Open Sandwich: Origin & Information about the Open Sandwich Website

About Open Sandwich

Established in 1998

Open Sandwich came into being through an idea by, and the encouragement of, my partner - we have both lived in Sandwich for 37 years and feel a great affinity with the town.

To start with in 1998, it was a small three page web site with half a dozen pictures and a little history about the town of Sandwich in Kent - it didn't even have it's own domain name at that time. With much hard work over the years, it grew as I added more and more pages, and is still growing, as I update it as often as I can. (It went through a complete redesign in Jan 2000, July 2003, Dec 2003 & received a general overhaul in Aug 2005)

Various individuals and organisations have contributed information, particularly with the old photographs and history (see acknowledgements)

South East Tourism Website of the Year Award

In 2005 the Town Clerk entered this website in the South East Tourism Excellence Competition. To my great suprise www.open-sandwich.co.uk won the South East Tourism Website of the Year award for 2005. It was a thrill to be presented a trophy an certificate by Angela Rippon.

Entirely Voluntary

This web site is entirely voluntary and independent, unsponsored by any external agencies, except my own Website Design business - See Below.

Open Sandwich and Open Sandwich Design

I also now have a separate Website Design Business - established in 2000 - called Open Sandwich Design - and named after this website.

I design websites for local Kent businesses. I also have a separate website: www.opensandwichdesign.co.uk

This can cause some confusion! - there is a connection between this website (www.open-sandwich.co.uk) and my design business - they are connected by the name and the fact that my Open Sandwich Design business also helps me run the Open Sandwich website on a voluntary basis.

Why do I do it?

I am rewarded by the interest shown by the thousands of visitors to the web site and the many messages received. Many of the web site visitors also visit the town of Sandwich itself and in some circumstances have benefited the town in other ways, particularly in conjunction with the Local History Society. (See the Old Document pages in the Scrapbook for one example)

The Open Sandwich web site is a lot of hard work but it is well worth the effort - please keep visiting.

Susan Fielder BA - Open Sandwich Designer & Webmaster

Registered Member of the UK Web Design Association