Urban Fitness, Margate Christmas charity fun run
The team at Urban Fitness, Margate, is holding a Christmas charity fun run to raise money for Westgate-based mental health charity Changing Minds Kent.
Changing Minds works to inspire, educate and reduce stigma around mental health problems and to empower people to support each other.
The charity has a range of coping tools, projects and training that can transform organisations and individuals alike to make sustainable changes.
It runs The Lodge in Westgate which is a fully equipped social inclusion centre that offers free venue hire to community groups and charitable causes in the area.
Everyone is welcome to take part in the fun run and raise funds for the charity.
Get your Christmas, hats, jumpers, earrings or fancy dress on and run, walk or crawl the 5k!
Cost: £5/person (Under 10s free) (Paid on the day)
When? Sunday 18th December, starting 10am.
Where? Start and finish at Urban Fitness Gym (On the corner of Northdown Road and Cliftonville Avenue.)
Join us for a celebratory warm mulled wine and mince pie when you finish!
Mental health is something very close to our hearts here at Urban Fitness which is why we have chosen local charity ‘Changing Minds Kent’ to donate the money raised from this event.
Thanet Academy FM
Academy FM has wanted to stage a music and Christmas fayre for a long time. This year, thanks to Academy’s live music specialists Phil Dilley and Dave O’Callaghan and station manager Debbie Day, it finally happened.
In the concourse of the Royal Harbour Academy on December 3 were stalls offering craft gifts and edible goodies, as well as refreshments and raffle tickets.
Live music came from Fusion and the Bread & Butter duo, as well as seasonal favourites from station colleagues Lee Patrick and Debbie Day and the Royal Harbour Academy Choir.
Isle of Thanet Photographic Society
Club members viewed some fabulous images in our second quarterly competition, judged by Alan Lomarkin, who provided some very useful comments on each entry.
He had to select five from each of our two groups.
Winner in the advanced group was Terry Scales with “Break in the clouds at Bexhill Pavilion”. We congratulated Terry not only for his winning entry but also upon becoming an Associate Member of the Royal Photographic Society.
The judge awarded top marks in group 2 to Toni-Luan Ellerington for her stunning image “Let There Be Light” (image above).
The club has recently enjoyed two excellent talks on Nature and Flower photography which are both subjects that feature strongly in our competitions. Members are looking forward to seeing more high quality images in our next print competition in January.
We are always looking for inspirational guest speakers and competition judges so anyone who would like to come and support the club in this way would be most welcome to get in touch via our website or email: [email protected]
Meetings are on Thursdays at 7.30pm at the Portland Centre, St. Peter’s, Broadstairs. Annual adult membership costs just £35 and the weekly fee is £4 (£5 for non-members).
For further information about the club, including membership and the programme, please visit our website: www.isleofthanetphotographicsociety.com or find us on Facebook.
Thanet Chamber Choir
The Thanet Chamber Choir, with help from Ramsgate’s Holy Trinity C of E Junior School Choir, is giving a concert of carols, seasonal music, and readings – including audience carols – to celebrate this festive time of year.
Come and help us raise the roof at Holy Trinity Church, Broadstairs, CT10 1HQ on Saturday 10th December at 3.30pm. Tickets (£10, U18 free) are available either from Eventbrite or on the door (subject to availability).
Pilgrims Hospices
Pilgrims Hospices Christmas Tree Recycling is returning to Thanet this festive season.
The environmentally-friendly fundraising initiative makes saying farewell to your festive fir as easy as possible, so that you can enjoy a hassle free end of the festive period, in the knowledge that you are supporting a much-loved local charity.
Help Pilgrims to take care of the planet and hospice patients one tree at a time!
All you have to do is register on Pilgrims website www.pilgrimshospices.org/treerecylcing and make a donation of your choice. Pilgrims volunteer elves will collect your real tree from your doorstep, where it will continue on a journey to be recycled.
There’s no need to mess up your car with pine needles, Pilgrims volunteers will do all the hard work for you and, in return, you will be helping to support the vital end-of-life care of local people through your donation.
