Three years ago I set up a competition for new businesses to allow them to exhibit for free at the annual Conservative Party conference, in a special area called the Start-up Hub. This week we have launched the competition again to find twelve new businesses to take part in the Start-up Hub, following the 33 […]
Friday 6th June was the seventieth anniversary of the D Day landings in Normandy; the start of the liberation of Europe and a major turning point in the Second World War. I was honoured to attend last week’s service at the Garden of Remembrance in Folkestone, along with members of the Normandy Veterans Association, including […]
Buckingham Palace confirmed last week that Prince Harry will attend the opening of the Folkestone, First World War centenary, memorial arch, on 4th August. The Prince will be the guest of honour and will be invited to conduct the formal unveiling of the Arch. I was delighted to learn that Prince Harry was able to […]
We are delighted that HRH Prince Harry will be the guest of honour on 4th August 2014 at the ceremony to mark the opening of the First World War centenary memorial arch in Folkestone. Prince Harry will be invited to perform the official opening of the arch, which stands over the route taken by millions […]
Construction is now well underway for the Folkestone Memorial Arch to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War. Last Friday I visited the construction site at the eastern end of the Leas, close to the top of the Road of Remembrance, along with fellow directors of the ‘Step Short’ project, Cllr […]
The Folkestone sisters Margaret and Flora Jeffrey were awarded OBEs at the end of the First World War, with grateful thanks for their work in supporting the millions of service personnel that passed through the town’s harbour, between 1914 and 1919. They ran a simple cafe on the harbour arm dispensing free cups of tea […]
Students from Pent Valley Technology College in Folkestone, were part of the historic visit last Thursday by the Prime Minister, David Cameron, and the Irish Prime Minister, Enda Kenny, to the First World War military cemetery at Tyne Cot, near Passchendaele in Belgium. This was the first occasion that the Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom and […]
On Friday evening last week I attended a meeting of the Directors of the ‘Step Short’ First World War centenary project, at the tourist information hub in Folkestone’s Tram Road car park. As the Chairman of the project I have been part of a large number of meetings like this over the last six years, […]
Maria Miller, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, invited me to speak to the Conservative Party conference in Manchester this week about our work in Folkestone to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War in 2014. The government rightly recognises that this anniversary is an important time for […]
Admiral The Lord Boyce, The Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports has commanded many mightier weapons than the spade I presented to him on Sunday, but nevertheless I was pleased to see him put it to good use. Just after 11am on 4th August, the 99th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War, […]