Fairtrade convention/Marine Court tasting.
27 February 2008
The nation is currently enjoying a Fairtrade Fortnight, with Dover, under the auspices of the Dover Town Council, aiming to be a significant player not only during the newly established fortnight but long into the future. Fairtrade has improved the lives of millions of people worldwide, so it is vital that we all play our part to keep it going and make the process even better. There is still much to do. But the movement is gathering pace, and your participation counts if we want to make the world a better place.
Restaurants and Cafes in Dover serving Fairtrade food and/or drink are..
The Weigh Inn
La Salle Verte
The Allottment
Dickens Corner
Waves Coffee Shop
Costa Coffee.
Mr Rick Norman, in the picture on the left, gave us a solid induction in the general worthiness, in the facts and in the principles behind Fairtrade and it was most interesting. Rick is the Chairman of the Canterbury Steering Group. In the picture on the right we have leading Cllr David Hannent, who is our Chairman here in Dover.
The picture on the left shows the Reverend Michael Hinton who made a very welcome address on behalf of Christians Together in Dover. In fact it is fair to say that the Fairtrade notion really has much to do with our Christian tradition. On the right we have Jack Williams, sixth former in Dover Grammar School for Boys..who surely will have a career as a politician before him. He made a very thorough speech highlighting the concerns our younger generation have about the unfair and uneven world we are building. Jack is playing a huge part now in making people aware of Fairtrade and recruiting other schools in the town to the cause, after the pioneering Dover Grammar Boys led the way.
Listening intently to the speeches in full flow - in the foreground we have the engaging Cllr Sue Jones who is a member of the steering group. Also in the shot is none other than Cllr Diane Smallwood, she of the famous glasses and glamourous Miami Beach caps, who is strongly rumoured to be scheduled for the role of Mayor next year.
Mr and Mrs Vic Matcham listening closely during the speeches and showing a keen enthusiasm for all things Fairtrade. Then... it was time to let the hair down. Some of the serious stuff was over and the moment had come to sample a quiet wine and a few nibbles, all fairtrade of course. The picture on the right shows very busy bee Nitro Nigel Collor of DDC fame chatting with Diane Smallwood of DTC fame, and a very nice duo they are too.
The picture on the left is of our latest local journalist, yes its the lovely Marijke Cox of Your Dover newspaper. Marijke had just won some Fairtrade coffee in the prize draw and was naturally thrilled. Yours truly was there to capture this rapturous moment. The pic on the right is another study in colour co-ordination. PaulB with the delightful Una Mills, and all in matching scarlet too...well I never !
end.
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Little adorable Victoria Hannent keeps her eye firmly on dad David at tuesday night's food tasting event at Marine Court. A group of 10 or 12 gathered( the Last Supper!) at the behest of Mr Hannent to sample what the well known seafront restaurant had to offer by way of variety on the menu. It was a hot evening in more ways than one, but especially so when participants indulged in the chicken curry experience! zsssst went the tongue! As ever an interesting variety of food was and is on offer, which makes this establishment an exciting Dover destination for most people.
Ah here come the gorgeous girls.. and arent they lovely too, as they oh so delicately sample the delish varieties on offer with a nibble here and a nibble there. But note Linda Hannent, our NEW Slimmer of the Year! Look at those new long svelte lines and contours. Fantastic! Linda is just back from shimmering sexily on the sunkissed ski slopes of Europe. Shouldnt be allowed so it shouldnt! Also in the picture of course is the ever lovely Jan Tranter, former mayor extraordinaire, note the way Jan is wielding that knife in her left hand...very worrying! Must remember to follow all further instructions to the letter!
The evergreen and jovial duo of Carole and Mike Webb enjoying a bit of a cuddle in between courses at Marine Court. Great fun as always are the Webbs, and Carole is still looking long lean and lovely despite using her bus pass for the first time that very day. Go get 'em girl!
On the right we have Colette Boland, with colour co-ordinated vino to match her cherryade top, seen here also enjoying a cuddle with adman Barry Wadsworth-Smith. Whats this?...is romance busting out all over and with married couples too! Well I never.....
Cllr Sue Jones in midnight blue enjoying herself greatly at the event, while hopefully at the same time not being too dazzled by yours truly's golden midsummer tie, the tie comes with its own sunglasses! Also in the picture but demurely lowering her head at the opportune moment is Georgette Rapley of the Mayor's Goodwill Fund.
