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Herne Bay, England, CT6
United Kingdom
Community website for all things Herne Bay (Kent, UK). Covers: The Downs, Herne Bay Museum, Herne Bay Historical Records Society, Herne Bay Pier Trust, Herne Bay in Bloom, East Cliff Neighbourhood Panel, No Night Flights, Manston Airport, Save Hillborough, Kitewood, WEA, Local Plan and much, much more...
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As it turned out, the injured lady cyclist (Dutch or Belgian?) was whisked away in the road ambulance, and the air ambulance returned to base. It looked like a well-executed rescue: congratulations to all involved, and hopefully a speedy recovery for the injured lady. To find out more about the Kent Air Ambulance, and make a welcome, much-needed and well-deserved donation, just click the logo:
The way Steve Dansey tells it; one minute he was a milkman, the next minute head of IT security at a major global corporation. Now he's running a farm in Whitstable and making sausages that he sells in his delicatessen on Herne Bay high street. It's a career trajectory so unlikely it makes you do a double-take.
The 52-year-old makes the move from dropping off bottles of semi-skimmed to scanning the files of international banks on the hunt for fraud sound disarmingly simple. And the sausages? Just a return to his roots as a butcher's boy and son of a meat salesman… He told Ed Targett how he ended up with thousands of pear trees, a herd of Badger Face Sheep and an injunction from Canterbury City Council...
From Essex milkman to global techie: how did that come about? I was working as milkman for Unigate in my twenties when they decided to select some internal staff for training on new IT systems they were rolling out. I got picked for the team in what was meant to be a four month project but ended up being 18 months.
So you stayed on? Actually the project wrapped up and when it finished there were no milkman jobs left going! I was out of work, but a bit handy at computers by then, so I spotted a systems administrator position available in Ramsgate, applied and somehow managed to get it.
Did you study computer engineering at university? No, I don't have a degree. I actually left school at 16 and went to work for my grandfather who had a small business in Essex, import-export of canned goods. I did all sorts of bits and bobs after that; working as a butcher's boy, doing markets and working for Tesco.
Computer security isn't something you typically just pick up. But you ended up heading a global IT team? After entering the IT world, I set about teaching myself more programmes. IT is inherently logical and I genuinely think it's something anyone could teach themselves. You just need a certain amount of dedication and to spend a lot of time glued to a screen.
It sounds like you enjoyed it. I did, a lot. Just to be clear though I didn't write software: the security systems I created were procedures documentation and structures for companies. In the mid-1990s I joined a company, now called Actimise, which specialises in fraud detection. It was a typical start-up with around 50 people and a nice place to be, as we were still working with the founders. I ended up running their IT security department, had offices in nine European countries and used to fly out to the US on Tuesdays and back on Fridays. It was a bit a break-neck paced life.
What were you doing exactly? Mostly, writing programmes that would scan bank files to detect fraud. There are so many kinds of financial fraud: cheque kiting, front running… you'd find account statements for a single day that were 40 pages long! We'd scan laterally and poke about searching for wrong-doing, of which there was plenty.
So how did you end up in a deli in Herne Bay? We were bought out in 2006 by a US conglomerate, which restructured and I lost my job. I'd moved to Whitstable in 1987 and along with my wife Sue, who's always had very green fingers, bought some land to set up a small farm. It was an investment for us -that we could afford at the time -and always a dream we'd had. And after I lost my job, it was the only thing we had and we simply had to make it work as a business.
That must have been tough. Try telling a bank you want to renegotiate your mortgage on some land when you've got no income coming in! We had and still do have many sleepless nights.
How's it going now? Well, we have a farm across two sites, in Whitstable and Dargate, called Butterfly Meadow. My wife had started making our own fruit snacks for sale at farmer's markets – well before I lost my job – and we aimed to expand on that; the "fruit purist" snacks we make were recognised at the Taste of Kent awards which was gratifying.
What do you grow, or rear? A bit of everything: We have goats, chickens, Aberdeen Angus cattle, a herd of Badger Face Sheep, 4,000 pear trees, 800 plum trees. And getting back to my roots as a butcher's lad we make our own sausages; pork, chicken, beef… all kinds of sausages, all hand-made.
