From lockdown to medals
Plus new Medway supergroup, a new restaurant offers just one item, we review German Donor Kebab, our weekly events guide, news in brief, and more
When you think of most sporting success stories, you imagine athletes starting from a young age and with a relentless training schedule. Not all journeys are the same though, and today we speak to a Medway ice dancer who only took up the sport during lockdown and is now winning medals in international competitions. Further down, we have news of a new Medway supergroup, a restaurant that only serves one dish, we review German Donor Kebab, our weekly events guide, news in brief, and more.
From lockdown to medals
Medway has a community of ice-based sports from ice hockey to ice dancing. We caught up with adult ice dancer Toby Forster about how he came to the sport so late and taking part in national competitions.
Toby is keen to distinguish between figure skating and what he does. “I was doing some free skating before”, he tells me, “which is where you do the jumps, but mostly I am focusing on ice dance now.”
He got into ice dance after lockdown, when he was supposed to go for a walk at Seven Sisters, but it was rained off for the third time in a row. Wanting to get fit, he went to the ice rink instead and took part in public skating. He saw the signs for lessons and “thought it would be nice to sign up, learn how to stop and then the rest is almost history.”
Toby has an ice dance partner, Niamh. “She's been skating since she was young. I've always seen her in the ring. I'd been skating with someone else before that, who'd then left for a little while. It got to a point where I said to my coaches to ask her if she'd be interested in partnering.” Thankfully she was, and they have been dancing together for nearly a year and a half.
Whilst Niamh had been dancing weekly for a long time, Toby had to put substantial hours in to catch up and be able to dance as equals. “There is a discipline to doing it. You've both got to start almost from scratch, because you've got to make sure you both push on the ice at the same time, the same direction, with the same amount of power.” The real basics of moving around together took time to get started and synced up.
How much of ice dance does the male partner act as a power lifter while the female dancer swings around, which might be seen as the traditional view of the sport? “In our routines we would normally have one lift per programme”, says Toby. Like ballroom dancing, ice dancing traditionally has a male lead, though Toby likes to think that they have an equal partnership, with Niamh pulling him around the rink the other way.
As well as putting in hours on the ice, Toby also does a weekly ballet class to help with posture, leg strength and body line. “I also do gym work as well”, he notes. They are not currently preparing for competition, so Toby can do between six and eight hours in the gym a week. “It's a lot more core strength than arm strength for lifts. You don't have to look anywhere near as big and burly. You need to be able to keep yourself upright whilst lifting and moving across the ice.”
I ask what sort of dance experience Toby initially took onto the ice. “I mean just going to Casino Rooms and drinking a few too many beers”, he jokes. Toby doesn’t consider himself a particularly natural dancer. “I think Niamh had done some dance at school as well and is a more natural mover than me. I have to follow her lead and try to keep up.” They have moved away from compulsory dances translated onto ice, like foxtrots and tangos. “You have to learn all of those, but now for competition seasons they pick out a dance style. Last year was social dancing to music of the 50s, 60s or 70s.
Toby and Niamh chose disco dancing on ice to Rapper’s Delight. They work on the dances with their coaches, Gary and Sharon, who have taught at Planet Ice in Gillingham for years. “Gary had been there since the place opened as head coach. We've got four coaches to pick from. We're quite lucky we've got a family. We can get the best of different expertise, which is really nice.”
Thankfully, there haven’t been any significant injuries during training, though once Toby did fall backwards, twisting an ankle that laid him up for about four weeks. “Leading into competition in November, I managed to drop Niamh mid rotating lift. She survived it completely fine. Your duty as the lifting partner is to keep your partner off the ice as long as possible.” She came down on Toby’s chest and Toby had “quite badly cracked ribs for a while”, but “nothing so bad that you can't take pain relief and carry on.”
Toby competes two or three times a year and has done “fairly well.” He explains that the competition in the UK isn’t fierce in ice dance for adults, as many struggle to find the time to meet with partners and practice. A couple of years ago he went to Oberstdorf in Germany, they have a big ice training centre where they do the International Skating Union's adult championships. Toby was in the beginner class and came first. Toby and Niamh have been fairly consistent over the last couple of years, winning silver two years in a row at the European Championships. “It actually doesn't get enough notice in the UK media, but I think until we get to a point where we're in gold medals, the buzz around it is still quite minimal.”
Toby and Niamh are back in training ahead of the next competition season, practicing harder lifts and working on basic skating skills together. “It's a slower pace to try new things and get a bit stronger.” They will start choreographing new programs in July for future competitions.
You can follow Toby’s Instagram feed to follow his progress and what comes next.
In brief
🔋 NeuConnect are holding a community liaison event at Grain Village Hall on 20 March about new converter stations being built on the Isle of Grain.
✌️ Medway residents can apply to close their street or road for free to celebrate VE Day.
