Town Talk Former head to climb Everest


A husband and wife who are both former head teachers in Snodland are looking forward to new challenges. Town Talk spoke to them about their plans


IAN Hobson, who retired as executive principal of the Holmesdale Technology Col- lege/Malling School Federa- tion in 2011 is on hisway to try to climb Mount Everest, the highestmountain in the world. Since retiring, Ian (pictured


left), has spent a lot of time rock andmountain climbing in the Lake District, Snowdonia, Scotland, Bolivia, the Hi- malayas and Russia. The highest peak he has tackled so far was the 6,800 Baruntse in the Himalayas. He is travelling with the


British expedition company, Adventure Peaks, in his bid to conquer Everest – 8,842 me- tres (29,028 ft) on the difficult side from north Tibet. He has been training with a 20kg rucksack as well as going to the gym and swimming. Mr Hobson,whoused tolive


Bluebell walk for cancer research


in Offham and has now moved to Woolage Green, near Canterbury expects the trip to take 70 days. He joined Holmesdale Community School, as it was then, in 1998 and was credited with bringing it back from the brink of closure. It had the biggest budget deficit of all Kent’s 600 schools, was one of the 68 worst performing schools in the country and the Ofsted report put it in the seri- ous weakness category. In 2001 the school was


given a clean bill of health and became a technology college – the first specialist school in the area. It was re-built in 2005/2006 and was federated with Malling School, East Malling. Ian was appointed ex- ecutive principal. In 1998, Holmesdale had


369 pupils, including 44 in Year 7. When Ian left, there were almost 1000 pupils with 180 in Year 7, and the school was over-subscribed.


Local news for Snodland and Halling


And wife Pauline faces new challenges, too


PAULINEHobson, head of Snodland Primary School, in Roberts Road, since 2002, has taken early retirement. Between September and December 2011, she was also asked to head up Greenfields School, a failing school in Maidstone, but following a di- agnosis of severe stress, which it took her a year to get over, she decided it was time to go. Pauline (pictured) said her headship at Snodland had been a hard job, but very re- warding. “It was a brilliant place,” she said. “They


were such a great set of professional people, not only the teachers but the teaching assis- tants and support staff.” Mrs Hobson will spend her retirement spoil-


ing her new grandson Louis, doing voluntary work and touring the coast of the UK with Ian in their camper van. The acting head teacher,who hasbeen run-


ning the school in Mrs Hobson’s absence, is Holley Blount. Chairman of the school gover- nors, the Rev Hugh Broadbent, wished her a long and happy retirement and said the school would now begin the process of re- cruiting a new head teacher.


Youngsters make great wardens


THEsixth annual Eve Appeal blue- bell wood charity walk will take place inUpper Halling on April 27. Pat Lawry, ofMeadowCrescent,


Upper Halling, is inviting family and friends to join him on the walk, which supports research at Uni- versity College, London, into gy- naecological cancers. His wife, Greta, died of ovarian cancer. The walkers willmeet at Brown-


dens Road car park for a 10am start. “After the success of our previ-


ous walks in the last five years, we have donated just over £13,000,” said Pat. “The walk will be approx- imately 6.5km (4.2 miles) and will take approximately two and a half hours.”


Supporters can donate online at


www.justgiving/lawrybluebell or can obtain further details and sponsorship forms from Pat by telephoning 01634 240892.


Chess success


SNODLAND Chess Club has madethe semi-finalsof three cups. The club recently beat Hastings 2.5-1.5 to reach the semi-final of the TomFullerCup and is now de- fending champions of the Harvey Cup and Intro Cup. Neil Miners said: “We will now


meet the runner-up of the Kent Metropolitan division in the semi – this could be Sidcup again. “We have also qualified for a


homesemi-final in theHarveyCup and are undefeated in this compe- tition.We are top of the group with a game still to play.” The three semi-finals will be played in April and the finals have been set for May 12, at the Mick Jagger Centre, Dartford.


Ron “Chopper” Harris visits club RON “Chopper” Harris, well-known to football supporters as one of the game’s “hard men”, is coming to Snodland. He played for Chelsea for 21 years, and was captain for 19 of them.


He will entertain guests at SnodlandWorking Men’s Club on April 25 with stories about the times he had to mark the likes of George Best and Jimmy Greaves and his confrontations with Norman Hunter, Tommy Smith and many others from that great era of football. Top comedian, Mickey Pugh, supports Ron, who won the title of “Speaker of the Year 2012” and will also be giving his views on mod- ern day football and wage structures that he could only dream about. The event is presented by Snodland Town Football Club and tick-


ets are available from Home & Hobby, 120 Malling Road, Snodland. Call 01634 240922 or email enquiries@homeandhobby.co.uk.


Try your hand at short mat bowls


SNODLAND Short Mat Bowls Club is holding an open day at the community centre from 2pm on May 12. Member Margaret Champion said anyone who wanted to try their


hand at bowling was welcome to come along. She said short mat bowls was was a game for all ages and was good for exercise. For more information, call Margaret on 01634 241147.


Waghorn Road. Marilyn


Rooms, Smith,


TEN out of the 12 junior wardens who completed Russet Homes’ first scheme in Snodland are pictured with their certificates and goody bags, pre- sented by town coun- cil chairman, Anne Moloney, at Devon- shire


community develop- ment officer, said: “Ju- nior wardens is about loving where you live, understanding how things like anti-social behaviour affect you, your family and your neighbourhood, how to do things about it and at the same time have some fun.”


Donations to help the community


THE Snodland Partnership has given £2,500 to the Snodland An- chorians Cricket Club, based at Holborough Park, towards the cost of replacing an old tractor en- gine, anewwicketmower and two sets of gang mowers. A donation of £500 was given to


theSnodland TwinningCommittee towards the cost of visitors from Moyeuvre-Grande, its twin town from north-east France, and £720 to St Katherine’s Primary School towards its participation in a na- tional cheerleading competition. Snodland Scouts were given


£300 towards hosting the Malling DistrictScouts’ annual St George’s Day celebration. The Snodland Partnership is supported by Tonbridge&Malling BoroughCouncil, Snodland Town Council, Lafarge Cement, Smurfit Kappa Townsend Hook, Trenport Investments, Snodland Chamber of Commerce, the Co-Operative Group, Berkeley Homes, Southern Housing, Perrys Accountants, Snodland Children’s Centre, the BEAT Project and Valley of Vi- sions.


Hanging baskets


THIS time last year Snodland Chamber of Commerce decided not to have the hanging baskets round the townbecause of awater shortage. It was felt that it would be inappropriate to water them during a hose pipe ban. What a difference a yearmakes! The chamber has provided the baskets since 1999 and the only other year they did not appearwas during a water shortage in 2006. It is hoped they will re-appear


this year.


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