Wordless Wednesday
Category: Nature
Ranscombe Farm Touring Exhibition
What does Ranscombe Farm Reserve mean to you? was a postcard competition organised by Plantlife, an organisation that protects wild plants and wildlife at Ranscombe Farm Nature Reserve, in partnership with Medway Council, as part of a Heritage Lottery project to continue Plantlife’s on-going education and outreach work engaging and involving local people in it’s wildllfe, landscape and heritage.
Launched in April this year, participants were asked to design a postcard-sized piece of art that illustrated what Ranscombe meant to them. Plantlife were looking for entries that were exciting and original showcasing Ranscombe’s wild flowers, landscape and history. There was an opportunity to win one of 15 prizes to be awarded across four age categories from young children to adults. In addition, the winners’ artwork has been printed as real picture-postcards.
To inspire local people, a series of free creative workshops were organised, run by professional artists at Ranscombe Farm Reserve, and free nature-inspired workshops were also offered to schools across Medway, with a handful of schools taking up the offer. Children created nature-inspired mono-printed flags and designed their own flowers.
The competition closed at the end of July with the final winning entries selected by three judges. The winners attended an awards ceremony on Sunday 1 September, as part of Plantlife’s Woodland Open Day with The Worshipful The Mayor of Medway Councillor Josie Iles as the guest of honour.
To celebrate this competition, an exhibition of the final winning artwork can still be seen in the following libraries across Medway:
· Cuxton Library – now until Tuesday 12th November
· Luton Library – Tuesday 12th November – Saturday 23rd November
· Rochester Library – Monday 25th November – Saturday 14th December
You can also find out much more about the work of Plantlife and Ranscombe Farm Reserve with various information leaflets available as well as the opportunity to take home a postcard pack of the winners’ artwork (while stocks last!).
For further information please contact Plantlife on:
Telephone: 01634 292062
www.plantlife.org.uk/ranscombe
Twitter @Ranscombe_Farm
Medway: Brilliant or crap?
Freelance journalist, Sam Jordison, has just released details of his latest book, Crap Towns, a tongue in cheek look at Britain’s urban sprawls. I don’t know how you nominated which town should be included but some Medway folk decided that our town* deserved a spot inside the covers.
Now don’t get me wrong, I know Medway isn’t perfect but find me a town in Britain that is. With the exception of the idyllic one road villages scattered across the country (and look closer, you’re sure to find even they have their less desirable spots) every town will have the same issues as anywhere in Medway – the late night revellers and other social concerns. The difference in Medway is the amount of people doing positive things to give the local community a reason to be proud. And yes, while there’s a nice line in self deprecating humour “If Kent is the garden of England, Medway is its compost heap” and we’re happy to take the piss out of ourselves, we’ll jump to the defence of our patch. There’s a huge number of individuals and groups working to make Medway a better place and it’s frustrating when some residents clearly can’t be bothered to find out about them.
No-one likes councils, it’s just a fact of life – doesn’t matter who’s in charge; But – free festivals abound for Medway’s residents, beginning with the Chinese New Year celebration in February and moving through the summer with the English Festival; Sweeps; Dickens; Fuse; Armed Forces Day; River Festival; Under Siege; Medieval Merriment; Will Adams, and then in December, we have the Dickensian Christmas. And they’re packed, not just with locals enjoying them but also bringing in people from outside the area to spend their cash in our local businesses.
If live music is what you want, we have Homespun, ME1, TEA Concerts, Medway Eyes, Motherboy Noise, Suburban Kings, Manny’s Music and more, holding festivals and free gigs night after night in local pubs and clubs. Phil Dillon of Medway Eyes is a major fan and supporter – check out his Flickr stream.
We’re rich in art and culture activities, and having a local consortium recently awarded Creative People and Places funding, this is only going to increase, with more people engaging the community in arts activities. Aligned to those already doing it – Rochester Literature Festival, LV21 and Creatabot to name but three – ongoing exhibits throughout the year at our galleries and other, more unusual spaces, and you’ll be tripping over arts activity from the moment you cross your doorstep. Assuming, of course, that you’re one of those positive residents who can actually be bothered to seek out them out. What’s on guides (both council and privately funded, such as WOW magazine) can be readily picked up or received through your letter box. Search on line for what’s going on in Medway and you’ll be inundated with results.
Heritage: Absolutely no excuse to not know about our history with the RE Museum; Historic Dockyard, Fort Amherst, Medway Archive Centre, the Guildhall Museum and Medway Libraries activities. Plus, it’s all around you, living history in the walls of the castle, cathedral and other ancient buildings.
