A Millenium sign for the village of Detling, Kent.

10 October 2001 New Village Landmark Unveiled Detling’s new eight-foot high carved stone village signs celebrating the community, will be unveiled at noon on Saturday by Maidstone mayor, Cllr Paulina Stockell. The millennium sign and seat, commissioned with £13,500 of lottery funding from South East Arts, was designed by gifted young West Mosely artist, Simon Buchanan, working with ideas from villagers and local schoolchildren. Through a series of hands-on workshops, he arrived at the final design of a central column of Portland stone, carved with symbols of Detling’s past and present nestling in the letters of the East Kent village’s name. RAF roundels serve as a reminder of the part the airforce played in local history. Farming traditions are immortalised by two apples, and a pilgrim’s shell commemorates Detling’s place as an historic refuge for travelers on the Pilgrims’ Way. Iron railings reflecting Detling’s Tudor gateway, and a badger and green woodpecker representing local wildlife, flank the central column. Pride of place is given to a magnificent carved cockerel, crowning the column in Church Lane as a reminder of a stray, rogue resident of St Martin’s churchyard, over which he now casts an eternally stony gaze. ‘Simon’s local workshops involving the whole community are the kind of grass roots projects South East Arts is delighted to be able to help’, said public art and architecture officer, Stephanie Fuller. The village now has a permanent public reminder of its very personal history and a magnificent landmark for the new millennium’. Diana Hall Press & PR South East Arts