The Sentinel

Sentinel

Local Matters

Sandgate

a dce2.0 company

March 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

Sandgate Parish Council Update Sorry, Seagulls...

Last year, Folkestone & Hythe District Council made available ‘seagull proof’ bags for households in Sandgate that have a purple sack rubbish collection (ie no wheely bin).

For the households that have taken then up, this helps prevent rubbish sacks being attacked by seagulls on collection day.

It’s not compulsory, but we hope any household that has seen their sacks attacked will take part to help keep our village tidy!

If you currently have a "purple sack" rubbish collection but no gull proof bag, it's easy to get one and to use it.

You simply put your current purple sacks, sealed, into the outer Seagull proof sack. The sack is then emptied and left for you to use again (and again, and again – they are not disposable).

To order your sack email clerk@sandgatepc.org.uk or call 01303 248563 with your name and address. We are only permitted to give sacks to those with a current “purple sack” collection, so please don’t ask if your usual rubbish collection is a bin collection. We will drop the sack to your property within 5 working days.

Please note that bags DO NOT replace purple sacks – you place your purple sacks IN the seagull proof bag.

How to use your seagull proof bag: * Please secure your sack outside your property before 7am on collection day; * Please place your purple bags inside your gull proof sack and make sure that the sack is securely closed to avoid the gulls attacking your waste; * Waste crews will remove the purple bags from your gull proof sack on collection day; * Please take your bag in as soon as possible after collection, any gull proof sacks left out permanently will be removed and not replaced; * You may wish to number your sack so that it can be recognised as yours.

Our thanks to the Sandgate Parish Council and the Community Gardeners for allowing us to reproduce this diary page. We hope to make this a monthly feature in the magazine but you can read all the diary entries by clicking on this box.

What a spectacular week as regards the beautiful sunny weather. It has been lovely to be able to spend some time in the garden and not be wet, or blasted from one end to the other! The pond will have to wait to be filled from rainwater and to see if the repair has worked.

Warm enough to sit down and sow seeds, we have started off more pea shoots, as well as spinach, spring onions, parsley, dill and fennel. We planted out two plots with radishes that were only sown on 19th February, and at 8 days old were bursting out of the modules. They have a cover of fleece to help them along, but last year we did not plant enough of them and they got enthusiastically eaten in no time at all. So many trays of seedlings coming along, it is quite a juggling act to get them out in the sunshine during the day, and back in the warm at night time. Still too early Sowing seeds, surrounded for many seeds that are tender and by wood chips! cannot be planted out until at least midMay, such as tomatoes. We have had many enquiries about availability of tomato plants this year, and they will not be available until at least mid-April which is still early. It is so difficult to be patient and to wait to get plants going, but that is exactly why the shops get them out there too soon as they often end up being murdered because of a cold snap, and then more plants get bought to replace them!

It has been a week of gifts too – thank you to Freddie for buying us a grabbing device for the pond to get out any debris. Who knew such things existed and that our lives would not be complete until we had one? We were also contacted by Peter and Isobel with the kind gifts 2

of some packets of flower seeds which will be put to good use, and some amazing clay pots which certainly will look good in the summer, filled with the flowers grown from the donated seeds – perfect!

Fremantle Park and the Golden Valley shops We now have enough volunteers at Fremantle to start a WhatsApp group to enable us to list the jobs that need doing, and keep up the communication.

This week the fruit trees and soft fruit shrubs got planted, and with any luck, three more trees should get planted next week. The five vegetable plots are being allocated to local families to be looked after by them; but the herb planters and the new garden to be created at the other end of the park by Radish plugs of up to six seedlings the slope to the alleyway, are to be planted out in a plot planted up with all kinds of things that anybody will be able to help themselves to in ‘Incredible Edible’ fashion.