Sport and hobbies: Loads of sports clubs encourage all ages to get involved, from badminton or sailing. Want something less strenuous? How about archaeology or Viking re – enactment?
Residents’ Associations: The community folks who, with or without funding, work tirelessly to make their area better: South Shore RA; Chatham Big Local; All Saints Community; DNA; White Road Group.
Parks and open spaces: Our landscapes are lovely, with Riverside, Ranscombe, The Vines, Victoria Gardens, Broomhill Park and so many more, most with ‘Friends of’ groups looking after them. Initiatives like Full Frontal Gardens have brought colour and nature to brick and concrete streets.
All the above mentioned are a mere snapshot of what can be found happening in Medway. Whatever your hobby, interest or work, you’ll find others like you and the means by which to meet them and share your enthusiasm. Many community activities are free, so why waste time and energy being negative? Embrace what’s on offer to enrich your life.
*Medway isn’t actually a town. It’s a river, upon which sit the five areas that make up the Medway Towns: Rainham, Gillingham, Chatham, Strood and the City of Rochester – we don’t recognize admin errors.
Artists in the Woods: Gunpowder Works, Oare
Top 10 Tree Tunnels of the World
These are beautiful – and two in good ol’ Blighty!
Discussions on the Urban Fringe
Finding an interesting hashtag on Twitter is usually a short term piece of fun (e.g #MedwayFilms: Naked Gun Wharf; Nightmare on Elm Court etc). However, the #urbanfringe hashtag not only introduced me to artists Jo Roberts and Stephen Turner (interviewed here) but offered the opportunity to attend the Urban Fringe seminar and find out more about the project overall.
Since I’ve covered Jo and Stephen’s personal journeys already, my focus during the event, held at UCA Rochester, was on the film Recorded Delivery, and the thoughts behind it of makers Simon Barker and Nayan Kulkarni, the other artists commissioned by the Kent Architecture Centre for the project.
The split screen narrative drew together two very different communities within a short distance of one another: Medway Gate, a fairly new housing development which ‘ticked all the boxes’ for new developments, and the Medway Bridge Marina – which, incidentally, I also recently visited – an established boat yard, in which local business owner, John Reynolds, opened up a cafe and social space.
Exploring the area, Simon and Nayan encountered the urban mythologies of the space: rabbit heads adorn gateways at the entrance to Medway Bridge, underpinned by stories of white witches and lost children. The film followed the journey of a trolley, laden with a guitar, from Medway Gate to the marina, where the music loving community used it to share their songs. Simon and Nayan ingratiated themselves sufficiently to be invited to film the community at play (their Halloween party) with the film makers largely ignored but sometimes posed for.
Sadly, the Medway Gate community was harder to crack, since the artists were unable to meet many of them – short of knocking on doors (not desirable) very few hung around the streets. Simon advised: “Residents complained because the developers never built the social spaces that they promised.” He and Nayan would love to replace the trolley with a boat they build in the marina – relational architecture – which they can drag to Medway Gate instead and use it to create the missing social space. Simon lamented that the inhabitants have to drive out of the area just to buy paracetamol, or a Sunday paper – a boat in situ could provide that. The first connection between the marina and Medway Gate would be firmly established, and a re-shoot of Recorded Delivery undertaken.
Stephen’s ‘Environmental Solutions’ – the fragrant waters and essential oils of Eau de Bordure (Eau de Fringe) – have their own brand: Janus, the god who faces two ways, showing the interaction between human kind and nature, which took on a pertinent edge when he quoted housing minister, Nick Boles: “We’re going to protect the greenbelt but … sometimes buildings are better”. This Jo reinforced with a discussion about whether the urban fringes and greenbelt have to be pretty to be valuable. Ominously, on that evening’s Newsnight, Boles said there’s a “huge amount of room to build houses over England.” Does he mean brownfield sites, or is he suggesting concreting England’s green and pleasant land?
Introduced by KAC’s Chris Lamb, the seminar provided a discussion board for on how to develop living space. He quoted renowned architect, Sir Terry Farrell, who said “the place is the client” in development and planning. “It’s drawing out the DNA of a place” continued Chris. “If people understand what’s unique about places where they live then they may engage more with the planning process.”
Ultimately, a space depends on its people belonging to the community. In the case of Medway Bridge Marina, the community was already there; the social space developed because of them. Just building a social space in a new housing development is unlikely to work. You need a catalyst, a resident ‘doer’ who’ll organise and cajole their neighbours to do stuff. (Think of those neighbours without whom no street parties would’ve taken place this year.) And that takes time the planners and developers seem unable to allow for – unless, do that many new developments need building? Aren’t there enough boarded up streets in England, just waiting to be reclaimed? Shouldn’t those existing spaces with established communities be renovated and restored first?
