Ramsgate RNLI
On a sunny morning on Saturday 9 April, the volunteer lifeboat crew from Ramsgate station along with station personnel, their partners and children joined the Great Ramsgate Spring Clean event and armed with gloves and rubbish bags set to work to clean the areas around the Harbour and the Western Undercliff Beach.
The Great Ramsgate Spring Clean Event covered three weeks starting on 25 March and ending on 10 April and is a partnership between Ramsgate Town Council, Ramsgate Town Team, Thanet District Council and the Ramsgate Litter Forum.
Over the three weeks 282 bags of rubbish were removed from the town, with the crew of Ramsgate RNLI contributing seventeen bags of rubbish.
Coxswain Ian Cannon said: “We thought it was a great idea, as we are proud of our town which has the only Royal Harbour in England, and we wanted to contribute. The townsfolk of Ramsgate support the RNLI station, which is funded entirely by public donations, and we wanted to give something back to the town.”
Margate Fire Station donation
The team at Margate fire station handed over a cheque for £380 to East Kent Hospitals Charity, taking the total amount they have raised since 2018 to more than £1,000.
The money will go to the Rainbow Ward at the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in the town, where it will be used on items to improve the experience of children who need to be treated there.
Dee Neligan, senior project officer for East Kent Hospitals Charity, said the donation would make a real difference.
She said: “Thanks to the support of our communities in raising money for us, we have been able to support numerous projects to benefit the children and families on Rainbow Ward.
“This includes toys and other items to distract them during treatment, as well as mediteddies – fun teddy bears designed to cover drip stands and make the experience less frightening for young children.
“We are incredibly grateful to the whole team at Margate Fire Station for their ongoing support, as well as the generosity of the people of Thanet who donated to this fundraiser.”
Isle of Thanet Photographic Society
Members submitted 49 prints in our recent “Abstract” competition. Our judge, Helen Taylor,
was given the daunting task of awarding marks and choosing the best from this eclectic mix
of images. Helen said that technical perfection in the competition was less important than the use of creativity and imagination. Some prints illustrated what was possible by manipulating images of everyday scenes or items, whilst others left everyone guessing as to what they meant.
All prints were judged together this time rather than by group but the winning entries were from our usual top scorers. However, all the images showed great imagination.
Club Secretary Rod Giddins said “It was fascinating to discover how members had approached this print competition. Once again, they demonstrated the range of creativity and talent that exists in the club. We will no doubt repeat this type of competition in the future,”
The winning print was “Moving Grass” by Terry Scales (above) and the runner up was “Honesty” by Laura Drury (below).
Our final print competition is in May. Members will also be preparing for our annual exhibition which is planned for 15th-21st June at the York Street Gallery, Ramsgate. (Further details next month).
Please contact Rod Giddins, Club Secretary and Publicity Officer, for any further information about the club, at [email protected] and to view a selection of “Abstract” images visit our Facebook page (Isle of Thanet Photographic Society).
Margate Civic Society
This year’s Town Pride Awards will be held on Thursday, 12 May at the prestigious Walpole Bay Hotel, Fifth Avenue, Cliftonville, commencing 7.30pm. Attendees are requested to take their seats by 7.15pm.
Following the awards presentations, there will be Members’ Notices and Community Updates, which will be followed by a fund-raising raffle and refreshments.
This year there were 12 diverse nominations, 2 of which were deferred to 2023, as were not yet completed.
Those remaining are:
106 Norfolk Road, Cliftonville (new development)
20 Palm Bay Avenue, Cliftonville (new development)
‘Westcliff House’, Sea Road, Westgate-on-Sea (renovation)
‘Springfield’, Hengist Road, Westgate-on-Sea (renovation)
115A Canterbury Road, Margate (new development)
7 Union Crescent, Margate (restoration)
64A Edgar Road, Cliftonville (new development)
Gallery in New Street, Margate (street art)
Quality Court Footpath Margate (renovation of unsound footpath)
‘Wilderness to Wonderland’, Westbrook (open space volunteer-led project)
The results of the Town Pride Awards will be announced by the Society’s Chair, Pamela Pople and the presentations will be made by the Vice Chairman, Harry Scobie in the presence of the Society’s President, Mr Ralph Handscomb.
Non-members most welcome – £4.50 admission. For further information see: www.margatecivicsociety.org.uk
Stagecoach
On Thursday, staff at Stagecoach South East travelled across Kent and East Sussex, handing out Easter eggs to celebrate the upcoming holiday, in tow with the Easter Bunny himself.
The venture involved Stagecoach South East Managing Director, Joel Mitchell dressing up as the Easter Bunny. Donning a blue waistcoat and bunny basket to greet families this half term with chocolate eggs.
The Stagecoach South East team equipped with colourful bunny ears and wicker baskets filled with chocolate, set out on a whirlwind tour of the local bus network.
They travelled across Kent and East Sussex visiting a number of locations including Ashford, Canterbury, Dover, Eastbourne, Folkestone, Hastings and Thanet.
The team spent the day talking with locals who were out enjoying the sunshine before hopping on to buses to greet bus drivers and customers with Easter treats.
This comes after Stagecoach spent days teasing an Easter surprise on their social media, advising customers to keep an ear out for something special.
The event comes as Managing Director, Joel Mitchell is hoping to bring a sense of community across Kent and East Sussex now that government restrictions have eased. He shared, “We’re excited to be getting back out there. Speaking with our customers whilst spreading some Easter cheer ahead of the Bank Holiday Weekend.
“It’s really important to the entire team at Stagecoach to have that positivity in our local communities especially after the past two years.”
Thanet council wildflower patches
Last year, Thanet District Council created wildflower patches in a number of parks across the district. It also assisted schools and churches to create their own pollinator patches.
Now it wants to know about your wonderful wildflower patches!
If you are a school, town/parish council, community group or have a large wildflower patch in your back garden you can tell them about it using this link: https://biodiversity-and-green-initiatives-thanetdc.hub.arcgis.com/
It only takes a few minutes and then we can add your wildflower patch to the interactive map.
The wildflower areas created by or assisted by the council are located at:
Tivoli Park, Margate – the largest of the wildflower meadows stretching the width of the park
Lymington Road, Westgate-on-Sea
War Memorial Banks, Westgate-on-Sea
King Ethelbert’s School, Birchington
Ramsgate Cemetery, Ramsgate
Ramsgate Arts Primary School, Ramsgate
St Laurence Churchyard, Ramsgate
All of the above areas are on the map and now input from the community is needed to help map all of the areas for pollinators across Thanet. The added benefit of this project is being able to see what other people are doing and to get inspired.
Please click on the link and add your details. It only takes a few minutes.
Last year, Thanet District Council trialled No Mow May which was an ambitious project to see if it could include the conservation charity, Plant Life, annual scheme into Thanet’s parks and open spaces. The scheme proved difficult to manage on such a large scale and seemed to be more suited to areas that can be mowed as soon as the grass grows long at the end of May or the beginning of June.
It takes the team three weeks to cut the whole isle’s grass from start to finish (for example, starting in Ramsgate and finishing in Minnis Bay). This meant that some areas were left for three additional weeks, after the month of no mowing. The areas that were left for seven weeks became too overgrown and the long grass was extremely difficult to cut, even with the varied fleet of mowers that the team routinely uses.
Therefore, this year, the council will concentrate on maintaining the successful wildflower patches which will benefit pollinators such as bees and butterflies.
It is still encouraging people to try No Mow May in their own gardens, in school playing grounds and community grounds. As these tend to be smaller and more manageable areas, they can be mowed before the grass grows too long. Find out more at www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/discover-wild-plants-nature/no-mow-may
