insideKENT Magazine Issue 82 - January 2019 | Page 123

NEWS PUB IN THE PARK TO RETURN IN 2019 Tom Kerridge’s food and music festival, Pub in the Park, is returning to Tunbridge Wells from 12th-14 July 2019, bringing the people of Kent top-notch food and cracking live music for a three-day event. Expect amazing tasting dishes from pop-ups of award-winning pubs and restaurants, including Tom Kerridge’s The Hand & Flowers which last year served a sriracha and sesame chicken fried bao amongst other delicious signature plates. The menus will be released later in the year, but expect the same high standards and mouth-watering meals. There’ll be cooking demonstrations from some of the UK’s top chefs, who’ll be showing off their skills on the Chef Demo Stage. A wide range of bars will be serving bevvys from cocktails to cold ones and prosecco to Pimm’s, all topped off with some cracking music from the main stage to finish off the day nicely (last year there were highlights of Billy Ocean, Melanie C and Razorlight). All the line-ups including the chefs, pubs and music will be revealed in January, so keep an eye out. Tickets go on sale on 1st February, but for priority booking on 31st January sign up to the newsletter at www.pubintheparkuk.com. TREES RECYCLED INTO GARDEN FURNITURE IN CHARITY JOINT VENTURE Local trees otherwise destined for landfill are being turned into handcrafted garden furniture and other bespoke products in a joint venture between The Fifth Trust charity, Canterbury City Council and its parks and grounds contractor, Serco. The Fifth Trust Horticulture Manager, Peter Buscall, explains: “Occasionally a tree must be felled in one of the Council’s parks or gardens, or it falls down or becomes diseased. With this new sustainability scheme, timber from these trees can be turned into furniture or other products, giving it a new lease of life. We benefit from being able to sell the resulting products and the Council saves money in landfill costs.” The trees are sawn into planks by Serco and delivered to The Fifth Trust, an Elham Valley-based charity that offers support and training opportunities to adults with learning disabilities. Skilled carpenters work with the students to carefully craft the recycled trees into bespoke items available to order. Canterbury City Council’s Senior Contracts Manager for Commissioned Services, Tracy Flower, who is co-ordinating the sustainability project, says: “We have built a strong relationship with The Fifth Trust over the past nine years. With this new joint venture sustainability project, every plank can be traced back to its original source. When we remove a tree from an area, we will replace it where appropriate. Other parts of the felled tree can also be reused, with smaller pieces utilised for bird boxes and other wood products, and the remainder seasoned and made available as logs for wood burners. Money raised from selling benches and tables will be spent on the area from where the tree was removed. It makes for sound environmental good practice, provides additional amenities for the public and supports The Fifth Trust’s work.” 123