Go FolkestoneAction GroupDecember 2010

www.gofolkestone.org.uk

WARDS HOTEL & RESTAURANT

CHRISTMAS ORDERS ARE NOW BEING TAKENFOR ALL YOUR FESTIVE CELEBRATIONS

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Wards Hotel, 39 Earls Avenue, Folkestone, Kent CT20 2HB

FOLKESTONE CAMERA CLUB

Are hosting a Star EveningWith widley acclaimed photographer David Noton

“Chasing the Light”

In the Tower Theatre Shorncliffe Wednesday March 16th 7.30 for 8.00pm

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Contents Editorial

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Volunteers and Visitors at the Villa

Harbourside Plans Afoot

Everywhere Means Some-thing to Someone

Folkestone Triennial

900 More Houses for Shorncliffe

Eversley College

Today Paris, Tomorrow Birmingham

Conversion of Pubs into Houses (pt.2)

A Poem for Step Short

Folkestone Invicta

Farewell Roy!

Newsletter Events

Seasonal Recipes

Brothers Reunited

Organising Folkestone Skabour Festival

Editorial Committee: Philip Carter, Ann Berry, Nick Spurrier, Richard Wallace, and Vera Neaves.Magazine Layout: Mike Tedder

‘HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR to all our members and readers’

May I take this opportunity to thank you for your support over the past year. During the course of the year there have been several changes.Terry Begent gave up his position as Membership Secretary and Nicola Tolson kindly stepped in and took up this very important role. Allison Esson who came to our rescue a second time to compile the Magazine has now handed over to Mike Tedder who is compiling this and future editions.Vera Neaves who has been our Treasurer for the past 10 years has now felt it time for a change.I take this opportunity to thank Terry, Alison and Vera for their support to Go Folkestone and myself over the many years, We wish them well in their future endeavours. Also our thanks must go to Nicola and Mike for taking over their respected duties.We are also grateful to the Editorial Committee,who continue to pursue articles for thisPopular Magazine.Despite our plea in the September Magazine,no one as yet, has come forward to take upthe Treasure’s position.

Ann BerryChair, Go Folkestone

35 Birkdale DriveFolkestone

Kent CT19 5LPEmail: annber35@supanet.com

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Volunteers and Visitors at the Villa

By Nick Spurrier

With over 200 volunteers, over 2000 visitors, thousands of finds and the discovery that settlement on the site goes back at least 5000 years, few would deny that this year’s dig at the Roman Villa on East Cliff, part of A Town Unearthed, has been a tremendous success. It is now apparent that the area is of far greater interest than first thought. Keith Parfitt, direc-tor of the dig said “Though we have always known of the existence of two Roman Villas, it is now clear that there was also an extensive pre- Roman settlement here. This seems to have reached its greatest extent around AD 1. It may well turn out to be one of the most significant late Iron Age sites in southern England, certainly of national and possibly of international importance.”

At the villa site itself, Keith Parfitt, working seven days a week with a team of archeologists from Canterbury Archeological Trust, including Paul Bennett , Barry Corke, Marion Green, Richard Hoskins and Andrew Richardson, has supervised the 200 volunteers. Though some of these have come for only a few hours others have worked for many weeks - digging, washing finds or showing over 2000 visitors and school students around the site. These volunteers have included a student from Lille in northern France, another from Southern Italy and a visiting American professor who came to the site the day after arriving at Canterbury Christ Church University. While a number of Folkestonians have taken part, there have also been members of archaeology groups from Dover, Ashford and Maidstone and students from Birkbeck College London, Canterbury Christ Church University and the Uni-versity of Kent. All ages have been represented, the youngest being Harry Platts, aged 13, from Dover and the oldest 83 year old Bob Turrell, a retired Folkestone builder.

While for some volunteers this has been their first experience of an ar-chaeological dig, others are veterans of many years, some being specialists such as Adrian Weston, who is an expert on Roman tiles and early imported

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pottery, and David Holman who has developed such a wide knowledge of coins that he is consulted by the British Museum. It is impossible to name all those who have taken part but Kate Holtham-Oakley has led a team of dedicated finds washers including Lee Craycratt and Roma Mortimer while Yvonne Hutchcraft has been regularly showing visitors round the site and Ray Duff has helped in all areas. Colleen Harrison and Pat Cox were among the energetic diggers. Metal detectorists, including Maurice Worsley and Barry Wright, who was also a stalwart digger, made sure that no finds escaped by checking all the spoil heaps. Sophie Adams, a PhD student at Canterbury Christ Church University came with a group from the dig at Shorne, which included visually impaired Simon O’Connor.

For those who did the digging, the work has varied from the initial hard task of removing the top soil and ash to the meticulous trowelling, with the accompanying excitement of finding Roman tile, pieces of bone, pot-tery, struck flint or other items. On the other hand those washing the finds have found the tedium of removing mud from numerous bones has been compensated by exposing the sometimes fine detail and decoration on the pottery. The archaeologists have been immensely pleased by the abundance and variety of the finds, which have included a fine Neolithic arrow head of c. 3000 BC and other flint implements suggesting intermittent occupation on the site going back to around 5000 BC. Also found were the jaw bone of a horse placed in an Iron Age ditch, Roman painted wall plaster and numer-ous quern stones, used for grinding corn.

With the last of the backfilling completed at the end of October the dig for this year ended. The three year project of community archaeology, organ-ised by Canterbury Christ Church University, the Folkestone People’s History Centre and Canterbury Archaeological Trust would not have been possi-ble without funding from The Heritage Lottery Fund, The Roger De Haan Charitable Trust, Folkestone Town Council, Kent Archaeological Society and Shepway District Council. The excavation will restart next year from June and continue for about three months,

Dr. Lesley Hardy of Canterbury Christ Church University said “Though the villa dig is finished for this year, it is only part of the project and there is a lot of other work to be done. We intend during the next few months to dig

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test pits in gardens near East Cliff and in the Bayle and of course there is a lot of work to be done washing and classifying the finds. In addition we will be starting on an oral History project to record people’s memories of the villa, when the walls were exposed previously, and some of the other impor-tant sites in the area such as Castle Hill and the Bayle, hoping to find out more about the stories, memories and history associated with these sites and their meaning for people both in the past and today.”

The sorting and classifying of the finds will be done at 65, Tontine Street which will also act as a visitor centre for the project. These premises are being provided rent free during the winter period as part of the Creative Foundation’s community programme. Peter Bettley of the Roger De Haan Charitable Trust and the Creative Foundation said “This is a wonderful project for Folkestone. We are very pleased to have been able to help in any way we can in addition to supplying the funding that enabled the bid with the Heritage Lottery Fund to succeed”.

If you would like to become a volunteer or for further information on the project as a whole please phone Hannah Lewis (Project Manager) on 01303-850614

Harbourside Plans Afoot

By Liz Brown

There are many obvious signs of change in the harbour area of Folkestone. Work is carrying on apace to ensure that the town is ready for the Folke-stone Triennial next year. When I spoke to Trevor Minter, Interim Chief Executive of the Creative Foundation, he was hurrying between meetings concentrating on different aspects of the town’s regeneration. His key chal-lenge these past few months has been to juggle the tasks of restructuring the Creative Foundation, whilst overseeing a dramatic expansion in the work of the Roger De Haan Charitable Trust, particularly in the areas of sports and recreation, and introducing a brand new approach to the development of Folkestone harbour and seafront. As Trevor sees it: “The acquisitions of properties in the harbour area, as well as the harbour itself, were driven by entrepreneurial instincts tempered by a philanthropic motive and a desire to rescue some very run down areas in the town. Now is the time to take stock and to assess the best organisational structure to take the plans forward.”

