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In 1963, Yost piloted the first balloon flight across the English Channel with crewmember Don Piccard, and in 1976 he attempted to cross the Atlantic Ocean solo. He didn't make it, but he designed and built the Double Eagle II, which made the first Atlantic crossing two years later. He was the recipient of many awards and set numerous aviation records.
 

Dear Editor,

Re: Closed footpath between Swann Way and Killing Wood

At the public meeting of the Parish Council last week a letter from Shepway District Council on this matter was produced.

It stated that various options were being considered so this raises the possibility that the public may once more be allowed to use this popular route.

A sentence in the letter says that Shepway is "Looking at the issue of access gates which have been put in the rear fences of some of those houses backing on to this strip of land."

Surely this is only an issue if the public continues to be barred from the area.

These gates illustrate that the area has long been regarded as an amenity well worth having easy access to.

Peter
 

Staff from a project which steps in to work with children and parents in Folkestone and Hawkinge before any problems spiral out of control were celebrating this week after their manager was named as the best children's social worker in Kent.

Karen Darwell, who runs Causeway, based in the Brockman Family Centre in Cheriton High Street, won the Kent County Council Winner of Winners Quality Service Award for children's social services.

She told Kent County Council (KCC) Cabinet Member for Children and Families, Dr Tony Robinson, and KCC Chairman Fred Wood-Brignall, who came to the centre to congratulate her on her achievement: "I was gobsmacked. Winning is the pinnacle of my career. But really I see it as an award for all the team. I was proud to accept the award as a social worker on behalf of my profession and as a reflection of all the unsung good work that social workers do."

Karen's win came after she got a staggering 17 nominations, some from mums whom Causeway has helped as well as from her colleagues in social services, education and health.

One mum said: "Karen is like a guardian angel as she makes so many wishes come true."
 

Dear Editor,

Hello there, I live in Australia although originally lived in the UK, and I'm trying to track down friends and family from the Cheriton area.

My husband Robert Slater from Cheriton recently died.

As in most marriages one listens, keep photos...and letters, none from UK unfortunately, but some of those very necessary details are missing and proving stumbling blocks to making sense of something to leave for daughter and grandson as they have no other relatives in Australia.

I am very interested in the Fred Slater Band...as my late husband's father was a Frederick Slater married to Nellie (nee Atkins) of Cheriton....and wonder if this could be a grand-son!

All of my husband's brothers were in the services, Charlie served in the Army, John was a Navy diver and my late husband Robert was in the RAF during the Second World War. There was a best friend Arthur Nokes who married a local girl but they went back to Midlands later. I do have baptismal from All Souls and service records of course.

If you have useful suggestions or contacts they would be very very much appreciated. I'm just hoping for something to crop up.

Many thanks

O. Rose-Slater

Editor's note:- If you have any information, please email us and we will forward replies to Mrs Slater

Dear Editor

I would like to express my thanks through the Hawkinge Gazette letters page, to all who voted for me in the Parish Council Elections last week.

I'm sure I speak for the other newly elected councillor, Tony Hutt, when I say that we will try, with the rest of the council, to represent all the residents of Hawkinge to the best of our ability.

Speaking for myself, although I am a committed conservative, I intend serving on the council without political bias.

Could I ask for a little time to get my head round all the paperwork and procedures! I will be taking advantage of the training days which Shepway offers.

Yours sincerely

Jean James

Dear Editor,

I am looking for Derick Young who lived in Woodfield Close, Cheriton, Folkestone in the 1960s.

I would love to hear any information anyone has on this family.

Have a great day

Ron Colman

South Australia

Editor's note: Please email us and we will pass on any replies to Mr Colman

Former Shepway lad, Ron Colman now lives in Strathalbyn, 35 miles from Adelaide but although he speaks in an Aussie accent  and the town is regarded as one of the most attractive  in South Australia, he has never lost his love for England.

Born in Cheriton in 1939, Ron has a brother John Tapping aka Raymond, who lives in Folkestone and works for the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway, and a sister Pat.

As a young man, Ron was a keen dancer and could often be found tripping the light fantastic at the Don and Joy Dance studio in The Bayle Folkestone.

The family lived in Woodville Close, Cheriton and Ron worked locally for the NAAFI before he paid his £10 and sailed from Tilbury to Australia in December 1960.

From the freezing cold winter of 1960, he was welcomed to the Antipedes in January 1961, by a heat wave with temperatures hitting 104F.

Ron settled in the farming village of Strathalbyn. It was a quiet place in those days bemoaned Ron, but it now has a rapidly growing population of 2600, with many people from the city who know nothing about rural life moving into the small town.

In 1963 Ron married Jean Goodall from Hawkinge, whose father was secretary of the Shepway Labour Party. Unfortunately the marriage didn't last and they were divorced in 1971.

Ron never re-married and hung up his driving gloves 5 years ago after working for 20 years as a chauffeur and limousine driver showing tourists around the local wineries and the tourist sites in the Adelaide area.

He also worked as a chauffeur to Dame Roma Mitchell when she was the Governor of South Australia, who he said "was a truly wonderful lady."

Ron returned to England in 1991 and visited his old dance studio at The Bayle. Whilst there he met Pat ( not his sister) and they struck up a friendship, but he had to return to Australia and lost touch with her.

In 1993 he came back, to look for Pat but to no avail and he returned home disappointed.

Years passed when suddenly, out of the blue in 2006, his brother called to say he had met Pat at a boot fair in Elham and from that chance meeting Ron and Pat have stayed in contact ever since.

Ron is hoping to travel to England again next year when he will be able to see his mother who is 99 this year and a resident in a Saltwood Nursing home and his family, and of course his long lost special friend Pat who lives in the Hawkinge area.

Ron said he has never lost his love of England and spends a lot of time listening to BCC Radio Kent on the world wide web, especially his favourites, Pat Marsh and presenter and comic entertainer Paul James.

Looking back at his time in Hawkinge, he said he was shocked at the loss of the airfield to new homes.

"It's a pity to see this but it is the same the world over. City people are moving into my home town as well and the population is growing far too quickly. The world is a different place from when I left 47 years ago on that cold December day in 1960.

Editor's note: If this story stirs any memories or you have your own story to tell, email us here.