November 2017

www.gofolkestone.org.uk Notice of Go Folkestone 16th Annual General Meeting Wednesday 8th November 2017 at Wards Hotel, Earls Avenue, Folkestone 7:00 pm

Business including elections and 2017 reports to be held first followed yb open meeting at 7.45pm. But non-members are asked to come for 7.00pm or at least before 7.45pm. There will be opportunities to join or pay subscriptions if you are a member.

(7.45) SPECIAL OPEN EVENT: A new talk ‘The origins of Folkestone’ by Dr Andrew Richardson of the Canterbury Archaeological Trust. Dr Richardson has been involved in a recent research project on the genesis of the town from 800AD to modern times, which has revised several long-held beliefs.

Unveiling the 2018 Aspects of Folkestone Calendar, hot off the press. Thanks to photographers. Invitation to buy for £5.50 (members) on the day.

General Conversation (Drinks and Coffee for sale)

Go Folkestone is a local community group. It publishes a periodical magazine with a print run, an email copy and Facebook entries. This is distributed around different parts of Folkestone each time. Membership enables you to receive it by post or email in advance and to attend the monthly meetings at Wards Hotel at 7.15pm on the second Wednesday of each month.

Cover Picture : Artist’s impression of Seafront ‘square’ in Folkestone Harbour Project Contents Editorial

3 Aspects of Folkestone Calendar for Sale

4 The Seafront

6 Openings and Closings

7 Volunteers Wanted : Friends of the Folkestone Museum

8 New Leas Lift Company

9 Folkestone Book Festival ; The New Boy Richard Wallace 10 The Russia House Folkestone is seeing a lot of changes coming up with 11 More Downs than Ups the Seafront and the Garden Centre seemingly pushing ahead. You can see more on the Seafront in this issue or 12 Friends of the Leas Pavilion by getting into the planning application. Try ‘Shep-

way Planning Applications, Search, and Y17/1099/SH. 13 Townscape heritage initiative Then look at the well- illustrated ‘Planning Statement. There isn’t a clear development partner yet but some of 14 Christmas Walks the details are being fleshed out with apartment block heights of 18m near to historic Marine Crescent and 30m 16 Your last chance to see the in many other places. The last Go Folkestone meeting Triennial certainly supported the development of derelict car parks and obsolete freight yards, provided The Leas doesn’t 17 Life’s A Beach: Local Film for Sale look across to peoples’ windows or a little downward to nearby air conditioning and lift plant on flat roofs. 18 Some Christmas Events There are also features on the Leas Lift, hopefully back 19 Remembrance: Unknown Shrine but treated with kid gloves. The town welcomes the spin off from The Triennial: what will stay from the many 21 One church in danger, one saved artworks around? Meanwhile the Book Festival helps make the run up to Christmas more entertaining. 23 Fred Cuming Exhibition at the Town Hall Please look at and buy our new 2018 Aspects of Folke- stone Calendar. 24 News from the Planning Front FOLKESTONE; ONE HOUR FROM LONDON, ONE 25 Visiting Sir Jeffery at The Wells HOUR FROM FRANCE, 5 MINUTES FROM THE BEACH. 26 Folkestone Invicta

27 Aunt Jess’s Mince Pies Editorial Committee : David Noble, Richard Wallace and Pat Cocks. Magazine Layout : Mike Tedder.

1 Call us today for more info on 01303 245588

Official Government fuel consumption figures (Range): Urban cycle, Extra urban, Combined (litres per 100km/mpg) & CO2 emissions (g/km); Highest: Citroën C3 Picasso PureTech 110 manual 6.4/44.1, 4.2/67.3, 5.0/56.5, 115. Lowest: Citroën C4 Cactus BlueHDi 100 S&S ETG6 3.9/72.4, 3.2/88.3, 3.4/83.1, 89. MPG figures are achieved under official EU test conditions, intended as a guide for comparative purposes only, and may not reflect actual on-the-road driving conditions.

*Car savings shown are for eligible Citroën Scrappage Scheme customers only, are inclusive of VAT & reflect customer savings against the manufacturer’s recommended OTR price. On The Road prices include VAT where applicable, delivery, vehicle first registration fee, number plates and 12 months’ road fund licence. These savings are only available to eligible customers who trade in a qualifying vehicle first registered in the UK before 31 December 2010. The V5C of the part exchange address needs to match the new vehicle invoice & must have been in the current owners’ possession for a minimum of 90 days. The Citroën Scrappage Scheme incentive cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer. Other offers for eligible customers are available. Offer applicable to vehicles ordered & registered 08/09-31/12/2017. All vehicles part exchanged with the Citroën Scrappage Scheme will be scrapped by CarTakeBack™.

WILMOTHS FOLKESTONE 01303 245588 WILMOTHS ASHFORD 01233 640100 WILMOTHS MAIDSTONE 01622 750442 WILMOTHS CRAYFORD 01322 524555

2 Aspects of Folkestone 2018 CALENDAR

£6.00 inc VAT

Further to the success of our 2017 calendar we have now produced one for 2018. Outlets include County Hardware , Marrin Books & Country Fare . This year’s is double the size with larger photographs and diary boxes for just £1.00 more and has the same postage rates. The intention is to create a good impression of Folkestone and all proceeds will be used in local causes. Pre-orders please to: [email protected] or tel. 01303 254263 3 News from Folkestone Harbour and Seafront Peter Bettley

Following the creation of the Seafront Boardwalk, the new walkway across the viaduct and the earlier renovation of the Harbour Arm, the route through the renovated former station will complete the new network of footpaths and walkways in and around Folkestone Harbour and Seafront.

Work to repair and reconstruct the previously dilapidated station platforms and canopies began earlier this year and is now nearing completion. It is likely to open to the public in the first part of 2018, providing yet more spaces for people to discover and enjoy, and building on the acclaimed success of the Harbour Arm, increasingly acclaimed as one of the south east’s major attractions. The surviving section of the 1859 Customs House (most was destroyed by enemy action in the Second World War) has been painstakingly repaired and restored. Great attention has been paid to detail of the building by contractors Jenners, including installation of magnificent new doors, extensive repairs to roof and stonework and, perhaps the most striking feature of the building, the face of Poseidon. In Greek mythology Poseidon was the god of the sea and protector of seafarers.

During the Folkestone Triennial, the Customs House has been home to the “Urban Room”, an artwork by Diane Dever and the Decorators, bringing together material that represents Folkestone’s past and providing an opportunity for people to consider and debate this in the context of the present and anticipating the future. Going forward it is proposed to use this space to present a wide range of aspects of the history of maritime Folkestone, including the evolution of the harbour, its growth as a port and other activities that have taken place in and around the site.

Go Folkestone members will recall that Outline Planning consent was granted in January 2015 for up to one thousand residential units on the seafront site, including beach houses, apartments and town houses, with a range of commercial spaces designed to serve the new community and to make a significant contribution towards Folkestone’s economy, whilst making major improvements to the public domain in a way that has largely already been achieved. Detailed design work that builds on and proposes how these plans will be implemented is under way, and will focus on aspects including the design and style of buildings and the residential accommodation.

