The Sentinel

Sentinel

Local Matters

Newington

a dce2.0 company

May 2021

This magazine is compiled and edited by David Cowell who is totally responsible for content.

If you do not wish to receive these magazines please email UNSUBSCRIBE to him at david@thesentinel.org.uk

Boating on the Royal Military Canal in Hythe has returned.

It is subject to Government rules and weather conditions.

F O L C A Folca is the old name for Folkestone We celebrate all activities in the Folkestone and Hythe district also known as Shepway See our comprehensive Directory and Blog pages

folca.co.uk 2

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Report from your District Councillor for Newington This month our first thoughts have been with the Queen following the sad loss of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, a remarkable man who has left a deep and lasting impression on our History.

Covid 19 As we cautiously come out of Lockdown do have your vaccines as soon as you qualify as this is the quickest route to removing restrictions. My wife and have had our second Pfizer jabs and no side effects

Housing Services This month I am pleased to share some good news under my housing portfolio: Ship Street Folkestone The former gas works site at Ship Street has been purchased by Folkestone & Hythe District Council as part of the strategic regeneration of Folkestone and the wider district.

The plan for the site includes more than 100 new mixed tenure homes, including affordable properties to help meet the needs of local people.

There is also scope for small-scale commercial space and highquality public areas. Working in partnership with Creative Folkestone the scheme will be developed with an input from the creative sector with a strong focus on design, sustainability and art in public spaces.

Support for Rough Sleepers The push to find long-term homes for those at risk of sleeping rough in the Folkestone & Hythe district is continuing with nine new accommodation units about to open.

The privately rented accommodation in central Folkestone will have 4

an on-site manager and also a support network to help the people living there to move to a more settled way of life The homes are being provided following collaboration between the Folkestone & Hythe District Council housing team, Kent’s homeless charity Porchlight and the Rainbow Centre, which is the Folkestone charity helping those facing deprivation

New properties for Shared Ownership During March we completed the purchase of two semi detached homes in Hawkinge which will be offered under a shared ownership scheme.

Waste Services All residents will shortly receive information about changes to collection service timings.

Elections The County Council election has been postponed due to the death of a candidate. A date for the election has been set for Thursday 17 June. Elections for the Police and Crime Commissioner and town/ Parish Councils will go ahead on 6th May. David Godfrey Cabinet Member for Housing, Transport and Special Projects

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Report from your County Councillor for Newington I am sure you will be as pleased as me to learn that the rate of positive tests for Covid 19 in our district are now the lowest in Kent and were singled out in the report made by KCC’s Director of Public Health in his report to KCC cabinet members on 12 April. Half a million tests have now been done across Kent for those without symptoms. He also said that the testing centres set up by KCC for what was supposed to be just 6 weeks (but which are now in their 18th week) will start to be scaled back as community pharmacies increasingly take on the role of offering tests. Kent residents can also access lateral flow tests online here: Find where to get rapid lateral flow tests - NHS (test-andtrace.nhs.uk) Other good news is that KCC has been awarded £23m in Government grants from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme. This takes us a considerable way forward on our commitment to make our services and buildings Net Zero by 2030.

The grants will fund two solar parks, more solar panels and LED lighting, heat pumps and part fund a district heat network project in Maidstone. The projects will reduce KCC’s energy bills and provide an income stream as well as reducing carbon emissions.

KCC continues to use a specialist contractor to enforce our new powers to deal with illegally parked HGVs. The latest available figures for the number of vehicles clamped across East Kent are 2,457 vehicles clamped as of 18 April. The Breakdown by District is Ashford 31%, Dover 25%, Maidstone 15%, Folkestone & Hythe 17%, Canterbury 8%, Thanet 4% and Swale less than 1%.

Freight traffic levels are back to their normal seasonal level which is around 6,000 HGVs each way which means those clamped so far are a good indication of the scale of this nuisance. KCC is pressing 8

for the clamping powers to be extended to cover all of Kent and to last beyond the six month trial period.

You may be surprised to see a report from me in the May newsletter as I normally stop during the election campaign. The reason I can resume is because the election has been cancelled. To be more precise it’s been ‘countermanded’.

One of the candidates for the Elham Valley County Council division has died after nominations closed and before postal votes were sent out, the election for this one seat has therefore been cancelled in accordance with electoral law and will now take place within 35 working days of 06 May. IMPORTANT The election for the Police & Crime Commissioner will still go ahead on 06 May. The election for the Elham Valley Division for County Council has now been set for Thursday 17 June. I have asked KCC’s Democratic Services team to put in place a temporary contact email to pick up the normal queries and problems I would deal with as your local member as I will cease to be your County Councillor from 10 May and there will be no one in place till after the new election.

I will be happy to continue to help as much as I still can. Residents are welcome to contact me at susan.carey@kent.gov.uk until 10 May and after that date you can contact members.desk@kent.gov.uk and, if you wish, copy me in on susancarey@rdwd.co.uk The candidate who died so suddenly was Christopher Deane and he was also standing for the town council vacancy in Hythe. This election too will be cancelled and the whole process will start again Susan Carey Member for Elham Valley Kent County Council 9

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All now available in paperback and on Kindle Set in Folkestone in the heady days of the late 60s.

