Thanet community news: Donation, tree planting, RSPCA Thanet, Movember with Wanderers and more

Sainsbury’s Westwood

Between December 1 and December 14 Sainsburys at Westwood will double items in full in the food donation collection boxes for Kitchen Social and Cookery Club Broadstairs and Ramsgate Salvation Army. Customers can also donate money and again Sainsburys will also double the money collected.
During this time local charities will also be called to collect donations, to Brighten Christmas’s in 2020.

Sainsbury’s Westwood have also donated a trolley-load of sweets to the Friends of QEQM Hospital and are pictured presenting them (socially-distanced) with store staff including PR Ambassador Becky Lane, with Friends’ Chairman Sylvia Pheils and Deputy Chairman Jeremy Voizey.

Broadstairs & St Peters Tree Planting Season

In Mocketts Wood last month we planted two Hornbeam with the Friends. All socially distanced and mask wearing. It is quite difficult to see the trees against the existing trees, but they are there!

We planted three Hornbeam at St Peters Churchyard on November 11as a Remembrance Planting. This was funded through a grant application by the Church Environmental Committee.  BSTP has paid for the planting until the funding comes through and then will be repaid by the Church Committee.

We have also applied for hedging for this space through the Woodland Trust Tree Charter programme and this will arrive in March and will be free of charge. Two trees were delivered damaged – so we have two replacements we can plant whenever we can arrange more plantings.

The Westover Gardens planting in conjunction with Isle of Thanet Trees and Woods Initiative (ITTWI) began on November 13 and continued on  November 18 and November 29. None have been with public participation, unfortunately because of COVID19. We have now planted 30 trees on this space and there are 20 more to go here.

Two additional plantings went ahead on November 24 in Kitty’s Green to replace the fallen Rowan and in the Bowling Green at the Memorial Recreation Ground to replace the dead hawthorn.

Further plantings this season are planned for Vincent Close and, provided we can arrange work parties, subject to Covid restrictions, we will be planting wild flower areas in Holmes Park.

Sam Rolfe’s Movember Motivation

Movember is a charity that was founded in 2003 with the aim of confronting the three main causes of premature deaths in men. Suicide, prostate cancer and testicular cancer are those causes. Since its inception Movember has funded more than 1,250 men’s health projects around the world, challenging the status quo, shaking up men’s health research and transforming the way health services reach and support men. Funds are collected through sponsorship raised by those growing moustaches during the month of November and by such means as sponsored walks by supportive wives and girlfriends.

Sam Rolfe is a local businessman who has been a regular first team player at Thanet Wanderers for some years. This is his account of why he chose to get involved with Movember this year and form a team of fellow Wanderers to raise funds for the charity.

“In September last year my Dad Joe was diagnosed with prostate cancer. I think the thing that got to me the most about it wasn’t the fact that someone so close to me had been diagnosed with cancer, but that the only reason he had gone for a check up was as a result of talking to a friend on the beach who was having treatment for prostate cancer. Whilst talking to him about what he was going through, he told my dad that he should get a check up even though he was symptom free,  solely because they are of similar ages.

“As you can imagine it came as a bit of a shock when he found out that he was also in the same boat as his friend. Fortunately, he was lucky enough and fit enough that the surgery went well and he has been given the all clear so far. Since going through this my dad has been made aware of some staggering statistics for just how many men across the world are affected by this disease.

“So for me, the fact that this type of cancer can be occurring in our bodies with absolutely no symptoms, or even easy symptoms to miss or ignore, is the part that worries me the most. Because of this I  decided that I would do Movember this year. It has happened to coincide with the fact that our rugby coach, Mike Pond, has also been diagnosed with prostate cancer and is currently undergoing the same procedure as my dad had.

“The Movember charity undertakes much more than just raising money for this cause, it also raises awareness for men’s health in general. The male sex can be terrible for ignoring issues, or even for just being too ‘manly’ to chat to someone about worrying issues.  A team of Thanet Wanderers have been growing our moustaches to raise money for this cause. Its been a simple and fun thing to do to raise awareness.

“As a rugby club anything silly draws attention as everyone in the club is always game for a laugh, so its the perfect thing to do for us all to laugh light-heartedly at each others awful moustaches and also raise a lot of money and awareness at the same time. At the close of November we have raised £1586 which is a fantastic effort by everyone involved.

“Donation pages remain open and if people want to keep their moustaches going or undertake other fundraising efforts this is a year round way to raise funding. Please remember early diagnosis can help beat Prostate Cancer”.

More details of the Movember charity can be found on https://uk.movember.com/team/2375027

Mayor and Mayoress of Broadstairs

The Mayor & Mayoress of Broadstairs and St. Peter’s wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

We hope you all enjoy the Christmas lights and remember to shop local this Christmas.

A special thank you to  Harding-Lee Media for helping us create this message.

Find the video message on the town council page here

Pilgrims Hospices

Pilgrims Hospices, east Kent’s hospice charity, has tree-mendous news. Pilgrims Hospices is proud to be rolling out the renowned Christmas Tree Recycling fundraising campaign into Canterbury and Thanet for the first time.

The environmentally-friendly fundraising initiative has been running in the Ashford Borough Council area for 8 years, with support of the local Council, and has raised an incredible £115,000 to help deliver vital care for patients facing an incurable illness in east Kent.

Now with the fir-tastic support of Kent Country Council and Kent’s new Household Waste and Recycling Centre and Transfer Station partner, FCC Environment, together both parties are helping Pilgrims with the extension of the scheme. The charity will be creating new easy-to-access Christmas tree drop-off points for residents of the Canterbury City and Thanet District areas, together with the long running Ashford area’s traditional household collections.

