Mummy’s of Thanet

I have the best mother in the whole world!

I am sure most of us relate to that. And many of us are trying to be one!

Beachwalkmuse in chat with some of the mother’s around in Thanet with some interesting stories to share…

The Curio in Margate

 

Jo Willis, the creator of The Curio in Margate and an amazing photographer is a new mother and lives in Margate with her husband Dom and daughter Dulcie. Jo speaks to beachwalkmuse about her journey….Read More

 

Helter – Skelter

 

Fiona Crawford runs Helter Skelter in Broadstairs which has recently won Britain’s Friendliest Business Award. She is a single mother of a 15 year old and provides a safe haven for all the parents of toddlers in Broadstairs…

Beachwalkmuse finds out more about Fiona…Read More

 

Beach Within Reach

Being a mother is a full time job. But for Debbie Fifield, it is literally so. She is a registered full-time carer for her 13 year old son Ryan who has a rare disorder. When she is not looking after him, and managing her son’s twin sister’s teenage tantrums, she volunteers for Beach within Reach. She says she is forced to go to One Direction’s gigs with her daughter but I think she secretly loves them nonetheless…

Debbie Fifield in talks with beachwalkmuse…Read More

 

TAG Rescue – Thanet

Yasmine Moss is a 21 year old and owns 6 rescue dogs. She is not a typical mother of a child, but she is a mother figure to not only her own dogs but has helped hundreds of dogs in her lifetime so far…She is a vegetarian and owes her mother  a lot, who is also an ardent animal lover, for what she is today.

I don’t know about many others, but I admire her work and cherish her acquaintance…

Yasmine Moss, finally finds time to speak to Beachwalkmuse about her favourite topic – Rescuing dogs…Read More

TAG Rescue – Thanet

Yasmine Moss is a 21 year old and owns 6 rescue dogs. She is not a typical mother of a child, but she is a mother figure to not only her own dogs but has helped hundreds of dogs in her lifetime so far…She is a vegetarian and owes her mother  a lot, who is also an ardent animal lover, for what she is today.

I don’t know about many others, but I admire her work and cherish her acquaintance…

Yasmine Moss, finally finds time to speak to Beachwalkmuse about her favourite topic – Rescuing dogs…

Tell us something about yourself?

I was born in Margate and have lived in Birchington my whole life. I did my degree in law from University of Kent. After finishing my degree last year, I went on to working for Tag and started fostering dogs.

How did you get involved with TAG?

My mum has always been an animal lover. She was always into animal rights since she was very young. So she knew TAG and she knew Debbie who is from TAG. When I expressed my desire to working with rescue animals, she put me through them and that’s how I started working for TAG.

When was your first rescue?

I think my rescue was when I was around 19 and we found this dog called Marcey in the pound, whose time was up and she was about to be put down. And so I decided to rescue her. We did eventually find her a home – took us about a year but we got there.

So apart from TAG what are you doing job wise?

Right now I am, apart from TAG which is my part time job [so she says!] I also help my brother with his property development business. I manage some properties in Margate. I did a law degree but that is not where my heart is at the moment. I love property and working with TAG part-time allows me the flexibility to pursue my other interests.

What is it that you like about rescuing dogs? What is the most rewarding part?

We have had rescue dogs since I was a baby. My mother would rescue all kind of crazy dogs, so to not have a dog would be weird. Rescuing and finding homes for the dogs is just natural for me. That is how I was raised, perhaps to be an exceptionally tolerant and accepting of dogs in need.

The rewarding bit is to see them improve in health, behaviour etc. Most dogs who come to us or we rescue come with major trauma’s. One of the greatest example would be my dog MILO who was found under a coffee table peeing all over out of fear of people. He was really scared of hands – meaning he got abused a lot. But now he’s come out of his shell, he is outgoing, he enjoys life and to see them come such a long way is very rewarding.

Do you keep a count of how many dogs you have rescued so far?

For TAG, last year we homed about 90 dogs. But I also work for a little rescue called Angels for Dogs which is my mum’s and her best friend rescue organisation. So we rescue from them as well. So between us we have rescued about 60 dogs.

There are so many staffies in the shelters, what are the main reasons why they end up in the shelter? 

Most of them come because they fall pregnant, or are unwanted puppies. Some people don’t want a dog after they get into a fight. When people get a dog, they don’t take certain factors into consideration. We never rehome two females in the same house. They get very dominant and tend to get into fights. And a female dog fight is far worse than males. Males fight and forget but females like humans hold a grudge. It is very hard to rehabilitate them to be together.

What do you do to unwind?

If I find time, I like to sleep. But I have got some really lovely friends, if I am stressed and tired I can just call a friend and pop out for drinks or coffee. They understand that this job stresses me out and sometimes makes me upset so I need to talk to people and my friends are always there. I am very lucky that way with my friends. And taking my dogs out as well, walking them and spending some time with them is really nice. When you are fostering a dog, a lot of your attention is on the new dog and your own pack gets ignored so as and when I get a chance, I try to take my lot out on my own and enjoy bonding with them.

If somebody wants to get involved with TAG, what can they do?

Apart from fostering, one can always volunteer at the centre. You will have to contact TAG for that. One of the biggest thing for us at all times is fund raising. It costs us about £2,000 just to look after the kennels. So if anybody could fund raise on our behalf or contribute to TAG, that would be a great help.

We have a lot of Romanian dogs coming in? And there are a lot of people not quite understanding the need to rescue them when we already have so many dogs in our own shelter? What would you say to that?

As I said earlier that TAG has a lot of Staffordshire Bull Terriers and a lot of people don’t want a staff. I get a huge amount of phone calls saying that they don’t want a pit bull or pit bull kind of dog and I have to ask, “do you mean a staff?” People don’t want them and they have a bad reputation and unfortunately you can’t change everyone’s mind.

For me personally, no matter where the dog comes from – Africa or Romania, if a dog can come here and find a home that’s brilliant.