So you employ a team of dedicated sausage makers? Myself, my wife and my daughter, no less. I clearly owe them a lot!
Were there many bureaucratic hurdles to overcome in setting up a working farm? Where to start? I've actually just won a five-year battle with Canterbury City Council to keep the place going which has cost me more than £11,000 in legal fees. They had an injunction taken out against me that has just ended. The whole thing ended up in mediation, which was amazingly efficient. But five years of struggle just to try and set up a local business? Incomprehensible.
What was the problem exactly? Amongst many issues, they wouldn't accept that my land in Dargate and Whitstable was one farm, despite DEFRA having recognised it as one and it sharing the same national code. They wanted me to have planning permission for some six-by-four moveable chicken hutches I'd put up. Solicitors at the National Farmers Union laughed their socks off that I'd been made to demolish some hutches of that size; you shouldn't need planning permission for small, moveable hutches.
Has that been resolved? Yes, like I said, through mediation. But not before I found myself owing the shirt off my back in solicitors fees! Still, life goes on and we're born survivors.
And the deli certainly seems full of local goodies. What have you got? Fudge from Hempstead Valley; honey from Blean; pickles from Dover; cheese from Dargate; oils from Quex; apple juice from Broomfield; ice cream from Ashford, you name it!
What was you first car? An Austen A35 that cost me 10 bob!
First record? A reggae version of Love of the common people.
And… have you ever seen a ghost? Ummm. Yes, actually. Well, more an apparition. It was on Kent Common in Hayes… It's hard to describe frankly; not a human form but something that just materialised, drifted this way and that and then faded away again. Very odd.
HB Times 22nd Jul 2011
Canterbury City Council is conducting a review into the impact of fast rail services on Kent’s network after research revealed journeys on regular trains are now slower. Rail campaigners have accused operator Southeastern of slowing down mainline services by adding additional stops in a bid to make High Speed 1 more appealing.
It followed a report by Canterbury City Council which revealed the total journey time on regular services on the north Kent line was up to 20 minutes slower since the introduction of HS1. This has prompted a critical review by the authority, which is expected to be completed in two months. Southeastern denied the accusations of slowing down trains stating that timetables were based on service specifications set by Government, outlining how many services there should be from a particular station.
Tory MP for Thanet North Roger Gale and campaigners from the Alliance of Kent Commuters said adding more stops had been detrimental to the still-popular classic service:
“The classic service time table has been adjusted to accommodate faster services. There are now more stops on the mainline service, some of which are not needed; the trains are overcrowded; and they travel very slowly. This could make HS1 more appealing, but it doesn’t serve east Kent.”
For people living in east Kent, travelling from Margate along the north Kent line through towns including Herne Bay and Whitstable to London, the high speed train does not reach speeds until Ebbsfleet or for trains travelling from Ramsgate, until Ashford. The same problem is seen in Medway where the trains fail to pick up speed until Ebbsfleet. But when commuters opt for regular trains, they are faced with longer journey times due to added stops and overcrowded carriages where classic services were reduced to make way for HS1.
The review at Canterbury City Council will look into the impact of the high speed service. Lib Dem Cllr Alex Perkins, who commissioned the review, said he was pleased with HS1, but said there needed to be research conducted into its effect on the network.
“We all know HS1 is great. What we want to do is find out what impact it has had on other services. It has been detrimental. A lot of this is anecdotal and we need to get facts and figures together, but we do know that lots of standard services are being affected. There are lots of people left standing on platforms while a high speed train goes past with just two people on it. I have experienced it myself when Jean Law, deputy leader of the council, and I found ourselves stuck on a packed platform at Faversham station and an HS1 came through with one person sitting in one of the cars – does that mean a good service? My own experience with HS1 is absolutely fantastic, but we need to find out how bad the situation is with the regular service. We’re doing this for Canterbury, but it’s quite possible this could kick off other reviews.”