Kate Duddell, Pilgrims Hospices Fundraising Manager said: “It’s really important to dispose of your real tree in a sustainable way. We are grateful for the support of Thanet District Council, and the huge number of volunteers, and local businesses who give up their time to help us raise vital funds in early January. Our last, and first, Christmas Tree Recycling campaign raised in excess of an amazing £42,000 and more than 2,250 real trees were collected by Pilgrims Hospices across east Kent. We hope the lovely and supportive Thanet community we help to do the same again this year.”
The doorstep collections will take place between 6th – 9th January 2023, but you need to get registered by midnight on Monday 2nd January to book your collection. If you live in Broadstairs, Ramsgate, Margate, Westgate-on-Sea, Birchington, St Nicholas-at-Wade, Minster and all the surrounding villages Pilgrims elves will come and collect your real Christmas tree!
Each year Pilgrims Hospices give care and comfort to thousands of people in east Kent who are coming to terms with an illness that sadly cannot be cured. The charity support patients to live life as well as possible until the very end, free from pain and distress.
Martha Trust
The Martha Trust will hold its first in-person Christmas Carol Service since 2019 at St Georges Church on the High Street in Deal on Saturday 10th December at 3pm.2019
It is open to all residents, their families, staff and their families, trustees, supporters and the community of which we are hoping lots of you can attend. It is a free event.
The charity’s annual Martha Trust Christmas Fayre in conjunction with Barclays UK, was held at The Sandwich Guildhall last Saturday. Father Christmas was in residence for the day and was helped by his trusty elf, Martha Trust Finance Officer Belinda Shipley.
The Landmark Show Choir entertained crowds outside on the square plus inside too and encouraged people to visit the stalls upstairs, to enjoy tea and coffee plus a range of delicious cakes supplied local businesses and residents.
Martha ran a colouring competition too which they received over 200 entries. The Mayor and Mayoress of Sandwich were on hand to judge the entries – there were 3 winners in each category.
The winners were from St Faiths in Ash, Northbourne Church Of England Primary, Sandwich Infants, Sandwich Primary and Sandown Primary School in Deal. Winners will have their prizes presented to them at their schools.
Local business Anna’s Face Candy was present and donated 20% of their sales to Martha Trust plus fundraiser Pat Wilson was selling her Deal Town Map Jigsaw. They are £25 each and £10 of each sale is donated to Martha. The Deal Town Map was created by Prosper Devas in 2013 and the family of Prosper has given permission for the map to be used for this jigsaw. To order yours, please email [email protected]
The event raised £3800 – a fantastic sum that will help Martha Trust transform the lives of people with profound disabilities.
Discovery Park backs The Queen’s Green Canopy
Discovery Park and its tenants have supported The Queen’s Green Canopy, the tree planting initiative created to mark Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022.
The initiative celebrates more than 70 years of tree planting by the late Queen Elizabeth II, and was extended until March 2023 to coincide with the planting season. It gives communities the opportunity to pay their respects by planting trees in memoriam to honour Queen Elizabeth II, who died in September.
The tree planting ceremony at Discovery Park, the county’s largest science and innovation park, was led by Lord Northbourne, DL, who represented the Lord Lieutenant. He was joined by Mayer Schreiber, Chief Executive Officer of Discovery Park, and representatives from 15 of the businesses based at the park near Sandwich.
Mayer Schreiber said: “The loss of Her Majesty was felt by the whole nation. It is only right that we play our part in ensuring The Queen’s Green Canopy is another part of her amazing legacy.
“We were delighted Lord Northbourne could join us and meet some of the companies on site, who themselves are making the world a better and healthier place.”
The tree planting ceremony was held on Thursday, 1 December. The 15 trees were planted in and around the Visitor Centre and will be joined by sustainable benches made from recycled pallets sourced from across the site. The remaining trees were planted along the road leading into the 220- acre site.
The decision by Discovery Park to back the initiative was the result of discussions led by Wesley Baker from Canterbury AI at a sustainability meeting held on site earlier this year. The event coincided with the best time during the year to plant the trees and give them the best chance of growing to their full potential.
Thanks to sponsorship and volunteers from A4P, Discovery Park, Malvern Analytical, Canterbury AI and Woodley Coles it will make it possible to plant 50 trees in schools and urban areas, as part of The Queen’s Green Canopy initiative.
Well done Urban gym. Hope it’s very successful.