One outcome of this further design work is a recent application to Shepway District Council seeking to vary some of the conditions in the 2015 consent. It does not represent a redesign of the development described in this consented planning permission, but, for example, proposes removing conditions relating to the provision of sea and beach sport facilities from the consented plans. This is based on practical experience: sea sports trials were conducted in the proposed location over a number of summer seasons but proved unsatisfactory. In the meantime, alternative provision for sea sports was established operating from The Stade, with considerable success. Under this proposal the sum allocated for sea and beach sport facilities in the original consent would be set aside for similar public benefit contributions. Similarly, proposals have been included to vary the shapes and distribution of various accommodation “blocks”, creating curved rather than straight lines for example, whilst remaining well within the originally consented ceiling of 1000 residential units. 4 Work continues on transforming the former Folkestone Harbour railway station.

��

� �� !��"

�� #��

$�%�&�� ' ��"��

(��" &)��' ��&� ��' ��

� *��$ ��+��#�,�-��-��

�.�/ ��-��)��)��0��1��23 1��4��5�5��.55�6 ��4��&�� 7��0��0 �

8�� (�"�-��4��&�� 0��0 �

5 Openings and Closings Richard Wallace

Following Lidl in Hawkinge, reopened on September 14th, Aldi in Hythe are of course also up-sizing to a new store they are building at the Kengate estate in West Hythe. Perhaps a pound store will move into the existing Aldi? The final soulless supermarket bulletin concerns B&M Stores, similar to Home Bargains opening in the currently dog- eared Homebase unit on 23rd November. Pubwise I saw Gillie formerly with Stuart for many years at the The Guildhall filling in at The British Lion out of the goodness of her heart. They are happily retired in the centre of Folkestone but she runs whatever she touches with her normal assurance. The Guildhall and Lion are much the same but. Ed and Lucy, having made a success of The Pullman, now have not only the busy Luben pizzeria in the newly smart Art Deco Burton’s Building, but have bought The True Briton. The True Briton is probably to be a fish restaurant by Christmas I can remember The Harbour Crab and Oyster, the epitome of the eighties, with panelling, nets and witches’ balls, doing the same thing successfully on the same spot. Ed and Lucy run things from a distance with managers. This gives a slight lack of oomph in my view, but the food and drink, including real ales in The Pullman, are good. The Harbour improvements of Roger De Haan multiply the footfall every year. Now you can walk along the former railway line to get across the harbour and down nearby steps. Either Shepway or Folkestone Councils MAY acquire the railway line in the next few years for parking or road improvement as the rail coy want shot of it. But what is it worth if anything? Go Folkestone hopes that if The True Briton is as good as its sisters, then the scaffolded, empty Princess Royal behind it will be less isolated and be taken on by somebody at a rent or price reflecting its condition to become a handsome pub, cafe, gallery or house. The landlord wanted to demolish this 1860s stucco building but was fortunately delayed by Shepway; however, in all fairness to the Harbour Coy, it may go eventually if no-one occupies it. To mention another pub of yesteryear The Gloomy Frenchman is up for rent. We can’t help thinking that it may go for conversion. Being the nearest pub to the office blocks of Folkestone is no longer the big advantage it was, given the 21st century worker’s curious liking for a short teetotal lunch hour. And the trendy Bouverie micropub in the Village beats it for that now anyway. Someone did suggest East Kent College running Gloomy for their catering students as a business. Up at East Cliff the renovation of The East Cliff Pavilion is complete and very swish. It really, really should be opened as a Mediterranean style restaurant by November. It is apparently a diamond dealer’s project and he keeps changing his mind. Superb views from up there. Can’t wait. Kai’s Thai Food: The first time that Go Folkestone has ever reviewed a mobile catering van, but we aren’t getting desperate: it is delicious. The Thai Kai was serving down in Hythe near the Hotel Imperial until September but she was being blown away. Now she is outside Bespoke Design formerly Pemico , on the corner of Park Farm Road and Barnfield Road, just downhill from the corner where Silver Spring used to be. Kai the Thai has excellent spring rolls for £0.90, plus main meals of meaty noodles, green curry, red curry etc at about £5.00. The local workers love it of course but she even does phone orders. Or you could work for Bespoke Design who get free food instead of charging her rent. Only open Monday to Friday 11.30-4.30pm though. The Lavender Tearooms, briefly Linda’s, is dropping from the crowded café competition and soon becoming a micro-pub. The Firkin has of course already moved next door from its former premises into the slightly larger former estate agents. It has started serving wine! The Clifton Hotel is having a lot spent on it and is opening an extended restaurant imminently. The new owner is funding a replacement of the street trees as one had to go for a disabled entrance.

6 Friends of Folkestone Museum

Angela Conyers

The Folkestone Museum Partnership group at its last meeting discussed the setting up of a Friends’ group to support the work of the Museum and a small steering group is now in place to work out the details. We hope that many people will join and help to support and promote the Museum and its exhibitions and collections. From just £10 a year for individuals, and £15 for families you can become a Friend of the Museum and play an important role in supporting its work.

The Friends of Folkestone Museum will provide a forum for all those who are interested in the Museum and the history of Folkestone. We will be organising regular social events and talks on a range of topics relevant to the collections. The first of these will be the talk by Fred Cuming RA on 29 November at 12 noon in association with the exhibition of his coastal paintings which will be running in the Museum from 26 October to 20 December. Tickets for the talk will cost £5 and as places are limited, you are advised to book in advance by emailing [email protected].

The Museum are planning further exhibitions throughout the coming year, and Friends will be invited to attend previews. There will also be opportunities to see behind the scenes with tours of the Museum and the Conservation unit, to find out more about how the Museum operates. Regular newsletters will keep Friends informed of Museum activities and related cultural events. Tours and guided walks to places of interest around Folkestone will also be offered. The first tour, on ‘Literary Leas’ will be on Saturday 2 December at 12 noon.

There are several opportunities for volunteering at the Museum, from front-of-house to collection care. Anyone interested should contact the Museum directly at museum@ folkestone-tc.gov.uk. The volunteering programme is managed by the Museum, though there will be close links between the Friends and the volunteers, and the Friends will encourage and support any members who wish to volunteer at the Museum.

One of the aims of the Friends will be to help raise funds for the Museum. While this can be done through membership fees and events, there may be occasions when additional funding will be needed, for example to assist in the purchase of new items for the collection or for special projects, such as conservation. It is hoped that the Friends will assist in finding ways to raise additional funds in such circumstances.

Membership of the Friends is now open. Be one of the first to sign up, enjoy meeting others at the talks and social events and make a valued contribution to the excellent Folkestone Museum which is proving such an important asset to the town both for local people and for visitors. Membership queries should be sent to the Membership Secretary, Friends of Folkestone Museum, The Town Hall, Folkestone CT20 1DY, or email museum@ folkestone-tc.gov.uk.

