November 2013

Home , Elham Valley Railway, Frogholt, History of Folkestone

November 2013

Photo: David Noble The Leas in Winter

www.gofolkestone.org.uk Membership renewal

Community Action Group working for positive Change and Pride in Folkestone

Membership Renewal due by 5th November 2013

Please make Payment / cheques payable to Go Folkestone by one of the methods below: Post your renewal to:

Go Folkestone, Membership Secretary Or Alternatively Internet Banking: Mrs Nicola Tolson Lloyds TSB Sort Code 30 93 34 Flat 4 . 21 Clifton Crescent Account 02359029 Folkestone Kent CT20 2EN Use your name as your Reference

Cut ------Membership renewal Single membership £10.00 In receipt of benefits £ 5.00 Couple at same address £15.00 Junior membership (under18) £ 5.00

Name: ______

Address: ______

______

Telephone Number: ______

Mobile: ______

Email Address: ______Contents Editorial

4 45

8 On Wednesday 13th November Go Folkestone will be holding its 12th Annual General Meeting at 7.30pm in 10 Wards Hotel, Earls Avenue.

An invitation to attend has gone out to members along 12 with a notice to elect the Officers, but there are other positions to also be filled. Only Fully paid up members will be able to vote. To make it easier for members to 13 remember to renew their membership, it was suggested that November 5th would be a sensible date and so 15 would always be in time for voting at the Annual General meeting. An overview of the Step Short Project will be 16 given immediately after the business of the AGM has concluded.

Over the past year we have updated our website and 18 introduced a new Facebook page to provide a more direct means of communicating local news and showing Folkestone at it’s best. 20 We continue to receive many varied and interesting 22 articles for inclusion in the magazine as you will see in this issue. Please keep them coming. Folkestone is a great place, so help us to tell everyone. 24

25 Ann Berry Chair, Go Folkestone 26 35 Birkdale Drive, Folkestone. CT19 5LP Email: [email protected]

Editorial Committee: Ann Berry, DavidNoble, PhilipCarter, and Richard Wallace. Magazine Layout: Mike Tedder

1 CITROËN SELECT APPROVED USED VEHICLES AT WILMOTHS FOLKESTONE

MODEL COLOUR MILEAGE REG PRICE MODEL COLOUR MILEAGE REG PRICE MODEL COLOUR MILEAGE REG PRICE ŊňĐō ŐŇ ġ ňŐčňōō ňŋġŇŌġňŇ ŁňŇčŐŐŌ ŋŉĐŇ ňōŇ ŏčŉŎň ŊŇġňŉġňň ŁňŌčŐŐŌ ŌŉĐŇ ňōŇ ōčŎŏŋ ŊňġŇŌġňŉ ŁňŐčŐŐŌ ŊňĐōňŉŇ ġ ňŌčŋŎŎ ŊŇġŇŐġňň ŁňňčŋŐŌ ŋňĐō ňňŇ ŉŏġŇōġňŊ ŁňŎčŐŐŌ Ō ŋŉŇŇ ŇňġŇŊġňŊ ŁŉŌčŐŐŌ ŊňĐōňŉŇ ġ ŉčŉŉŎ ŊŇġŇōġňň ŁňňčŐŐŌ ŊňĐō ŐŇ ňŊčŌňŏ ňŇġŇŉġňň ŁňŉčŊŐŌ ŊňĐōĒ ŐŇ ġ ŉŏġŇōġňŊ ŁňŋčŋŐŌ Ŋ ňĐōňŉŇ ġ ŊňġŇňġňŊ ŁňŋčŋŐŌ

ĥĘĥ ĥňňŉ ĥŊŇ ĥ ŁōŇŇē

WILMOTHS FOLKESTONE 01303 245588 FOORD ROAD, FOLKESTONE, KENT CT19 5AE www.wilmothsfolkestone.citroen.co.uk

2 CITROËN SELECT APPROVED USED VEHICLES AT WILMOTHS FOLKESTONE

ĥĘĥ ĥňňŉ ĥŊŇ ĥ ŁōŇŇē

WILMOTHS FOLKESTONE 01303 245588 FOORD ROAD, FOLKESTONE, KENT CT19 5AE www.wilmothsfolkestone.citroen.co.uk

3 CHERITON LIGHTS FESTIVAL IS BACK IN FEBRUARY

Go Folkestone is happy to see that the very successful Cheriton Lights Festival first put on last year is going to be repeated this year on Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd February. It is fairly early days to see precisely what is going to happen, but there are some ideas coming to fruition now that the Arts Council England has agreed to become the main sponsor, reflecting the startling success of 2013. Also helping have been many other bodies such as the Roger De Haan Foundation, Shepway District Council and Folkestone Town Council.

Last year The Cheriton Lights Festival was at times quite magical. Many people thought that Cheriton, though it had its own district council from 1911 until 1936, was just a suburb without enough identity or culture to support a big local arts event. But they were wrong. The very lack of excitement in normal times made people willing to give it all a chance, and it worked.

On the Saturday last year drumming bands, schools and community groups combated some very cold if dry weather, joining Strange Cargo in their lantern procession through Cheriton and Morehall. Highlights included Andrew Baldwin’s roaming mechanical Firefly and Ross Aston and Karen Monid’s breath-taking projection and sound installation Spiritus at All Souls Church. The latter with eerie sound and beautiful images of stained glass and other lit pictures would not have been out of place on the National Gallery. Due to artful ‘visual mapping‘ the contours of both All Souls and the Baptist Church did not spoilt the effect. In 2013 several other ideas are forming the basis of a similar light show. One idea is the fact that the distinctive Dormobile brand had its factory in Cheriton at Caesar’s Way. In an effort to make the event truly local some aspects of this such as the distinctive camper vans, and the link of Dormobile to ambulances, taxis and fire engines may influence the displays. I think it would be ill advised not to repeat at least some of the other- worldly experiences that the church displays last year evoked, since light at night is essentially spiritual. It would be great for some of the best of last year to be seen again. But Strange Cargo pulled it all off last year so they know what they are doing.

What we do know is that last year 20 people had exhibitions and installations in their houses or gardens and this year there are more than 40 lined up. In 2012 Terry Perk’s mesmerising Kaleidoscope was the best: a large mirrored triangle sticking about 20 feet out of his living room into Quested Road which formed a giant changing and rotating pattern if you looked down the middle. You won’t forget anything like that this year, and there is double the chance of finding that stand-out creation. The stalls should also stretch further down to the Morehall end of town.

Unfortunately, at the moment last year’s bonfire is not going to be repeated. Whether it be Guy Fawkes Night or February don’t you wish that insurance and other matters hadn’t made the public bonfire almost extinct? Still, not a bad time to have your own in the garden and make an evening of it. Have a practice this November 5th! Last time on the Sunday there was a sculptural phoenix bonfire and pyrotechnic display that was watched by thousands. Strange Cargo are still planning how to highlight the Sunday, though the exhibitions, models, stalls and light displays will be out there.

If you have an interesting idea or a house to put forward then do so quickly. Certainly Strange Cargo are keen to talk to anyone associated with the old Dormobile Works or Martin Walters.

Ps. Who owns the former ambulance depot at 3 Coombe Road? 15 feet wide and 120 feet long, there must be something strange to be done with it.

