Made in Kent - Tuesday 19th September 2023
This week we visit a wine seller in Canterbury looking to take on big name brands and Sofia is joined by the organisers of the Rotters Opera, a play about corruption and bribery in Deal's political history.
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00:00 Hello and welcome to Made in Kent, live on KMTV. I'm Sophia Akin and in this show we
00:20 travel around the county to discover Kent's tastiest treats, most delicious drinks and
00:25 some of the creative minds across the county. Tonight we'll find out more about Kent's wine
00:30 industry, how farmers are coping in challenging times, plus what's happening in Kent in the
00:35 next few weeks. But first, it's been a tough year for Kent's businesses and producers with
00:40 rising costs and a competitive industry. But one Canterbury wine store has powered through
00:45 the hard times and has even won a national award. Like most wine producers, they sell
00:49 red, rosé and sparkling wine, but their beverages aren't just from Kent and the UK, but internationally
00:55 as well. Finn McDermott went along to see whether the samples were up to scratch.
01:01 Tuscany, Bordeaux, Sicily and now Kent. One Canterbury business has won Best Specialist
01:07 Retailer in the Decanter Awards in England and Wales, beating out competitors like Waitrose.
01:13 Cork, tucked right on the doorstep of Canterbury Cathedral, is a wine store, but has much more
01:19 to it than meets the eye. I spoke to Cork's founder, Jonathan Piggins, about the industry,
01:24 the business and what makes Kent's own wine so special.
01:29 They love it. You get various different reactions, but the most prevalent reaction is, "Oh my
01:37 word, I didn't realise that England made so many different wines and Kent made so many
01:42 different wines." And then they taste it and they go, "Wow, it's really rather good, isn't
01:47 it?" And you go, "Yeah, it's very well made wine." So it's, in a way, sort of, it brings
01:54 joy. It's a journey of discovery for a lot of people, which is why we have the machines
01:58 as well, so they can try many different varieties and many different vineyards and winemakers.
02:06 But we also do wines by the glass as well, so people can just sit down, relax and enjoy
02:11 a glass of English sparkling or an English still wine.
02:15 Their most impressive claim is that of Clive Barlow, their resident master of wine, a prestigious
02:21 title that is only held by 400 experts worldwide. But don't be fooled into thinking this is
02:28 any simple winery. Cork is very with the times, as Jonathan showed me, with the wine sampling
02:34 technology that Cork has.
02:38 This is our enigmatic machine where you can try lots of different wines. So we have English
02:44 wines, we've got six English white wines here, and on the other side we've got four English
02:48 red wines. And what you do is you get one of these lovely little cards, you put some
02:52 money on it, you slot it into the machine, and what it enables you to do is actually
02:58 choose different sizes. So you can have a sample size, a large sample or a glass, but
03:03 it means that you can discover lots of different wines. I'm just going to have a lovely bit
03:07 of the Wayfairer Pinot Gris.
03:09 Jonathan tells me that he sees many tourists who are visiting from overseas for the town
03:13 and cathedral, who are drawn in to sample some Kentish wine. So I just had to try some.
03:19 Here I am in Cork in Canterbury, enjoying a Woodchurch sparkling rosé made right here
03:25 in Kent. Well, if you're looking for a wine tasting experience with a specialism in Kent
03:31 wines, I say come down and drink it all in.
03:33 That's very nice.
03:39 Well Cork's revolutionary wine vending process, extravagant selection and incredible views
03:45 are sure to be a best seller. For anyone looking to sample wine from the vineyards of Kent,
03:51 Finn McDermott for KMTV.
03:54 A Chatham Theatre Company is one of many across Kent going back in time. Their latest play
03:59 covers a corrupt by-election that took place in Deal in the late 19th century. Organisers
04:04 of the opera performance say there have been some instances in political history that are
04:09 pretty similar to the Deal election. I caught up with those at Rotters Opera earlier today.
04:14 Well, I'm now joined with Pat and Simon from the Rotters Opera here to tell me a little
04:18 bit more about a play that's coming up. So we've got actor and director and a producer,
04:22 haven't we? So tell me a little bit more about this play, which I believe is set in Deal,
04:26 right?
04:27 Yes, it's based in Deal and set around true events that happened there in 1880. So it
04:32 was at a time when elections were fought and bribery was commonplace. Electors were bribed
04:38 for their votes and commonly in Deal it was £3-5 per vote, which in today's money equates
04:44 to about £300-500. And quite a number of the electors took votes from both sides. So
04:50 it was Christmas, Easter, all at once. The publicans and the landlords, they were all
04:56 bribed as well. So publicans were commonly given probably the value of eight months'
05:01 rent for their property just to buy a committee room for a week that probably wasn't even
05:06 used. So there was another thing called colouring the election, which was putting up flags for
05:11 each party and each party would put up bigger and bigger flags. They'd compete all the time.
