New nostalgia book blossoms among the blooms at St Nicholas open gardens weekend

June 9, 2025 Kathy Bailes Events 0

Hooden horses from across east Kent converged on the Wantsum Brewery at St Nicholas in 2018.

The village of St Nicholas is set to bloom this weekend (Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 June) as residents prepare for their annual open gardens event.

Bursting out from among the floral displays will be a new nostalgia book by local author Nick Evans entitled Away From The Coast  –  Stories From Thanet’s Villages.  It concentrates on past times in not only St Nicholas but Minster, Monkton, Sarre, Acol and Manston.

Sausage and pie maker GG Baxter employed up to 250 people during its best years at its two and a half acre factory found off modern day Chantry Lane. © Bill Evans Collection

The 112 page book is crammed with 160 photos of the area with subjects including hoodening in St Nicholas, royal sausage making in Sarre, the air sea rescue helicopters of RAF Manston and Hill House Hospital in Minster.

In 1966 freelance photographer Peter Powell captured this image of a a local GP being winched down to a vessel while it was bouncing off 15 feet high waves during a training exercise.

Nick said: “As this is the pre-launch phase – the main launch will be at the Minster Show on Saturday 19 July –  I only have a limited number of copies available at the moment.”

Away From The Coast – Stories From Thanet’s Villages will be on sale at Westgate Galleria in Westgate, Attwell’s of Minster, St Nicholas Post Office and other outlets from mid July. Produced by Bygone Publishing, the price of a copy is £13.50.

Watch this space for more details of the book ahead of the event in July.