Emilia remembered at charity’s launch party


A CHARITY in memory of a brave Lenham youngster has held its official launch, with a children’s party and the chance to take part in lots of art and craft activities. The afternoon, at Lenham Community Centre, not only raised awareness for Emilia’s Little Heart Foundation, but also raised £850 for the charity. The foundation is named after EmiliaWebb,who had surgery at Evelina Children’s Hospital in London after being born with a rare heart condition, and spent her last three months there. Sadly, Emilia lost her fight


last summer at the age of just three and a half. Her devastated parents, Darren, who is head of West Malling CE Primary school, and Claire, a teacher, set up the charity in her name. The couple, who live in Ham


Lane, were so impressed with how she coped in hospital, they hope the foundation will help to foster the emotional wellbe-


Grant for veg patch ADULTS with learning disabil- ities in Offham have received a £90,000 cash boost for their fruit and veg project. The money has come from


Local Food, a £57.5 million fund that supports community food projects. It is backed by the Big Lottery Fund. The money was awarded to training organisation Spade- work for its vegetable patch project. The produce grown on the plot will be sold at the on- site farm shop. Trainees will also use it to prepare meals for customers at the site’s Taste- buds café.


Strawberry research FOUR East Malling Research scientists gave fruit experts a taste of their work at a five-day Strawberry Symposium in Bei- jing, China. Dr David Simpson, Prof Xi- angming Xu, Adam Whitehouse and Abi Johnson delivered pre- sentations on their research. The event, held every four


years, was attended by more than 1,000 delegates. The experts gave an insight


into EMR’s breeding projects andwork on protecting the fruit against infection, improving crop yields and water use.


Church plant sale APLANT sale will take place at the Church of St John the Bap- tist, Tonbridge Road,Watering- bury, from 10am to 4pm on Saturday,May 5. As well as the sale of nursery plants, there will be a home grown stall, St John’s crafts, books, toy stall, cakes, cream teas and refreshments. For de- tails call 01622 813032.


18 Malling


visit its website, www.emil- iaslittleheart.org.uk. Forthcoming fundraising op- portunities include the London Marathon on April 22 and the annual charity ball on Saturday, October 20. Bourne Music Classes is run-


ning a fundraising musicmaking morning in the Easter holidays at Hollingbourne Village Hall in support of Emilia’s charity. The fun event, which runs


Olivia Frawley-Bailey (4), and Bethany Shaw (7), at the party


ing of other young people who spend time there. Supporters rallied round to


help raise funds, which now stand at more than £8,000. The launch party showed the


work being done with Evelina and the William Harvey Hospi- tal, Ashford. Entertainment included face painting and balloon modelling, a cake sale and a give a bear stall. For more about the charity,


EXPLORER Scouts from the Mallingarea joined others from all over Kent for a gruelling survival hikeduring the coldest part of win- ter.


One of the teams from Phoenix Malling, Alpha 1, finished third, just 50 minutes behind the win- ning team, over a 40-mile course that took place during the early February cold snap. No tents or sleeping bags were


allowed, and out of the 38 teams who started the course in Tun- bridge Wells, only four eventually crossed the finishing line, with the others dropping out due to freez- ing temperatures and snow-cov- ered tracks. As if walking 40 miles in the freezing cold and dark wasn’t bad enough, the teams also had to avoid “the baddies”, a team trying to slowtheir efforts, giving out ad- ditional challenges to make it more difficult and fun! UnfortunatelyPhoenix Malling’s


younger team, Bravo1,hit thewall after covering about 36 miles


CAMRA’s East Malling Beer and Cider Festival will celebrate its third year when glasses chink again in the grounds of East Malling Research. Following its successful rein- troduction in2010, the festival re- turns on Saturday, September 1. The event, organised and staffed by volunteer members of the Maidstone and Mid-Kent Branch of the Campaign for Real Ale, follows in the foot- steps of similar events organ- ised by the branch locally since the 1970s.


Matthew Silvester, Alex Bone, Oliver Sutherland and Michael Keeley Explorer Scout Leader, John


(59km). This is the furthest any of theKent teamshad gone onafirst attempt. Michael Keeley, from Phoenix Malling Alpha 1, said: “I’ve never been so cold, sleeping in snow in -10°c! Drinkingwas a total night- mare as our bottles froze solid.We survived on adrenaline, our legs werewalking butwewere asleep. At one point we tried to read the mapbutwere so mentally tiredwe couldn’t even focus on it.”


Beer festival back at research park Jeff Tucker, chairman of Maid-


stone and Mid-Kent CAMRA said: “We’re delighted to con- firm our return to East Malling Research for 2012.” A free shuttle bus service, in- troduced last year, proved par- ticularly popular and will be repeated this year. The day is a family fun day


and organiser Ian Clennett said: “We orderedmore of everything last year and are looking to growing the festival again for 2012. It promises to be the per- fect end to the summer.”


Roberts said: “Phoenix Alpha 1 were one of only four teams to fin- ish the endurance challenge. “They were so physically and


mentally drained theywere unable to display any emotion on their huge success. “Bothteamswillbeabletore-


flect with great satisfaction and prideontheir tremendous achieve- ment,once their sore feetandbod- ies have had time to recover.”


Quiz raises £600 THERotaryClubofMalling raised more than £600 for char- ity at its annual quiz at Ryarsh Village Hall. The money will help local


and international good causes involved with caring for chil- dren and the elderly. The grand draw was a great success and the club thanked businesses in theWest Malling area for donating the many ex- cellent prizes. Participants particularly en-


joyed the quirky round of mys- tery objects, and the quiz was won by a team from Ryarsh.


Support YOUR local paper — and we can support YOU - advertise on 01622 630330


from 10am to noon onWednes- day, April 11, is aimed at chil- dren from three months to school age. As well as lots of music mak-


ing, it will include games and face painting. Tea, coffee and cakes will be on sale. There is no charge to attend but places must be booked in advance. All donations from the morn-


ing will go to the foundation. Email bournemusicians@hot- mail.co.uk or call 07771 784429/01622 880377 to book your place.


Pool plan left


high and dry A HADLOW resident has lost his battle to build a 14-metre swimming pool in the garden of his grade II listed oast home. Mr Bill Geake said the pool,


with a removable cover up to 3.1m high,was needed for fam- ily fun and exercise. But a planning inspector dis- missed his appeal against Ton- bridge and Malling Council’s refusal of the scheme at Faulkn- ers OastWest, Tonbridge Road. The property, which is one


half of a converted oast house, is set in an extensive garden that includes a three-bay garage. The inspector said the enclo-


sure would be prominent in the rural landscape and would be seen from a public footpath. Therewas an expectation that


a house occupier was able to use their property as they thought fit, but the inspector found that the family needs for recreation did not outweigh the environmental harm to the green belt and the setting of a listed building. Mr Geake has now submitted plans for a 10-metre pool.


Explorers brave the ice on winter survival hike


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