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Sentinel

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Newington

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February 2022

This magazine is compiled and edited David Cowellplease who is email totally UNSUBSCRIBE responsible for content. If you do not wish to receive thesebynewsletters to him If you do not wish to receive at these magazines please email UNSUBSCRIBE to him at david@thesentinel.org.uk david@thesentinel.org.uk

WOW Design-led gifts and interiors 76 High Street Hythe Kent CT21 5AL 01303 265340 www.facebook.com/wowhythe

Folkestone and Hythe Cats Protection shop in Hythe is now open: Monday to Saturday 9am - 5pm. New measures in place to protect customers and volunteers. Stringent cleaning regime and quarantining system to further protect customers and volunteers and only 2 customers in the shop at any one time. Many bargains from £1. Contact shop on 01303 264285 and general enquiries on 0345 260 1253 2

THE SANDGATE SOCIETY ARCHIVE TEAM INVITE YOU TO THE

H. G. Wells Exhibition 2022 The Old Fire Station, Sandgate Opens Saturday 02 April and Sunday 03 April from 1030 to 1600 FREE ENTRANCE Refreshments available in the Reading Room (upstairs)

RECENTLY DISCOVERED CORRESPONDENCE ON DISPLAY FOR THE FIRST TIME RELATING TO SPADE HOUSE. VIEW LETTERS BY H. G. WELLS, ARCHITECT C. F. A. VOYSEY AND FOLKESTONE BUILDER WILLIAM DUNK. SEE ALSO DOCUMENTS FROM THE SANDGATE SOCIETY ARCHIVE FILES. H. G. WELLS COMMEMORATIVE ENVELOPE & STAMP GUIDED WALKS For booking information visit www.sandgatesociety.com THE SANDGATE SOCIETY The Old Fire Station, 51 High Street, Sandgate, Kent, CT20 3AH Email: sandgatesociety@gmail.com Registered Charity No. 280497

3 Coronavirus. Current Government guidelines may apply.

Report from your County Councillor for Newington Following a full day’s debate on 10 February, KCC agreed its £1.2billion budget for 2022/23. £484 million of this is for adult social care and health services and £270m for young people with the balance for around 300 other services such as roads, library services, Household Waste Recycling Centres etc. The cost of providing services has risen by £84 million and this is being met by savings of £38 million and a rise in council tax of 2.99% (1% of this is earmarked for social care). The increase equates to 82p per week for a typical band D household and takes effect from this April. (Your council tax bill will also have separate charges for your parish and district councils, Kent Police and Kent Fire & Rescue Service.) Whilst the debate focused on some of our discretionary services where we are having to make savings, it’s important to remember the core services that are still being provided including discretionary ones such as our Community Wardens and the subsidy for the Kent Travel Saver bus pass which would otherwise cost between £300 and £400 more a year. We’ve also been able to save money and reduce carbon emissions with several major projects that are reducing our energy use. If anyone is struggling to pay their council tax, then there are schemes to help those in financial difficulty and a good place to ask for advice is Kent Together. Go to www.kent.gov.uk/kenttogether or call 03000 41 92 92. KCC is once again running its SolarTogether scheme which uses group buying power to get a better price for both solar panels and battery storage. You can register your interest and get a no obligation quote at www.solartogether.co.uk If you’re interested in controlling your energy costs, saving the planet or a bit of both then it’s worth investigating. EV600 is another Environment scheme that KCC has co-ordinated across Kent and I'm pleased to say that Folkestone & Hythe District Council is taking part. Together with Connected Kerb and councils 4

