February 21st, 2010 by Susan Carey
100 Years of Girl Guiding
Wags may be used to denote ‘Wives and Girlfriends’ but add a couple more Gs and you get WAGGGS which stands for ‘World Association of Girl Guides & Girl Scouts’ and the girls and women are here in their own right and not as hangers on to the men.
Lord Baden Powell started the scouting movement for boys but there was such a demand for a similar organisation for girls that the Girl Guides was founded shortly afterwards and his wife, Lady Baden Powell took a leading role in the new movement.
A colourful welcome
The Girl Guides have now been going strong for 100 years. Lord and Lady BP, as they are affectionately known, shared a birthday on 22 February so the Girl Guides mark this date (or the nearest weekend to it) with a ‘Thinking Day’. And today, Sunday 21st February 2010, there’s a Centenary Thinking Day Service for the Folkestone Division Guides at Holy Trinity Church in Folkestone.
Over 200 Guides, Brownies and Rainbows have gathered to prepare for this service which has the theme of ending extreme poverty and hunger. Among other activities, they make paper chains with their hopes for a better world written inside and the church is completley encircled in these to show our links with the rest of the world.
Leading by example
Before the service starts there is some ‘warm up’ singing with gestures conducted by two energetic leaders.
Awards are made, including one to Diane Thompson for 20 years service. Then the banners and flags are brought in procession into the church and during the service the girls renew their promises.
Some of the banners
There are goody bags for all the girls to take home including a piece of the lovely birthday cake which has been made in eight separate sections and is now cut into 400 slices. I can confirm that the cake tastes as good as it looks. Here’s to the next 100 years of Thinking Days.
Let them eat cake!
Tags: Folkestone, Girl Guides
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February 21st, 2010 by Susan Carey
Lucy and Janet Andrews, Mayoress and Mayor of Folkestone
14 February was the official start of the Chinese New Year, the Year of the Tiger. It was also of course Valentine’s Day so it’s not surprising that Janet Andrews, town mayor of Folkestone has waited till 15 February to celebrate the Chinese New Year.
Tonight’s event is at Kalala in Folkestone and starts with drinks in the vaults. The Kalala building was once a bank and even with the doors removed it’s obvious where the vaults once were. It feels a bit like being on the set of a heist movie.
There’s a big turnout of local organisations, the Folkestone Carnival Queen and her princesses as well as visiting mayors. There are no long speeches, just a raffle and a thank you from Janet to all who have supported the dinner and helped raise money for charity.
Cllr Susan Carey, chairman of Shepway District Council (in Chinese jacket and pigtails) with Cllr Reg Belcourt
Tags: Folkestone
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February 9th, 2010 by Susan Carey
Laura Pinkham, Cllr Susan Carey, chairman of Shepway District Council and Chris McCreedy open the Zig Zag path
Tuesday 09 February and I am in Folkestone to mark the completion of the works to our wonderful Coastal Park in Folkestone.
It was a landslip in 1784 which first created a new strip of land between the beach and the cliff at Folkestone. The new land was originally used for grazing cattle but by Victorian times it was used for recreation.
The Zig Zag path dates from 1921 and was designed to make it easy for people in bath chairs to move between the Leas which are the formal gardens on the top of the cliff and the coast.
The Zig Zag Path
The area had fallen into neglect when Shepway District Council put forward plans to create a Coastal Park running from Folkestone to Sandgate. Funding was secured from SEEDA, the European Union, KCC and the Heritage Lottery Fund. The first phase of the Coastal Park was opened in May 2000.
Today’s event marks the completion of that project with the replacement of the horrible old railings made of drainage pipe by stainless steel railings specially forged in a foundry in Ashford. The new railings twist and swirl in an Art Nouveau style. They look very stylish and Coastal Park Manager Laura Pinkham assures me they are very practical as well.
One of the new railings
Together with Laura and with Chris McCreedy, Shepway’s Grounds Manager, I cut a symbolic ribbon to officially reopen the Zig Zag path.
Whilst this is the last part of the hard works the work of planting and caring for the Coastal park continues. Laura introduces me to her team of gardeners who are preparing the beds along the Zig Zag for a new planting scheme including ferns, bulbs, shrubs and annuals and as we walk up the path I notice a cyclamen in bloom in defiance of the subzero temperatures.