His passion is to push boundaries to ensure the artistic excellence of all as-pects of the work. Folkestone’s place at the forefront of contemporary art is being carved out by the Folkestone Triennial but there remains the issue of how more can be done during the intervening years.

Work is continuing on the Harbour Master Plan. After presentations of the new approach proposed by Sir Terry Farrell, an independent consultation exercise was completed by a research team at Canterbury Christ Church

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University. During the course of the consultation in May, June and July over 3000 people attended the exhibition in Tontine Street or one of the pres-entations at Quarterhouse. There have been 2250 individual visitors to the website www.folkestoneseafront.com. Comments have been captured and recorded from those who attended the exhibition or presentations, and some 600 people have completed detailed questionnaires either by hard copy or on line. Local primary and secondary schools were involved and pu-pils’ views taken into account. Although several single issue objections were recorded the overall conclusion of the consultation was an overwhelming vote in favour of the approach being advocated.

The aim is to spread the development phases over a number of years as the market allows, with the most costly elements saved for the later stages. Currently, architects are being commissioned to produce a new Harbour Master Plan which will detail the proposals at individual street level and lead in turn to an application for outline planning permission . A sea sports spe-cialist has been engaged to work with local sea sports clubs to ensure that their requirements are taken into account.

The outline application should be submitted during 2011 as will detailed planning consent for the first phase of building at the westward end of the Harbour Master Plan area. In order to maximise the commercial viability of the first phase, Trevor is commissioning an independent report to assess the types of dwelling for which there is likely to be the most significant demand. Meanwhile, The Creative Quarter has again hit local headlines with busi-nesses such as No. 11 and Shake Shed closing and Fairy Sensations mov-ing from Tontine Street to a hopefully more lucrative spot in The Old High Street. Trevor accepts that times are tough for the Creative Quarter ten-ants, especially retail outlets who rely on footfall in the immediate area. He points out that two thirds of the floor space is let to tenants who are not retailers and that, whilst their success is not reported as avidly as less successful ventures, a number of the tenants take advantage of the Crea-tive Quarter accommodation to run web based businesses or to sell in other markets, predominantly London. New tenants include ARRCC (Activi-ties, Respite Rehabilitation Care Centre) which offers art therapy to stroke victims as well as other services, and a new toy shop, Quintessential, an extension of a web based business currently operated from the Creative Quarter.

Despite the obvious time pressure, Trevor assured me that, by the start of the next Triennial in June 2011, the scaffolding covering a number of build-ings such as the Earl Grey and the old Kathmandu bar will have disappeared leaving fresh new architecture. On the Stade, there will be a new fish and chip bar, complete with art installation, some modern overnight accom-modation, and the flagship harbour front fish restaurant currently under construction will be the venue for the opening party….even if we all have to wear hard hats!

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Everywhere Means Something to Someone

Strange Cargo is delighted to invite you to be part of our latest town art-work, which is called Everywhere Means Something to Someone. We have been commissioned by the Creative Foundation to create a public artwork for the next Folkestone Triennial, which will be launched in June 2011, and we very much hope that each and every one of you will join us in creating the work, which will be a People’s Guidebook to Folkestone. We are collecting stories, memories and unusual things that can be sought out in our public places, in and around Folkestone, that mean something special to you. We will be photographing 250 sites for the book and con-tributions can be something as grand and significant as a roman villa or magnificent view, or as tiny and discrete as a door handle or rose bush, the most important thing is that each contribution means something special in its own way, by being interesting, entertaining and poignant, or hopefully all these things. The book will enable visitors to experience the quirky and historic places or happenings that make Folkestone home to the people who live here. Akin to being shown around the town by someone who knows and loves the place they live in and can show you the intriguing bits.We only have until the end of December to finish collecting stories, so please drop us a line or give us a call and tell us what you think other people should know about our town. Everyone who makes a contribution will have their name printed in the guidebook, so please get your thinking caps on and let us know your story. We are really looking forward to hearing from you. Bridgitte Orasinski

Web: www.strangecargo.org.uk Tel:01303 244533 Email: info@strange-cargo.org.uk or write to Strange Cargo, Georges House, 8 The Old High Street, Folkstone, Kent CT20 1RL.

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Folkestone Triennial By Nick Spurrier At the eastern end of The Stade a life-sized bronze cast of a Folke-stone woman – the town’s version of Copenhagen’s ‘Little Mermaid’; at the west end of The Leas a walk-in structure to enable visitors to view the overgrown Martello tower, its moat and the encompassing vegetation; and in the middle of Folkestone several hundred model boats suspended from the ceiling of the nave of St Mary and St Eanswythe’s church and a film of the Cap Caxine lighthouse near Algiers shown in the long inaccessible deck chair storage under the Leas near the water balance lift. These will be the contributions of Cornelia Parker, Cristina Iglesias, Hew Locke and Zineb Sedira - four of the artists who will be taking part in Folkestone’s Second Triennial next summer. Entitled A Million Miles from Home, the contemporary art exhibition in public space will have particular focus on social and political matters, especially those arising from migra-tion and exile, colonialism and its aftermath, and on questions of place and language and it will as Andrea Schlieker, the curator, says, “explore Folke-stone’s relationship with the wider world by recognising the town’s geo-graphic position close to continental Europe, and its location on the edge of Britain.” With eighteen individual artists from Brazil, India, Japan, Israel, Morocco, Egypt, the United States, Spain, Denmark, France, Kosovo and Germany, as well as England and Scotland who work in many parts of the world, and Folkestone based Strange Cargo, it is a genuine international event. Cristina Iglesias is one of Spain’s most celebrated artists and has twice represented Spain at the Venice Biennale while Cornelia Parker, nomi-nated for the Turner Prize in 1997, is well known for her collaboration at the Serpentine Gallery in 1995 with Tilda Swinton, the actress, who slept in a glass case in the gallery, for eight hours each day for seven days. Amongst other artists are Martin Creed, Glaswegian conceptual artist, winner of the Turner Prize in 2001 for Work No. 227, the lights going on and off – even among the contemporary art world a highly controversial choice - and Kent based Hamish Fulton whose art is based around walks and who has suc-cessfully ascended Everest. At a meeting attended by over 120 people on 28 October in Quar-terhouse, local artists were also invited to take part in the Triennial by arranging fringe events, exhibitions or installations. They will, however, be entirely responsible for sourcing their own funding and finding locations. While there will be no selection process, allowing anyone to take part, those wishing to do so must register their interest by 11 April 2011 and have their copy ready for the fringe events guide by 2 May 2011. Further information can be obtained at the following website: www.shepway.gov.uk/triennial-fringe Though the Triennial has been principally funded by the Roger De Haan Charitable Trust, sponsorship and support has also come from 14 other organizations in this country and from Germany, Spain, Denmark and the Netherlands. That it has been able to attract such sponsorship in these straightened times, in itself indicates its growing prestige in the arts world.

