for the fish, in collaboration with the Environmental Agency. During the dredging operation, the skimmers were donated to the EA and moved to another lake in exchange for selected fish from overstocked lakes. The lakes now hold Common Carp, Roach, Crucian Carp, Rudd, Grass Carp, Mirror Carp and Stillwater Barbel. Although the Kings leased the site to Boxley Angling Club in 1998-99, it was apparent that by the year 2000 the maintenance costs were not sustainable, and they decided to form The Major’s Lakes Angling Syndicate (see links page)
When asked about the future, Ron’s response was that he would continue to run the fishing syndicate, but the most important fact for him is that it is being used and enjoyed by the members. Smiling somewhat ruefully, he remembered that at the time of the dredging, many villagers thought he was going to build houses. Fortunately for us and for future generations, he did not.
*Source: A History of Bearsted and Thurnham, rev.ed. 1988, p. 52.
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