The Gardening Team
If you haven’t already been to the Coastal Park then please do. It’s well worth a visit. If you haven’t been recently, come again and see how well it’s matured.
Tags: Coastal Park, Folkestone, Shepway, Zig Zag path
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January 25th, 2010 by Susan Carey
A Christmas Feast
Yes – you did read that right. It’s Merry Christmas at The Grand complete with crackers a splendid high tea, silver candelabras, an open fire and a pianist playing Christmas music. Because, although today is 22 January, it is also the day of the Christmas party for a special group of people.
Patsy Phillips of Lyminge has invited me to join her and her group of Child Witness volunteers. They are adults who provide support for children called as witnesses in court cases. Patsy tells me that Kent is one of only six areas in the country that has specialist support for child witnesses.
Patsy is rightly proud of the fact that every child that Child Witness Support has worked with has turned up in court to give evidence. She tells me that magistrates and judges in Kent are tremendously supportive of their work and will often meet with the children before the trial so that they are familiar with the faces they will see. They will also remove wigs and gowns if that will help put a child at ease. However, Patsy says in her experience the children want to see justice done in its full state so they prefer the judge to wear the full gear when presiding and especially when pronouncing sentence – it seems to give more importance and meaning to the process.
There are 12 volunteers to cover Kent and all of them find the work tremendously satisfying. It’s unpaid work although they do get expenses. (Patsy says she has to chase them make their claims.) They get together once a year and today’s event at the Grand is a small thank you to everyone for their valuable work.
Robert Richardson our host from The Grand
The manager of The Grand, Robert Richardson, has put together the splendid Christmas feast and has adopted Victim Support and the Child Witness volunteers as his charity for the year.
The Grand lives up to its name – it’s an imposing building from the Edwardian era sited on the cliff top in Folkestone. It was a favourite bolt hole for both Edward VII and Edward VIII and home to the Belgian Royal family during the Great War. The views over the sea and the lovely formal gardens of the Leas are magnificent.
I’ve been invited to join the party to meet everyone and thank them on behalf of our district for their work. And today I’m accompanied by David Owen the vice chairman. Protocol does not allow David to wear the vice chairman’s chain when he is with the chairman. This is a shame as his chain is the one used by Elham Rural Council before it was incorporated into Shepway. It is a lovely silver chain engraved with rural scenes such as ploughing. He does however have a badge of office and we flank Patsy in our civic regalia for a photo.
Vice Chairman of Shepway District Council, Cllr David Owen, Patsy Phillips of Child Witness Support and Chairman of Shepway District Council, Councillor Susan Carey
Thank you everyone for a Grand Christmas!
Tags: Child Witness Support, Folkestone, The Grand
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January 22nd, 2010 by Susan Carey
Our first full council meeting of 2010 is on Wednesday 19 January. The main business of the evening is the acceptance of a report on the project to share administration (’back office’) costs for our landlord services and members of the Shepway Tenants’ and Leaseholders’ Board are in the public gallery to listen to the debate. The council agrees overwhelmingly to take this project forward.
Questions are put by councillors about Dungeness Power Station, the Leas Lift and the prospects for sharing administration costs with other East Kent councils. We also have a report from the Leader of the Council and we accept the Medium Term Capital Programme.
We have three formal debates. One put forward by the Liberal Democrats on green eco tourism for the Romney Marsh and, from the Conservative Group, one motion about bus services and one about the response by Kent County Council to the recent heavy snow. There are some differences between councillors but tonight’s debates are characterised more by the areas of agreement than difference.
Our next meeting is on 18 February to set the budget and the level of council tax.
Tags: Shepway
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January 22nd, 2010 by Susan Carey
Wye Church
Tonight, Thursday 14 January 2010, I am at Wye church for the licensing of Ravi Holy as the new Priest-in-charge of the United Benefice of Wye with Brook, Eastwell and Boughton Aluph, Hinxhill, Hastingleigh, Petham,Waltham and Elmsted. Ravi has come from a parish in London and a coachload of former parishioners from Battersea have turned up to wish him and his family well in their new parish.
Ravi is taking on a large rural area which takes in parts of Ashford, Canterbury and the village of Elmsted in Shepway. And it is because of Elmsted that I have been invited to make one of the formal welcomes to Ravi.