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900 MORE HOUSES FOR SHORNCLIFFE by Richard Wallace

Most people know a bit about the Ministry of Defence plans to put a lot of houses on the Army owned land in the North Road, Pond Hill Road and Royal Military Avenue area of Cheriton. Here are a few more details. The scheme envisages about 3 phases of land totalling they hope 900 flats or, mainly, houses, released for development over very roughly 5, 10 and fifteen years, but depending on the market and the state of the armed forces. Each phase has some land for military families ( M), rather like the existing Mackenzie Drive, and some land to sell for private or housing as-sociation development (P). In very provisional order of development they include a steep piece by Valestone Close (P); a strip on the south side of North Road starting at the Risborough Way junction (M); a strip west of Pond Hill Road where the military petrol station etc is, and another cen-tred on the former military nursery in West Road (P – both lovely views to Seabrook you see !); the central bloc between the Stadium playing fields and North Road from Pond Hill Road to behind the houses in Royal Military Avenue (P) and the large barracks area opposite the central bloc immedi-ately south of North Road (M) where quite a few military buildings currently sit behind the fence.

Nearby at the Church Street / Horn Street junction, where old Nissen Huts have just been demolished may be another sports ground for both the Army and civilians. The Army’s operational land may also be reorganised, but none of the rest of it will actually be redeveloped, except operation-ally e.g. the fuel provision will have to move. Indeed with the pressures on the M.O.D. it must be an open question how much of the housing proposed will eventually become private, but it is obvious with the Hythe Ranges and Dibgate Camp intact, that the Army is here to stay.

900 dwellings is a lot, but Shepway was supposed to come up with 400 houses per year for future population, so this will be Folkestone’s main con-tribution and save a lot elsewhere. Perhaps when we locals and councillors see some layouts, we will pull that number down a bit but the area totals alot too, and mostly it is previously or currently developed military land suchas old barracks and the old school (not the church/theatre). It’s better to develop this than countryside but if the overall development is allowedthere must be a safeguard on the rest of the green area between Folkestone and Seabrook. That at least is true countryside and must be given a more specific protected designation of a green belt type.

Horn Street and Horn Street railway bridge will need major improvement. The MOD proposal is to put “one way” traffic lights on the bridge. This is simply unacceptable - with the sort of development size proposed, the school run to Cheriton Primary and the rush hour to the M20 there really has to be a bridge widening project.The bridge causes many to hesitate

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now, both because it is narrow and because it looks narrower than it is. With out two way traffic it will be a chronic bottle-neck. Widening it as part of a planning agreement, however expensive, needs to be a sine qua non or deal-breaker. Some of the roads like Pond Hill Road will also need widening and proper pavements whilst keeping the many lines of trees that the Army planted.

Vera Neaves, a local resident said ‘The drainage in the whole Horn Street area is very sensitive and a lot of building in the Shorncliffe district could increase run off and cause problems in Valestone Close and even Seabrook‘ The cricket pitch, ironically better soil that the preserved Stadium football pitches, can’t probably be saved totally as well. However the existing lines of large trees across the pitch provides the possibility for a straight, central, landscaped cycle and walk way connecting up Church Road and North Road with a second one coming across from Royal Military Avenue. The latter could possibly be on the line of, and preserve, the ornate mili-tary gates, though this would need integrating with the rear parking that Folkestone Town Council is trying to get for Royal Military Avenue. A large number of people could then have a attractive, car-free way to and from the new development, The Stadium and Cheriton Primary School. A cycle/pedestrian way would be safe and almost be like Ladies Walk in Hythe es-pecially if there was a green and pleasant toddlers’ playground at the North Road end away from the grown ups playing on The Stadium.

Unless a lot fewer houses were allowed, the developers would probably fund a surgery, new pavilion/ community centre, a multi-use games area and a couple of shop/offices. But I would say that shopping parades like Cheriton and local pubs need the custom enough without a new parade being built. Interesting to see if at least a post office next to a surgery and pharmacy becomes viable again. But I do wonder if someone is going to lose their life if the Ambulance Station stays put in Church Road and the ambulance gets snarled up in traffic. Perhaps that should be where the surgery, with pecu-liar aptness, is built? Shorncliffe, finally a name for a suburb and not just an army base may be very plain unless we put pressure on for some nice, well-planned develop-ment. Shepway must have some design guidelines for this area as it did for Hawkinge, though not obviously identical ones. With a high level of affordable and military housing, and with some fairly plain 1950s – 1970s development in the district already there is a danger than very plain design standards will be implemented and large areas will look like a council estate. Blocks of flats should have good attractive design such as the ‘clap-board’ example on the former garage site at Golden Valley shopping parade. I would like to see less than 30% affordable housing erected in this one area, particularly as the military houses that are 30-50% of the new-build are already ‘rented’ houses and flats with a benefit ‘to the nation’.But this is a controversial view as affordable housing has to go somewhere .

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Eversley College

Go-Folkestone members will have noticed that Eversley College in Coolinge Lane is for sale. This magnificent building had a variety of uses during the twentieth century reflecting changes in education during that time, and indeed serving military purposes during the Second World War.Eversley, an exclusive Girls School, originally opened in Earls Avenue at the end of the nineteenth century and moved to the purpose-built school build-ing, erected in 1905/6 in Coolinge Lane. It was founded by a younger sister of Charles Kingsley who named the school after Eversley, the parish in Hampshire where Kingsley was Rector from 1844-1875. It appears to have flourished until the 1930’s. However, with the outbreak of the Second World War, the building was taken over by the military. The Folkestone Gazette of May 1967 noted that in 1939, the Soviet ambassador in London, Mr Maisky, was a visitor to Eversley. Maybe some of our readers can throw light on its history during these war years. When the war ended, KCC Education Committee became the owners of the building, which stood next to the Girls’ Grammar School, and from 1947-1950 it was used for the emergency training of teachers. Suitable war-service veterans went through a one year teacher training course at the College. This was helpful in meeting the number of teachers required to cope with the baby boom after the war. Eversley was now known as the Folkestone Training Centre.

When no longer required for post war teaching training, part of the building was used by the Girls Technical School in the 1950’s and early 60’s. Many of the rooms were used as overflow accommodation before the Technical School’s new buildings were ready. The chapel of the original Eversley Col-lege had long since been deconsecrated and was used as a drawing office, while the playing fields were used by Morehall Secondary School.

In the 1960’s, plans were drawn up to adapt the building as an in-service residential teacher training centre. The lancet windows in the former chap-el were removed and the room became a lecture hall. The College was formally opened by Sir Edward Boyle in 1967. Highly successful in-service courses were run there by KCC until the early 1990’s. In addition, there were courses for the community, for the police and other professions. Eversley was sold in 1994 and opened as a school of English for Japanese students run by Chaucer College, Canterbury, which is owned by the Japa-nese Shumei organization. This has been its role until the present and it is to be hoped that a suitable use can now be found for this splendid building. Any other information or memories of Eversley in earlier times which our readers can supply would be much appreciated.

Hilary Tolputt

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TODAY PARIS, TOMORROW BIRMINGHAM.