4 Minister for Education opens new Folkestone Primary Academy and Glassworks Sixth Form Centre Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Education and Childcare Elizabeth Truss MP officially opened two new school buildings in Folkestone on Tuesday 8th October. Folkestone Primary Academy has relocated this term to brand new buildings, set close to and on the Park Farm Road side of the secondary school . The new £6.2million primary buildings were designed by Guy Hollaway Architects, and provide accommodation for up to 450 children, taught in classes of twenty, and a new Kindergarten phase. The building itself incorporates innovative teaching aids and other technology, including solar panels.

The Glassworks Sixth Form Centre, set in the heart of Folkestone’s Creative Quarter, has been established to respond to the success of the Folkestone Academy’s sixth form since it was established when the school opened in 2007. Demand for place exceeds capacity at the Academy, and numbers of students entering sixth form were 85 in 2007 and 340 today.

Chair of Governors of The Folkestone All Age Academy Roger De Haan said: “Improving access to and quality of education for all of Folkestone’s young people is central to our vision to make the town a better place in which to live and work and bring up a family. Already we have seen a dramatic change for the better in academic results and there is evidence demonstrating that these improvements are being mirrored in non-selective schools across the District. Our mission is to raise aspirations of Folkestone’s young people and prepare them for a more successful future.”

Academic performance has shown continued improvement: according to the Gold Standard of 5 A* - C GCSEs including Maths and English, results have improved from 14% in 2008 to 52% in 2013. Performance by the same measure has risen at ALL four non-selective schools in the Shepway District, appearing to indicate that the increased competition has helped raise standards across the board. This overall improvement in academic performance is even more marked when seen in the context of Kent’ selective education system.

Unlike its predecessor school, Folkestone Academy included a sixth form. Since 2009 ever rising numbers of its students have continued on to higher education, and at least 100 are expected to go on to university in summer 2014. The Academy is oversubscribed. The new Glassworks Sixth Form Centre has therefore been established to provide improved amenities and accommodation for up to 500 students by 2020, in the heart of the Creative Quarter. The University College of Folkestone has contracted back to its mother campus at Canterbury Christchurch, closing in May 2013 . It came under pressure as an arts and theatre specialist: areas where student numbers have gone down nationally since tuition fees were introduced. Obviously this was disappointing, but The Academy use is a clever and valuable sideways step for these excellent buildings.

As far as the new primary facilities were concerned the Folkestone Academy governing body realised that over half of children arriving at the Academy in year seven were typically two years behind in reading age. It sought to establish better links with feeder primary schools, and the opportunity arose to amalgamate with one of the largest of these, Park Farm Primary, which was at the time in the bottom 3% performing schools in English. The primary school now exceeds Local Authority and National Averages for attainment at the end of Key Stage 2. 97% attained level 4 or above in reading and 54% attained level 5. There were similarly high scores in Writing and Maths. The project is being underwritten and interim funding is being provided by the Roger De Haan Charitable Trust , with the intention being to help funding by selling the former, visibly dated 1960s/70s buildings in Park Farm Road for residential development, and with a Government grant. 5 RAILWAY MUSEUM NEEDS BACKING FOR BIG NEW EXHIBITS

by Richard Wallace

Peene Railway Museum is gradually pulling itself up into being a serious tourist attraction and is certainly an excellent place for local people to take their kids. We went there for the first time in several years having walked a mile across the field footpaths from the charming hamlet of Frogholt to find it had added several attractions, and was planning to add more if it can get the backing from others [STOP PRESS: Looking Good from Eurotunnel].

Photo: David Noble

If you come in the more typical, if less enjoyable way, by car, you get off the A20 and thread carefully through Newington, the nearest unspoilt village to Folkestone and go into the car park on the right after ¼ mile. Towering over the car park is George’s Barn a 15th century tithe barn which was taken down and transported a mile or two from Danton Pinch, a hamlet now lost under the Channel Tunnel Terminus, where it had ended that period of its life as a cattery. This is now partly a tearoom helping to support the efforts of the museum which is a Community Interest Company run by volunteers (rather like Go Folkestone which could also do with some help). Peene needs more volunteers at weekends and Bank Holidays to run the tearooms, craft workshops and the railway museum itself. Ideal for both retired people and 6th formers trying to put something good in their personal statements. See the last paragraph for contacts.

‘George’ was George Wright the founder of the Museum who had the idea in the 1980s to both save the mediaeval barn and commemorate the vanished steam railway of the Elham Valley Line using his land at Peene which was one the line though never with a station. George gathered old railway buildings from Lyminge Station and even the old railway works at Newtown in Ashford and placed them around original railway tracks to form Peene Station.

6 The Barn is on one side of the old embanked line and is linked by a short nature walk to the railway station on the other. Most of the Barn is divided into a series of craft areas in which local craft workers work away at a series of tables, looms, and lathes etc producing and selling their wares. It is all very genuine, and works because the craft people are comfortable and friendly with each other, and come and go as they please. There is a maker of treen bowls, a maker of trugs and walking sticks, a sculptor, a jewellery maker, a maker of delicate wooden ornaments, a bowmaker and fletcher (!), 3 decorative card makers and a lady who spins and weaves wool mostly from a flock of Jacob sheep. You can have a light meal, browse and buy some pieces, and then walk over to the railway.

The Barn was left for some years after the museum opened, as the rail enthusiasts concentrated on the latter, and was even let out to the Strange Cargo Arts Company as a store. When the latter had to pull in its horns in 2011 local people like Cllr Kevin Golding decided to take a hand, since when the Barn has been opened properly and things have gone to a different level.

The latest additions have included an extension of the 7.25 inch gauge model railway line around the duck pond and garden to form a worthwhile ride for children, as they say, of all ages. It has been a big success. The Museum is only opened weekends and bank holidays (until November 24th) and the mini-rail has notched up 35 days but carried its thousandth passenger in early October. It is expected to be even more popular when a Bridget midget steam train being rebuilt by a local man starts sharing with the current electric train.

Most heartening has been the installation of the famous 1890 step lift from the Folkestone Leas Lift. This writer and several others suggested Peene as a location when negotiations to put it back on the Leas Lift broke down, and this magazine has featured its ups and downs, or lack of them, since it was renovated by the unstinting efforts of Robert Mouland, Jack Gill etc. Folkestonians worried or unaware of its being transported to the countryside this August will have nothing to worry about. It is mounted at the right working angle on the embankment and is opened in exhibition time so that you can now sit on its amazing banked seats, and imagine quite easily the Edwardian funiculations of H.G.Wells and others. Mr Mouland is planning to continue improving its original renovation with pitch pine and leather window straps replacing plywood.

The main railway museum (£2.50 for adults) includes an old ticket office, a stationmaster’s office doubling as a model shop, a railway workshop and a red telephone box with a mounted audio commentary inside it. On the ‘down platform‘ is a very well fitted, ancient signal box and a long waiting room containing many exhibits of the former Elham Valley Line which went from Folkestone West to Canterbury West via Cheriton Halt, Etchinghill Halt, Lyminge, Elham, Barham, Bishopsbourne, Bridge and Canterbury South. These include a good working model of the line and many WW2 objects. The wonderfully formal old railway signs are amusing.

In many ways Peene is turning as well into the de facto museum of Eurotunnel and The Channel Tunnel which after all is just as much railways and transport as the Elham Valley Railway. The original Channel Tunnel Model that many will remember from the Channel Tunnel Exhibition Centre can be seen at Peene, and the Barn is a monument to the trouble taken in preserving historic buildings disturbed by the project. Eurotunnel executives visited the old model earlier this year and have indicated that they may help renovate it as well as considering the Manrider Project. 7 Many will remember how big the Chunnel Exhibition was at a time, circa 1988-95 when it was important to get public support for what a few did think would be a failure.

