The ‘Dragon’s Den’ for Medway charities
Plus what lies ahead for Medway music, busking for Mind, we review Tai Won Mein and Improbable Fiction, our weekly events guide, news in brief, and more
Connecting local charities and community groups with funding from local donors isn’t always easy, but that’s what the Kent Community Foundation is trying to do. We’ve been finding out more. Further down, our music writer Stephen Morris ponders the year ahead in Medway music, and we talk to a musician busking across Medway next weekend to raise money for a deeply personal mental health charity. We also have reviews of Tai Won Mein in Gillingham, while our theatre writer Anne-Marie Jordan has been down to the Medway Little Theatre’s production of Improbable Fiction. As ever, there’s also our weekly events guide and news in brief sections. Phew.
The ‘Dragon’s Den’ for Medway charities
Kent Community Foundation is a leading funder in Kent and Medway. There are 47 community foundations in the UK. Their primary focus is as a matchmaker, “matching up the donors and the doers”, says Bruce Topham, Grants Manager at Kent Community Foundation. “We manage just over 100 funds across Kent and Medway.” Kent Community Foundation’s area of support is defined as the 12 districts of Kent County Council and the unitary authority of Medway. Bruce was born in Medway and has spent 30 years here. “Even if you leave, Medway stays with you, and you want to see communities within that place living well”, he says.
The aim is to support strategic philanthropic giving for those who want to fund the work of small charitable organisations that improve the lives of those who are most vulnerable and disadvantaged. “A little over half of our funders are family or partners. There might be one or two or even three generations involved in the decision-making process.” They also have corporate and business funders, along with being a trusted choice for other foundations and trusts who want funding to be used for specific needs of the county. Kent Community Foundation is privately funded with no government or local council funding. “Sometimes we do distribute money on their behalf”, notes Bruce. “We're also a voice within the community because we see and hear a lot of what's going on in the voluntary sector and the communities they serve.”
Bruce’s role is to match applications from charities, CICs and community groups with suitable grants that and funds that might be available to them. Other team members will do the due diligence. “That's making sure you've got the right governing document, bank statements, quotes, invoices, signatories, all of that side of things.” Kent Community Foundation will then undertake an assessment. “We'll either go out to visit the organisation, see them in action, or we'll communicate via email, telephone, or a combination of the three.”
One of the funds that Bruce oversees is the ‘Medway Corporate Giving Fund.’ It was set up in 2012 and since then has given out over £132,000 across 50 different grants. “It's a unique fund”, notes Bruce. The fund covers Medway, with organisations supporting beneficiaries within that area. Most funders give an amount between £1,000 and £2,500 annually. All of this contributes to a pot with other donors and businesspeople within the community in Medway.

Charities and CICs looking for funding don’t apply to the fund directly. Kent Community Foundation has a supportive website that guides applicants through the eligibility criteria for applying generally. If you want to specify a specific fund, you can, but “broadly speaking, if it comes in and it's Medway based, the chances are my colleagues have already identified it as a potential one for the Medway Corporate Giving Fund.”
Kent Community Foundation holds a panel once or twice a year. “The unique element of it is it's like a Dragon's Den-style panel, in that we put the funder face-to-face with the organisation, which is quite unusual because normally it's us talking to a funder and then making a decision.” This approach gives the funders first-hand experience of speaking to the organisation delivering on the ground and also the organisation speaking directly to a funder. “It's a tame Dragon's Den. We don't seek to put people off because presenting in public can be a big phobia. It's not designed for that.” Equally, experience has shown that some people are better at describing what they do through talking than on paper.
Often, the person making the soft pitch to the panel is a committed volunteer or paid staff member, but it means something to them. The panel will often have questions, and then they will decide, and each funder will get a number of votes proportionate to the amount they have put into the fund. “We work out a little formula.” If an organisation has made it to this stage, it is unlikely they won’t get anything. “It's not fair to get someone there to turn up and present and say, ‘Thanks very much, bye’, that's not reasonable.” Historically, some panel members have also made additional donations to the organisation outside of the fund.