05:17 They paid people to watch the flags to make sure the other side didn't take them down
05:21 or deface them. And basically it was just, you know, let's say Christmas, everyone was
05:26 just getting money left, right and centre.
05:29 So why did you want to bring this play back now? It's a bit of a historical one, isn't
05:33 it? So why did you feel it important to, I guess, educate people about what would happen
05:37 now?
05:38 I think that by-election is a very good example of something that's still going on now. And
05:42 so really it's a political satire. I think you can all agree, no matter which side of
05:47 the political divide you're on, the economics of elections are still quite corrupt. There's
05:52 a lot of money gets put in a lot of different places. So this little microcosm of a tale
05:56 of 1880 in Deal, a very sort of small, localised place, can then be expanded out to sort of
06:02 look at our political system at the moment. It feels very fresh in lots of ways. All the
06:06 issues haven't gone away. All the characters are sort of echoed down the eras as well.
06:11 So there's plenty there for people to recognise in today's society.
06:15 And you're a director and actor, so we can see you on this flyer here. This was from
06:19 a couple of years ago, wasn't it?
06:20 It is.
06:21 Who's this character you're playing and is that who you're playing this year as well?
06:25 That's the judge, actually. There's a sort of recurring theme. There are three different
06:28 scenes where three different people are giving evidence, most of which is taken verbatim
06:32 from court records from the time. In that version I was playing the judge. I'm actually
06:36 not playing the judge this time round because I'm directing. I'm trying to sort of pull
06:39 my involvement back a little bit. I play a character called Turnip Toff, who is a sort
06:45 of thinly veiled caricature of a modern day political figure that we'll all recognise.
06:52 I won't exactly reveal who.
06:53 Better not.
06:54 I'll dust off that impression again. So there are five actors in the piece as we're going
06:59 to perform it on these three performances. It's going to be a scratch performance, so
07:04 there are moments, particularly moments around the songs, because it is obviously the Rotter's
07:07 Opera, will be fully realised. And we've got all sorts of different pieces, some stuff
07:12 that has been brought through from sort of old sea shanties or folk music, some other
07:17 songs that might be recognisable but we've sort of done something with them to turn them
07:21 into parody, and some little bits as well that have been composed for us. So those moments
07:25 will be kind of fully realised and some of the rest of it we're going to try and be a
07:28 bit clever about how we can present it.
07:30 Brilliant. And it's coming to Spotlights in Chatham, isn't it? We've done some work with
07:35 Spotlights before, gone and interviewed them before. So tell me a bit more about where
07:39 people can come and see it as well.
07:41 Other places it's on, it's going to be performed on the 5th at the Deal Welfare Club in Deal,
07:48 and the following night it's going to be in Margate at the little Tom Thumb theatre.
07:53 Amazing. I imagine it won't come for free, do people have to pay to come along?
07:59 They do, but they'll get great value for money. It's £10 a ticket and the concession price
08:03 is £7.50.
08:04 It's not bad, is it?
08:05 £7.50 concession.
08:06 And is it a family show, just for children, just for adults? I know you said it's quite
08:11 satirical, so maybe one more for adults, would you say?
08:13 I think probably, I think adults will get more out of it, but there's nothing in there
08:17 that I wouldn't show to a child. I'd say maybe, I mean certainly children over the age of
08:21 about 8 or 9, there's plenty in there. It's a very entertaining show, it is musical based
08:27 as well, so there's always something along to cheer up the younger audience members.
08:32 Yes, I think politics over the last few years has had a lot of its own comic elements, and
08:38 I think it got to the point where it was beyond satire, you just couldn't satirise it any
08:44 more. So I think it's a very clear way of actually making a point.
08:49 Brilliant. Thank you both so much for joining us, and best of luck with the show.
08:54 Thanks very much.
08:55 And now, storing food sustainably and for longer is the aim of one business in Hyde.
09:00 Eco Food Wrap, run by husband and wife team Phil and Gail Utting, hope their food storage
09:05 products made of beeswax will help the county to be less wasteful. Their products provide
09:11 an alternative to traditional plastic food bags, but decompose at a faster rate. Well,
09:15 let's take a look back at this report from earlier in the year.