Mr Gale said he would support anything which looked to help solve problems experienced by commuters in east Kent. A spokesman at Southeastern defended the operator stating that to meet its contractual obligation some trains had to stop at more stations, therefore slowing that particular service:
“Any change would need to be made by the Department for Transport (DfT) and a new service specification will be developed by the DfT for the new franchise in 2014. We appreciate that no one wants to see journey times increase but to speed up trains would require missing stations out along the route, which would not be popular with those towns. Passengers now have a choice of service and can choose to take a far quicker journey on high speed or use the Mainline services.”
kentnews 24th Jul 2011
A businessman whose wife died in a horrific road accident says he's devastated by the early release of the man responsible. Mike McKenzie was left to raise his three children alone after George Forbes ploughed head-on into his wife Janice's car on the old Thanet Way.
Forbes, who was more than four times over the legal alcohol limit, was jailed for eight years for causing death by dangerous driving in August 2007, but was released on Tuesday, four years early.
Mr McKenzie, who runs furniture company Spacemaster Kent, said he was shocked by the early release. He arrived on the scene moments after the crash. He recalled:
"It was a hugely traumatic evening for us. After my wife Jan didn't turn up in the evening, myself and our three children went to look for her. We arrived at the crash not long after it happened, with my wife's body still in the vehicle. George Forbes had a history of dangerous driving, and now he's being released after just four years to come and live in Whitstable. Myself and my children – Paul, Donna and Scott – are going be forced to cross paths with the man who took their mother and my wife away; a man who has never expressed remorse or apologised."
Mr McKenzie, who was married to his wife for 34 years, said at the time of the court hearing that she hadn't died in vain. He told the Times in 2007 that if her life was lost to keep Forbes off the road, then that was her final sacrifice. Four other cars were involved in the pile-up. A boy aged 7 and an 11-week-old baby girl were also taken to hospital.
Richard Willingham, then Canterbury fire station manager, described being met with a "scene of devastation". He said at the time: "It was a particularly awful and challenging incident."
HB Times 22nd Jul 2011
Holiday park boss Malcolm Kent enjoyed a right royal knees-up last Tuesday. The former national chairman of the British Holiday and Home Parks Association was in London to attend a special Buckingham Palace garden party. Mr Kent, from Herne Bay, said:
"I was delighted to receive the invitation and it was a fantastic day out. They give you parking in The Mall, which isn't somewhere you usually choose to park in London! At 4pm the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh arrived, looking stunning for their age. I'm not sure how they do it!"
After tea, the couple were able to explore the gardens and meet the other guests. Mr Kent, who chaired the National Caravan Council from 1997 to 1999, said:
"We had some interesting company, as Alan Titchmarsh was there, along with Andrew Marr and lots of foreign royalty in their very colourful regalia. All in all it was a very memorable day."
Mr Kent's business, Keat Farm, has nine parks across the county for both holiday and residential use.
HB Times 22nd Jul 2011
Visitors to the Bandstand were treated to a distinctly continental sound when a French band made a guest appearance. The tunes came courtesy of the Harmonie Municipal Band from Wimereux, a seaside town four miles north of Boulogne that is twinned with the Bay
The Band of about 30 people, ranging in age from teenagers upward, were treated to a buffet lunch at the ex-serviceman's club by the twinning association before their performance last month. They played a variety of music; from Michael Jackson's "Thriller", tributes to Edith Piaf and Tom Jones to light jazz and Disney movie themes.
Spokesman Alison Taylor said:
"The heavy rain showers didn't manage to spoil the afternoon and some of the comments overheard were 'a very talented group of musicians' and "what a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon despite the weather!"
HB Times 22nd Jul 2011
Blooming lovely: From left, Margaret Burns (HBIB publicity officer), Andrew Babbage (RHS judge), Jean Law (KCC councillor) Colleen Ashwin-Kean (HBIB secretary) Jim Buttress (RHS judge), Derek Sidaway (HBIB chairman) and Chris Sears (Serco representative)It's going to be a long summer for the Herne Bay in Bloom (HBIB) team as they wait to see what judges thought of their colourful campaign. Organisers must keep everything crossed until September, after the judges visited on Thursday. Spokeswoman Margaret Burns said she was cautiously optimistic:
"It's always hard to say, but we got some very good vibes. We all felt very positive about everything. Even if we don't get a gold, I think everyone felt very good about what we'd managed to achieve this year, and we feel the town has been looking really nice."
Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) judges hit the town on Thursday to be shown this year's projects by the team. These included the seafront gardens, town centre planters, Sea Street roundabout, Curtis Wood Park and Goldspot's pond, sensory and community kitchen gardens in the Memorial Park, Herne Infant School, the green burial ground at Herne Bay cemetery, and Eddington Lane allotments.
The Memorial Park was also judged separately under the parks and gardens section of the South and South East in Bloom competition. This was followed by a reception in the community lounge at Richmond Court, where Kent county councillor Jean Law thanked all the committee and contributors to this year's campaign for their hard work.
HBIB secretary Colleen Ashwin-Kean was presented with a bouquet as a recognition of all her hard work on behalf of the committee during the past year. The results of this year's campaign will be announced on September 7. The next event in the Herne Bay in Bloom calendar is the Giant Picnic in the Park on Sunday, August 28.
For more information visit www.HerneBayinBloom.co.uk, e-mail herne_bayinbloom@live.co.uk or call 07549 392916.
HB Times 21st Jul 2011
A former Sheriff of Canterbury has been sent to prison today after admitting indecently assaulting a vulnerable youngster and downloading child pornography. Ex-councillor Martin Fisher, 61, later told one police officer:
"Some people like Picasso..I like pictures of children with no clothes on."
The paedophile pleaded guilty at Canterbury Crown Court to five charges, including two sexual assaults on an adult and 11 charges of downloading disgusting images of children - including one depicting sado-masochism on a child. Fisher, from Queen's Road, was told by Judge Adele Williams he had a "deviant sexual interest in children" who had shown no insight about the effect on his victim.
Fisher, who ran his own insurance business in Sittingbourne, was jailed for a total of 15 months and banned him from working with children for 10 years. The sentence was the culmination of a 15-month long investigation by the East Kent Public Protection Unit, based at Canterbury Police Station. Investigating officer, Detective Constable Richard Allen, said:
"This was a joint investigation with Kent Social Services in which Kent Police took the lead. We arrested Fisher in April 2010 after one of his victims reported the offences. During the course of the investigation computers, video cameras and cameras were seized from Fisher's home in Whitstable and his business address in Sittingbourne. We found indecent images of children and paedophilic stories that had been downloaded from the internet both on his home and business computers. Paper copies of indecent images were found in the office at his home and copies of paedophilic stories were discovered underneath his bedside cabinet. When Fisher was arrested and interviewed he admitted accessing and printing the images and stories but he said he didn't accept they were indecent - he felt they were artistic.
Throughout police interviews Fisher denied the sexual assaults, but changed his plea to guilty at a court hearing on June 20. Detective Chief Inspector Paul Fotheringham, head of CID at East Kent, paid tribute to Fisher's victims, who, he said, had been prepared to give evidence against Fisher, should there have been a trial. He also paid tribute to officers at the Public Protection Unit for carrying out a meticulous investigation:
"Thanks to their dedication and thoroughness a damning case was built up against Fisher. Throughout the investigation Fisher refused to accept that he was sexually interested in children, despite using search engines on his computers to look for sites specifically involving sex with children. He maintained that indecent pictures and explicit paedophilic stories were 'art'. He has also since claimed that he pleaded guilty to save his victims the trauma of going to court and that he was also a victim in the case. We wholeheartedly dispute that. Hopefully, following today's sentence, he now understands that this behaviour is not acceptable and the only victims in this case are the people he sexually assaulted. I also hope that the case shows other victims that Kent Police will do everything in its power to bring offenders like Fisher to justice."
Alongside the 15 month sentence Fisher will stay on the sex offenders' register for 10 years. He was also given a sexual offences prevention order, banning him from working with children for 10 years.
kentonline 21st Jul 2011
Dash along to the Herne Bay Museum and see the brand new "Not the End of the Pier Show" - running until 11th September.
Museum bosses tore down a poster promoting Herne Bay Pier Trust, despite the fact that the latest exhibition is dedicated to the iconic seaside structure. Despite protests from staff at the William Street museum, managers insisted the poster had to be removed because it did not fit in with the council's corporate branding.