Romanian dogs are street dogs. Their only problem is fear of people. But that is easy to fix with food and affection. Most English dogs in my opinion are spoilt brats. They are victims of neglect or lack of training, abuse and trauma’s which can sometimes take a lot longer to fix. Most of them are not socialised at an early stage, whereas street dogs are already socialised, one doesn’t have to worry about doggy socialisation, that comes to them naturally.

Also dogs in our rescue are not suitable for everyone’s lifestyle, whereas these Romanian dogs are very humble and easy to look after. They just need their little spot to sleep and be fed. Everyone can find a dog amongst them.

People often don’t know how much to walk their dogs. Or they give up because the dog pulls a lot. what would you say to people with such dogs?

I would say get up early, take them out for a walk and try different places. When you take them to the same place, they get bored and pull you towards what attracts them the most. Take them to different places. Exercises is not just a long run, sometimes a short walk but full of smell like a walk to the woods would stimulate the dog’s mind so much that they’d sleep peacefully for a few hours. There has to be a balance between physical and mental exercise. Both are important.

A lot of dogs are not neutered. Would you like to stress on the importance of neutering/spaying your dog?

The reason that there are no many dogs in the centre is because people don’t neuter and spay their dogs. I think a lot of people, especially men don’t like to neuter their male dogs thinking it makes them less of a man or something. But the fact is that the dog can get cancer and you wouldn’t even know it until its too late. And with females, it is so common to find their wombs being infected and they die within a matter of days. And treating that itself is £1,000 if that happens. It is a shame that as a country we’ve come to a point where we have to neuter every possible dog. Just because of a few irresponsible owners, we now neuter every dog. Some dogs are lovely with all their bits but then again in todays time it is only responsible to neuter than otherwise.

Any advice for people who want a dog for their children?

Well a dog is not for children. We have many cases where parents bring a puppy back because their kids wanted the dog but won’t pick up the mess or walk the dog. Children who want dogs, are not necessarily going to look after them even if they promise. As an adult, parents need to know that when they adopt a dog for their children, the major responsibility is theirs. It is not fair on the dog to be passed on from one handler to another because you child couldn’t take the responsibility. I never picked up any of my dogs’ poo for until I was around 18 or so. A dog is not a present, it is a responsibility of at least 15 years.

Yasmine Moss can be contacted through Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/yasmine.moss.798?fref=ts

Or visit their website for animals in need of homes : http://www.tagpetrescue.org.uk/

 

Beach Within Reach

Being a mother is a full time job. But for Debbie Fifield, it is literally so. She is a registered full-time carer for her 13 year old son Ryan who has a rare disorder. When she is not looking after him, and managing her son’s twin sister’s teenage tantrums, she volunteers for Beach within Reach. She says she is forced to go to One Direction’s gigs with her daughter but I think she secretly loves them nonetheless…

Debbie Fifield in talks with beachwalkmuse…

What brought you to Margate?

Originally from Birmingham, I lived in London for a while as an adult. My parents brought a guest house in Margate when I was 15. So we came here because of that and then when I was 17, I moved away to London to work. The biggest change that came to me then was when I was 20 and I was running an off license. There was an armed robbery and I was quite badly injured in the armed robbery and I decided I didn’t want to be here anymore.

So I went abroad to work for a while and then when I came back to England I started working for EuroStar. Enjoyed my work and a few years later got offered a very good redundancy package. So I left that and went on to running a pub and then fell pregnant a few months later. I stopped working, as when I fell pregnant we found out that Ryan was going to have problems. I split up with the children’s father when they were 10 months old and then we came out here, since my parents were still down here. And we’ve been down here ever since, just caring for the kids.

Tell us about your children and how has motherhood changed your life?

I have two children, Ryan and Sophie who are 13 years old twins. Ryan has severe disabilities and Sophie doesn’t. Ryan has what is called the mono syndrome, which is a rare disorder which stands for obesity, mental disorder and ocular abnormalities. Because of Ryan, I had to give up my job as I am registered as his full time carer. Ryan doesn’t burn out much energy during the day as he is wheelchair bound which means he stays up a lot during the night leaving me very exhausted during the day. But I do get some time to catch up on my sleep whilst he is in school. Having said that those are the only few hours when I can get some chores done because once he is home, there is no time for anything else.

How is life at the moment?

We’ve had a big life changing thing this year. We have been waiting for seven years for the house to be adapted and also have a house that was right for Ryan. Three years ago we moved into a council home and only in August they came to make the changes. It has been a long wait but now I finally have a bathroom which is right for Ryan. We now have an accessible bathroom, kitchen and garden which also makes my life easier as he has help himself to a lot of things now. So life is good at the moment.

Has this experience of motherhood changed you as a person?

Yes, I am definitely not selfish at all as I used to be. I used to live in London, living well beyond my means and generally living a great life. But now, I put the kids first. I have stopped smoking, I don’t drink – all of the things I did as a single person before I was a mother, I have stopped them all.

It must be very difficult for Sophie to not feel left out? What can you do as a mother ?

Sophie has always felt that way. I would say she must have been about three when she said you love Ryan more than you love me because you spend all your time with him. As a mother you feel guilty all the time. Everytime she comes home, if she’d had a row with something, had fallen out with something or had a bad day in general, it makes you wonder whether it is because you haven’t spend enough time with her. It is common with children whose siblings are disable to find it difficult to adjust to the fact that they have a sibling who needs more of your parents attention.

So I send Ryan away to respite. I get 29 nights a year to myself and that’s when I do something with Sophie whether it is taking her to a gig or holiday away etc.

How did you get involved with Beach within Reach…

Beach within reach started about 7 years ago. But the people who were associated with it due to personal circumstances couldn’t be involved anymore. And four years ago I was approached (as I have been involved with the Wheelchair charity in the past). And that is how I got involved with the charity.

How does it all work?