ON the right is a better shot of Georgette in the safe culinary hands of Big Dave.
EXTRA: Last but not least, and just in via the airwaves from the little red camera of Colette B, is the lovely Jan Tranter again looking her regal self and of course with yours truly dazzling all before him with that tie, right at her elbow. Many thanks to ColetteB for this picture.
Mayor Bob Markham
about to make the opening address at the Fairtrade awareness meeting at Maison Dieu House last night. A significant crowd of invited guests heard the initiatives being undertaken by the local steering group under the chairmanship of Cllr David Hannent. The idea is to make Dover a Fairtrade town...where you and I buy our produce with that now famous Fairtrade label, and this in turn ensures that farmers in the poorer regions of the world get a living wage for their crop.The nation is currently enjoying a Fairtrade Fortnight, with Dover, under the auspices of the Dover Town Council, aiming to be a significant player not only during the newly established fortnight but long into the future. Fairtrade has improved the lives of millions of people worldwide, so it is vital that we all play our part to keep it going and make the process even better. There is still much to do. But the movement is gathering pace, and your participation counts if we want to make the world a better place.
Restaurants and Cafes in Dover serving Fairtrade food and/or drink are..
The Weigh Inn
La Salle Verte
The Allottment
Dickens Corner
Waves Coffee Shop
Costa Coffee.
Listening intently to the speeches in full flow - in the foreground we have the engaging Cllr Sue Jones who is a member of the steering group. Also in the shot is none other than Cllr Diane Smallwood, she of the famous glasses and glamourous Miami Beach caps, who is strongly rumoured to be scheduled for the role of Mayor next year.
end.
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Little adorable Victoria Hannent keeps her eye firmly on dad David at tuesday night's food tasting event at Marine Court. A group of 10 or 12 gathered( the Last Supper!) at the behest of Mr Hannent to sample what the well known seafront restaurant had to offer by way of variety on the menu. It was a hot evening in more ways than one, but especially so when participants indulged in the chicken curry experience! zsssst went the tongue! As ever an interesting variety of food was and is on offer, which makes this establishment an exciting Dover destination for most people.
Ah here come the gorgeous girls.. and arent they lovely too, as they oh so delicately sample the delish varieties on offer with a nibble here and a nibble there. But note Linda Hannent, our NEW Slimmer of the Year! Look at those new long svelte lines and contours. Fantastic! Linda is just back from shimmering sexily on the sunkissed ski slopes of Europe. Shouldnt be allowed so it shouldnt! Also in the picture of course is the ever lovely Jan Tranter, former mayor extraordinaire, note the way Jan is wielding that knife in her left hand...very worrying! Must remember to follow all further instructions to the letter!
On the right we have Colette Boland, with colour co-ordinated vino to match her cherryade top, seen here also enjoying a cuddle with adman Barry Wadsworth-Smith. Whats this?...is romance busting out all over and with married couples too! Well I never.....
ON the right is a better shot of Georgette in the safe culinary hands of Big Dave.
- Thankyou David for a most entertaining evening amongst good friends, the picture of Victoria and your goodself is very artistic, looks as though it could be from a movie lol!
- Rather then more self publication of the chosen few, perhaps we could actually have information on the venue, whats good, whats not, and what you guys actually ate.
Less pictures of the same people (we really do know what they look like by now!), and more useful content. - Chris these kinds of social pages are what we do. It's our chosen remit, it's what we do. If however you have been tuning in regularly you will see we do allsorts of info pages with as much variety as we can manage, to cater for allsorts of tastes and its quite a while since we did a similar social page. Different people like different things and these pages are popular.
- Great photo of Victoria and David - and the rest of you look as though you enjoyed the evening too!
- Lovely set of pictures of everyone enjoying themselves at Marine Court, I like the new decor and the new menu is a vast improvement, though a little bit expensive, but well worth it.
- mandie, i liked that one of victoria and david, she has a very mischievious look on her face.
great pics, pity that the choice of tie from paul let things down a tad. - I quite liked the tie actually. Makes a nice refreshing change to the normal boring colours he wears lololololololololol
- thanks david and linda for the invite very plesant evening little more choice food wise might have been better, (nice pictures though).
- Thanks again David & Linda for inviting us to the tasting session at the Marine Court, I especially liked the Minted Lamb, a very nice sauce and the Chicken Masala Curry, Phew, Hot and Spicy! A very enjoyable evening.