7 News from The Folkestone Leas Lift Company (CIC)

A new Community Interest Company is being established with the brief to pursue the future funding and operation of Folkestone’s iconic Leas Lift. The Lift has been closed during 2017 following the withdrawal of the previous operating company, but it is hoped that it will re-open again as soon as possible, supported by longer term plans that will sustain it well into the future.

The new group has secured £80,000 that will help meet the initial costs of conducting an engineering survey including a secondary braking system, required by the HSE. Agreement has been reached in principle with the owners , the Radnor Estate, to take over control of the site on a long peppercorn lease. The Estate has provided significant sums to maintenance etc over recent years and has made the major contribution to the new organisation. Further significant funding has been provided byThe Roger De Haan Charitable Trust.

As an initial measure, consultants have been appointed to assess the steps that need to be taken to bring the lift back into use and to help prepare a business plan that can be used to support a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund. The new entity will assume responsibility for this process and in the medium term will work to re-establish the lift as a valuable heritage asset and as a viable means of travelling between the Leas and the Lower Leas, providing access to the Coastal Park, seafront and harbour. In time, this might include exploring ways to establish a new lift alongside the existing track, which is Grade 2* listed.

The group stated “We would like to thank the team that ran the lift in recent years and we are pleased that both they and representatives of the recently-formed Friends of the Leas Lift are happy to offer their support as we move forward. It is clear that there is a strong desire to see the lift re-open and continue well into the future; our job will be to ensure that the sums add up and that we don’t just arrive at a short-term solution that will take us forward to the next crisis. There are significant challenges ahead in upgrading and renewing the structure and its equipment that need to be addressed over the longer term.

The new organisation is applying for registration as a Community Interest Company titled The Folkestone Leas Lift Company (CIC). Directors of the new organisation, Cathy Beare, Peter Cheney, Zaw Htut, Alec Keeler, Emma Liddiard, Philip Gearing, and Peter Welsh met recently with Philip Clapham and Trevor Minter in attendance. Between them they bring a range of required skills and experience, including engineering, marketing, fundraising and finance.

Further information will be shared as soon as practicable and following the initial expert reports. ______

Go Folkestone noted that members of the CIC , the Victorian Society and other experts were inspecting the Lift in detail on 19 October which is very encouraging .We also note Shepway’s ‘Spirit of The Leas’ project to repair and reopen the two closed cliff paths around the Leas Cliff Hall going down to the Lower Sandgate Road, is gathering real financial commitments , ready for a perhaps 2018 kick-off.

8 New Boy By Tracy Chevalier Book Review by Sheila Palmer

Probably the best known writer appearing at this year’s Book Festival is Tracy Cheva- lier (Girl with the Pearl Earring) who will be speaking about her latest novel, New Boy, a reworking of Shakespeare’s Othello. The story is set during the 1970s in a Wash- ington elementary school, and the main characters are pre-teens in their last year before moving on to junior high. Towards the end of the semester into this all-white class comes Osei, son of a Ghanaian dip- lomat, and the prejudices and ignorance of staff and students alike erupt to the surface. The author herself went to an elementary school with a majority of black students, and she excellently depicts how it feels to be the odd one out. Osei has been in this situation in previous schools, and is well-prepared, intelligent, and good at sport – as pre-con- ceived ideas expect him to be.

Osei has an older sister, Sisi, who has remained in New York. Her experiences in the USA have naturally formed her political outlook, and his closeness to her has waned, leaving him a loner. But there is an immediate mutual attraction between him and Dee, the most popular girl in the school. Ian, a jealous bully who is about to be dropped by his own girlfriend, crafts a plan to make trouble. A strawberry patterned pencil box takes the place of Desdemona’s missing handkerchief. Readers who are familiar with the play will enjoy matching the characters to their originals (most keep the same initials), but newcomers to the story will be equally delighted with this book. The setting works well with this age group who are still playing childhood skipping games yet at the same time coping with blossoming sexuality. Sadly the themes of bigotry and fear of the unknown are timeless, which is of course one of the reasons why Shakespeare is never out of date. The problem with any “re-telling”, especially a tragedy, is that the reader generally already knows the ending, but without making any major changes to the plot, Tracy Chevalier has a few surprises as well as retaining the tension of the closing act. This is a fairly short book, very well written and packed with ominous atmosphere. As well as being a good read, it would make an excellent introduction to Othello for young people or as a companion volume for those studying the play.

Published by Hogarth, £12.99 Tracy Chevalier appears at Folkestone Book Festival on Friday 17 November Tel: 760 750 or see www.folkestonebookfest.com

9 THE RUSSIA HOUSE COMES TO FOLKESTONE

It seems now as if Russia is some new Great Power born after the collapse of the 1990s, full of threat and difficult for us to understand. Vladimir Putin’s state machinery seems to indulge murders of opposition leaders like Boris Nemtsov, and invasion of other countries such as Ukraine. But against that is the trauma of losing an entire empire stretching from east of Kharkiv to west of East Berlin and what that must have done to Russian pride and their sense of vulnerability. Simon Reeve, as I write this, grapples with the mystery on television. Helen Rappaport

Many intelligent people ponder it elsewhere. Sunday 26 November is Russia Day in Folkestone when the audience should get some insight into Russia, Putin and the former USSR.

The presenters are top notch . Peter Conradi has written several books on modern Russia , and speaks at 4pm. He takes a line which many do, but which if right, as it probably is, makes it more desirable than ever that we understand more and perhaps ask him questions about the future.His subject book is ‘Who Lost Russia? How the World entered a New Cold War’.

Before this, in time at 2pm, and also in history, experts Helen Rappaport and Victor Sebestyen, together with chair Andrei Ostalski of the BBC World Service discuss their books on the dawn of the Communist era. Helen’s is ‘Caught in the Revolution’, a series of stories of the 1917 revolutions from different contemporaries, and Victor’s is a biography ‘Lenin the Dictator: An intimate portrait’. Were these merely dictatorial Tsars without the robes or has Russia got any similarity to the West at all. When Spain behaves as it has done against the Catalans one seriously wonders how deep democracy goes in Western Europe.

Further back again at noon, in a dramatic one man show, Michael Pennington acts out the famous playwright Anton Chekhov’s fact-finding 4,000 mile journey to the Russo-Japanese border in the penal colonies or early Gulags of the frozen island of Sakhalin. This is a long running and acclaimed one man show based on Chekhov’s writings by a noted Shakespearean actor who has acted leading roles such as Lear, Macbeth and Coriolanus in London and Stratford for many years, and played Michael Foot to Meryl Streep’s Margaret Thatcher on film.

