St Peter's Village Tour welcomes its 20,000th visitor after17 years

A HISTORICAL village tour has welcomed its 20,000th visitor after it started 17 years ago.

The St Peter's Village Tour, which shows visitors around the village with 46 costumed characters, welcomed Pat Hay, a retired headteacher from Broadstairs on Thursday, June 14.

She was greeted by Deputy Lieutenant of Kent Ros McCarthy and invited to lunch at the St Peter's church hall after the tour

Speaking at the lunch, she said: "I like the way it was first-person living history."

The village tour, which started in 1995, is run by a 110-strong volunteer team.

Chairman of the tour Brian Sleightholm said: "They are very proud – they can't believe the fact that they've attracted so many people to St Peter's. They can't believe it has come to this amount."

The village tour team took the opportunity to say goodbye to volunteer Tony Roach, who has played the village constable since 1996.

His sister Joyce retired last year from the tour after volunteering since its inception.

For more information about the tour go www.villagetour.co.uk

MORE visitors than ever visited the flower show on Saturday to see an excellent selection of flowers, fruit, vegetables, domestic cookery and a photograph class.

The Society Challenge Cup for Floral Art was won by Christine Thomas.

Eric Paice had truly amazing delphiniums as one of his many prize-winning entries with his wife, Mary winning the Royalton Kisch Cup for 6 HT roses.

Eli Mama won the F Turnell Trophy for the best rose in show and Pauline Jordan won the Woodcock Challenge Cup for her delightfully scented sweet peas.

Diane Chamberlain won the Blench Trophy for the most points in the domestic classes together with awards for her many other entries in the horticulture classes.

Mr P Couzins won the Canterbury Geranium Cup and the Garden News Trophy for his superb Top Vase Entry. Many of the visitors have shown an interest in joining the horticultural society which holds monthly meetings with guest speakers at Pierremont in Broadstairs. For more information please call Sue Bray on 07790 629956.

Many thanks to Sue for sharing her photos with us after a mix-up with our weekend diary!

Winners in full: The Garden News 'Top Vase' – Mr P Couzins; The Woodcock Challenge Cup for Sweet Peas – Pauline Jordan; The Royalton Kisch Cup, 6 H T Roses – Mary Paice; The F Turnell Trophy for Best Rose in Show – Dr E Mama; The F B salt Cup, 2 Vases Cut Flowers – Mr E Paice; The Grace Dibble Trophy for a Container of Mixed Cut Flowers – Sue Bray; A Certificate of Merit, Classes 8 – 19 – Mr E Paice; The Tom Hickmott Cup for 1 Pot Plant for Flowers (maximum of 5 minutes) – Mrs D Chamberlain; The Joyce Shorter Millennium Trophy Cup for Best Trough Classes 33 – Mrs D Chamberlain; The J H Ollerton Cup for Classes 13, 18, 26,37 – Mrs M Paice; The Mrs O Robinson Trophy for Best Exhibit classes 20 – 40 – Mr E Paice; The Simcock Cup for Most Points Classes 1 – 40 – Mr E Paice; The Canterbury Geranium Cup, for Best Exhibit Classes 41 – 48a – Mr P Couzins; A Certificate of Merit for Most points Classes 41- 48a – Mrs D Chamberlain; A certificate of Merit, Best Exhibit, Classes 49 – 66 – Mr E Paice; The Mrs D Iles Trophy for Most Points classes 49 – 66 – Mr E Paice; The RHS Banksian Medal for Most Points Horticultural Classes – Mrs D Chamberlain; A certificate of Merit for Best Exhibit Floral Art – Mrs C Thomas; The Society Challenge Cup for Most Points in Floral Art, Mrs C Thomas; A Certificate of Merit, Best Exhibit Domestic Classes – Mrs S Bray; The Blench Trophy for most Points Domestic Classes – Mrs D Chamberlain.

THE Diamond Jubilee concert went ahead on the Oval bandstand on June 3 in spite of the bad weather.

The band concerts have now started and will run every Sunday afternoon from 2.30pm to 4.30pm until the end of September.

