1 times sandwich Summer 2024 The DELIVERED FREE TO HOMES IN SANDWICH & SANDWICH BAY Plus SURROUNDING VILLAGES WINGHAM, ASH, STAPLE, EASTRY, WORTH, PRESTON, ICKHAM, WOODNESBOROUGH, WICKHAMBREAUX, CHILLENDEN & GOODNESTONE View the magazine online at www.thesandwichtimes.com
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3 Whilst every care has been taken to ensure that the data in this publication is accurate, neither the publisher nor its editorial contributors can accept, and hereby disclaim, any liability to any party to loss or damage caused by errors or omissions resulting from negligence, accident or any other cause. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form - electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise - without prior permission of the publisher. Editor - Catherine Russell 07813 177690 [email protected] www.thesandwichtimes.com Welcome to the Summer Edition of The Sandwich Times It’s hard to believe that 3 months have gone by since the last Edition of The Sandwich Times and we are nearly half way through the year. After a wet, cold Spring we certainly need an abundance of lovely warm sunshine to cheer us all up ! As always the summer months are such a busy time in the Sandwich area - village fairs, school fetes and several big events in Sandwich itself. Le Weekend takes place on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th June followed by the Sandwich Folk & Ale Festival from Ist - 7th July - see p.69. Saturday 3rd August sees the Sandwich Fifties Festival and finally at the end of August, The Sandwich Festival - Friday 23rd to Monday 26th August. Summer seems to go so quickly, so go out and enjoy the long days and the beautiful coast and countryside we are blessed with in East Kent. Hope you all have a great summer and see you in September. PS. Don’t forget Father’s Day on June 16th! 40 4 Contents Fashion 8 Food & Drink 14 Health 32 Gardening 44 Travel 50 Motoring 60 Coffee Break 68 Kids Corner 72 Solutions 81 Education 75 Church & Com. 76 Healthcare 77 Sport & Leisure 78 28 8 Catherine Catherine Russell - Editor 12 8 14 50 32 14 38 50 8
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12 Perfect Summer Pimms The perfect drink to compliment sunny weather. Make sure you eat the Pimm’s soaked berries after Serves: 4 Prep time: 5 mins Barbecued corn on the cob with shallot herb butter Preparation Time: 10 mins Cooking Time: 15-20 mins Ingredients: 100g butter, softened 2 shallots, finely grated 20g fresh herbs - a mix of parsley,chives, with just a little rosemary. salt and freshly ground black pepper 6 corn on the cob Method: Add the soft butter to a bowl (if it’s too hard, 20 seconds in the microwave should soften it just enough). Stir through the grated shallot and herbs and season well with salt and pepper. If you are making the butter ahead to use later then place it onto a sheet of clingfilm. Roll into a sausage shape then chill in the fridge. When you are ready to cook the corn take a little of this butter, a scant teaspoon, and rub all over a head of corn using clean hands. Repeat with the remaining corn. Reserve the rest of the butter for after cooking. Lay the buttered corn on the grill bars of the barbecue and cook for about 15 minutes, turning frequently, until they are lightly charred in places and the corn is tender. Serve immediately with the rest of the butter dotted on top. Go Al fresco Super easy side dish making the most of summer sweetcorn, with a useful make ahead flavoured butter. This butter also works well with baked or new potatoes, or on top of a barbecued steak. Ingredients: 600ml Lemonade 200ml Pimms strawberries and raspberries Orange, Cucumber, Mint and Ice to serve Method: Combine the Pimm’s and Lemonade in a large jug and stir well. Chop the fruit, cucumber and mint and add to the jug along with the ice. Stir again and serve. Make the most of the weather and enjoy dining in the great outdoors with friends and family.
