We will never forget those that have died to protect this country, at home or overseas, in the past or recent weeks. You are all heroes.
On the 75th anniversary of VE Day, for those from Sandgate that gave their lives in the Second World War that we may live free, we give special thanks.
George Allcock
Hubert Huckstep
Tom Brayam-Bone
Stanley Lister
Raymond Brown
Robert Lynch
Richard Channer
Albert Moore
Charles Clifton
Henry Richardson
Reginald Easton
William Sampson
Thomas Facey
John Sender
Herbert Holley
George Woods
Pavement Pounders CIC were due to give a public talk about “Sandgate at War” at the Chichester Hall in Sandgate on 24th April, which was of course sadly postponed because of Covid-19.
In the meantime, they have made this short video with the help of Christ Church Canterbury University history students to whet your appetite.
Next release of spare plants will be Saturday 16th May, from 10am until 12 noon at the garden. We have several outdoor cucumber plants, as well as some courgettes and a few squashes, maybe even a few cucamelon plants if they get a rift on!
We would like to say a big thank you to the Sandgate Society, for giving us another £100, which has already been put towards a lorry load of soil conditioner and improver. There is only one part of the garden which has not been covered so far, and that is where the garlic and onions are growing. Once they have been harvested, we will get to work and prepare the bed for planting up straight away with sweet corn, courgettes and squashes. Thanks also to Tina for the pond weed and a couple of bee friendly plants for around the pond – much appreciated.
We have had a little flurry of enquiries from a few people wishing to join us in looking after the garden. Currently we are managing to work via our WhatsApp group by posting pictures and videos, and so it is difficult to integrate new members, but we hope they will bear with us until restrictions get lifted.
This week we have been putting down even more paths with wood chips, and potting up lots of seedlings. The potatoes have started to show themselves above ground and so we have covered them up with soil, or earthed them up, to give them extra growing depth. Frustrated at the two month delay in the asparagus crowns delivery, and in spite of complaining that it was too late, half of the asparagus turned up in the post on Saturday morning and had to be transplanted to the prepared plot. It will need some tender loving care for sure and we will certainly not be ordering from that supplier again. Goodness knows when the other half of the order will appear! One of the pictures below shows what a one year old asparagus crown looks like. They are very large and these were more than 60cm in diameter.
Bee news
What a busy week in the bee section of the garden. Ray has brought another colony of bees, kindly donated by his father Tony, with another queen and hive! The bees are known as Buckfast bees, lighter and yellow in colour compared to the other dark bees already in situ. So very exciting to have this new addition and it is interesting to see bees and work out if they are the honey bees, and if so from which hive, or if they are wild bees. Ray and Chris will be spending some time making sure the new queen has settled with her colony and is starting to lay eggs inside the new hive. From their last report, there were encouraging signs of this already happening.
What’s next?
Might be able to remove all the fleece coverings if the weather is settled
Might be planting the other half of the asparagus
More weeding and path making if we have enough cardboard to put down first
Check for any flowering onions and garlic, remove flower heads
Compost bins are full again and will need turning.
Sandgate’s War Memorial at the junction of Military Road and Sandgate High Street is a Grade 2 listed structure under the ownership of Sandgate Parish Council (on a long lease from Folkestone and Hythe District Council).
The location was purchased following the end of WW1 by the British Red Cross Society and bequeathed to Sandgate Urban District Council who commissioned the memorial.
The war memorial was designed by Harry Evans of Folkestone and built by Messrs Prebble and Spain. It was unveiled on 11th May 1921 by the Countess of Rocksavage and dedicated by the Vicar of Sandgate.
Following the Second World War, a plaque was added to commemorate those who lost their lives in that war. At the base of the memorial a paver was added in 2016, to commemorate the sacrifice made by Crpl William Cotter VC in 1916.