across Kent, a network of 600 Electric Vehicle Charging points is being set up in council owned car parks. The ones in our district should be in operation by the time this newsletter appears. February saw National Apprentice Week which highlighted the benefits of both being an apprentice and taking on an apprentice. KCC provides advice to Kent employers from help in recruiting the right apprentice to getting professional development for existing staff. KCC may also be able to offer funding towards the costs of employing an apprentice from its own apprenticeship levy. To find out more see www.kent.gov.uk/business/grow-your-business/hirean-apprentice On 11 February the annual Tryangle Awards for our area were held at the Three Hills Sports Centre in Folkestone with young people being recognised for their achievements and effort across a range of activities including sports, arts, community service and bravery. It’s always good to be reminded just how many young people are doing so well and it would be great if you would all watch out for young people in our community who are trying their best and who could be nominated for the next awards. The categories are wide enough to cover most anything and it really encourages the young people to know that someone cares enough to nominate them. Susan Carey Member for Elham Valley Kent County Council

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. 6

All now available in paperback and on Kindle

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.

A Loose Cannon tales of a lapsed activist

Ted Parker

The title of the book hints at how, as a ‘loose cannon’, Folkestone born Ted’s risk-taking got him into trouble on a number of occasions whilst being a considerable advantage in his working life.

As a young journalist, Reg Turnill met most of the prewar political personalities and later became the BBC's space correspondent being the only one in the press room when the historic Houston we have a problem message came from Apollo 13. 7

All now available in paperback and on Kindle Westbrook House School Folkestone was a fee-paying preparatory school for boys aged 6 to 13 years. It was situated in three existing adjacent former late Victorian private houses in Shorncliffe Road with a 3-acre playing field to the rear which backed onto the main railway line. It was the life-time ambition of Kenneth N G Foster (1903-1984) (photo c.1958) who initially bought up the first house in 1946. Under his Headmastership the school started taking both day and boarding pupils in 1947. By the 1950’s the school was thriving requiring a sizable number of characterful teaching and domestic staff.

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 8

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 10

£14.99 Great gift

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. 11

Support your local Farmers' Markets in 2022

ill as w t g ke n t ar s lo an w M e for a ho h t at ide rs w e. h d t s e d out rad l tra e op ing ith t stil h n w n is It run le, d ca ep sib an ke pos

Support

Light lunches available local in church after lunchtime concerts

Great gift only £15.00 including P&P (UK mainland) https://thesentinel.blog/find/ 13

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.

In the Church this March 2022 March 6. 10.00am Benefice service March 13. 9.30am

Holy Communion

March 20. No service For any further Church information please call 01303 270604 Support local

Report from your District Councillor for Newington

Eunice When I began writing this report Eunice was battering my window trying to get in. Writing was interrupted by an ominous bang on my roof which turned out to be a Ridge tile sliding down the roof and lodging against solar thermal panels, no damage to the panels which stood up well to the storm. I hope that none of you suffered serious damage but local Roofers and Fencers will be busy for a while. Friday Refuse Collections had to be suspended due to the winds, I saw the Veolia crews struggling valiantly but it clearly became a matter of safety. Bins remaining uncollected should have been picked up on Saturday but if you were missed please report it on the FHDC website. https://www.folkestonehythe.gov.uk/missed-bins

District Council Budget 2022/23 The council will agree the proposed £18m spend on services for the new financial year at the full council meeting on 23 February 2022. The services include leisure facilities, maintaining parks and gardens, providing social housing, keeping streets clean, emptying bins (approximately 2.5m a year), and dealing with planning applications. The budget has been worked out on a proposed 1.99% increase in F&HDC's share of the council tax. I would remind residents that this is the District Council portion of the total Council tax bill which also includes Town and Parish, KCC, Kent Police and KFRC charges. 23

None of us likes these increases but they are necessary to maintain services and fund improvements. Various sources of help are available to those most vulnerable so do contact the Councill if you are struggling with your Council tax or Council house rents. Spring in the air ? On a brighter note it is good to see Daffodils, Snowdrops, Hellebores and Forsythia blooming in my garden and I shall soon start planting out my allotment. All of which gives me that feel good factor as Spring approaches. Cllr David Godfrey Cabinet Member for Housing and Special Projects

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