Published 27 March 2003

LOCAL history enthusiast and author Mrs Susan Lees, of Alkham sent me this interesting old photo, right, of a windmill and adjoining house believed to have been in the Folkestone area and connected with the East Kent family of Claringbould.

The Claringbould family are known to have been involved in milling in this area.

The photograph, thought to date from around 1865 came from Klaske van Coeverden Claringbould, in Antwerp, who has family links with the UK.

Klaske says he found the fading photo among family papers and has reason to believe the impressive looking house and windmill was in the neighbourhood of Folkestone.

Help wanted!

I have a special interest in windmills and watermills myself, so I was very interested to see the picture, which I have enhanced using computer software.

Klaske is hoping someone will come up with a positive identification of the mill or house with its attractive window shutters.

Perhaps there is a windmill enthusiast among Memories readers who can come up with the answer?

Is it possible it was the Folkestone mill known as Millfield, which was featured in Memories some months ago?
Sadly, this disappeared about a century ago, so there cannot be anyone alive who has personal memories of it!

Mrs Patricia Allen, of Lympne, is seeking information about Miss Gwen Kidd who appears in a photograph she sent the Herald of three Guiders in Hythe around the 1950s.

“The sort of information I would like is, what the group was actually called, what activities they held, where - and on what days - meetings were held?” she writes.

Mrs Allen is also keen to learn when the group was formed, whether they went on outings and when they were disbanded. And, in particular, she wonders:

“Did they hold a sewing circle meeting, in the evening, in a house in the Albert Lane or Ormonde Road area of Hythe - or was this run by the Methodist Sunday School?

“My two eldest sisters were long-time members of this Guide group, but I was only about seven at the time, going to just a few meetings, and cannot remember what it was all about.”

In the background of the original picture is what looks like part of the Royal Military Canal with a waterside pathway on one bank.

Mrs Allen would be pleased to hear from anyone with information and especially photographs.

You can contact Mrs Allen on Hythe 230648 or write to her, at Walnut Tree Cottage, Lympne, Kent CT21 4JP
Mill riddle
Amazing!
I was astonished to hear recently that a Guildhall Street trader removed a commemorative plaque from his building which commemorated the fact that television pioneer Logie Baird was once in business in the street.

How short-sighted can you get! Perhaps someone will press for its reinstatement in the interests of tourism in “White Cliffs Country,” - or should that read “White Horse Country?”!
A GENTLEMAN in what looks like an enormous ‘stove-pipe’ hat stands on the steps of an imposing house next to a windmill in the photograph, below, thought to have been taken somewhere in Shepway. See story below. The bottom picture is of Guiaers in Hythe, one of whom is named by Lympne reader Mrs Pat Allen as Miss Gwen Kidd. Mrs Allen seeks more information about the Guide company in Hythe.
 

Relief in court after pub licences are renewed *1 Q/\oTHERE was relief for many Folkestone: Mvw licensees when the future of 28 public: houses was decided by magistrates. Their fate had been in doubt after a previous hearing when objections about drunkenness and overcrowding were aired. Eventually approved were (hosts' names in brackets) Swim Inn (Elizabeth Brett), Royal Oak (William Collar), Chequers (John Dorrell), London and Paris (George Gray), East Cliff Tavern (John Grigg), Wheatsheaf (Fred Hall), imperial (James Hill), Packet Boat (Albert Newman), Victoria (Alfred Skinner), Hope (Stephen Smith); Queen's Head (Walter Tame), Eagle (Fred Taylor), Brewery Tap (William Thomason), Queen s Hotel (Henry Tolputt), Mechanics Arms (George Laurence), Castle (Albert Pollard), Blue Anchor (Walter Whiting), Perseverance (Harry Morgan), Duke of Edinburgh (Fred Ralph), Cinque Ports (Samuel Webster), Life Boat (Alice Setterfield) and Prince of Wales (James Weaver.) Laughter followed when George Laurence was called and dismissed as bogus a letter, supposed to have been sent by him, threatening the lives of two of the magistrates, who were very laid back about it.

Faster trains depend on quality of coal - warning tt Q CO WELCOME news of faster, 80-minute trains to London was tempered by news that the express timings were dependent upon 'suitable coal' being available! -Something else to blame in a long list of excuses for late trains, said one commuter! Welt known actor David Tomlinson, a keen antiquarian, was living in Folkestone and the Herald captured a photo of him examining a choice piece of Wedgwood china in an Cheriton antiques shop. Great strides had been made by the United Kingdom in returning to the freedom of trade experienced before tne Second World War, said constituency MP H.R. Mackeson, speak mq to Lydd and New Romney Conservatives. There were high hopes of major sea defence works at Sandgate being finished by the end of July, Folkestone Town Council was told. Lyminge gardeners were seeking a plot of land on which to Plant a Coronation Year tree. About to open in olkestone was "One of the finest schools in Kent." That was how the new Technical College atThe Grange was described before it had even opened. It was only the beginning, it was stated of what was intended to be the headquarters of further education in the district.

Martin Waiter works launch massive expansion scheme 1QOQMartin Walter's once extensive motor JL«SA0business in Folkestone was embark* inq on a major: re-building and expansion scheme. There were plans to pull down the existing garage at the rear of its Sandgate Road showrooms, together with adjoining property and to erect a larger building having 15,000 square feet of garage space, equipped for servicing and with lock-up accommodation. In addition the company planned to develop a prominent site in Cheriton Road, adjoining the new sports ground, with a building of over 45,000 square feet for coachbuilding, spray-painting bodywork and motor engineering and electrical work. The new factory was expected to provide: a welcome boost to employment in the town. Cross-Channel steamer Maid of Orleans was involved in an air-sea drama in a snowstorm in the Dover Strait. Later it brought into port the the bodies of the pilot and engineer, Ande Edme Schumutz and Raymond Paul Ferade, who died when their French owned Farman Goliath airliner came down in the sea. An inquest heard of a dramatic SOS picked up from the aircraft

Shock for Tory councillor nominated as new mayor «f Q“7QTHERE was a shock for the Tory's X«71 ©preferred candidate, Cllr John Jacques as Folkestone's mayor for 1978-9. In the first, three-way vote, at an 'informal' meeting of Shepway Council he topped the poll with 20 votes, over Cllr Les Harrold, with 13 votes and Cllr Herbert Johnson, with 10. But when Cllr Johnson stood down and there was a second vote Cllr Jacques failed to gain any of those votes and lost to Cllr Harrold by 23 votes to 20. Cllr Jacques and his wife Cllr Gwen Jacques, stormed out of the meeting. Unfortunately for Cllr Jacques several of his Tory colleagues had been unable to attend the meeting. Controversy over plans to pedestrianise Hythe High Street turned full circle 25 years ago. The annual town meeting of local residents threw out the idea by 69 per cent. This was in contrast to a poll conducted by Shepway Council some time before, which saw people voting 73 per cent in favour of a traffic-free shopping centre. Hythe Chamber of Commerce objected to the precinct and it was claimed a traffic ban would "murder" Hythe. Pedestrianisation was rejected by 29 votes to 13 and one-hour-in-three parking along th« lannth of Hinh Street was suooested.