This week we have received the very sad news of the death of Willie
Richardson, who gave so many years of service to people on Romney
Marsh, as a County and District Councillor and a former Coxswain of
the RNLI Dungeness Lifeboat. He was also a wonderful man whose
friendship and advice I hugely valued. He was much loved and respected
by all who knew him and worked with him, and we all send our deepest
sympathies to his wife Judith and their family. Willie had lived all
his life in Dungeness and was a keen supporter of the power station,
and the campaign to see a new one built. When I saw him to discuss
this just over ten days ago he was full of enthusiasm and good ideas.
We will miss you Willie.
Today is also Remembrance Day when we mark the sacrifices made in by
our armed forces at home and around the world. We also particularly
remember those men who have lost their lives in Afghanistan in the
last year, including Rifleman Peter Aldridge, who lived in Folkestone,
and the members of the Royal Gurkha Rifles who have been on a tour of
duty there ; Rifleman Suraj Gurung , Corporal Arjun Purja Pun, Major
James Bowman, Lieutenant Neal Turkington, and Gunner Zak Cusak.
As the years pass it becomes more and more important that we also
remember the sacrifices people made in the First and Second World
Wars. I believe that each new generation should understand what people
did in those years to defend freedom in its darkest hours. We see
reminders of this around the District, from the solitary grave of a
Battle of Britain pilot on Romney Marsh, to the military cemetery at
Shorncliffe and the Road of Remembrance in Folkestone.
Readers of this column will know that I have been involved for the
last few years as Chairman of the Step Short project which is working
to mark the role Folkestone played in the First World War. It is
believed that up to nine million men passed through the town at that
time, to and from the trenches of the Western Front in France and
Belgium. In August, the Step Short memorial walk from outside The
Grand on The Leas, down the Road of Remembrance and to the harbour,
traced the last steps that many of these men would have taken on
English soil. To help people understand more about the role Folkestone
played during the war, and the stories of the people involved here at
that time, the Step Short project is soon to launch a new website.
This will include a walking guide for the route of the Remembrance
Walk, information about places of interest linked to the war, as well
as a lot of archive material from the period. I hope that this will be
of use and interest to local people and visitors, and please let me
know if you would like any more information about this, or the Step
Short project.