Vandalism and anti-social behaviour in those places can be tackled – we’ve community doers in Medway actioning change right now, with the help of schemes like Big Local. If new developments are to take place, we can only hope the planners do as the Urban Fringe project suggests: See the area, feel the area, engage the existing communities within its borders and shape it to fit.
To read the best of what’s happening in arts, culture, architecture and more nationally, the BBC’s The Culture Show link is here.
Double success for Doddington in South and South East In Bloom Awards
Faversham, Sittingbourne and Doddington are all celebrating following the South and South East in Bloom Awards.
The Doddington churchyard volunteers, winners of the Chairman’s Award at South and South East in Bloom. (Photo courtesy of David Shaw)
David Shaw, from Doddington’s In Bloom group, was thrilled with the results overall but particularly with the Chairman’s recognition for the Churchyard Management Group of St. John the Baptist village church, who maintain the churchyard for the benefit of the wildlife. He told me: “We were gobsmacked, we weren’t expecting it at all – these awards are the Oscars of the gardening world and the Chairman’s Award is the most prestigious of the lot.”
David, who attended the ceremony in Hampshire with his wife, Sallie, continued: “It isn’t just gardening enthusiasts who benefit and take joy from the gardens, there’s a lot of community input to improve the local area, working with housing tenants and others.”
The Chairman, Peter Holman, described the churchyard as “an absolutely outstanding example of wildlife management for the benefit of wildlife and the community.” Entries from across the South and South East in Bloom area from Dorset to Kent are eligible for this award so it’s a wonderful achievement for all concerned. The ‘stunned’ volunteers were presented with award whilst carrying out their autumn tidy and this is now on display in the church.
Doddington also won a Silver Award and was named Best Village, with the judges saying: “The sense of community is very strong here with an evident pride in the village. The activities to date have made a major contribution to the appearance of the village and the various activities and events all make for a high level of social cohesion. It’s good to see how district and parish work together for the benefit of the community. Clean, well-managed and maintained by the community, this village and its residents are proud of their place. There is virtually no evidence of litter, graffiti or dog fouling and the style of the traffic calming measures is testimony to the Traffic Calming Group who has masterminded these will planted schemes.”
Faversham retained its Silver Gilt while Sittingbourne was awarded a Silver.
There will be more cause for celebration in Faversham on October 10th, when the Abbey Physic Community Garden will be proclaimed Community Garden of the Year in the Wildlife Garden Awards. The ceremony will take place in the garden itself, at 11am.
The Abbey Physic Community Garden, Faversham Off a footpath that runs past the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, the garden is viewed here from its entrance gate. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A charity which aims to develop a community based, working environment for the people of Kent to enjoy, the garden is set in the heart of Faversham, offering a unique opportunity to establish a tranquil, health-giving, environment enabling people from all areas of society to come together. It’s situated in a beautiful, walled, wild-life friendly and organically managed space, with the emphasis on the therapeutic benefits of horticultural activities. A wide range of spray-free vegetables, fruit, plants and flowers are for sale to visitors in return for donations. Initially funded, this wonderful garden is now self sufficient.
Recycle your phone to the Aspinall Foundation! Please. If you don’t mind.
Did you know, 100 million mobile phones are thrown away each year!! And, because they and other techy toys are manufactured using a metallic ore called Coltan, a wonderful primate called the Drill is in imminent danger of extinction.
Coltan is mined from areas the Drill (I know, ironic much?) lives in – western Cameroon, Bioko Island, southeastern Nigeria – and the bigger the demand for mobile phones etc, the bigger the danger to the Drills habitat. The mining companies open up large areas of Primary forest to travel to the ore to mine it and the Drill is suffering the consequences. Like being hunted isn’t enough.
Yes, he's sad - he and his cousins are losing their homes ...
So how can you help? Well, by recycling your phone to the Aspinall Foundation, the components inside can be re-used, decreasing the need to mine more from precious habitats. And by doing this, Aspinall’s will also receive vital funds which is then put directly towards the conservation of species like the Drill.
They're not happy about it either ...
There are still two weeks of school holidays left, why not take the opportunity to visit Port Lympne or Howletts and see at first hand the wonderful work they’re doing.
... and all you have to do is send your old phone to Aspinalls - simples!
Jaye Nolan 