Initially it was Pfizers and a lot of charities that helped fun raise the wheelchairs for the Thanet area. And the wheelchairs stay in the storage a lot throughout the year although we’d like them used all the time. And during the summer times, there is a bay inspector on the beach, then the wheelchairs go out to the bay inspectors and then they are free of charge for anybody who has ability impairment (adult or a child) who want to access the beach.

How many of such chairs are available at a time?

There are about 16 of them. During any season we have about 10 of them out during the summer.We have a couple in Margate, couple in Broadstairs and other bays. We also have couple in Westbrook and so on. And then people can simply go along and ask the bay inspector who can then make the wheelchairs available.

Who funds them?

Because we don’t charge anybody for using them, we depend hugely on fundraising. Some of it , we do it ourselves and we also have our big fundraising event which is in May. At the moment Thanet classic cars – we are their sponsored charity of the year. And the Broadstairs Mayor Rosalind Binks – she has just raise over £600 for us at one of her quiz nights. And Thanet Farmers Market also had us as their charity at the beginning of the year. So we do depend a lot on people and companies generosity.

You are incredibly busy and have your hands full. What do you do to unwind?

I walk. I love walking – I used to walk a lot with my friend but she’s just moved.

If you were given a choice to work? What would you like to do as a job?

Everybody alway say that I am very good at organising but I think that is because I worked so long for EuroStar organising people’s travel around Europe. And actually that is something I am having to think about it because Ryan has been offered a place in a school where he is supposed to board during the week. So from September I have to work but only during term time. So obviously, the only job where I can work would be in a school. But I have no experience in that, so I don’t know where to find a job.

If you had a choice of gaining a skill instantly, what would that be?

It will have to be something to do with languages and travel. I used to travel a lot and a skill that could take traveling would be one I’d like to have.

What have you learned from your mother about parenthood? How has that effected your relationship with your children?

I have learnt to not to be like my mum. My relationship with my mother isn’t a good one, and has never been a close one. She wasn’t the one who would hug and say I love you. So I try to be as loving and positively expressive to my children. I try to always try to hug and kiss, the only thing is Sophie being a typical 13 year old doesn’t want to hold hands walking down the street or when she wants a cuddle, it will have to be on her terms; whereas Ryan, he is always happy to have a cuddle because he is still like a little boy and always will be.

Lastly, how would you like to spend your Mother’s Day?

My ideal mother’s day would doing what my children enjoy doing.

Debbie is organising a sponsored walk on Sunday, May 11th for Beach within Reach. It is a 6 mile sponsored walk starting at the Lighthouse Bar in Margate on the Harbour Arm, we walk to Westgate Bay cafe and then walk back again. Normally takes 2 hours at the most. So if somebody would like to either sponsor somebody who is walking or participate in the walk, please get in touch with us.

Debbie can be contacted through

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Beach-within-Reach/114076668609482?ref=ts&fref=ts

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Beachinreach

Or simply visit the website on : beachwithinreach.org.uk

 

Helter – Skelter

Fiona Crawford runs Helter Skelter in Broadstairs which has recently won Britain’s Friendliest Business Award. She is a single mother of a 15 year old and provides a safe haven for all the parents of toddlers in Broadstairs…

Beachwalkmuse finds out more about Fiona…

Tell us about yourself?

I have Helter Skelter which is a children’s play cafe and toddler party venue which runs a range of activities like baby sensory, toddler time, arts and crafts etc. We also have very good food. We’ve been going on for about four years now. We are also very much involved in the community and do our best to promote the area through here and by joining the Broadstairs & St.Peter’s Chambers of Commerce and now Broadstairs Town Team.

What kind of community work?

When I opened – I think most businesses will have similar stories. Broadstairs is promoted as a very prosperous town. But when you start a business here you find out that it’s not. After a few months of opening Helter Skelter, some of the shops were closed down. And that’s when I realised that we need to get involved. So I started a group on facebook called Save Broadstairs High Street. It was a small group of us who decided to then join the Chambers and really since then we’ve been working on how to attract people to use the town.

We do loads of events. We do a lot to support local businesses. We put together the Big Broadstairs Weekend where we put a film on a big screen on the beach. The first year’s turnaround won us a Guinness World Record. There were well over a thousand people who tuned up. But after a while it got so busy we couldn’t count them all so we only accounted for 882. But that was great.

This year it won’t happen as TDC (Thanet District Council) has decided to not fund it. It is a shame but we won’t be able to do it this year.

We also do Christmas Events, we have started doing the Halloween party etc. So we do come up with ideas that involve everyone from around the town.

When the Portas thing came up, I thought let’s get a town team together. And through that we have started up something called Brush-Up Broadstairs where we get people together and do litter picks and things like that; we are also starting up a gardening group, we do painting projects – we painted the harbour wall down the bottom and there’s also a mural down there.

You have recently won an award. Tell us about that?

Britain’s Friendliest Business!

It is a wonderful feeling. It is a brand new award set up by a company called Liberis. What is wonderful about it is that it is recognising the unsung heroes of customer service and business that go beyond in delivering everything from customer service to businesses that are very much involved in the community. So we had to get our customers to vote for us and we have received some really wonderful comments form our customers.

I used to come here with my little ones and it seems like there is an incredible sense of community right here?

That is true. We see different people coming here and we have had many of our customers saying that they’ve made some really good friends here. Some people come here to simply enjoy food with their children who might be a bit older or have out grown the activities here but still like to come and enjoy the energy. So there is definitely a sense of community and that is what we have being trying to achieve where mummy’s and daddy’s can come and enjoy as well as their children.

How did you come up with the idea of Helter Skelter?

I originally used to work in London. I used to be a headhunter. Then I got poorly, I had meningitis so I quite my job and decided to live by the coast. When I started recovering I realised I will have to earn a living and really didn’t want to go back to London. Then someone told me that there was a gap for kids play. So I started off Play Bay in Ramsgate with a friend. And several years later the Methodist Church was looking for an alternative use for the place, they needed to find other sources of income and we were approached to open up here in Broadstairs. But it took such a long time to set up that we decided to separate the two businesses and the business partners at Play Bay stayed in Ramsgate and we started off on our own here in Broadstairs.