A group of 40 enjoyed a week's holiday in Oban Scotland, from June 4. We flew from Gatwick to Glasgow and then went onto Oban.

We went to Mull and Tobermory, Fort William where we had a cruise on Loch Linnhe with lunch. We visited Inverary Castle, Callander and more.

The weather was very good. We left the bad weather here!

There are a few places left on the Dorset holiday September 17 to 21, 2012 staying in Bournemouth.

There will be a visit to Beaulieu, Salisbury, Dorchester and Winchester.

The farmers' market on Sunday, June 24, went ahead in spite of the dreadful weather.

All the producers turned up and a big thank you to the men who put up the gazebos in very windy conditions.

Please continue to give your support to the award-winning market organised and run by unpaid volunteers for the community, no matter what the weather.

We were joined by more than 100 classic cars organised and run by Richard Strevens.

A big thank you to him for all his hard work.

Coffee mornings are held, on the first Thursday of the month, at Smiths Court Hotel, Cliftonville from 10am.

For further information contact June on 01843 226033, or e-mail k.chadband@btinternet.com

ON June 16, at the annual meeting and dinner, outgoing president Lily Doody handed over to new president Rose Brightling.

Lily's main charity for the year has been the RNLI. As a past member of the Navy, she knows at first hand the valuable work that RNLI crews do.

During the year, the club has been fund-raising for the RNLI with an extremely successful Burns Night supper at St Augustine's, an Art Photography Cheese and Wine evening, and a sellout concert by the Railway Swing Band in the Birchington Village Centre.

Lily was delighted to be able to present a cheque for £3,085.22p to Jenny Thomas, a member of the Birchington branch of RNLI at the dinner.

Under Lily's able leadership, the club has also raised £150 towards a digital scanner (EKUBS) by a curry evening, and £285 was raised by a strawberry cream tea for NSPCC/Childline.

A fashion show, planned by Margaret Hawkins, the overseas service organiser, raised £638 for Children Of Sumatra.

Lily and her committee have also organised several social events, a White Elephant evening, a community Jubilee party and a fish and chips evening.

As her last act as president, Lily inducted new member Gloria Kelly into the club, and the club stood to welcome her. She thanked her committee for their support during her year and presented them with flowers, before giving "lucky clogs" a traditional friendship gift from Holland, to every member.

New president Rose Brightling has chosen the British Heart Foundation for her charity and will begin her fund-raising with a Canapés and Cocktails Evening to be held on August 18 at St Augustine's.

The first meeting of Rose's year will be on Thursday, July 19 at St Augustine's, when Rose will put forward her programme for the year.

Our latest results: Friday, June 8: N/S 1 P Church & N Allen; 2 J Heard & B Goalby; E/W 1 B Saker & D Mann; 2 R & P Cunningham.

Monday, June 11: N/S 1 J&B Saker; 2 M Heigham & N Thomas; 3 P Westcott & G Powell; E/W 1 J Wreford & S Bayne; 2 C&M Brocklehurst; 3 L Wein & C Mirkowski.

Wednesday, June 13: 1 J&B Saker; 2 D Gosden & L Watson; 3 K Cooke & C Evans.

If you would like to play, at any of our sessions, please contact David Mann on 01843 865242

or e-mail david@dsmann.wanadoo.co.uk

THE guild met at Holy Trinity Resource Centre on June 13 for our birthday party tea. It was a lovely sunny afternoon.

Afternoon tea was followed by a Jubilee quiz which got the thinking caps on. There was a good raffle with lots of prizes with a Jubilee theme.

Next month's meeting is on Wednesday, July 11 when we have Mags Farnham who will be telling us all about aloe vera.

The East Kent Townwomen's Guild will be holding a Federation Day at the Salvation Army Hall in Canterbury on Wednesday, July 18 when there will be a speaker and entertainment. This starts at 11am.

If you are interested in joining the guild please come along to the next meeting (as above) in July at the Holy Trinity Resource Centre in St Mary's Avenue, Margate. This starts at 2pm.

THE meeting on May 28 was very well attended.

The show table was anything related to the Second World War, and we had a lovely range of books, photos, medals, newspaper clippings and other goods. It brought back a lot of memories for some people.