The latest attempt to gather in important Channel Tunnel relics is a current bid, which simply MUST be backed by the District Council, Eurotunnel and others to get and display the last ‘man-riders’, the long distance mini-trains that took workers to the construction face under the English Channel every day. With tracks mounted and doubling up in the small central service tunnel it was surprisingly tight. The ‘trains’ are taking up a lot of storage at the Dover Transport Museum, where they are not displayed and are not being repaired. DTM need the space for something else and rightly consider the Tunnel to be a Folkestone baby. The man-riders are twenty feet long and four feet wide. They could form the centre piece of a good second museum room dedicated to the Chunnel. There are three vehicles left: there were a lot but some have been destroyed and some sold to the Cross rail project and heavily adapted to the different conditions there. The evocative intended display would mock up a section of the tunnel with manikins of the workers with the right equipment sitting in the man-riders. All that is needed is a bit of help with loading and unloading the machines and some financial help for the display which would be mostly made by volunteers.

Photo: David Noble

Dover Transport Museum will start looking for other places for the man-riders in December, and eventually scrap them if necessary. If you wish to support this scheme to put them in Peene Museum and build up a Chunnel Collection, and then please write to your councillor, your MP, Damien Collins, or the Chief Executive of Shepway District Council, Alistair Mc Neil.

In the meantime the Peene Railway Christmas Craft Fair is a big finale for the Museum from 10.00am to 4.00pm on Saturdays and Sundays 16th and 17th, 23rd and 24th November. It was a big success last year with many added stalls and should be a blast this year. 8 Folkestone Seafront - an update

by Peter Bettley

An outline planning application for the 35 acre Folkestone seafront site was considered at an extraordinary meeting of Shepway District Council on 31 July, following nearly five years of very careful planning and several rounds of public consultation. The decision by the full council to award outline planning consent was unanimous, with one abstention.

The plans have been designed by a team led by world renowned architect Sir Terry Farrell, with a brief to transform the harbour and seafront site with a forward looking plan that respects Folkestone’s heritage and environment. It has been described as a once in a century opportunity to create a new connection between the existing town and the sea that will sit comfortably alongside Folkestone’s existing architecture. The plan promises to provide “an attractive place that attracts visitors and provides recreation and enjoyment for local people”. It will create up to 1000 new homes, together with cafes, restaurants and bars, facilities for sea and beach sports, gardens and public squares that will provide play areas, as well as improvements to transport and to sea defences.

Whilst expressing their overwhelming approval for the plans, as reflected in the responses from a substantial majority of the thousands of local people who took part in consultations since 2010, some Shepway Councillors expressed their reservations that the development might take some years to come to fruition. However, others commented on the progress that has already been made in regenerating the area around the Old Town and Folkestone harbour. The development of the Creative Quarter has reversed decades of decline in The Old High Street, and has had a much needed positive knock-on effect in adjacent areas of the town centre that previously saw very little footfall. RockSalt restaurant, The Smokehouse and the harbour fountains have all helped to generate new interest in the area around the quayside and for other businesses in The Stade. , Visitor numbers to Folkestone in summer 2013 were noticeably up on previous years, car parks were often full, and the town had a really vibrant feel to it. The Creative Foundation reports that occupancy of its retail, residential and studio/office units is now well over 90%, compared with around 70% a year ago. Folkestone’s glass is at least three quarters full.

Against this positive backdrop, the immediate challenge for the seafront project is to secure one or more developers to take the project forward. A critical factor in bringing the proposals to this stage has been to demonstrate the financial viability of the project, which needs to generate enough revenue from sales of houses and retail units to offset the provision of the necessary infrastructure and services, including sea defence measures as well as the normal range of utilities and roads. Potential developers will wish to be reassured that the project makes commercial sense for them, but the plans also sought to establish a quality threshold, and to provide dedicated public spaces for the enjoyment of visitors and people who live in Folkestone.

9 FOLKESTONE BOOK FESTIVAL NOVEMBER 2013

By Nick Spurrier

Regardless of age or inclination there is almost certain to be something at this year’s Folkestone Book Festival that will interest you, as Geraldine D’Amico writes “This is the darkest time of the year, nights are long and days short. Here is a festival to bring you light and warmth, words and fun ideas and stories.”

Authors Include Doug Scott with a lavishly illustrated account of his mountaineering career, Dorothy Koomson, author of internationally best-selling emotional thrillers, Lionel Shriver prize winning author of We need to talk about Kevin, Kevin Fong on Life, Death and the limits of the Human Body, Cornelia Parker sculptor of the Folkestone Mermaid and Roger Taylor on God Bless the NHS.

With a second appearance at the festival, the riveting and energetic speaker Marc Morris will without doubt bring to life Castles in Britain, 1066-1650, while military historian Antony Beevor, now almost a regular, will present his new book on The Second World War. Another returning speaker will be the ever popular Kate Adie on The Legacy of Women in World War One, providing a lead up to the centenary commemoration next year, together with Charles Emmerson who will present his book 1913: The World before the Great War. Possibly as an antidote to war, Joe Glenton a soldier, who turned from being a passionate young soldier to a staunch campaigner against war, being labelled “a coward and a malingerer” by the army, will share his experiences.

If you would like to contribute more than just the occasional question at the end of a talk, join philosopher Julian Baggini in the Rocksalt bar for a discussion on What use are the arts and come and hear him again and participate in a debate with Methodist John Butler and Richard Norman of the British Humanist Association on the subject Can Atheists learn anything from Religion? Young or old you have the chance to put your point of view in a debate with Shiv Malik and Ed Howker on The Jilted Generation: How Britain has bankrupted its youth. Finally, if you want to develop your writing skills, join Jacqueline Summer for a Creative Writing Taster or take part in the poetry workshop for women. Of further interest to women might be a debate with Melissa Benn asking the question What should we tell our daughters. As at every festival you can put together a team or come on your own and make up a tem on the night for the Friends of the Book Festival Quiz.

Defeated in the debates or puzzled by philosophy, lighten up and laugh at the middle classes with The man who dropped Le Creuset on his toe by Christopher Matthew or learn of the tears and laughter as Neil Perryman tells of his insane quest to make his wife watch every episode of Dr Who.

Events for children and families start with Megan Rix who will share her stories about the courageous animals who helped Britain during World War II. On the two following days, children’s poet Joseph Coelho in a family reading and writing workshop will give advice on helping children to improve their literacy. The last Sunday of the festival includes three further events for children and families.

For more events and details of prices and times pick up a brochure at Quarterhouse or the Town Hall , or go to the festival website at www.folkestonebookfest . It starts on Friday 15th November and finishes on Sunday 24th November Box Office is 01303 858500

10 THE EDWARDIAN TEAROOMS – UPDATE

by Pat Cocks

Since my last foray into print about the Old Edwardian Tearooms/Leas Pavilion /Leas Club, the future for this lovely building is beginning to look a tad more positive. There are rumours that it will continue to be protected and that some of the potentially attractive but neglected houses in Longford Terrace will be fixed up instead of SDC enforcing a deal to build affordable housing miles away in Cheriton as a planning gain.

The nice people in the planning department have had a meeting with the owners and SDC’s Conservation Officer and the building is deemed to be in reasonable condition but needs airing. Does this mean it is damp inside and our concerns were well founded?

Some repairs are to take place. Exactly what these are has not been revealed. Another winter will not improve the poor state of the façade, and the weeds are still growing out of nooks and crannies. One of the few buildings that 1st World War soldiers on leave really would feel at home in ought to be repaired for the centenary.