What are you going to do with the reward money?

I am going to throw a BIG party for all my helpers, customers and people who have helped us get here.

You are also a mother?

Yes I am a single mother. I have a 15 year old son. A teenager – he is great. He is absolutely brilliant, apart from the fact that he is very lazy and he won’t do his homework!

Do you have a favourite stage in your child’s life or as a mother?

Each stage you think he is perfect and you want him to stop growing and you want him the way he is. Although I do miss the time when I could hold him, because he is very cuddly and now he is taller than me but he is still very cuddly. I am sure he’d hate me for saying that. The only thing about now is that he not so interested. So getting him to do stuff is hard. And that’s quite sad at times. But then that’s part of life.

Have you always raised you son as a single parent? Is it difficult to raise a son on your own?

Well I have my sister living with me. And he sees his dad a lot. It is easy from the point of view that it is my decision making. But then on the other hand financially it is hard when you are on your own. I guess, when I was ill it was blooming tough but on the whole I don’t find it difficult.

I don’t think I am the best mum or the worst – I might have let him stay up late, I might have let him play video games a bit too long but I think we have a pretty good relationship overall.

What has been the worst and rewarding part of being a mother?

I am not a very tough person. But now my son’s got GCSES and the school called us up saying he isn’t working hard enough and I have been working quite a lot and neglecting him, so I had to be tough on him so he gets his work done. I think that is the hard part. But the school is now happy, he is doing well again and he seems happy too. So I guess being tough when it doesn’t come naturally to you is the worst part.

The most rewarding part (I am going to cry now), is knowing that in his heart he still loves me (although he is a typically 15 year old teenager) and that itself is very rewarding.

You have you hands full with variety of different work that you do, yet if I had to give you a choice to pick a different job, what would that be?

I actually love what I do – I love meeting people, I love kids, it feels like it is coffee morning everyday. I only wish I could make more money out of it. I enjoy organising events like I do with the town team – so I think it would be something like an events co-ordinator or something on those lines.

How would your son describe you in just three words you think?

Snuggly, pushy and funny.

And how do you unwind?

I can sleep for Britain. I like my bed. Being with my friends is what I like and I also like going out dancing. I used to do meditation as well but I haven’t done that in ages.

What is one skill you would like to gain?

Admin and book-keeping. I am terrible with accountancy.

Is there anything you miss doing that you did before becoming a mother?

I used to be a culture-vulture. I used to love going to the theatre, art exhibitions etc. Having said that now my son is 15 and I can start doing those things all over again, now my only constraint is work and all my voluntary commitments which I enjoy.

What would you ideal Mother’s Day be like?

My ideal Mother’s Day would be when my son will wake up in the morning and make me breakfast in bed. I’d like him to jump in bed ,give me a cuddle and take me out for lunch (he’s not going to love hearing that). But I do like it when he makes breakfast in bed for me.

 

 

The Curio in Margate

Jo Willis, the creator of The Curio and an amazing photographer is a new mother of just a few weeks old Dulcie and lives in Margate with her husband Dom. Jo speaks to beachwalkmuse about her journey….

Tell me about your move to Margate?

We moved to Margate three years ago. Before that, we were living in London and both my husband and I wanted to move out of London. We tried buying a house down there and things fell down quite dramatically. We’d come to Thanet – Broadstairs for a weekend. Infact, we stayed at Jilly’s Belvidere Place. We started looking at the estate agent’s window, knowing that we’d liked the place (Thanet) already.

When we got married we got married in Dungeness , and then drove back. We stopped at various places, one of them was Margate. We stayed at the Nayland Rock Hotel in 2009 . We were the only people at the hotel. But even then there was something about it that we really – really liked!

So it was that time, we had a bad experience in London and we wanted to move out. We were to-ing and fro-ing between Hastings and Margate for similar reason. They both were at the stage where things were starting to happen, things were starting to change but you could still get nice properties for a lot cheaper.

When it came down to picking a place, we found out that Margate was the friendliest place. Having come down for a few weekends, we’d already started to make friends. So that was a big deciding factor. Nobody spoke to us in Hastings but in Margate people saw us a couple of times and that was it. They came up to us and started talking. When we found the house, we made the offer and moved in within 5 or 6 months. It all happened very quickly .

What were you doing for a living before becoming a mother?

I spent years working in the interiors and art directions. Then I quit that job and started working at this reclamation company. So I was doing photography of their interiors but then also started doing a bit of furniture dealing. I did a degree in photography but hadn’t worked as a photographer in a long time. My husband is a freelance film-maker (commercials) and he was looking for new projects. We both wanted to get out of London and work on our projects and do it in a place where we could afford to do it. And, also do it in a place where it felt like there was opportunities to have a go and do things.

You have been involved with Resort studios. What is Resort Studios?

There’s a group of us. The original group is of about six of us. We all decided we wanted to set up a studio. It is basically a big warehouse with two floors where all of us have our little work space – the ground floor is a big gallery. We have had little shows and a couple of theatre companies do their things in there. And we are planning to open a cafe in there at some point. The first floor is one big open space studio where all of us have our own freestanding pods almost like sheds just nicer.

Tell me a little bit about how did your website The Curio came into being?

When we moved to Margate I was still going to London and doing my job at this interior company and I wanted to do something here. I kept meeting people who were meeting here, buying amazing places, doing up their houses, setting up shops and doing really interesting things that were starting to stand out. Like when GB Pizza came up, they were one of the first people I’d photographed. It was the first, (sounds cheesy) but ‘cool’ restaurant, a place where you’d want to sit and hang out. That’s one place of its kind and since then a lot of places have come up. I was getting more and more annoyed by people always talking negative about the place and also people were not recognising that there were people who wanted to come and live here and yet things were being demolished – beautiful buildings, structures etc. It seemed to me like, there was a mentality of Cliftonville especially was really run down, so let’s not fix it but knock it down.