Folkestone Book Festival runs from Friday 17 November, when the Christmas Lights are put on at 5.30pm with carol singing, ad hoc events and the shops in the Old High Street and Tontine Street opening late. to Sunday 26 November. Get the brochure from The Quarterhouse, the temporary Seagull kiosk outside Lloyds Bank or via folkbookfest.com. Everything from local celebrity Sandra Howard talking about her life and her latest romantic novel on the Wednesday, through The Surreal Life of Leonora Carrington, the ultimate rebel on the Friday, to psychologist Linda Blair on Saturday at 3pm with ‘Sibling Relationships’ not just a matter for parents to sort out with their children’. No there isn’t a theme!Apart from interesting books being published this year. And you can have a beer, coffee, elderflower cordial etc in the first floor bar. Find more details or buy tickets on line at www.quarterhouse.co.uk or folkestonebookfest.com, or in person at The Quarterhouse in Tontine Street. 10 – 5pm Monday to Saturday or during events. 10 More downs than ups for the Leas Lift: A Personal View Terry Begent

The never-ending saga about our town’s seafront water-lift continues to raise and dash our hopes of getting it back into service. On the up side, there are a number of different fledgling community groups and campaigns that are taking up the baton that was dropped by the Folkestone Leas Lift community interest company when it was more or less forced out of business by the intransigence of the Health and Safety Executive. This situation derived from the need for new brakes but was a separate issue. No more on that : we are looking forwards.

The key aspect of these new campaigns is that they are being championed by the younger generations who are well versed in the use of modern social media to garner support from the masses. The front ranks of all previous uprisings against the closure seem to have been largely made up of those clutching a banner in one hand and a pension book in the other so this is an important step forward. True, the phrase “younger generations” in this case means those in their middle ages but, there again, to some of us, not only do police officers look like they are just out of nappies but even Chief Constables look as though they have just left school.

The most active of these campaigns seems to be adopting the title of “Friends of the Leas Lift”. It has more than 800 supporters on Facebook and has already held two public meetings and another private meeting with the agents for the Folkestone Estate (the owners of the lift). Since then, there has been little contact from them or even between the people heading up the campaign so this group may have had its moment and is now in the decline. The last word was that they were trying to arrange a public survey to establish the public demand for a return to service.

Some of you may remember that a meeting was held at Shepway District Council that involved the town and district councils, the Folkestone Estate, the seafront developer, the lift operators and our local MP. The outcome of that meeting was meant to be the preparation of a lottery funding bid by the Folkestone Estate (with the cooperation/ assistance of the “experts” at SDC) and the establishment of a sort of “Management Trust” to ensure the long-term future of the lift. Lots of good intentions but no second meeting!

In recent weeks, the Estate has put out a press release confirming the formation of a new operating company that is hoping to register as a community interest company. There has been no indication of how this group will work with the other stake- holders or whether it will be part of the management trust.. But in Late October the Victorian Society has been down and talking constructively with me and others on the background..

It is way too early for anyone to have put together any concrete plans but the lack of any indication of how the brake issue will be resolved, does nothing to allay growing fears over the level of modifications that could be carried out.The easiest answer is to remove the existing mechanism and electrify the lift like many local authorities have already done around the country. 11 This approach would result in a conflict with the planning authorities since the original mechanism is now listed and cannot be removed without permission. What is not so well know is that any significant changes to the installation would take those carrying them out into a regulatory minefield.

Heritage lifts around the country (those installed before 2004) are currently immune from the ramifications of the Cableway Installation Regulations. Significant changes to passenger capacity, drive systems or safety systems will remove that immunity completely and mean that the regulations apply to the whole installation – not just the bit being changed. In extremis, this could mean that the carriages, the controls and the Victorian water pumps would all have to go through the CE registration process.

Over the horizon is another booby-trap in the form of a new Euro- Directive which supersedes all existing regulations and could mean that any work not completed by April 2018 might have to be done again – a situation that Southend found themselves in 2006 when they refurbished their cliff lift.

We are sure that the promoters of the company want to make the Lift work , partly because it will be an invaluable asset to the seafront development which is due to lay its first bricks at the Lift end of the site. We hope that the tightrope between making it work, as it did successfully in 2010-16, and preserving its character and machinery is successfully negotiated. It is a ‘Grade ll* monument i.e. more historically important than The Pavilion or The Bandstand. Perhaps an electric one can be placed next to it.

Friends of the Leas Pavilion, by Alison Glen

Although people may have thought over the summer that FLP were not up to much, we were busy arranging the Splosh! art project. Having lost our sponsorship and artist because of the state of the Pavilion, we were determined to raise awareness of the plight of the building as well as show people we were still active. We approached the Folkestone Estate to ask if they would like us to include the Lower Leas Lift Station hoardings, as both buildings were designed by Reginald Pope, and they kindly agreed.

We found new sponsors, Purcells Architects and Found in Music, and were generously donated materials by a local business, who wish to remain anonymous. We engaged with local artists Pete Alford, Daniel Parker, Rachel Beckett and Danny Pockets as well as London based artists Anna Laurini, Rebecca Mason and Louise McNaught. Our celebrity supporter, Vic Reeves (aka Jim Moir), who is also an artist gave us permission to display two of his latest works.

The other big news was our inclusion on the Top 10 Endangered Buildings List, compiled by the Victorian Society. This brought great publicity, with BBC South East, Meridian and local TV company KMTV covering the announcement. We are still pursuing avenues to set up a CIC, gain the lease, acquire funding and making sure the Pavilion is kept secure and repaired. This is a long road with many ‘obstructions’ but we are, as always, determined to fight our cause. 12

Artist’s impression by John Hodson of Folkestone circa 800-850AD derived from research in the Folkestone Townscape Heritage Initiative Project. One of four pictures covering different periods up to the Railway Age circa 1850. Please come and hear more from Doctor Andrew Richardson on ‘The Origins of Folkestone’ at Wards Hotel on 8 November at 7.00pm.

13 CHRISTMAS WALKS Richard Wallace

Travel by car or even by hourly 91 bus on the Alkham Valley Road to Alkham village or The Marquis of Granby . Turn right just after the rather over-modernised but comfortable pub restaurant into Hogbrook Hill Lane and park opposite the lichen green Village Hall. Start the two hour walk by walking along the right-hand-side of the boundary ditch between the main parish field and the car park, eventually with the football nets on your right. At the field end where the fence juts out walk straight down the narrow but still very good path. All this walk is reasonable and well-trod for the inflexible, except for one avoidable stile.

The walk touches a piece of Short Lane, but the tarmac turns left when the path goes straight with views opening up to the left down to the valley bottom. It is all pretty direct, through two barred gates and mildly uphill. After the second gate the track splits and you should bear off right and more uphill to the trees. This cuts off the views as you go through the woods of beech, hazel and some rosehips for Xmas decorations. At one point you turn right again and briefly the path goes across a wheatfield.This reaches a quiet public road, Abbey Road and you turn right. In only 100m there is a stile to Public Footpath 165a on your left. Over this you go and traverse a cultivated field on a very visible, rolled straight path.

This takes you to the target of the walk , St Radigunds Abbey Farm . Go carefully because this is a private farmhouse , and don’t take the close into the courtyard , unless you are in one of the holiday cottages ! If you turn left and keep the old flint walls and house on your right you are on a public footpath all the way to to the road . Before that you come around naturally to the best view of the ruined medieval St Radigund’s Abbey . He was a local hermit much remembered in Dover place names. The main gatehouse tower and the ruined gable end are three stories high ; not a few stones in a field. The abbey was built and occupied from 1190 until Henry Vlll’s dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s.

