Treasures of Tenterden 2

There were lots of Morris Men...

Boozers...

English eccentrics...

Punters...

Mum sorted the sheets out...

while Christopher tweeted about it.

Yesterday's Treasures of Tenterden quiz was actually not as good as last year's, unfortunately. The quiz itself was great, but we just didn't have as many takers.

Last year The Vine Inn was busy all afternoon and finally closed around 5. This year, the pub emptied quickly and by 1:25 we'd had enough. They closed at 3pm. We only managed to sell 19 quiz sheets, in stark contrast to last year's 40+. But oh well. 

I shall announce the names of the winners when all sheets have been collected and marked. Watch this space.

:::UPDATE:::

Under-13's prize of a Waterstone's Gift Card goes to Mark Hanham, who scored a very respectable 59 points.

Adult prize of a meal for 4 at The Vine Inn goes to A. Crotty and C. Roberts, who scored 66 points. 

Well done!

::::CORRECTION::::

In actual fact, the winners scored 67 points! It was a typographical error folks! My bad!

T3 Christmas Newsletter

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Hi everyone,

This is our first Festive Newsletter, and let's start with a recap of all we've done this year.

Well, it's been quite a year!


In March we had our Spring Fair which was very well attended. A great day with great

music, book swap, plant swap, lots of different stalls and tea and cakes!

We were also at the Homewood School Farmtastic Fair. We'd helped the students install a

giant bug hotel in their farm's chicken run and they invited us to attend.

In April we had our second succesful town Clean Up Day. We also went Bug Hotel building

again, this time at Tenterden Infants School. We went to Highbury Hall Preschool to

help the kids plant sunflower seeds, which then grew big and tall and helped the hall

look lovely and summery.

At Tenterden's May Fair we unveiled our now-famous Smoothy bike and even though it was

muddy and damp it made quite an impression.

Later in May we teamed up with jo Vos, the town's Community Warden, and PCSO Archer for

a free Bike Marking session at The White Lion.

Tenterden's Diamond Jubilee Fair saw us with the Smoothy bike again and then on Bank

Holiday Monday we were at Highbury Hall again for our retro Time Tunnel of Tunes, our

version of a 1950's coffee bar!

In late june we were at Tentertainment with Smoothy bike again and then in August we

hosted a green energy concert at Zion Baptist Church which we called Lo-Carb/Hi-Fi.

there were performances from Nina Clark, The Lucky Ones, Pierre Vincent, Inburst and Up

All Night, all powered by batteries charged via solar panels and wind turbines!

September saw our third town Clean Up and our contribution to Harvest Festival where we

unveiled our Local Food Map and talked about Food Miles.

In November we hosted a PotLuck Supper at Highbury Hall to help raise money for the

ongoing renovations, and in December we have been seen at Homewood Christmas Fair and

Late Night Shopping, raising money for an orphanage in Benin and Highbury Hall's Youth

Cafe. On Dec 26th at the Vine Inn we have yet another Boxing Day walking quiz planned,

"Exploring Tenterden".

We have made donations to :-  The Mayor's Charity, Tentertainment, Folk Festival, and

over £100 to Tenterden Youth Club at Highbury Hall, for refurbishment/Youth Cafe.

Prizes were donated to us by :- Tesco, Liquid Pleasure, Old Dairy, White Lion, The

Vine,The Lemon Tree, Carolyn Carter Massage,The Potato Shop,Romney Marsh Wools,The Nutmeg  and

numerous individuals.

Upcoming events :- Exploring Tenterden (Dec 26th, the Vine, 12pm), Renewable Energy Talk (Mon Jan 21st, Tenterden Club, 7:30), Green Energy Fair in

Ashford, (Sat Jan 19th, County Square Shopping Centre)

TBA: Clean Up Day (March/April), Quiz night (March) ,Craft Fair (April)

Watch this space for further details.

