The first Folkestone Fish Fest was scheduled for last weekend, and I had been looking forward to opening it on the Saturday morning. Sadly the wind and rain intervened, and what may have been good weather for fish, was a disaster for the stall holders and musicians who were booked to perform, which led to much of the festival programme having to be cancelled for safety reasons.
I would like to thank everyone involved with the Folkestone Fish Fest for the huge amount of hard work they put in, to plan and deliver the event; and in particular to Andy Shorten, Johnny Cotter, Cath Mison, and Chris Raines. We have a fantastic local food offering, and to have a sea food festival in the atmospheric fish market in Folkestone is an excellent idea. I hope that the organisers will look to hold the event next year, once they have recovered from all the hard work they put in to Fish Fest 2013. Festivals like these are not only very popular locally, but help attract more visitors into the area.
There were a number of indoor events associated with the Fish Fest which carried on as planned, including an excellent display of the history and heritage of the local fishing industry which was hosted in the Triennial Visitors Centre building on Tontine Street. The was part of a larger ‘open quarter’ weekend organised by the Creative Foundation where many of the businesses that form the creative quarter opened later into the evening and offered extra discounts for customers. In addition to this other local artists had set up open studios in the creative quarter for the weekend. It was great to see the creative quarter busy with visitors and businesses, despite the poor weather.
Our thriving local arts and creative community, is one of our great assets, and my wife Sarah and I greatly enjoyed the recent Mozart concert, performed by the Folkestone Choral Society, at the Holy Trinity church, under the masterful direction of Berkeley Hill. The choral society brings together a choir of over one hundred voices and in the largest in our area. Their next concert will be a performance on Handel’s ‘Messiah’ at Holy Trinity Church in November. You can find out more about the society at their website www.folkestonechoralsociety.org
This week is Armed Forces Week when we remember the work and sacrifices of our forces at home and around the world. Following the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the esteem with which the armed forces are held has probably not been higher for many years. They have also risked their lives to support the freedom of others in North Africa, particularly most recently in Libya and Mali. In addition to this our forces are constantly engaged around the world in combating piracy and criminal gangs involved with drug smuggling. There have been events all around the county to mark armed forces week, and on Armed Forces Day, Saturday 29th June, I am looking forward to supporting and speaking at the parade in Hythe High Street at 11am.