The current Chair of the fund is Colin Jarvis, who owns MEMS Power Generation with his son Glen Jarvis, both of whom are also heavily involved with Gillingham Football Club. “They’ve been staunch supporters for a number of years.” Other panel members include Susan Robinson, who was previously at accountants Kreston Reeves but has now retired, John and Beverly Weir, who run Weir Funeral Directors, Martin Lukehurst of Lukehurst furniture, and Bob Russell of the Copper Rivet Distillery.
Kent Community Foundation is constantly looking for new members because the more members it has, the more money it can give away. “It's generally around this philanthropic streak that runs through them. We all like to give something back.”
If you or your business are interested in joining the Medway Corporate Giving Fund, you can contact Bruce directly via bruce@kentcf.org.uk or 01303 815151.
In brief
🎨 Sun Pier House have a new Art Club. Over Thursday mornings for 20 weeks, you can join a group to develop your art in a relaxed, accessible space.
🍲 Gurkha Fire is a finalists for Restaurant of the Year in the Kent and Medway Food and Drink awards. Medway nominees in other categories include Mumma Soraya in Rochester and Ellinor’s Ice Cream in Rainham in the best pop-up category, while Linehan and Coffee in Rainham is up for coffee shop of the year. Elsewhere, Halling’s Moot Brew & Co are finalists for Beverage Producer of the Year.
✍️ Medway author Maria McCarthy has written about her experiences in Rochester in the 90s, recalling the Wild West nature of our towns.
🏆 A new exhibition celebrating the sporting history of Medway has opened at Medway Archives Centre in Strood. The displays feature a mural by Medway artist Esther Johnson highlighting the most prominent sports names from the area.
⛺ Shout out to the person who got Rochester Bridge listed as ‘The Eternal Traffic’ campsite on Google Maps. The site holds a five-star rating, with one reviewer writing, “Really lovely views while sitting absolutely still for 3 hours just to cover 20m of bridge. phenomenal. would bridge again!”
What will 2025 sound like?
by Stephen Morris
As we reach the end of January, our music writer, Stephen Morris, looks at some of the musical highlights that await the good folk of Medway (not to mention Bristol and Spain) over the coming year.
1 Jan – The Penrose Web (the brainchild of The Prisoners’ Allan Crockford and Death in Vegas’ Ian Button) started the year in fine form with a 4-track EP imaginatively titled It’s…The Penrose Web EP, the first ever seven-inch record pressed on a bioplastic compound glorying in the name of Evoplastic. Highlights come in the form of the spooked out surf pop of ‘Hexapod Scene’ and ‘I Dreamt I Woke Up Dead’. The EP will be followed in June by a full album, The Least of Our Concerns.
30 Jan – Sunshine Pony Finger release ‘One More Joke’ as a single and video. This will be followed by another single around April.
1 Feb – Theatre Royal have been in Ranscombe Studio lately, working on their sixth album – to be released later this year. While we wait for the record to arrive, the band will be playing The Ship in Gillingham on 1 February with support from The Dutch Embassy (Nick Rice, Noeleen Lithco, Dave Sawicki and Jimmy Moore), whose debut album will be out in the summer.
15 Feb – The Prisoners are playing Spain’s Wachina Wachina Festival – probably their last for the time being after their triumphant return with the album Morning Star last year.
March (or April) – The Galileo 7 will be releasing the single ‘Look Away’ with b-side ‘Over the Horizon’ on the French Rogue Records label. An as yet untitled best of album is on its way later in the year, too.
Also in March (and possibly even before), expect a new album from The Love Family in the form of From Cities to Coastlines. The band have been busy of late, releasing three singles which Amazing Radio have taken a shine to (‘Last Seconds of the Day’, ‘Lights Go Out’ and ‘Yesterday’s Questions’). Expect some stripped-down versions of the new album’s songs at a series of acoustic shows later in the year. In the meantime, you can find the existing songs on all the usual streaming platforms.