09:19 Most of us here in Kent will have brought our sandwiches out and about in a plastic
09:22 food bag, a product readily available in supermarkets. Whilst many are recyclable, it can take decades
09:28 for them to decompose. A couple in Hyde are hoping they have the solution, with their
09:33 Eco Food Wraps made with just cotton and beeswax.
09:36 Philip Utting owns a business with his wife Gail, and it all started with a salad she
09:40 gave him.
09:41 One day she gave me a salad on a Saturday and said, "How was dinner?" So I said, "My
09:47 salad was lovely, thank you, thank you for my salad." She said, "Well, because your
09:50 salad's 12 days old." That stuff I've been making for six months that you don't
09:54 really know about, it's been wrapped in this. I was so impressed, I said, "Well, next
09:59 time you make something, you show me how to do it." And four or five days later, she
10:04 started to make some in the evening and it helped. And to cut a long story short, within
10:08 three weeks I gave up my job as a driving instructor. I was so impressed, and I just
10:13 loved it.
10:14 Eco-friendly products come at a cost. A pack of four Eco Food Wraps will set you back £22.
10:20 Philip puts this down to sourcing more sustainable, higher quality materials and the labour involved
10:25 with their products.
10:26 Okay, so do you want to show me what goes into making these products then?
10:29 Okay, well broadly we only have two ingredients. We have the raw cotton, and the only other
10:34 ingredient is these lovely beeswax pellets. We just melt this in a tray, or just get a
10:40 piece of fabric, pop it in, and put it in the oven. We end up on average making between
10:47 16 and 18 of these an hour.
10:49 So these are ones that have been used for a period of time now, and you're saying that
10:52 they can actually be revived to still be reused?
10:54 Yeah, and this you can see from the shape of it, this is the one that we use for our
10:58 cheese, but when you see where we fold it, it gets pinched, and we're actually starting
11:03 to get crumbles of wax coming off. And you don't want to lose the wax, because then you
11:07 get back to the bare cotton, and it won't stay hygienic. So what you need to do is you
11:13 literally get your everyday hairdryer, and just pin it, always make sure you hold it
11:18 down, and just apply the heat to the wax, and it melts all the little granules that
11:23 are left, and it will get rid of all of those cracks and creases. And in probably 30 seconds
11:29 to a minute, you can revive that more or less back as good as new.
11:33 The Eco Food Wrap team will be touring the food markets, and they hope the county will
11:37 be willing to fork out and be more eco-friendly with how they store their food.
11:42 Charlie Gurr for KMTV
11:45 Well it's time for us to take a quick break now, but coming up we'll be seeing what is
11:48 going on in the county in the coming weeks. I'll see you in a few minutes.
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15:04 >> Hello and welcome back to Made in Kent live on KMTV.
15:08 Industry experts, policy makers and academics from across the southeast have been calling
15:13 for a more sustainable food sector.
15:15 The theme of this year's Eastern Art Conference is food in a time of crisis.
15:20 It comes as inflation has eased slightly, fueled by a slowing of food prices.
15:24 But industry experts say the garden of England is far from rosy.
15:28 Gabriel Morris went along to the conference last week.
15:31 >> Who was here today?
15:32 So there were academics from the University of Kent, University of Essex and East Anglia University.
15:38 They form the Eastern Art University.
15:41 So that was one part of it.
15:43 But the other part of it are people who are on the ground who deal with some of the crisis that they face day in, day out.
15:51 Such as farmers, but also people from community supermarkets.
15:56 And there was one group from Essex here today.
15:59 And they were here today for breakout rooms, for lectures, for seminars to talk about some of the issues being faced in Kent and in the southeast in general.
16:11 And these conversations people had said today were really, really important.
16:15 Because the southeast is heavily influenced by the food industry.
16:20 It makes up a third of England's total income, Abby.
16:25 >> Gabriel, you said that you're an expert now.
16:29 But what did you actually learn to get to your expert level today?
16:33 What sort of things did you sort of take on board?
16:37 >> Well, the one thing that I'm going to take home with me today is that there are 16,000 people in Kent.
16:46 And that is estimated from Kent County Council who are employed in the food industry.
16:51 Such as fruit pickers, farmers, the list goes on.
16:54 But that number isn't necessarily accurate.
16:57 And that is one thing as a research gap that the consortium would like to actually fix.
17:03 Is to get actually solid data on what the picture looks like here in the southeast.
17:08 And I've also learned how the sector actually faces a number of different challenges on different sides.
17:14 Such as one of them, Brexit.
17:16 It's reduced the number of people in employment.
17:18 The war in Ukraine.
17:20 That is driving inflation, not just for us individuals, but also for the farming industry.
17:25 Such as the rising cost of fertilizer and petrol.