In my opinion as many others, is that the period houses have a huge amount of demand and a particular kind of person would like to buy these houses and that’s what you should be promoting. So I went to see Rebecca Smith from the Thanet Gazette and said that I wanted to do an interior piece for her which would show housing and property in Thanet . There are a lot of houses, people with interesting lives, people who have lived here for years etc who are never being written about. And that is what I tried doing through the Curio. Rebecca said yes and that’s how it all started.

What’s the plan for The Curio now?

Right now because of the baby I have stopped obviously but I have a plan of making a book out of it. And I will be doing more of such stuff with new ideas, definitely.

Run me through your journey to Motherhood?

Dom and I got married in 2009, five years now. When we were in London, we had a miscarriage. And we decided at that point that we wouldn’t try again until we are properly settled. And then we were here for a year or so, we thought it’d be very nice to have a child here. There’s a beach down the road, we have a lot of friends here who have kids, it felt like this was the right place to have a baby than in London anyway. So the baby was planned and it all happened VERY quickly.

Fondest memory with your mum as a child?

The thing that I remember is that my mum, who is an art and textile teacher, so we always used to make clothes and things with her. She used to being home these Batique sets and we’d sit in the kitchen Batique’ing. So it was always like that, making clothes, knitting or some sort of textile or art based things.

As a new mother, are you finding it difficult?

No I am enjoying it, definitely. The only difficult part is lack of sleep. Everyone tells you how tired you are going to be but you have no idea until actually have a baby.

What’s the best part about being a mum?

It is early days and she is sleeping all the time. It is all about her at the moment- cleaning her, feeding her etc. But she is starting to smile. And she would look at you and smile – not asking to feed her but you can tell that she is just happy that you are there. So that’s the thing I am enjoying receiving and over the next few weeks, that is going to develop more. And that is going to be very rewarding when she can give your a proper massive grin.

What kind of mother would you like to be to your little one?

My relationship with my mother was a positive one and if I didn’t have a good relationship with her I probably wouldn’t have wanted to be a mum myself. I mean that is the kind of effect it has on me. My upbringing was lovely and happy and they supported me in everything I wanted to do. And that’s how I’d like to be as a mum. I hope we can do things together like shopping, go to theatre etc.

Is there anything that you miss doing that you could do before becoming a mother?

I have done a lot. I am not a very young mum. I have done quite a lot work wise and otherwise. And I am not ready to be a mother and making it all about my child.

What changes in you as a person when you become a mother?

You realise priorities in true sense. Before you could spend hours obsessing about something that you’d now think as not so important in the grander scheme of things. Suddenly, what is important for the baby is important to you.

How do you unwind?

I am watching lots and lots of films at the moment. We’ve always watched a lot of films because Dom is obsessed with films. So yes, watching films, going for walks and knitting.

This is going to be your first Mother’s Day. How would you like to spend it?

My first mothers day, my mother is going to be here. And it is also my neighbour’s daughters first birthday. So I think we will be spending my first mother’s day at her first birthday.

 

Chicken and Spinach Curry

This is a very easy, quick and a simple recipe. It takes less than 45 minutes to cook and the spice – level is/should be mild. Spinach doesn’t taste as good when cooked with a lot of spices and herbs, in my opinions.

Ingredients

For the marinade

2.5cm/1in piece fresh ginger, finely chopped

5 garlic cloves, finely chopped

 ¼ tsp salt

 1 lime, juice only

 1 tsp ground coriander

 ½ tsp chilli powder

 1 tsp ground turmeric

 ½ tsp ground cumin

 2 chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces

 2 tbsp plain/greek yoghurt

 For the curry

 1 tbsp sunflower oil

 1 red onion, peeled and finely sliced

 2 tomatoes, seeds removed, flesh finely chopped

 1 tbsp tomato ketchup

 splash water

 75ml double cream

 Handful of baby spinach leaves (I used frozen)

 Salt to taste

 Method:

Marinade the chicken with all the ingredients for about 15 minutes, preferably 1 hour, in the fridge.

For the curry, heat the oil in a saucepan. Fry the sliced onions until translucent. Then add the chicken and cook fro 5 minutes. Then add the tomatoes and the ketchup. Pour in the double cream with a splash of water and cook away for 10 minutes. Add spinach and salt to taste. Cook until chicken is firm and thoroughly cooked.

Serve hot with white basmatic rice.

Thanet’s Most Impressive Women 2014

It is International Women’s Day, and what better way to celebrate than to find out more about some of the women of achievement living in our own neighbourhood. Here are some of my favourite women of 2014, who I think, are very inspiring and successful women out there.

The Doll’s  House has left; but a very special Toy Shop is coming to Broadstairs…

Small World was the name of the doll’s house shop on the corner of York Street in Broadstairs, and it must have felt like a fortuitously small world for Ashleigh Millward, who – months after moving into a house just around the corner from it – and already the owner of an online-only traditional children’s toy shop, found that the business was up for sale, as owner Bee returned home to Thailand. 

Ashleigh, who is 26 year old and already a wife, a mother and a business owner is pretty (as you can see), smart, focussed and doesn’t shy away from something in between a giggle and a full blown laughter. I popped into the shop, where she was hard at work transforming it into a lighter, brighter space for her traditional toys, to find out more about her:

 

The Reading Rooms

Meet Louise Oldfield. Trail-blazing B&B landlady, via Sheffield, Florence and now Margate. FInd out more here:

Proper Coffee House – Margate

From Marine Archeology, to pole dancing* to now the owner of Proper Coffee House in Margate, Violet, has lived an interesting life. Raised in a small town in Cambridgeshire, Violet, 27  comes from a family of artists. After some travelling and exploring various interests she has now fulfilled one of her biggest dreams; of offering people a cosy cafe that serves the best coffee in town and homemade cakes to everyone’s liking. 

*Oh just for exercise! 

 Read More..

