Couple told to flee after car alert


IT will be a long time before Robert and Lynda Wicken forget the night police told them to evacuate their home. Mr Wicken thought something unusual


was happening outside their house in Chatham Road, Maidstone, when he heard doors banging and saw officers hand- cuffing a woman in the back of their car. But what followed was beyond anything


he could have imagined. The couplewere asked to move to the Vil- lage Hotel for the night The Ministry of Defence travelled 35 miles to the incident from Folkestone Fire, ambulance and police vehicles stood by The nearby A229 slip road was closed to traffic. Mrs Wicken had already gone to bed


when her husband noticed the initial activ- ity from his window at 10.45pm. “This young lady had parked about 15ft-


20ft outside our front door. I heard voices and a bit of a commotion. There was a po-


lice car parked behind her. She had jumped out of her car and they caught her as she ran out into the road.” At that stage, Mr Wicken, a


past president of the Rotary Club of Maidstone, thought they were dealing with a car tax or insurance issue – but when they handcuffed the woman he began to think it was more seri- ous. It was. Sadly, it seems the woman was intent on commit- ting suicide and had some po- tentially lethal substances in her boot. When combined they give off a vapour which kills almost instantly. The police were obviously keen to get the


car park where there were three fire engines, a fire tender plus an ambulance car and two more po- lice cars.” In the end, the MoD identified


the substances and the Wickens were allowed back to their home after 3pm. Mr Wicken explained: “There


RobertWicken


Wickens off the premises. “They said we will take you to The Vil-


lage and see if we can get you a room for the night.We were taken to the top of the hotel


were two of the commodities in the back of her car but not the third.” A police spokesman said: “A 37-year-old woman was sec- tioned under the Mental Health Act after a friend raised concerns for her welfare. “ “It was reported that she had chemicals in her car and special-


ists from the Ministry of Defence attended to assist emergency services. The chemicals were disposed of. “No one was harmed during the inci-


dent.” Stroke survivor Julie to ‘go the extra mile’ A


47-YEAR-OLD mum-of- three aims to inspire other stroke survivors


when she attempts to swim twomiles – a mile further than her previous best. The fundraising marathon


will mean her doing 128 lengths of Maidstone’s Leisure Centre pool, using one arm to propel herself. Julie Thomas was paralysed


down one side when she suf- fered a stroke in 2008. She can now walk with some difficulty, but has weakness in her legs and the use of only one arm. She was never a good swim-


mer, managing only a couple of lengths of the pool, until in De- cember 2010 she joined the Maidstone Swimming Club for the Disabled with the aim of helping her mobility. Julie’s method of moving through the water is on her back. She can only look di- rectly up to the ceiling so fol- lowing a straight course is extremely difficult. Despite this, she has deter- minedly pressed on, extending her initial distance of five me- tres to the remarkable achieve- ment of one mile, which is 64 lengths of the pool. This is all unaided and includes her turns at the end of each length. Julie now wants to go even further and complete a spon- sored swim. It will be called ‘Going the Extra Mile’. On Tuesday, November 15,


she will attempt to double her distance from one to two miles. Julie said: “I hope it will in-


spire other stroke survivors to set their own goals to assist them on the road back to re- covery.” Her swim, which she expects


to take at least three hours, will be in aid of The Maidstone Working Age Stroke Group (MWASG) and will be sup-


12 East


Stroke victim Julie Thomas will attempt to swim two miles at Maidstone’s Leisure Cen- tre on Novem- ber 15


‘Overwhelming’


extension blocked A PROPOSED rear extension in PilgrimsWay, Detling, was blocked for being “overwhelm- ing”. Mr andMrs Leigh Russell applied to erect a part two- storey and part single-storey rear extension at Kimberly. But Maidstone Council felt the scale, design and visual bulk of the extension would have overwhelmed and resulted in the loss of the original form of the home. In particular the “dominant


flank extension” was consid- ered “excessively large”. However, the council’s deci-


JULIE joined the Maidstone Swimming Club for the Disabled at the same time as PaulWiles (42), another member of the local stroke club. He has similar mobility problems to Julie and, like her, his swimming was very limited prior to his stroke. Since December, by their own positive attitudes and with a


little help from the swimming club, they started to swim again and have gradually increased their distance. Paul can only swim on his front with a modified breast- stroke, using one arm. This is particularly difficult for able- bodied swimmers, let alone someone with Paul’s disabilities. Despite this, he has now completed a 50-metre unaided


swim, two lengths of the pool. “We are all so proud of the achievements of Julie and Paul


and, indeed, of all of the many people with disabilities at the clubwho are using swimming to aid their recovery”, said Clive Bradburn, chairman of Maidstone Swimming Club for the Dis- abled.


ported by The Stroke Associa- tion, The Maidstone Swim- ming Club for the Disabled and The Rotary Club of Maidstone Riverside. The MWASG provides op- portunities to meet and so- cialise with other stroke survivors and, through assis- tance from the Stroke Associa- tion, help them back to as near


a normal routine as their dis- ability will allow. Donations can be made via


www.justgiving.com/JuliesS- wim.


Julie will also gladly accept


cash or a chequemade payable to ‘The Stroke Association’. Contact her on 01622 206574


or Freda Rickard at the Stroke Association on 07799 436042.


sion notice stated that the dwelling “is capable of being extended through the intro- duction of an extension that would provide additional ac- commodation at both ground floor and in the roof space,” but on a smaller scale. The applicants were urged to


seek pre-application advice before submitting another plan.


New bowlers roll up


MOTE Park Indoor Bowls Club’s membership has been boosted following two open days. The first, at the end of Sep- tember, attracted 39 potential members, most of whom took advantage of free introduction sessions. That resulted in 25 people joining the club. On a second open day on October 30, a further 25 new bowlers visitied the club and all but two signed up for the weekly Bowls4Free sessions. Spokesman Bill Menniss


said: “We are happy to offer a free introductory session, ei- ther on a one-to-one basis or for small groups, throughout the indoor season, which runs until April 2012.” Bill can be contacted on 01622 765928.


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