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Dover has enjoyed a month of hugely-positive publicity generated by the celebration of our cultural and heritage offer. The celebration of the centenary of [French aviator] Louis Blériot's historic flight across the English Channel was always going to be big, but even we were pleasantly surprised by the coverage. Dover is a place which, through its role and history, is always going to be in the news. After more than two centuries acting as the gateway to England, and its continuing role as the country's biggest and busiest roll-on roll-off port, it will always have a high media profile. The weekend of international events on both sides of the Channel, including free public entertainment, aerial displays, fireworks, and the unveiling of a new memorial, as well as flights by original Blériot aircraft, while special and huge was, however, just the tip of the iceberg as far as the cultural events planned for Dover are concerned. In the last two weeks, we have also had the relaunch of Dover Castle, with new interpretations of the Norman keep funded by the ‘Sea change' programme, the award of the 2012 Inspire branding for our events programme centred around the newly-installed Olympic Live site (big screen) Next year sees the centenary of Charles Rolls' double non-stop flight across the Channel; in 2011, the British Open Golf returns to the district; and in 2012, we will welcome the Olympic torch, as well providing training facilities in the district for the competing teams. We, together with the rest of local government are going to face very tough times financially, as we look for cuts, and have to focus on what are and what are not priorities. In this exercise, the importance of culture and celebration must not be overlooked, it is crucial to the sense of pride and place, and provides hope through difficult times. We are, however, having to work harder to find different ways of funding and organising these events. The Blériot event was heavily sponsored, and none of our events could be delivered without the hard work and community spirit of our volunteers and council employees, and from the public who turn out to attend them. Nadeem Aziz is chief executive of Dover DC

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WHITEHALL

District View

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