Last year I remember saying something along the lines of 'peace, love, harmony and more recycling'. Well, on a personal level, I have had some of the above... my daughter Rosie was born in September and she's beautiful. As to the more recycling bit... on the upside, we had two successful town cleanups, and it appears from the leaflet that came through our door the other week that Ashford Borough Council is definitely making an attempt to 'up its game' in the recycling department. On the downside, the Cobbs Wood Estate council rubbish/recycling centre is closed for an upgrade, which will take quite some time, meaning that now we are severely limited for a while. Also Chris Weir on the Cranbrook Road has quit taking plastics, which is a great shame.

As to my hopes for the New Year... I would like to see more people recycling, composting, growing their own food and taking a more proactive approach to waste and saving energy. I'd also like to see an increase in volunteerism, and hope to get our LandShare idea off the ground - that is, matching up people with the skills, desire and ability to grow a vegetable garden who don't have a garden to do it in with people who have the garden space and neither have time or ability to take care of it.

We at T3 hope your Christmas is a happy one and your New Year filled with endless possibilities.

See you soon!

Jeff, Carolyn and all at T3

Late Night Shopping

Folks, T3 will be on the High Street on the 'Fat Face' side of the Town Hall at Late night Shopping! We will be talking about all the usual things and selling Tealight Holders made by Phill and his Treelight Co., which are made from reclaimed wood and sanded and polished to a high gloss! Look very cool and make an ideal Christmas gift! Not to mention the wonderful bespoke birdhouses that he makes too! As well as all that there will be... dare I say it... free cookies! Come on Tenterdonians - you know you want one! Hope to see you all there on Friday night!

http://www.tenterdentown.co.uk/index.php/what-s-on/christmas-festival/

Not to mention the Homemade Xmas Gift Tags,reasonably priced and made from recycled materials. Even more importantly, the T3 Xmas Raffle,with a host of fantastic prizes donated by local businesses. Make sure you come and get a ticket !

Potluck Pics

Well everybody, yesterday was the Potluck Supper, and despite the filthy weather we had a few brave souls turn up and enjoy the food and beverages, and each other's company of course! To those that didn't come - you missed out on some superb tuck, and of course you missed seeing the revamped interior of Highbury Hall, which is what the event was all about. Anyway, I took some pictures and here they are for you all to enjoy.

Come One, Come All

Hi folks, time for a little update. The next few weeks are going to be busy for most of us, and here at T3 HQ, we are gearing up for a December to remember. But before we get to December we have to remind you all about this Sunday's upcoming Potluck Supper...

No entry fee, just a great night out with some fun people, with (hopefully) some great food to boot! And let's not forget the raffle, with prizes including (but not limited to)...

A Night's Stay in the Fourposter Bedroom at The White Lion (including breakfast)

A £25 voucher from Zest & The Lemon Tree

A back & shoulder massage (valued at £35) from 

Carolyn Carter Massage

A 5 kilo box of locally grown Pink Fir Apple potatoes from 

The Potato Shop

Chocolates donated by Tesco

A bottle of Chapel Down bubbly

A gift basket from Romney Marsh Wools

Various other donated goodies from 

The Nutmeg Deli, Liquid Pleasure, and more

As you can see, a fine and varied selection - and that's just the big stuff. Well worth a flutter! And don't forget with every ticket you buy you are helping towards the ongoing costs of renovating Highbury Hall and transforming it into the Youth Cafe, a place for teens to hang out with their friends and spend a worthwhile hour or two of an evening - something that's been missing from Tenterden for a long while and certainly something that is taking a step towards making this town more youth-friendly, which can only be a good thing. I wish something like it had existed when I was in my teens.

See you on Sunday!!

Please Save The Potato Shop

We are big fans here at T3 of our friends at The Potato Shop, which is positively the BEST place to buy farm fresh potatoes here in Tenterden, with more varieties than you can shake a stick at.

We're deeply perturbed to learn about a proposal to limit access to their shop by their neighbour Mr. Wilkins. He's tried to limit access to the shop before, without success. Now he's at it again, wanting to put it a big electronic gate on the access road.

Read all about it here on Tenterden Town Forum: http://www.tenterdentown.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1231

Please go to the ashford.gov.uk site and submit your objection to this proposal which would effectively kill off a valuable local business. Go to http://planning.ashford.gov.uk/planning/ and enter 01102 in the "application number" and press "search" [make sure "Case year" is "12"]

If you can make the trip, go to the shop itself and say hi to the lovely Nicki, and sign their petition!