This is a very horsey walk and you will probably see sheep and geese as well. Go to the public road and turn left and then left again back into Abbey Road. You will soon walk past the stile you leapt over. If you had wanted to avoid the stile you could have walked 300m further and found a footpath on your left through a gate . This gives you a longer ‘cut-back’ to the Abbey. But to get back to Alkham we must walk along the road to Mount Ararat House on your right . Here turn into the footpath by the black- buildinged stable yard for the Disabled Riding School & walk through the woods, now downhill. This takes you to Hogbrook Hill Lane where you turn right and in ¼ mile are back at the car park. There are a couple of very attractive old houses here including a half timbered one which may have 1400’s origins.

If you wanted to pick sloes, like tiny round plums on thorny hedges, for sloe gin, this is not the right walk. There are sloes around the footpaths at the far end of Cheriton beyond Holiday Inn near the footbridge over the motorway. There are more sloes around Elham. Take the Elham Valley Way from the village square and Duck Street to Wingmore , looking in the hedges to your left and test the result (after two months of steeping fork-pricked fruit in gin and half their weight in sugar) against a sloe gin in the Abbot’s Fireside.

14 INN & RESTAURANT

ozing history and character, The Abbot’s Fireside offers atmospheric accommodation, homely fare and a setting in Obeautiful countryside close to the Channel Crossing. The cosy Smithies’ Arms bar has been reinstated at one end of this beautiful, old, Tudor building dating back to 1451 for all to enjoy. Local real ales always on tap. There is also a newly refurbished restaurant and seven well appointed en-suite letting rooms, so why not make a night of it? If you prefer just a brief visit then just pop in for one of our delicious cream teas served indoors, on the terrace or in our secluded courtyard garden. One of our en-suite letting rooms Rags 2 Riches We also hold a full KCC wedding license so why not consider The Abbot’s Fireside as the ideal venue for your wedding ceremony for up to fifty guests? With accommodation and full catering facilities we can offer you a tailor-made package to fulfil your every need. Regular music events are also a feature so please check our web site for the latest news on these and other information.

The restaurant

Christmas Day (limitted to just 30 guests) Arrive at 12:30 to dine at 1:30 £85 per head (see website for details). All finished by 4 pm Price to include welcome drink, large goblet of wine or mead, glass of champagne & Irish coffee.

A wedding in August NO VENUE FEE

Visit: www.abbotsfireside.com or email [email protected] Tel: 01303 840566 The Abbot’s Fireside, High St, Elham, Canterbury, CT4 6TD

15 LAST CHANCE TO DO THE TRIENNIAL WALK Richard Wallace

The Folkestone Triennial closes on 5 November. A leisurely musing stroll should take 1.5 to 2 hours. Add 40 mins there and back if you walk along to the beach artworks and another hour if you walk right up Wear Bay Road to The Wall perched on the cliff edge. Please have a go and take your camera. 135,000 people are expected to view it on current forecasts. The individual exhibits are curated by local enthusiasts who turn out on the minimum wage in all weathers.They will stop after the 5th. Some artworks will close and vanish immediately. Some will go in time. A few, to be decided on cost, availability, durability, practicality and popularity will stay. folkestonetriennial.org.uk

The place to gather is the bar at The Quarterhouse which is open Monday to Saturday 10am to 5pm and later for many events. As we walked into it it had been transformed for The Triennial into a soaring church cloister by the first installation, The Clearing by Studio Ben Al- len. The seemingly wooden ribs and rafters reach up to the high roof. They all seem to stretch into the distance like a miniature Fountains Abbey because of the two mirrored end walls which have always been in place at The Quarterhouse but which usually merely give the bar an impression of great length. The effect now is ecclesiastical and elegant. How The Clearing relates to the underlying theme of the exhibition The Edge is a matter to ponder.There are many edges to the skeletal framework however which could be seen to be on the edge between being a proper building and dissolution into near scaffolding.

Alistair Upton explained that the artists are given the theme and talk about it, but creatively good work is more important than slavish adherence. My vote for staying, or just enjoying, in rough walking order would be as follows but take the guides in the Quarterhouse and consider all of the over 20 installations, even the smallest:

• The Clearing: But is it practical and durable in a working bar?

• Fleet on Foot by Jonathan Wright, Tontine Street: Artful models of our remaining local fishing boats, perched on street-posts. Could become a local icon.

• ‘1947’, The Cube, Tontine St. by Sintra Tantra: The Adult-Ed Centre becomingly ‘repaint- ed’ in a colourful style echoing 1930s and 40s holiday posters and lidos.

• Halfway to Heaven, Bradstone Road: Worth visitng this graveyard in the sky before it is sealed again, even without the moving musical artwork by Emily Peasgood

• Minaret by Hong Cheong Wong: Attached to the mosque in Foord Road South, behind the library; this is surely temporary, but works wonderfully esp. at night.

• Another Time XV111 by Antony Gormley, The Loading Bay (down steps) at The Harbour Arm: Irreverently known as Rusty but still oddly fascinating.

• The Jelly Mould Pavilion on the shingle below the Rotunda site, by Lubiana Himid. Surely this whimsy, evocative of a British seaside resort, will stay somewhere

• Lamp-post as remembered, The Leas near Clifton Crescent, by David Shrigley and Camille Bidell : Spot the interloper and ponder how piquantly the line is completed.

Richard Wallace, with a vote from David Noble, and much thanks to Alistair Upton for an excellent guided tour. Fuller appreciation on Facebook.

16 LOCAL FILM-MAKER’S AWARD WINNER GOES STRAIGHT TO MARKET

Finally we have taken the plunge and will be self-distributing LIFE’S A BEACH on DVD this November. After being selected for the Glasgow Film Festival, East End Film Festival and Toronto Beaches Film Festival (where it won ‘Best Activism Film’), we have been unable like so many indie films find distribution so we are doing it ourselves.

Synopsis: A documentary exploring the life of Jerry ‘Mungo’ Francis, as he takes a stand against consumerist society, finding himself embroiled in legal battles against local government and Network Rail, after he set up home on a Folkestone beach. Mungo’s home, built out of old pallets and recycled beach refuse, represented not only his philosophies of sustainability, but also the heart of the local community. ‘Life’s a Beach’, follows Mungo’s experiences there; his challenges and triumphs, all leading to a tragic accident, which made the man a local legend.

For more information find us on https://www.facebook.com/Lifesabeachfilm, email john@Britflicks. com or telephone 01303 271 999

John Baker (County Hardware) 17 Some Christmas Events

Friends of St Mary and St Eanswythe

A very special Christmas Concert on Saturday 16th December

6.00pm @ St Mary and St Eanswythe Church, The Bayle.

The Canterbury Cantata will be performing ‘Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols‘

Enjoy one of Britten’s most delightful works, a series of medieval carols scored for female voices and harp.

Wine and Cheese reception to follow included in £10 ticket Doors open @ 5.30p.m. for admission on the day.