The Ice Cream van, dubbed “Brigadoon” as it has disappeared and re-appeared on over the last three years has once again disappeared : for the last time?

I hope people have noticed that the trees growing around the building have been removed and the hedges around the gardens, trimmed. Let us hope that this work will be maintained on a regular basis until any development takes place. The deadline for the owners to commence building on the site expires in September next year. Anyone interested in refreshing their memories as to why permission was given for the original application can look at Application No Y08/1212/SH.

Stop Press Please encourage your local councillors to back my efforts (financially) to bring back the flower baskets hanging from all the beautiful Edwardian lamp standards on The Leas, at the very least for the special year of 2014. The costs have been fully worked out with Shepway at £7,776. It can be done. Personal or business donations should be made payable to Folkestone Town Centre Management and can be sent via Go Folkestone which will happily publicise names of donors if allowed.

11 Golden Days on Golden Sands

by David Crocker

I was born in 1938 growing up in Folkestone through the war years with my mother and sister; dodging bombs, shells and Doodle Bugs (V1 Rockets) that were a part of every day life. At this time the beaches were mined and the sands restricted by barbed wires so although living by the seaside our paddling and swimming was done in the lower of the Radnor Park Ponds. I remember, by the side of the pond, cages containing squirrels but it was only recently that I met someone who confirmed this was not a figment of my imagination.

After the war ended families were reunited, everyone wanted to forget the dark years with a holiday and one of the most popular places to visit was Folkestone. The town had countless hotels catering for the very rich to the very hard up which was most working class families at the time. There were also a lot of very cheap “Bed & Breakfasts”. The disadvantage of these establishments was that visitors were expected to leave their accommodation after breakfast not returning to early evening no matter what the weather, pouring rain was no excuse for an early return. Most families came to Folkestone to enjoy The Sands, Fish & Chips, Cockles & Whelks and Beer. Despite extensive war damage in the harbour area there were still a lot of pubs to choose from.

Once school broke up and the endless summer holidays stretched ahead I could be found on all but the wettest of days down by the sea. The Stade was an exciting place to be with something always happening to entertain the crowds making their way to the sands. The air was filled with the smell of fish waiting to be auctioned. Kiosks selling Buckets &Spades, Candy Floss, Folkestone Rock, Prawns, Crabs, Cockles and Whelks. Fortunes could be told and ladies weights guessed.

I remember one Fortune Teller/Weight Guesser who dressed like a gypsy and always, before reading the future for a customer would chant “Romany Cristi Bott Le Chay, your birth date?” it sounded very impressive. He also gave the crowd a prediction for some event that would happen in the year ahead, he assured us on one occasion that Princess Margaret would marry Peter Townsend within 18 months; his crystal ball must have been very misty that day.

The passing crowds were also entertained by us urchins. When the tide was high we loved to jump or dive in to the sea from the Stade or the East Head, a practise frowned on these days but then we did not have Health and Safety.

On the sands hundreds sun bathed either on towels or in deck chairs. At the end of the war there was a large wreck beached on the sands which we used as an exciting although dangerous play ground but it was soon broken up and removed. Most of the children swimming in the sea wore woollen swimming costumes knitted by their mothers. The problem with these was that they stretched down below the knees when wet.

Every hour or so a train would come down the Tram Road with passengers for the cross channel ferry to France; the sailings caused great excitement on the sands as they created large waves. For those not expecting the sudden surge of water there was a risk of being bowled over or having possessions swept away.

A popular entertainer on the sands was the Punch and Judy Man, acting out the traditional story to the crowds. By the end of the summer I had seen the show so many times that I could have done the show for him. Sadly I never once contributed 12 to the collection always taken at the end of the show but then I had nothing to give. For those who did not enjoy sitting in rows on the packed sands like sardines slowly and painfully grilling until bright red (I don’t remember ever seeing anyone using sun tan lotion) there was the Beach.

At the Beach there was much to do with its two swimming pools, roller skating, boating pool, trips on the Southern Queen, the Rotunda and Shows by visiting companies. The outdoor pool was HQ for the Channel Swimming Association and for many years managed by Sam Rocket who had successfully swum the channel. Once a week in the summer, with my class, I spent an hour at the pool and Sam pushed me to gain my three mile certificate. I proudly received the certificate on prize giving day at the Leas Cliff Hall (the only award I ever won at school) from Doug Wright the Kent and England bowler.

The Indoor pool was called the Rock Pool as its sides were concrete simulating rocks. In the winter my class mates and I would dash in to the freezing sea, rush up the beach and jump into the pool which in contrast to the sea felt like a warm bath. For those who wanted to go to sea there was the Southern Queen with its hourly trips round the bay, the less adventurous used the boating pool where small motor launches puttered round and round in circles.

The Rotunda claimed it had the largest unsupported roof in the world, I always doubted that this was true. It was full of penny slot machines which on rainy days made the owners a lot of money.

In the evenings there was a choice of two shows. The Red Hut beside the indoor pool or the Marine Gardens Pavilion. Shortly after the end of the war I was at a show in the Red Hut with my parents when a mine was exploded on the beach by an unfortunate dog bringing a temporary halt to the show.

The arrival of the package holiday saw holiday makers stay away and the town decline, but Folkestone is now reinventing itself.

May be in the near future Folkestone will again see multitudes of holiday makers enjoying golden days on golden sands?

13 INDIAN SUMMER IN THE OLD HIGH STREET Nick Spurrier

The long summer and warm autumn have no doubt contributed to the optimism in the Creative Quarter and encouraged a further shop, a café, two restaurants and an ale house to open or soon open in the Old High Street. Kipps Alehouse at the top of the Street has opened for customers to sample their gravity poured cask ale together with a selection of wine and specialty beers, including Belgian Lagers, whilst also serving traditional pub grub. Further down the street at No 46, Manifest Coffee is serving a range of teas and coffees from around the world together with cakes and sandwiches.

Meanwhile a notice in a property opposite Inspiring Interiors indicates the opening of a further restaurant Ebony and Ivory, which, rumour has it, will be serving Portu- guese and French food, while nearby the former Homeground Café Bar with a new tenant is in the process of being transformed into a Tapas bar come café where as in Fresh and Easy the food will be on display for customers to make their choice. The Old High Street’s offer of clothes and accessories is also increasing. ‘Skylarks’ at number 42 has relocated from Sandgate with Di Burns displaying some of the finest vintage and one off garments around while Cursley and Bond at the bottom of the Street has undergone a refit and now showcases in their Gallery Boutique, which is worthy of London’s West End, contemporary jewellery, high-end craft and art by great British designers with an in-house jewellery workshop/studio. Close by a recently renovated property will soon open up as a sandwich bar.

Finally just opposite at 67 The Old High Street, Open Air Promotions has opened a new office and shop from which they will promote and plan for next ear’sy Folkestone Air Show.

The winning of Heritage Lottery funding by the Townscape Heritage Initiative now ensures that the remaining derelict buildings in the street, including the old Millett’s building, can be restored. This, together with the landscaping and redesign of Payers Park, ensures that in the next few years the Old High Street will have undergone a dramatic transformation.