Chang Crafted

Beachwalkmuse meets Fiona Chang, owner of Chang Crafted. She is a former police officer. She has a household of 6 children every other weekend (two of her own and four of her husband’s) and they are now expecting their third child together. Many would find themselves stuck in their family life, but amidst so much chaos, Fiona Chang has found a way to be independent and creative.

Fiona and I met at Proper Coffee House and had a great time catching up on things.

In conversation with Fiona Chang, owner of Chang Crafted…

Read More

The Doll’s House has left; but a very special Toy Shop is coming

Small World was the name of the doll’s house shop on the corner of York Street in Broadstairs, and it must have felt like a fortuitously small world for Ashleigh Millward, who – months after moving into a house just around the corner from it – and already the owner of an online-only traditional children’s toy shop, found that the business was up for sale, as owner Bee returned home to Thailand. 

Ashleigh, who is 26 year old and already a wife, a mother and a business owner is pretty (as you can see), smart, focussed and doesn’t shy away from something in between a giggle and a full blown laughter. I popped into the shop, where she was hard at work transforming it into a lighter, brighter space for her traditional toys, to find out more about her:

You are fairly new to the town of Broadstairs? So what brings here?

I had lived in Thanet (Margate) years ago and then moved out. Having lived primarily in Margate and Ramsgate, I never really got a chance to live in Broadstairs but I always wanted to. So when we finally decided to look for a new house, Broadstairs became a focal point. That’s how we ended up in Broadstairs.

How did the idea of a toy shop come about?

Well, soon after Sebastian,  my three and half year old was born, I started running an online toy shop. It is called the Canterbury Toy Shop and it specialises in traditional and wooden toys for preschool children. Not very long after moving down to Broadstairs, our next door neighbour informed us about this neighbourhood collectible shop going on sale. He knew I was already running an online toy shop and so he started throwing ideas about what could the space be used for. We then came up with an idea of opening a new toy shop in here between the all of us.

Is it difficult setting up your first business?

As mentioned, we were meant to take over this place in partnership with our neighbours. But when we looked into the finances and the state of the shop, we realised that it was never going to work and that there was too much risk involved. Our neighbour finally decided that they lack experience and wouldn’t want to take the risk. We revisited the shop again just before Christmas and had talks between us, ultimately deciding to go ahead with the project alone. Having said that we couldn’t get around the problem that the lady from the previous shop would only give the lease on the shop to somebody who would also take her entire stock. So now unfortunately we are stuck with £1,000 worth of doll houses, which I will try and sell online. But now atleast we’ve got a deal where we have all the stock (so be it) but at a price that we think is far more reasonable given the huge risks involved.

How is your shop different from the Doll’s House and if their finances were bad, why do you think your idea will do better?

Theirs was more for an collector’s market for adult collectors – which I believe pretty strongly is an online market. I don’t think serious collectors, or many of them, are wandering around the High Street to stumble upon your shop. Most of them are buying online unless they don’t have internet.

We are going to carry on doing what we have always done, which is targeting preschool children with really good quality toys. We will be working predominantly with British companies, having quite an environmentally friendly head on our shoulders by making sure that the wood for any wooden toys that we sell are sourced from renewable forests, also that painted toys for example use water based paints and not chemical based etc. So we are going to take that kind of eco-friendly stance.

Also, one of the reasons why we think we would succeed is because we don’t have any direct competition. In the entire Isle of Thanet there are shops selling toys but there is not a single independent toy-only shop. The only other shop that does toys is Smiths at Westwood Cross but that is an altogether different kind of shop compared to ours. We do not do figurines, electronic toys , Barbies, Disney toys etc and we are never going to go that route. Also, they don’t sell wooden railway sets whereas we are going to have big wooden railway sets. I don’t really consider them competition.

What about the name? Are you going to change the name and when do you plan to open the shop?

We will keep the original name of the shop, Small World, because it has been there for a long time. We will make changes to the name of our website to go along with the shop name. We were going to open it by the Easter holidays but then there is a lot of work to do, we need first to work on the building itself before we even set up a shop. But we are still aiming for the 10th of May. It is not set in stone, obviously no one can predict what is going to happen between now and then . But we are trying our best to open it by the first week of May, 2014.

You mentioned there is a lot of work to do? If I am not wrong you have been discovering some interesting history about this place since the repair work started?

We were told quite early on by a neighbour that she remembered the shop as a butchers in the 60’s. My favourite anecdote has been that a dog living all of the way out on Dumpton Park Drive used to get out of his house every morning and safely make the journey down to the butcher’s where he’d wait on the corner for a bone to take home! When we took some of the plaster board down from the walls we discovered several receipts hidden behind, one from the butchers themselves, which appeared to be for someone’s Christmas meat but we can’t quite read the date, and another from a company in Brighton who provided the butcher’s with tripe. They were “professional tripe dressers” though, and I doubt that that company still exists!

When pulling back layers of shop we’ve now uncovered the tiled walls that would have been there when the shop was used by the butcher. I had hoped to keep at least a few of these up, to honour the shop’s heritage, but unfortunately after seeking some advice from local tilers we’ve been told that the tiling wouldn’t be safe, so it has to come down. When we pulled the top off of the window displays that had been used by the doll’s house shop we also found the tiled counters from the butchers shop. Unfortunately these are no good to us, as they’re sloping, to display meat to passers by – not that handy for toys though! Just this week we’ve been pulling up various layers of flooring to uncover the shop’s original floorboards, and have uncovered several rolled up local newspapers from 1976, the adverts alone are an interesting insight in to 1970’s Thanet!

Local people have been brilliant about coming forward with their memories of the shop, so far we know that after the butcher’s closed the shop has closed and reopened as a second hand shop, a ladies dress shop, a computer repair shop, a furniture shop, a fishing tackle shop, and of course, the dolls house shop, (not necessarily in that order!) Many people also reminisce about the house opposite our shop, which apparently had a huge number of budgies in the basement, flying about beneath the grills that were set in the footpath. It would seem that peering through the grill at the subterranean birds was a genuine and regular day out for many Thanet children!