The service at Wye church
This is my first visit to Wye church but I see a familiar face in Mark Deller. Wye is Mark’s home church and he is leader of the Ashford Choral Society which recently sang so well for the Light the Lanes event in Peene (see post on 12 December). As might be expected, the music is excellent and the congregation joins in enthusiastically.
Ravi is welcomed by people representing different parts of the church and secular communities and the Archdeacon of Canterbury, the Venerable Sheila Watson ‘installs’ the new priest by placing him in his seat (stall).
The service sheet suggest that at the end of the church ‘Applause may be appropriate’ and it certainly is.
After the service everyone is invited to a party at nearby Wye College where Ravi makes a short speech and Battersea people tell us how much they will miss him and how lucky we are to have him.
Cllr Susan Carey, chairman of Shepway District Council with Ravi Holy
Elmsted is a truly rural part of Shepway with small, winding country roads. It is one of the most beautiful parts of Kent. It also has a real sense of community and I am really pleased that Ravi will now be caring for it ecclesiastically just as Jenny Hollingsbee and David Monk care for it at Shepway as the local district councillors.
Tags: Elmsted, Ravi Holy, Wye church
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December 24th, 2009 by Susan Carey
Yule Horse
This is a picture of my Christmas card designed by Charles Newington the artist who created the White Horse image on the hill above the Channel Tunnel terminal in Folkestone. Charles also designed the Shepway logo based on the White Horse and he has added another horse to his stable in this, the first Yule Horse.
The Chairman of Shepway District Council,
Councillor Susan Carey,
and her husband, John Hall,
wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Tags: Charles Newington, Shepway District Council, White Horse, Yule Horse
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December 24th, 2009 by Susan Carey
St Leonard's church, Hythe
My last event before Christmas is the Hythe Civic Carol Concert at St Leonard’s church. The weather has been atrocious and the concert I was to have attended the previous evening at Sandgate was cancelled. When I arrive the row reserved for the visiting ‘chain gang’ is empty although the mayor of Swale does arrive later. (This is a great relief to me as he rang me before setting out for advice on the roads and for directions.)
I live barely five minutes walk from St Leonard’s so there is no way I would miss tonight’s event. District Council colleagues, Cllr William Richardson and Cllr Russel Tillson have also made it from the Marsh and there are many Hythe town councillors who are also District Councillors present – Cllrs Ewart-James, Owen and Lyons.
Cllr Susan Carey, chairman of Shepway Dostrict Council, Cllr Keren Belcourt, Mayor Of Hythe and Tony Windross, Vicar of Hythe
The carol service is the traditional nine lessons and carols led by Dr Berkeley Hill with the local vicar Tony Windross overseeing everything. Afterwards there is a delicious buffet prepared by the Mayor of Hythe Kerne Belcourt and her husband Reg. Keren and Reg are well known for their good food and seemingly effortless catering for large numbers but it’s clear that a great deal of work has gone into entertaining us.
It’s a lovely way to complete my civic duties for 2009 which start again in January 2010.
Tags: Hythe, St Leonard's
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December 24th, 2009 by Susan Carey
Thursday 17 December is the night of the Annual Presentation of Awards and Trophies to the cadets of 99 (Folkestone) Squadron Air Training Corps.
Cllr Susan Carey, Chairman of Shepway District Council, presenting awards
I’ve seen members of the squadron’s band at many of the events I’ve attended this year including the Step Short march on 04 October (there’s a post for this event) but this is my first visit to their HQ in Ship Street, Folkestone. I am there as guest of honour to hand out all the certificates, badges and trophies that the cadets have won. And there are plenty.
The trophy for Smartest Cadet
The Best Overall Cadet award is in the shape of a propeller and is nearly as tall as the cadet who wins it but my favourite award is the one for Smartest Cadet which is the shape and weight of an iron.
The evening starts with several of the new cadets making their pledges among which is one to be a ‘good citizen’. The drill display has had to be called off because of the bitter cold and the display by the band which rounds off the evening is brought indoors. As the squadron has reached its 70th anniversary the band plays an air themed piece from every decade since the 1940s.
The band
I am really impressed by the achievements of these young people and pleased to learn that the number of cadets is growing. The cadets appear to love every moment of their activities, including 100 mile walks in the Netherlands, gliding, music and sports. Shepway District Council has awarded the squadron a grant towards the cost of instruments and I can see it will be put to good use.
Tags: 99 (Folkestone) Squadron Air Training Corps, Folkestone
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