Honey Cake Bakers of Birchington
Honey Cake Bakers has received a £200 grant via Foresters Financial UK to treat teaching staff in the village.
In July 2020, the bakery received a £250 “Community Grant” via Foresters Financial UK to bake 250 delicious cupcakes for Frontline NHS staff at The Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital.
The bakery has now been awarded an additional £200 “Make an IMPACT Grant” to bake 200 cupcakes for all staff at King Ethelbert School in Birchington.
Knkush Mikoyan-Walters, who has a full time job with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in London and also runs a small home-based bakery, delivered 200 delicious strawberry and chocolate cupcakes to the school across several dates in January and this month.
Through the years Knkush has baked for a multitude of causes including sale events for
Birchington Primary School, St Nicholas Church of England Primary School, Garlinge Primary, the Llewellyn special school, King Ethelbert’s, Children in Need, the RNLI and NHS staff at the QEQM Hospital.
She said: “I recently secured another £200 Community Grant via Foresters Financial “Make an IMPACT” Grant, which has enabled me to bake/decorate 200 beautiful and delicious strawberry and chocolate cupcakes for our frontline teachers and school staff at King Ethelbert School.”
Find Honey Cake Bakers online here
SpeakUp CIC fundraiser
Football manager Drew Scaife is raising funds for local mental health charity, Speak Up CIC, with a marathon in a month (26.2 miles/42.2 K) this month.
He said: “These guys, do unbelievable work helping people through their mental health problems and saving lives.
“Over the last few years, personally like others in this community, I have lost friends due to mental health reasons and I feel that there is a difference to be made and with a bit of help, raise some funds for this fantastic cause.
“Seeing as the football season is on pause at the moment until the restrictions ease off, I felt that after seeing a change in a lot of people due to dry January, why not keep the healthiness going, create some healthy competition between the other teams and individuals, but at the same time raise some funds for these guys to continue their fantastic mission.
“I am looking for support and join forces with the other teams and individuals already committed to the cause. People have an entire month to complete the marathon individually and there will be tables created for the fundraising page and updated every day throughout the month, so everyone can check their progress.”
People joining in are asked to record their results using a running app (Strava if possible) and to screen shot the results which include the date, time and distance and send into a WhatsApp group or via message to the page.
Dean has a personal target of £1000 from his team Dolphin Kings United F.C. via sponsorship the players receive per mile they run.
He added: “If anyone is out there and feel they are alone; remember you are not! Try talking about your feelings to a friend, family member, health professional or counsellor. You could also contact Speak Up CIC.”
Find the fundraising page here
Pierremont Hall Broadstairs
As soon as restrictions allow, we would like to offer families and friends a COVID secure venue to meet their loved ones after being apart for so long.
We are hoping that this summer we will see gatherings allowed again, for at least up to 30 people. There has never been more of a reason to arrange a family gathering than in 2021.
We are offering the use of our COVID secure hall and garden for £100 for up to three hours, Monday to Sunday, from when restrictions allow until the end of September. Whether you would like tea and cakes or a few bubbles to celebrate being together again Pierremont Hall would make the best venue to meet again.
Book your gathering now. All bookings are refund protected due to any COVID related reasons.
Pivoteco
Pivoteco is a small, local business just getting started in Ramsgate. It’s founder, Lizzie O’Halloran, has a vision of a company with Thanet’s community at its centre. To get it right, she wants to hear directly from the people of Thanet.
Through research, Lizzie aims to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting your day-to-day habits (e.g. where you get food), its impact on local businesses, and what Pivoteco could do as a business to help the community.
Pivoteco believes that small, collective acts can have a big impact.
So, we want to hear from people from all different backgrounds with all sorts of points of view. Lizzie would really love to hear from you, whoever you are.
Short on time? Please complete our 5-minute questionnaire: https://forms.gle/
For every completed survey, we’ll donate £5 Thanet Family Food Bank (https://www.familyfoodbank.
Can you spare 30 minutes? Book an online research session with us: https://calendly.com/
For every completed research session, we’ll donate £15 to a local charity or community initiative of your choice. We’re really excited to be building something which helps our community.
If you have questions, feedback, or want to chat, get in touch with Lizzie at [email protected].
Thanet Green Party – Cllr Becky Wing
As Green Councillor for Central Harbour, I am the lone Green Councillor on RTC and 1 of only 3 Green TDC Councillors. So I have an uphill task in raising environmental concerns. If you know me, you will know that the felling or loss of any of our habitat saddens me, and that I work as hard as I can to improve our ward and town.
I love Ellington Park, and have supported the Friends of Ellington Park (FOEP) in their plans to regenerate it. Shortly after my election to the Council, I joined with FOEP to support the retention of a habitat close to the old Keeper’s Lodge, protecting a much-needed environment for flocks of birds who use it for food, shelter and nesting.
I was worried, however, to see the cherry tree avenue being destroyed, and took part in a protest to stop it, in an attempt to promote some positive dialogue. We believed that the old cherry trees were to be replaced with small saplings similar in size to the ones being planted in Dane Park. So we suggested keeping the existing trees and planting the smaller saplings between them, so the old trees could be removed later once the saplings had grown. We also pushed to save the holm oak.
After the protest, a very constructive meeting was held with senior TDC Officers, the project manager, the Council Leader and representatives of Street Trees for Ramsgate and FOEP. All were afforded the chance to speak of their concerns openly and honestly, and we were given extra information on the project and specifically plans for the cherry tree avenue.
Afterwards we learned that FOEP in fact planned to replace the cherry trees, which were nearing the end of their lives, with larger trees of 4 – 5 metres in height, requiring space, professional planting and a year of after-care.
After further discussion it was agreed that, with the long-term aim of increasing tree numbers and replanting the cherry avenue with trees mature enough to survive, grow and blossom quickly, the plans were in fact a reasonable compromise. After further discussion it was also agreed that the holm oak will stay, which is very positive for everyone visiting the park who enjoys it, and a benefit for biodiversity.
Overall, there will be a net gain of trees in Ellington Park. Small things matter. Action to protect and increase habitat, including trees, is a priority for me personally and our party. We are presently a small group with consequently little power or influence. We have to negotiate and compromise to change things and bring about the improvements we all need. We find that this approach raises awareness and sows the seeds of constructive and long-lasting changes in thinking and action on our environment.
We are grateful to everyone involved for the positive and respectful dialogue. Once this project is complete, we aim to undertake a full review of all the trees in Ellington Park with Street Trees for Ramsgate and FOEP. We hope to use the new TDC Tree Policy to gain tree protection orders on as many of these beautiful trees as possible, so they are fully protected well into the future, together with the biodiversity reliant on their survival.