Long Rock Consultation

As you may have seen in the press, the Canterbury City Council Long Rock consultation is continuing with two public events where you can discuss the proposals with them.

  1. Public meeting: Thursday 26 May, 5.30pm to 7.30pm, Swalecliffe and Chestfield Community Centre
  2. On-site session at Long Rock: Sunday 29 May, 10am to 2pm

Find out more about what’s proposed and comment on their website: https://news.canterbury.gov.uk/consultation-item?id=1&r=58

Public Space Protection Order for Whitstable and Herne Bay coastal zone

As you may be aware, Canterbury City Council has announced a public consultation on their proposed Public Space Protection Order for Whitstable and Herne Bay coastal zone. Their emailed message is:
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Public consultation on a new draft coastal zone Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) for Herne Bay and Whitstable is underway.
PSPOs were introduced to tackle nuisance behaviour that affects the quality of life for other people.
Including an activity in a PSPO effectively bans people from that activity in the area it covers.
Among the proposed measures set out in the draft coastal zone PSPO are:
* lighting or fuelling any open fire
* using, lighting or discarding any disposable barbecue
* being in possession of any glass bottle on any beach (except where the bottle is being carried in transit)
* harming or attempting to harm any wildlife
On the council website at https://news.canterbury.gov.uk/consultation-item?id=1&r=54
you can view the proposed PSPO, see a map of the area it covers and give us your views on the plans.


Comments must be submitted by Sunday 8 May.

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Membership renewal and AGM 2022

Membership renewal is now due for 2022.
The cost remains at £8 for single and £12 for joint membership.

The renewal Form can be found here on the website.

We ask that members pay by bank transfer or (preferably) by standing order where possible as, in common with others, our bank has introduced significant charges for cheque or cash deposits.

The latest Newsletter, recently sent to members also contains details of our AGM on Wednesday 23 March commencing at 7pm which will include a presentation and members discussion about the Future Options for the Society.

As last year, this meeting will be held online via Zoom and we hope that many of you will be able to join us then.

Whitstable Society Zoom Meeting – 27th January 2021

The committee wish all members a safe and happy New Year.

With the continuing Covid restrictions we’ll be unable to resume Open Meetings, including our AGM, at the Castle for the foreseeable future.

You may recall from our Autumn Newsletter our intention to trial a members’ on-line Zoom meeting on Wed 20th January. Unfortunately we find that this would clash with another local important event so have rescheduled ours to Wed 27th January, with log-in from 7.00pm for a 7.15pm start.  

We will email a Zoom meeting link and joining instructions nearer the time. (You do not need to preload the Zoom application).

The main aim is Zoom set-up and familiarisation for interested members well in advance of our (required) AGM which we’ll be holding a little later this year on 24th March via Zoom. 

We’ve been unable to engage a speaker for the 20th January but the committee will give updates for discussion on some current activities including:

  • Glebe Way railway crossing inquiry status.
  • Whitstable to Iwade section of the national Coastal Path.
  • The new Whitstable Town Forum.
  • AGM topics, including a brief overview of reasons to change the WS to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation.

It will be helpful if those interested in joining this initial Zoom meeting will advise same by return email so we can determine roughly how many participants to expect.

Please note also that WS Membership annual renewal subscriptions will become due on 1st March 2021.

Richard Amos, Secretary and Membership Secretary, The Whitstable Society

March 2020 Update

The Trustees are taking the spread of Coronavirus in the UK extremely seriously and our number one priority remains the safety and wellbeing of all our members. Considering the current Government guidance to minimise the spread of the virus, we have taken the decision to stop meetings and the walks temporarily. We are closely monitoring the situation and plan to start up again as soon as we can.

We thank you for your continued support and look forward to being able to get back on track again as soon as possible. Please feel free to keep in touch via email and we look forward to the time when we’ll be able to get together again. 

In the meantime, we wish to share a message from the Gorrell Ward Councillor Chris Cornell about what Coronavirus measures are in place in Whitstable which may be useful:

“As you will no doubt be aware national guidance about COVID-19 is changing on a daily basis. The council will be publishing a statement in the next couple of days but in the meantime, as a local councillor, I’ve been in touch with a number of residents and voluntary groups worried about what happens to people in need of food. This is a summary of what I have found and think you should be aware of in Whitstable.