The roll of honour plaque to the fallen of WW1 reads as follows:
ALSTON, ERNEST NORTHAMPTONS AYRISS, JOHN SCOTTISH RIFLES BENNETT-GOLDNEY, F R.A.S.C. M.P. BRISSENDEN, ARCHIBALD CANADIANS BROCKMAN, LEWIS ROYAL MARINES BUSS, WALTER E BUFFS CHAMBERLAIN, LUKE SUFFOLKS COTTER, WILLIAM VC BUFFS COTTER, BERNARD A BUFFS COUCHMAN, WALTER B R.A.M.C CURRIE, ALBERT GRENADIER GUARDS DOBIE, J. JARDINE 3RD HUSSARS DONELAN, WILLIAM KENT CYCLISTS DRAYNER, BRUCE R.N. EPPS, E.G. R.G.A. EPPS, WILLIAM R.N. FAGG, ALBERT H R.N. FITZGERALD, L.DE V. R.I. FUSILIERS FOLEY, THOMAS O CANADIANS FOX, WALTER R. FUSILIERS GOODRUM, ROBERT R. FUSILIERS HOBBS, WILLIAM BUFFS HOGBEN, JOHN O R. FUSILIERS HOLMES, FREDERICK H R.N. HOPKINS, CHARLES R.G.A. HUCKSTEP, HERBERT C.E. R.A.F. JAGO, GEORGE J GLOSTERS JAGO, THOMAS H R.N. JARMAN, ALFRED E. SURREYS MALTBY, ALFRED J.F. R.A.F. MOORE, BERNARD BUFFS OVERTON, LAURENCE L. ESSEX PEACOCK, JAMES R.W. SURREYS PEERLESS, ALFRED BEDFORDS PHILPOTT, ROBERT W BUFFS PRATLEY, GEORGE BUCKS HUSSARS PRIOR, CECIL SCOTTISH RIFLES REED, THOMAS BUFFS ROBINSON, GEORGE E R.W. SURREYS ROBINSON, JAMES F S.W. BORDERERS SCOTT, CHARLES L R.A.F. SCOTT, LINDSAY B R.A.O.C. STONE, GEORGE R.W. KENTS WHITING, EDWARD R.E. WHITING, HARRY E. SURREYS WOOD, ELI ARTHUR R.N.
The roll of honour plaque to the fallen of WW2 reads as follows:
IN HONOURED MEMORY OF THE MEN OF THIS PARISH
WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR 1939-1945
GEORGE ALLCOCK TOM H. J. BRAYAM-BONE RAYMOND E. S. BROWN RICHARD W. CHANNER CHARLES T. CLIFTON REGINALD EASTON THOMAS R. C. FACEY HERBERT HOLLEY HUBERT H. W. HUCKSTEP STANLEY P. LISTER ROBERT LYNCH ALBERT J. MOORE HENRY L. RICHARDSON WILLIAM A. R. SAMPSON JOHN H. SENDER GEORGE H. WOODS
Questions or input on any item of the agenda should be sent to the Parish Clerk (by email to clerk@sandgatepc.org.uk) in advance of the meeting and will be read out by the clerk at the meeting and responded to appropriately. Questions should include the questioners full name and address.
The meeting will take place on Zoom with the meeting broadcast live as video at the time of the meeting itself on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pg/sandgatepc/
Questions or input on any item of the agenda should be sent to the Parish Clerk (by email to clerk@sandgatepc.org.uk) in advance of the meeting and will be read out by the clerk at the meeting and responded to appropriately. Questions should include the questioners full name and address.
The meeting will take place on Zoom with the meeting broadcast live as video at the time of the meeting itself on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pg/sandgatepc/
Considering our current situation it has been a busy week. Many thanks to those of you that came along to the garden to get some tomato plants and apologies for those that made the trip in vain, as the plants got snapped up as if they were hot cakes. We were donated an astonishing £72.20 which will go towards our immediate wish list of extra fine mesh to keep insects at bay, more compost or soil improver, and of course seeds. The next spare plants will be cucumbers, courgettes and autumn/winter squashes, but not for at least two weeks.
We have been busy weeding, and planting more lettuces, a tray of Florence fennel and oca (the South American tuber, or New Zealand yam). We also had a packet of butterfly, bee and bird attracting flower seeds to throw about, so we did just that!
Our pond is currently looking a little sad, the plan was to get plenty of oxygenating pond weed and pond plants from a garden centre to help encourage the wildlife into moving to their des res. Well, we have various pigeons and magpies dropping in for a bath, and a big fat water beetle has been seen in the murky depths, but that is about it. If you have a thriving pond and can spare us some water weed or non-invasive pond plants, please get in touch as we would love to be able to get the pond to a healthy state.
Bee news
Ray and Chris have been checking on the bees and it has been really interesting to get updates and information about hive life. Below is a pollen colour chart for the month of April, and a photo of one of the bees with some pollen in its ‘pollen basket’ on one of its legs. There is also a picture showing the components of a bee hive. We are learning something new about bees all the time!
What’s next?
Grrrrrr…… The asparagus ordered in the winter has still not turned up and is now very late!
More picking,
More watering
More weeding!
More potting on of seedlings.
Pollen colour chart
Church garden notice
Construction of a bee hive
Wildlife attracting seeds
Our bees?
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Sandgate’s War Memorial at the junction of Military Road and Sandgate High Street is a 
