EXTRACTS FROM
BI-MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
No 151 December 2009 and January 2010.
Click on any heading to go to that section:
| SOCIETY EVENTS | FRIENDS OF ST. LEONARDS CHURCH | TOWN AND AROUND |
| PLANNING MATTERS | SOCIAL HISTORY | TAILPIECES |
Tuesday 8th December
at 7.30 is the date of our Christmas Open Evening for a talk on a topical
subject and a display of photographs of Hythe “in transition”. Coffee and mince
pies will be served. PLEASE NOTE THIS WILL BE AT THE UNITED REFORMED CHURCH.
Our Winter evening talks resume on
12th January
(at the Hythe Bay C of E Primary
School) with a talk by Terry Whiting on the “History & Conservation of Westenhanger Castle & Medieval Barns”. On
26th January
Norman Hopkins will speak
about “The Huguenots in Kent”
The Society’s Lunch
on 24th October was a most pleasant occasion with superb
food by Margaret King followed by a most interesting talk by our patron, The
Lord Boyce, on the early part of his career in the Royal Navy as a submariner.
His graphic description of the hard and inherently dangerous life that this
entailed stimulated many questions from the audience which he answered with
enthusiasm.
Many thanks to Doug for his thorough organisation of this event!
HCS Awards Your committee has decided to recognise the contributions to our
townscape of the Hythe Cricket Club and the Hythe Tennis Club by, respectively,
re-building and extending their clubhouses near the canal so sympathetically.
They will each be presented with our plaque at the next A.G.M. on 11th May 2010.
It has also been decided, with the owner’s generous consent, and at her
suggestion, to affix one of our
Blue Plaques
to the wall of 28, North Road, to
commemorate the Gold Medal won by Don Thompson at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games in
the 50km walk. Don was Britain’s only athletics gold medallist at those games
and only the second since WW2. His career continued for more than 40 years after
his triumph in Rome and in his prime he simply had no peers in Britain. For
eight straight years, he won the prestigious London-Brighton Walk and the record
he set in 1957, of seven hours, 35 minutes and 12 seconds, was still intact when
the event held its final race in 2003. In 1991 he made another small slice of
history when - at the age of 58 years and 89 days - he became the oldest athlete
ever to represent Britain, competing in a 200km (!) event in France. He also
turned to marathon running and completed more than 150 such races, with a
personal best of 2 hours 51 minutes. He was devoted to athletics, rising daily
at 4am even in his seventies to walk or run eight miles before starting work as
a self-employed gardener. Recently named as one of Great Britain's 25 most
successful Olympians, he was awarded an MBE in 1970.
Don lived at this address in Hythe for many years before moving to Frimley,
Surrey in early 2006 where he died, aged 73, in October of that year.
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FRIENDS OF ST. LEONARDS CHURCH
The annual and ever-popular
‘Carols for All’
concert will take place on
Saturday
19th December at 7.30pm, when the St Leonard’s Church choirs and the Shepway
Singers will provide a rousing contribution to the festive season. This event
will be followed by mulled wine and mince pies – and a retiring collection!
The first event in the 2010 programme of concerts will be a lunchtime piano
recital given by a young Japanese pianist, Miyuki Kato, on
Thursday 18th February at 12 noon.
Tickets will be available from Brandon’s Music Shop, 55 High Street, Hythe or
can be obtained at the church door (admission free for those under 18 in
full-time education).
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Age Concern
has
Christmas Lunches
on
9th, 14th and 17th December. They will
cost £7.00 each and tickets should be booked in advance. It also has a
Christmas Raffle
for 50 prizes with 5 prizes drawn each weekday for 10 days commencing on Monday
7th December.
The AGAPE Choir, will be giving a Christmas Concert at Hythe Bay C of E Primary
School on
Saturday 12th December at 7.30. They will be supported by the School
Choir and the “Puppets” from Cheriton. All are welcome; admission is free; there
will be a retiring collection for the Uganda charity supported by the school.
Lamp-posts: Many of you will have noticed that a lot of the traditional shaped
lamp-posts in Hythe have been replaced with rather characterless pillars. We
have been in touch with the authorities and EDF, the contractor responsible for
their maintenance, states that a further 14 of the old style lamps are no longer
fit for purpose. Councillor Capon has stated that the remaining older ones
outside the conservation area will be painted green and, next year, when more
funding should be available, he plans to fund replacement of the 14 which have
been condemned with posts in a style as close to the original as possible, also
in green.