Latest reports on services through the Chun-nel include the running of an intercity train on 19th October by the German Deutsche Bahn. This is a test service for a regular route to Cologne [or Frankfurt]. This is a very famous Rhineland city in the far west of Germany. It has a history stretching back to Roman times, with perhaps the best German cathedral and a renown market. From here services to Berlin and Munich would be direct. It worries British unions because it is the first whol-ly foreign train to run on British railways, but the Government seems right behind it. Eurostar had a monopoly over city to city trains for an agreed fourteen years, but this was up in January 2010, so stand by for several experiments and possible new services. Eurostar and others argue that limitations still have to be very strict because the Chunnel is so potentially dangerous. Eurostar coaches have lots of tough safety features such as 30 minute fireproof bulkheads, better than foreign competition. All the coaches are connected so that one can walk from one end of the 400 metre train to the other, which always leaves passengers opposite one of the escape accesses to the central service tunnel, which occur every 375 metres. Even though there have been several fires, and an infamous in-tunnel snarl up during the December 2009 blizzard in which over a thousand people had to be walked out, nobody has ever been hurt. The German train is only 200metres long which is cause for concern if not exactly a sine qua non. Passengers might have to get out of the train and walk a limited distance in smoke along a catwalk. The Chunnel as is well known has a small bore central tunnel for services and escapes, connected at interval to larger France-bound and England-bound train tunnels. The air pressure is kept higher in the central tunnel so that smoke and fire are blown away from the escape route, but it will still be in the main tunnels. If services by continental operators to Cologne aka Koln are delayed by safety requirements you can still get to places as unusual as Avignon (5.5 hours summer weekend service) and the French ski resorts such as Chamonix (7 hours) from Ashford, though the times and frequency are such that it is often easier to change in Paris as a friend did this year for a holiday in Nice. The old worries about the Ashford - Brussels route have been resolved to the extent that one can catch a Brussels train at 6.57am most days and 8.28am on Saturdays. The single daily service back from Brussels Midi is generally 16.59 arriving back at Ashford at 17.33. Overhanging all this is the sale of HS1, the actual complete Kent high speed service which is likely to go to one of several anonymous safe pairs of hands including the Abu Dhabi Investment Author-ity and GB Speedrail, in which Goldman Sachs and the UK Universities Su-perannuation Scheme have stakes. It is already too late to get your bid in, even if you do have the requisite £2 billion. The money from selling HS1 is ring-fenced for helping finance HS2 circa 2016, the extension of high speed services through the Midlands to Birmingham and, eventually, beyond.

Richard Wallace

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The Conversion of Pubs into Houses (part 2)

In my last article for the ‘Go Folkestone’ magazine I said that I would look at the planning position regarding the change of use from that of being a public house. From a reader’s point of view, this article is going to be rather more technical and therefore somewhat ‘dry’ - I would however ask you to bear with me.

Under the various Planning Laws, all properties fall into one of the classes of the Use Classes Order 1987, as amended; public houses are in A4, while ordinary domestic dwellings are in C3. Shops are in A1, banks in A2 and restaurants in A3; takeaway restaurants fall within A5. Properties that are within A4 and A5 can change their use to A1, A2 or A3 without needing planning permission, but the converse does not apply so that if, purely for example, I was to buy the HSBC Bank in Sandgate Road and wanted to run a restaurant from the property, I would need to apply for planning permis-sion. I would stress at this point that I do not for one moment think the Bank is actually for sale! At the time of writing, the Morehall Tavern is for sale and if I wanted to buy that and turn it into a restaurant or a betting office, or even a Tesco Express, then I would not need planning permission and there would be nothing in planning law to stop me.

Should I wish to convert a pub (A4) into a house (C3), then I would need permission; whether or not such permission could be readily obtained would depend on the circumstances of the case. Generally speaking, whenever there is such an application, there are a lot of objections, usually relating to the loss of facilities, important local amenity etc. Most planning authori-ties will have a presumption in favour of keeping pubs wherever possible; they usually adopt the criteria suggested by CAMRA (which I helped to write albeit several years ago) relating to economic viability.

Economic viability is a term open to interpretation but, at the very least, the question to be posed is: could the hypothetical occupier make an adequate living from his business? Bear in mind that the average licensee works very long hours and is on call 7 days a week – even on his day off he’s probably doing something related to the business. Indeed the hours when he is open are often the easiest part. No-one sees the hard work that goes on outside opening hours, such as cleaning the pub, preparing food, checking the de-liveries, cleaning the pipes, an incredible amount of official paperwork etc.

It may well be the case that due to changes in the local or general economy, or changes in the nature of the population in the area, e.g. some religious groups do not permit alcohol consumption, or new competition has opened, then no matter how good the licensee he will never be able to attract suf-ficient trade to make a living. In such circumstances I can see no point in refusing a change of use.

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As a final point in this section, there is nothing to stop anyone demolishing a closed pub (if it is not a Listed Building) if they feel it is no longer a viable proposition. There is, however, a school of thought that by doing so, one would be left with a site that has no extant use within any of the parts of the Use Classes Order and that planning permission to build a house on the site might be harder to obtain than converting an existing building.

In my next article I shall look at how pubs are valued and what is an eco-nomic return on value

by David Germany

A Poem for Step Short.

The following Poem which is one of three composed by the writer who wishes them to be dedicated to the restoration of the Road of Remembrance and in someway promote it.The poems are: Fallen Friends, Remember Me, and after visiting the Cana-dian war Graves at Shorncliffe recently was prompted to compose, Canada Day.We will try and give space to all three in separate issues. Canada Day is held on July 1st each year. Children from many local Schools visit to lay flowers at the graveside so it would be appropriate to leave that one till the June issue.We thank the writer/composer for his contribution and interest in the Step Short project.

Ann Berry.

FALLEN FRIENDS

Wave after wave The young men fell. In furrowed field And woodland dell, On grassy bank Down vale, uphill, The best of friends, They pass here still.

Guy Hayward

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After its well-publicised bout of financial woes Folkestone Invicta Football Club has emerged with a new emphasis on its community role and its place in Folkestone’s regeneration. New Chairman Lynn Woods explains how the Club’s direction has changed and its priorities for future development… Folkestone Invicta - Focus and Renewal

Up and down the country football clubs at all representative levels are a focus of local identity and pride. Such passions generate aspirations and expectations which can so easily lead clubs into over-extending themselves financially or see them descend into boardroom chaos. It happens at every level. Like Dover before it, Folkestone has seen its club go to the brink and yet somehow survive. In August Ashford Town Football Club collapsed alto-gether. At least in Folkestone our club has endured and for that we should be grateful. So, in renewing and refocusing our club, what do we do to avoid the same ruinous cycle eventually repeating itself? Firstly we need to establish a sound business base. But that then requires us to determine exactly what we are trying to achieve - our mission statement if you like - and this is where it gets interesting. At senior level, Invicta competes at what is effectively six stages below the FA Premier League. In that setting the club commands a fair bit of media interest. If fills the back page of the Herald, its results appear on the Satur-day videprinter parade alongside top clubs like Chelsea and Burnley, and its exploits persuade a good number of hardy souls to turn up on a wintry Saturday afternoon to cheer the team on. So should the mission state-ment attach itself to the further elevation of the town’s representative side, to the Conference and beyond, to FA Cup glory, to being live on Sky? Well actually, no. It’s not that those are not welcome achievements if they come to pass, it’s that we have to foster representative success by concentrating on the foun-dations of the club so that over time it will achieve great things under its own steam. Such is the preoccupation with first team exploits, few realise that well over 200 youngsters represent Folkestone Invicta at youth levels, and that the club also has a very successful disability side and is trying to develop girls football. This is where the club fulfils its real community role, and where it places the first building blocks in bringing talented and com-mitted youngsters through to represent their home town. And it is where our business priorities need to be focused. At its top level, football is sadly as much a matter of money and greed as it is sport. That same financially-induced distortion can show its face at our level too, but in the main clubs like Folkestone pay their senior players only what they can afford. In Invicta’s case, our players are all part timers with primary jobs and some of them with families to support. Allowing for

