News

Security concerns have led Prince William's on-off girlfriend, Kate Middleton to pull out of a Dover to Calais Chinese dragon boat race to be held later in the month.

Organisers said there were security concerns related to media coverage of the event.

She was to have been a member of the first all female crew to row across the English channel in a Chinese dragon boat.

The race is in aid of the Babes in Arms charity, which sponsors research into abnormalities in newborn babies, and the children's hospice charity Chase.

It is scheduled to take place on 25 August.

Kate Middleton, the girlfriend of Britain's Prince William, has been warned that she and her all-girl rowing team may have to call off their attempt to cross the English Channel reports the M&C website.

The 21-member crew, known as The Sisterhood, only contacted the British coastguards on Thursday (2 August) about getting permission to row to France in a Chinese dragon boat on August 25.

The process to get advance clearance for their 21-mile journey - officially termed an "unorthodox crossing" - could take up to month and without it the team could face arrest by French authorities.

A spokesman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Mike Toogood, said: "This is the most dangerous shipping lane in the world.

"We have 500 vessels making this crossing every single day. You can't just turn up and set off - you need permission.

"Not getting this will put lives in real danger - not just theirs, but everyone in the Channel that day."

But getting permission to cross the channel is not the team's only problem.

Toogood has also warned that using a glass-fibre boat designed for use on lakes and rivers is "highly irresponsible".

He added to Britain's Daily Mail newspaper: "Also, a dragon boat has a flat bottom so it tends to go through the waves rather than over them, meaning their craft could quickly become swamped with water."

The Sisterhood hope to race the all-male Brotherhood from Dover to Cap Gris Nez, near Calais, to raise money for charity.

Former Transatlantic rower Richard Pullen, who is helping The Sisterhood, insisted the appropriate paperwork had been submitted.

He said: "We've submitted all our applications and gone through all the proper approval processes."
 

Prince William's on-again, off-again girlfriend Kate Middleton is hoping to be in the first all-female crew to row across the English Channel in a Chinese dragon boat.

The Sisterhood challenge team may all be in the same boat but that is where the similarities most definitely end.

Kate's team leader Emma Sayle, is a leading and infamous organizer who, apart from organizing the girls for the boat race, also organised risqué parties for wealthy, attractive and broadminded couples.

The former public schoolgirl used to run Killing Kittens, the private club which has a website advertising 120 dollars-a-couple sex parties at a private London residence for "strictly good looking couples and single girls only".

Emma said: "Now I'm trying to do something very amazing for two charities and organise 21 girls to get across the English Channel and Kate Middleton happens to be one of them.

"She's a full team member. We've got two reserves and 19 in the boat and she's one of the ones in the boat.

Miss Middleton's team will race across the Channel on August 25 against a male team to raise money for two charities.

They are aiming to raise £100,000 for charities Babes In Arms, which sponsors research into newborn abnormalities, and the children's hospice charity the CHASE Ben Hollioake fund.

Dear Readers,

This weekend's Harbour Lifeboat Festival in Folkestone cast a lifebuoy directly at the 1890 Leas Lift Carriage Restoration Appeal which netted the grand total of £218.10p, now safely deposited into the Appeal's bank account.

At the 2005 AGM, despite assurances from trustee Trevor Johns, that villagers were members of the charity, they apparently still have no say in the management of £1.8million building and are not considered to be members by the trustees.

A leaked email to the stakeholders from Karen Raeburn Community Projects Adviser (Shepway), Community Action South East Kent (CASE), and minutes to meetings in April and May 2007 have been received by the Hawkinge Gazette and the Folkestone Herald village correspondent Colin Tearle.

In the email from Karen Raeburn it states: "We do not intend to invite people (to the 2007 AGM) other than trustees and stakeholders, since this would not seem appropriate when the centre is in such a crucial stage of development."

These documents prompted Mr Tearle to contact CASE.

The email was written after the 5 April 2007 meeting of the trustees and stakeholders. At that meeting the trustees told CASE, the AGM must take place in May and “they are of the opinion that nobody has signed up as a member, so they (the trustees) are in effect the only members."

Colin Tearle said he explained about the 2005 AGM to CASE in which trustee Trevor Johns told the meeting that there was no subscription for membership and gave the assurance that all the people over 18 in Hawkinge were members.

In view of these revelations, a meeting was hurriedly arranged between Mr Tearle, the Hawkinge Partnership (HP) and CASE to discuss whether the 2007 AGM was properly called and conducted within the charity’s constitution.

Apart from members not being invited, Mr Tearle said he raised the issue that the trustees were re-elected after being nominated and seconded en-block by representatives from CASE and the HP, who themselves are not members of the charity.

Both CASE and the HP agreed to speak to the trustees with a view to holding another AGM, but Mr Tearle has now received an email from Karen Raeburn to say the trustees have told her they are writing to the Charity Commission for advice on the membership.

The email continues: "There will therefore not be notification of an EGM and/or AGM at the current time."

A perplexed Mr Tearle said: “I find it curious how the charity is conducting itself. On the surface it appears the trustees are conducting their business with little or no regard for their own constitution or public statements made by themselves.