------WARDS HOTEL & RESTAURANT

For bookings and reservations please call 01303 245166 or [email protected] for further information. Wards Hotel, 39 Earls Avenue, Folkestone, Kent CT20 2HB

14 MARY’S CHRISTMAS CAKE

If you’ve been watching programmes about cooking and baking but suddenly realise you haven’t got around to actually doing anything really big, then try Mary Bridger’s cake recipe, which should be made in November. The traditional day for the whole family to pitch in cooking Christmas cake and Christmas pudding is Stir or Stir Up Sunday (24th November). Then you store the cake away except for ‘feeding ‘ it if you wish, which is to periodically spoon up to a total of 2-3 tbsp of brandy, sherry or whatever is your taste over the top and letting it dry thoroughly. Mary is a member of: Folkestone Sugar Craft.

8” round or 7” square tin, wooden spoons, greaseproof paper, spoon selection, whisk.1ounce (oz) = 25grams. 40z = 100 grams.

Ingredients: 6oz butter, 2oz block margarine or similar, 4oz soft brown sugar, 4oz Muscavado Sugar, one dessertspoon of black treacle, 4 medium eggs, beaten, 10oz plain flour, 1.5 tsp teaspoons) mixed spice, 1.5 tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp freshly ground nutmeg, good pinch of salt. 1lb of currants, ½ lb raisins, 4oz mixed (candied) peel, juice and zest of ½ lemon, 4oz glace cherries, chopped, 2-3 tsp vanilla extract, 5-6 fluid oz cream sherry.

Method: Steep the fruit overnight with 3-4 tablespoons of sherry or brandy, keeping the liquor for feeding the cake later. Cover the bowl with a clean tea cloth and then remove fruit after 8-12 hours.

Sift or stir flour, salt and spices together in one large bowl. Beat cut-up butter, margarine, sugars and treacle together in a smaller bowl until light and fluffy. Beat the eggs together in a third bowl and then add gradually to the sweet stuff about a tablespoon at a time. Keeps the mixer or whisk running until all eggs have been added?

Fold (think about it) in the spiced flour gently with a spoon, keeping air in the mixture, or use clean hands. Then gently fold in the fruit, peel, lemon juice and lemon zest i.e. scrapes of the thinnest, yellow, outer rind. Transfer mixture to the tin, which should be lined with 2 layers of greaseproof paper or similar, protruding an inch above the rim, unless you feel very confident about your non-stick finish. Tie a double length of newspaper or brown paper around the outside of the tin.

Bake at Gas Mark 3, 275 Fahrenheit, 140 degree Centigrade for 1 hour. Then reduce heat by 10% for another 2- 3hours until a skewer or knife comes out dry from the centre. Don’t disturb, unless turning it once if your oven is uneven in cooking. (Get whoever wants to eat the remains of the raw mixture in the bowl to help with the washing up).

The cake will keep in a cool, dry place for months partly because of the alcohol. This means that it can often be eaten to a very limited almost ceremonial way on Christmas Day when you are full anyway. It can then make something else a bit special: perhaps Twelfth Night, the end of the Christmas holidays or to be packed for someone going off to a job or university as a remembrance of home. The traditionally white icing is Royal Icing, which is hard, on top of smooth almond marzipan. Or you could just place split almonds on before baking for an alternative to icing.

15 A FOLKESTONE SOCIETY: THE SUGARCRAFT GUILD

Any excuse is good enough for a good cake. The Elizabethans finished off any banquet worthy of note with a ‘soliete‘ or subtlety, an elaborate confection in the shape of something dramatic: a crowned panther perhaps or an eagle with wings outstretched. We tend to celebrate many major events in our lives; weddings, birthdays and christenings with a traditional cake decorated and embellished to the best of our ability.

The Folkestone Branch of the British Sugarcraft Guild keep this tradition alive by baking and decorating Christmas cakes of several types to sell at their Christmas Fayre, along with jams, sweets etc this year’s Christmas Fayre is to be held on 9th November at Hawkinge Community Centre in Victoria Road (small hall) from 9.00am to 12.00noon. This fair is held annually to boost funds and includes lots of craft tables. You can just come along to enjoy a cup of tea and cake or have a go yourself at making a Christmas teddy bear or at icing.

The British Sugarcraft Guild was founded in 1981 and has over 4000 members. The Folkestone branch was started in 2000 with 15 members and now has 42. We meet on the first Saturday morning in the month and enjoy demonstrations, workshops and recipe swaps. It also has a thriving Cygnet branch of children aged between 7 and 16 years old, learning how to bake and ice. For further information give our chair Hettie a ring on 01303-891796.

16 FOLKESTONE CHURCH FACES DRY ROT PERIL

Richard Wallace

Our Lady of The Christians and St Aloysius in Guildhall Street North, the biggest Catholic Church in Folkestone, faces a bill of over £50,000 for repairing its parish hall, and is busily fund-raising. Years ago dry rot fungus was spotted, inadequately removed and concreted over. Now, typically of the orange peril that is dry rot, it has spread, along with wet rot and woodworm. The 1898 original parish hall was also a school in the early days before Stella Maris RC School was built off Park Farm Road. The little tower for its school bell outside is the remaining evidence of that. The Kent Peg tile roof on the old church hall, at 115 years, has reached the end of its natural life too, at the same time as the mineral felt flat roof on the 1970s addition.

For many years now the church hall has only been used rarely and for the most essential Church-linked functions. Father Stephen Bould and the congregation would like it to be used for all sorts of mums’, toddlers’ and study groups, and to be hired out. It is a neat rectangle and very convenient for a huge area, but it is in very poor condition at present and effectively unheated. Indeed, apart from some rather pretty Edwardian ceiling air-vents for the now blocked coal fires, it is plain and has nothing in common with the church itself, but unfortunately it is too close not to share the Grade 2 listing. This means that the Kent Peg tiles have to be replaced in kind.

The Catholic Church has officially been in Folkestone only since the 1840s after State discrimination largely ceased nationally and proper Catholic churches were allowed by the Government to be built! A church was built in Lennard Road; only the presbytery or priest’s house still exists, converted to flats. There was also a convent built in Dover Road; the better known convent in Ravenlea Road and Shorncliffe Road, St Marys, was only built in 1914-23 for Continental nuns fleeing from WW1. As the English Catholics grew in prosperity a new site was spotted in one of the premier streets of Victorian Folkestone: Guildhall Street. Leonard Stokes, eventually President of the RIBA, built a red brick church in the Arts and Crafts style with a handsome, dark wood vaulted ceiling. There is also some nice stained glass, though St George in one of the main windows bears the features of the man who paid for the window, as was often the case in those days!

Eventually the Church expanded to the extent that St Joseph’s was built in Ashley Avenue in Cheriton, possibly in the 1920s. Strikingly Our Lady was narrowly missed by the massive road changes in Folkestone around 1974. Younger readers won’t have realised that up until then the main through road of Foresters’ Way did not exist and Guildhall Street, and also Grace Hill, were continuous streets of little shops and houses across what is now the ‘big’ road. The naming of two different roads in the same way, some of the numbering, and some ghostly outlines on gable ends, of vanished houses that had been semi-detached or terraced to the ones still surviving, are the clues to this. The Church of Our Lady became the end of the road, at once more isolated from the town centre and paradoxically more prominent.

John Grace on 01303 250230 and Bernice Pay on 01303 223973 have been the main fund raisers, and there have been some successful events. But they are still well short, so if you feel inspired to do something funny for money please contact them!