13 Preparation time: 15 mins Cooking time: 8-10 mins Serves: 4 Ingredients 1 (400g) pack lean lamb mince 1 small onion, chopped 1 garlic clove, crushed 2 tsp ground cumin 1 (85g) bag watercress, finely chopped 1 each red and yellow pepper, cored and deseeded 2 courgettes 1 tbsp olive oil Yogurt sauce: 150ml natural Greek yogurt 1 clove garlic, crushed 50g (2oz) watercress, roughly chopped To serve: pitta bread or other flat bread Method: Place the mince, onion, watercress and cumin in a large bowl with plenty of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Mix together thoroughly. Divide the mixture into 8 then use wet hands to shape each piece into a small thin pattie. Cut each pepper into 8 wedges and thickly slice the courgettes, place in a bowl season add the oil and toss well. Make the yogurt sauce by mixing all the ingredients together with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to a small bowl. Cook the burgers and vegetables over hot barbecue coals or under a hot grill for 8-10 minutes, turning once until the burgers are cooked through, with no sign of pink juices and the vegetables are char grilled. Serve with the yogurt sauce and flat breads. Fat: 15.8g Saturated Fat: 6.5g Carbohydrate: 9g Protein: 26.4g Fibre: 2.6g Salt: 0.31g www.lovewatercress.co.uk; www.berryworld.com; www.ukshallot.com Barbequed Lamb and Watercress Burgers with Chargrilled Veg These flavour packed burgers will be the talk of your BBQ. The addition of watercress also makes them packed with goodness too.
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20 School holidays are just around the corner. Can you hear the collective panic from working parents everywhere? While our kids look forward to a long summer break, for us parents it can prove a logistical nightmare. What we need are practical ideas and solutions. Start with how much of the holiday you can cover yourself. Will your family holiday take care of a fortnight? Some parents juggle childcare between them. Parent one covers two weeks then parent two covers two weeks, leaving just two weeks to find extra cover. However, it may not be desirable to split your holidays, nor even practical if you are a single parent. What about Grandparents? While some love to help out, others may still be working themselves, or may be too frail, or far away to help. Perhaps you can share childcare with another relative or a friend. Are there other working parents at your child’s school with similar problems? WhatsApp groups were invented for a reason. Maybe you can join forces. Could you work from home during the all or part of the school holidays? If you think this may be possible, discuss the idea with your boss. It’s best to draw up a plan detailing which aspects of your work could reasonably be completed remotely. You may get a positive response because if you’re not taking a holiday, they won’t have to find cover. Even if you can piece together using some holiday, working from home, and sharing care with friends and family, you’ll probably still be left with some time to cover. Now is the time to investigate paid-childcare options. If you have a pre-schooler at nursery, check whether it offers holiday care for older siblings. Schools and after-school clubs often run holiday schemes too. The advantage of these is that they are subsidised by the Government, so are less expensive than private options. The disadvantage is that they fill up fast, so book early. They are often advertised first in school newsletters and few people actually read newsletters, so you can get ahead of the game here! If you can afford them, there are some terrific holiday clubs on offer. Some specialise in sport, others in a variety of outdoor activities - including kayaking and rock-climbing. There are drama, music, art, and crafts clubs and even clubs teaching circus skills. Check what your local area has to offer. Always check supervision levels, training certificates, health and safety information and any Ofsted reports. Try to speak with the group leaders so you get a feel for what they are like and whether your child will take to them. School holidays are never easy if you work, but a little forward planning will relieve some of the stress. Remember though, that even the best laid plans can be derailed. Previous years here have involved a broken leg (son), appendicitis (me) and one year both kids contracting chicken pox the day after breaking up! Happy school hols! By Sarah Davey The Holiday Childcare Dilemma
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28 Car boot sales are a quintessential British tradition where unpredictable British weather meets an equally unpredictable array of goods for sale. You can haggle over the price of a teapot with a missing lid at one stall and buy a questionable painting that may be a lost masterpiece (spoiler: it's not) at another. Jesting aside, if you're up for a bit of work, a car boot sale is a great opportunity to clear out your attic, shed, or spare room while making some cash and enjoying the fresh air. Begin with a Clear Out: Sort through your items. Anything from vintage clothing to old records, books, toys, and kitchen gadgets can find a new home. Remember, one person's trash is another's treasure. Price to Sell: Be realistic about pricing. Boot sale buyers are looking for bargains. A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself what you’d be willing to pay. Label items clearly. Presentation is Key: A well-organized stall can make a world of difference to how much you earn. Arrange items so they’re easy to browse. Group similar items together and make sure everything