17:28 Which we've seen today in the latest inflation figures has gone up.
17:32 And also the COVID pandemic as well.
17:37 >> For Kent, we need to look at farming in a broader picture.
17:40 Farming can't sit in a silo anymore, but it has to realize how it works in a broader picture.
17:44 They need to realize how they can exploit the resources that they have around them.
17:48 Not just looking at simply growing a crop and trying to make that for an economic viability.
17:52 But actually going to something farther.
17:54 How do they use their waste resources to actually bring new value streams into what they're doing.
17:58 For Kent, we have a great, good variety of land uses that we have in Kent.
18:03 And a large amount of crops that are grown here.
18:06 But we will be under pressure if they sit in silos.
18:09 Connecting all of these together, creating circular economies where things can work together.
18:14 And businesses can work hand in hand can really make a real impact.
18:17 >> Well, Abhi, that was Robert.
18:24 He's a doctor from the University of Kent.
18:26 Actually talking about how the farmers actually need to work together to create a circular economy.
18:33 To make the industry more sustainable.
18:35 So it would see farmers working together.
18:38 So off cuts of, you know, in the form of fruits can be fed into fertilizer for chickens, for example.
18:44 Instead of importing soya beans from Argentina, from South America.
18:49 Which is a long distance away from Kent, from England.
18:53 And that has high food marks.
18:55 But chickens can be fed on off cuts from Kent.
18:58 Now, there are also many other pressures which are having an impact on the sustainability of farming in Kent.
19:04 33% of soils are degraded.
19:07 And there are calls for regenerative farming.
19:10 Now, one of the big issues is, and particularly we heard this from James Smith, who is the owner of Loddington Farm.
19:17 He also runs Owlet Juice.
19:19 We featured him on Made in Kent in the past.
19:22 He says that farmers across the county and England are not being paid a fair price by supermarkets.
19:29 In fact, he actually doesn't supply them anymore.
19:31 That's why he's diversified his business and opened Owlet Juice.
19:36 But shopping locally does come at a cost.
19:40 Currently, it usually is a little bit more expensive than most people would expect.
19:45 And I think during the cost of living crisis, a lot of individuals will be driven by cost.
19:50 They'll go to the cheaper supermarkets and buy the cheapest products available.
19:54 How can we tackle this?
19:55 Well, this is something that the producer in Kent talked about today.
19:59 The current argument is that food needs to be cheap because we're in a cost of living crisis.
20:05 I think cheap food is a tiny sticky plaster on a big festering wound of low wages that have been stagnated for years
20:13 and that certainly haven't kept up with food inflation.
20:17 So I think we need to change the narrative again and press for action on addressing the causes for the cost of living crisis
20:24 rather than its effects.
20:26 And, you know, in a way, making the food producers and growers the culprits.
20:32 Well, Abbey, I've learned a lot today and I think the future is bright for the Kent's farming industry.
20:38 There's been a lot of talk today. Let's hope they walk the walk.
20:41 Kent is known as the Garden of England.
20:46 According to the county council, 16,000 people are employed in the sector.
20:51 But the industry says they're under threat.
20:54 James Smith runs a fruit farm near Maidstone.
20:57 He was at Eastern our conference calling for shorter supply chains between farms and supermarkets.
21:03 So the supermarkets are sticking to their model of paying suppliers less whilst charging the consumer more.
21:09 What I'm advocating is actually becoming truly vertically integrated so we have our own retail.
21:15 That way we control all of the costs and we can enjoy the benefits of that by keeping all of those at that margin in our business.
21:25 Consumer price index unexpectedly eased this week,
21:28 particularly fuelled by a slowing down of the rate that some food and drinks cost.
21:33 The industry, though, are reporting many issues, particularly in the last few years,
21:38 with Brexit, the pandemic and war in Ukraine.
21:42 Fuel has a huge impact because they need it in order to do everything from kind of powering or heating,
21:48 if it's a food or if it's a livestock, all the way through to processing any of the food,
21:53 or even their supply chain to get it to them.
21:55 A lot of people are bringing in their fertiliser, are coming in from overseas, that has an impact on the cost of everything.
22:00 Fuel underpins all of that and then when we're needing to heat things or keep something stable it's even more of an impact.
22:04 The consortium brings together three universities.
22:08 And the idea behind it is to do three things.
22:10 One is to encourage collaborations, particularly around research.
22:14 One is to develop a positive research culture, so share training, do mentoring and so forth.
22:19 And the third is about advocacy, so making sure that the voice of our region and our universities is heard on a national scale.
