Thanet community news: Royston’s Town Shed gift, bike ride for Pilgrims, Wanderers thank NHS, Martha Trust and FCS Talking Therapies

The Royston quizzers have raised cash for Broadstairs Town Shed

Broadstairs Town Shed

The Royston Micropub in Broadstairs opened on 9th September 2021. Being engaged and involved with the local community has always been vital to their business model, providing a valuable community hub. They chose our Town Shed to be the recipient of proceeds from their well-loved Monthly quiz nights.

Over eight quizzes, since March, quizzers have together raised £1042 for The Shed.

It was presented to The Shed on Wednesday 9th November at The Royston.

Andy from The Royston said: “‘We were given a guided tour of the Shed last year and were quite overwhelmed by what they do in and for our community here in Thanet. Their ethos matched exactly what we strive for the Royston to be – a welcoming and inclusive place with a focus on community. A place to escape; share with friends and make new ones. Our Quiz nights are great fun, but also encourage social interaction between strangers, bringing them together and celebrating the sense of good in raising money for worthy, local causes.

“Many local businesses have also generously donated vouchers for the quiz night raffles. These include:

Malcolm’s Hairdressers

The Bank Job Escape Rooms (at The Counting House)

The Jetty

Please Sir

Gents Lodge

Fruits de Mer

Kingsgate Soft Tissue Therapy

Chef & Butcher

Sundays Tanning

Baker Street Bistro (at Petticoat Lane Emporium)

Mr Lemonheads

“We decided that all funds raised from our first year’s quiz nights and raffles would be donated to The Shed to help them hit their target for their new roof. They have made some off-the-wall wooden things for the Royston too, all of which fit in perfectly with our love of Steampunk culture.”

Andy and Kerry

Kerry Millett, from Broadstairs Town Shed, added: “The support from both Andy and all the customers and quizzers from The Royston is a perfect example of what community can do collaboratively towards a shared goal: to achieve positive things for our town and its residents. We are so very grateful; it will really help us towards the enormous target to replace our very dilapidated roof.”

Pilgrims Hospices fundraiser

Thanet micropubs boss Julian Newick is in the saddle for charity with a 250 mile ride across France.

Julian, who runs The Lifeboat in Margate and The Chapel in Broadstairs set out on the journey on October 27.

He last attempted the challenge three years ago but was thwarted after breaking his ankle.

Dad-of-one Julian opened The Lifeboat Ale and Cider House in Market Street in 2010 and then followed with The Chapel in Broadstairs in 2012. Prior to that he spent some 15 years living and working in France.

All money raised will go to Pilgrims Hospices charity which provides end of life care in east Kent.

Find the fundraising page here

Thanet Wanderers thank NHS

The idea to say Thank You to the NHS was born during the Covid lockdown, when, like so many others, Thanet Wanderers Rugby Club wanted to show their appreciation.

During the club’s virtual fundraising at the time, Thanet Wanderers and Paul Keohane Sports Fund committed to having a lunch to thank the NHS. While the pandemic has somewhat passed and we begin to live with Covid, we were reminded that the work of the NHS will continue to serve us and treat our members.

To engage the junior members of the club, we held a competition to design a rugby shirt to mark the occasion. We had many entries, which reflected the high esteem the NHS has even with our youngest members and players.

On the 29th of October the club was pleased to host over 40 members of the NHS for a pre-match lunch at the club. Joining the lunch was the winner of the NHS shirt competition, Tomas Hamil, and his family, Doug Hursey, Kent RFU President, and members of the club. Our thanks go to the Paul Keohane Sports fund who sponsored the event.

Proceedings were kicked off with drinks at the bar followed by an opening  speech of welcome from Thanet President Colin Whiteley. Colin was able to take us back to his experiences prior the formation of the NHS and highlight the differences the NHS made to the lives of the people at the time.

Doug Hursey entertained our guests with a fine speech during lunch, with a mixture of Rugby and NHS stories. The discussions during lunch focused on the work the NHS does, particularly in mental health, which continues to be a key priority across sports clubs in the young and old. It was also good to be able to inform our guests of the club’s history and the work we do in the community with our school hub and rugby for youngsters with special needs and disabilities, the SEND hub.

