Portrait Bench at Reculver

In spring 2013, a Portrait Bench will be installed along the clifftop between Reculver and Bishopstone - and Canterbury City Council need your help to decide who it will feature!

A Portrait Bench is a collection of three distinctive, lifesize local figures cut from sheet steel and installed alongside a simple bench, inviting people to join the group and become part of the 'portrait'. Here's an example of one from elsewhere in the country:

Click to read more ...

Turtleastic - find out what it means to you

Local treasure Karen Simpson has a new exhibition at the Reculver Visitor Centre. Turtleastic looks at the effects of pollution (in this case plastics) on our natural environment.

Ocean litter is increasingly responsible for turtle deaths, autopsies have found alarming amounts of plastic debris in their stomachs especially floating plastic carrier bags which they mistake for their main source of food - jellyfish. These then fill up their stomachs meaning that they often die from malnutrition and starvation as they are unable to take in proper nutritional food. They often also ingest other types of plastic and get tangled up in netting and other floating plastic debris which can result in drowning.

As usual, Karen's work is quirky, eye-catching and thought-provoking... a great combination. You can see more of her work on her website: Shore Is A Load Of Rubbish.

Turtleastic is on at the Reculver Visitor Centre (by Reculver Towers) from 29th July - 30th August, every day except Tuesday and Wednesday, between 11am and 5pm.

Public meeting: Kitewood development at Hillborough

A public meeting next week will discuss plans to redevelop land between Hillborough and the Altira Business Park. Residents and stakeholders living around the site, which has been earmarked for more than 1,300 homes, are being urged to attend to have their say and learn more about the proposals.

Reculver and Beltinge Community Hall, Reculver Road, hosts the meeting from 7pm next Wednesday, the first of its kind since the scheme was first confirmed in August.

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Message in a Bottle at Reculver

Local litter action group 'Shore' is a load of Rubbish! is still going strong, and 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. Message in a Bottle is now on at:

Reculver Visitor Centre open Thursday-Monday 11am-5pm till 29th August, on display are:

• a Bottle Beach Hut, made of 2 litre bottles filled with beach litter,
• a bottle top deckchair made up of 560 bottle tops threaded onto 40 metres of cord, and
• a Mermaid made from crisp packets, balloon litter and recycled items!
• More details below.

Click it to big it.

‘Message in a Bottle’ Dates 2011

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

shoreisaloadofrubbish.blogspot.com

Reculver's past at the Museum

HB Gazette 23rd Sep 2010