Thanet Life

“The world”, said Ernest Hemingway, “is a fine place and worth fighting for.”

Ironically, I had a ‘Hemingway adventure’ of my own last winter, tracing the author’s path around the lively bars of Havana. As a boy, I discovered a loose connection, between the great 20th century author and a beach inspector in Thanet and it goes back to the Spanish civil war.

I had just left school and was “working the deckchairs” in Palm Bay when a chance conversation revealed that the old chap I was working with, Jim, (not his real name) had been a member of the International Brigade, fighting for the Republican cause against the Nationalists of General Franco’s Nazi-Germany-supported army in Spain between 1936 and 1939.

The advent of the mass media allowed an unprecedented level of attention on the Spanish Civil War (Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell and Robert Capa all covered it) and so the it became notable for the passion and political division it inspired, and for atrocities, such as the bombing of Guernica, committed on both sides of the conflict.

My own father had to leave Madrid because of the civil war and Jim, a fervent trade-unionist, between rolling cigarettes, in a cold windswept beach-hut in the July of 1975, shared with me his personal story of an encounter with the author and the events which led him to volunteer to fight in Spain.

Of course, Hemingway wrote the classic, “For Whom the Bell Tolls” but Jim and many others like him had equally fascinating stories which may never be told. There was John Brown who lived quietly in Broadstairs, who flew pathfinder Mosquitoes in the Second World War and led the bomber raid on the German Peenemunde rocket complex. In Birchington, a former Royal Flying Corps pilot from WW1 who was as bright as a button, used to frequent the Bungalow Hotel and even my former head-teacher at the Charles Dickens School, Mr Morland, a member of the elite Navy Special Boat Service, had to clear the obstacles from the D-Day beaches before daylight, in advance of the main landing.

Thanet, I find from meeting our retired residents, is full of untold stories of personal heroism and achievement and with every year that passes, more of this history is lost. Today, we have a thriving internet ‘Blogging’ community on the island and for the first time in history, it gives everyone a chance to tell to their story and secure it for the future as part of a universal record of human experience.

A secret history is a lost history and so today I would really like to encourage readers to use the internet and sites like blogger.com to start telling their own stories of the more interesting events of their lives or their grandparents as they dovetail into moments of our collective history. All that remains of Jim’s own Hemingway encounter is in my own fading memory of a conversation of thirty years ago but he firmly believed that what he did in Spain as a volunteer made a moral difference in defending Europe from the growing ambitions of Nazi Germany.

There are lots of unknown stories in Thanet, Lots of ‘Jims’ both men and women and perhaps an Ernest Hemingway or two hidden among them. Now might be a good time to use the Internet to start telling their 20th century stories before it’s too late.

Labels: Civil War, Hemingway, Spanish, Thanet

You’ll be the first to hear that I am suspending ThanetLife and possibly plan to take it down completely.

Labels: weblog

I had an email earlier today expressing a number of concerns over both the lighting and the present state of Dane Park, so rather than kick-off this week's latest conspiracy theory, I thought it best to ask, given that I had a vague recollection of hearing somewhere, that the lack of lighting was something to do with EDF Energy having to run-in new cables.

Anyway, I'm told that the lighting in Dane Park is partly a KCC matter as an element of the new cycle path and partly a Margate Civic society project to have more cycle paths included with lights.

The work got underway and was tested in November by the KCC contractor and EDF Energy were informed. However, EDF were unable to schedule the connection until January.

There is an outstanding problem with some lights still not working and apparently some vandlalism has taken place. The contractor has been instructed to correct the problem and make repair as quickly as possible.

When the cycle path lights and others are all working then TDC will take them over them from the contractor - except the cycle path which will remain with KCC.

The reinstatement will be done in March or earlier if the weather stays as it is, however, when the work was completed in November it was not an ideal time to seed the new grass. Construction of the new play area is underway and this is expected to be finished in early April.

I hope that answers any questions.

Labels: Dane Park, Lights

I had noticed the air ambulance over Westgate at lunchtime today but one of our readers has sent in more information and writes:

Labels: Canterbury Rd, Westgate

One of our readers, Barrie, has spotted something interesting about the advertising for the quad-bike, beach races at Margate this month. Has anyone else noticed?

He writes:

"The organisers of the beach scramble have had some giant posters made advertising this event on Margate beach.