After some cajoling and pleading, the Folkestone and Hythe parks department very kindly took out four Phormiums from the brick planters at the Golden Valley shops. They are great plants for filling a huge amount of space and able to look after themselves, but this summer we are hoping to make this area a riot of colour with flowering perennials and annuals. We have been weeding both inside and outside the planters, and will be adding a layer of compost to improve the soil and fill in the Phormium craters! We met the new landlords of the Pub, The Golden Arrow, who are keen to work with us to help make the shopping area look something this year. They are busy making great improvements to both the inside and outside of the pub with a view to making it a family orientated hub of the Enbrook Valley community in Sandgate. We welcome them and wish them well with their plans as soon as restrictions are lifted.

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What’s next?

• Any rain on the horizon and get the pond back together again?

• Get the large clay pots on site at Enbrook Park, and filled ready for planting • More seed sowings of peas, radishes, spring onions • Prick out the lettuces • Continue to turn the compost bins • Finish weeding at the shops and put down the new compost • Plant three more fruit trees at Fremantle.

Contact Leonie: 07840 138308 or leoniewootton2311@gmail.com 4

Please support your local Farmers' Markets

n ca e rs u d ill as yo l h o l w t t g / bu stal et ke lon nt r rk n : a a a t M r as o w ow ting rke ers-m d e a a d rm th e fo wh ke ticip e M te-fa t . c a r s a l o p a -l i n n d g th tsid der rade lt y a n d u a t n m o k/s pe g o h tr till re fro the .co.u r o l h nin it n s C u b u y a t e rh a l s i t l l t run le, w ca i I es t h s d ic b

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Great gift only £11.00 including P&P (UK mainland) www.the-find-online.com 5

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Support local

Support local

Support local

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

for a rate card.

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Community Wall of Fame These are difficult and trying times, but it is heartening to hear more and more stories of local people stepping up to help in so many different ways. The Sandgate Society is therefore seeking nominations for those people who you feel have enriched our local community with their selfless actions.

The Sandgate Society would like to acknowledge those people by entering them on the SANDGATE COMMUNITY WALL OF FAME It is intended, when practical, to display the board in the Old Fire Station and move it to other prominent areas of Sandgate from time to time – hopefully the Library or the Chichester Hall.

As a token of appreciation for each of our local residents shown on our “Wall of Fame“ the Sandgate Society, on behalf of our community, will donate a small gift to each nominee.

Please email sandgatesociety@gmail.com your nomination with brief details of their activity, or drop a letter into either the Old Fire Station or the Sandgate Library and a member of the Sandgate Society team will contact you for further details as required for the nominee.

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Tower News Dear friends of The Tower Theatre The theatre has now been dark since March 2020, however we are thrilled that there is finally light at the end of the tunnel!

As you know, all 2020 shows, including panto (boo), were unfortunately postponed, but now the travel ban is going to be lifted, Dick Wittington and his cat were the first to confirm that they will be coming back to Pantoland for 2021.

Tickets will be on sale very soon, with more details to follow in the coming weeks. So watch this space!

We are extremely grateful for the support you have shown, by keeping hold of your tickets, and also the donations you have made to our GoFundMe page. If you are a ticket holder, you will be hearing from us as soon as we are able to announce rescheduled dates for all postponed shows.

In the meantime, if you would like to get in touch, please send an email to info@towertheatrefolkestone.co.uk. Unfortunately, it is not possible to speak to us by phone for the time being, as we are working from home until we can safely return to the office.

We can’t wait to open our doors for you again; it’s been far too long and we have missed you!

Take care, stay safe and we’ll be in touch with more updates very soon.

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Us he rs no fru w it a on nd -l i n v e eg

You can now order on-line at: https://www.usherswholesale.com/box

or by telephone on: 07515 529425

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We deliver to Folkestone, Cheriton, Hawkinge, Capel, Alkham Valley, Saltwood, Sandgate, Seabrook, Hythe

SU SP EN

To advertise in three The Sentinels with circa 2300 targetted readers and growing please email me at:

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 gauranteed.

david@thesentinel.org.uk

for a rate card.

Thank you.

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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

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REAL F D. REAL CL SE.

Shop Local. www.sandgatebusiness.org.uk

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.

Kindle edition The shouty exclamation! £9.99 Hardback The three dots of... £12.50 (Not forgetting the brackets) Great gift And even more

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Now order on-line at

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If you would like to submit an article or letter please email it to me.

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