Explore Tenterden on Boxing Day

Rye Recycle Swap Shop

http://www.transitionrye.org.uk/recycle-swap-shop/


I encourage all of you who are at a loose end this Saturday to go to Rye and support this worthwhile event!
I hope Transition Rye will not mind me cutting and pasting the entry from their blog....

Recycle Swap Shop

When?    20 Oct 2012   from 9:30-12:30

Where?   St Mary’s Centre, Lion Street, Rye

What is a ‘recycle swap shop’?

Many of us have things in our homes which we no longer want or use, but we feel are too good to throw away.  These things sit around, sometimes for years, waiting for us to find the right person to give them to, and eventually they may end up being thrown in the bin.

Recycle Swap Shop is an event run by St Mary’s Ecology and Transition Rye to provide an alternative for local people who would prefer to recycle such unwanted items to others in the community, rather than throw them away.

You can bring your items to the hall and leave them there for others to take away.

At the same time, you can look around and see if there is anything you’d like to take away yourself!

You are welcome to only bring stuff, or to only take stuff, or to just come along and browse and have some free refreshments and a chat. This is a social event too, where everyone wins!

Anything left over will be disposed of through Rye Freegle, charity shops or recycling, as appropriate.

Takers get things they want for free!

We all end up with a chance to meet other local families for a Saturday morning chat, and we put less rubbish in land-fill, saving both the environment and tax-payers money.

A few points to note:

Please bring items before 11am, so there’s time for people to take them.

All items MUST be 100% free and must be from domestic (not commercial) sources.

Please try to bring things as early as possible and certainly before 10:15am

If you have bulky items, like bikes or furniture, then please don’t bring these to the swap shop.  Instead, a notice board will be provided for you to leave a description of your item along with a contact email address or phone number.

Don’t bring anything illegal!

Don’t bring anything dangerous (no sharp knives, weapons, etc)

No pets or livestock.

No rubbish.  Please don’t bring anything that really is no good to anyone.  The Swap Shop is run a small group of local people who volunteer their time to organise these events and we don’t want to end up with a whole room full of rubbish to take to the dump!

No mains electrical items.

Note – St Mary’s Centre is what used to the be the FE Centre on Lion Street.

Treasures of Tenterden 2

Harvest Festival/Folk Festival

On Thursday Sis and I visited Gibbet Oak Farm Shop in order to procure some locally grown fruit and veg for our planned Food Miles display at Harvest Festival.

We ended up with runner beans from West Malling, plums and  Cox apples from Gibbet Oak, and some mixed salad grown in Appledore (which we ended up not using, but no matter).

On Saturday morning we set up our stall bright and early.

We sold some jams and chutneys too, which we had made from locally sourced and/or foraged ingredients.

Inside the church were displays of local produce, organised by Tenterden & District Chamber of Commerce, titled 'Harvest On Our Doorstep'...

On Sunday we set up again in the same place and were joined on the opposite side of the path by the Chamber of Commerce who were providing refreshments, in the shape of teas & coffees, and samples of local fare from places like Old Dairy Brewery, Chapel Down Winery, The Lemon Tree, The Vine Inn and several others.

When the church Harvest service had finished, the congregation were encouraged to get refreshments at their tent, and we were standing outside to hand out copies of our 'local food' map...

..and our homemade chocolate cookies...

..which went down a treat.

Later, after the crowd had dispersed, we decided to pack up around 1 pm as there was little or no foot traffic through the churchyard. It was of course Tenterden Folk Festival weekend and there were several Morris sides and folkies around. 

The Chamber were taking down their tent, having dispensed the bulk of their food samples. However, they needed some assistance getting rid of the remainder of the polypin of Old Dairy Red Top Bitter, which we were more than happy to assist with!

Members of T3 and Tenterden Chamber of Commerce, as well as Rev. Canon Lindsay Hammond, working on the Red Top beer (centre).

Later we were joined by members of a Slovakian dance troupe, and though we had a language barrier, the word 'beer' is pretty much internationally understood.

Chris, myself, Sue, Bill and Justin with three Slovakian dancers