Novel approach to clean-up 26/07/2018
On 26th July 2018, the Friends of Kingsmead Field hosted a book reading by children’s author Priscilla Lamont. Below is press coverage of the event and details of her book, Hodge Podge Lodge: a rubbish story.
Opportunity to win money and help your local community
The next round (Dec-May) of the Friends of Kingsmead Field 200 Club is now open for entries.
For a small investment of £6 per share, you will have 6 chances to win a cash sum in our monthly draw. The money earned each month between December and May will go into a pot to be split equally between 1st/2nd place winners and a fundraising initiative determined by the Friends of Kingsmead Field committee. Previous 1st place winners have earned between £20 and £60 (depending on the number of shares sold).
Closing date for the purchase of shares is 30th Nov 2017. Up to this time, you can purchase 1 or more shares by filling in our new shareholders form and emailing it to Di at kf200@dibaldock.uk. Please note if you have previously held shares, you don’t need to fill in this form. Just contact Di on the above email address. Shares can be paid for up front or monthly via standing order.
The money raised for the Friends of Kingsmead Field will be put towards the purchase of a new bench. This will be installed under a new row of lime trees due to be planted next year along the Kingsmead Road edge of the field.
More information on the Kingsmead Field 200 Club is available on our website. If you have any general queries, you are welcome to ask here on Facebook or email Di. All enquiries about individual memberships, please contact Di directly.
Ongoing works on the field: Nov 2017 update
As regular visitors will no doubt be aware, there has been a lot of works on the field in recent months. Here is a update on the progress so far.
Picnic tables Following the vandalism of our original picnic tables, two brand new tables have now been installed in their place. Many thanks to the City Council for replacing the damaged tables.
Riverbank works The Kentish Stour Countryside Partnership have completed their work on the Kingsmead Field stretch of the Stour river. They have created a 2-stage channel, with a deeper area for fish and a shallower wetland for marginal plants and invertebrates. Planting will begin in Spring 2018 and we will be asking for volunteers to assist us. If you’re interested in the project or would like to help, please follow our updates on >Facebook.
Footpaths and cycle racks The footpath around the field is now complete and has increased the accessibility of the field to a much broader range of users. Attractive new cycle racks have also been installed near the main Kingsmead Road entrance.
Football pitch A 5-a-side football pitch has been marked out on the field to enable greater usage of the football goals that were installed last year.
Children’s play area The new Kingsmead Field play area is now finished and open. It features three local themes – the river, the field environment and the railway. Play facilities for young children (0-7 years) were one of the priorities identified by the consultation on the enhancement of the field in 2015.
Other leisure facilities Following the completion ofthe play area, an outdoor table tennis table will be installed in close proximity. For more information on this, and other forthcoming enhancements to the field, please join our >Facebook group.
Kingsmead Community Spring Clean 03/2017
Around 50 volunteers took part in Kingsmead Field’s local area litter pick as part of The Great British Spring Clean. Between us all we collected over 50 sacks of litter, a child’s bike seat, three supermarket trolleys, two traffic cones, a baby’s high chair and a pile of scrap metal.
Volunteers worked for 1 hour in teams around the Kingsmead area of Canterbury before bringing their rubbish sacks and other finds back to the field for tea (including Masala Chai- thanks Paul!) and coffee and to tuck into Charlotte’s delicious cakes and Di’s famous cheese scones.
All the other litter-picks which took place in Canterbury over the weekend (in Westgate Parks, Oaten Hill & South Canterbury, St Dunstan’s, St Stephen’s, and the University of Kent) went very well too – so, all in all, a great contribution to the Great British Spring-Clean! Overall, around 130 sacks of litter were cleared from these areas. Well done and many thanks to everyone involved!
Friends group wins ‘outstanding’ award 15/09/16
South and South-East in Bloom have just announced the results for the 2016. The Friends of Kingsmead Field is delighted to have received an ‘outstanding’ award in the It’s Your Neighbourhood category. This is an initiative run by the RHS to encourage grassroots community gardening and care for the local environment. As part of the same awards, Canterbury was awarded ‘gold’ in the small city category. Congratulations and thank you to all involved! To find out more about the initiative, see: > RHS It’s Your Neighbourhood
Community litter pick 11/09/2016
Thank you to everyone who joined in the Kingsmead Community Clean-up on Sunday 11 September. Over 35 people took part and there was a great community spirit. We collected 40 sacks of litter and retrieved 2 bikes, 2 scooters, an exhaust pipe, road signs, a traffic cone and a basin from the river. We are very grateful to the four councillors from St Stephen’s and Northgate for helping us.