17 INVICTA’S EARLY SEASON : A FUNNY OLD GAME By Mick Cork

We can only guess how the 1966 World Cup finals might have panned out had injury not robbed that phenomenal goalscorer Jimmy Greaves of his chance to be involved in England’s greatest football triumph. I twice saw Greavesie score five goals in a game, and should have been gutted on the first of those occasions when he went nap to help Chelsea hammer my beloved West Brom 7-1 at Stamford Bridge. A year of 18 months or so later I was there when he scored five again – this time firing Spurs to a 9-2 demolition job on Nottingham Forest down White Hart Lane. Yet for all the Dagenham Demon’s brilliant scoring efforts, so many people now remember Greavesie only for his trademark saying that football “is a funny old game.”

That was never demonstrated more than it has been with my club, Folkestone Invicta’s start to the 2013/2014 season. On paper, and of course that’s not where the game is played, manager Neil Cugley had assembled one of the best squads at any time during his 17 years in charge. Prolific marksman Stuart King was back from Maidstone United before Cugs snapped up talented midfielder Jake Beecroft from Whitstable and then managed to sign up a player he had been wanting to sign for best part of a decade – Steve Harper – most recently with Bognor Regis Town.

Offsetting those arrivals, however, the defection of goalkeeper Jack Delo to play for his cousin Sam Denly, the new manager at Herne Bay, plus three other key departures meant that other changes were going to have to be made. Hard-working striker Richard Atkins – players player of the year last season – has indeed gone walkabout around the globe on a sort of belated gap year, while arguably the biggest blow came with the late departure of all-action midfielder Darren Smith to free-spending Leatherhead, having initially said that 2013/14 would be his swansong season with Invicta before hanging his boots up.

The fourth departure was that of vastly under-rated defender Liam Dickson because of work commitments in the north east – though boss Cugley seems to have fallen on his feet with the recruitment of highly promising 21-year-old Chris (Billy) Elliott from Canterbury City as a ready-made replacement in the number three shirt. Folkestone’s pre-season programme went fairly well with a 3-2 victory over Skrill (Conference) South side Tonbridge Angels perhaps the highlight. And the season proper seemed to have started with a bang as goals from King and Beecroft took Invicta into a 2-0 lead inside 46 minutes of the kick-off in Invicta’s opening game at Crawley Down Gatwick on August 10.

There seemed little danger when Crawley Down pulled one goal back, but by then the Sussex outfit had virtually all of the momentum and Folkestone hardly got another kick as they succeeding in that horrific achievement of managing to snatch a 3-2 defeat out of the jaws of victory.

The wheels appeared to be firmly back on where they belonged as four goals yb Justin Luchford and a fifth from exciting teenager Johan Ter Horst saw Folkestone thrash a poor Sittingbourne side 5-0 in their first appearance of the season at the Fullicks Stadium.

Cugley’s side were again the better side for most of the game when Walton Casuals – rock-bottom of the league in 2012/13 and only saved from going down from Ryman One South by a 13th hour reprieve – visited the Kent coast. A scrambled late

18 winner for the visitors in what became a fairly mediocre game was a bit of a surprise – though the Casuals have kicked on to continue to head the table at the time of writing.

Defeats at Herne Bay and Ramsgate were followed by a hard-earned draw in the big local derby against Hythe on August Holiday Monday. FA Cup victories after a replay and extra-time against lower league opponents Molesey and then rather more comfortably at home to Eastbourne United from two leagues lower brought a welcome boost to the kitty with best part of £5,000 in prize money, and a depleted Folkestone side were still again the better of the two as they lost by the only goal in the Second Qualifying Round at Ebbsfleet of the Skrill (Conference) South.

Back in the league, a disappointing 3-2 home defeat against promoted Peacehaven & Telscombe was followed ten days later with a barely deserved point from a 1-1 draw against bottom of the table Eastbourne Town.

Before the Eastbourne draw, however, there had come a stirring win over Walton & Hersham after King was sent off, Folkestone had gone 2-0 down and then won 4-2 following a tremendous fightback. By October, what looked Invicta’s strongest squad for years still seem unable to find any real consistency with the unsettled King sold back to his home-town club, Herne Bay because work and personal reasons. They are out of the Cup now, and sit uncomfortably close to the bottom of the table. But the signing of new goalkeeper Tim Roberts and ex-Hythe man Michael Yianni give cause for optimism.

The manager – now in his 17th season at Invicta – remains confident he can turn things around and I for one am praying his confidence is not misplaced. For once money does not appear to be a problem, though at Folkestone Invicta it’s never going to be as plentiful as those closely connected with the club would wish. Striker Ter Horst’s return from injury cannot come soon enough – but one does have to wonder how an inexperienced 18-year-old – however talented – was the one player really showing his seniors the way week-in, week-out before he was clattered by the opposing goalkeeper in the first of his side’s FA Cup ties. Football really IS a funny old game, Jim.

19 Now in it’s 4th year, the event seemed to me to be bigger and better than ever. After last year’s poorly located main stage and incredible lack of on site facilities, this was a big improvement. When I discovered how this year’s event was going to be organised, along with the all event ticketing scheme, I wondered whether some people might be put off and perhaps not bother this year. However, this could not be further from the truth and there seemed to be more visitors than ever.

Visitors seemed to be coming from all parts, as the event’s reputation spreads, with plenty of different accents and languages to be heard. Despite the abundance of skinheads, young and old, whose appearance seems to spell trouble, as far as I’m aware there wasn’t a bit of it. Everyone was here to chill out, drink and dance. It was a pleasure to walk around the harbour area, seeing it packed with locals and visitors alike, enjoying the whole atmosphere, along with the infectious Ska beat emanating from every location. It’s hard to imagine that any of the local business didn’t do very well over the three days. The weather even seemed to behave itself, apart from a chilly evening breeze and a few squally showers on Saturday night.

Depending on your stamina, the event was well planned so that you could skank from early afternoon to early morning, whilst hopefully ensuring that all the participating venues got a look in. As I’m far to old to have that much stamina, I can’t vouch as to how well the venues away from the harbour did.

The quality of the acts was impressive, with big names headlining each night and a variety of bands throughout the day. I wasn’t able to see all of them, but listening to people chatting, it seemed that they were all well received.

Friday night had the always enjoyable Toot’n’skamen along with their “Specials” guest - Roddy Radiation. Then it was the turn of Bad Manners, an hour late as ever, but worth the wait. Iconic frontman Buster Bloodvessel may be getting on a bit now and he sometimes struggles with the vocals, but the band are great and so are the songs.

On Saturday, another “Specials” delight, the Neville Staple band, followed by another Two Tone legend The Selecter. Topping it off, all the way from Jamaica was the legendary Skatalites, whose 2002 Album provided the inspiration for the name change from the previous Skabour.

Finishing on Sunday, first up was a fine young band from Hull - The Talks. The ever impressive Dualers followed and then bringing the main event to a close, another great from the Two Tone era - The Beat, featuring the father and son Rankings, Roger and Junior.

Personally, I can’t wait for next year. Nigel Erlynne 20 SKA FEST REPLIES

I would like to thank Nigel for his well written review and appreciate how much they enjoyed the Folkestone Ska Festival “Ska Splash”. You were enquiring as to when or if it is taking place again next year, with a view to publishing it in Go Folkestone.

The festival from the outside was a great success. Behind the scenes in its organisation there were a lot of shenanigans going on and a lot of fire-fighting to make sure it got across the line.

This was due to circumstances beyond our control ,and as you may recall a Town Council emergency finance committee meeting to help bridge finances held. Thankfully it all was resolved in the end... but only just.

