History of the Forum – The First Decade - 1996 to 2006 

The first meeting of the Eythorne & Elvington Forum was on 2 July 1996 called by George Dunn (Kent County Council Youth and Community Worker) with eighteen people coming together to take forward the issues and needs raised by the Planning for Real and Village Appraisal Project. 

From those original attendees Ann Howard, Cyril Rogers and Woozy Rogers remain active.  Some of the other attendees have retired, moved on to other work or no longer live in the Parish.  Then PC Cronin and Sgt Wright were stressing the need for a multi-agency approach to resolving the issues of the day.  This is still felt to be the way forward for the parish. 

Soon sub-groups for Youth and Education, Housing & Environment and Recreation & Amenities were formed and although some of the issues are still with us, such as dog fouling and parking outside of the school – there is now provision for the under fives and the pre-school group in the mobile unit was set up.  The motorcycle project still seems to be an idea that has not found its day but the floodlit youth space now known as the MUGA court is for many young people something which feels like it has always been with them. 

The project that re-designed the ‘new’ estate was on-going through out 1998 and Syed Haq now sadly dead, played an integral role working with local residents in an innovative refurbishment. 

The refuse lorry started in 1998 and is still very popular and that March, the Dover District Council was approached to add Adelaide Road to the stopping point. 

1998 was also the year that John Wright started the campaign for traffic calming.  John was elected as Chairperson in April 1999 and continued to make his special contribution until his untimely death in November 2000. 

March 2001 saw the election of Woozy Rogers as Chairman who continued in this role until March 2006 when he stood down for health reasons.  However he is still active in his role as Deputy Chairman. 

2005 and the Campaign for Improvements to Health Provision went public by taking a more pro-active approach to discussions with the East Kent Primary Care Trust. 

Arthur Vass joins the notable list of Forum Chairmen in 2006 and with the change of name to The Forum (Barfestone, Elvington & Eythorne) takes the Forum forward into the 21^st century and continues to give a voice to residents of all ages for their ideas, concerns and hopes for our community. 

All through this time, there have been many people who have made unique contributions to the work of the Forum and who have shown that working together to tackle issues that we all face can achieve results and improve our community.