EXTRACTS FROM THE BI-MONTHLY NEWS LETTER - 127       December 2005 - January 2006

60^th ANNIVERSARY OF WORLD WAR TWO  The final part of the Commemoration Event of 10th July organised by the Hythe Branch of the Royal British Legion was effected on the 2^nd November, when the process began of presenting a medallion to each child in the Hythe and Saltwood Schools.  Hythe Town Council and Kent County Council’s Member Community Fund jointly funded the cost.  In the presence of the Mayor and Cllr Chris Capon (for KCC) the first medallions were handed out at Palmarsh School by RBL Branch President Joe Moran.

The VIPs arrived at the School with the real VIPs (ie those wearing War Medals), to be welcomed by children at the door, and were taken in to see a fine display of WW2 memorabilia (ration books, posters of the ‘Dig for Victory’ style,  tiny gas masks still in their cardboard cases, newspapers (28 Nov 1940: ‘Coventry Cathedral in Flames’), old letters and photographs of evacuation scenes which brought back our slightly tearful memories…)  Headmaster Tony Webber greeted us and representatives from the other Schools, and the children enthusiastically sang the songs their grandfathers sang: Run Rabbit, the Siegfried Line, Some Sunny Day.  It was moving, and memorable.  The distribution continued to other schools throughout the month.

WATER SUPPLY  A harsh winter of cold, snow, and low rainfall is forecast; that means water stocks, already very low, will not be replaced – in the last six months we have had only 70% of our expected re-supply.  We are told in ‘Around Kent’ – a KCC publication - that ‘with Kent’s large population this is about the same amount per body as desert regions such as the Sudan and Yemen get!’  There are measures which can be taken: compulsory meters everywhere save waste; investment reduces leakage; new reservoirs can be built in someone else’s back yard, and more water can be piped in from better-provided regions.  The one sensible step which no one in power seems able even to contemplate is NOT to increase the population in this dry sea-threatened corner of England by hundreds of thousands. 

Hythe’s population will grow by 2,000 plus, just with the estate at Nickoll’s Quarries – another thousand or so cars looking for somewhere to park in Hythe.  HCS is not against this development, though we were surprised to see the total of houses has gone up from 650 to 720, but we did make clear from the first that it should take place only if it includes a percentage of ‘affordable homes’, and when infrastructure (bus services, doctors and dentists, water supplies, anti-flood measures…) were in place.  We are pleased the Lake is to remain for leisure use, and note with interest that the lucky residents are to have a Community Centre, which is more than the rest of us can say.

WHAT NEXT?  Planners are already looking at the maps with beady eyes, to see where else they can build to meet Government targets.  On 6^th October HTC took the wise step of formally informing SDC that the Eaton Lands, as a Charitable Trust for the purpose of recreation, is not available for consideration for housing purposes.  We must remain alert, however, for Government can over-rule the Charity Trustees.  (The 26 Wind Generators on Romney Marsh have been approved despite the opposition of every level of elected council.) 

Surprisingly, no one fingered The Green for building during SDC’s consultation exercise, but a sinister comment was made that the Government Inspector’s recommendation on the future development of Princes Parade, though formally accepted now by SDC, could be for review someday.  If planners still consider a housing estate there a possibility, it is not surprising they are not prepared to re-consider putting a Sports Centre on it. 

With  the replacement Swimming Pool removed on to Hythe’s land, (surrounded by a money-spinning car-park), housing on the present Pool site, and on the Nickoll’s Quarry estate, and Hythe’s fine old properties succumbing everywhere to re-development as flats, Shepway’s officers will be rubbing their hands, carrying out the agenda of SEERA - the sinister un-elected SE England Regional Authority which is preparing a Regional Structure Plan – 36,000 houses a year to support migration from the North, where houses are to be demolished at a cost of £17,000 a time.  Do you know where SEERA sits?  Who sits on it?  Who nominates who sits on it?

‘The public has lost faith in the planning system,’ says a feature article in the Sunday Times (6^th November)  We have room for just one quote: ‘Look at the name of your Planning Authority Department: if it’s Planning,. the word has a whiff of creativity about it.  If it’s called ‘Development Control’ quake in your boots.’  One guess what it’s called in Shepway

A small piece of good news is that our Council finally gave in on the project to charge for use of the car park on the Green behind the Duke’s Head – but only because it was too difficult to do legally: some would have done it if they could.

