All-night takeaway plan rejected


AN APPLICATION to sell baguettes and hot food in Maidstone town centre until 5am on Saturday and Sunday mornings has been thrown out by councillors, who fear an increase in littering and anti-social be- haviour. Subway, at the top of Gabriel’s Hill, had hoped to extend its opening hours from 3amto5am,inlinewithaneighbouring kebab shop, and to start offering hot food in addition to cold. But police said an extension would lead


to more trouble in the town centre, as clubs and pubs dispersed in the early hours, close to the taxi ranks where many of them congregated for transport home. Licensing officer PC Neil Barnes said: “Although there is a popular belief that fast food outlets assist the nighttime economy,


Lunchtime


concert dates A SERIES of lunchtime con- certs is planned at Maidstone United Reformed Church in Week Street this summer. The season kicked off on June


5, with a recital by soprano Ju- dith Buckle and baritone Matthew Craven, followed a week later by a performance by The Musick Cabinet, a chamber music ensemble. Sue Greenham performswith


her piano pupils on June 19, and on June 26, violinist Stephen Hatfield will be joined by Adrian Burridge on guitar. Students from Maidstone Grammar School will provide the music on July 3, and on July 10, pianoforte duo Bryan Gipps and Richard Kemp will feature. Sheela Mahadevan, soprano


and pianist, will perform on July 17, followed on July 24 by organist Lionel Marchant. The final concert seesMarion Whitehead on piano joined by flautist Jaymee Coonjobeeharry. All the concerts start at 1pm,


with doors opening at 12.30pm, and admission is free. Coffee will be available and a collec- tion will be taken at the door.


MUMSshowed some bare-faced cheek on a charity buggy walk around Mote Park, Maidstone, to raise more than £350. They wore special shorts from


the charity Beating Bowel Can- cer to raise money and aware- ness of the disease, in memory of one mum’s best friend. Robyn Gennari, from Loose,


lost her pal, Emily Rose, to bowel cancer in 2007 at the age of just 22. Robyn (28), and Emily, from Reigate, met at school. At 19, Emily started experiencing stomach pains which were first thought to be period pains, even though she had a family history of bowel cancer. The pain be- came so severe she had an oper- ation and a tumour was found.


The initial prognosis was


good but she developed severe complications, includingMRSA and died in September 2007, days before her 23rd birthday. Robyn said: “Bowel cancer


didn’t come into people’sminds because she was so young. I want people to be aware that it can affect young people too.” Robyn, who is married with a two-year-old son and an eight-


year old stepson, has written to MP Helen Grant urging her to back the charity’s service pledge, setting out the care and treatment every bowel cancer patient has the right to expect from the NHS. The buggy walk mums are all


from Maidstone. To sponsor them, go to www.justgiving. com/teams/beating-bowel- cancer-buggy-walk-Mote-Park.


To contact Downs Mail just phone 01622 630330 Pupils from Harrietsham CE Primary in the woodland zone Pupils taste of country life


CHILDREN from all overKent celebrated a decade of Living Land at the Kent County Showground, Detling. More than 3,000 children from years 3 and 4 from over 60 schools


converged on the showground for a day, learning about the importance of farming, agriculture, the countryside and healthy eating. In Maidstone, children from Archbishop Courtenay Primary School


and ParkWay Primary School were among those who learned how to milk a cowand make sausages in the interactive zone. Pupils from Harrietsham and Lenham were thrilled to get up close


and personal with shire horses and tractors in thewoodland zonewhile youngsters from KingswoodandEastPeckhamwereamongthepacked audience whowatched the informative and hilarious sheep showand a birds of prey presentation. Itwas the10th year of the show, organised by theKent County Show- ground, which invites children to see and touch a wide variety of ani- mals, make food and fabric, and learn about farming and food.


as they provide people with food to absorb alcohol in their stomachs, from a policing point of view they lead to significant un- dermining of the licensing objectives as they cause people to hang around in town. The people who use these venues at this time are normally at the end of their night out and often worse for drink.” Applicant Hemina Haque, on behalf of Cambridge Subway, said she was prepared to put a bouncer on the door and remove seating from the premises after 10.30pm to discourage people from loitering in the shop. She said the shop also used CCTV and was a member of the MaidSafe crime fighting initiative. Town centre police sergeant John Mar-


shall said crime and disorder issues had occurred inside and near Subway in


Gabriel’s Hill in the past. He told the com- mittee the premises had been open until 5am for a period and when asked by police to close at 3am, in line with their licence, the incidents of crime and disorder re- duced significantly. Members accepted that the premises


were responsible, but were of the view that to permit hot food until 5am on Fridays and Saturdays would not promote the li- censing objective of prevention of crime and disorder. They did not think the offer of using a


door supervisor and removing chairs and tables from the premiseswould make a dif- ference. The subcommittee rejected the applica-


tion on the grounds of preventing crime and disorder.


Artist Kay is


people’s choice A FORMER music teacher from Allington has been voted the ‘People’s Choice’ in an art com- petition at Maidstone Museum. Visitors to an exhibition of art


at the museum’s Bentlif Art Gallery voted a picture by Kay Gretton (55) as their favourite. Wealden Seasons was on dis-


play, along with more than 80 other entries, in the museum café from July to October last year.


Judges named Robert An- drews. of Waterloo Street, Maidstone, to be the outright winner, but it wasMrs Gretton’s modern mix of Kentish oast houses, green fields and frosty meadows which caught the at- tention of visitors. Mrs Gretton was a strings teacher and conductor at Kent Music School until she devel- oped a disability, which forced her to quit seven years ago. She says she has now learned


to re-direct her creativity through her art. Judges described entries in


last year’s Bentlif open art prize as being of the highest standard ever.


Mums get to bottom of charity stunt Africa challenge charity


which aims to build sustain- able commu- nities in East Africa. She said:


“The children in the area are walking 4km in the blazing sun each day to get their water. Some are war or- phans and others have lost their parents from Aids.” To sponsor her, go to www.justgiving.com/izzyjones


East 39


A BOXLEY woman is to climb Mount Elgon in Uganda to raise money for a school in the coun- try. Izzy Jones, who runs The Cleaning Clinic, will tackle the 14,000ft mountain on June 2, on behalf of Fields of Life, a


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