Faster link to new hospital via bus ‘gate’


ABUS 'gate' is to be installed on the housing estate next to Maidstone Hospital to speed up links with the new hospital at Pembury. The rising bollard will allow buses only to


run between Queens Road and Hermitage Lane, thus avoiding congestion on the A26. The installationwill replace a barricade in


Tarragon Road. It will be only the second au- tomatic bus gate in the county, the other being at Ashford.


MAIDSTONE'S Sarah Mortimer has been voted one of the world's top young ballet dancers. The 19-year-old was the only British finalist at the Genee Inter- national Ballet Competition in Cape Town and one of only six fe- male dancers to reach the finals. Sarah, whose father Derek is a borough councillor, has just grad- uated in classical ballet and dance performance at Ballet West in Scotland. Mr Mortimer said it was a "huge achievement" for his daughter to be among the best six in the world, even though she did not win the competition. Sarah was home schooled from


the age of 12. She went to Hilton Hall Dance Academy,Maidstone, most evenings, and at weekends to London Senior Ballet. She joined Ballet West at 16 to take her degree. The Royal Academy of Dance says the Genee candidates have a


The scheme was included in the recently published Maidstone Integrated Transport Strategy. Cllr Malcolm Robertson informed residents about the ‘gate’, which had always been part of the estate plan but has taken many years to implement. "It seems this is going to progress at last.


This was always in the initial planning per- mission for the estate before anything was built and is a feature of the section 106 legal


Sarah, 19, has the world at her feet


"unique opportunity to workwith and learn from world-renowned dance professionals and choreog- raphers over five days of intensive coaching sessions before compet- ing in front of an international panel of distinguished judges". Sarah has toured with Ballet


West in Scotland and China. Last year she danced the Snow Queen pas de deux in The Nutcracker throughout the 21-date tour. For this year's tour of Romeo


and Juliet she stepped in to dance the role of Juliet for one perform- ance.


Following her success in Cape


Town, Sarah said: "It was a great thrill to reach the finals. The won- derful training and encourage- ment I received from Ballet West has enabled me to achieve this important milestone inmycareer. "I look forward to continuing


my association with Ballet West as I move on to the next stage of my career."


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agreement with the developer." He said it would provide a valuable new service to residents and added: "At least the road is not being opened up to be a rat-run for all vehicles [and] modern bus gates are very secure against abuse." Andy Corcoran, KCC traffic schemes man-


ager, said he has discussed with contractors how the proposal could be moved forward as quickly as possible.


It’s time to run again, John!


MAIDSTONE councillor John Wilson is due to run for re-elec- tion next May - but running for charity was his main concern recently. John has had


a date in his diary for the Great North Run for the past few years - and this time he did the half-marathon in 1 hour 48 minutes, clipping seven min- utes off his previous best time. He also beat his £2,000 fund- raising target for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research into blood cancers. Hiswife Brenda is now seven


years in remission. John repre- sents Coxheath and Hunton ward and is cabinet member for community and leisure serv- ices.


Town 3


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