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training and travel, they typically commit 20 hours a week to their Club for which they are remunerated at about the equivalent of the national mini-mum wage. These days, most of Invicta’s senior squad are local youngsters - six of the current first team have come through the Club’s youth ranks - and those who come from distance to represent us are doing it not for the money but for their love of the game. Player-coach Roland Edge has graced the senior game with the likes of Hull City - he comes to Folkestone because he wants to put something back. He deserves our every respect. So, just as “Edgey” and many others offer us so much of their time and ex-perience to encourage younger players, what should we do in our direction of the Club to ensure that it stays on track? As already mentioned, we first have to stabilise the business base and get used to living within it. There is much progress to report on that front. The Club now lives within its means. Thanks largely to contributions from stalwart members of the supporters club, the Stripes facility has been improved and is already attracting plenty of new business. A message there for anyone interested in helping the club to come and use the Stripes if not for family functions then for its live Sky and ESPN football, darts, pool and of course a very competitively-priced bar. Telephone 221819 to book! We are also working hard to persuade traders to invest in ground advertis-ing or various forms of sponsorship where we know their commitment to the Club is reciprocated by fans and families bringing them their business. And we are mounting a sales push to improve take up of the Club’s lottery scheme, and looking at other ways in which to market the club and per-suade more townspeople to come along and support their team. But having addressed our immediate business position, there are then two more strategic imperatives that drive our mission. The first of these is constitutional. As a conventional limited company, Invicta is only good for all that is promised in this piece for as long as the present leadership is in place. We have to look beyond and aim at a constitutional model that establishes these ideals in stone. There is more work to be done, but our direction of travel is towards some form of social enterprise which effec-tively places the club into Trusteeship; and that in turn would lend itself to Invicta offering an equitable and supportive management infrastructure to other sports and social clubs and interests. That aspiration is driven very much by sum-of-the-whole principle, and the same applies to our second strategic aim which is to partner with the Harvey Grammar School, the Bowls Club and tennis interests to sensibly develop the space around the football stadium. There are several aspects to this, any of which might command a detailed explanation in its own right. Suffice for now to say that the Club’s aspiration is to work with other agencies and not in spite of them. To that end we spoke out in support of the planned developments for cricket and hockey on Cheriton Road Sports Ground, which set a standards template to which all sports should aspire;

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we are working closely with HGS to frame a case for FA and other external funding for a third-generation artificial football pitch - which incidentally would massively increase the scope for Invicta and other local football clubs and schools to provide a constructive outlet for youth energy; we have en-gaged supportively with the Roger De Haan Charitable Trust in its moves to provide state-of-the-art sporting facilities; and we have responded warmly to ideas from the Bowls Club about some collaborative work on facilities along the boundary of our respective sites on Cheriton Road. I like to think all this squares well with the aims of Go Folkestone, which has itself been very supportive of Invicta because as an action group it recog-nises how valuable a role a vibrant and successful community football club can play in making Folkestone an even more attractive place. For those not interested in football, do please at least see us as doing something useful and contributing positively to our local community. And to those who are interested, take the next step and come to support us!

Lynn@houseof4doors.co.uk Please support your local club!

Matchday admission £9 adults

£5 Seniors and Concessions £2 children

£1000 lottery scheme £1 per week Supporters Club and

Stripes Club Annual membership £5

Folkestone Invicta Community Football Club

Folkestone Invicta Community F.C. LtdThe Buzzlines Stadium Cheriton Road Folkestone Kent CT19 5JU

Tel/Fax: 01303 257461www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk

Upcoming Features at the Buzzlines Stadium

Tuesday 14th December 7.45pm Sittingbourne (Kent Senior Cup) Saturday 18th December 3pm Wealdstone Monday 27th December 3pm Maidstone Utd Saturday 8th January 3pm Aveley Saturday 22nd January Harrow Borough Saturday 12th February 3pm Cray Wanderers Saturday 26th February 3pm Canvey Island

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FAREWELL ROY!

On the one hand: bloody-minded, cantankerous, domineering. On the other: caring, generous, considerate. These words give a pretty good description of the late Roy Hiller, who was the main instigator along with Philip Carter in setting up Go Folke-stone Action Group when the town was at an all time low. It was Roy’s hard work and sheer determination that ensured that the very first meeting was held in the Leas Cliff Hall in the summer of 2001 with an attendance of 800

We have all said our fond goodbyes to Roy who died in August; he was a formidable character with a determined mind and attitude, a man who knew what he wanted and worked hard to achieve his aims, working tirelessly for Go Folkestone over the years until his illness became too much for him to continue. Also a staunch Folkestone Lion club member, he gave as much time as he could towards the call of duty as required, and was always around to assist with the annual Donkey Derby and Boxing Day Dip

Roy was a man who loved to be challenging during an argument or discussion, a demur glint in his eyes showing he was waiting for your response. He would argue his corner on the day, making you think you had lost but come the following day you might well find that he had accepted your idea. I am pleased to have known and worked with him especially in the early years of Go Folkestone. He has left a fantas-tic legacy and I will always remember him with great depth of feeling. Under a hard shell there was a man full of care, generosity and love who would put himself out for anybody.As we know there is usually a good woman behind most men and this was June, his wife - his main stay, who looked after him in his hour of need. We wish her well at this sad time. All I can finally say is Good bye Roy – we’ll miss you.

ROY Vera NeavesDear old Roy has left us,He didn’t want to go.We’re sure he must have suffered,How much we’ll never know.

Dear old Roy has left us,It really was too soon.We’re all going to miss him,So will his darling June.

Dear old Roy has left us,Someone should warn God.Roy’s on his way to heaven,He can be a grumpy sod.

Dear old Roy has left us,It’s true he was getting old.But beneath that gruff exterior,Beat a heart of purest Gold.

Poem by Lion, Gordon Richardson

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Newsletter – Events – Dec 2010 – Feb 2011

Thu 2 Dec. Christmas Party @ the Quarterhouse, Tontine St. Folkestone. 7.00pm.Tele: 01303 858500Thu 2 Dec. Christmas Craft Market, 21.00 @ The Cube, Tontine St. Folkestone. Tele 0845 606 5606. An opportunity to purchase jewellery & ceramic work created by students.Sat 4 Dec. & every Sat in Dec. Traditional Santa’s Grotto in Creative Quarter The Old High Street & Tontine Street, Folkestone, Kent 10:00 to 16:00Sat 4 Dec. & every Sat in Dec. Santa Specials on RHDR Romney Hythe & Dymchurch Railway.Scanlons Bridge Road, Hythe, Kent . Tele: 01797 362353 Sun 5 Dec. Folkestone Santa Fun Run. 11.30am. starting from Folkestone Town Cen-tre. For more info. & to register for run. www.santafunrun.org.ukWed 8 Dec. & every Wed. in Dec. Art classes at Chimaera Gallery 42 Tontine Street, Folkestone, Kent. Tele: 01303 246523 Thu 9 Dec. Christmas Party @ the Quarterhouse, Tontine St. Folkestone. 7.00pm. Tele: 01303 858500Wed 15 Dec. Ska Xmas Cracker – Bad Manners @ the Quarterhouse, Tontine St. Folkestone. 7.30pm. Tele: 01303858500Fri 17 Dec. Pama International @ the Quarterhouse, Tontine St. Folkestone. 7.30pm. Tele: 01303 858500Sat 18 Dec. Lee Nelson’s – Well Good Tour @ the Quarterhouse, Tontine St. Folke-stone. 8.00pm. Tele: 01303 858500Thu 23 Dec - Sun 23 Jan 2011 ALADDIN @ The Leas Cliff Hall, The Leas, Folke-stone, Kent Tele: 08448 471769 Thu23 Dec. Festive Gig @ the Grand, Music Room. Keppel’s Bar, The Leas. Folke-stone. 6.30 pm. Tele: 01303 222222Sun 26 Dec. Folkestone Lions Boxing Day Dip! Sunny Sands Beach, Folkestone. Forms available from www.folkestonelions.org.ukFri 31 Dec. New Year Party @ the Quarterhouse, Tontine St. Folkestone.. Tele: 01303 858500Thu 6 Jan. (24 week course) ECDL ITQ (level 2) Computer course. 9.30 – 12.00 @ The Cube, Tontine St. Folkestone. Tele: 0845 606 5606 Fri 7 –Sun 16 Jan (except Mon 10 Jan) A FHODS production of ‘Babes in the Woods’ pantomime @ The Tower Theatre. 2pm on Sat & Sun, plus 7pm all days quoted. Tick-ets £10 & £9 with concessions & group bookings available, for more info. Tele: 01303 223925 or book through website;www.towertheatrefolkestone.co.uk.Mon 10 Jan. (10 week course) Jewellery – Starter. 13.00 – 15.00 @ The Cube, Ton-tine St. Folkestone. Tele: 0845 606 5606 Mon 10 Jan. (10 week course) Pottery & Ceramics - Starter. 13.00 – 15.00 @ The Cube, Tontine St. Folkestone. Tele: 0845 606 5606 Mon 10 Jan. (12 week course) Belly Dancing. 17.30 – 19.00 @ The Cube, Tontine St. Folkestone. Tele: 0845 606 5606 Mon 10 Jan. (20 week course) ECDL ITL (level 2) Computer course. 18.00 – 21.00 @ The Cube, Tontine St. Folkestone. Tele: 0845 606 5606 Mon 10 Jan. (10 week course) Jewellery – Beginners. 19.00 – 21.00 @ The Cube, Tontine St. Folkestone. Tele: 0845 606 5606

