Look out this weekend for the Vintage Corporation making a welcome return to the Tower Theatre. They will be blasting away with their brand of sixties and seventies music.

tickets £5.00 and £4.00 concessions
Saturday 19th November  at 7.30pm

A new book by Nicholas Reed ISBN 978-1-901167-21-4

Major Ronnie Reed was Case Officer for Agent Zigzag, and the face behind Operation Mincemeat. He is introduced through a collection of recently released reports and photos from the National Archives, and intimate family snaps. How did this young man, with no money and minimal qualifications, reach such an important position in his twenties?

Why did Agent Zigzag (aka Eddie Chapman) give Ronnie his Iron Cross, awarded to Zigzag by Hitler himself? And how, within ten years, did Ronnie find himself heading the anti-Russian department of MI5, dealing with notorious spies like Philby, Burgess and Maclean?

In an interview filmed in 1994, shortly before Ronnie’s death, his son Nicholas learned his story in detail. Here Nicholas reproduces the interview and fills in the background of The Man Who Never Was.

The book will be published by Lilburne Press on 8th November 2011, price £9.95. Further details from www.lilburnepress.co.uk, or phone 01303 257 659.

This 200-page book, with 160 photographs, will be launched at the Folkestone Book Festival with an illustrated talk by Nicholas at 2 pm on Tuesday 8^th November 2011. Box Office: 01303 858 500.

DON’T MISS: Also in November, Chapman and Reed are featured in a six-page article in the November issue of Britain at War magazine. Another article about Chapman and Ronnie Reed will appear in the Daily Mail Saturday magazine for Saturday 12^th November, following an interview with Nicholas.

Nicholas was also filmed for a TV documentary, to be called “Double Agent – The Eddie Chapman Story”, to be shown on BBC2 at 9 pm on Tuesday 15^th November.

As the Olympic Year is fast approaching Visit Kent now presents My Kent’s Big Weekend Out 2012 - the biggest and best yet!  This year we are tying the event in with the Visit England Tourism Week which will provide important national marketing support as well as adding a transmanche element to promote our attractions to our French neighbours.

The event offers thousands of FREE tickets to Kent residents over the course of the weekend 17th and 18th March 2012. In return attractions get an opportunity to promote themselves to local people as well as gaining profile through local press, website and social media.  Over 85% of attractions who took part last year thought it was an excellent event for them and generated over £150,000 in secondary spend. 80% of local residents that took part said they would revisit the attraction they went to while 98% said they would recommend it to their friends and family.

Simply complete the online form below or for further details call Kelly Sharp on 01227 812905 or email on Kelly.sharp@visitkent.co.uk.  The deadline for registration for this event is 31^st December 2011, but we would appreciate your prompt confirmation of details.

Sign up the Big Weekend 2012 here

Operation Nightingale comes to Folkestone: A group of injured soldiers learn the skills of archaeology at Folkestone Roman villa as part of their physical rehabilitation.

Eight soldiers from 1st Battalion The Rifles (1 RIFLES) took part in the excavation of the Iron Age settlement and Roman villa at East Wear bay, Folkestone, for five days from Monday 24^th October.   All of the soldiers had been injured on active service in Afghanistan. They helped in the excavation as part of Operation Nightingale, a new initiative being developed by the army to use archaeology as therapy for recovering soldiers.

It is hoped the project will help to facilitate a return to the regiment for successful participants or provide a focus or hobby for those that may leave, as well as providing a sense of worth and purpose for the participants through learning new skills and building on team-working and social skills.

The excavation at East Wear Bay is taking place as part of a three year community archaeology project, ‘A Town Unearthed: Folkestone Before 1500’. The project is a partnership between Canterbury Archaeological Trust, Canterbury Christ Church University and the Folkestone People’s History Centre and is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Roger De Haan Charitable Trust, with additional contributions by Folkestone Town Council, Kent Archaeological Society, Kent County Council,  Shepway District Council, East Folkestone Change Together and the Tory Family Foundation.

The dig, which is being directed by Keith Parfitt of Canterbury Archaeological Trust, has uncovered new evidence about the Roman occupation of the site, but also significant evidence of a large Iron Age settlement that existed there before the Roman period, and which seems to have been a major focus of power and trade in the 1^st centuries BC and AD.

Corporal Steven Winterton of 1 RIFLES has already spent four days at the site, as part of the development of Op Nightingale. His finds included a small Roman intaglio gem, probably a setting from a finger-ring. Corporal Winterton said, “I’ve really enjoyed the experience so far. It’s been brilliant. I’ve always had an interest in archaeology and this week has rekindled that. The project has been a great help in lifting the day-to-day burdens following my injury. It gives all of us participating in the project the chance to acquire new skills to help develop our future careers.”

Rifleman Jake Watts who was at the Folkestone Roman Villa dig last week said “I didn’t know what to expect when we were told we would be doing archaeology but I went into it with an open mind and I have enjoyed it, especially the precise work”

Rifleman Watts and the others have previously been digging in the spill from badger sets on Salisbury Plain where they found Iron Age material. Rifleman Ashley Meredith said “To be honest when I came into it I thought it would be quite boring but when we were told what we were looking for and about the things that we had found – pottery bones, flint tools - I started to become interested.”

Operation Nightingale is the brainchild of Sergeant Diarmaid Walshe of 1 RIFLES. Sergeant Walshe, who is also a qualified archaeologist, said, “These soldiers have all endured a lot during operational tours. Due to the complex nature of their physical and mental injuries sustained in Afghanistan, the Army is looking at new and innovative ways to promote recovery. It is my belief that archaeology is the perfect way to achieve this, whilst enhancing their rehabilitation process. We are investing time and resources to aid these soldiers, with a firm belief that fieldwork and recording will aid their recovery.”

More than 500 soldiers from 1 RIFLES have deployed to Afghanistan where they have had considerable success in ensuring that local people can live and work in a safe environment.

The excavations at the villa dig continue. Recent discoveries include the remains of a pre-Roman road or path constructed of small stones that possibly led down to the beach. The dig continues for seven days a week and the site can be visited in any day between 10.0 am. and 4.00 pm.

For further information on A Town Unearthed contact Hannah Lewis on 01303-850614 or visit the website: www.atownunearthed.co.uk

Folkestone Decorative & Fine Arts Society (FDFAS)

For our last lecture Peter Medhurst brought “Music inspired by paintings, paintings inspired by music” vividly to life with sound and digital images. Absolutely marvelous.

Thursday 24 November at 2.30pm. Kenneth Clark: a one-man NADFAS. British author, museum director, broadcaster, and one of the best-known art historians of his generation, brought to us by Nicholas Reed. Meetings are held at The Tower Theatre, North Road, Shorncliffe. Visitors are welcome at £5. Info: e-mail folkestone@nadfaskentarea.org.uk or telephone 01303 239530 or visit our website: www.nadfaskentarea.org.uk