REMEMBRANCE ONE

‘Hearts of oak…..and macs of plastic.’  A jolly crowd – some in fancy dress – assembled at the Town Hall on the evening of 21^st October, and processed with lanterns behind a Piper and a splendid 10 foot high effigy of Lord Nelson (product of Harvey Grammar School pupils) to the War Memorial, to celebrate the 200^th Anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar. With no PA system the well-chosen readings were sadly not heard through the wind and rain despite the valiant efforts of the readers, but everyone remained good-tempered, and the Salvation Army Band performed brilliantly despite the conditions.  Fireworks on the Green followed and entertainment in the High Street next day.  A very English occasion.

The Society’s tribute to the great man and his Navy followed on the 25^th with our first Talk of the new season.  Lt Col Graham Hoskins, a former Director of Music of the Royal Marines, gave us ‘The Nelson Touch’ – a Presentation with musical illustrations.

REMEMBRANCE TWO

Remembrance Day was commemorated at the War Memorial at 11.00am on the 11^th November by a score of people; lots of little personal crosses, and the usual touching Bouquet below the name from Mr Mount for his father, killed at Vimy Ridge, in 1917.  After 88 years he does not forget.  And nor did we. 

On Sunday – a bright dry day would you believe – a large crowd attended the usual Service and Wreath Laying, followed by the March Past of Troops, former Troops, and Town organisations.  It was a good Service, in perfect time with Big Ben  The problem with the PA system was caused by the modern menace - mobile phones.  It was good to have the support of serving soldiers of the Small Arms School Corps, which has the Freedom of Hythe, and also to see some youngsters wearing their new medallions.

SOCIETY EVENTS  The Lunch in the Bowling Club on 8^th October was a sell-out, and much enjoyed by 80 members.  Brian Doorne gave us a sideways look at our history, cleverly avoiding repeating what was in our recent (and very well received) booklet, ‘Our Time in Hythe’ ; he even whispered his dark secret (that in his working life, his office had actually been inside the unpopular Seebord building which replaced the Barracks on Military Road!).  The occasion ended with iced cake and a sparkling toast, and applause for Margaret King, our caterer.

Invitations are out for the Thank You Party in the Town Hall on the 4^th December, at which the Chairman will present the Society’s Award to Doug Amans.

The Open Evening in the URC on 13^th December will include a briefing on the present state of planning on the proposed expansion of Lydd Airport by Alan Crowe-White, who has been attending the meetings of pro- and anti-groups; we look forward to hearing members’ views.  There will be coffee and mince pies as usual, and a chance to look at our Scrap Books and other odd items.

On 10^th January Dr John Butler expounds his theory on Becket’s Bones: will he tell us they were added to the pile in St Leonard’s Church?

And on the 24^th January Dr Reuther uncovers the strange beginnings of those nursery rhymes which are so part of our cultural heritage – a heritage which will feature much in Hythe in 2006, for ‘Our Britain – a celebration of our history and way of life’ is the theme of the Hythe Festival, very appropriately in the year of the Queen’s 80^th Birthday.  The dates are 1 – 9^th July 2006.  Make a note not to be away, and to invite your family to stay, and join in when  ‘Hythe’s Alive’.

MORE TREE PLANTING On Wednesday 19th October we met up with the Mayor at Oaklands and watched the Chairman wield a deft shovel to plant the Society’s Tree, a Midland Hawthorn, our gift to Hythe to commemorate our 60th Anniversary.  We then moved on to Queens Grove for the planting of a Walnut Tree by the Davies family to commemorate John (our former President) and Betty Davies.  Talking commemorations, we have had the name of Ronald Stokes, our late Chairman, and his dates in office (1990-2001, and not as printed in ‘Our Time in Hythe’) engraved exergually on the Chairman’s silver medallion – heading a list which will take the Society into its next 60 years.

And the London Plane is in place at last in the Town Square.  The boxes are planted up and work there is now complete; we are grateful to the Councillors who fixed the (massive) funding.  ALDI has opened its doorway and stopped trying to convince us that its back was its front.  (Will they ever get the clock right?)

 ‘DOG POO’   The Herald recently commented that this and other euphemisms were used in Council during a discussion on amenities, and implied the speakers including the Town Clerk were mealy mouthed in eschewing a more direct Anglo Saxon term.  We are reminded of a debate of 1930 previously reported in this NL when a councillor reported his embarrassment at having to talk technicalities with a lady clerk.  ‘A lady may be suitable as a typist or secretary…but is quite out of place in  a Surveyor’s office….’    The lady – it was the late Miss Eve Wild – was dismissed, and a man employed at 3gns a week – 18/- more than she had earned.  Other councillors protested. ‘Are we in 1887 or 1930’ demanded Cllr George Few, ‘that we cannot talk to a girl about a drain pipe?’