is clean. A little bit of preparation can significantly increase your sales. Be Prepared: Bring plenty of change and bags for your customers. Arrive early to get a good spot. A folding table and chair, a flask of coffee and a sandwich can also make your day more comfortable. Perfect Your Pitch: Friendly banter and a smile will attract more buyers. Be ready to haggle…it’s an art. The seller starts with a price, the buyer counters with an offer so ridiculously low it's actually insulting, and eventually, you meet somewhere in the middle, each convinced you've outsmarted the other. Just remember that if YOU'RE the one decluttering and selling, the object of the exercise is to get rid of everything, not take it all back home with you for the sake of a few pence! And it's not just about the buying and selling. Car boot sales are essentially a social event, places where you overhear phrases like, "Remember when we nearly set the house on fire with this fondue set?"* or "Do you think anyone will notice this shoe is missing a heel?" * As the day ends, you head back to your car, hopefully cutter-free and cash-rich if you're a seller, or arms laden with goodies if you were a treasure seeker. And if you're lucky you might overhear a puzzled wife say to her husband, "Why did you buy a unicycle when you can barely ride a bike without stabilisers..." ** Whether you are looking to declutter or in search of a bargain, the car boot sale is great British tradition so check out a local one this month. There may or may not be a woman surreptitiously selling a unicycle. *** By Gemma Brown *Actual overheard snippets of conversation from other sellers when we held a car boot sale last year! **I may or may not have been that puzzled wife. ***That woman may or may not be me... Let the car boot sale season begin
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30 The trouble with buying from abroad The way we shop has changed dramatically over the last few years. While there are many advantages to online shops, like cheaper items, lots of choice, convenience and comparison sites, there are a couple of pretty major flaws. My biggest concern is the proliferation of fraudsters. But coming up a close second is the quality of goods and services offered by the retailers – and your rights if you want to return or cancel things you’ve bought. This becomes a major problem if the retailer is based abroad. I love a bit of international shopping, so fear not, this isn’t a xenophobic column! But it’s really important to be aware of the risks when buying from abroad. Here’s my guide. Fake UK firms Over the last year, I’ve been flooded with enquiries from readers who have bought everything from wedding dresses to vacuums from websites with ‘UK’ in the brand name and in the URL address. However, when they attempt to return an item, they discover the shop isn’t UK-based and returning the goods will be very expensive. It’s quite hard to spot which businesses are non -UK based. The simplest method is to check both the ‘contact us’ page and the ‘returns and refunds’ guide, which should give you a clue as to whether the retailer actually has a UK address. If you’re invited to email to arrange a refund, that’s a big clue that the business might be based abroad. Other things to watch for are shops advertising on social media that price up goods in your online basket in different currencies, whopping delivery costs at checkout and suspiciously long delivery timescales. Businesses based abroad Some of the biggest retailers in the world, like Shein, are based in China. Others, like Temu, are a little opaque about where goods are shipping from. There’s nothing wrong with this, of course, but it’s vital to do your research before placing an order. I recently found cancelling an order I’d made to a major China-based business was complicated because I couldn’t do this using their ‘live chat’ until the item had been dispatched – which could have left me with return delivery charges. This matters because when you buy most goods or services online, you usually have a 14 day ‘right to cancel’ period if you change your mind under the Consumer Contract Regulations. I suspect some businesses make it hard to contact them to invoke these rights so it’s harder to return things. If in doubt, use social media to say you’re returning goods to stop the clock ticking. Online marketplaces Online marketplaces aren’t strictly retailers. They are more of a conduit between buyer and seller. This shouldn’t be an issue, after all, some of the world’s biggest brands have similar business models. It does becomes a problem if you want to make a complaint. That’s because laws like the Consumer Rights Act - which give us our shopping and refund rights – mainly apply to UK based businesses that you buy direct from. Using a third-party marketplace leaves you at the mercy of the businesses own buyer dispute policies and the only right of appeal if that doesn’t work is the courts. However, I’m assured that our UK laws apply to businesses trading in the UK, though disputes can be much harder to sort out. Returns Which brings us to returns. I’ve dealt with some shocking service from firms recently who are making it difficult to return goods to get refunds. Some simply don’t provide details on where to return items in an attempt to ‘time out’ your 14- day return rights. Others stick addresses on parcels that aren’t the official return address on the website. You’ll need to follow the website instructions to return an item. Photo the parcel with the correct address on it, screenshot the online instructions and save emails and records. Martyn James is a leading consumer rights campaigner, TV and radio broadcaster and journalist. Consumer Rights
