Last night at our Annual General Meeting we were delighted to present our latest community superstar award to Mr Shafi, our local pharmacist. The first person to nominate him summed up his invaluable contribution to our village: “The Otford pharmacy stayed open all through Covid, and Mr Shafi was aways happy and available to give advice. This is now still the case as people sometimes find it difficult to get a quick appointment with their GP surgery. As a village we are very lucky to have a local chemist with a truly caring man.” He was presented with a certificate by our chairman, Rod Shelton, ‘in recognition of the considerate and unselfish work you do for our whole community’, and a lovely plant.

The well-attended AGM heard full reports on the year’s activities from the Chairman, Vice-Chairman Simon Featherstone and Treasurer Chris Sutton, as well as a look ahead to events planned for the rest of 2023. The evening concluded with a fascinating talk from Dr Chris Gardner, Head of Science and Partnerships at the South East Rivers Trust. He outlined the challenges facing the Darent River, one of only 250 chalk streams worldwide; and the encouraging long-term plans to protect it and restore biodiversity in the river catchment of the Darent Valley.