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Mon 10 Jan (10 week course) Pottery & Ceramics. 19.00 – 21.00 @ The Cube, Ton-tine St. Folkestone. Tele: 0845 606 5606 Tue 11 Jan (10 week course) Contemporary Textiles. 12.30 – 15.30 @ The Cube, Ton-tine St. Folkestone. Tele: 0845 606 5606 Wed 12 Jan (10 week Course) Digital Photography Adv. Projects. 12.30 – 14.30 @ The Cube, Tontine St. Folkestone. Tele: 0845 606 5606 Wed 12 Jan (11 week course) Creative Writing – Poetry. 13.00 – 15.00 @ The Quar-terhouse, Tontine St. Folkestone. Under Adult Ed. Tele: 0845 606 5606 Wed 12 Jan (10 week course) Contemporary Textiles. 19.00 – 21.00 @ The Cube, Tontine St. Folkestone. Tele: 0845 606 5606 Thu 13 Jan (7 week course) Bridge - Intermediate. 10.30 – 12.30 @ The Cube, Ton-tine St. Folkestone. Tele: 0845 606 5606 Thu 13 Jan (7 week course) Bridge – Intermediate, Part 2. 10.30 – 12.30 @ Wood Ave. Library, Folkestone. Under Adult Ed. Tele: 0845 606 5606Thu 13 Jan (10 week course) Pottery & Ceramics. 19.00 – 21.00 @ The Cube, Tontine St. Folkestone. Tele: 0845 606 5606 Thu 13 Jan (10 week course) Digital Photography Adv. Projects 19.00 – 21.00 @ The Cube, Tontine St. Folkestone. Tele: 0845 606 5606 Sat 22 Jan (1 day taster) Sculpture Course. 10.00 – 16.00 @ The Cube, Tontine St. Folkestone. Tele: 0845 606 5606 Sat 22 Jan Burn’s Night @ the Grand, the Leas, Folkestone. 7.00pm. £16 pp. Special Burn’s menu & quiz. tele. 01603 222222Thu 27 Jan 2011. African Drumming Workshops , The View, 6 - 8 Aspen House, West Terrace, Folkestone, Kent. 19:00 to 21:00Fri 14 Jan (5 week course) Decorative Textiles (starter) 9.30 – 12.30 @ The Cube, Tontine St. Folkestone. Tele: 0845 606 5606 Mon 31 Jan (10 week course) Active Living – Body Tone. 14.00 – 15.00 @ St. Joseph’s Church Hall, Cheriton. Under Adult Ed. Tele: 0845 606 5606Mon 31 Jan (10 week course) Active Living – Body Tone. 13.30 – 14.30 @ St. John’s Ambulance Hall, Hythe. Under Adult Ed. Tele: 0845 606 5606Sat 5 Feb (The following 1 day taster courses are taking place) between 10.00 – 16.00 Textile Batik Painting, Pottery, Have a go at Portuguese, French Grammar made easy, Have a go at Spanish, Get to know your Digital SLR Camera, & Try Printmaking @ The Cube, Tontine St. Folkestone. Tele: 0845 606 5606 Sat 5 Feb (1 day taster) Meditation. 14.00 – 15.30 @ The Cube, Tontine St. Folke-stone. Tele: 0845 606 5606

FOLKESTONE LIONS BOXING DAY DIP Sunday 26/12/10

Registration forms at www.folkestonelions.org.uk

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Why not do some real cooking at Christmas with these seasonal recipes from Mary Bridger:

Danish Christmas Present Pudding:

Ingredients: ¾ pint of full cream milk, ¼ vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla ex-tract (not essence), 1.5oz short grain pudding rice, 1oz shelled almonds, 2oz granulated sugar, 1 tablespoonful sweet sherry, 2 level teaspoons of gelatine, 5 fl oz or ¼ pt double cream. And for the sauce: 16oz / 1 lb can Morello Cherries, 6 tbsp water, 2 level tbsp cornflour. [1 oz or ounce is 25-26 grams. 1 lb is about 412 grams] Bring the milk to boil, add rice and vanilla and stir. Simmer for about 20mins or until rice is tender. Skin almonds, if necessary by blanching in boiling water for a minute. Keep aside one whole almond and chop the re-mainder. Add sugar, almonds and sherry to rice, stir well and remove vanilla pod if used. Measure water into a small basin and add gelatine. Place the basin in a bowl of water over moderate heat and stir until gelatine is melt-ed. Add to rice and almonds, stir well and pour into a bowl until cold BUT not set. Whip cream until thick and lightly fold it into the rice keeping lots of air in the mixture. Pour into serving bowl and leave in the refrigerator. Strain syrup from cherries with a jug and add the water. Mix syrup and cornflour in the saucepan, bring to boil, stirring, and simmer for 3 minutes. Add cherries and heat through. Spoon a little over rice in serving dish. Serve the remainder separately. The Danes leave one whole almond in this dessert , and the person who finds it gets a present. The similar British tradition is of course to have a silver charm or old silver threepence in the Christmas Pudding.

