PLEASE COME TO THE FRIDAY LITTER PICK
Thank you to the people who participated in the June Go Folkestone Litter Pick in central Folkestone. We do need more new people, both Go Folkestone members and non-members. Come along, meet people, do some good in, hopefully, sunshine, and help gather lots of rubbish, often from the slopes on The Leas, but also across the town.
The next one will be this Friday 18th August at 2pm and be at the Leas Arch at the top of the Road of Remembrance where the very helpful Folkestone and Hythe District Council pickers supply us with sacks, gloves if required, and a variety of pickers. From there we can radiate out in all directions as far as F51 or the Civic Centre and still be back at the FHDC van by 3.30pm or 4pm if keen.
We regularly liaise with Beacon School, but due to summer holiday staffing they won’t be there this time. We hope that members of the Bayle Residents Association, who of course can race up the church path to the churchyard and The Bayle, and the New Folkestone Society can join us. We may try a variation such as Cheriton or Radnor Park in September but believe me it is a worthwhile thing to do even with the Council’s own efforts in the town centre. We are insured.
Go Folkestone is making tremendous progress with the renovation and re-siting of the Foundation Stone to the fabled Victoria Pier, which we hope will soon AP-PIER on the seafront, transported from its rural hideaway. This is a team effort but particular thanks to Tony Hill. Master Masons Neil Scrivener Ltd are renovating and enamelling the inscription as you read this, and we are talking to the Council and to the De Haan companies. We continue to need money for this scheme which will also include a Go Folkestone style booklet on the pier and the story of the Stone on which we hope for the input of some noted local historians. Make your donations to Go Folkestone, Lloyds TSB -Sort Code 30 93 34, Account No 02359029. All donations marked Foundation Stone or similar will be strictly ring-fenced from other GF expenditure by our fully qualified volunteer treasurer Peter.
Our most active other scheme the Leas Balcony Viewpoint is progressing and locals will soon see mysterious but authorised pencil marks on the balcony in which we are planning where the paintings of local school students from the 6th Form Art Club of Turner School, Folkestone Academy and others will be reproduced.
We do however urgently need individual local artists, prepared to work voluntarily, or for a small fee and public exposure, to help with extra artwork. This will obviously be of small items, as it is a balcony this time and not a large mural as Go Folkestone has created with artists in the past: Morehall’s Elephant Mural and the joint Plimsoll Group project of the Samuel Plimsoll Mural at the Museum. They will be marine items. They will complement and sometimes copy the students’ work onto the balcony itself. Again, there will be an accompanying booklet with the students’ pictures, entitled ‘What You Can See From The Leas (and other viewpoints in Folkestone)’.
Again, Go Folkestone need donations for the Viewpoint Scheme to Go Folkestone, Lloyds TSB -Sort Code 30 93 34, Account No 02359029. All donations marked Viewpoint or similar will be strictly ring-fenced from other GF expenditure by our fully qualified volunteer treasurer Peter.
Go Folkestone did go along to the July exhibition concerning the Acme architects’ Seafront and more particularly proposed Harbour Car Park flats mentioned in our magazine and on the link. We have raised our members’ strong concerns about the mass, the parking, potential sewage problems and the potentially inadequate road access (Tram Road, Road of Remembrance) when the several large blocks of flats and shops may finally get built around 2030 and will tell members more separately.
Regular members will know that every year from 2017-24 Go Folkestone has issued a picture calendar of Folkestone, probably for sale at £8 and probably from 1st November. We are now selecting pictures from those received. If you have a genuinely showpiece photo send it post haste by Friday to info@gofolkestone.org.uk. But more realistically we need a small jury to meet next week at a committee member’s house over drinks to reduce a selection of about 36 photographs to 13 for the 2024 Aspects of Folkestone Calendar. Contact richard.wallace.ba.mrics@gmail.com IMMEDIATELY to be on the jury.
The July Go Folkestone meeting voted comfortably in favour of the Cheriton to Central Station Active Travel Scheme. It has been completely changed since we campaigned against it last year. The shopping stretch of Cheriton Road and High Street from Coombe Road to Somerset Road will maintain all its trees and the same 42 car parking spaces that were being eliminated last year, but be resurfaced and have road tables, new bus stops and 20 mph signs; it should be a facelift. The eastern stretch from Coombe Road to the railway station will have proper marked cycle lanes by each kerb, 30mph, and the crossing around the Harvey GS and Morrisons will be improved. However, the whole scheme does look in danger due to some local opposition and Government movements on Active Travel schemes.
We will cover the Green Gang and Penny’s recycling project separately. Contact Nicky and Pam on info@gofolkestone.org.uk to be on the Green Gang team either through WhatsApp or low tech. If you can only do early evenings, we could have a footpath clearing job for you to help in at Castle Hill or help with White Cliffs’ Countryside Partnership, which we have rather neglected in June and July due to our other schemes. WE MUST HAVE A CARLOAD OR TWO OF VOLUNTEERS TO HELP THEM REGULARLY.
Check out the plans to knock down 22/24 Cheriton Gardens, the former Concorde Language School, and object to your councillor. It should be converted to flats not demolished. Worth also looking at the progress of Silver Spring (the keyword for the planning applications) where there are ongoing applications, such as a new one to build a builders’ centre on the corner of Park Farm Road and Barnfield Road.
Richard Wallace
The opinions expressed in this bulletin are those of the author, unless stated to be those of the Go Folkestone committee or organisation.