The outing to Wardown Park Museum and Stockwood Craft Museum and Gardens very enjoyable but could have been a bit warmer and drier.

The talk was by Dennis Vickers, A Funny Thing Happened At The Show. It was very interesting and we had a lot of laughs.

Our meeting on Monday was at St Peter's church hall with Peter Borrough showing the second part of his film entitled Ramsgate In World War Two – Blitz and Battle of Britain.

Meetings are held at St Peter's church hall, St Peter's at 7.30pm. Telephone 01843 224133 or 292234 if you have any enquiries.

BUDDING cooks battled it out to be named the Rotary Club of Ramsgate's young chef competition at the Marlowe Academy.

Nine pupils battled it out to win prizes including a trophy, cookery books and equipment.

They each produced a two-course meal for two people costing less than £5 with dishes including chicken korma, tuna pasta bake, chicken and bacon and deserts such as apple crumble, banana surprise and pineapple upside-down cake.

The competition, on Monday, was judged by Rotarian and former chef Derek Brown, Isle of Thanet Gazette editor Rebecca Smith, and Academy FM's Howard Evans.

The scores were very close but the final winner was Steven Kemp.

OUR annual meeting on June 21. Following a welcome to the meeting by the chairman, the treasurer Mrs J Blackmore gave a statement of accounts for 2011.

The secretary, Mrs J Hefford, then gave an overview of the guild's activities during a year that had enabled them to send more than £10,500 to the RNLI.

The officers and committee were re-elected and the chairman gave special mention to retiring committee member Mrs J Jenner.

Following a special Jubilee tea and raffle, members enjoyed a quiz with royal connections.

The next guild meeting will take place on July 19. at 2.15pm when the speaker, Jacquie Prebble, will explain the Adventures Of A Lion. New members welcome.

AN EXHIBITION of patient art gathered from 30 hospices in England will go on display on Monday, July 9 in Oldroyd House, Canterbury.

The Tour 30 exhibition will also include photographs and memorabilia of a 700 mile bike ride between 30 hospices, made by Steve Auty, Richard Davis, Peter Simpson and Colin Petchey.

The team took 30 pieces of artwork from Pilgrims Hospices' patients, one to be donated to each hospice in exchange for a piece of artwork from their patients. fantastically long way."

The exhibition will be held from Monday, July 9 until Friday, July 20 and will be open every day from 10am until 4pm at Oldroyd House, London Road. Entry to the exhibition is free but donations are welcome

For more information about the exhibition contact Kirsty Bauckham on 01227 812601 or kirsty.bauckham@pilgrimshospices.org

THE Rotary Club of Westgate and Birchington has presented £500 to buy Shelterbox following a donation from the Rotary Club of Darmstadt-Kranichstein, which is a contact club.

The box will contain a means of providing warmth and protection in places around the world where disaster has struck. Tents, thermal blankets, insulated groundsheets, water filtration equipment, mosquito nets, solar powered light bulbs, small tools and cooking equipment are included in the box.

Most recently a box has included a children's activity pack so that children subjected to a disaster can become restored to some sense of normality.

In the past year over 15,000 such boxes were delivered worldwide to more than 25 different disasters in some 20 different countries. Each box is numbered and once sent can be monitored so that the Club that donated it can trace its ultimate destination.

BEFORE you know it… Here comes St Nicholas, the real Santa Claus, to Kent.

On Thursday, December 6 there will be a St Nicholas Day Service and a candlelight procession at St Nicholas-at-Wade near Birchingto at 6.30pm. All are welcome.

THANK you to everyone who supported the Ramsgate Montefiore Heritage event on Sunday, June 17. This was the first and hopefully next year will be greater!

The synagogue was packed with visitors from all over and we were pleased that in the civic party as well as mayors from all parts of Kent, we had the honour of Viscount de L'Isle, the Lord Lieutenant of Kent. Among the many from London, we had the chairman of the Montefiore Endowment, Lucian Gubbay, and Rabbi Abraham Levy.

The synagogue looked wonderful and had a surreal atmosphere especially when the prayers were being said. The choir sang with fervour and dedication and made you feel, you were part of something special.