Old Fashioned Trifle:

Fruit Layer: 1lb 2oz mixed bag of frozen summer fruits, 3oz Caster sugar, 1½ tbsp mixed with 1 tbsp of water. Custard Layer: 1¾ pints of double cream and 1¾ pints of full cream milk, 1 vanilla pod split down the middle or 1 tbsp of vanilla essence, 3 medium egg yolks, 1 medium whole egg, 3oz caster sugar, 4 tbsp of plain flour. Base: 7oz almond macaroons or amaretti biscuits; 6 tbsp medium dry or sweet sherry. Method: 1. Put frozen fruit, sugar and water in saucepan, cook gently, stirring occa-sionally until sugar has melted and fruit has thawed. Remove from heat and add the arrowroot paste. Return to heat, gradually bring to boil and cook for one minute stirring constantly. The juices should have thickened to a sauce. Leave until completely cold. 2. Make the custard. Put cream and milk into a saucepan with vanilla pod or extract. Bring gently to just below boiling. Remove from heat, cover and let infuse for 10 minutes. Put together egg yolks, whole egg and caster sugar and flour. Remove vanilla pod from milk. Gradually and carefully add to egg mixture and stir well. Pour custard into a clean pan, heat gently stir-

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ring all the time until thick; do not boil as egg will curdle. Transfer to jug, cover with greaseproof paper and leave until cold. 3. Place biscuits into a 3 pint glass dish. Put up to 6 tbsp of sherry on them and leave to soak in for 20minutes. Spoon cold fruit over in an even layer. Gently top with cold custard, taking care to keep fruit and custard in sepa-rate layers. Leave at least 10 minutes in cold place to allow layers to settle. Tip; You can use Bird’s Ready Made Custard, but should add a few drops of vanilla extract.

Chocolate and Chestnut Parfait:

Ingredients: 5oz roughly crushed amaretti biscuits, 4 tbsp. Brandy, 8oz sweetened chestnut puree, 4oz chopped up plain chocolate, 1¾ pints of double cream. For the coating: 40z plain chocolate, 3 tbsp double cream. For the decoration: 2oz plain chocolate, icing sugar for dusting. [1 oz = 25-26 grams, 8oz = 206 grams] Method: Mix together biscuits and brandy in a bowl and leave for about 15 minutes until soaked in. Stir in the chestnut puree and chopped chocolate. Whip double cream until stiff, fold airily into chestnut mix. Rinse a 1.5pt pudding basin with cold water and don’t dry it, but fill with chestnut mix. Freeze for 12 hours or overnight until firm. Break up the chocolate for the coating and set in a small bowl with the cream over a pan of hot water until it forms a smooth sauce. Dip the bowl of Parfait quickly into hot water and then turn out onto a plate. Quickly spread the chocolate coating over the top and sides; it does not have to be smooth just complete. Return to freezer until it is firm. It can be frozen up to a month. Remove from freezer to fridge for 30mins before serving to allow to soften. You can decorate with stars by melting decoarating chocolate ans spreading it on oiled tinfoil until set. Cut out your own stars with a sharp knife or buy them in Sainsburys. M.B .

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Brothers Reunited

By Liz Brown

We recently reported on the life of Walter Tull and his association with Folkestone. In brief, Walter was born in the town but the untimely death of both of his parents forced him into a children’s home. Despite his early difficulties, he became the first black outfield player in First Division (with Tottenham Hotspur) and the first British-born Black infantry officer in the armed forces.

Local historian, Eamonn Rooney, recently discovered Walter Tull’s name on a gravestone in the Cheriton Road cemetery, close to the railway line and directly opposite the eastern side gate. Walter’s name, his death aged 29 years and his regiment (23rd Middlesex) are recorded on a gravestone under the names of his father Daniel and mother Alice Elizabeth. Further west, lies his elder brother William Stephen Palmer Tull, aged 37 years. Their graves are in unconsecrated ground, which accorded with their non-conformist, Methodist, beliefs.

After the death of their parents in swift succession, the large Tull family became fragmented and so the brothers’ lives diverged. William was old enough to be working as a carpenter and so he remained in the area while his younger brothers Walter and Edward were sent to a children’s home in Bethnal Green. During the first few years of their separation, William made efforts to keep in contact but these were discouraged by staff at the institu-tion.

William carried on his journeyman trade, travelling around England but returned to Folkestone, married and started a family. Edward was adopted by a couple from Glasgow and so Walter was left without family in the children’s home and from then on made a life for himself, despite prevailing racial prejudice. It is reported that he had “ a dogged persistence, a quality of character that colours his life. He did not like to quit. However difficult, unmanageable, unbearable circumstances seemed, his reaction was to dig in.”

Both Walter and William were killed as a result of the Great War. Walter fell in action on 25th March 1918 aged 29 years. William was a sapper in the Royal Fusiliers and died of pulmonary tuberculosis on 12 March 1920 after his lungs had been fatally damaged by gas. In addition to Folkestone, Wal-ter was remembered on memorials in Arras, Glasgow, Dover and River. Wil-liam is absent because he lived on past the end of the war. From a shared early life as members of a close knit family, life led them along different paths. In the end war intervened, they fought the same fight and ended up as victims of the same conflict.

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Photo Liz Tullock

Photo Ann Berry

On a recent pilgrimage to the War Graves in Loos France, on an impromptu visit to Fauboug d’ Amiens Cemetery Arras. I found on the wall to the missing Walter Tull’s name revealed there, seen here just above his photograph. Ann.

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Organising Folkestone Skabour Festival

Folkestone Skabour Festival has been described by the businesses in and around Folkestone Harbour as “the best thing that has happened in the area for years”. Since the demise of the popular summer Harbour Festival the area has lacked an identity for townsfolk and tourists alike. From what can be deter-mined, the popular Harbour Festival with its highlight, the raft race, found itself tied down by ‘red tape’ and the associated problems of being able to maintain it as a regular annual event.So how did Folkestone Skabour Festival overcome the challenges that shackled the annual Harbour Festival?Firstly, the organisers of ‘Skabour’ were prepared to jump through all the hoops necessary to make it work. Secondly, the focus was on satisfying the health and safety issues which are now necessary to run a public event.We live in a litigious age and local authority concerns regarding public events, especially those where alcohol is feely available, was a justifiable concern.Fortunately, the four organisers of this festival all have backgrounds in local event organising and the majority had extensive experience of risk manage-ment and major event/business organisation. Although security and stew-arding was relatively low key during the course of the festival its presence was evident and more than satisfied minimum requirements.The ethos of Folkestone Skabour Festival was always envisaged to include free access to the daytime events and, as circumstances transpired, rather than looking to the vacant seafront as a solution, it was considered that the Harbour Square and The Stade provided the infrastructure to put on such an event with food and drink outlets being immediately accessible. This not only benefitted the festival goers but also the local businesses in the vicin-ity.Without the funds to ‘prime the pumps’, the organisers first port of call, five months prior to the proposed event date, was to approach Folkestone Town Council for grant funding. Fortunately the finance committee of the Town Council deemed the project worthy of some modest financing. These funds were used to undertake a risk assessment to determine the suitability of the area in terms of health and safety requirements. Capita Symonds, the company employed to undertake this assessment, gave the site the all clear subject to certain conditions. It was then the case of persuading Shepway District Council, the police and other emergency services and the land owners (Folkestone Harbour Company) that the organisers could de-liver based upon the health and safety report.There is little point arranging a festival unless there is something to draw in visitors. Here, we had an ace card. John Sims, known to many in the town for his involvement in other local events, is not only a keen fan of Ska music but also has the highest regard amongst many of the movers and shak-ers in this sector of the music industry having been the graphic designer behind the 2tone wave of Ska to emerge in the late 1970’s and 80’s. John

