Ticket office threat eased
A POSSIBLE closure threat hanging over some rail station ticket offices has been lifted following a meeting chaired by MaidstoneMPHelen Grant. It had been suggested by a
rail staff association that sta- tions, including Lenham and Marden,might get the chop as a result of a report by transport industry expert Sir Roy Mc- Nulty. MrsGrant questioned South- eastern. She said: “I was de- lighted to learn that they have no plans, at any of their sta- tions, to close ticket offices.” The meeting also gave Southeastern and Network Rail a chance to update MPs on their preparations for ad-
Aldi arrival edges nearer
verse weather this winter. Mrs Grant said: “They have
both clearlyworkedhard to try to avoid a repetition of the shambles we all endured last winter. “There are more trains preparing the tracks for frost, many more metres of rail heat- ing.” The companies now have
eight anti-icing trains (com- pared to six in 2010); two snow and ice treatment trains; 20 passenger trains fit- ted with anti-icing tanks; and three new 4x4 vehicles to as- sist Southeastern engineers to respond more quickly to trains experiencing difficul- ties.
Charity triathlon would be first
A LOOSE man is attempting to make history by cycling, climbing and canoeing across three countries, three lakes and three moun- tains for charity. Colin Flack (pictured) has, along with Birmingham man Felix Schmid, invented a gruelling new triathlonwhich involves cycling from Lands End to John O’ Groats, via climbing the Three Peaks of Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis, and kayaking the lengths of Lake Bala,Windermere and Loch Ness on the way. It is hoped the exhausting challenge – never done before – will be achievedwithin threeweeks, starting onOctober 1, with the aim to raise £100,000 in sponsorship. It is part of a three-year plan by for- mer soldier Colin (52) and his wife Ruth tomeet and maintain the operational costs of the Railway Children charity for runaways.
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SUPERMARKET chain Aldi “means business” over its planned move into Maidstone, according to a local borough councilor. In April, Aldi was given per- mission to build a new store in Well Road after a previous per- mission expired. It now wants to overturn one of the condi- tions and be allowed to have goods delivered to the planned store two hours prior and three hours after its Sunday opening hours. Cllr Malcolm Robertson told Maidstone Business Forum: “With a detailed planning ap- plication like that, it looks like they mean business.” Maid- stone Council will rule on the planning application.
Recycling shift
has ‘worked well’ MAIDSTONE Council says its new recycling system is proving a suc- cess, with the borough’s recycling rate close to 50%. Since early this year, the council
has cut its general waste collection from weekly to fortnightly, and taken away food waste every week for recycling at Blaise Farm Quarry, Kings Hill. Overall, the borough is collecting
11% less waste from the kerbside. For the first quarter of 2011, the re- cycling rate in Maidstone was over 45%, an improvement of 15%. Boxley parish council chairman Martin Pepper said: “It’s nice to get some feedback on the hard work of residents.”
Ex-landlady is 105 ONE of Maidstone's oldest women, Winifred Savage, has celebrated her 105th birthday with friends and family. Winifred, who was a teetotal landlady at a Collier Street inn formorethan20years,com- bined pub life with farm work before retiring with husband Cecil to Gallants Lane, East Far- leigh, in the 1970s. At a family get-together
whereWinifred lives in Ashton Lodge, St Michael's Road, Maidstone, her daughter-in-law Joan Savage described her as a "trooper".
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