Remembrance Sunday in Hythe
seems to become a larger and more important affair
with every passing year. It began after the Great War, and this year for the
first time no one from that War is alive to remember. The serving contingent of
the Small Arms School Corps who led the longer-than-usual march-past was
conspicuous for the display of medals won in current campaigns, and the
threatening weather was no deterrent to the huge crowd.
A propos of both this and Miss Rayner’s article in
NL150, HCS Member, Norman
Dunkley, kindly wrote to us about the Honours Board saying that “The latest good
news is that it is the intention of the Governors of Hythe Bay (CE) Primary
School to mount the memorial board in the school in a permanent location.” He
goes on to comment what a shocking reminder the Board is of the terrible carnage
of the Great War (WW1). It records the names of two teachers and 79 Old Boys who
were killed in action. Even in those days this was a very large loss of life
from one small school and the bravery of these men is well represented by this
Memorial. As an illustration of this Norman has examined army records to tell
the story of one of the fallen:
G4361 PRIVATE W. HOWLAND
6th BATTALION THE BUFFS
(EAST KENT REGIMENT)
KILLED IN ACTION 13th NOVEMBER 1915
William Howland was born in Monks Horton, Kent and joined the Army in Hythe as a
Volunteer in November 1914 aged 18. He was posted to the 6th (Service) Battalion
The Buffs, which was part of 37th Brigade, 12th (Eastern) Division). His
battalion concentrated at Folkestone on the 1st June 1915 and sailed for St Omer
on the 2nd and Private Howland sailed with them thus qualifying for the 1914-15
Star.
In July the 6th Battalion began instruction in trenches at Armentieres and from
there moved to Ploegsteert and took over the front line in Ploegsteert Wood.
On the 26th September the British launched what was to be called the First
Battle of Loos. The 12th Division moved forward and relieved units in Gun Trench
on the night of 30th September. On the night of 2nd October both the Divisional
Commander, Major General Frederick Wing CBN and his ADC, Lieut Christopher Tower
DSO, were killed. On the 13th October the Division, including the 6th Buffs,
launched a fresh attack to renew the offensive called the "Action of the
Hohenzollern Redoubt". After crossing the Start Line the artillery smoke screen,
which was intended to cover their advance, dispersed too quickly and the 6th
Buffs were cut down by concentrated machine-gun fire. The survivors returned to
their trenches leaving 187 of their dead comrades in no-mans land. Private
William Howland was one of these and, as his body was not recovered, his name is
recorded on the Loos Memorial.
During this Battle the 12th Division suffered 117 officers and 3237 men killed
or wounded and the 6th Buffs lost 409, 18 of whom were officers. William’s all
too brief experience of war was typical of countless thousands of his brave
fellow servicemen.
His next of kin were his parents George and Jane Howland who lived at Sunnyside,
West Hythe. George was also born in Monks Horton and worked on his own account
as a carrier and carman; Jane was born in Kingston on Thames, Surrey. William
had an elder sister, Janet, and a younger brother, George.
Most of the over one million allied servicemen who died in WW1 had similarly
short and tragic lives. Perhaps one of our readers can throw further light on
George’s life and family history? – Editor.
Mike Umbers reminds us of these lines by A.E.Hausman:
They braced their belts about them,
They crossed in ships the sea,
They sought and found six feet of ground,
And there they died for me.
The School of Musketry in Military Road
was commemorated, following its demolition in 1973, by a plaque at the entrance
to the Seeboard/Portex building
which replaced the school.
Thanks to the intervention of several concerned members, fearing that it could
be lost or stolen during the impending redevelopment of the site, the plaque is
now in safe custody and will be tidied up and re-erected on completion of the
possible site re-development.
Mr Tim Hogg’s
life has been commemorated with a new bench – funded by HCS and
KCC (through our Member, Chris Capon’s, local amenity fund) - on Marine Parade
just west of The Imperial Hotel. A fitting memorial to a true man of Hythe, he
lived here for most of his professional life, making his home in Palmarsh with
Yvonne and their children, Susan and Cassie.
Tim, who died after short illness in January 2009, was a much respected Head of
Lympne School for 15 years; a School Governor; a Hythe and Shepway Councillor
and Deputy Mayor of Hythe.
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The
Imperial Hotel development project, now reduced to 79 “units” was approved by SDC subject to ensuring that, among other things, the promised hotel re-development takes place in stages in line with the house building. HCS remains concerned that such a large project could be approved for such a beautiful site and wonders whether many of the guests at the envisaged “de luxe” hotel will want rooms with a view such as is now inevitable.click here to go back to the top of the page.