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40 Summer term is here and school children all over the country are gearing up for the annual test of strength, stamina and dexterity otherwise known as School Sports Day. There's nothing quite like it: sunburn, squabbles, sprained ankles, and a distinct lack of sportsmanship...and that's just the parents. Children learn by watching those around them, especially their parents, so it is important to model good sports day etiquette. Accusing Johnny of cheating in the sack race is not good form, even if you did see him shove Suria out of the way. Remember that we are there as spectators; let the teachers deal with the kids. Cheer but try not to be 'that' parent', barking instructions from the sideline. Just because we came first (or last) in every race at school, doesn’t necessarily mean that our child will do the same. And if she comes last in the egg and spoon race but doesn’t drop her egg, we can always praise her fantastic sense of balance. Reframing a situation in a more positive light helps build resilience. It teaches her that, while we cannot control all life events, we can control our emotional responses and reactions. At the same time, we should embrace the competition element. Competition is a necessary part of life so exposing children to it at a young age helps prepare them for life. Competitive sport can build a positive ethos and highlights the importance of playing by the rules and working as a team. Sports Day is an opportunity for us to show children how to accept both victory and defeat with grace. Learning how to manage emotions in both situations will benefit them in their personal or professional lives. Teach them to refrain from petulant behaviour such as badmouthing the winner or denouncing a race as 'stupid' or 'unfair'. Instead, practice good sports etiquette by congratulating the victors with a ‘Well done’ and a genuine smile. And while they should be encouraged to take pride in their accomplishments, over-thetop displays of celebration can make them seem insensitive and arrogant. They should say thank you to everyone who congratulates them and acknowledge the efforts of their teammates. Sports Day is an ideal opportunity for children to learn to work together as a team. We can encourage our child to cheer on their teammates and enjoy being part of a group with a common goal. It is important not to berate those children who are slower or less co-ordinated than others. It is certainly not acceptable sportsmanship to single anyone out as a scapegoat for the team not winning. If approached in the right way, events like Sports Day build qualities such as respect, resilience, and perseverance. When our child gets back up can carries on after falling over in the sack race, or thanks their team members after winning the relay race, they are developing the building blocks for a successful future. By Bev Stone Lessons learned from a school sports day.
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42 Choosing the right suntan lotion and applying it correctly are key to sun safety. Sunscreen helps prevent painful sunburns and protects against long-term damage caused by harmful UV rays. Look for a broad-spectrum sunscreen that protects against both UVA and UVB rays. Opt for a minimum sun protection factor (SPF) of 30. Additionally, consider sunscreens that are water-resistant, especially if you plan to swim or engage in water activities. Sunscreens with physical blockers like zinc oxide or titanium dioxide provide an added layer of protection. Apply sunscreen generously to all exposed areas of skin, including the face, neck, ears, arms, and legs. Don't forget often-missed areas like the back of the neck, tops of the feet, and ears. Pay attention to the lips and use a lip balm with SPF. Apply sunscreen at least 15-30 minutes before going outside to allow it to fully absorb into the skin. For an average sized body aim to use the equivalent of a full shot glass of lotion. Remember to reapply sunscreen every two hours, or more frequently if you are sweating or swimming. Even water-resistant sunscreens will wash off and become less effective over time, so be diligent about reapplication. Set reminders or use a timer to ensure you don't forget to reapply, especially during extended periods of sun exposure. Consider using UV protective clothing for added sun safety. These garments are specifically designed to block harmful UV rays and provide an extra layer of defence. Look for clothing with a UPF (Ultraviolet Protection Factor) rating. The higher the UPF rating, the better the protection. Widebrimmed hats, sunglasses with UV protection, and UV-blocking swimwear are also excellent additions to your sun safety arsenal. Whenever possible, seek shade during the peak sun hours between 10 am and 4 pm when UV rays are the strongest. If you need to be outside during these hours, use extra caution and ensure you have proper sun protection in place. Plan outdoor activities for the early morning or late afternoon. Stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water. Prioritizing sun safety ensures that you can enjoy the outdoors while keeping your skin healthy and protected. By Tom Hancock Best practice for maximum protection
