High-speed trains to stay
THE high-speed train (HST) service from Maid- stoneWest is to continue into 2012. After an initial trial this year, the service has
been retained in the new December timetable that runs until next May. But there will be no increase in the number
of 47-minute, midweek trains to London St Pan- cras and back – currently three in the early morn- ing and three in the evening. Maidstone’s train champion, Cllr Malcolm Robertson, said HST usage was rising steadily. He believes it will increase even more as people
Man robbed of
mobile phone A MAN was report- edly robbed of his mobile phone in Alex- andra Street, Maid- stone. The victim was re- turning home in the early hours after a night out in Maid- stone when two men approached him from behind. They are said to
have pushed the vic- tim to the ground and taken his phone, which was believed to have been worth around £30, from his back pocket. The suspects are de- scribed as aged 20-25, with dark brown hair and blue jeans. Both are believed to have spoken with a foreign accent. The victim (43) needed six stitches to a split lip. Info: 01622 604268.
start to build their lives around the new service. Cllr Robertson is also impressed at how Net-
work Rail has “tooled up” to deal with any severe weather. Arecent rail forum heard that heated conductor
rails had been installed at an extra 120 locations on the Kent network. Previously, there were only 40.
Cllr Robertson said they weremainly at stations
and near signals, from where trains have to draw enormous amounts of current from a standstill position.
Julie’s joy after two-mile, one-arm swim
STROKE survivor Julie Thomas achieved her tar- get of swimming two miles at Maidstone’s Leisure Centre – and raised more than £1,500 in the process. Mother-of-three Julie
(47) was cheered all the way by a crowd of friends, including those from Maidstone Swimming Club for the Disabled (MSCD), the Stroke Association and Maidstone Riverside Ro- tary Club. Julie, whose 128-length
swim was previewed in last month’s Downs Mail, uses her right arm to pro- pel herself after she was paralysed on her left side in 2008. She had never been a
Julie Thomas receives a certificate of achievement from Tara Lakin, of the Stroke Association
a ceremony on Thursday, December 1 at Denbies English Vineyard in Dorking, Surrey. Kent Conference Bureau was nominated in the Business Tourism category. The awards celebrate excellence in tourism across the South East and aim to promote and reward leading businesses and individuals in the industry.
good swimmer, but a year ago she joined MSCD to help her mobility. It has certainly paid off for Julie – and for the Maidstone Working Age Stroke Group, which will benefit from her sponsor money.
Tourism group hopes to ExSEl in 2011 awards THE Kent Conference Bureau was hoping to repeat its previ- ous success after being short- listed for a Beautiful South Award for ExSEllence 2011. The tourism bureau, based in Maidstone, won gold for the same award in 2008 and its staff were anxiously awaiting the outcome of this year’s award, due to be announced at
Castle receives five-star rating from public
LEEDS Castle was voted the second top paid-for visitor attrac- tion in the UK by Which? magazine readers. Which?, the largest consumer body in the UK, asked 3,000 members of the public for their views on attractions they had visited in the last two years. Leeds Castle (pictured right) achieved a customer score of
84% and was given five stars for range and quality of facilities, quality of information and engagement with visitors.
Approval given to convert College Road offices into home
A PLAN has been accepted to convert empty of- fices in Maidstone into a single home. Maidstone Council’s planning committee ac- cepted unaminously the proposal for 76-78 Col- lege Road. Cllr Tony Harwood said: “It is a sustainable location for residential use and one of the few places in town where there is more car parking than is required.” Applicant Ron Haq claimed to have marketed the premises for business use between August
18 Town
2007 and March 2011, but without success. His supporting documents said: “There has been
very little serious interest. Themain reasons given were that the large size and traditional/inflexible layout of the property made it economically un- feasible to spend the money required to bring the premises up to standard as a modern useable of- fice property, and that the premises did not easily lend themselves to any other alternative commer- cial uses without considerable expenditure.”
To contact Downs Mail just phone 01622 630330
The bureau, based within Maidstone Borough Council, provides support to venues by attracting business to the county and by promoting the facilities on industry websites and at exhibitions. Kent Conference Bureau also
won Best Brochure at the Meet- ings Industry MarketingAward in 2008.
JOHN Fame Hazlitt Youth Theatre
IWILL try to do justice to this show in 200 words. It is marvellous what
youth groups can achieve, in this case energy, skill, belief and such youthful confi- dence.
Director Paul Foster, dance captain Lily Vincent-Frank- land and musical director Richard Healey created, be- tween them, a dazzling show. A cracking backstage team also played its part. A riotous solo came from
Matt King as Joe Vegas with ‘I can’t keep it down’. Such a touching, well acted, beauti- fully sung ‘Let’s play a love scene’ was performed by Bonnie Ryan-Waight as the zany Serena Katz. Lily Vincent-Frankland
was the only failure – in the story, that is. She played Carmen Diaz who gives up the course, impatient for in- stant fame. On stage she danced and sang as if pos-
sessed.Marvellous. The dancing of Honour Saunders as Miss Bell was like silk and, with Harry Jep- heart as Tyrone, was smooth as. The rest of the cast, every one of them, deserve to be proud that they were part of this team. There were 45 people in
the cast who appeared on stage. There were 16 in the production team. After this, don’t let anyone in this bor- ough ever say that money is wasted on our theatre.
Indecent exposure
incident reported POLICE are appealing for wit- nesses following a report of an indecent exposure in Maid- stone. Twowomen,agedintheir
early 20s, were walking home in the early hours of Sunday, November 6 when they were approached by a man on the junction of Greenside and Birch TreeWay, near Mote Park, who is reported to have had his trousers open. The man approached the women but they ran away and returned home safely. At around 5am, one of the women left the house to go to work and was again approached by the man, but she ran away and went to a family member’s home. The suspect is described as
aged 40-42, with short grey hair, 5ft 8in tall, wearing a white T-shirt, black jeans and white trainers andwith a tattoo on his left arm, from shoulder to elbow. Info: 01622 604268.
MUNSON SHOW TIME
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