Please contact Ian Gordon for full details: Email: [email protected] Tel 01303 257 248 Sponsored by The Friends of St Mary & St Eanswythe’s Parish Church www.friendsofstmaryandsteanswythe.org.uk

17th November Folkestone Christmas Lights Big Switch On with Father Christmas panto fun and real reindeer from 4.00pm . Lights will be switched on at 7.15pm outside the Town Hall and a firework finale at approximately 7.45pm. More info from the excellent organisers at Folkestone Town Council.

Our Lady and St Joseph Church, Guildhall street, Folkestone “Annual Christmas Fare”: Saturday 25th November 10.30am til 2.00pm. Many stalls Tombola, Gifts, Books, Toys, Cakes, Refreshments, Raffle

Baptists Church Hill Road: Sunday 3rd December. 10.30am: Children’s Nativity Service. Wednesday 13th December. 6Pm: Christingle with oranges telling the Christmas story.

Sunday 24th December. 6.30pm: Community Carols by Candlelight

Monday 25th Dec. 10.30am: Family friendly Christmas Day worship. Bring a toy.

GO FOLKESTONE IS STILL HAVING A GUIDED TOUR OF THE HISTORIC CHURCH OF HOLY TRINITY, NOW IN JANUARY WITH HILARY TOLPUTT. PROVISIONALLY SATURDAY 20 JAN .2:00PM. SEE FACEBOOK OR [email protected] or knock at 4 Beachborough Road.

18 Folkestone Parish Church War Memorial Shrine Leonard Greenwood.

At the Church Street entrance to the churchyard of St. Mary and St. Eanswythe stands a small wooden structure. Thought by many to be the remains of an old lych-gate, it is in fact a War Shrine, erected in autumn 1917 to remember the war dead of the congregation and parish. 31st October 2017 is the centenary of its dedication.

This churchyard Shrine was not Folkestone’s first; but it was the town’s first public Shrine. An earlier Shrine had been placed on the porch wall of St. Michael’s Church, Dover Road, listing 300 serving men from the parish. It was dedicated in December 1916.

The idea of a Parish Church war memorial Shrine had been announced at the Annual Vestry Meeting in April 1917. The Vicar (The Rev. Canon P.F. Tindall) reported that he had been approached by the Mayor Sir Stephen Penfold and other townsmen about the erection of a Shrine to the memory of those men of the parish who had fallen in the war. Sir Stephen’s son Lieutenant Jeffrey Penfold had been killed at Loos on 28th January 1916. The estimated cost was £73 to £75, which was met by subscription. The Mayor and Rev. Tindall each subscribed 5 guineas.

The Shrine was dedicated on 31st October 1917. One newspaper account of the ceremony describes the, then only 39, casualties’ names being inscribed on marble tablets. The Shrine was for some years the focus of Folkestone’s remembrance. The Folkestone Express of 13th November 1920, reporting the Town’s commemoration event, noted that “a large number of floral tributes were placed on the arW Shrine at the entrance to the Parish Church”.

The Folkestone Express of 3rd November 1917 reported the Shrine’s dedication:

“The shrine is an impressive structure, beautiful in its oaken simplicity. Beneath its red-tiled roof is a large crucifix, and below are panels which all those who pass by may read: ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’ Then follow 39 names – ‘the names of men from the parish and congregation who have given their lives for their King and Country.’ ‘Grant to them, O Lord, Eternal Rest, and may Light Eternal shine upon them.’

“The architect was Mr. H.T. Edwards, The Warren Guild, and the builders were Messrs. A.R. Mowbray & Co. Ltd, London.

“The dedication service was conducted by the Vicar (The Rev. Canon Tindall). Also taking part were the churchwardens, the clergy (led by the Ceremonial Cross), members of the Folkestone Company of the Kent Volunteer Regiment and members of The Boys’ Brigade. The first hymn sung was ‘Oh God of Love, the King of Peace’, and after the Blessing of the Shrine the Volunteers gave the General Salute while the trumpeters sounded ‘The Last Post.’ . . . . There was no address, but the Vicar offered additional prayers in the Church. As the congregation left, the poignant music of ‘Blest are the Departed’ sobbed from the organ.”

19 After the Shrine’s dedication additional casualties’ names were added to it “on strong cards.” In 1922 further subscriptions were sought and by May 1923 a permanent bronze plate, or tablet, was fitted to the War Shrine, now with 69 names of the fallen. By 1993 the Shrine was falling into disrepair and the decision was taken to move the tablet and the crucifix above it into the Church. This tablet is now mounted in St. George’s Chapel, in the alcove to the right of the nave pulpit.

One name engraved on the original War Shrine tablets has a particular poignancy. William Richardson was a merchant seaman, the only son of a local sea Captain working for the SE&CR. He was drowned when the small boat he was in capsized in heavy seas off Plymouth Sound on 17th February 1915. He was 22 years of age.

William is not commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission as his death by drowning was accidental rather than a result of enemy action, a distinction doubtless lost on his grieving parents. Neither was his name originally inscribed on the town’s Civic War Memorial, it only being added later as an addendum.. So for some years the Parish Church War Shrine was his only public memorial.

Such Shrines erected during World War One were once a common sight throughout the country to act as a focus for communal remembrance of loved ones. Often they would include a list of all the men of their community who had enlisted. Less usually they would become the first war memorials to the fallen – whose names were necessarily added as the war progressed.

20 ONE LISTED CHURCH SAVED, ONE THREATENED

Richard Wallace

The Shepway Volunteer Centre at the United Reform Church, by Central Station, continue to wait on tenterhooks for what will happen to them. The regional synod of the United Reform Church have given up their long lease and moved to Hythe.

The church site was generously given by Lord Radnor and his Folkestone Estate to the United Reform Church in the 1890s with a caveat . This legal clause said that if a church service was not held there for a year then the land would revert to the Folkestone Estate. It wouldn’t by implication be a church any more and the clause was there to prevent some church associate selling it at a profit and taking advantage of Lord Radnor’s generosity. No service has been held since December 2016 and none looks like happening. So the major local landowner, The Folkestone Estate, owners of the Garden Centre, Leas Lift and much of the town will probably get back a striking Grade 2 half-unused church in 2018.

Some people have criticised the URC for not holding services or helping the Volunteer Centre. But they may have been obliged not to hold a delaying church service as part of an agreement over leaving, doing repairs etc. Janet Johnson and the invaluable Volunteer Centre are trying to buy the church now the URC have left because their volunteer centre is a well-lit 1990s conversion and not just a draughty church hall. But they obviously won’t have a chance if the 1897 church could be demolished or converted to luxury apartments next to the London-bound station.

It seems at the moment that no other church can afford repairs, or even get in there , although South Kent Community Church , currently at Pent Valley was interested . The Estate could make money by converting the building to flats or demolishing it.The Grade ll listing and your popular pressure would make demolition unlikely. Looking across at Herne Bay one can find that the listed Victorian Central Methodist Church in the high street was recently converted into 9 flats whilst changing little of the exterior. And we have local examples of residential conversions in the 19th century former Sandgate School at the bottom of Sandgate Hill.

