25% is being donated to the Folkestone Inshore Rescue fund …

When: Saturday 27 February 2010 ~ 1.00– 5.00 pm
Where: 42 Earls Avenue – side entrance
What: See below

Lots of goodies FOR SALE ~ such as:

• Clothes ( some brand new with tags):

Women’s
Children’s
Men’s

• Handbags

• Hats

• Household (including):

Curtains (some still in the original packaging)
Kitchen equipment
Ornaments

• Shoes – various sizes

• Sports

• Toys / Posters

Come along ~ Have a rummage …

AND

Make Me An Offer … call 07951 522829 with any queries

The Rye and Winchelsea Centre of National Trust holds their next talk on Thursday 18 March 2010.

The talk is entitled:-

An Afternoon of Rye Herbs’ by Lin Sains.

Lin gives us a mouth watering look at the use of herbs through the centuries to the present day.

The talk will be held at the Beckley Village Hall beginning at 2.30pm.

There is an entrance fee of  £2 for members (£3 non-members). This includes refreshments after the talk.

Contact: Philip Romani – 01424 883420

A lunchtime piano recital is to be given by Miyuki Kato in St Leonard’s Church on Thursday 18 February 2010 at 12noon.

Miyuki was born in Japan and came to the UK in 1997 as an exchange student, spending a year at grammar school in Kent, where she met piano teacher, Dr Michael Schreider, and decided to take up the piano for her profession (although her first plan on coming to the UK was to become a ballet-costume designer). After studying at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, where she graduated in 2003 with a BMus first for performance, she pursued further studies at the Royal College of Music and was awarded the Postgraduate Diploma in Performance in summer 2007 and Master of Music Degree in Advanced Performance in 2008. She has also gained many awards and been a prize-winner in international piano competitions. Miyuki gives recitals frequently in Wales, England and Japan.

Her programme in St Leonard’s Church will comprise:

Beethoven: 6 Bagatelles, Op.126
Sibelius: Waltz in E major, Op. 24-5
Rachmaninov: Waltz in A major, Op.10-2
Tchaikovsky: Romance in F major, Op.51-5
Chopin: Mazurkas Op.68-1, Op.6-2, Op.33-3, Op.56-2
Chopin: Polonaise-Fantaisie in A flat major, Op. 61

Tickets on sale
£5 at Brandon’s Music Shop, 55 High Street, Hythe, tel 01303 263108, or can be obtained at the door. (Admission free to those under 18 in full-time education.) The recital will be followed by a Ploughman’s Lunch at £4 per person.

THE new chairman of the Hythe Chamber of Commerce & Tourism (HCCT) has invited support from businesses outside the High Street area and called for more interest in its activities by the town council.

Joanna Ames, who took over from Kevin Howell as chairman at the meeting of the chamber’s executive committee on January 19, said that thriving retail trade, professional services and tourism were key to the prosperity of Hythe. As an immediate task, the chamber planned to step up its campaigns to encourage residents to shop and do business locally and to promote features of the town which make it different, distinctive and attractive to visitors.

“Much has been achieved in the three years since the merger of the chamber and the town’s tourism forum, and now we have to build on that success. Frankly, as a not-for-profit organisation entirely dependent on subscriptions, we need more members not only to fund our work but also to generate new ideas to carry forward our objectives.

“Projects in the pipeline include the development of the town map-guide and website, and we shall alse be considering new ideas for traditional High Street events, including Christmas decorations and entertainment, which many people think are organised and paid for by the town council. In fact, they are all HCCT initiatives. Practical interest and support from the council as a policy would be welcomed and, doubtless, would encourage support from other sources. HCCT receives and values much useful advice from councillors who serve on the executive committee which represents a range of community interests as well as those directly concerned with business and tourism

“Future progress depends on working together and not leaving the heavy-lifting to a few dedicated owners and managers of businesses in and around the High Street. That’s why we are keen to recruit members from other parts of the town with expertise not necessarily in the retail field. For an annual subscription of only £60, they will get worthwhile benefits”.

Ms Ames said that the chamber had a big programme of projects for 2010 and would work closely with retailers, including the supermarkets, to increase footfall, and with hotels, attractions, event organisers and the Discover Folkestone. Hythe & Romney Marsh tourism partnership to attract short break and day visitors.

“HCCT will use every opportunity to raise awareness of Hythe as a place for shopping and leisure.”

More information:
Joanna Ames – 01303 211341; e-mail: joanna@arrivee.co.uk

We received this from Lyndsey Harrison of http://alturnertive.com :

“What happened to us? Where did our creativity go?”

