Malling Mail 3
Heroes’ heritage at the Twitch Inn
THE Twitch Heritage Centre is situated in the basement of Douces Manor in St Leonard’s Street and is open to the public up to 20 times a year.
Entrance is free and the exhibition is managed by the Malling Society on behalf of West Malling Parish Council which has a 125-year lease on the centre.
Douces Manor was the headquarters for officers flying from RAF West Malling, now Kings Hill.
The cellar was used by many brave young fighter aces and became known as the Twitch Inn due to the nervous affliction that affected many pilots.
The noticeable twitch was caused by the extreme stress of forever looking over their shoulders to see if an enemy was on their tail.
In 1944, officers of 29 Squadron inscribed the top half of the door with aircraft parts with the words “Twitch Inn” and the ceilings are adorned with graffiti in the form of signatures in candle smoke by those serving at Douces Manor.
These signatures have been preserved as a result of the planning consent by Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council for the development of the Douces Manor site.
The current exhibition is in two parts. The first is a distillation of the Malling Society’s 2010 exhibition entitled “West Malling People and Places” which records people who have lived in West Malling – both historical figures and those within living memory. The places are buildings where they lived or earned their living.
The second part is a story of West Malling airfield from its life as an emergency landing site in the First World War, through to a commercial airfield in the 1930s, followed by a Royal Air Force base from 1939 and its many uses after 1961.
The Twitch will open at 11am to 4pm on the weekend of, September 10 and 11 (Heritage Open days), and Remembrance Sunday, November 13.
Visitors must approach The Twitch on foot but you can park in the main road on St Leonard’s Street. There is a small flight of steps with handrails into the cellar.
Those who were stationed at the manor included such famous names as Guy Gibson (of Dambuster fame), “Sailor” Moran, Stanford Tuck and Wing Commander “Cat’s Eyes” Cunningham.
The Malling Society acknowledges the financial help it has received from the Malling Action Partnership and Beechcroft Developments for setting up this project.
Bernard Tyson Have your say on transport problems
THERE will be a chance for residents to discuss their transport problems and needs at a conference being organised by local parishes and Malling Action Partnership.
The seminar, which is set to be held this autumn, will focus on transport issues in the Malling area and neighbouring parishes along the A20 corridor.
Traffic and transport are concerns for almost everyone, ranging from bus and train services, speeding traffic, speed cameras and traffic calming, traffic volumes and rat-running, parking (both in town and residential areas), through to GPS and lorries stuck firmly in narrow lanes.
Five years ago, the parishes of Offham, Mereworth, West Malling and Kings Hill formed a Joint Parish Councils Transport Consultative Group (JPCTCG).
Neighbouring parishes (East Malling and Larkfield, Leybourne, Ryarsh, Birling, and more recently Wateringbury and Borough Green) joined the group, which meets quarterly to address local transport issues.
The group has co-operated with the borough and county
councils, police and local transport representatives on a diverse range of issues which have included: input on improving A228 Malling bypass safety using the police approved Speedwatch system to monitor accident blackspots
highlighting the need for increased use of speed indicator devices such as warning lights
advising respective parish councils on developments that impact their local communities, eg Kent International Gateway (KIG) and Kent Rail and Freight Terminal (KRAFT)
supporting the study undertaken by the
J5Slips.org Group on improving east-west access to the M25 and M26 at junction 5 interchange
Now the group and MAP need your suggestions on what you would like to be discussed at the transport conference.
Please supply your ideas or express an interest in attending the event to Debbie Hough at
map@thebeatproject.org.uk
Keith Bullard
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