Nostalgia is a very powerful emotion and for the Nostalgic Sandwich and Surrounding Villages Facebook Group, it has been a powerful lifeline throughout the pandemic for the members of the group and the community at large.
As admin of the group and living alone, Caroline Philpott was able to represent Nostalgic Sandwich by helping out the local community, assisting with the food bank which was set up in St Peter’s Church, Sandwich.
CommunityAd caught up with the wonderful Caroline Philpott, admin of Nostalgic Sandwich, who was honoured to be given an award at the start of 2021 for her services to the community on behalf of Nostalgic Sandwich, presented by The High Sheriff of Kent during a Zoom meeting.
Caroline told CommunityAd, “Nostalgic Sandwich and Surrounding Villages has helped to get me through the pandemic. Bonds have grown stronger and without the support of others who share much the same feelings it would have been a lot more difficult to cope with. I feel that we were all there for each other and continue to go from strength to strength.”
This year Nostalgic Sandwich are holding a pop-up cafe in St Peter’s Church every few weeks to raise funds for the group, with profits going towards future printing costs for when they are able to resume their popular photograph displays.
They also help support local charities whenever possible; Caroline bakes all of the cakes and pastries herself and they have many returning customers. She has members who regularly help her, along with her daughter. She called them Team NS. The cafe has become a community hub for members, locals and visitors to the town who can enjoy a drink, something to eat and chat, socially distanced either in the church or the lovely gardens.
Over the past year, because of COVID they have been unable to have their regular monthly meetings at The White Mill, however, they have a provisional date for their first meeting this year and are waiting for government updates before they can go ahead.
They have a river trip booked on The Ferry Nymph boat which was recently purchased by two of their members and will be running from Plucks Gutter; the boat was one of the Dunkirk little ships so it is immersed within our local history.
They organised a fantastic fundraising event for the NHS which is part of “The Big Pour” held in St Peter’s Church on Saturday 26th June 10am – 3pm. They have pledged 20% of their takings to be donated to the NHS and went all out with a brilliant rainbow theme. Caroline told CommunityAd, “This is our way of showing appreciation to those who have worked so hard to help us.”