The date advertised is February 24th & 25th, the 25th is a Monday so I am sure it should read 23rd & 24th February ?

If this is the case then we might be entitled to say "plonkas"!

Either the organisers, the advertising agency and or the printers might have had the wit to question this obvious mistake ?

The usual scenario is that the printers would send a proof copy to those responsible thus passing the buck if there is a mistake."

Ed: Let me know if you see the same thing?

Labels: Beach Rise, Margate, Scramble

I do wonder who sits reading and making comments on this weblog in the early hours of the morning?

Perhaps I’ve discovered a sure-fire cure for insomnia but I can say, with relative certainty that most comments made after 1am are unlikely to be spiritually uplifting. In fact, most of the really negative and often personal comments you might read from time to time, originate from six IP addresses and there are no prizes for guessing who these contributors might be.

What’s amusing in a certain way is how the same anonymous person will attempt to strike-up a debate by pretending to be two people. You can’t see it but I can and so sometimes, a long comment thread may be dominated by a single individual attempting to steer the conversation.

So someone who claims to be a “True Blue Tory” one moment can be “Larry Labour” the next and leave a trail of breadcrumbs leading back to a second weblog. Anyway, most readers are smart enough to see what’s going on and it’s a shame that the system doesn’t provide a means of tagging an IP address, like a telephone number to an ‘anonymous’ comment, so you can see what I can see.

Now if you visit other more notable websites with a political theme, you’ll probably notice that something similar is happening, spelling and punctuation errors or ‘turn of phrase’, will show that on ‘controversial’ issues, the same handful of “usual suspects” are very active. The silent majority visit, rarely post comments and simply watch the fun!

One solution is to only allow comments from registered users but I'm reluctant to do this. However, I reserve the right to if the childish mischief continues.

Labels: comments, IP, politics

Senior Thanet Conservatives gathered today to break ground at the New Haine Road, a joint venture between KCC and TDC.

Labels: Haine, Harold road, Thanet

It's hard to avoid the controversy caused by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, in the papers and on the radio and the television today.

The Archbishop believes that the introduction of Sharia law in this country is "inevitable" and why not, says BBC Radio Kent, "That's fine by me", says John Warnett the presenter but not "Stoning to death", "because that transcends" British law.

Sharia is the body of Islamic law implemented in some Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia, Libya, Iran and Sudan. In some, it is associated with draconian punishments for crimes such as theft, adultery or blasphemy, such as amputation of limbs, death by stoning or use of the lash.

Women's rights are curtailed in many countries. Some interpretations of the law mean women have to cover themselves from head to toe in burkhas when they go out.

Religious groups and secularists attacked the Archbishop, saying that his comments were "baffling and bewildering" and would undermine social cohesion but Dr Williams said the argument that "there's one law for everybody" was "a bit of a danger" and called for "a constructive accommodation" with aspects of Muslim law.

So what's your view. Do you agree with Dr Williams? Is the introduction of Sharia law an inevitability and perhaps in the areas of Britain referred to by the Archbishop of Rochester recently? The Government certainly thinks not.

Labels: Canterbury, Sharia

I see the rumour and disinformation mill is running overtime on some other Thanet weblogs. I'm frequently accused of having a political agenda here but at least you know that I have a political leaning, and who I am. With this goes a sense of responsibility, when it comes to accuracy of reporting.

Before, I run out of the door to work, I would be interested to gauge readers opinions on the following, quite hypothetical story which has no connection with real persons or events, fictional or otherwise.

It's close the the end of the first decade of the 21st century. A powerful trades union insists on a 1950's 'closed shop' policy in large organisations that run essential services for the public. A smaller, rival trades union, believes, quite rightly perhaps, that it should also be allowed to recruit and represent workers on an equivalent basis. If this isn't granted swiftly it promises to take industrial action.

However, if proper equivalence is granted then the much larger union might then take industrial action and cripple the organisation as a consequence.

This reminds me of the plot of the famous 1959 Peter Seller's comedy, "I'm alright Jack". It's an invidious position for the employer to be in. So what would your solution to the problem be?

Labels: Trades, Union

It's Shrove Tuesday and the time of the traditional Angelo's sponsored pancake races through Westgate. Thanks is due to Tony Bailey, Laura Peskett and PC Bungard for keeping the traffic away while the races were on and to all those involved, such as Rotary, in making this event its customary local success.

Labels: Pancake race, Shrove, Tuesday, Westgate