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Sentinel

Local Matters

Newington

a dce2.0 company

February 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

Hythe Farmers Market

Takes place on the second and fourth Saturdays of the month from 10am to 1pm. In the Methodist Church Hall, Chapel Street, Hythe. Parking is available nearby. For more information call Eric Chauvel Market Manager 0781 7521312 eric@thefrenchdelicatessen.co.uk

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Guest writers welcome 2

Report from your District Councillor for Newington

Covid 19 The Council moved very quickly to open its newly acquired FOLCA building as a Mass Vaccination Centre which has provided a huge boost to the National vaccination programme. This together with the drive through vaccination facility at the Civic Centre, Oaklands in Hythe, Lydd Airport and New Romney Old school as well as some Chemists is rapidly providing protection to our Districts residents. Our staff and volunteers working with the Health services have been truly amazing and deserve a huge thank you from all of us. In addition, The Community Hubs at Three Hills Sports Park, Age UK Hythe & Lyminge and Romney Marsh Day Centre continue to provide excellent support and the Asymptomatic Testing facility at Hawkinge Community Centre has played an important role. Hopefully we will see life returning to a normal or “new normal” in the near future.

Waste Services The collection delays caused by the recent cold snap have almost all been caught up with and we continue to be one of the few Authorities to maintain normal services through the lockdowns.

Travellers Incursion Our enforcement officers were quickly on the scene to help the Police at a recent incursion at Frogholt and assisted with a swift resolution to a very unpleasant situation for our Frogholt residents which is the subject of a Police investigation. 4

District Council Budget Throughout the Pandemic the Council and its staff have continued to provide Front Line services and more. it will be proposing a 1.99% increase in the Districts element of Council Tax element at its meeting on 24th February. This is in addition to the KCC, Police and Crime Commissioners contributions and Parish Precepts.

KCC Elections I would encourage everyone to vote in the forthcoming Kent County Council elections Due to campaigning rules my friend and colleague Cllr Susan Carey will not be submitting her usual report until after the elections when I sincerely hope she will have been returned to carry on her dedicated service as our County representative for Elham Valley David Godfrey Cabinet Member for Housing, Transport and Special Projects

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Report from your County Councillor for Newington

The snowploughs and gritters worked round the clock to keep the main road network open when snow hit Kent last month. There was drifting on Stone Street (B2068) and both Crete Road East and Crete Road West were blocked by abandoned cars. Kent Highways has a fleet of 64 gritters/snowploughs, four mini gritters and over 100 farmers who help as needed. There are over 5,000 miles of road in Kent but not all can be ploughed. Some traffic calming features that make it impossible to use the ploughs or they are sensitive environmental areas (SSSI) and can only be hand dug. Around 30% of Kent’s roads are on gritting routes which can be seen on the Kent website. There is consultation every year about these routes but we only have so much money for this purpose so if a road gets added another must be removed. Which is a good introduction to the KCC Budget meeting held on 11 February. Our budget is over 1 billion pounds with around half devoted to social care – the elderly, people with learning disability, children in care etc. Most of what we do is a legal requirement such as waste disposal, the coroners’ service, trading standards etc. and we also have some discretionary services such as our KCC Member Grants. Every budget is a balance between the services that we need and we want and how much money we have. Winter services are just one of the important things we need to fund. There were 9 opposition amendments tabled on budget day and all but one involved spending more (the amendment that didn’t involve extra spending was the only one passed). The final vote on our budget means the KCC share of your council tax will rise by just under 2% plus another 3% which can only be used for social care. Our budget consultation had shown support for a rise and that social care was the area that most 6

people wanted protected. At the same time there will be an automatic £50 reduction in council tax for anyone receiving council tax support and a special fund has been agreed for those struggling to pay their bills. The KCC share of your council tax bill will rise by £67.50 a year (£1.30 a week) for a Band D house. The other parts of your bill cover the Fire Authority, Kent Police, the District Council and the Parish Council who all set their own level of tax. The Kent Resilience Forum (KCC, Kent Police, Highways England and other public sector partners) confirms that all is working well for the arrangements for road traffic to and from the ports and Eurotunnel with most HGV drivers having their papers in order and their Covid tests done. In the first 28 days of operation, KCC’s parking enforcement contractors have clamped 693 HGVs parked illegally (nearly 100 in our district). 82% of these were foreign registered vehicles and 18% from the UK. We are hopeful the clamping will prove a real deterrent to the longstanding problems caused in Kent by illegally parked HGVs. As elections to KCC are due to take place on 06 May I won’t be writing my regular KCC report for Newington News in April or May. Covid restrictions permitting, I hope to deliver a leaflet to you all. However, I am available for ‘normal’ business during the campaign. You can also still find me on Facebook at The Elham Valley and on twitter @susanjcarey. If I’m reelected (do please vote!) then I will be writing again from the June issue. Susan Carey, Member for Elham Valley Kent County Council 7

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. 10

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.

SANDGATE FARMERS MARKET

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Shop Local. www.sandgatebusiness.org.uk

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

Charity number: 1122652

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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. 13

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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

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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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. Have a great, safe Christmas 18

In the Church this March 2021 March 28th at 9.30. 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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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