Western Heights Open Weekend 11/12 June 2011
- 12 May 2011 19:55105962Only a month to go now, so time to start keeping people up to date on the weekends event. We have the various re-enactment groups in attendence again and advertising/interest is already spreading far and wide.
Various stalls in and around the Grand Shaft Barracks site. Grand Shaft will be open FREE for the weekend, and the Drop Redoubt will remain at the bargain price of £3 for adults and £1.
Thanks to a grant from Dover Town Council we will have a FREE vintage open top bus running from the Castle, Market Square and the Western Heights (and possibly the seafront) so there is no need to bring your car !!
People would probably have seen the billboard signs starting to appear in various places around town (thanks to DDC)
Been nice knowing you :) - 12 May 2011 20:40105966should be a great june, not only the western heights weekend but also blue barry's hellfire corner two dayer too.
not bad for a town our size, hats off to the volunteers that make it possible. - 12 May 2011 22:23105987Yes, congratulations to them; they are making a difference. I will try and get to the Drop Redoubt this year too.
- 12 May 2011 22:39105989Posters and flyers to Blakes as usual please Paul.I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
- 12 May 2011 22:43105991Will pop by at the weekend Peter
Been nice knowing you :) - 16 May 2011 00:17106488Just published is our latest newsletter, absolutely free. If you'd like to see what we have been up to, please click here:
http://www.undergroundkent.co.uk/reports/newsletter_spring_summer_issue.pdf
The newsletter is produced and compiled by a small group of unpaid vounteers, so if readers appreciate what we have been trying to do, please support us and come along to our next Open Weekend at the Drop Redoubt on the 11th and 12th June.
This latest issue covers bats, vandalism, work at the Grand Shaft, tours, path clearances and other bits and pieces of interest. - 19 May 2011 13:01106882Thanks Phil - has been one of our busiest years up on the Heights.
As covered I am sadly taking a break from the commitee from this summer but I will still be an active member. I need a bit of a break after nearly 10 busy years and I hope to spend some time working an a possible book number two !!
It will be a busy weekend on Dover what with the Western Heights Open Weekend and the newly revamped Secret Wartime Tunnels at the Castle reopening. A good reason for people to come to the area for a whole weeked Been nice knowing you :) - 24 May 2011 21:52107583The Drop Redoubt has received a thorough cutting this week and is looking extremely tidy ready for the weekend. I am just finalising the bus timetable/route which will run hourly from the Market Square, Heights, Seasports Centre and the Castle. Thanks again to the Town Council for the funding for the bus
Been nice knowing you :) - 25 May 2011 05:59107594Looks good there Paul - well done to all the hard-working volunteers.
Good Luck for the open week-end.
Roger - 26 May 2011 07:40107698Here is the timetable/back of flyer
Been nice knowing you :) - 3 June 2011 13:52108769Thanks to some great research from Phil we have some interesting new interpretation panels that should be on display next week.
Even things most of us were unaware of in the history of the Drop RedoubtBeen nice knowing you :) - 4 June 2011 06:57108824Well done Phil - and everyone else too of course.
I sent round a circular email about it Paul, so hope that engenders more interest and visitors.
Let's hope the weather is kind too.
Roger - 4 June 2011 10:00108836Thanks RogerBeen nice knowing you :)
- 4 June 2011 11:10108845Yes, hope to see you, and all the forumites up there next weekend.
What I've been trying to do is over the last few months is populate the fort with real people, faces and historical events. Not an easy task when there is so little to work with and the records are so fragmentary. We've now got some fantastic new stories and photos including one gut-wrenching tale which you'd have to be made of stone not to find moving. - 4 June 2011 11:14108846And Phil won't even tell us until we see the final interpretation panel go up
Been nice knowing you :) - 4 June 2011 15:58108863I've just been looking at the 1891 census records of the Drop Redoubt and found there was a 21 year old Royal Artillery Gunner stationed there called Charles Elphicke, born in Eastbourne. It seems that there have now been two Charlie Elphickes overlooking our port!
- 4 June 2011 22:04108911Well, fancy that - I wonder if Charlie knows ? Have you told him Phil ?
Roger - Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,888
4 June 2011 22:45108916I suspect he will know now or very shortly.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
------------------------------------------------------------------- - 5 June 2011 00:49108924I left a message on Facebook on his page, so I hope he gets it. Absolutely true. I'm sure he will find it amusing. I wonder what Gunner Elphicke's story was?
- 10 June 2011 20:20109721Well, I hoped for an easy day today with the preparation for the weekend, but without going into details as of 6pm this evening we had NO bus service to the Western Heights as advertised below and across Kent-wide press !!!!! The planned service was very unfortunately cancelled at the eleventh hour.....
Frantic phonecalls around various coach/bus companies led me to a very helpful company in Deal who called their boss in to cover tomorrow (a 29 seater coach) and someone who was doing an early Essex pickup to do Sunday (59 seater). We are very grateful to them and I will publicly thank them when all is some as I don't want jinx things by naming them now !!
Unfortunately we won't have a vintage bus and it will be a modern luxury air-con coach, but it is still FREE to the public and is better than no service at all !!
Hopefully still see some of you at the Drop Redoubt and please say hello if you make it up there
PaulBeen nice knowing you :)