21 Mar – Not content with forming one third of the excellent folk trio, The Ashen Keys, Rachel Lowrie has started a new band with Stuart Turner and Nick Rice called South Shore. Their first outing will be an intimate gig at Rams Micropub 12 Degrees. Expect plenty of beautiful songs about the streets and sights of Medway that are as much autobiographical as they are geographical. Get your tickets here.
18 Apr – The Ashen Keys will be playing St Edith’s Folk Club, Sevenoaks.
19 Apr – 90s indie band strumpets My Life Story will be appearing at The Oast Community Centre, Rainham, along with The Pastel Waves for another Platform 3 Club night.
3-5 May – Sweeps Festival. One of the highlights of the Medway calendar. Expect plenty of Morris dancing, folk music and merry making.
4 May – The Pastel Waves will be playing Drakes Cork and Cask as part of the Maidstone Fringe Festival. The set may well include songs from their forthcoming mini-album, which the band are currently recording.
9 May – The Ashen Keys play Orpington Liberal Club.
24 May – Graham Day, Allan Crockford, Wolf Howard and Parsley will be dusting off tunes from their Solarflares back catalogue at the Margate Mod and Sixities Festival. Find out more here.
June – Dead Star Boys formed last year and already have an album in the works which will be due out in June. In the meantime, they’re busy gigging, playing a collection of late 70s influenced original songs. Further details can be found on their Facebook page.
25 Jul – Scouse pop stars Space (or two of them, at least) will be in the neighbourhood – specifically Rainham Oast Community Centre - for the latest instalment of the Platform 3 Club nights.
Buskathon raising money for Mind
Anthony Martin is a singer-songwriter who has been organising and promoting gigs in Medway since 2005. His band, the Godless Reds, were the most consistent losers in the Beacon Court Battle of the Bands in 2002 and 2003, coming runner up twice. “I'm over it now”, he tells me, “because obviously it was 20 years ago, and it is still the first thing I mention.”
Anthony now uses music as a means to process trauma after what he admits was a difficult upbringing and events that have happened in his life. “Over and Over is the song I wrote to help me process my dad's suicide. I found it hard to understand. I hadn't seen him for five years. It was really difficult.” Anthony has had therapy, and the song is his exploration of what his father was going through and putting himself in his shoes. Anthony admits that “the song is super raw for me to sing and play. It's the hardest one I do.” When recording the track, he had a violinist come in and play. They didn’t know Anthony’s back story. “She starts playing. I'm in bits”, he recalls.
On Saturday 8 February, Anthony will be busking the song on the high streets of the Medway Towns to raise money for mental health charity Mind. He’ll start in Strood at 11.30am, next to the Post Office, then move to Rochester by the Candy Bar. In Chatham, he will be at the bottom of Meeting House Lane, then Gillingham on the corner of Canterbury Street, before finishing in Rainham Shopping Precinct.
When he was younger, he would walk down Chatham High Street and keep to himself. “Now I feel more confident in myself, and I'm happy to busk anywhere.” He plans to be in each location for 15-20 minutes, assuming he isn’t moved along, performing the song amongst other pieces.
You can support Anthony’s efforts to raise money for Mind via his online crowdfunding page.
Out to Dinner: Tai Won Mein Noodle House
In which Steven Keevil assesses the dinner options available in our towns. This week, he’s been down to Tai Won Mein Noodle House in Gillingham…
Tai Won Mein is located on Gillingham High Street, near the Post Office. The restaurant is quite large, with a faux Wagamama layout, friendly welcoming staff and questionable wall decorations. The tables and benches are screwed down, so you have to accept how close you are to the table, where laminated menus await. Once you’ve selected, you order at the counter, which somehow, in the year 2025, only takes cash. The food was delivered promptly, very hot, with each dish arriving at it’s ready.
I ordered egg-fried rice, sweet and sour chicken balls, and crispy chilli beef. To say the food was delivered promptly doesn’t quite cover how quickly the food came. The other thing to prepare yourself for is how large the portions are. I ordered an individual portion of rice, which could have fed a family. It also came with peas, meaning technically, the meal did have a vegetable element. The chicken was chunky, in very crisp batter, served with a good thick sweet sauce. The beef was extremely crispy. Both, once again, were generously portioned.