There are too many people to thank but those who must be mentioned are the group of Sea Cadets from TS Bulldog who directed people to the synagogue, to their seats and helped out serving the refreshments. What a good example of young people they gave. Age & Sons supplied the large quantity of strawberries and cream. Many people donated raffle prizes which were greatly appreciated so we could raise some funds, and others donated money towards the group.

The use of Montefiore Medical Centre was great and once again we are grateful for the permission granted by Drs J and K Neden. Thanks to the ladies who made the lovely food but more especially Mr Gubbay who worked so well with Mark Negin, the events co-ordinator, who was the prime mover in this event.

Watch out for next year!

THANET Early Years Project is a registered charity and opened its first play group at Newington Community Centre in 1987.

Since then the organisation has grown in size but the ethos has not changed and Thanet Early Years Project remains committed to providing good quality, affordable childcare to young children who live in areas of socio-economic deprivation and isolation.

On Monday, June 11 Thanet Early Years Project celebrated 25 years of services to children under the age of five years living in Thanet with a fun day held at Newington Community Centre.

In addition, Thanet Early Years Project Play and Learn Scheme (Pals) also celebrated 15 years of services to children and families in Ramsgate and the local area.

The day was a fabulous success with more than 200 children and parents/carers joining us with activities organised by the staff including face painting, hook a duck, large scale junk modelling, decorating crowns and biscuits and much more. Visitors also had opportunities to pet rabbits and guinea pigs with the staff from Pets At Home and learn about the environment with the Thanet Coast Project.

Local businesses donated prizes to the raffle and tombola which, with the money from the cake sale, raised more than £200 for our hardship fund.

THANET'S two MPs have paid a visit to the Windmill Community Allotment Project in Margate.

Sir Roger Gale, MP for Thanet North, said: "This is a truly impressive project that is designed to appeal to people of all ages. While the production of fresh vegetables is clearly of huge value to the community the facilities for young people to become engaged in growing and in studying the pondlife are also a great asset. It was particularly pleasing to see the team of work-experience students defying the elements and determinedly refurbishing the children's play area. We hope that many more people living locally will take the trouble to take a look at the Windmill Allotments and, perhaps, to buy some of their garden-fresh produce.: it's really worth the visit in very many ways".

Mrs Sandys said: "I am currently leading a campaign to get food that would usually be rejected by supermarkets for aesthetic reasons back into our stores and so it was wonderful to have the opportunity to meet with the staff and volunteers at the Windmill Community Allotment Project who like me, share a passion for ugly – and indeed beautiful – vegetables.

"The allotment project is a real community venture and whilst we were there, it was fantastic to speak with some of the young people volunteering as part of their Prince's Trust course. It's great to see so many people of all ages at the Windmill Allotments embracing the opportunity to grow and purchase fresh local produce-whether it be perfect or slightly misshapen!"

THE Thanet branch of the charity has officially reopened with the support of Westwood Cross shopping centre and centre manager Tom Price after closing in September last year.

Volunteer and branch organiser Hilary Johnson who has run the Thanet branch for 23 years was forced to retire due to several knee operations.

After months of recuperation, Hilary has returned to her role and is back to good health, determined to continue raising vital funds for the charity.

Mr Price has initiated fundraising of £5,000 for the training of a third puppy on behalf of Westwood Cross.

The shopping centre has raised a total of £10,000 over the past three years for the training of two puppies – one named Doris and the other Woody – as part of the charity's Name a Puppy initiative.

Both Doris and Woody have been able to receive the proper training they need thanks to donations from the dog collection box at the centre and from the hard work of Westwood Cross' former marketing manager Tracie Stevens who took the challenge of travelling from Thanet to London in as many different modes of transport as possible in 2009 raising enough for the first puppy.

The Thanet branch of Guide Dogs is currently looking for volunteers.

If anyone is interested, contact Hilary Johnson on 01843 299327, hiliaryjohnson@btinternet.com or visit www.guidedogs.org.uk for further information.

AN APPLICATION for music and entertainment until 11pm at Paulo's Kitchen has been allowed by Thanet council's licensing sub-committee.