Alturnertive, an artist-led group aiming to provide opportunities to show the best of Kent’s emerging artists and art students have gone that little bit further for their new and exciting show. With an idea to encourage the residents of Kent to participate within the Arts, Alturnertive have provided the opportunity for residents, not necessarily associated with the Arts, to contribute towards their new show. This project, 100 Journals, which has been inspired by the original Journals Project in the States, has over a thousand participants from Kent and beyond taking part. This includes Universities, schools, a hospice, a local neighbourhood project for vulnerable groups and even an RAF squadron in Afghanistan. Alturnertive have sent 100 journals to various locations. The first person who receives one of the journals, simply fills in a few pages with anything they like (for example: a collage, painting, drawing, or writing) and then passes it to the next person on the list. The journals will travel around each area until the end of January, visiting all on their list and finally being returned to Alturnertive. The travelling journals project will culminate into a week long show displayed at the Herbert Read Gallery in the University of Creative Arts, Canterbury.

This exhibition will allow the people involved to come together and see their final creations, as well as giving others the chance to interact and participate with the show. Alturnertive’s director Caron Ottewell said; “I am amazed at the excitement that this project has generated. It was initially to be a Kent-based project, but we received requests from outside of the county and decided to extend it. 99% of participants come from Kent and we have people involved all over the county. We have over 300 individuals plus schools, colleges and university students, offices, libraries, a health centre and neighbourhood project. We even have a couple of journals travelling out to Afghanistan with an RAF Squadron. It is an incredible result and we can’t wait to see the journals when they are returned”.

The exhibition for the 100 Journals is on show at The Herbert Read Gallery, UCA, Canterbury from the 16th – 20th February 2010, with the Private View being held on Tuesday the 16th February from 18:00 – 21:00.

For any further information regarding the project or the show, please contact Caron Ottewell on alturnertiveshows@googlemail.com

The chairman and vice chairman of the Hythe Chamber of Commerce & Tourism are to swap jobs. Kevin Howell, chairman since April 2007, is to step down in order to devote more time to his business. He will become vice chairman, succeeding Joanna Ames, the current holder of the office, who will take over as head of the organisation at the meeting of its executive committee on January 19.

Mr Howell has run a wine and spirits business in Hythe for more than twenty years, now as an independent retailer but until last year as a franchisee of the Threshers chain.

He said that the collapse of the company had meant a considerable re-organisation of sources of supply for the Hythe business which he now owned.

“As these and other changes are not likely to be completed for some time, I have decided that it is in the interest of the chamber and its members that I hand over responsibility for overseeing the programme of development which, since the merger of the chamber of commerce and the Hythe Tourism Forum last year, has included the promotion of the town as a shopping and leisure destination,” said Mr Howell this week

“It has been a great pleasure to have taken part in projects to achieve its enlarged objectives, notably the website and new map-guide launched last year, and the organisation of events to encourage Hythe residents to shop locally”.

A regret of his term of office, Mr Howell added, was that he had not been able to convince more businesses that membership of the chamber and participation in its activities strengthened the organisation’s abilities to contribute to the town’s prosperity.

Joanna Ames was founder and managing director of Hythe-based international tour operator, En Route, which she sold to Buzzlines in 2006. Twice named Kent Businesswoman of the Year, she has been associated with local tourism for many years and now heads management services consultancy Arrivee, which she set up to
assist companies involved in the coach tourism industry. Ms Ames is vice chairman of the Channel Chamber of Commerce.

More information:
Kevin Howell – 01303 266301
Joanna Ames – 01303 211341

We’ve just watched the new video from Discover Folkestone which shows out lovely region in all its glory. This lovely film shows all the things we forget are around us when we live here!

• Royal Military Canal and the Venetian Fete from earlier in 2009
• Lower Leas Coastal Park and the lovely seaside beside
• Folkestone sea front and the Sunday market, the boats in the harbour and Bob’s seafood
• Battle of Britain memorial and museum in Capel-le-Ferne
• Pubs and hotels: The Clarendon Inn, British Lion, The Grand
• Folkestone Racecourse
• The Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway and the Golden Arrow
• Port Lympne Wild Animal Park

Of course, with the high speed road and rail links we are now only 1 hour away from London and 2 hours from Paris.

Take a look to see:

http://www.discoverfolkestone.co.uk

On 23rd November Kevin Howell wrote about the Late Night Shopping in Hythe High Street and how it was going ahead on 10th December, but in a slightly different way from how it was planned due to authorisation processes and red tape. Well, the good news is, it has all been sorted out, as he explains below:

Hythe High Street is to be closed to vehicles for the town’s Christmas late night shopping event on Thursday (December 10). A road closure application by the event organisers, Hythe Chamber of Commerce & Tourism, was turned down by Shepway District Council last month, necessitating some amendments to the original plans.

Welcoming the change of decision as a ‘most helpful gesture of seasonal goodwill’, Chamber chairman Kevin Howell said that a traffic-free High Street would add greatly to the festive atmosphere of the occasion and would be appreciated by both shops and shoppers.

“We expect the event, from 6pm until 9pm, to attract not only residents but also visitors from outside the town. Shops, restaurants and other businesses are taking part. There will be music and entertainment and, especially for young visitors, Santa Claus and Punch and Judy will be in town.”

More information: Kevin Howell – 01303 266301