Get Garlinge Defibrillators
Friends Katie Slinger, Lyn Edwards and Rodney pub landlady Karen Boore are fundraising to get defibrillators in Garlinge.
The trio have a justgiving page, collection pots in local shops and a man has offered to start them off with a machine and cabinet.
Katie said: “I work in a shop in Garlinge. Over the last year or so we have had two cardiac arrests, one at the bus stop outside the pharmacy and one outside the Hussar which have resulted in deaths.
“The most recent was on June 28. It has come to light that we have no defibrillators in the Garlinge area and want to fundraise to make sure the area has got some in. “They are lifesaving devices. An ambulance could potentially take 8 minutes to get to a cardiac arrest patient and if we have a defibrillator in the area anyone around could deliver that much needed shock before they arrive.
“This fundraising will be for the defibrillators, cabinets and upkeep of these devices to look after the people of our area.”
Find the fundraising page by clicking here
Brave the Shave
A 12 year old who has recently moved to Margate with her mum has had her lovely long hair cut off to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support.
Melissa Beale braved the shave at The Oval bandstand in Cliftonville on Friday (July 16).
She is also donating her hair to the Little Princess Trust which is a charity that provides real hair wigs, free of charge, to children and young people who have lost their own hair through cancer or other conditions.
Mum Heather said: “My brave daughter braved the shave for Macmillan Cancer Research in honour of her grandad Malcolm Baker who has stage 4 Multiple Myeloma.
“So far Melissa has raised almost £600 for cancer research.”
Melissa said: “Braving the shave was the best decision I’ve made. I enjoyed every second of it and I would happily do it again. I’m glad that I’ve hopefully managed to change a lot of people’s lives .I hope that I’ve inspired other people to brave the shave and help those with cancer.”
Find Melissa’s fundraising page here
St Peter’s Village Tour
By Dorothy Reid
St Peter’s Village Tour joined forces with Co-op staff and staged an official opening of the newly renovated store. Lady Annabel Colgrain centre, is seen holding the scissors. Lady Colgrain is the new Lord-Lieutenant of Kent having taken up her role as Lord-Lieutenant of Kent on April 22, 2020. She is the county’s official representative of Her Majesty, The Queen.
To the right of Lady Colgrain is the Mayor and Mayoress of Broadstairs, Cllr Paul Moore who was re-elected as Mayor of Broadstairs & St. Peter’s for the 2020-2021 Civic Year at the Annual Council Meeting held virtually on 27th May. His wife Cllr Wendy Moore was invested as his Mayoress. Next to them on the far right is Craig Mackinlay the Conservative MP for South Thanet.
Following on from the “opening’, Lady Colgrain met up with the President of the village tour, Brian Sleightholm BEM, the Rev. Alice Bates and Pauline Osborne the Church Warden who is seen standing next to her sister Beryl, on the far left.
Further introductions were made when Brian Sleightholm introduced Lady Colgrain to Susan Elliott the tour Chairman, on the right of the photo and Amanda Cottrell OBE, chairman of Kent Tourism Alliance, patron of Produced in Kent and former High Sheriff of Kent, who has been the patron of St Peter’s Village tour since February 2012.
After the introductions, the official party were guided by Sue Brooks and taken on the tour where they encountered many costumed characters from past centuries and discovered the hidden secrets of St Peters revealed by the numerous vignettes along the way.
RSPCA-Isle of Thanet Branch
We are running extremely low on Felix kitten meat that we use to feed our kittens! (pictured) If anyone is able to drop us a box or two our kittens would be very grateful!
It can be left outside the animal centre if there is no one in reception. Thank you all in advance for helping feed the rumbling tummies of our bundles of fluff!
Find the RSPCA Thanet Branch on facebook here
National Merchant Navy Day 2021
Sadly for the second year running our annual Merchant Navy Day parades have been cancelled, as have all other services parades and we hope to return in 2022. This year, 2021 would have been our coming of age parade as it was 21 years ago that the then Government decreed that September 3 would forever be known as National Merchant Navy Day.
The reason for this is that on that day in 1939 the British liner “ATHENIA” was torpedoed by a German “U” boat and sunk with the loss of 118 lives, both crew and passengers. This action was the UK’s first casualties of World War Two and resulted in it being brought before the Nuremberg War Trials at war’s end.
Our Merchant Navy and merchant seafarers have supported the Armed Forces in war and peace for over 150 years without which our forces could not have fought a war. Merchant ships and seafarers were at all wars including the Falklands where we also lost ships and seafarers and without the Merchant Navy this country then would not have survived, and even today few realise that every commodity, food and goods we use so freely enter by merchant ships and merchant seafarers.
In WW2 we lost 2,524 merchant ships, we lost 30,248 seafarers and had 15,081 held as POWs or missing, a larger percentage than the Armed Forces. May I please request that on September 3rd; that you give a thought to YOUR Merchant Navy and say thank you. We will remember them.
Phil Hughes, (Secretary), Independent Vindicatrix of East Kent Association – M.N.
Margate Rotary Club
The club invites traders and customers to the second boot fair of the year.