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44 Butterflies love heavily-scented flowers, so plant Sedum spectabile and Verbena bonariensis to attract them into your garden. Nectar-rich plants such as cowslip (Primula veris), bugle (Ajuga reptans), lavender and honesty flowers will also encourage them in. Many good nectar plants are hardy, perennial and easy to grow. Grow flowers in sunny, sheltered areas, as butterflies will seek out the warmest parts of your garden. Create shelter for butterflies by planting shrubs and small trees such as common honeysuckle around the edges of your plot, but make sure your flower beds remain in full sunlight. Keep a good variety of flowers which are available from early spring to autumn in your garden. Plants such as Buddleia davidii 'Harlequin' will give butterflies the fuel they need to keep them airborne. Early flowers are great for butterflies just emerging from hibernation, such as aubrieta, bluebell, clover, forget-me-not, pansy, primrose and wallflower. In late summer and autumn some species need to build up their reserves in preparation for winter, so benefit from late-summer bloomers including buddleia, sedum, ivy, Michaelmas daisy, mint, scabious and thyme. Creating a wild area within your garden can encourage butterfly species to breed. Simply allow grasses and wild flowers which are already there to grow, or supplement them with extra plants. In the first year of growing the wild area, cut it several times to allow the wild flowers a chance against other competitive grasses. Top tips to help attract butterflies to your garden. Make your garden flutter For more information visit www.butterfly-conservation.org
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46 These easy-to-grow climbers are at home in borders, weaving their way up wigwams and obelisks or scrambling through shrubs, or in the vegetable garden grown with green beans, encouraging pollinating insects to the area which will in turn create a better crop. "The key to every sweet pea is the size of its root. The longer you can allow the roots to grow, the better blooms you will have during the summer," says Lady Ursula Cholmeley, owner and manager of Easton Walled Gardens in Lincolnshire, which raises hundreds of sweet pea plants from seed in the greenhouses. Gardeners whose sweet peas are looking weak and wishy-washy should boost them with a foliar feed which you can attach to your garden hose or dilute with water in a watering can. A feed such as Growmore is ideal, she says. "However, if you've prepared the soil well beforehand, adding plenty of organic matter, you shouldn't need to feed them," she notes. You can sow them twice a year, once in late autumn and again in spring, to ensure a succession of blooms throughout the summer. Autumn-sown plants flower in early summer, spring-sown varieties later on in the summer. Sow sweet peas in autumn in a cool greenhouse or cold frame in regular potting compost. Once the seedlings start to grow they need to be kept as small as possible, so avoid giving them any warmth. They can be planted out in spring, from March onwards, in a sunny position and will withstand light frost but not a more severe frost, so keep a check on weather forecasts and protect them with horticultural fleece if a harsh frost is predicted. Spring-sown varieties can be sown directly into the ground and should flower later on in the summer. All sweet peas need to be staked and many gardeners use wigwams or other supports to show them to their best. However, the plants can only cling to narrow supports, says Cholmeley. "Sweet peas cannot climb up bamboo because it's too wide for their tendrils, so you need to put netting around a wigwam. They need full sun to develop their scent. "There are various theories that if you cut off the tendrils and tie them in, all the energy will be going into flowering and leaf production. Some growers restrict the plants to one stem, which will give them less blooms, but much bigger flowers." If scent is your main priority, good varieties include 'Matucana', a deep purple and maroon variety, and 'Painted Lady', an attractive pink and white bi-colour from the 18th century. Among Cholmeley's favourites is 'Promise', which is pink and white, and the deep red 'Winston Churchill'. Don't plant them with anything which is going to compete for nutrients, she advises. Good plant partners include annuals such as Gilia tricolor, Iceland poppies or salvias, or perennials including alchemilla and catmint. Avoid placing them next to crocosmias, which carry a virus that will spread to the sweet peas causing yellow mottling on the plants. Of course, the more you cut sweet peas, the more they will flower. Never let them go to seed or that sends a message to the plant that flowering is over. Don't try to arrange them neatly in a vase - it's nigh on impossible - just bunch the cut blooms together and let them go their own way. They may only last a couple of days but the scent will permeate your rooms. Many gardeners report little black beetles (pollen beetles) in the flowers, which puts them off cutting them for indoors. "If you have this problem, when you pick them put them into a dark place with one light source (they are attracted to light), then they will head towards that light source and you can take the flowers into the house." The beetles are also attracted to yellow flowers, so consider growing a 'sacrifice plant' such as a hypericum with large, bright yellow flowers, next to the sweet peas. So if you haven't yet had a go with sweet peas, buy a packet of seeds and start this autumn - and by next summer you should be enjoying the sweet smell of success. For more information go to www.eastonwalledgardens.co.uk Sweet Peas The colours and delicious scent of the sweet pea have made this popular annual as synonymous with the summer cottage garden as the English rose.