Of course many churches over time have been demolished in Folkestone. There was St Michael’s Church on the corner of St Michaels Street and Dover Road. You can still see some of the massive foundations on the bank below the almhouse bungalows. No sign that I know of the equally solid Congregational Church at the junction of Foord Road and New Street. Or the Church of the Good Shepherd, the ‘Tin Church’ in Victoria Grove. But none of these were listed, none of them partly modern offices, and they weren’t quite such landmarks.

Without the Estate behaving philanthropically by letting another church and more voluntary bodies in to share the attractive interior with the SVC, it seems most likely that the church will end up looking the same but becoming flats or houses. Can this be done sympathetically or is it impossible? What will happen to the Volunteer Centre? Normally the Estate will be obliged to compensate them unless the underlying legal 21 position is very unfair. At least FE have quite a few part empty office blocks around Folkestone e.g. Europa House above Natwest or Barton House on the corner of West Terrace. Even Shepway District Council could help as they now have a few vacated floors in the Civic Centre due to staff cuts. Kent County Council, another contracting public authority is leaving almost all of its two (rented) floors at Queens House above Bon Marche.Or, finally, maybe Roger De Haan could put the Volunteers somewhere in his seafront development to give a more rounded mixture of uses and a community feel to his new scheme. None of these bodies are charities however.

The Red Cross has meanwhile vacated its old meeting hall in Station Road opposite Folkestone West and it is up for sale. The Red Cross is looking at part of Age UK’s closed premises in Shaftesbury Road in Cheriton. Good news if it comes off. The rumour is that a rail company wants the old Red Cross hall as a training centre. But it has got permission to be converted to ordinary offices and surely would appeal to someone in that ‘line’ due to its superfast London connections

Good news at St Saviours Church in Canterbury Road though. The exactly 1900 church is a bit different from traditional Gothic, looking quite clean cut and almost Dutch or Swedish. But it is a listed building. The Kentish Ragstone and brick building originally cost £12,497 to build which shows how inflation has gone. It is owned by the Diocese of Canterbury, broadly speaking and the roof repairs will probably cost about £200,000. The Cof E effectively closed the C of E church by amalgamating the parish with St Johns Church.

However St Saviours is now being occupied by (sold to?) the evangelical Harbour Church which seems willing to take on the roof. The Harbour Church has oscillated around rather, having occupied and nearly bought the East Cliff Pavilion, and meeting at St Mary’s School. But it now seems firmly ensconced and with some funds behind it. The enormous vicarage however has been up for sale for some time and the garden there has enough room for some houses. So we are enquiring about the safety of the magnificent trees on the boundary with the Shepway tree officer.

------

The proposed Stanford West Lorry Park , the solution to Operation Stack , with its projected M20 slip road just on the Ashford side of Stone Street , is still up for judicial review . But Charles Elphick, MP for Dover and Deal wound everyone up recently by suggesting it could be a ‘customs clearance facility’ after Brexit . This isn’t a completely dissimilar use, but it would need a new planning permission. Hopefully it is just a Brexit negotiating ploy as it is miles from the actual borders.

Otterpool New Town, around Otterpool Lane remains a distant but live project, now with its own website. In truth, with an underused railway station, a motorway junction and an industrial estate for employment already there it seems a good alternative to building up every square inch of Folkestone and Hythe. Water supply is rumoured to be one problem though.

22 FREDERIK GEORGE REES, NORMALLY KNOWN AS FRED Richard Wallace

Fred Cuming RA is now in his mid eighties and has been a well known painter since the 1960s. I remember going to the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition around 1994 and seeing a whole room of his paintings. They made a deep impression on me with their misty landscapes, realistic pictures of harbours and creeks and very individual style. Now he lives in a village near Rye with his wife. His two children have grown up, one has become an artist who has had paintings himself this year at the Summer Exhibition, apparently hung next to his fathers. Fred gains inspiration from the sea, sky and flat landscape of Kent and Sussex. He is a more mellow, contemplative artist than the much greater Turner, but with that same quality of believing in impressionism but having a total underlying mastery of the craft.

Although he has had many ups and downs in his family he remains chipper, combative and bright and still paints, selling often through Rye studios but now hopefully in Folkestone. He has some local connections through his son who married the daughter of Go Folkestone members Bill and Irene Atherton. Fred also taught art for Kent Education Authority at the well remembered Metropole Art Centre in the 1980s. Folkestone Museum is lucky to have an exhibition of his paintings which opened on 25th October at The Town Hall and goes through to 20th December. There will be a talk and questions taken by Fred Cuming on Wednesday 29th November at 12 Noon in the Town Hall. Tickets £5 cash at the door with Limited places!

Morning Sea, Dymchurch (2017) Fred Cuming R.A. Oil on canvas Courtesy the artist 23 NEWS FROM THE PLANNING FRONT Richard Wallace

St James shopping ( 23 units) development on Dover’s coast road is nearly finished in places. The new Marks and Sparks, Poundland and Next stores should open for Christmas, although the 6 screen Cineworld and 108 bed Travelodge are still well behind . Folkestone probably won’t have to worry too much.. But Folkestone shops if they do have a bad Christmas should consider putting in an application for a small rates reduction to the Valuation Office on the arguable grounds, that some trade will have gone to the new Dover shops. The Silver Screen too in due course.

Developers are putting in detailed plans for 49 workshops at the top of Caesars Way in Cheriton . Some affordable housing is also planned for up there . The traffic management will have to be improved. This is an old fashioned road that used to go out into the countryside before the M20 blocked it.

Tree lists for 2017/18 winter planting are being drawn up by Folkestone Town Council and KCC . Subject to the relevant committee there are likely to be some replacement trees ,usually in existing empty tree pits : Sandgate Road , Wear Bay Road, Alder Road , St Hilda’s Road , Shorncliffe Road , Bathurst Road, Welson Road , Canterbury Rec , Tram Road , Bouverie Road West , Joyes Road etc Langhorne Gardens will get a full replant of 6-7 trees. .Godwyn Road will have some very big beasts replaced . Attempts to chop down one of the enormous holm oaks in Ingles Road have been refused by Shepway. Hurrah! PS IF YOU SEE A NEW YOUNG TREE NEAR YOUR HOUSE , OR YOUR SHOP , GIVE IT A BUCKET OF WATER, EVEN DIRTY WATER.

Folkestone Sports Centre are getting a grant to improve and alter some of their surplus tennis courts to provide better facilities for archery, already a sport that you can do there. Also they are determined to comprehensively improve the ageing ski centre AND have drawn up plans to provide an aerial climbing experience on part of the former golf course similar to GO APE. We local councillors are helping with this and also with installing CCTV at the amazingly successful Radnor Park playground to safeguard the children.

I had to laugh over the otherwise interesting Daily Telegraph this September on Martello Lakes, the new name for the 190 homes being built at what ordinary people call Nickolls Gravel Pit in West Hythe ‘ Prices start from £190,000 for a two bedroomed flat and from £350,000 for a three-four bedroomed house. ‘Hythe is a nice village’ said Harvey Sallows , the sales manager for Barratt’…..’’