22:26 Well, the food is going down a treat at this conference today.
22:30 And this is what it's looking at, food in a time of crisis.
22:33 Looking at what goes into our everyday foods, connecting the industry with academia
22:38 and seeing how farmers across the South East can be more sustainable going forward.
22:43 The consensus here is it's a race against time to make the industry more sustainable.
22:49 And getting people to shop more local, but not everyone can afford that.
22:54 And I think a big thing is if you give the local supermarkets their own autonomy to sort out what's happening in their own local community,
23:02 that would go a big way, rather than somebody sitting at head office telling them how they need to operate with their customers.
23:08 It's a different way of thinking, I think.
23:11 The South East faces huge challenges going forward, but for a rosy future, farmers will hope that these come into fruition.
23:19 Gabriel Morris for KMTV in Canterbury.
23:22 And finally, from an epic closing party at Dreamland and cinematic light show at Canterbury Cathedral,
23:28 Gabriel Morris joins me now with all the latest happening in Kent.
23:31 We heard from you in that report, but now you're going to tell us what we can expect in Kent for the next few weeks.
23:36 Well, there's plenty going on in the Garden of England, as always.
23:39 And we are heading into autumn. I don't really think the weather knows quite what it's doing at the moment.
23:44 One day it's hot, one day it's cold.
23:46 So I've got a mix of events which are happening across Kent in the next week, which are inside and some which are outside.
23:52 And all of these, you can still get tickets for. That's the important part.
23:55 So let's kick off at Canterbury Cathedral.
23:58 This starts in, well, in about 25 minutes, in fact, it starts.
24:03 People don't have long to get there then.
24:05 It's a Luxembourgish Renaissance.
24:07 It happened last year. It was shine at Canterbury Cathedral.
24:10 But this is running from tonight, as I said, up until Saturday.
24:15 Tickets to go and watch this light show are 15 pound and it's slightly cheaper for children.
24:20 And if you are lucky enough to be under two, you get in for free.
24:23 But unfortunately, me and you, Sophia, we're not under two, so we don't get free tickets.
24:26 That was the first piece I ever did for KMTV as well.
24:29 But it was at the one in Rochester, which I believe happens next week.
24:33 It's a slightly different theme. This one is Renaissance.
24:35 So it's kind of taking influences from the 14th to 17th century.
24:40 But what was the theme you saw a couple of years ago?
24:43 It was Space Voyage at Rochester Cathedral exactly two years ago.
24:47 And it was a really cool first package, first report to film for KMTV.
24:51 So I'm sure it'll be an interesting show this year as well.
24:53 I believe the theme at Rochester Cathedral starts next Tuesday is science.
24:58 So if you can't get down to Canterbury this week, you can come along to Rochester on a week.
25:02 Well, the other event I have for you, this one is outside.
25:05 It's happening on Saturday. Tickets are still available.
25:08 It's the last of the Summer Series at Dreamland.
25:11 UB40 are playing. They're a legendary band.
25:15 This is one of the scenes from earlier in the year.
25:20 If you haven't been able to get down to Margate yet for one of their Summer Series,
25:24 I definitely suggest getting down to it. I've heard very good reports.
25:27 They've had an epic line-up this year. Tom Jones, McFly, the list goes on.
25:30 So definitely worth getting down to there.
25:32 UB40 are from Birmingham. You probably know their song, Red, Red Wine.
25:37 Definitely worth going to.
25:39 Are you going to be going along, Gabriel?
25:40 Unfortunately, I'm not in Kent. If I was here, I would 100% be going down to that.
25:45 And finally, a free event taking place this weekend.
25:49 It's the Broadstairs Food Festival.
25:52 It's its 15th year. There's lots of live music, entertainment going on on there.
25:57 Broadstairs, in fact, isn't that far away from Dreamland at Margate.
26:00 So why don't you do both at the same time?
26:03 What's going on in Kent? Thanks very much, Gabriel.
26:05 Hopefully, if we get time, we can go along to one of them. We'll have to see. Thank you.
26:09 That's all we've got time for today here at KMTV.
26:12 You've been watching Made in Kent.
26:14 In the meantime, you can check out some of our other programmes.
26:17 We've got Kent Tonight, The Kent Politics Show and Kent on Climate, which is tomorrow.
26:21 And you can visit kmtv.co.uk to find those programmes.
26:25 And if you own an independent business in Kent and you'd like to be a guest on this show,
26:29 you can email us on madeinkent@kmtv.co.uk.
26:33 We'll be back at 8pm for the evening news bulletin.
26:36 But thanks very much for watching us. Have a lovely evening and good night.
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