How do you keep your focus on your aspiration without being distracted by your family life? What would be your word of advice to all the readers or aspiring business owners out there?

Well, it is easy to lose focus. Definitely! But I have always made an effort to surround myself with people, who might not have the same ambitions but people who are doing something. I think although not necessarily from a competitive point of view but just being around such people inspires you to do your work better. I mean most of my friends are mothers but they are all doing their own thing, and I have always been drawn to such people. So for example, even when I am at a mummy group, I find myself chatting with a parent who is doing something interesting.

It’s all about making that effort. You might not even like everybody you meet, but it is good for business networking. But you might meet one interesting, inspiring person out of twenty who might become your friend. It can be tedious but it is all worth it in the end.

It is very easy to just do house work, send the kids to school, shut the door behind you and that’s the end. But in a small place like Broadstairs, there is a community out there if you find one. There is so much to get involved in, that if you do go out you will find people who are doing interesting things or have interesting ideas.

 How do you balance work, home and parenthood?

I wouldn’t be able to do it without having childcare. So when the shop is up and running, Seb will have to go to nursery five days a week. For some people that’s not how they want to bring up their kids and that’s absolutely fine. Some people just don’t have the luxury to afford it and I sympathise with that. Childcare is expensive!

As a working mother, do you think you miss out on any quality time with your son?

No. Well, Seb started nursery twice a week since he was 7 months old and then gradually we built that up to 3 days a week and as I was saying come Easter he will be doing 5 days a week. I don’t think I have missed out because, when we are together at home, it is quality time we have together and we make the most of it. It works for us!

March celebrates International Womens’ Day, but it isn’t all well for so many women out there. What do you think is the biggest problem women are facing today?

In the UK, I would probably say it is finding that work-life balance for those people who want one as opposed to people who don’t. I have friends who have pumped themselves into a very domestic life and they absolutely love it. And that’s their calling and it great if they are happy with that.

But for those who really want to work I think, being able to find work- life balance when you take in to account the cost of child care when their children start school is crippling for some people.

There are huge number of women in the UK who are bringing up children on their own and for them obviously the idea of being able to dedicate themselves to something maybe as much as I have towards the shop whilst affording childcare and being around for their children is difficult.

So yes being able to get support for a decent work -life balance is very difficult because of lack of childcare (for some it simply doesn’t exist), within companies being able to get flexible hours etc. There is a lack of encouragement I think.

I don’t want to be all gloom and doom but I think a lot of womens’ issues are being recognised. I mean there are a lot of countries that do worse than us and some do better. So there is always scope for improvement. I think we are getting there!

When I met Ashleigh today, a lot of visitors popped in to say hello and asked the same sort of question as to when is the shop opening etc to which she joked and said, “I did think of a poster on the window explaining the most frequently asked questions.” I hope some of the answers to so many curious questions can be found in this interview. Good luck Ashleigh, we shall all look forward to your toy shop.

The Reading Rooms

Meet Louise Oldfield. Trail-blazing B&B landlady, via Sheffield, Florence and now Margate.

You have made quite a journey before making it to Margate? Tell us about that.

We moved in to Margate between 2007-2008. Before that we’d been living in Hackney since 1999. We had moved to East London from Florence in Italy where Liam and I met. It’s going to be 20 years this year. I am basically from Sheffield, I left and went to live in Berlin when I was 18 and then to London to finish my degree in politics and German language, and then to Florence.

What brought you to Margate?

It is a combination of things really. We had gone to see a very old Georgian town house that hadn’t been lived in for about 50 years and then we went to the auction to see what happened with it, just out of curiosity. And at that auction there was somebody buying a house in Margate. It went very very cheaply but it looked like an amazing house. And at that time, in 2007, we were being priced out of the centre of Hackney where we wanted to live – we like those old-fashioned European-type city dimensions. We don’t really like living in the suburbs. I like to be able to walk into town. I like to walk  to a shop any time. I don’t like to do a weekly shop. So Margate seemed like a good option.

How did you come how with the idea of opening a B&B?

The idea actually came from having the building itself. We bought the building and then decided what to do with it. The previous owner of the place used it as a bedsit; it was Grade II listed Georgian town house and it was not renovated. We wanted to do it up and realised it is a five storey house and that there is a desperate need for guest accommodation in Margate, especially for the so called boutique end of the market… We opened in 2009, which is just the year before Turner Contemporary came along.

Was it very difficult setting up your business here in Margate?

When we moved here, Margate had a lot in front of it, where they’d invested in forward planning. They knew that the Gallery was coming… They said things like there is going to be a great gallery, there is going to be a train service – at the time they said it would take an hour to London – and of course there was this investment in the old town. They were renovating the shops etc to bring stability.

A yet when we had first moved and we had already bought this place and we’d said “ok, what about the guest house thing; the B&B?” we’d ring up the council and they’d put us through to private sector housing and they thought we were making enquiries about emergency housing for homeless people. If you put B&B into the council website, that was what came up… it did not come up as tourism.

It was a difficult time. So when we first opened there were concerns about ‘what were we doing?’ rather than ‘great! what are you doing?’ It wasn’t that they were being negative but we were the first people at that time to say that we want to open an upmarket B&B and all of the advice around at that time was not being able to tell us anything. They said that nobody had done something like that before and that they thought nobody can get more than £100 for a room in this area.

So how did you come up with the name The Reading Rooms?

Around the 1800’s when the house was built, people started coming to seaside towns for leisure. Also around the same time, there were a lot of reading rooms in Margate where people could go and read when the weather wasn’t that great. Also Liam’s mother who passed away only two years ago, Magdaline Nabb, was a crime writer based in Florence and was also a children’s author. So he grew up around books and writers.

The Reading Rooms also invoked the atmosphere of that it’s a very private place and we designed it in a way that you could do things in your room. We realised that the communal dining experiences in B&Bs isn’t that great so we do room service. That way you can eat without overhearing other people’s conversations. It is a really a very private place and that is how we came up with the name The Reading Rooms.