I like everything about Tai Won Mein, and considering its long history in Gillingham, it still feels like a hidden or unappreciated gem. Large portions are reasonably priced, promptly served, and tasty. This gem is worth checking out the next time you are in Gillingham for lunch or dinner.
Theatre review: Improbable Fiction at the Medway Little Theatre
by Anne Marie Jordan
One of the inescapable joys of living in a flat is never knowing what your upstairs neighbours are going to do - or when. Failure to wear noise-cancelling headphones can result in an unwelcome mid-slumber wake-up, this time thanks to a spot of impromptu pre-dawn DIY-ing.
Therefore, I was not entirely convinced that I would be able to stay conscious, let alone be in the most conducive mood for a spot of Alan Ayckbourn’s Improbable Fiction. Indeed, stifling a yawn as the lights went down, I feared the most probable part of proceedings would be me nodding off. However, despite being one of Ayckbourn’s more polarising productions, this Marmite play wasted no time in earning itself a new fan.
Set in the front room of Arnold, the middle-aged chair of a local writers' group, we are introduced to an eclectic range of wannabe scribes, intermittently interrupted by banging on the ceiling by his bed-ridden mother. Played exquisitely by Rob Hall, Arnold has the unenviable yet relatable task of managing the simmering tensions between the big personalities whose bluster often belies the fact they have yet to actually put pen to paper.
An early favourite emerged via Geoff Coote’s cankerous Brevis, a retired headmaster, still writing musicals and raging against the [insert expletive here] pupils who continue to be the bane of his life. Special mentions also go to the versatile Fiona McGahren as Ilsa and Samantha Tunstill-Baldock, whose facial expressions as Jess deserve a credit of their own.
Post-interval, the action takes an unexpected turn, with the audience transported into the creativity and imagination of each writer within their preferred genre. It’s fair to say that some are more fantastical than others, but all in all, I defy anyone not to be entertained (or stay awake) while drinking in the surreal splendour of a drumming, dancing squirrel living their best life.
Improbable Friction is on at the Medway Little Theatre until Saturday 8 February. Tickets are available here.
Events this week
🎸 Sat 1 Feb - Rotifer + The High Span + Paul & Pets // Indie pop bonanza with three bands. Rochester Social Club. Suggested donation £10.
🎸 Sat 1 Feb - Theatre Royal + The Dutch Embassy // Local janglepoppers take to the stage. The Ship, Gillingham. Free.
🔊 Sun 2 Feb - Minimus #0348c Launch // Delve into the Minimus sonic arena archive, where you are invited to bring an instrument or other noise-making device. Analogue Music, Rochester. Free.
🎥 Mon 3 Feb - Pretty Woman // 35th Anniversary screening of Gary Marshall’s worlds collide comedy, of love overcoming capitalism through money. Odeon, Chatham. Tickets £5.
🐦 6 - 17 Feb - Roost // Exhibition showcasing bird-inspired artworks. Halpern Pop, Rochester. Free.
More Authority
The government’s Shared Prosperity Fund has allowed Medway Council to support nearly 100 community projects across the last three years. Medway has charted a different course to many places by handing the money directly to community groups to get things done in their areas. While the results seem positive, Medway’s latest round has been hit by delays, and a strange scenario where months after the funding was announced, Medway Council still won’t provide the complete list of projects being funded. We’ve been digging into the scheme and talking to those receiving the funds to get a sense of what’s been going on.
Remember that our Medwayish shop contains a wide range of Medway-related gifts and products designed by local creatives. We have books, mugs, t-shirts, prints, and other fun items. Check it out!
Footnotes
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Music that soundtracked the creation of this edition: The Gentlemen’s Club by Stuart Turner and The Flat Earth Society, and Between the Midnight and the Morning by The Pastel Waves.
Pretty sure Tai Won Mein pre dates Wagamama. It’s a pillar of Medway cuisine and they have a huge portrait of Chairman Mau on the wall, which is A CHOICE.