  1. Isolated and vulnerable individuals you are aware of who may need help should be directed to Red Zebra (01227 263 313 or admin@redzebra.org.uk ) who are redeploying their Social Prescribing Service to carry out welfare calls amongst the 850 people they already have registered as with limited transport in the area and anyone else that we identify. Red Zebra will have access to a stock of food parcels from Canterbury Foodbank which their DBS Checked staff can deliver.
  2. Individuals wishing to volunteer to support the effort should also contact Red Zebra. They are immediately in need of people to help with the welfare calls (freeing-up DBS checked staff to do delivery) and may deploy them in picking up stock from the Foodbank and other tasks as necessary. I am in touch with the leads of many of the local COVID-19 Community response Facebook Accounts and will be encouraging them to encourage people to volunteer here first, rather than necessarily visiting vulnerable people in their homes without proper safeguarding support.
  3. Individuals in need of food and not self-isolating should be encouraged to contact Clare at Canterbury Foodbankwho will signpost them to where they can pick a parcel up. You can email Clare at signposting@canterburyfoodbank.org. Upon speaking to Clare, food can be collected from the Umbrella Centre or on arrangement from their central warehouse.
  4. People wishing to donate food or hygiene products for those people in need should continue to fill the yellow bins in town. These are still being collected and the contents distributed.
  5. People wishing to donate money can do so in person at a number of the ‘pay it forward’ schemes at the Umbrella Café, Revival @ the Horsebridge, Café Eighty Nine in Tankerton High Street at the café at Riverside Church on the Thanet Way. These schemes are already well utilised by people on low incomes who may be most affected, and some will be looking to continue to offer take-away services even if their main business has to close.

We have no idea of how the demand in Whitstable may grow over the next couple of weeks but please feel free to contact me if there is anything I can do. I will continue to share information I receive and co-ordinate where it is useful. I’ll be posting to local Facebook groups making this information accessible; any way you can share the information locally would be great.”

Councillor Chris Cornell Chris.cornell@councillor.canterbury.gov.uk 

Open Meeting Wednesday 18th July 2018

Our next Open meeting will be at Whitstable Castle on Wednesday 18th July from 7.15pm.
The speaker will be David Herren who will talk about the work of Tools With A Mission (TWAM), a Christian charity which collects unwanted tools, refurbishes them, sorts them into trade kits, and redistributes them to disadvantaged people in the developing world.
This will be followed by our usual refreshment break and then discussion of current local topics.
We expect this unusual subject to be a most interesting and enlightening topic and hope that many members will attend.
Additionally, our open meetings are – as the name suggests – open to anyone.

Harbour Day 11th August 2018

A town proud of its maritime heritage…..

Whitstable Maritime invites everyone to come and share in the fun of Harbour Day on 11th August as the town celebrates its connections with the sea, past, present and future.

From 10.30 in the morning, the harbour quays will be packed with stalls, there is a full day’s programme of live music and drama on the stage, and craft old and new will be mooring in the basin. Over 250 volunteers will be helping visitors enjoy this annual maritime festival – and it is all free!

Visitors will be able to clamber aboard the Border Force cutter, the In-shore Fisheries patrol boat, a cargo vessel, and the lifeboat. Barges and smacks, some over a hundred years old, will race against each other off-shore before returning to harbour.
The stalls will reflect local maritime themes: from sea-food to family histories; from plastic pollu-tion to sea-defences; from sea-rescue to coastal walks; from boat-restoration to harbour rail-ways; from marine archaeology to coastal gardening; from marine conservation to yatching.
Children of all ages will be able to navigate beautiful radio-controlled models of many of the local craft in a large pool and try their hand at rope-making before riding along the quay on a small-scale steam engine.

Resident traders will be providing a range of food and drinks as well as gifts and collectables and local artists will offer everyone an opportunity to be creative.

It is truly a great day out for the family.

Inaugural public meeting and establishment of the Whitstable History Education Network (the ‘When’)

6PM for 7PM start on Friday April 27th at the Whitstable Junior School
(main gate between the Library and the Coach and Horses, then 1st left).

Anyone interested in local history is invited to this meeting to discuss and establish a ‘local history’ group/network covering the human and physical history of Whitstable and surrounding areas. There will be a graphical presentation and break-out groups covering a wide variety of activities and possible projects.
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