Wall of silence

The council taxpayers of Herne Bay have just received a reassuring message from the city council. Apparently the town’s museum is not being closed after all - it just will not be open to members of the public! Talk about semantic gibberish!

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Relaunch of The Ship

Centuries of Herne Bay heritage will continue when the Ship Inn opens its doors once more. The seafront pub has been closed since last summer but has a new man at the helm is Kings Caterers boss Tony Farrow. The dad-of-two, 46, has taken the keys to the 14th century building and is eagerly awaiting its grand reopening next Thursday, 11th February. With no TVs, no sport and only background music, he says he wants the place to befit the motto: The way pubs were, not the way they are.

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Historic Inn reopening

The Ship lnn is afloat again. After months of being boarded up, she’s ready to take on passengers. The man behind the transformation is 48-year-old businessman Tony Farrow, who has sunk thousands into the venture. He said: “I’d rather not think about the cost. It’s an awful lot. But Herne Bay needs a venue like this.”

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Gilbey in fighting mood

"It's really disgraceful. It's absolutely disgraceful that they can't see what this council is doing. But we will fight that. We will fight it tooth and nail to show them what we are doing. No question."

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Gale's View: London Array

That contracts have been signed for the construction of the London Array windfarm in the Thames Estuary is good news. Whatever your view of global warming - and I subscribe to the view that even if some of the science is a bit dodgy it is much, much better to be safe than sorry - it is clear that unless we take action now to invest in and harness renewable energy then our children and our grandchildren are going to find the lights going out in their hospitals and their schools and their homes.

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Gale's View: Town Centre

It has been a long and frustrating time in coming but at last serious proposals for the re-development of the centre of Herne Bay are out in the open.  We need a good mix of high-quality retail, leisure facilities and residential accommodation in the heart of the community to keep the town alive night and day; and I believe that these plans warrant and deserve the backing of the town.

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Programme 2009/2010

Here's the 2009/2010 programme, to give you an idea of the range of topics covered:

2009

1st October: A.G.M. Followed by: "Images from the archives"

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5th November: J & S Wagner: "Phantasmagoria" Magic Lantern Slides

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19th November: Mrs. Ann Winter: "People & Lives of the Railway"

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3rd December: Miss Jennie Burgess: "Smuggling in & around Birchington"

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2010

7th January: Mr. Ian Tittley: "History of the Natural History of North Kent"

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21st January: Lt. Col. M. Martin: "Britain on the Home Front in WW2"

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4th February: Mr. Mike Bundock: "Herne Bay fires floods & freezes"

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18th February: Mrs. Margaret Burns: "The History of Studd Hill"

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4th March: HAROLD GOUGH MEMORIAL LECTURE: Mr. Frank Turner: "The Maunsell Sea Forts of the Thames Estuary"

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18th March: Mrs. Irene Pellett: "Tiles & the Time Team"

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15th April: End of Season Social

To end the season, about 50 members enjoyed a social evening of fun, food and fellowship. John Fishpool and Valerie Millo arranged some quizzes to test our knowledge of history in general and Herne Bay in particular. For example, did you know that the Bun Penny was once the Royal Hotel, and the Herne Bay Windmill was situated on the sea front from 1825-1878 on the site of Sea View Square?

The buffet meal was enjoyed by all, and a vote of thanks was given to all who prepared it or helped in any way to make it a happy occasion. The society's latest publications were on sale: Herne Bay's Hotels and Public Houses and Mills and Milling in the Herne Bay Area. These can be bought at Herne Bay Museum.

Members now look forward to two coach outings during the summer.

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Teas and Coffees are available after the lecture meetings

Gale's View: Empty Shops

The Government has offered a three million pound 'bung', spread across a number of local authorities, to promote the re-opening of boarded-up shops and to revitalise some failing High Streets. Setting aside the fact that this very thinly-spread financial largesse is far too little, far too late and that it fails to recognise the extent to which unregulated out-of-town shopping development has already killed off many High Streets it also appears to be in direct conflict with the Governments own planning policies!

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The ninth iffiest Pier?

Herne Bay pier is among 10 across England and Wales that have been identified as being at serious risk of demolition or collapse. The report from the National Piers Society, placed the town's iconic structure at number nine in a top 10 which also includes Hastings and Brighton West piers in neighbouring East Sussex. But staunch defenders of Herne Bay Pier's future have dismissed the survey as pure conjecture.

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Gale's View: Blacksole Bridge

Blacksole Bridge has become an accident waiting to happen.  That is not only my view, it is a concern shared by the Bay's three County Councillors, David Hirst, Jean Law and Alan Marsh, and also by many of the City Councillors representing the Town.

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