After the main course, club Chairman, Chris Panteli, and Thomas Hamil presented Dee Neligan, Senior Projects officer from the East Kent Hospitals Charity, with a framed Thanet Wanderers NHS shirt to mark the occasion. The shirt will be displayed at the QEQM hospital to mark the club’s appreciation to the NHS and the hard work they carry out to keep us in good health.

A raffle was held during lunch and the match against Charlton Park, raising £1000 that will be donated to the East Kent Hospitals Charity. Thanks go to Kelly Smith and her team who provided an excellent lunch and organised the raffle. Apart from losing our match, this was a great day to remember and extends the club’s reach into the community.

Thanks to Peter Ruranski who organised the lunch and made it a special day for all involved.

Martha Trust

The annual Martha Trust Christmas Fayre is being held at the stunning Sandwich Guildhall on Saturday 26 th November from 10-4pm.

Father Christmas will be in residence from 10-3.30pm and will be helped by his trusty elves. Stalls sold out in advance of the event with 28 different displays ranging from hand-made Christmas decorations, candles, soaps, cards, jewellery, jams & chutneys, stocking fillers and much more.

The Landmark Show Choir will be entertaining the crowds in the foyer from 11.30am -12.30pm plus long term supporters Drink Outside the Box will be on the square selling festive drinks with 20% of their sales being donated back to the charity.

Directors Mitch Taylor- Wilson and Megan Boulton have chosen Martha as their Charity to give ongoing support to.

Visit the stalls upstairs, have a browse, see Santa and enjoy tea, coffee, and a range of cakes kindly donated by local businesses and residents. Admission is free and a visit to Santa plus a token gift is £2.50. There will also be a chance to buy nearly new and new books and jigsaws plus there will be Annas’s Face Candy onsite for facepainting. 20% of all sales will be donated back to Martha. There will be a bottle tombola too.

Martha has been running a colouring competition with local schools and there will be a chance to enter and colour on the day too in the refreshment area. The Mayor and Mayoress of Sandwich will be in attendance to judge the entries there will be 3 winners in each category. Winners will have their prizes presented to them at their schools.

Staff at Barclays have organised and given match funding to the event too. Martha’s big Christmas raffle tickets will also be on sale however they can also be bought online at www.marthatrust.org.uk/christmasraffle

This year, the raffle has been supported by some fabulous businesses with NWR Ltd giving £500 as1st prize, Postage Supermarket giving £200 as 2nd prize and Town & Country Garden Services giving £100  3rd prize. There are also 17 other prizes too ranging in value from £25 – £300 .

If your business could sell some tickets for the charity, please contact them directly on 01304 610448.

Fundraising & Events Officer Kerry Banks BEM said: “ We are really excited to be able to deliver this event this year with Barclays and want to say thank you in advance to the maintenance men for all their assistance and Town Sargent Kevin at the Guildhall for all his help. We are really looking forward to seeing lots of you at the event.”

FCS Talking Therapies

We’re delighted that FCS Talking Therapies has been chosen to benefit from the Co-op Local Community Fund.

The last eighteen months have been really challenging for so many people firstly with the pandemic and currently with worries related to the cost of living. We’re grateful to have this partnership with the local Co-op to help us provide support at a time when many people are struggling with their wellbeing.

We’re urging local members to choose us as their cause so we can deliver our project and help more people in Kent.

We’re raising funds to undertake FCS Talking Therapies Community Groups in various accessible locations. The free six weekly sessions will be open to all. Led by a trained facilitator topics covered will remain responsive to community needs but could include subjects such as sleep hygiene, the menopause or anxiety. The aim being to share knowledge and learn new things that support good mental health.

Funds raised will help towards room hire, facilitators, advertising and refreshments supporting sessions that will run over one year for anyone aged seventeen and above.

When members buy selected Co-op branded products and services, 1p from every pound spent goes to support local causes like ours.

Co-op members can select us as their local cause by visiting https://membership.coop.co.uk/causes/67151. We really hope that people will visit the Co-op website or download the Co-op app and select us as their Local Community Fund cause so we can continue making a difference.

Please feel free to contact me on 01227533668 or email [email protected] if you would like any more information.