"Further to that I find it an anathema to hold an AGM, with finances that appear to be in such a fragile state that they are asking for public money to keep the centre open, yet they didn't even manage to produce any audited accounts for the meeting.

"This simply isn't good enough, and in my view the Charity Commission should be called in to investigate, and local government officers belonging to CASE, the Hawkinge Partnership and indeed the Parish Council should distance themselves from it until these matters have been resolved."

Parish Councillor Peter Smith is angry that members of the Hawkinge Community Centre were not invited to this year's AGM of the cash strapped charity.

He said: "I am upset that members were not invited to attend the AGM.

"Both myself and David Callahan applied to be members after the 2005 AGM. I also tried to become a trustee but was refused as they said the position had been filled immediately prior to the meeting, yet it was still raised on the agenda."

The Gazette has so far been unable to contact John Heasman, the Chairman of the HCCC for his comments on the story.
 

AMERICAN SUPPER & QUIZ NIGHT
IN AID OF 
FOLKESTONE, DOVER & HYTHE SAMARITANS

SATURDAY 28TH APRIL 2007
FROM 7:30PM
AT CAPEL VILLAGE HALL
CAPEL-LE-FERNE

TICKETS £3.00 PER PERSON
TEAMS OF UPTO 6 PEOPLE

TO PRE-BOOK A TABLE
TEL 01303 892732

(Please bring your own food & drink)

AMERICAN SUPPER & QUIZ NIGHT
IN AID OF 
FOLKESTONE, DOVER & HYTHE SAMARITANS

SATURDAY 28TH APRIL 2007
FROM 7:30PM
AT CAPEL VILLAGE HALL
CAPEL-LE-FERNE

TICKETS £3.00 PER PERSON
TEAMS OF UPTO 6 PEOPLE

TO PRE-BOOK A TABLE
TEL 01303 892732

(Please bring your own food & drink)

It was revealed at Wednesday's Hawkinge Parish Council meeting (14 March) that the charity that wants to retain the Spitfire Leisuredrome have decided to give up their battle to save the building.

The Hawkinge Youth and Community Sports Council (HYCSC), who arranged a survey of the Spitfire Leisuredrome have come to the conclusion that it would not make economic sense to develop the building.

Cllr Keven Avery told the council that he had been speaking to the  HYCSC after they had contacted him.

According to the survey more than £100,000 would be needed to bring the venue up to the minimum standard required  Cllr Avery said.

The HYCSC have now conceded the parish council's position and want to enter into talks with them to see if there is another suitable venue in the village.

Councillors have agreed to this, and will  be entering into a dialogue with the charity to find the best way forward to utilise any monies from the disposal of the Leisuredrome site, which would benefit the youth and sports provision in the village.

HYCSC will now support the parish council's appeal against Shepway District Council's refusal to grant planning consent for residential accommodation on the Spitfire Leisuredrome site.

Founder member of the HYCSC Cllr Peter Smith was taken by surprise of the about turn by the charity but he told the Gazette he believes these discussions were just private meetings.

Three hundred students are set to descend on Dover as they make their way to Belgrade in Serbia.

The students from the University of Sheffield will be setting off on an epic charity challenge this weekend that will see them hitch-hike from Sheffield to Serbia on a shoestring budget. 

The unique ‘Bummit to the Belgrade’ has been organised by the University’s Rag society and the mission is to get from Sheffield to Belgrade within eight days. With only £15 to spend, the 300 students will have to blag their way onto public transport, trains and flights, as well as hitch-hiking to see them to their final destination.

Half of the students taking part will leave the University’s Union of Students on Saturday 24 March 2007 to begin their 1,800 mile journey to Belgrade. They will then be followed by a further 150 students on Tuesday 27 March 2007, who will also aim to get to the Serbian capital. 

This is the fifth ‘Bummit’ challenge, with previous challenges seeing students safely and successfully hitchhiking to Bognor, Budapest, Bucharest and Riga. Everyone taking part will be organised into teams of two or three people, with at least one male in each team. All participants will receive a full safety briefing, will be given guidelines before they leave and are required to check-in with the Union each day by phone. 

For the first time this year, ‘Bummit’ will also be providing an online tracking system through which friends, family and the interested public can follow all the teams’ progress. The information is gathered by a team in Sheffield and the locations plotted onto the map. 

The challenge aims to raise over £45,000 for this year’s charities, Sue Ryder Care and the No More Landmines Trust. Sue Ryder Care provides palliative and neurological care to patients with disabilities and life threatening illnesses, both in the UK and abroad and the No More Landmines Trust is the UK partner in the global Adopt-a-Minefield campaign. It aims to relieve poverty, distress and suffering in various countries, particularly those recovering from conflict. ‘Bummit’ will also donate 15% of the money raised to Rainforest Concern. 

Anna Grant, a third student at the University of Sheffield and member of the ‘Bummit’ Committee, said: “I did Bummit last year and I met so many different people and saw so many places off the beaten track. At the end of the trip it is brilliant when you realised what you have achieved. We made a phenomenal amount of money last year”.

She added: “This year we look set to make even more money than last year whilst still having fun!”
For those interested in donating to this year’s Bummit, an online donation system is available at www.bummit.co.uk