Help Pilgrims to take care of the planet and hospice patients one tree at a time. When it comes to residents saying farewell to the festive fir, the charity can help residents enjoy a hassle-free end to the Christmas period with the environmentally-friendly service. Charity supporters can register real trees in return for a donation and Pilgrims team of volunteer elves will do the hard work in unison with FFC Environment at the Recycling Centres in Ashford, Canterbury and Margate.

In January, over 1,350 trees were collected in the Ashford area and in excess of £21,000 was raised for the vital services. This year the charity hopes that residents in Canterbury and Thanet will help their local hospice by donating online and booking their tree in for the initiative taking place in Canterbury at the University of Kent and in Thanet at Arlington Car Park on 9-10th January. Household collections in Ashford will take place from 16-19th January 2021.

The collected trees will be turned into power for renewable sources and sustainable fuel. What’s even better is that, whilst helping to support the charity, residents will be reducing their environmental impact too.

The support of KCC has played an integral role in expanding the initiative. Cabinet Member for Environment Susan Carey said: “We are very happy to be supporting the popular tree recycling campaign for Pilgrims Hospices and welcome its expansion beyond Ashford. The recycling of Christmas trees has raised over £115,000 over the last 8 years and its hoped the expansion will bring in more much needed funds for the vital work of the hospice. My thanks go to the KCC waste and environment team and to our contractors FCC for supporting the care Pilgrims Hospices provides to those facing incurable illness.”

FCC Environment’s Operations Director Steve Longdon explained: “We only recently took over the running of the 12 HWRCs in Mid and East Kent and so it’s great to be able to get involved so early into the contract with local initiatives like this one which directly benefits such a good local cause.”

To register your real Christmas Tree please visit www.pilgrimshospices/treerecycling.

Isle of Thanet Photographic Society

The Club’s virtual meetings via Zoom are proving popular and club members continue to enjoy some excellent talks.  Subjects have ranged from The Eagle Hunters of Mongolia through to some wonderful winter landscape photographs. Along the way members have been treated to some beautiful images of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.

Our speakers have provided great insight into how to compose the best images and the technical challenges posed by different weather conditions as well as photographing the night sky. We have been inspired to seek out new opportunities and journeys in 2021 when we all hope to travel again.

Our second digital image competition was judged by Joe Houghton from Dublin, who provided a detailed critique of each and explained his method of scoring. Winner in the Advanced Group was David Berger with a simple image of “Barley”, with John Draper topping the scoreboard for the Intermediate Group with his image “Shooting the Sunrise”. The judge selected “Gone Fishing”* by Steve Lee as his favourite photo of the evening because of the story it conveyed.

Our four open print competitions from January 2021 will now be projected digital images. The subjects for these are Winter, Yellow, Spring and Red.  These should provide members with plenty of scope to be creative.

For our full, revised programme of talks and competitions – go to (www.isleofthanetphotographicsociety.co.uk)  or visit us on Facebook.

We are a friendly club and welcome everyone with an interest in photography, encouraging creativity and involvement.  The annual membership fee has been held at the previous year’s level of £35. Non-members can attend our virtual meetings for £5 per session.

Our Shop Margate

We had a queue outside the Margate shop in the week and someone shouted out ‘you ought to give us hot chocolate to drink while we are waiting’, so we did.

Now, every Wednesday, if we keep the queue waiting while we sort the delivery out there will be free hot chocolate for them all.

RSPCA Thanet

The RSPCA Kent Isle of Thanet Branch is urging animal lovers from all walks of life to get involved as new trustees to fill a number of vital roles which will help to support sick and injured animals in need in the county.

The branch is a separately registered charity from the national RSPCA and provides much needed animal welfare services in Kent.

Services include the running of the East Kent Animal centre and wildlife centre, and  providing welfare, neutering and veterinary assistance and advice as well as running an education programme for young people and holding fundraising and community events.

Much of the vital animal welfare work carried out is only possible thanks to the support of a small dedicated team of staff and volunteers who tirelessly work and fundraise for the branch.

Now, in a bid to increase the animal welfare work of the branch,  an appeal has gone out to find new trustees who can help in a range of roles.

At the moment the branch is in National Board Trusteeship and – the council trustees undertake the day to day management and development of the branch until it can be returned to the control of the local trustees

A spokesperson for the branch said: “Trustees make a tremendous contribution to the work we do to prevent animal cruelty and alleviate the suffering of animals. Anyone who signs up to be a trustee will be helping scores of animals in the area that desperately need our help.

“We are currently trying to fill a host of trustee roles which we would cover a wide spectrum, and each role is unique and absolutely vital to the work we do at the branch. Whilst many people would love to work directly with the animals, this isn’t always possible due to the commitments of modern day life. But, by giving up a few hours a week as a trustee, people can still help the animals we have in our care.

“For the trustee recruitment drive we are hoping to hear from people who have a background or interest in any of the following areas such as animal welfare, marketing, fundraising, charity governance, business management, finance, health and safety, risk management, HR and even retail.

“The trustees  would be involved in setting the strategy for the branch and animal centre and will influence how animal welfare issues in the local area are tackled. We are looking for people with particular skills to take the lead in those areas of charity management – for example, in addition to the animal centre we have four charity shops which we are hoping to expand so need trustees who can also assist with that side of the branch.

“Becoming a trustee is hugely rewarding and as well as helping animals in Kent you can also gain new skills and develop existing ones and it’s a chance to try something new. One thing that all our volunteers and trustees say is that they feel a real sense of pride and achievement knowing that their efforts will be helping others.”

For more information on becoming a charity trustee, and to ensure it’s the right decision for you, we recommend visiting this page.

If you are interested in finding out what it takes to become a branch trustee you can find out more by reading this blog about life as a volunteer RSPCA trustee.

If you are interested please contact us via email: [email protected]

Margate Youth FC