Tim Prater

Sandgate Community Garden: Update 8 March 2020

Such is the generosity and kindness of our community that the call for greenhouse space was answered, and we now have temporary homes for our seedlings to get going.  Lee came up trumps with a small portable greenhouse for us to borrow, not even out of the box; and Kath has room in a greenhouse on top of her shed, just perfect, and we are very grateful.

This week we succeeded in sowing more seeds, planting out the radishes, and lots of hoeing and weeding as the site was starting to develop a green tinge of tiny weedy seedlings, and it is important to run a hoe or rake over the ground now before they have the chance to grow any bigger and therefore make the job of getting rid of them that much harder.

We are excited to announce that we are to be joining the Incredible Edible movement, combining forces with Cheriton and Broadmead in various projects around the area.  If you have never heard of Incredible Edible before, here is the address to the inspirational TED talk by Pam Warhurst, a founder member of the movement which has now gone worldwide. 

https://www.incredibleedible.org.uk/our-story/

The idea is to plant up any available space with fruit and vegetables or trees for anybody to help themselves to.  It is free food, encouraging people to eat fresh, local and seasonal, and to cook from scratch.  If you get the chance to check out the TED talk you will be amazed how such a simple idea made an impact that was life changing for many of the people involved, and helped to create a strong community. 

There have been talks with the station manager and the railway Community Officer at Folkestone West this week, with a view to planting up the station platforms with edibles for commuters to admire and pick, with encouragement to water anything that looks like it could do with a drink.   Sandgate will start with its own Incredible Edible planter in the High Street, and more areas will get the same treatment as time goes on.  Sandgate Community Garden is featured in the March edition of Go Folkestone, and some of us will be helping to plant in Radnor Park on the weekend of 21st and 22nd March.  Everybody is welcome to come along and help too, but contact info@gofolkestone.org.uk so that you can be kept informed of any changes to plans.

You may recall that we had joined the Hythe Hops scheme, and have bought four hops and membership for a year.  We got the information that the plants are ready for collection next Saturday, and so we will take time out from our Saturday morning gardening session to collect them, and bring them back for planting along the wall where we hope they will be happy.

What’s next?

  • Planting out any veg plants that are mature enough to cope outside
  • Sow even more seeds
  • Keep hoeing
  • Collect and plant hops
Posted by Tim Prater in Sandgate Community Garden

Wet, Wet, Wet

In these soggy times, the following resources might be helpful to residents:

https://www.floodguidance.co.uk/

…and…

https://www.abi.org.uk/globalassets/files/publications/public/flooding/abi-guide-to-responding-to-major-floods.pdf – from the Association of British Insurers

There has also been the launch of a new code of practice about property flood resilience.

Property flood resilience (PFR) is an important part of the response to flood risk. PFR includes measures that reduce the risks to people and property enabling households and businesses to reduce flood damage, speed up recovery and reoccupation. PFR measures should reduce the amount of water entering buildings (known as resistance measures), or limit the damage caused if water does enter a building (known as recoverability measures).

This code of practice (CoP) is concerned with PFR measures that can be introduced to buildings at risk from flooding. Often these measures can be installed as part of the repair of buildings after they have been flooded. However, some property owners may wish to be proactive and fit measures in anticipation of a flood.

The CoP includes six standards that specify what should be achieved. These standards will be supported by comprehensive guidance on how the standards should be met by the following stages within the PFR delivery process. The guidance is provided in the CIRIA C790B Code of practice and guidance for property flood resilience.

https://www.ciria.org/ItemDetail?iProductCode=C790F&Category=FREEPUBS&WebsiteKey=3f18c87a-d62b-4eca-8ef4-9b09309c1c91

Councillor Vannessa Reay

Posted by Tim Prater in News

Wet, Wet, Wet

In these soggy times, the following resources might be helpful to residents:

Flood Guidance website

…and…

https://www.abi.org.uk/globalassets/files/publications/public/flooding/abi-guide-to-responding-to-major-floods.pdf – from the Association of British Insurers

There has also been the launch of a new code of practice about property flood resilience.

Property flood resilience (PFR) is an important part of the response to flood risk. PFR includes measures that reduce the risks to people and property enabling households and businesses to reduce flood damage, speed up recovery and reoccupation. PFR measures should reduce the amount of water entering buildings (known as resistance measures), or limit the damage caused if water does enter a building (known as recoverability measures).

This code of practice (CoP) is concerned with PFR measures that can be introduced to buildings at risk from flooding. Often these measures can be installed as part of the repair of buildings after they have been flooded. However, some property owners may wish to be proactive and fit measures in anticipation of a flood.

The CoP includes six standards that specify what should be achieved. These standards will be supported by comprehensive guidance on how the standards should be met by the following stages within the PFR delivery process. The guidance is provided in the CIRIA C790B Code of practice and guidance for property flood resilience.

https://www.ciria.org/ItemDetail?iProductCode=C790F&Category=FREEPUBS&WebsiteKey=3f18c87a-d62b-4eca-8ef4-9b09309c1c91

Councillor Vannessa Reay

Posted by Tim Prater in News, 0 comments

Keeping Sandgate Tidy: Seagull Proof Sacks

Seagulls and bin bags don’t mix. Well, perhaps they do. Too well. For the seagull.

Following an approach by Sandgate Parish Council, Folkestone and Hythe District Council have agreed to make available ‘seagull proof’ bags for residents in Sandgate that have a purple sack rubbish collection (ie no wheely bin). This will help prevent your rubbish being attacked by seagulls on collection day (which should make Sandgate High Street on a Wednesday a slightly less rubbish-strewn area – we hope!).

Any household that normally has their waste collected in bin bags can collect a FREE seagull proof bag from:

  • Sandgate Library (James Morris Court, Sandgate High Street, Sandgate, Folkestone CT20 3RR) Friday 3rd April – 10am-12.30pm
  • Sandgate Farmers Market (Chichester Hall, 70 Sandgate High Street, Sandgate, Folkestone CT20 3RR) Saturday 18th April – 10am-12.30pm

Sacks will also be available for collection from the Library from 3rd April. One per household – you will be asked to provide your residential address to collect a bag.

Please note that bags DO NOT replace purple sacks – you place your purple sacks IN the seagull proof bag.

How to use your seagull proof bag:

  • Please secure your sack outside your property before 7am on collection day;
  • Please place your purple bags inside your gull proof sack and make sure that the sack is securely closed to avoid the gulls attacking your waste;
  • Our waste crews will remove the purple bags from your gull proof sack on collection day;
  • Please take your bag in as soon as possible after collection, any gull proof sacks left out permanently will be removed and not replaced;
  • You may wish to number your sack so that it can be recognised as yours.
Posted by Tim Prater in News