Went along to the Tonbridge Civic Society's Civic Design Awards last night at Somerhill House and enjoyed a glass or two of wine and a lovely meal of chicken, wrapped in bacon with vegetables, followed by a delicious apple pie and fruit coulli (I think that's what it was) with cream and then coffee to follow with a really tastey Belgian chocolate truffle....
Oh yes and, I nearly forgot, then there were the actual awards presentations themselves. The new West Kent College campus, or should I say K College to use it's swanky new name, won the main prize which, frankly, was no great surpise as A: there was very little else being built in Tonbridge in 2010 and B: the society had already announced the fact in their newsletter which I received at home around three weeks ago! I never see the point of telling people who's won before the night but it didn't spoil a thoroughly enjoyable evening. I met several people I knew very well and it was nice to catch up with Civic Soc matters and I also sat next to two lovely people who I never had the pleasure of meeting before. The lady to my left was particularly delightful company and could have kept me talking for hours. I think she said that she'd moved back to Tonbridge to retire after many years away and was rediscovering what a lovely town it is with so much potential. I think she's right on that score. I also met Bill Fearon who, if you don't know, is the Principal of K College and had spoken very enthusiastically about the new campus project and about Tonbridge earlier in the evening. He made a big point of saying that it was a college for the community as well as for the students. They now have some excellent facilities such as the new theatre (and soon outdoor theatre) and The View Cafe. You can even go there for a hair cut if you don't mind risking a student being let loose on it! It turns out that Bill and I have something in common: we both went to that excellent seat of learning, Loughborough University, although not quite at the same time so we reminsced together for a little while about the old days when we were in our sporting prime. The builders and the architects were all given their plaques and certificates and we were given a short and interesting slide show and talk about the project; then off we all went for another year. We could well be seeing Mr. Fearon excepting more awards in the future as this was just phase one of the Campus 21 project, the other phase is due for completion later this year....
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