Mela magic illuminates Maidstone


MUSIC, food and dance from around the world made the 9th Maidstone Mela morememorable than ever. It was the biggest Mela to


date, both in terms of atten- dance and content. The weekend was launched with a spectacular parade by hundreds of local schoolchildren through the town centre on the Friday. Carrying as many exam-


ples of cultural diversity as they could, the parade was a bright occasion, typified by a green giant (pictured, right)


South Borough pupils take to the streets with pride (above), while youngsters from St Francis’ Catholic School pose for a group shot resplendent in their egg-themed outfits (below)


Saturday evening at Mote


Park saw a spectacular night of fusion and colour with bhangra superstar Sukshin- der Shinda wowing the au- dience despite the poor weather.He said: “This was my first time at the Maid- stone Mela and it was a great experience. It is really good to promote our bhangra music to a wider audience and expose them to new sounds and songs.” The Counterfeit Beatles followed with a string of Fab Four classics. The evening climaxed with a


firework show. Sunday’s highlights in- cluded local Arabic band, Finnish folk group Merenkurkut, Phase 5 steel band, Maidstone Nepalese Group and K College who performed different dances from around the world. Cohesion Plus created a special performance involv-


ing Four by Four Bhangra, Cultural Beats and Uzam- bezi plus the Michael Jack- son tribute act, Navi. In addition to the stage pro- gramme there was an array of food, crafts and cultural stalls.


Gurvinder Sandher, direc-


tor of Kent Equality Cohe- sion Council, helped organise the Mela. She said “I was really overwhelmed with the positive response we had. Much hard work goes into pulling this event together but all the work is really worthwhile when you get such positive feed- back.


“Our Mela coincided with


the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and I hope we showed the positive community rela- tions enjoyed here inMaid-


Colour co-ordination was the order of the day for Hollingbourne School


16th century town ELIZABETHAN Maidstone is the subject of a talk by Paul Oldham in the Great Hall of Archbishops' Palace on Tues- day, October 4 at 7.30pm. Maidstone Historical Soci-


ety's season continues with a talk on pioneer Thomas Waghorn by DrAndrewAshbee onWednesday, October 19. Members free, visitors pay £3.


Clutter donation STAFF at Edwards Harvey PR in Hollingworth Court, Ashford Road, Maidstone, donated 12 sacks of clutter to the Ellenor Lions Hospice.


Bloco Fogo - or 'fire group' (above) - brought the vibrant sound of South American drum- ming to theMela warm-up in the town centre. Since forming in TunbridgeWells in 2001, the band has grown and developed both musically and in size. In 2006 a second Bloco Fogo was formed in Maidstone, and now has almost 40 members.


Gurkha cleans up AN ex-Gurkha has opened a cleaning business in Kent House, Maidstone. Yogen Chetri set up YBC Cleaning in Aldershot and de- cided to open a branch in the county town because it is home to the Gurkhas and friends.


“Intrusive” loft plan VICTORIA Johnson’s applica- tion to erect two dormer win- dows to facilitate a loft conversion at a home in Trevor Drive, Allington, was refused. Maidstone Council felt the de- velopment would be “highly in- trusive within the streetscene”.


Shoplifter given


prison sentence A 52-year-old Maidstone man was jailed for 77 days by Mid Kent magistrates after he ad- mitted assault, going equipped for theft and two counts of shoplifting. Olegs Smirnovs, of Tonbridge


Road, stole items from a sports shop and footwear from a sec- ond store. He assaulted a man and was found with items which showed he had prepared to steal. The sentence was due to the seriousness of the offences and his previous record.


stone aswe had all commu- nities and all ages coming together as one. That forme is such a powerful image and I am very proud of what we along with our partners Maidstone Bor- ough Council and Cohesion Plus have achieved.”


Man bailed after


400-can lager theft AMAN has been bailed follow- ing the theft of more than 400 cans of lager from a lorry on the A249 at Detling. The offender is believed to


have broken into the vehicle and loaded cases of lager - each holding 24 cans - onto another vehicle on Friday, September 9. The suspect vehicle was later stopped on the M2, heading to- wards London, and the lager re- covered. A 46-year-old from Canning Town, London,was ar- rested and bailed to return on October 20.


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