🧸 Imagine Play Cafe opened at Chatham Dockside this week. KentOnline spoke to the owners about what the project is trying to do.
🏰 The first two Rochester Castle Live events have been announced. Following the festival days last year, this year appears more traditional, with Craig David headlining one day, and Symphonic Ibiza Orchestra another.
New Medway supergroup South Shore take inspiration from our towns
by Stephen Morris
South Shore is a new Medway super group comprising Rachel Lowrie, Stuart Turner and Nick Rice. Medway has inspired Rachel to write songs for the group to record, and somehow, Stephen Morris got access to find out more.
There is something about Medway that draws its musicians to write about the area in which they live. Elsewhere on these pages, you will find an article about the various local landmarks that inspired the likes of Brigadier Ambrose, The Claim, and Sally Ironmonger.
Whether the subject is something as prosaic as a set of traffic lights in Strood or as curious as a 19th century home for a millennial cult in Gillingham, Medway has a muse-like allure for those of a musical bent.
Rachel Lowrie is a singer-songwriter and one such artist who has taken huge inspiration from the Medway Towns. She is particularly intrigued by the way in which the post-industrial landscape of this area of North Kent has intermingled with the river and nature.
She first started writing songs on her ukulele in the mid-2010s with a thematic blend of her hometowns and family life at the heart of her lyrics. A selection of these songs appeared on ‘Home Town’, an EP she recorded with Jim Riley at Ranscombe studios in 2021.
Here, you’ll find songs such as ‘Wayside Annie’, which reflects on the life of a troubled woman who would often be seen walking up and down The Delce in Rochester.
The EP also features ‘Mother Medway’ which sees her imagine the river that gives our Towns their collective name becoming flesh and blood, a nurturing force for good. ‘Home Town’ provided a fascinating insight into the songwriter’s creative mind – one where femininity, compassion and an eye for beauty in the everyday meld together to form exquisite, deeply personal songs.
In the last couple of years, Rachel’s musical focus has been directed on The Ashen Keys, a three-piece folk band with Vicky Price and Hannah Ellerby who specialise in close harmony vocals and an array of instruments (French horn, clarinet, violin, accordion, guitar, oboe and ukulele). Their album, ‘The Name on Your Compass’, came out last year with a glowing review from Fatea.
Alongside The Ashen Keys, Rachel has returned to her solo songwriting projects, enlisting the assistance of Stuart Turner (guitar) and Nick Rice (bass) in the process. Together, they are known as South Shore and the focus is, once again, very much centred around life in the Medway Towns.
Rachel first worked with Stuart and Nick during the recording of Stuart Turner and the Flat Earth Society’s ‘Scowl’ album in 2017, where she added her rich, powerful vocals to several songs, including the finale, ‘Helen’, which was inspired by a plotline on the radio soap opera The Archers.
The experience with The Flat Earth Society then prompted further guest appearances with The Senior Service, Groovy Uncle and These Guilty Men, together with the Pod project instigated by Chris Broderick shortly before his passing.
The songs Rachel has written for South Shore use Medway as a starting point for exploring humanity – warts and all. ‘Blanche’ offers a retelling of an old ghost story involving a love triangle that ended with tragedy for Lady Blanche de Warren. It’s a song which contrasts the historic entitlement of men and the cost paid by women as a result.
Elsewhere ‘Our Lady of Chatham’ returns to the landmark-made-female-flesh theme once explored in ‘Mother Medway’, this time focusing attention on St Mary’s Church, near Fort Amhurst, finding security, comfort and protection in her permanence, describing her as the “keeper of hearts.”
Then, on ‘The Ballad of Rats Bay’, the songwriter engages in a conversation with the river, finding solace in the constancy of the water. “Patterns of behaviour aren’t love”, the “wise old soul” mother figure advises her, before offering the reminder that “you can change the patterns.”
Though principally designed to be a recording band, South Shore will be performing a sold out gig at Rams Micropub 12 Degrees on 21 March. If you’ve already got your ticket, expect to be entranced by the blanket-like warmth of Rachel Lowrie’s lyrics and superb musicianship of the trio in their first performance.
What’s the Boeuf?
The team behind the Dead Pidgeon and Greedy Banker pubs announced their new venture this week, a unique dining experience where only one item is on the menu. We spoke with Thomas Mudge, one of the people behind the project, at the former Flippin’ Frog micropub, which is set to transform into Boeuf later this month.
Boeuf is intended to be the ultimate steak and frites experience. “From the Dead Pigeon and Greedy Banker, we always want to be the best”, says Thomas. “The butcher we use is literally the best in the country”, though Thomas refuses to name them to not tip off the competition.