The ska faithful of the South East and beyond have taken the festival back. We are delighted it will return to its community ethos with some parts free. This is under the auspices of Folkestone Festivals and will be at Leas Cliff Hall and also The Leas and The Harbour areas. It will now be called Folkestone Ska Fest and there are some details on the holding page of the website www.folkestoneskafest.co.uk

The dates will be 8th, 9th and 10th of August 2014.We are also holding “Ska Aid” at Leas Cliff Hall on January 18th 2014 as a benefit gig for all those local businesses that did not get paid for their services... and as Alan Whicker once said “over there is an entirely different story”.

John Sims

NEW TOWN HALL MUSEUM ADVANCES

A new museum for Folkestone in the Town hall is on the way. Folkestone Town Council has received a first round pass from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for the Folkestone HEART project, announced in October. Development funding of £49,800 has been awarded to help the council progress its detailed scheme to apply for the full grant possibly ca August 2014.

Folkestone’s HEART is a project that will make a lasting difference to local heritage and the community. By bringing the extensive and diverse collections of Folkestone together under the roof of the Town Hall the Town Council aims to establish an innovative local history museum and vibrant community space for events and exhibitions that will engage local people and offer opportunities to learn about Folkestone’s past.

The project aims to provide access to the history of the town and create a show case for our amazing heritage. The diverse collections include social and military history, rare geological and natural history items, important Roman and Anglo Saxon archaeological collections as well as an impressive art collection. We aim to protect, preserve and promote these collections, and their stories for the good of the community and the town.

The project will carry out essential conservation work to the Town Hall and the Folkestone Collections, including digitising the collections and creating a single web portal, allowing on-line public access to the collections for the first time. An educational programme is also planned, with volunteers given training so they can help care for the collections.

The Town Hall is a focal point for the local community and is owned by the town council, it currently houses the town councils office and the Silver Screen cinema. It was built in 1860 and over the years has been used for a variety of purposes from council offices, magistrates courts and police station to retail space, and following several years of neglect was successfully purchased by the town council who undertook a restoration programme.

Cllr Roger West, the Town Mayor of Folkestone said: “We are delighted that the Heritage Lottery Fund has given us this support. The HEART project is vitally important in realising our vision for the town hall and the collections and in reinforcing our town’s identity for current and future generations”. Stuart McLeod, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund South East England, said: “The people of Folkestone are justly proud of the area’s rich and varied history. We look forward to receiving the Town Council’s detailed plans for the Town Hall restoration and the wealth of information that it will contain.”

Damian Collins MP for Folkestone and Hythe said: “This announcement is excellent news for Folkestone and the wider area. Folkestone has a fascinating story to tell about its past and this project will be key to doing so. It has my full support as I believe that understanding our past helps us appreciate the wonderful place in which we live”.

22 ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ5"9*4 8FOPXIBWFBnFFUPGPWFSDBST JODMVEJOHCMBDLDBCT -POEPOTUZMF5BYJT XXXKKUBYJTDPN

8FXPVMEMJLFUPXJTIBMMPGPVSDVTUPNFSTB 7FSZ)BQQZ$ISJTUNBT"1SPTQFSPVT/FX:FBS 'SPN5IF$PNQBOZ5IBU*OUSPEVDFE4JOHMF5JNF"GUFS.JEOJHIU'SPN5IF$PNQBOZ5IBU*OUSPEVDFE4JOHMF5JNF"GUFS.JEOJHIU 4JOHMF5JNF&YDFQU$ISJTUNBT/FX:FBS$BMM'PS%FUBJMT

Gurkha Palace FINE NEPALESE RESTAURANT

• WINNER OF PRIDE IN SHEPWAY THE PERFECT VENUE FOR AWARD 2008 & 2010 LARGE OR SMALL PARTIES • HIGHLY COMMENDED BY CHANNEL BUSINESS AWARD 2007 • NOMINATED BEST NEPALESE IN THE COUNTRY - COBRA CURRY AWARD 2007 out ality with Qu ise! comprom EXPRESS HOME DELIVERY AVAILABLE 01303 257700 www.gurkhapalace.co.uk 97 Enbrook Valley, Golden Valley, Folkestone CT20 3NE

23 STEP SHORT 2014 Commemoration of WW1.

By Ann Berry.

The centenary is to commemorate close to a million lives that were sacrificed during WW1 and the millions of troops that passed through Folkestone on their way to the Western Front , possibly thinking they would be home by Christmas. Many were so much younger than the age for signing up but I guess they wanted to help answer the countries call to arms. It was not our war but we had promised to defend Belgium and once they were invaded, war was declared on 4th August 1914.

Behind them they left mothers, fathers, wives, children, indeed their entire families, to do what they thought best to do in the difficult circumstances they found themselves.

Those left behind had to cope the best they could, it has been said that some had to give their children away because they were unable to cope. Others worked on the land and in munitions factories, women indeed doing the work that the men who had gone used to do . There was not the help out there in those days that we are privileged to have today. Life was extremely hard and oft times cruel.

I have visited the war graves several times and I never get over the enormity of the loss. Thousands upon thousands of head stones just saying: A Soldier of the Great War. No name, no one knows who they are and their parents have died never knowing how they son died, or where they were buried. What a terribly sad thing for those families to carry through the years.

I have been to the Ceremony at the Menin Gate where there are thousands of names of the missing engraved on the walls, up the stair wells and onto the roof area, where the last post is played every evening at dusk until all the thousands of names who have no known graves has been remembered it will take many years. The terrible conditions and sacrifices made by those who did not come home by Christmas, and the suffering of those who survived with injuries both physical and mental deserve to be remembered.

Whilst we were visiting Frommele in France we saw excavations going on near pheasant wood. When we arrived home we found from the news that 250 Australian troop remains had been found, their dog tags missing. They were reburied close by and Prince Charles dedicated the beautiful Frommele Cemetery to them a year later. 97years later they are still finding remains of the missing. They deserve to be remembered.

We also have to remember the 71 people killed in Tontine Street when a bomb dropped on Stokes greengrocers.

On the Harbour arm a cafe was set up by two elderly Jeffrey sisters and a friend ; it is known as the Mole Café. This was to give the troops a cuppa before they left and on arrival back. Whilst there 8 books were set up for the people passing through. These included many thousands of troops, nurses and dignitaries: around 42,000 names in all, from Royalty, Winston Churchill and Charlie Chaplin. Step short are transcribing the names and they will be on our website soon. It has taken many thousands of volunteer hours.

24 We need to educate our young people on the futility of war when in the end we have to sit around the table and talk. The Step Short project it is hoped will help to do that.

Folkestone played a hugely significant role during those years, a figure given was that there were 64,000 Belgian refugees here, the first arriving around the 20th ugustA just 16 days after war was declared and they kept on coming, arriving on all sorts boats and fishing vessels.

Also during that time we had around 40,000 Canadians and the school children today still lay flowers on their graves every year on Canada day, July 1st in Shorncliffe Cemetery, as they have since the end of WW1.

We also had over 100, 000 Chinese in a work camp (although not all at once) to help with the tasks that needed doing to keep things moving this end. There were many rest camps for troops on and near the Leas area and down in Marine parade (rest camp number1) When you consider Folkestone today is just under 50,000 to have that amount of people descend on a much smaller town must have been over whelming.

Step Short Commemorative Arch it is proposed will have small lights underneath possibly one for every 10 thousand troops that left these shores . It will be 14m/45 feet high but only 1.014m wide and made of Stainless steel . It will be situated around the last grass stretch on The Leas outside Monument House and No.1 The Leas . The AGM of Go Folkestone will have more information . Underneath will be a style of compass, which will have information of countries, battles , and information on Folkestone at that time. Residents, School children and visitors will be able to learn the significant part that Folkestone played.