Incidentally, in the 19^thC, scavengers collected dog-poo for use in the dyeing trade, and called it ‘Pure’. But then, what we call Gay the Victorians called Earnest - the distinction Being of Importance. 

THE SPORTS WAREHOUSE  ‘HTC is providing land in a superb central location, and we will be watching the design carefully.’  So said the Mayor.  And so will we, ma’am.  And the car park layout and lighting levels.  And when the time comes, the charges for use.  The Council’s brief moment of unity (see NL116) lasted only a week or so before it split into two factions, each (in its own words) ‘fighting for the best for Hythe’.  The disagreement mattered not a great deal, since the final result was not very different: councillors resolved to lease out only the minimum amount of the South Road Playing fields for the Centre and car park – not the whole field, with fencing only to protect the building site when work starts.  And they asked for an alternative car park layout to be prepared, and referred back to them.

Another hurdle was crossed on 18^th October when Shepway’s Development Control Committee passed Outline Applications for Sports Centres at Hythe and Folkestone.   Hythe’s Centre is some 75x35 metres, 10 metres at eaves level, with inside:

·        A four court sports hall

·        A 50 station gym

·        A dance studio

·        Changing rooms for users and visiting teams

·        A six lane 25 metre pool (depth not stated)

·        Spectator seating for 130.

Finally, the present Pavilion is to be demolished, and the present Pool demolished and built on.

To complete the picture, the Folkestone Centre has:

·        A six court sports hall

·        A 70 station gym

·        A dance studio

·        Changing rooms for users and visiting teams

·        A six lane 25 metre pool (depth not stated)

·        Spectator seating for 40

These are of course outline applications, so there is opportunity (we very much hope) to discuss the internal facilities of both Centres and the balance between them – and especially the building design.

Your committee supports the Council, believing if the project is questioned at this stage, there is a likelihood Hythe would end up without a pool at all when the present one is beyond economical maintenance.

Unfortunately our Vice Chairman, Mike Umbers, was not able to live with this position and has resigned from the Committee.  He feels Hythe’s wish for a Centre is not proven, and that even among those who want a Swimming Pool (as he does), many do not want it in the Conservation Area on the South Road ground, and if no other site can be considered, would prefer the project to be cancelled.  The only way he can publicly voice his view is to resign the whip, and  free himself to join the opposition and demand some belated public consultation.

This is therefore his last Newsletter – the 58^th he has edited.  His first, No69 in April 1996, was a bumper Double Issue, setting out the planning situation on the proposed move of Somerfield to the site by the Canal, fulminating at the Company’s decision to ‘rob the High Street’ in going back on its word by installing a coffee shop, and proposing the previous Store (now ALDI) become a Community Centre.  How far away all that seems!

The Chairman writes:  ‘I am truly sorry Mike feels it necessary to take this step.  He has done so much for the Society, and we shall miss him.  He has agreed to continue to contribute to the Newsletter, so his style, wit and erudition are not totally lost to us.’

           [Thank you for not saying ‘He leaves public life with his integrity and reputation intact and in my view with no stain of impropriety against him whatsoever’.  MU]

SYDNEY GOODSELL  (You were allowed to call him Syd, but not if you pronounced it ‘Sid’.)  Syd’s funeral took place at Dymchurch on 4^th October.  In the early ’40s he was a junior clerk to the Borough Council in Oaklands, where he met Doris, also working there.  We have printed some of his wartime stories [eg in NL76] of walking the evacuated suburbs checking for bomb-damage or pavements blocked by overgrown hedges – residents were issued short-term Abatement Notices and had 14 days in which to return and put things right.  Though the houses were left furnished, the water was turned off and rates were not payable. The Goodsells moved from Hythe in ’47 but kept a house on the Marsh, and Syd maintained an interest in local affairs, with membership of the Historic Churches Trust, the Light Railway, this Society, and many others.  He possessed amazing powers of recall, and gave many lectures and slide-shows; we were questioning him about the early days of the Oaklands Library and Museum only a few weeks before his death.

His funeral wake was like a convention of Societies with an interest in Romney Marsh and local history – how he would have enjoyed it.