They say if you can remember it, you weren't there!

Two plays. One an imaginary meeting between Dylan Thomas and Brendan Behan in a Fitzrovia pub. The other is Caitlin Thomas reminiscing after the untimely death of her husband.

This is the tale of Hana, a young girl who moves from where she was born in London, to the Kent coast. They discover a wonderful area called Prince's Parade which is full of amazing animals, has a beautiful canal and is right next to the sea too! By buying this book you will be helping to protect it. All profits from it will be donated to the Save Prince's Parade campaign which aims to halt plans to develop the area into a housing estate.

Very funny, and surreal story about a man and a woman on their first date: Bolton Brady and Veda, set in London, November 2001. Bolton is forty, not into assets, has never lived with a woman and looked into the future and seen loneliness. So he decides to do something about it. He advertises in a lonely-hearts column, and receives six replies, but after experiencing one disaster after another only Veda remains between him and his sanity. As the day unfolds the line between reality and fantasy becomes blurred, building to a surreal, yet poignant, conclusion.

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This walk through the history of Sandgate to the present day was first performed at the Chichester Hall a decade ago on Wednesday, 9th June. It is now available on Kindle or in paperback.

Now available on Amazon. Great evocative yarns of worldly travels.

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SANDGATE FARMERS MARKET

REAL F D. REAL CL SE.

Shop Local. www.sandgatebusiness.org.uk

Friends of St Nicholas Church Newington Restoring and maintaining this historic building and its grounds

Charity number: 1122652

N E P S U S

D E D

The editor of The Sentinel is also responsible for sending Hythe, Newington and Sandgate related event information to the Folkestone Herald. If you have an event you wish to publicise it is needed by Tuesday at 17:00. The information should appear in the edition two weeks later although it is not guaranteed.

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ill as w t g ke lon nt r a a M r as o w e o h h t t d e f s w e. a th tsi der rad d e ou tra ill t p g ho nin ith n st s w i It run le, d ca ep ssib an e k po

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To advertise in all three of The Sentinels with circa 3000 targetted readers and growing please email me at: david@thesentinel.org.uk for a rate card.

Thank you.

We are a small family run business, trading for over 30 years in the heart of Hythe High Street at number 51 (CT21 5AD) and we pride ourselves on customer service and of a range of products with high quality produce. We cater for all needs, whether it's a small treat for your pet, tapioca to make your favourite nostalgic pudding, or some of our delicious, local, free range eggs, perfect for cooking, baking and breakfasting!

At U-Weigh we have more than 400 items in store, ranging from cupboard essentials to sweet treats and snacks. We have a large selection of herbs, spices and seasonings to take your meal plans to every corner of the world, and to cater for the home bakers and amateur chefs, some cupboard staples; flours, sugars, cake mixes, pastas and rices. As dried food specialists, we all have a wide knowledge and will not hesitate to help with any queries or questions you may have.

Take a look at our many products, write your list and pop into the shop. We're also doing our bit for the planet by introducing paper bags, and don't forget, if you are trying to be more green, you can bring your own tubs, jars and containers to fill up. www.u-weigh.co.uk

www.facebook.com/uweigh/ From the cutting-edge London design agency Here Design - writer and poet Philip Cowell, and award-winning designer Caz Hildebrand, author of The Herbarium, this playful, original, beautifully designed book brings to life the punctuation marks we use every day, including: The dashing dash So-called "quotation marks" The colon: and on and on.

The shouty exclamation!

Kindle edition The three dots of... £9.99 (Not forgetting the brackets) Hardback And even more 15

£14.99 Great gift

Support

Light lunches available local in church after lunchtime concerts

Great gift only £11.00 including P&P (UK mainland) www.the-find-online.com 16

If you have any photographs of the area either current or past do send them to me by email and I will feature them in future editions.

If you just have prints do drop them into Clyme House and I will scan.

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Support

Light lunches available local in church after lunchtime concerts

WOW Design-led gifts and interiors 76 High Street Hythe Kent CT21 5AL

01303 265340 www.facebook.com/wowhythe

Closed but please look out for information.

Please keep safe 18

In the Church this May 2021 May 9. 9.30am. Holy Communion May. 23. 9.30am. Holy Communion No service on the other Sundays.

Do look at the church notice board for further announcements.

Talking of which, we are trying to raise money to erect a new notice board with a door to protect the notices as the existing one is rotten and doorless.Since Covid-19 we have had to put the notices outside. If anyone feels able to make a contribution we would be very grateful. This can be done by using the QR code shown or handing the contribution to any Church member.

For any further Church information please call 01303 270604

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Support local

If you would like to submit an article or letter please ensure it is emailed to me by the 20th of each month.

I will print almost anything as long as it’s not libellous, racist or unkind.

Name must be supplied but can be withheld if requested.

Please put your articles etc in plain text or Word and images should be in .jpg, .tiff or .png.

My contact details are: Address: Clyme House, Hillside Street, Hythe, Kent CT21 5DJ Mobile: 07771 796 446 email: david@thesentinel.org.uk