Winning With A Whitstable Pearl

RSPCA Tankerton Charity Shop wins ‘Best Dressed Window’ in Whistable Oyster Festival Competition

Whistable Oyster Festival competition winners! This month two of our charity shops took part in the Whitstable Oyster Festival Best Dressed Charity Shop Window Display competition, which is based on the book – and TV series – ‘Whitstable Pearl’ by local author, Julie Wassmer. We are very excited and proud to announce that our Tankerton charity shop has been named as the winner of the Best Dressed Shop Window competition! Not only this, but our Whitstable shop has also been highly commended by the judges and community alike, so we would like to say congratulations to both of our shops for working hard to create these wonderful displays. We are very proud of our team of staff and volunteers!

The Whitstable Festival is an incredibly popular and long standing festival that celebrates coastal life here in East Kent, with the Landing of the Oysters, an oyster eating competition and a range of community and fringe events in Whitstable and the surrounds.

Elaine, RSPCA Tankerton Shop Manager answered a few questions and gave a few of her thoughts on this great achievement:

‘Who helped you in creating the window display?’

Mostly our amazing volunteer, Deirdre.

‘Where did the ideas come from and what inspired you?’

We were given a scene which was based on the Whitstable Pearl book written by author Julie Wassmer. Using a lot of Whitstable related items we set up an art exhibition and took inspiration from the main character in the book who owns a restaurant inspiring the table scene.

‘Was there another design that you were close to using or was the team set on this idea from the beginning?’

Our basic outline from the beginning was used, but over time what we used and how it was used changed as we went on.

‘What was the visit like from the judges and how did you feel?’

They first came around on Tuesday and there were 3 judges altogether. They said well done and I could see them outside the window talking quite positively. At first I didn’t think we had won.

‘Could you tell us how you felt the moment you found out that Tankerton had won?’

One of the volunteers called me to ‘come quick’ and I ran out onto the shop floor and they were outside with the trophy. The judges were lovely and they said they loved the idea with the different elements used, it was really lovely to see.

‘How did you feel upon knowing that not only had Tankerton won but the RSPCA Whitstable shop had also been highly commended?’

I felt really proud! We had worked quite hard on the community event with the display. I am very proud of us, especially after such a challenging fourteen months dealing with the impact of the pandemic. I feel proud to have reopened the shop, welcomed back our regular customers and now winning this award is the icing on the cake!

The Tankerton Charity shop is always keen to receive donations of any good quality unwanted goods, clothing, etc and is open for donation drop offs on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 10am. Please do call ahead if you would like to donate goods at any other time: 01227 771369