Stones look to brighter future after relegation disappointment
MAIDSTONE United FC have announced that Jay Saunders will take permanent charge of the first team. He took over from Andy Ford and Steve
Butler as caretaker manager in mid-March and made an immediate impact with five wins in the final seven games of the season. However, despite being one of the in-form
sides in the closingweeks, The Stones were relegated from the Ryman League Premier
Division. Jay said: “The club’s relegation was a massive disappointment. When I took over in March many said survival was vir- tually impossible. To have come so close made it all the more harder to accept. “However,we are determined to build for
the future, especially with the return to Maidstone so close. I have already started making plans for next season so we’re in the best position to challenge for promotion.”
David Priestley holds the bot- tles that could help save lives.
Message in a
bottle
The club has announced that Europa Sports will be the official kit and leisurewear supplier, after signing a two- year deal. Europa Sports, which is in the process of relocating to Aylesford, will be supplying Macron kit throughout the club from the first team through to the youngest play- ers within the youth and community sec- tion.
New Medway footbridge finally comes to a halt
THE creation of a new foot- bridge over the River Medway has finally been ruled out – nine years after it was ear- marked as a condition of a major housing development. As part of the development of
307 flats at Scotney Gardens, Maidstone, Fairview Homes was required to make a £500,000 section 106 payment towards a new footbridge in the
Maidstone will share Olympic
A MESSAGE in a bottle could save your life. That is the message fromMaidstone Lions Club who, with the
NHSWest Kent, is promoting the scheme to people with health problems. The idea is to complete a form with details of medical condi-
tions and medicines being taken, put it in the bottle and keep it in the fridge. Two stickers are included, one for the property’s front door and the other for the fridge door, so emergency serv- ices will instantly have medical details available if they are called.
Maidstone Lions will be delivering the bottles to participating
local GP surgeries where they will be available free to those who have a need. Contact the Lions on 01795841439 or
m.w.lux-
ton@btinternet.com for more details.
Stroke of improvement for Trust
MAIDSTONE and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust is one of five trusts in the South East to show a marked improvement in the treatment, care and rehabilita- tion of stroke patients in the past two years, according to a national survey. The independent National Sentinel Stroke Survey, which reports every two years against nine key indicators on acute hospital stroke care, compared the period from April to June 2010 to the corresponding months in 2008. The trust’s own much more
recent figures for the first three months of 2011 show that the improvement in stroke care is continuing. In January, Febru- ary and March this year, 72% of the trust’s stroke patients re- ceived their care and treatment in a specialist stroke bed from a dedicated multi-disciplinary team of stroke specialists. In the same period (January to March 2011) the trust achieved, for the first time, the national target of meeting the nine key indicators for excellent stroke care, in 75% of stroke patients.
Jubilee looking to expand next door JUBILEE Resource Hub has applied to expand its operation at Upper Stone Street, Maidstone, to the office next door. The building, known as Jubilee Auditorium, is used for church celebrations,Habitation youth group,worship practice andmore. A supporting statement for the applicant said: “They have oc- cupied the 48 Upper Stone Street building since July 2009, suc- cessfully delivering help and support to the community in the area without generating inconvenience to the neighbourhood. “Due to their success in the community and with a possibility
to expand their services and congregation, the 50 Upper Stone Street building is the perfect location for their extended re- quirements helping the community to utilise these facilities and generating employment.” Maidstone Council will decide the application, which seeks change of use from an office.
centre of town. But current financial con- straints have reduced that figure to £300,000. This will now instead be
spent onmaking improvements to the existing high-level walk- way, which runs alongside the railway line above Fairmeadow, and purchasing land to link up the Medway towpath to the Whatman Millennium Park.
Spirit of C&H
flame spotlight RESIDENTS in Maidstone will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportu- nity to view the Olympic Flame when it passes through the bor- ough and stops off at Leeds Castle on Thursday, July 19 next year. Maidstone will be one of 66 evening celebration locations across the UK confirmed by the London 2012 Games Organising Committee. On the 19th, there will be an entertainment show at Leeds Castle, where a cauldronwill be lit from the Olympic Flame to mark the end of the day’s proceedings. MP Helen Grant said: “The Olympics will create a shop win- dow of Britain’s sporting achieve- ments and I am pleased that Maidstone will be part of that focus. TheOlympic Torch will arrive in
the UK from Greece on Friday, May 18 with the 70-day relay be- ginning at Land's End. Maidstone will be day 62 of the relay,with the flame travelling up from Dover and then heading onto Guildford. The Olympic Flame will arrive
at the Olympic Stadium on July 27 for the opening ceremony.
Fabrics lives on STAFF who were made redundant from C&H Fab- rics are planning to set up a new curtain and fabric store of their own. Maidstone trio Elizabeth Sawyers, Linda Gander and Frances Baker were among the 47 people who lost their jobs following the closure in March of C&H, which had been trading inWeek Street for more than 40 years. They expect to shortly
open new shop Sew a Good Yarn, on the site of a former sports shop near the Gabriels Hill entrance of TheMall shopping cen- tre. Two other former C&H
staff have been recruited as sales assistants.
Going digital by
June 2012 LOCAL television trans- mission will be digital only from June 27 2012, when the Bluebell Hill transmitter switches off its analogue signals.
Archbishop’s Palace staircase returns PART of a staircase that had been in Maidstone’s Archbishop’s Palace for 400 years has been found... in a skip. The Jacobean post, which dates from the reign of James I, was removed from the palace during a restoration project. It was dis- carded when the reception area was being refurbished. Discussions are underway to decide whether to restore the
post to its original place in theMill Street palace. A KCC spokesman said: “The post is in safe storage.We’ve contacted Maidstone Council about the next steps.”
One in three will be over 65 by 2022
THE number of over-65s in Kent will have increased by over 32% by 2022. In the same period, the county’s overall population is
To contact Downs Mail just phone 01622 630330
expected to grow by 10.6% – or more than 148,000. The rate of growth will be slower in West Kent, county councillors were told in a health report.
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