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had worked with bands such as THE BEAT, The Specials, Madness and other popular performers. It was his reputation and his knowledge of this genre of popular music that drew many of the acts to contribute to the project.To make the sums add up it was necessary for John and friends Andi El-liott, Andy Shorten and Trevor Moss to draw on their business experience in terms of event organisation, marketing and fund raising. The team went to work, often with each spending 12 hours a day pulling all the disparate threads together, negotiating contracts with bands, venues, media, land owners, the authorities, supporters and sponsors. It was also necessary to negotiate with venues, in addition to creating visual awareness, booking acts, developing a website (which received over 30,000 hits over a few months) and Facebook and Twitter sites and determining those acts which would draw festival goers to the ticketed events that would enable the team to fund the free daytime music and activities in the har-bour area.None of this would have been possible without further financial support from the Roger De Haan Charitable Trust, the co-operation of the Folkestone Harbour Company, Creative Foundation and contributions from Tony Pye of Chummy’s Seafood Stall, Kevin Gillespie of Gillespie’s Public House, Shep-way District Council and Ilir Hoti our website designer to whom the organis-ers offer their utmost appreciation.BBC Radio Kent, KMFM, Romney Marsh Radio and the Folkestone Kent Messenger were fully behind the project producing radio and press promo-tional and editorial features. The team also employed new media advertis-ing through We7. We7 is a free music download site back by Peter Gabriel (of Genesis fame). Folkestone Skabour Festival was promoted worldwide through this on-line music streaming service and had in excess of 1.3m...Yes, 1,300,000 impressions! (adverts to you and me) as prequels to free music tracks in the four weeks leading up to the festival. The fact that visi-tors came to Folkestone specifically for this event, from as far as Spain, Italy and Japan is a testament to on-line global networking and internet advertising.Additionally, Folkestonians couldn’t ignore the fact that John Sims Skabour designs were all around town, on leaflets, in bars, venues and empty shop windows, in addition to being on posters at 12 SouthEastern train sta-tions throughout the Kent railway network including Folkestone Central and Folkestone West (N.B. Not one fly poster!).Quarterhouse provided an ’on line’ ticketing facility not only to those events taking place at that venue but also for the other venues at which Skabour ticketed events were taking place. Quarterhouse also promoted the festival through their printed and online material. Popular cafes and bars such as Googies, The Bar Below (le View) and The Chambers provided venues for pre-festival promotional events and Kent scooter clubs not only turned up with their fantastic looking machines on the day but also sent the message around to the network of scooter clubs far and wide.There are too many people to name personally here in this article but without them we would not have been able to run the Skabour Market,

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involve local youth through the Arts Awards project or raise funds for the St Eanswythes School playground regeneration project (where contributions from festival goers provided an additional £500 to the cause), as well as the volunteers and hired hands who brought the whole infrastructure together.Finally the organisers of Folkestone Skabour festival would like to thank Go Folkestone! for its own contribution by allowing us to use The Hub as our ‘control centre’. Not that it was needed for the designated purpose as the weekend passed incident free, which, considering that around 2,500 people were attending the Harbour Square and The Stade at the peak of each day’s free events, and an estimated total of 8,000 to 10,000 festival goers came to the ticketed and free events over the course of the weekend, is a result in its own right.For the organisers, the biggest thrill was to see festival goers of all ages smiling and dancing. We were approached by so many of these good people asking that we repeat the event next year that their request is hard to ig-nore.

Trevor MossCo-organiserFolkestone Skabour Festival

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Weds 8 Dec at 7.30pm - Xmas at UCF Once again this year, the creative and performing arts students at the Uni-versity Centre Folkestone students will be offering their own distinctive ver-sion of a Christmas Celebration. Entitled “A Christmas Cracker” because no-one, until the last moment, know exactly what’s in it, you may be assured of a medley of songs, sketches, readings and music which look at Christmas from all angles - and you will have your chance to roar your way through the carols which don’t normally make it into Carol Services. Accompanied by mulled wine and mince pies, in the informal setting of a festive Quarterhouse, this will be a thoroughly enjoyable and relaxing evening which might just put you in the right frame of mind and spirit for a festive season which recalls how it should feel. We shall hope to see you there.

To book, contact: Jane SeamanMarketing and Outreach Coordinator,University Centre Folkestone, Mill Bay, Folkestone, Kent CT20 1JG01303 847042 www.ucf.ac.uk University Centre Folkestone offers degrees and Foundation degrees in subjects including Performing and Visual Arts, Dance Education, Creative Writing, and Early Years education. There are opportunities for full-time and part-time study as well as a wide range of short courses.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LETTERS TO GO FOLKESTONE: A MYSTERY Hi my name is Caroline and I am a youth worker in Cafe-it in Folkestone and we always have the Go Folkestone booklet delivered to us. Today I was flicking through and reading the article on Step Short and Canada day when something jumped into my memory that I hope will be of some interest and maybe historic value. A couple of years ago my friend moved into a flat in Marine Parade, and one day she showed me a patch of wall that had been covered and framed between her two windows in the front room. You could faintly see some signatures and messages that had been written by soldiers leaving from Folkestone and I am sure the dates were WW1. I am sure that if this has been undiscovered it would remain a great shame and would be of interest to many people. I hope you find this useful. Kind regards Caroline Douglas[Does this still survive? ED. ]-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leas Lift Winter Opening Times

Thursdays and Fridays: Open 10.00 am. Last Journey 15.35 pm.Saturdays and Sundays: Open 10.00am. Last Journey 16.35 pm.

N.B. All winter openings are subject to weather conditions

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First personYour preferred title: Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss/Other:

First Name:

Surname:

Email address:

Mobile:Second person (for joint membership)Your preferred title: Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss/Other:

First Name:

Surname:

Email address:

Mobile:Home Address

Town:

County:

Postcode:

Telephone:

Please post your form with a cheque made out to ‘Go Folkestone Action Group’ to:Membership Secretary, Flat 4, 21 Clifton Crescent, Folkestone, Kent CT20 2EN(01303 247600)

p Single membership £ 10.00p Couple at the same address £ 15.00p In receipt of benefits £5.00p Junior membership (under 18) £5.00

Membership formType of membership you want:(please tick as appropriate)

30The Grand, The Leas, Folkestone CT20 2XL Tel 01303 222 222 www.grand-uk.com

Jive £5 7.30 - 9.30PM EVERY MONDAY

Salsa £7 7PM UNTIL LATE EVERY TUESDAY

Quiz Night £5 8PM (TEAM OF UP TO FOUR)

EVERY 2ND & 4TH

WEDNESDAY

Mature Moves£3.50 10.30–11.30AM EVERY TUESDAY & THURSDAY

Jazz Night £5 8.30PM EVERY THURSDAY

Yoga £7 10.30 - 11.45AM EVERY FRIDAY

KEPPELS BARSunday Roast

SUNDAYS TO 9PM £8

Around the World menu 2 course £11.00 or 3 course £15.00

PALM COURTFull English Breakfast

MON-SAT £12 FOR 2

Sweet Fridays 2 GRAND TEAS FOR £16

Carvery 3 Courses SUNDAYS £22

F O R T H C O M I N G E V E N T S

Open 7am–11pm every dayTelephone 01303 222 222

www.grand-uk.com

Antiques & Collectors Fair £1 9.30AM - 4.00PM 1ST SUNDAY OF EVERY MONTH

Bridge Nights £2.50 7.00PM EVERY MONDAY (EXCEPT 1ST MONDAY OF EVERY MONTH)

AT THE GRAND BOOK NOW

at 7pmTraditional 3-Course Burns Night Menu, £16 per person,

Special Burns Night Quiz, Booking Essential.

Saturday 22nd January £16 per

Saturday12 February

5 - 11 FebruaryVISIT THE INNER WORKINGS OF THE MAGIC

AT THE GRAND

Friday 4 March 7:30pm

Live Magic and Chefs Finest Three Course Supper, Only £18.00 per person