NEWS
CURIOUS BREWERY &
GIVAUDAN UK LTD PARTNER FOR
KEY WORKER SUPPLIES
UK Brewer of the Year, Curious
Brewery, have teamed up with the
leading fragrance and flavour
company, Givaudan, to provide hand
sanitiser to key workers within the
local community.
The production team at the Curious
Brewery came up with the initiative
and, after initially producing its own
small scale spirits-based sanitiser,
teamed up with the local Givaudan site in Ashford to be able to deliver hand
sanitiser en-masse to the wider Kent community.
Between the two companies, more than 1 tonne of hand sanitiser is now
being distributed each week to key workers across the Kent region and wider
South East.
NATIONAL GARDEN SCHEME
GARDENS REMAIN VIRTUALLY OPEN
A stunning quartet of gardens in Kent supported the launch of the National
Garden Scheme’s Support Our Gardens Appeal.
Despite having to close its garden gates for the first time in its 93-year history
under current government guidelines on Coronavirus, the National Garden
Scheme has launched a new scheme that will keep its stunning gardens virtually
open through the coming weeks and raise funds to replace lost income from
gardens not opening.
To date, more than 300kg of the WHO-recommended handrub formulation
have been distributed to more than 100 Kent midwives, as well as 100kg to
Kent care homes, 50kg to three Ashford GP practises, the William Harvey
Hospital’s A&E department and to many more local key workers. From the stately acres at Riverhill Himalayan Gardens and a guided tour of
Godinton to a magnificent magnolia walk at Great Comp and the inspirational,
everyday seaside gardens of Whitstable there is a delicious selection of visits
to enjoy. 191 gardens were due to open across Kent this season and more will
be opening for virtual visits soon.
Stock is also being delivered, via the brewery’s customised ‘Beer Defender’,
to the ethical supermarket group, Farmdrop, who work directly with local
farmers to deliver farm-fresh produce to customers. Mary Berry, President of the National Garden Scheme, who launched the
Support Our Gardens Appeal in her own garden said:
Frazer Thompson, Chapel Down Group CEO, said “The hard work and
personal sacrifice that NHS workers are heroically displaying right now is also
being demonstrated by key workers in every community across the country
- from farmers and fruit pickers to delivery drivers and maintenance teams,
and from care home workers and midwives to postmen and refuse collectors.
Lives of so many individuals are being put at risk to help ensure the greater
public are able to survive and thrive, and so we have a duty to be protecting
these individuals as best we can.
“We are incredibly grateful to our friends at Givaudan for so swiftly adapting
their business to enable the large scale production of hand sanitiser.”
“This is a great partnership,” says Jonathan Fairclough, head of Givaudan’s
Ashford site, “Givaudan is a global organisation, but our sites are part of the
local community, and working with The Curious Brewery to support so many
key workers has been excellent.”
The Curious Brewery are inviting local community groups who are in need
of hand sanitiser to get in touch at [email protected].
"This wonderful organisation has been inviting people to open their gardens
to raise funds for nursing and health charities for more than ninety years.
During that time it has given away nearly sixty million pounds. Also during
all that time, the gardens have never had to close – not even during the Second
World War. That is until now.
"Garden owners have recorded videos of their gardens to make a series of
‘virtual visits’ and we are inviting everyone who might have visited a garden
to watch a virtual visit instead and think of giving a donation to the charity.”
National Garden Scheme CEO, George Plumptre added: "The wonderful
content that we are sharing while our gardens are closed provides an inspirational
reminder of exactly why gardens and gardening are so important to us all.
And, with your continued support while we are virtually open we hope to
ensure that we continue to open the gates to exceptional gardens, champion
gardens for health, and support some of the most vital nursing charities in the
country for many years to come."
To virtually visit Kent’s (and other’s) gardens visit:
ngs.org.uk/virtual-garden-visits
THE NEW BEACON COMMUNITY
LENDS A HELPING HAND
New Beacon parent, Mr Llewllyn has launched a new website www.make-more-
masks.com to coordinate the supply of face-masks and visors to meet the growing
demand from under-resourced hospitals, care homes and hospices. Mr Biddle and
his team at Tonbridge School have been producing masks and Mr Barratt, head
of design technology, has been hard at work at The New Beacon school creating
visors, supporting the work of many other school DT departments across the country.
Elsewhere The New Beacon community has been hard at work during lock down,
helping with the resourcing of two new local Covid-19 assessment units, one at
Tonbridge School with the second recently opening at Sevenoaks School; estate
staff have been delivering prescriptions for pharmacies and medical centres, along
with sourcing and transporting supplies to the two assessment units; whilst current
and former parents, led by Mrs Silva and Mrs Rodgers, have managed to source
an extraordinary collection of equipment, protective clothing and cleaning equipment
all supported by local Kent businesses.
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