We continue to work on a visitor centre where Residents, schools, groups and visitors can come along and learn more. Education package for schools is on our list too.

Step Short have been met several times with the MOD to discuss where we are with our plans for the Commemoration on Monday 4th August 2014. They appeared pleased with our progress to date. The Government note that Folkestone will play a significant role.

We have had discussions with Folkestone Town Council and The National Army Museum and it was agreed that NAM would come to Folkestone and be set in the amazing space that the Council affords. At present the timing is envisaged to be from June 2014 to April 2015. This will be a wonderfully complete exhibition as the National Army Museum is taking the opportunity to refurbish its main site .

The Step Short Historical Research group will be setting up an exhibition of local history of the time July –September 2014. We are also in talks with the Military intelligence Museum in Bedfordshire to see if they will supply a display (I am told that, much of the training was done in Folkestone.) The Folkestone Camera Club is making a film with voice over with local connections and will be shown throughout the exhibition. All this will be in the Sassoon room over the Library.

Many other initiatives are being worked on.

They all deserve to be remembered and Folkestone does too, for the hugely significant role we played at that terrible time. 25 LAST MAN IN by David Noble

On the last day of the first season of cricket at the Three Hills Sports Park the shadows lengthen across the cricket pitch, the players and The Hills beyond. The North Downs; Caesars Camp (Castle Hill), Round Hill and Sugar Loaf forming a mellow backdrop to the drama of the game. At this point David Crocker a long time supporter of of Folkestone Cricket Club pauses to take a photograph of the changed but unchanging nature of the event that involves the team, the town and his family.

It is the last game of the of the season for Folkestone’s second team in a must win fixture for them to stay in contention for number one position. In the team, his grandson, Bradley, who has been playing for Folkestone since he was eight, is playing his last game before going off to university. He has contributed 64 runs, 4 wickets and a catch for the win which was achieved with 2 balls to go in the last over. On coming off the field they found the team at the top of the table had lost and so they not only won promotion but also won the league. Possibly the first league win by a Folkestone CC team since 2000.

A great victory for the record book and the team and grandfather and grandson as the new pavilion evolves into the fabric and history of Folkestone.

Photo Credit: David Crocker

26 NEWS FROM THE PLANNING FRONT

It is worrying how many housing planning permissions there are outstanding in Folkestone that have not been acted upon due to the recession. Possibly the improvement in the housing market may lead to the more desirable of the following schemes actually going ahead:

29 houses on the former St Mary’s Convent and school in Ravenlea Road; 12 flats on the site of The Two Bells public house in Canterbury Road; 68 flats on the car parks alongside The Leas Club/Leas Cliff Theatre; 102 houses and flats on the site of the recently replaced Park Farm Primary School in Park Farm Road; 134 dwellings on the playing fields, and by conversion of some of the Victorian buildings of. the former private Westbourne School in Shorncliffe Road; 56 houses or flats, plus offices, on Ingles Meadow and the Garden Centre; the conversion of the handsome Eversley College into 23 flats, with about 14 houses and a preserved playing field; 20+ garishly designed flats on the soon to be demolished asbestos roofed shacks next to listed Grace Chapel in Grace Hill (aargh); 9 houses and 3 flats on the site of the former Youth Centre of Shepway Close near Canterbury Road Rec; 25 affordable flats to be created by conversion of the Firs Club and Health Club in Firs Lane in Cheriton (this last one almost certainly defunct).

Just added to these is a scheme to convert one of the most distressingly rundown buildings in the town centre at 1 Grace Hill; Y13/0884/SH. This is better known as the 1930s ex cinema The Savoy aka The Metronome club. There is a scheme by Smyth Builders to convert it into 3 large flats. It looks bigger than that, but at least something useful will be done with it. The cinema interest is believed to have been stripped out around 2001 when an indoor market was a possibility. If you know of any small cinema features that could be preserved please tell the planners.

The White Lion PH in Cheriton is planned to be converted to small flats by a housing association Reveille specialising in rehoming soldiers. There will be prohibitions on car ownership to prevent parking problems and the handsome Edwardian building will be converted sympathetically, hopefully with some of the windows and ornate rainwater goods replaced in character. There will be a terrace of houses at the back fronting Chilham Road. There has been no meeting of minds with the developers of the other corner of Chilham Road whose latest scheme is two terraces of private houses, one to Cheriton High Street and one to Chilham Road. The former Victoria PH in Risborough Lane, now converted into houses by the well known local surveyor Andrew Beggs does provide an excellent template: nice layout, good brick additions, sympathetic detailing.

Up at West Park Farm nobody seems that concerned about the removal of the planning restrictions on what could be sold up there in the former Comet and other units, even the town centre shop-owners. It has been restricted up to now to bulky non-food goods e.g. retail warehouses. There may be some interesting developments in click- and- collect shopping up there. But the Ikea rumour finally seems to have died, to be replaced by less dramatic rumours such as Toys R Us and B & D discount stores. I hope that edge of town shopping is not allowed to spiral upwards to the point of endangering the town centre. Surely with the great new schools being built in that area it would be greener and wiser to build houses next to them, at least in the lower part of Park Farm Road.

There is a very early outline of a scheme to put new dwellings on part of the old East Station yard in Southern Way, near Folly Road. Y13/0438/SH. Meanwhile an old warehouse, last used for grocery wholesale, at 4 Pleydell Gardens, around the back of Sandgate Road shops, may soon be disappearing, to be replaced by a good-looking little block of 4 flats RW 27 Specifications and details for your advert

Type of Advert Size 1 Issue 2 Issues 3 Issues 4 Issues Width Height B/W Colour B/W Colour B/W Colour B/W Colour

Quarter page 60 mm 90 mm £30 £45 £56 £85 £82 £125 £105 £165 (Portrait) Quarter page 130 mm 40 mm £30 £45 £56 £85 £82 £125 £105 £165 (Landscape) Half page 130 mm 90 mm £40 £60 £75 £115 £110 £170 £145 £225

Whole Page 130 mm 180 mm £65 £75 £125 £145 £170 £215 £245 £285

Inside Cover 130 mm 90 mm £50 XXXXX £95 XXXXX £140 XXXXX £185 XXXXX (Half page) Inside Cover 130 mm 180 mm £75 XXXXX £145 XXXXX £215 XXXXX £285 XXXXX (Full Page) Back Cover 130 mm 180 mm XXX £150 XXXXX £285 XXXXX £415 XXXXX £540

Advertisments: Each issue is made up of 32 pages including front and back covers. The front cover is used to feature areas of interest in Folkestone. There are only six coloured pages including back page for adverts all other adverts will be black and white.

How we would like to receive copy from you: Print ready artwork in a computer file sent via email or on a CD (Formats accepted: jpg, bmp, tiff, pdf with no embedded fonts). Print ready artwork on paper (A4 size preferable to preserve quality when scanning. Please ring 01303 278644 if you need assistance.

Where to send your advert:

David Noble email: [email protected] tel: 01303 254263 or by mail to: David Noble 28 Coolinge Lane Folkestone Kent CT20 3QT

(same address for cheque and order form)

28 Membership form

Type of membership you want: (please tick as appropriate) p Single membership £ 10.00 p Couple at the same address £ 15.00 p In receipt of benefits £5.00 p Junior membership (under 18) £5.00 First person Your 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) 29 30