Thomas talks about how, because he believes that while British beef is good, British butchers don’t always develop the same skills as French butchers. “Our butchers went to France, learned skills to get the different cuts. Sirloin pave isn't common in this country, but it is amazing. It's got the taste of sirloin but the texture of fillet. It literally melts in your mouth.”
Through their other ventures, they developed the ‘Raising the Steaks’ burger, which included a great steak sauce. “I'm not saying we've made the whole restaurant based around the sauce.” At this new steak and frites restaurant, that is literally the only main course. “You get two servings. You pay a set price. You come in, you'll get locally made bread and some Bovril butter we've made. Once you've sat down, the chef will be notified. Your first serving of steak will come out. Then, once you finish the chips and the sauce, the second serving will come out.”
If, and it’s a big if, you have any room left, they will also have desserts available. Why two servings of steak? “There are restaurants in London that do similar. We like their business model. It's a minimalist menu. This is how we serve it, this is how you have it. It seems really popular, and Medway doesn’t have that experience.” There will be minimal variation on the steak, which is served medium-rare. “They're all different sizes, and of course if people have requirements, like being pregnant or not liking it medium-rare, we will cook it well done if somebody asks.”
Boeuf will open in the former Flippin’ Frog micropub on 27 March. After that, it will open Thursday evenings, and Friday to Sunday for lunch a dinner. Given the small size of the venue, booking a table is recommended.
Out to Lunch: German Donor Kebab
In which Steven Keevil assesses the lunch options available in our towns. This week, he’s been down to German Donor Kebab at Hempstead Valley…
Being the data fan I am, I put my lunch reviews to date into a map, which highlighted that I haven’t yet consumed a lunch in the Hempstead area. Knowing there is a number of eateries in the shopping centre, I packed myself up and began the journey out to what I am assured is a part of the Medway Towns. On arrival, I found abundant parking and ignored the inviting M&S Cafe to go to the newly opened German Donor Kebab.
The website informs me that German Donor Kebab is the ‘kebab of the future’ made with prime lean meat. Much like sausages that do the same, this is not necessarily the best use of prime lean meat. Nobody goes for a kebab because it has the best cuts. Once you see the pressed meat rotating waiting to be cut, does anyone honestly think, ‘Oh, I hope that isn’t too fatty?’
Part of the fast-food revolution of removing human interaction, you order the food via a touch screen, and I took one of the few tables available. Joining people that had confusingly decided to eat donor kebab whilst sober, I ordered a donor box of mixed meat with curry fries and sliced gerkin, a soft drink, hash brown bites and some side sauces. It was all very reasonably priced.
This images used to promote the box show the meat and fries side by side, allowing easy access to both. The reality that arrives is fries at the bottom with a pile of meat on top, which is fine, as long as you don’t want a fry straight away. The mixed meat was not only lean but thinly cut, and whilst I had a mixed meat, I couldn’t confidently say which meat was which.
If you are looking for lunch at Hempstead Valley, the best I can say about German Donor Kebab is that it is fine.
Events this week
💬 Sat 15 Mar - Medway Poetry Night // Gathering of poetry lovers who need a space to read, perform or scream their poems.Nucleus Arts Centre, Chatham. £7
🥕 Sun 16 Mar - Rochester Farmers’ Market // Wide range of traders selling food and gifts. Blue Boar Lane car park, Rochester. Free.
🎞️ Mon 17 Mar - Heat // 30th anniversary screening of Michael Mann’s epic crime drama. Odeon, Chatham. Tickets £6.
🤣 Tues 18 Mar - How to Have Fun at Work // Funny Women presents a morning of workshops, networking and a panel discussion to help you navigate today’s ever changing business environment. Ascend Coworking, Chatham. Free.
🎭 20 - 29 Mar - Accidental Death of an Anarchist // Satirical play poking fun at corruption and idiocy at the heart of the system. Medway Little Theatre, Rochester. Tickets £12.
🪕 Fri 21 Mar - South Shore // Debut gig from new Medway trio featuring Rachel Lowrie, Stuart Turner, and Nick Rice. Rams Micropub 12 Degrees, Rochester. Tickets £10.
More Authority
This week, we welcomed local gardener Stuart Bourne to Local Authority to write about what we might need to be doing in our gardens this time of year, the kind of plants that suit our part of the world, and to talk about one of his favourite Medway green spaces.
We also published our latest Voice piece from Chatham and Aylesford MP Tris Osborne. He writes about efforts to tackle antisocial behaviour and off-road vehicles.
Coming up on Sunday, our weekend interview is with Conservative councillor for Princes Park, Robbie Lammas. He discusses his path to becoming a councillor, his work in parliament, his recent trip to the US to campaign for Donald Trump, and lots more.
Footnotes
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Music that soundtracked the creation of this edition: Scowl by Stuart Turner & The Flat Earth Society and The Earth’s Rotation by Pod.