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48 Whether you want big, bold, brazen blooms or more delicate, subtle flowers, there is a clematis for you and every garden should have at least one but preferably more. They can be grown up walls and trellises or through shrubs, adding colour and interest to evergreens and providing perfect plant partners to roses. Choose more than one variety and you can have colour throughout spring, summer and autumn. Most are easy to grow. When buying, make sure you choose your variety carefully, checking how vigorous the plant is and how tall it is likely to grow. If you want a clematis on your patio, consider a type suitable for a pot and if in doubt, ask at your garden centre. When planting, make the hole twice the diameter of the container the plant came in and plant it at least 5cm deeper than the top of the rootball, soaking the plant well beforehand and filling around the rootball with compost when planting. There are clematis for every situation. Some thrive in sun, others in shade but most like to have cool roots so if your plant is in sun, put some crocks, broken tiles or pebbles around the soil surface to protect it from the heat of the sun. Things to do this month... While summer cabbage remains one of the cheaper veg to buy in the shops at this time of year, it's far tastier when you grow it yourself and harvesting should begin around now, when the heads are firm and before caterpillars and mealy aphid attack the leaves. Cabbages are greedy feeders, so they need to be planted in soil which has been previously enriched with plenty of organic matter, and they prefer a slightly alkaline soil. For the earliest crop, sow quick-maturing varieties in pots in February, keep them in an unheated greenhouse or other sheltered spot and water regularly. Plant them out in April or May, when they are around 12cm tall, with at least four leaves. Water the pots or seedbed well and plant the seedlings so that the base of the first pair of leaves sits on the soil surface, then water in. Cover newly planted cabbages with fleece or fine netting to stop flies and other pests invading your crops. When the cabbage is ready for harvesting, cut off the head leaving as much stalk as possible. Then make an X-shaped cut across the cut end and about 1.5cm deep. Sprinkle a nitrogen fertiliser on the plant and after about six weeks four small heads should have formed from the old stalk. Good early cabbages include 'Derby Day', 'Hispi' and 'Golden Acre Primo'. Give extra water to plants growing at the base of walls where the soil cam be very dry, despite rain. Cut down early flowering perennials such as delphiniums and nepeta to tidy them up and encourage a second flush of blooms later in the year. Dig out or spot-treat individual weeds such as dandelions. Cut back large and overgrown Clematis montana after flowering, to encourage new growth. Sow quick-maturing annuals such as clarkia, candytuft and cornflower to fill in any gaps in your border. Continue to plant out runner or dwarf French beans raised in pots, or sow directly outside for a later crop. Lift and dry Japanese onions. Water early potatoes once a week to ensure good yields. Plant out, water and feed outdoor tomatoes, peppers and aubergines. Select strong, healthy strawberry runners for propagation. Give outdoor tomatoes a mulch of manure or compost over the roots. Propagate African violets, begonias and streptocarpus by taking leaf cuttings. Summer Cabbage Good enough to eat... Best of the bunch... Clematis Three ways to… Select a greenhouse 1. Check that any timbers which might be used in the construction have been treated, to retain their colour and increase longevity. 2. Size matters. The minimum size for easy gardening should be around 1.4m x 1.8m (8 x 6ft). 3. If you have children, it may be worth paying extra for toughened safety glass.
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