Ron rewarded for phone line campaign
A DITTON pensioner has been honoured for his tireless efforts to persuade GPs to stop using costly 0844 telephone numbers. Ron Edwards (86)worked on a successful campaign against surgeries in Maidstone and Malling asking patients to contact them on premium lines, that cost an extra 5p a minute from a landline and up to 40p a minute from a mobile. As a result, four medical centres switched
back to a local rate number andMr Edwards was chosen for an award by his parish council. Ditton Parish Council chairman Cllr Mike
Porter and parish clerk Nicola Greenaway called at his home to present the certificate, accompanied by MP Tracey Crouch, who backed the campaign. Mr Edwards, whose wife Betty died in De- cember 2012, worked on a national fight against 0844 numbers which revealed they were in use at more than 30 practices in
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MP Tracey Crouch with Ron Edwards and Cllr Mike Porter
Kent.He became involved after hiswifewas taken ill and he had to phone surgeries. He said he was delighted with the award.
“I spent hours on the campaign. Tracey worked very hard, and without her help, I don’t think I could have got this far.” Surgeries who reverted to local rate num-
School headteacher suspended
Ofsted said the head teacher and governing body needed to build on this by “communicating more effectively with all parents to reassure and inform them about changes taking place in the school”. In a letter to parents when the report was published, John
Edgar, chairman of the school governors, said the excellent re- sult reflected the parents’ support for their children and also “the hard work of the staff and leadership of the school in improving the quality of teaching”. Since her departure on Friday,May 17, Mrs Alexander’s name
has been obscured by tape on the school sign and does not appear on the website. Staff were being interviewed as part of KCC’s in- vestigation.
bers included St Luke’s Medical Centre in Maidstone; Thornhills Medical Practice, Larkfield; the medical centre in Admiral Moore Drive, Aylesford, and a practice in Medway. Other awards to local people who have
made an outstanding contribution to their community were presented at the annual parish meeting. Winners were the Rev Priscilla Payne for
the exceptional support and time she de- votes to the church and people of Ditton; David Stevens for his tireless efforts to look after the churchyard and church centre; Barbara Matthews for her outstanding ef- forts to promote the links between Ditton and its twin town of Rang du Fliers in France; Kate Westall and Darren Davies, volunteer instructors with Ditton Detach- ment of Kent Army Cadets, for the excep- tional time and effort they give to the young cadets of Ditton.
Toilet water ‘could be recycled’ TOILET water fromAylesford could be recycled in the River Med- way before flowing out of our taps if South EastWater fails to find the 145million extra litres of water it needs by 2040. The suggestion is one of a number put forward in the company’s “critical” water plan. Treated wastewater from Aylesford Waste- water TreatmentWorks and another plant in East Sussex would be recycled by “putting it back into local river systems and then later treating it to make it safe to drink,” the plan stated. A South East Water spokesman said: “Most of this wastewater comes from the home, ie sink, toilet, bath, washing machine etc, together with some surface water drainage.” Treated wastewater currently runs out into the sea but under
this proposal, which already happens in other parts of the UK, the water would be taken further downstream and treated again to a higher standard, a South EastWater spokesman explained.
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