The application for housing on Ingles Manor Garden Centre is still being considered. However, the principle of there being 39-40 houses is established. Discussions are merely around whether there should be any affordable housing ( apparently they can’t afford it) and if any more trees can be saved. The latest layout has a residential close coming in off Jointon Road close to the present entrance and then curving to the north in two roads of mainly three-story town houses i.e. with ground floor garages.There is a short little close pointing south which currently has four flats and a few 24 houses backing onto Jointon Road. Two small areas of green space stop the road system joining up with Castle Mews but people should be able to walk from Castle Hill Avenue through the development to Jointon Road. One of the few things that the community could still complain effectively about to their councilors is to make sure that the currently undeveloped side of the tree avenue to the Manor House is left fairly intact. Otherwise on current chopping plans it is not quite making it as an avenue any more . Perhaps a planning condition to ‘preserve a more or less continuous avenue’?

The two solid Edwardian houses at the front of the new Bellway 132 home development behind Shorncliffe Road, turreted 52-54 and not quite so nice 56-58 are being saved and converted flats.

VISITING SIR JEFFERY AT THE WELLS

David Noble and Richard Wallace visited Chilstone at Langton Green near Tunbridge Wells to check on the progress of the recast statue of Sir Jeffery Hudson, Queen Henrietta Maria’s remarkable midget, and found him in all his glory (see photo).

The original statuette was in Folkestone from Victorian times, and in Kingsnorth Gardens from when that showpiece was created in 1928 from a former brickfield and builders’ tip. Money has come from Aspects of Folkestone calendar sales, direct and indirect councillor ward grants from Councillors David Monk, Richard Theobald, Rodica Wheeler and Neil Jones, and some private donations including one from a similar project in Rutland where the man himself died around 1682 at the age of 63.

Sir Jeffery was the son of an employee of the Duke of Buckingham and, being only about 1ft 6in in height at 9 years old he became famous and joined the ducal household: ‘instantly Jeffery was heightened (not in stature but in condition) from one degree above rags into Silk and Satten, and two tall men to attend him ’[Thomas Fuller’s Worthies of England (1662)]. From thence to the Queen’s household, a duel in which he killed a man who didn’t take him seriously and turned up with a water pistol, and several years captured by Turkish sailors in the Med. as the world’s smallest galley slave. The statuette is now ready to go back into Kingsnorth Gardens, secured with a rod up his centre. You don’t want to know about his time with the Turkish sailors. 25 A FUNNY OLD GAME By Mick Cork

I’m losing track of the number of times I’ve used the increasingly hackneyed cliché that football is a funny old game in writing about the fortunes of Folkestone Invicta FC for this magazine. During the summer we lost two good guys who had between them played more than a thousand games for the club and were probably the first two names on the team list for manager Neil Cugley over more than a decade. But we’re doing okay, thank you.

Money will always be tight at The Fullicks Stadium, where sensible finance is the name of the game, rather than the mega-millions of the Premier League, or even of some clubs in the very same division in which Folkestone now compete.

Some readers may be aware of what’s going on at Billericay Town, just across the Thames from us .Towards the end of last football season, they were taken over by self-made millionaire Glen Tamplin who made little secret of the fact that he’ll do almost anything to get the Essex boys into the Football League as soon as he can.

It’s not pie-in-the-Sun to say that ‘Ricay’s wage bill has been reported as £20K a week with ex-Premier League stars on the books and others to come, we wouldn’t wonder. Folkestone have enjoyed a nice little FA Cup run this season, which came sadly to an end at Slough Town’s soulless, concrete and glass Arbour Park Stadium less than a week before I’m writing this. That monstrosity was built by the local council at a cost of almost £8million, but they can keep it.

Invicta’s exploits earned them £15K prize money, little more than half what Tamplin paid Hemel Hempstead for a striker last season. That guy hasn’t even been in their starting Xl for the last couple of games. Poor love, probably tripped over his wallet.But, let’s get back to the real world. Folkestone manager Cugley has long since learned to cut his often admittedly fairly stylish coat (suits more often) according to his cloth.

He scoured the lower divisions and has come up with two fine signings in strikerAde Yusuff and midfielder Kieron McCann whose form has been a revelation. And Cugs pulled off something of a master-stroke by bringing back former Invicta favourite Matt Newman to play alongside excellent new captain Callum Davies at the heart of defence. Somehow the manager also wasn’t going to argue when local hero Micheal Everitt said he quite fancied returning to the club on a permanent basis rather than bouncing back to help out for a few weeks or a month or two as he has done for several years running. The word ‘legend’ is used far too lightly days, but though still only in his early 30s, Mev, as he’s known to all around town, is heading for 700 appearances for his home town club and playing as well as anyone. If not better at times.

A couple of defeats at the start of October trebled the number of league games lost, and let’s not go there when it comes to talking about the standard of refereeing encountered away to the Metropolitan Police recently. A good job that I couldn’t make 26 it that day, given my love for referees (!!!) and in view of the surroundings, I’m almost certain I’d have got my collar felt! Cugley has persuaded our excellent but level-headed chairman Paul Morgan that we do need at least a couple more players if the price is right.

But the current squad have achieved excellent results against good teams like Staines Town and Hendon, and, only this week, bounced back from their cup defeat to produce their best performance of the season to outplay Leatherhead, who always talk a great game if not always achieving that.

As the manager says, we’re not going to win every game, and there’s a long way to go. But this is still a happy club, with good people helping out behind the scenes for the good of the team. Mind you, if you fancied volunteering or could afford to put a bob or two in, you’d be made very, very welcome!!

Aunt Jess’s Mince Pies, written by Mary Bridger

1oz or ounce = 27 g. 16oz to 1lb (452 grams). recipe makes 24-28 mince pies

Pastry: 1lb self-raising flr; 6oz block margarine in small kneadable pieces; 2oz Trex; 1 beaten egg; 1 level tablespoonful of caster sugar and the same of ground almonds.

Mix/knead together, gradually adding 4-5 fluid oz of ice cold water including one teaspoonful of lemon juice. Roll out to ¼’’ or so and cut out with 3’’ fluted pastry cutter. Share out 1lb or 14oz of shop mincemeat, allowing for a bit of expansion when heating, and top with cut circles or stars of slightly thinner pastry.

Bake at 170-180 deg c for 20-25 minutes. Shake a little icing sugar on after cooking.

Ps Folkestone Sugarcraft Guild have their annual Christmas display of cakes, amazing icing feats and crafts at St Andrew’s Church Hall, Surrenden Road on Saturday 25 November, circa 10.30am to 3.30pm.

27 Call us today for more info on 01303 245588

WILMOTHS FOLKESTONE 01303 245588 WILMOTHS ASHFORD 01233 640100 WILMOTHS MAIDSTONE 01622 750442 WILMOTHS CRAYFORD 01322 524555

28 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)

29 30