Can you describe The Reading Rooms in 3 words?

Private, bespoke and discreet!

If you were a client in your own B&B, what would you order from your menu?

Well we press all our juices so I would probably have the juice and we also do really good fruits. And one of the things that is popular that we brought from London from our local cafe, is cream cheese, cinnamon and honey on toast, which is really good. You only need a small one! Oh and Coffee!

What do you do for fun or to unwind?

When you run something like a B&B, you are very free but you are not. You have to be there for the customers all the time, especially when I offer food all day long and it’s cooked fresh.

But one thing I have to do everyday is taking my dogs out for a walk. It is part of my day and I absolutely have to do it and I enjoy doing that.

Any advice for aspiring B&B owners?

You have to put all your heart and soul into it and it is not a thing to do if you are retiring. It is not for the faint-hearted at all. One of the things you need to know is that 80% of the people when they arrive, they are in a bad mood after a long journey – and it is not to do with you. It is your job to turn them around and make them happy and relaxed. Understand your client’s needs and live up to their expectations and beyond.

We are celebration International Women’s Day around the world, but we know that we have a long way to go. So in that sense, what do you think is the biggest issue women are facing today?

In a successful industrial nation like England, we still lack respect and what is causing us to not get paid equally as men, or we still have inequality in terms of political representation. It is the equality, it is still severely lacking.

Proper Coffee House

From Marine Archeology, to pole dancing* to now the owner of Proper Coffee House in Margate, Violet, has lived an interesting life. Raised in a small town in Cambridgeshire, Violet, 27  comes from a family of artists. After some travelling and exploring various interests she has now fulfilled one of her biggest dreams; of offering people a cosy cafe that serves the best coffee in town and homemade cakes to everyone’s liking. 

*Oh just for exercise! 

What brought you to Margate?

I have always been interested in owning my own business. I was working in a coffee shop London, and I met a girl whose dad owned this place. She has said to me that her dad was having trouble renting this place out in Margate, so why don’t I have a look. I had heard a lot about Margate in the past, in the news, the whole Mary Portas thing, etc so I came and had a look. It was in the dead of winter, it was cold and I was a bit skeptical about the place. I wondered if I could do it. But then we came back again to have a look and by then I had heard so much about the regeneration in Margate, I thought, ‘just go for it’. It was really good rate and rents, it was deal I really couldn’t refuse. That’s how we came here. It’s got a lot of potential.

With cheap rents, the building sometimes come in a very bad state, so was it difficult setting it all up?

It was! The place was in a very bad state. The most difficult part was to finding good builders in a new place. But apart from that we got a lot of help from the locals which was great!

How did you come up with the name Proper Coffee House or as it is locally known, Proper Margate?

Proper Margate is our twitter name. For the cafe, it took us ages to think of a name. I kept saying how I want to get things done properly, I want the cakes to be baked properly and my association with the word proper suddenly hit us with what we have now: Proper Coffee House. We thought it was a name you could put anywhere. So we could expand the business with the same name.

Margate old town is full of little tea rooms and cafe’s. What is it that sets you apart from the rest?

Well, I make all the cakes myself and I have always believed that my cakes are good. I worked hard to get my cakes to the standards I wanted them to be. I went to Le Cordon Bleu in London to do patisserie. I feel that it’s not just that but it’s because we wanted it to be so welcoming, we wanted it to be comfortable. We think it’s us as well who make the difference! It’s not just what we do but who we are. We have become friends with so many people, I think that’s what sets us apart.

Coffee served in here is one of the best or probably the best coffee served in the whole of Isle of Thanet. So I want to know where do you get your coffee from?

Our coffee is from an East London company called Union. They have different blends and the one we have is called Revelation. I think it is sourced from all around the world. It is amazing coffee. It is really nice – strong and smooth!

If you were a customer in your own cafe, what would you order from the menu?

I would probably order a cappuccino and  Victoria sponge. Its my favourite. I am simple. (She laughs as she speaks)

You mentioned that you want this place to be comfortable, does that mean you will be making changes to the cafe according to the changing seasons?

We have just completed our first full year. In summers we have doors wide open, we have the back bit open and put flowers all over so its really nice. For winter we have a cosy corner with the fire on and lower lighting. But in summer people obviously don’t want that so we open the place up a bit to make it feel fresh.

Can you describe Proper Coffee House in 3 words?

Welcoming, artistic and local.

In what other ways is your cafe local?

We have recently started selling fresh fruits and vegetables sourced from local Nash farm mostly. We also sell juices and vinegar produced by Little Stour Orchard and all our chocolates are also sourced locally.

You manage most of the cafe on your own and get help from this mystery man behind the counter. Would you mind introducing him a little bit more?

He is my partner Gareth. He is a helicopter pilot. At the moment he is trying to be a commercial helicopter pilot so that he can start training people. It was a huge thing for him to move down here with me. He has moved his training to Manston. It is so convenient that Manston was here, otherwise I don’t think he would have taken it. So that worked out really well.

What do you do when you’re not working in the cafe ?

I work all the time. But ummm, what do I do? Does eating out count?! I love eating out, going to little tea rooms, walking down the beach and I play the piano.

Any word of wisdom for aspiring business owners or youth to achieving success?

I think especially in Margate it is a good time given there are good rents. And basically if you want to do something and you can get a good business plan together, there are people out there who are willing to help, even landlords are willing to help, you know. If you want to do something the best thing is to talk to people. The only way you are going to find out about opportunities is by talking to people and if you don’t give it a go then you will never know. And if it doesn’t work out it doesn’t work out – but you tried.

International Womens Day is on 8th March. And while we celebrate the achievements of women, there are a lot of women who feel otherwise. What do you think is one of the biggest problem faced by women today?

I think it could be the lack of their own self-belief. That could be a big thing for women, in England.

Proper Coffee House has a very comfortable environment and I can vouch for that personally, as I use their cafe as a replacement office myself.