- It was an informative meeting at the Maison Dieu offices last night in support of the Fairtrade concept, which I personnally have always tried to do by including Fairtrade products where possible in the weekly shop, the Co-op used to have quite a large range to choose from and following last nights meeting I will check out M & S and other local stores and see what is available.
Another interesting speaker was Jack Williams who is a sixth-former from Dover Grammar School for Boys who spoke about their Green Footprint Group which raises awarness about Fairtrade in local schools within the Dover area.
Lets hope that more people get involved in buying Fairtrade produce as this supports not only third world producers but also their local communities. - Lovely set of social photos, I have enjoyed them and reading the stories. I like Marine Court and my grandchildren always love their treat there. Its warm and inviting and we always enjoy our meal, the food is good.
Pleased to see that Dover is promoting Fairtrade which is obviously such a caring cause. As a family we are very aware that Fairtrade improves the lives of so many so we do try to make our mark in buying what we can to help. - Great photos - of both events.
I didn't know you could be a mover & shaker twice PaulB ??
Are you not the same PaulB, Barry & Colette who enjoyed one of those enjoyable M & S lunches last year - with yours truly ??
If I had known about the Fair-Trade evening I would have come along and perhaps been able to have given some input as regards the Loyalty Scheme members.
I assume that the Fair-Trade title, also means these FT purchases for staff usage too, not just the Cafes, pubs, restaurants for their customers ?
Glad to hear it was a success though - well done.
Roger - As you can see my wife and myself was at the Fair Trade at the D.T.C. offices and I must say it was very good, and all I can say is well done to Cllr D Hannent[It will not happen but he would make a very good working Town Mayor for Dover] any way back to the Fair Trade there was also some very good speech,s done but the best one must go to Mr Jack Williams of the Dover Grammar School,DOVERS future is with young men like this staying in the Town but how do we do that? there is alot of work to be done on that one by both town and distict councils and the C/ Commerce alot of work is done at our schools but we must help them more after all their future must be Dover,s as well.
I remain as always yours faithfully Cllr Vic Matcham. - Vic you make a very interesting point there about these young people like Jack Williams and how do we hold on to them here in Dover. Sadly Im afraid to say these kids, if they have ambition to get somewhere and be somebody, wont have much by way of a real chance if they stay here in Dover. My own daughter leaves the town before too long to study medicine at University College London and will she return?? Gawd knows..
For these young talented people, where are the jobs in Dover? Where are the careers?
Have a generation of politicians let us down? I dont know...it's a disappointing prospect losing the kids! - A little bit of overexposure here I think! Thank you all for helping with the two events. More importantly is how we react to Fairtrade issues in the town - the roller coaster is running but momentum needs support. We/I have critics but they are less important than the cause. Other towns are way ahead - I would like to see the end of plastic bags, use of local goods and services and many obvious ways of helping not only others but ourselves and our children.
I have only one other event planned - a cycle ride on 29th March at Fowlmede for 300 children in aid of water for Africa which is also an excuse for getting 9 schools together. any sponsors or helpers would be welcome - so dont say you dont know! I will be cycling with them also sponsored at the same time.
Then at the end of March I intend to retire from "getting involved" with Chairing things and concentrate on one or two projects that I particularly think deserve my attention. - paul makes a very good point here, sadly.
i have been banging this drum for some time now.
we get all these great youngsters that get the exams, go on to further education, get degrees.
what will they come back to?
exactly!!
let us hope that the DTIZ and the fast rail link will bring greater opportunities for our young go getters.
it really is the last chance saloon for our town, do not listen to the critics that have their own agenda. - Good Luck in whatever you do come the end of March David.
We all have our critics and if we took too much notice of them, we'd slit our throats - as you say, the cause is greater than the grumblers.
Dover needs people like you David, so hope you aren't going too far.
I am happy to help where I can on this Fair-Trade initiative as well as reducing the use of plastic bags and in fact have an appointment to meet with Jack Williams this week.
Onwards and upwards as they say.
Roger - Yes the words retire and David Hannent in the same sentance feels one with horror. Big Dave is such an enthusiastic man for all things Dover and it will be a shame as Roger says if he retires too far. His health hasnt been great this past while but he has bounced back and is highly involved again. He did a fantastic job at these recent events. David would have made a good and deserving Mayor, but considering political affiliations its probably not going to happen....sadly.
You could run a caption competition with that one. BEAUTIFUL PIC!!
Linda and jan look stunning as always