Held on Sunday 8 August at Palm Bay recreation ground.
No booking required, just turn up at 7am.
£8 for cars, £10 for vans and trailers.
No commercial traders please.
Contact [email protected] for more details.
Head in the Game Thanet
An initiative set up by The Charitable Football Club has been nominated for a county-wide awards event.
The Head in the Game Thanet project was set up by Mark Pinkney to help men aged 22-55 with their mental health through a combination of physical activity (football) and the use of “Talk Club”, a forum for the participants to talk about the issues they face in their daily lives.
Each week, one of the coaches leads ‘Talk Club’ at the beginning and end of the session. Each man scores himself out of ten as to how he feels right now, and is given the opportunity to say a bit about why he has given that score.
The football coaching session is then led by another coach, and followed by a game of football.
In the periods between national and local lockdowns, Head in the Game Thanet has provided a safe space for like-minded men to have a lot of fun, and has simultaneously given them an opportunity to share as much or as little as they want, knowing that they are not alone.
Nominator Stuart Gay said: “I would like to say a big thank you to Mark Pinkney and the team of coaches. They have helped me gain confidence in an atmosphere of trust, support and camaraderie. I am having a new lease of life at the age of 55, playing the ‘beautiful game’ again, and I do believe we are all slowly getting fitter in body and mind.”
East Kent Mind is just one of the organisations helping to champion the new Kent Mental Health & Wellbeing Awards, and they are encouraging charities, businesses, schools and community groups to get involved.
Simon Dolby from the awards event team said: “With vaccination numbers climbing we are starting to see the light at the end of the Lockdown tunnel. Now is the time to think about the people and organisations who have helped support us over recent months. This autumn we will celebrate that support.”
Mr Dolby added that although the Covid Lockdown had prompted this pilot event to be staged, he was confident it would become a permanent fixture in the Kent calendar.
“The focus on mental health and wellbeing will not diminish over the coming years and so there will always be a place for an event to celebrate hard work, dedication, great ideas and wellbeing best practice.”
Nominations can be linked to a simple act of kindness that lifted the spirits, a business that has improved staff wellbeing, through to a targeted initiative delivered by a charity, community group or statutory organisation to support a mental health issue.
Submit nominations at www.KentMHWAwards.org.uk For awards news follow @KentMHWAwards on Twitter
The awards event is supported by East Kent Mind, Kent Community Foundation, Independent Music Productions, Cactus Graphics, Blé Couture Cakes, Ashford International Hotel and Crossways Community.
Nominations can be submitted until noon on Wednesday, 1 September.
Westgate Town Council NHS, Social Care and Frontline Workers Day
Westgate Town Council marked the NHS day with a small ceremony at the War Memorial on Sea Road where they hoisted the NHS Flag and observed the two minute silence at 11am.
NHS, Social Care and Frontline Workers Day
Kent County Council’s Vice-Chairman, Lesley Game, visited three care homes in east Kent to mark the first NHS, Social Care and Frontline Workers Day.
She met with managers, staff and residents at The Willows Care Centre, The Avenues Care Centre and Ashcroft Nursing Home, all in Margate.
Cllr Game, the KCC member for Cliftonville, offered her thanks to staff for everything they have done to support residents, particularly over the last 16 months.
She said: “Frontline staff across the UK have worked tirelessly to support those most in need during the global pandemic and it was great to be able to come to these three care homes to say a personal thank you for to staff for their hard work and dedication.
“I was delighted to be able to visit The Willows, The Avenues, and Ashcroft Nursing Home to say thank you to staff for everything they do for their residents.
“The last 16 months have been particularly trying and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all frontline workers, including those in social care and the NHS, for everything they have done in fighting this virus and in helping those who have contracted it.”
Ashcroft Nursing Home’s Becky Gifford, registered manager, thanked all her staff and praised them for their dedication throughout the pandemic. Becky would also like to thank all the residents’ families for their support along with Kent County Council, the NHS Kent Community Health, local GP’s and district nurses working as a team through the pandemic.
Dandelion Time
Deborah, sons and volunteers have been running a support shop for a local charity for almost 10 years at Northdown Road, currently titled Cats in Crisis.
Feeling humbled by much of the joy sparked when a customer finds a bargain after rummaging in the shop, lots of laughs and love shared has built a strong community spirit.
Deborah has given focus on a few changes that have naturally occurred over the last couple of years, during the pandemic like many other organisations, had space to re-think and states that through conversation and meeting the needs of customers, what has given way has been a strong sense towards supporting the community and keeping in with the needs during these current times.
Feeling it’s time to change and redirect the commitment, the shop will now offer donations to a charity called Dandelion Time. Their services match the values and needs of all involved within the community.
Changing the signage above the shop is necessary but apart from donating to Dandelion Time that is all that has changed.
It’s still Deborah and sons with volunteers, making a small fun loving team who keep the system ticking over and now more than ever donations are essential and continue to be relied upon. Officially transferring on July 31
Maria Manton Archive Sale
In the spring of 2020 Bafta award winning director Maria Manton died aged just 55.