Pier trust members who complained were told the poster had been put in the wrong place. Trust chairman Julian Jennings said:
"It's bureaucracy gone mad. I don't think the staff knew there was a right and wrong place for posters, so they were not happy when it was taken down. But it's now been put up in the right place, so we hope everyone is happy."
The row is the latest in a series of grumbles since the museum shop was taken over by the council's visitor services team in a bid to make more money. Staff now wear Canterbury-branded uniforms, and city-branded leaflets are on display around the museum. Visitors who do not have a residents' card issued by the council must also pay to enter the exhibitions, after a review initially recommended shutting the museum.
David Cross, secretary of the Friends of the Museum, said:
"There is a completely new regime in charge of the museum and they are still trying things out. They are aware they will get things wrong, and have done so, and we the Friends are concerned about that. But we are confident we will arrive together at the right conclusion."
Council spokesman Steve James added:
"We've always been very supportive of the Pier Trust and its work in the community, and only removed the posters from the Herne Bay Museum as part of a general tidy-up of the building entrance. But after being contacted by a trust member, we agreed to put the posters back, and these posters will complement trust leaflets which are always on display. No offence was intended, and we hope that we can continue to display trust posters in a co-ordinated manner. We're proud that Herne Bay Museum and Gallery forms an integral part of the community, and we always respond positively to feedback supplied by local residents."
HB Times 15th Jul 2011
Dozens of mums are delighted after the city council reversed a decision to close a creche in Herne Bay. The Pier Pavilion Sports Centre will close in September, and facilities including the creche will move to the newly refurbished Herons Leisure Pool. But childcare provision appeared to be left out as mums were told to start taking their children to Kingsmead Leisure Centre in Canterbury instead.
Active Life, which looks after all council-owned leisure facilities in the district, had told members who use the existing day creche at the Pier Pavilion there would be no room at Herons. More than 130 children are registered on the creche’s books and the news had come as a huge disappointment to their mums.
But Denise Rigden, from Tankerton Road, Whitstable took the issue straight to the city council’s deputy head of culture and enterprise David Ford. The 37-year-old was growing concerned about where to take son Max, aged 18 months, after September. She said:
"I made my views known to him directly and explained how valued a service it is and the great job done by all its staff. He was extremely helpful and was prepared to listen to concerns. It’s fantastic news to hear it will be staying put at Herons and a huge relief. I thought my exercise days would be over come September and some members have been in tears at the prospect of having to stop going to their classes."
David Ford said:
"The provision of new creche facilities were always to form part of the refurbished Herons Leisure Pool. Active Life took the initial decision not to provide a creche service as it was becoming clear that it was very difficult to effectively run it to the same standard as that provided on the Pier. However, mindful of the value customers place on this service, creche provision will remain at Herons as originally planned and Active Life is working with the council on options to make sure a solution is found to ensure the continuation of this service."
HB Gazette 13th Jul 2011
Local litter action group 'Shore' is a load of Rubbish! is still going strong.
Their project for 2011 is Message in a Bottle.
With the help of two local schools (Westmeads Whitstable and St Stephens Canterbury) they are constructing a full-sized beach hut from recycled materials, including 2 litre plastic bottles filled with beachcombed litter and facts about marine litter.
More details below.
Exhibition at Herne Bay Library
28th June-22nd July
9-6 Monday-Fridays 9-5 Saturdays
Herne Bay Band Stand/Sea Front
August, location TBC
Reculver Visitor Centre
1st-29th August
11-5 Thursday-Monday
Horsebridge Centre Whitstable
8th-18th September
9-6 Monday-Saturday 10-6 Sunday
For more information, and great pictures of work in progress and previous exhibits, visit
A jet skier has been airlifted to hospital after he was involved in an accident off the Kent coast. Whitstable RNLI said the man was rescued from the water near Hampton Pier, Herne Bay, at 1630 BST on Sunday.
The RAF Sea King helicopter was sent to the scene, with the Herne Bay coastguard and emergency services. A spokesman said the man was taken to the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital in Margate with head injuries.