Andy B
- Location: dover
- Registered: 10 Nov 2012
- Posts: 1,820
Has it closed already?
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
There must be a lot of local groups out there looking for funding the Town council are good in this way but cannot do it all, and there are not many companys that have money to give out at this time,the District council also have no money to give out as their own funding keeps getting cut back by the KC.C. so some groups might be turning to the D,H,B,for help and it is not helping them if you keep on about what is or not being done in the port, like firing a shot into your own foot.Mr Andy cannot help you ,I do not know if it is closed yet or open.
Guest 1416- Registered: 20 Nov 2014
- Posts: 77
Vic, can I please remind you that we are still living in a democracy that holds free speech as a sacred right. If DHB were to withhold good cause funding because of criticism, I think it would only end up showing the reality that DHB do not have the community of Dover as one of their core interests. Please do not scaremonger and try to stifle free speech by intimating DHB community funding could possibly be withdrawn if criticism of DHB continues.
A clear conscience is the sure sign of a bad memory.
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,893
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
Sorry, but first I am not a scaremonger.
Second My feelings are not based on facts it is just the way I see things.
But I am not going to stand by and let a few run down a company this doing well and doing work that is good for the port and the town and bring jobs. The port of Dover needs to keep moving on to stay a major port.If that does not happen we could see it end up like other ports around it
And I stand by what I have said every word of it.
But thank you for your post
As you said we hold free speech that also goes with what I say to.
.Also I have never said the D.H.B. would hold back funds.
I am as I said only giving out my own views as a member of the public.
Guest 643- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 1,321
Well said Nicola, not that Vic will accept what you say - he hates to be contradicted!
Your post makes a lot of sense and I along with Jan agree with what you say. Nice to see a (fairly) new member posting well informed information - thank you Nicola

There's always a little truth behind every "Just kidding", a little emotion behind every "I don't care" and a little pain behind every "I'm ok".
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
Sorry but I do not hate being contradicted ,in fact I like to read other views, also posts are a lot better now and not rude anymore so it is all good to read.
I have already said I am not well informed and just use my eyes to see what is going on .Just a member of the public with my own view. Thank you.
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
Vic is not an unreasonable man, he and I disagree 100% on the port but we remain friends.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
That is very true Mr Garstin and I am going to try and get down to see you both soon.

howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Charlie has been crowing about his achievements in the Mercury, usual stuff about the Hospital & Burlington house but he then claims credit for "a rising People's Port" despite there being no local representation at board level.
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
Yes there is get it right if you going to say things like this and the person is a member of the Dover society.
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,893
Vic Matcham wrote:Yes there is get it right if you going to say things like this and the person is a member of the Dover society.
Chosen but I thought Neil was still waiting to officially join the board, maybe he can clarify.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
DHB are claiming that opposition to their Harbour Revision Order is holding up the appointment of community directors. This is actually hogwash. If the draft HRO had been in accordance with the minister's statement last year there would have been no opposition to it. We suspect that DHB want to keep community directors out of the boardroom until it's too late to scrutinise their plans.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,893
That sounds a very plausible theory Peter, not that Vic will agree.

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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
The Dover Society chap is not a director fact.
Guest 1694- Registered: 24 Feb 2016
- Posts: 1,087
Mr Vic, The Dover Society chap is not a member of the Dover Harbour Board. He is on the Port Community Forum - a group formed by the DHB to be an advisory group. There are currently no community directors on the Board as we still await the outcome of DHB's latest Harbour Revision Order application.
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
Mr Wiggins sir. Thank you for that but fact is he still there in a advisory group.
Sorry but I did not agree with the DHB (There you are ,you have heard me say I am not always on their side.

)
I do not think they have pick yourself in the way I see it ,it was only done to keep a few members of the public happy like Mr Garstin head of a very small group with a very few paid up members.As the old saying goes better to have a person like yourself who does not agree with your set up in the window looking out ,then outside looking in,that way that person will not say any thing against what you are doing and it works every time .I do not think the D.H.B. need you or anyone .They know by just reading the forum and talking to groups already up and running that are in Dover what and how they can help the Town and district,indeed sir that is just what they are doing now talking to the councils and groups like the Port Community group who have members from the public of Dover talking about the best way that the port can help in the way of funding that the D.H.B give out. They do not have to do that or give out any funding but they are trying to show and act in a way that the public of Dover can see they do care about both the town and district that they work within.For years you have done nothing but run down what the D.H.B done and the way they work, yet they have been giving out funding for groups in Dover for many years they just did not shout about it.You only have to read what their own boss is saying in the local papers and the way they are are giving out funding ,that they do care ,so what we need to do is get behind them with support not keep biting the hand that feeds you.I could go on and on about this but no point there are just a few that will always be against the D.H.B. because they did not get what they wanted ,and that was the port taken out of the hands of the DHB and handed over to their own group,and sir that was never never going to happen it would have been a very bad move and port would have gone backwards not forward as we see it today. And there would have not been the funding they said there would have been because of paying back that very big loan ,and loan is a loan and it would have had to be paid back.I hope they do not go ahead and call you sir because they do not need to add to the already good set up they have.
Just to add I have nothing to do with the DHB I only know what I see and read with my own eyes I not even a cllr or member of any support group in Dover this is just my own views and my views only .
We only read about it so much on this forum because we get so few posts now that this is one of the very few that there is a feedback but a gain there are only a few that give feedback when there are many 1000s of the public that say nothing.
Guest 1694- Registered: 24 Feb 2016
- Posts: 1,087
"For years you have done nothing but run down what the D.H.B done and the way they work, yet they have been giving out funding for groups in Dover for many years they just did not shout about it"
Mr Vic, The above quote lifted from yours above is untrue. I did not and have not run down the DHB or the way the port works. I did oppose the privatisation of the port and at that time, when it looked certain that there was a determination to sell, came forward with an alternative ownership model that would have seen the port owned by its community. I used my knowledge and experience in the international ports and maritime sector to promote that alternative and to ensure that the port could not be sold to anyone else. Opposition to a proposed course of action and the works being undertaken by the organisation to prepare the ground for that course of action is not running down the organisation or everything that it does. Basically, what I said at the time was "there's a better way of doing things, I believe that what you are doing is wrong, here's a different, better, way of proceeding". Prior to the privatisation issue I was not prominently vocal, I had, and have, my own business working successfully in the international ports and maritime sector.
In the past, the former CEO made a very big virtue of not giving out to the community, things have begun to change and people have noticed the change. If they were doing no more, no less, than they have always done, no one would notice any difference.
There was a rigorous selection and interview process for the positions of community director and the selection panel reached their own decision on the same basis that any job interview panel arrives at an appointment decision. I have more than 30 yrs experience in ports and maritime, have served on boards of new and rapidly growing ports and delivered brand new, and now successful, ports and terminals in the private sector and I have worked my way up from the bottom, so perhaps I bring a few things to the table for both the port and the community.
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
No time now but I dis agree with some of what you are saying ,also sir they do not need you they are running the port well with staff that know what they are doing. Off air now and will not have a PC for some time.

Reginald Barrington
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 17 Dec 2014
- Posts: 3,259
If all that is from what Vic sees and reads, he needs new glasses and to re-learn how to read.
I like that he stands behind his views but that was almost entirely wrong from start to finish, come on Vic at least check some if your facts before posting!
Arte et Marte