HISTORICAL WEBSITES  Members have discovered two websites which are useful in research:

www.a2a.pro.gov.uk

and                                             www.hereshistorykent.org.uk

Here is a nice tit-bit about our Military Canal with some modern resonance:  

William Pitt as Lord Warden wanted to see a Canal built as much for its value to the Marsh for drainage, communications, and transportation as for defence.  As Prime Minister he knew it was the Defence Vote that would get it through, and his office gave the project the necessary clout by releasing what we would call Intelligence Reports on Napoleon’s Army of Mass Destruction, its plans and capabilities – he was reported as claiming that six hours was all he needed to make Britain his!  The local Commander at Shorncliffe, General Sir John Moore, assessed this ‘positive information’ and 6 hour claim with a cool soldier’s eye, and did not believe a word of it.   He knew the difficulties Napoleon faced in mounting a crossing, and his still greater difficulties in supplying his army once landed.   He did not actually accuse the Government of ‘spin’ but he was convinced Napoleon would not be mad enough to try such a doubtful enterprise.  Nevertheless he supported Brown, the Canal Builder, gave him dinner at his home in Sandgate, and followed the progress of the digging works, making several visits, until his fate and his duty called him away to fight the French in Portugal where he met his death at Corunna.

On 6^th November our representative attended a Study Day arranged by the recently-formed Shorncliffe Redoubt Preservation Society and conducted by historians Christopher Shaw and Michael George (the latter co-author of that excellent recent Book: ‘Coast of Conflict’).  The Redoubt was at the top of Hospital Hill, (in what is now the wooded area) and there Moore had his office.  A full account next time.

QUERY  Mr Colin Markham writes from Tunbridge Wells to ask if any one remembers Mr and Mrs Mitchell who ran a smallholding at ‘Whitewalls’ in Cannongate Road in the 50’s, where his mother was housekeeper.  The couple had three adopted children: John, and twins Dorothy and Christine whom he would like to trace.  Memories of the house and family and news of the girls would be welcome.  Can anyone help?

OTHER PLANNING NEWS  An accommodation has been reached on the safety measures needed on School Road Saltwood (reported in NL116), and the build of 6 houses at Tanners Croft has now been approved at Shepway.

HTC has raised no further objections to the re-development of St Leonard’s School site although some details of the plan and of the extension to the Community School have still to be resolved.  The latter’s Newsletter quotes its pupils’ views on the amalgamation, very positive and well-expressed, and including a forlorn hope the School could become a ‘Community Hall’; at least, they say, the facade should be retained to remind us of the history of the site, (as a gatepost from the Congregational Church remains in the High Street opposite the Kings Head).  The ‘New National School’ which opened in 1851, offered the ‘Madras System of Teaching’– can anyone tell us what that was?

However HTC was in ‘say-no’ mood over 101 North Road where a new proposal to include a large shed perhaps for bicycles  (bicycles at the top of Barrack Hill?) was not recommended, for no plans were provided.  And the Flats at Blackhouse Hill were not supported either, nor the flats at Caffyns old site  because of a possibly dangerous road exit – an expert Traffic Report was called for.

The Brief on the future re-development of our Pool/chalet/kiosk site is a classic of Planner-speak.  Our Planner sits pen in hand in his glass eyrie at the top of the ivory Castle Hill Tower: how to convince Shepway  Councillors to agree?  A 5 storey block of 50 flats plus 13 houses between a holiday beach and a Conservation Area, which every contiguous addition has to enhance or preserve, and alongside Pensand House (36 flats, and the most charmless building ’til you get to the Blockhouse, universally disliked). He paces the room.  An idea forms. Ho Ho HO.  Dare he try this on them?  He writes down: ‘The principle ..has already been established in the locality [ie by Pensand House!]’  He hugs himself.  But suppose they realise the massive bulk will hide the sea from the town? Inspired now, he adds, creative juices flowing: ‘It is the existing pool that is out of character with the other buildings, and does not provide the necessary sense of enclosure [to the Conservation Area!]’  So ‘a building of the proportions now suggested...would be more appropriate’. Ho Ho HO.  Dare he?  He dares.  And they buy it!  In short, if you have a prominent ugly block, hide it with a bigger ugly block and a cynical defence in planner’s jargon.

The lesson will not be lost on Hythe Councillors who unsuccessfully opposed the demolition of 92 Seabrook Road for a block of flats – these will be the only purpose-built flats on the South side of that road between the roundabout and Sandgate - and they will ‘establish the principle in the locality’.

Environmental decline is incremental and progressive.

ENDPIECE   There is a requirement sometimes in the Editorial Office to draw a circle, and we recently purchased a new compass for this innocent task. 

Q: What is the  point of a compass?

              A: The sharp end on one leg, or to draw a circle?

Wrong. Our new, European-approved model, Health & Safety and Firearms Act compliant, environ-mentally friendly, fat-free, equal opportunity Instrument has no point at all.  It has been replaced with a rounded end, presumably lest a child fall and prick his skin, or perchance attack a teacher with it in the mayhem of a modern educational establishment.  The instrument now glides freely across the paper, and circles become ovals.  Perhaps the same thing has happened to our moral compass?