SOCIAL HISTORY
“You’ll Like Hythe!”
is very much the gist of this part of a letter written by a serving officer, G.Follett, from his barracks at Shorncliffe to his mother in
Devon on 21st October 1812:
“This is really a pleasant & delightful quarter, the Barracks are built on the
summit of a high cliffe, the base of which is washed by the sea and from which
the coast of France is plainly discerned by the naked eye. This line of coast is
particularly strong, Martella (sic) Towers being built within about half a
musket shot of each other all along it, and forts, batteries and redoubts being
constructed at certain distances, as well upon the beach itself, as upon the
rising ground which commands it.
The military canal too, which reaches from Hythe to Rye, and which serves to
separate the low ground of Romny (sic) Marsh from the heights adjacent, being
easily defended in every direction adds much to the strength, and also to the
appearance of this part of the country.
I have before said that Shorncliffe was a pleasant quarter (owing to its
vicinity to Sandgate, which was full of company on our arrival), but we were
allowed only a short time to discover or enjoy its beauties, for, the election
for Hythe coming on, and we being thought too near, were ordered together with
the Garrison of Hythe, to march a part to Brabourne, and the remaining part in
which we were included to Ashford.
………………We have had some very tempestous weather lately, and a great part of a
street in Folkestone, a town near this, has been washed away. The wall at
Dimchurch (sic) also, which is a kind of dam or sluice to prevent the sea from
overflowing the marsh, has given way in several places and if the sea continues
in this rough state a great deal of damage is expected to ensue.
Remember me to all at home and believe me ever,
Yours truly, G.Follett
While hearing of storm and tempest let’s turn to
The Great Flood, on New Years
Day, 1877.
It was recorded in the Borough Minutes and Muriel Sharpe made this
copy, sent to us by Tim Lawrence.
“It was high water here about 12 o’clock and at nine o’clock the water was
already up to the Parade and Seabrook walls. The wind was blowing strong from
the South, South-West. The wind increased and at noon was blowing a whole gale.
The sea broke completely over the Parade and the sea beach to the East and West,
the greatest body of water coming over from Sutherland Fort to the Stade and
from the end of the Seabrook wall, 1300 feet from Fort Twiss towards Sandgate.
About 600 feet from the end of this new wall the sea made a complete breach a
full 91 yards wide in the front and 16 feet deep. It also poured over the low
part of the wall immediately West of the Canal outlet at Seabrook. This and the
water from the West side of the Stade soon flooded all the meadows between Hythe
and Sandgate and flowing over the South bank of the canal with great force,
carrying away the footbridge at Ladies Walk and the Carriage Bridge beyond the
Barracks, forcing the water up the old sewers (which still flow into the canal)
into the streets.
The water rose to within 18 inches of the top of the North bank of the canal,
flowing over the roads at the bridges, up Market Street (now Red Lion Sq.) to Mr
Mackeson’s, half way up Bank Street, up Marine Walk Street into the High Street
and through Theatre Street. The sea flowed at its height for about three hours
and the water then went rapidly away.
Among the depths recorded were:
| Mr. Porter’s hose on the Parade | 5ft. 6in. |
| Twiss Fort Houses | 4ft. 6in. |
| Stade St. opp. The Hope Beer House | 5ft. 9in. |
| Stade St. at Windmill St | 4ft. 0in. |
| Bank St. about half way | 2ft. 0in. |
| Nelson’s Head Inn | 1ft. 0in. |
On 30th January it also being high water at about noon another extraordinarily
high tide over-flowed the beach to the West of the Parade and between the
Seabrook wall and Sandgate and again flooded the lands up to the South bank of
the canal but, the sea being very quiet and still, no damage arose from it.
HCS Archives:
We have been exceptionally fortunate in receiving a most interest
collection of photographs from Michael Jack which, among many others things,
demonstrate the extensive changes that Hythe underwent in the 1960’s and 70’s
including the widening of East St., the realignment of Prospect Rd, the
demolition of the Vogue Cinema and the Small Arms School. We are most grateful
to him for this donation and will be showing a selection of them at the
Christmas meeting on 8th December – see above.
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Conservation charity, BTCV is applying to the Heritage Lottery Fund to run a 5 year
Kent Heritage Trees Project. The proposed initiative will help to promote, protect and conserve heritage trees within Kent and they are looking for volunteers. If the grant application is successful, free training, equipment and advice will be given to volunteers. BTCV will also be running a huge variety of community events for people to interpret and celebrate trees in their local landscape; ranging from guided walks, talks, conservation tasks, tree planting events, visits to historic parks, production of heritage tree trails, photographic events, family and childrens activities and much more.
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Treasurer |
Editor |
Membership & NL |
Mrs. Mary Hunter |
Alan Joyce, |
Christopher Melchers |
Mrs. Anne Woodward |
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