Maria was a producer specialising in animation whose work had been seen regularly in commercials and TV shows from the 90s ‘Staying Alive’ road safety campaign through to the 2019 Beatles Abbey Road 50th Anniversary video of ‘Here Comes the Sun’.
Not only did she leave a selection of work but, being known for her stylish outfits and bags, Maria left an unbelievable archive of clothes, shoes and handbags. Vintage and modern, exquisite, quirky and very unique. It included well known designers as well as High Street names who have also disappeared.
Maria’s sister, Broadstairs resident Denise Sturges-Allard, was aware of Maria’s wishes for her collection to be sold to raise money for her chosen charities, but none of us was truly aware of the extent of her collection (with the loft housing hanging wardrobes and crates and crates of shoes and bags).
A loft so full of carefully archived pieces that it took literally weeks to bring down.
With the help of a team of Maria’s closest friends, Denise slowly and painstakingly distributed and sold Maria’s archive in aid of Pancreatic Cancer.UK & Centrepoint.org.
Weekend trips throughout the Covid Lockdown Denise’s often solitary emotional journey became at times life affirming as she met the wonderful people at the Shelter shop in Chiswick who felt that they had known Maria forever by her beautiful clothes.
Designer online Cudoni was also busy selling. To date the Maria Manton Archive has raised over £19,000.
During Lockdown and when the few social windows opened up her friends also helped.
An acorn of an idea started about creating one final pop up sale event and so the last stage of fund raising came into being with all proceeds to benefit Pancreatic Cancer and Centrepoint.
From Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th September The Dray Gallery (part of Truman Brewery complex) just off Brick Lane and Spitalfields in London is going to be buzzing with activity.
Denise and Maria’s friends are coming together to sell Maria Manton’s Archive Collection.
There is an active social media marketing campaign that can be followed via #mariamantonarchive.
Already so much interest has been generated – not just in the clothing sale but the whole story behind it and Denise’s determination to follow through her sister’s wishes despite Covid lockdowns.
You can follow the Maria Manton Archive story online and learn more about how a pop up fundraising event can transform a sad loss into a joyful future.
Threatened Plant of the Year
Conservation charity Plant Heritage has announced the winners of its Threatened Plant of the Year 2021 competition at RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival.
The People’s Choice award winner was Philip Oostenbrink from Ash.
Philip’s Aspidistra ‘Irish Mist’ was chosen by visitors to Plant Heritage website, and while many are familiar with Aspidistra, they may not have seen one like Philip’s with such diverse patterns. Later this month, Philip will receive his certificate and engraved plant label.
Philip said: “I am so pleased the Aspidistra ‘Irish Mist’ won the People’s Choice as it is a beautiful plant and yet extremely rare in cultivation. I got the plant from Alison Rutherford who first described the cultivar in RHS The Garden many years ago.
“Alison is a wonderful plants person and I am sure she will also be thrilled to hear this news. Once my plant is large enough I am hoping to spread it out amongst Aspidistra enthusiasts so we can all make sure it never disappears completely.”
In February, Plant Heritage called upon National Plant Collection Holders, Plant Guardians, and for the first, time members of the public, to enter any rare and unusual garden plants into the competition, which is now in its second year.
Martha Trust
Martha Trust have seven runners taking part in the 2021 Virgin Money London Marathon which this year is being held on Sunday, October 3 due to the pandemic.
As a fundraising event, there is no race in the world that comes close to the London Marathon. An iconic image of the event is the thousands of runners traipsing the streets to raise money for charity, many in fancy dress, hoping to stand out as a rhino, football mascot, giant tree, or escaped convict.
More than three quarters of competitors now run for a good cause and a third of all entry places are offered by charitable organisations. Over 750 charities have gold bond places including Martha. The gold bond places generate valuable fundraising income for the charity, with over £71,750 raised by their 40 runners since the charity were awarded the guaranteed places eight years ago.
The aim of their runners is to raise as much money as possible for the charity that supports people with profound disabilities in Kent and Sussex. Martha Trust prides itself on providing the very best level of care with the fundraising providing the extras which ensure their residents are able to live life to the full.
Fundraising & Events Officer Kerry Banks BEM said: “Following the pandemic and the success of the Virtual London Marathon in 2020, this year all our gold bond places are now filled however we have just 4 places left to run in the Virtual London marathon which will be on the same date, giving you the opportunity to take on the world’s greatest marathon in your community from 00:00:00 to 23:59:59 and earn the coveted London Marathon finishers medal.
“All runners will receive a finishers medal and T-shirt after you finish the event, sent by the race organisers.
“If you are successful in securing a place to run for Martha Trust, we ask you pay a £20 registration fee and pledge to raise £150 in sponsorship.”
If you would like to be considered to run on Team Martha in the virtual 2021 Virgin Money London Marathon, please email [email protected] and let them know your name, contact email address, contact phone number, why you would like to be considered to run on Team Martha and what level of sponsorship you would aim to raise.
Alternatively you can apply to run for Martha in 2022.