Shop local, think global

A weekend trip to the British coast reminded me that we have to support our local community’s endeavours, or risk losing them forever. We went to visit Herne Bay, a seaside community down on the Kentish coast. It was a couple of days where we ate fish and chips (Fish in Two), wandered around the pier, and shopped and ate locally. Visits were made to Ram Collectible Toys, The Little Green Bookshop and conversations were had about holidays, recent books read and the weather – it was sunny all weekend, luckily. And in the case of the toy shop, models of tanks.

There was also a coffee roaster and bakehouse, complete with a setup you could view through the windows, and where they were making a selection of pastries and baked goods. The coffee was pretty tasty too. I would like to mention the mini golf, but since I came in last (despite having two hole in ones), I am moving on now.

After dinner at the Oyster and Chop House, with its excellent barbecued specialities, we headed to the evening’s entertainment. This was at the Little Theatre. They were putting on a play, The Titfield Thunderbolt, where we watched the local talent joke and emote in a small space. The cast were all pulled from the local community and well, we had a laugh as we passed pots and pans forward to the actors as part of the show.

The next day, I threw myself in the sea with a bunch of other brightly headed and wetsuit-clad people, and finished the event we had come down here for, the pier to pier swim. To say it was choppy was a correct statement. The swim out to the turnaround was quick, and the return to the start was a Sisyphean adventure in water. We all drank tea and congratulated each other afterwards.

Visiting all these places reminded me that we the people are responsible for the smaller businesses. It’s all well and good getting things delivered, but there is little replacement for real life, and having human interactions, both at work and at home. We have to provide these enterprises with both our presence and our support.

With that in mind, don’t forget to register for free for our Dairy Expo in Harrogate, 4-5 October. We have new speakers and exhibitors – welcome to Kemtile, where they plan to conduct some serious flooring consultations during the show, along with IMA Dairy & Food and Sealed Air (SEE). There will be testing! QualiTru Sampling Systems, CEM and Stable Micro Systems are also joining us. It promises to be quite a show and I am really looking forward to seeing everyone in person. Don’t miss out!

PS – It may be summer in the Northern Hemispehere but we are thinking ahead to the autumn gearing up for our September Expo Preview Issue, as well as October. Please send content to me or Samantha Bull at [email protected], [email protected].

• Suzanne Christiansen, editor, Dairy Industries International.
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