Last week I had the honour of meeting Sue and Annie, the daughters of Col Frank Griggs, and showed them around the village, discovering the changes, and how much still remains the same.

They were able to supply me with this picture of Frank, a distinct improvement on a bad scan of a Sevenoaks Chronicle picture. The original will be framed and be hung in Potters Mede Main Hall alongside one of Frank Bangay.

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Frank Griggs was not just a Parish Council Chairman, he was a deal maker without parallel, a gifted engineer, but crucially he loved Borough Green and dedicated his life to our village.

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When the idea of a Village Hall was proposed he bought the various landowners together and created "The Deal". Using Parish Council and Malling RDC  funding, a huge public fund raising effort, and loans from the Ministry of Public Works and Dept of Education, he got the project underway. But then he Project Managed the whole build, and had hundreds of volunteers every weekend barrowing dirt, and stacking bricks. Many older residents still remember Frank encouraging them, and others remember fundraising efforts like "Wills of the Week", where the bequests in a national newspaper obit page were used as a lottery number machine. This old Parish Council notice gives some idea of the difficulties Frank, the Parish Council and the Village had putting the financial package together , with this Public Meeting seeking approval for an increase in the Parish Precept.

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In those days Village Halls were either brick or timber, but the unique design of our Hall, using an Atcost Concrete Agricultural frame, was pure Frank - If the exterior beams are kept regularly painted and waterproofed, the frame will last for centuries- the main frame and floor beams are all pre-tensioned concrete, and we had the chance to inspect some when we installed the lift - clean as the day they were installed.

Once in a generation someone of Frank's stature , charisma and drive comes to a Village and raises it above the ordinary. Frank worked closely with Frank Bangay on the development of the Recreation Ground and Pavilion - between them they netted Borough Green the accolade of "The DIY Village", originally from the National Playing Fields Assn, but widely reported in the National Press. 

And we maintain that DIY spirit today, with the Youth Club, the Skatepark, Potters Mede new Pavilion and Pitches, and the recent "re-homing" of our Scouts Group, our Village Gateways, High St flower planters, The War Memorial and flagpoles, and of course our new Play Area and Perimeter Path​