Red Sands Radio

Bill here Mon 23/07/12

The Power Hourers had a surprise this morning when the elusive Barnacle Bill turned up to run the music sweep

Deficient of fans he struggled through the show with songs from 1980 a bit modern for him but he didn’t make a bad job of it

Barnacle Bill even had a couple of Facebook messages, abusive texts and emails

Duncan rushed in to meet him but as ever he’d disappeared said Duncan ‘But there was a lingering smell of fish pervading the studio’

It would though appear that Bill has some friends

Dredging Mon 16/07/12

Whitstable Harbour silts up and periodic four year cycle it’s dredged and the silt taken out to sea

The Crane Dredger ‘Lantic Bay’ officially a Grab Hopper Dredger owned by Wyre Marine Services based in Lancashire

Pictured working Whitstable Harbour Basin, the mud is stored in the hold and disposed of at sea, only for the whole cycle to be repeated in another four years

Final days work the harbour mouth

And bar at the harbour entrance, you might notice even the flat bottomed barges are held back until there’s enough water on the flood to go over the bar at the harbour mouth

Visiting from Brompton Barracks the Royal Engineers on a training exercise make a visit from their Medway home for a speedy lunch of Fish n Chips

Fitched Thu 12/07/12

Geoff Fitch these days a fully qualified Paramedic popped in for a visit as whilst on calls close to the studio

Geoff was a colleague of ours on a number of stations 

Buzzin’ Around Your Hive Thu 28/06/12

The Power Hour stretches your mind with the only clues to the featured year in the songs

Attracted by blooms in the studio garden

Ever industious worker bees gathering pollen their efforts won’t help you to the answer but they make an attractive sight outside the studio

Fully Laden Fri 29/07/11

The final ‘Power Hour’ this session was 1986

Fully laden to the plimsoll line the ‘Union Pluto’ on the ballast quay was built in 1986

Foreshore Tue 19/07/11

Peter & Elizabeth improving the Harbour Street side of the St Augustine’s Fish Market & Crab & Winkle Restaurant as the building gets it’s weatherboarding fitted. Work began at the weekend with the builders treating boards outside in between showers before permission was sought to use the South Quay Transit Shed

Oggies Alley one of many strangely named alleyways in Whitstable, leads from Sea Wall to the beach

Sea Wall with Reeves Beach to the right bordered by Tamarisk

 Local Club Yachts in the bay with children happily ferreting about for crabs

Sandy beach on the Isle-of-Sheppey viewed from Whitstable

Yachts on beach by Whitstable Yacht Club

The Pollard Spit Buoy in the background marking the seaward end of the Horse Sand bank between

Boswell Mon 18/07/11

We met ‘Boswell’ at the Harbour Garden Cafe with Caraline, Monday’s ‘Power Hour’ turned out to be one of his favourite years – 2002

Give that cute little dog a bone