Town Talk


New face on town council


FORMER Tonbridge & Malling Borough coun- cillor, David Let- tington, has been co-opted on to Snodland Town Council. A Snodland resident for five years, he lives at Willowside. He played football for Snodland Nomads from the age of 13 and is a founder mem- ber of the chess club. David served on the borough council for 16 years, and chaired the audit committee, the envi- ronmental services committee and the public transport liaison group. He was the council cabi- net member for environmental services for four years, a mem- ber of the area 3 planning com- mittee, the housing committee and the housing benefit appeal group. David is married to Ruth and


has a grown-up stepson, Aaron. He works as an examination offi- cer at Chatham Grammar School for Boys.


THE acting head teacher of the Church of England Primary School, Snodland, Holley Blount, has been confirmed as the new head. She succeeds Pauline Hob-


son, who has taken early retire- ment after being at the school since 2002, as reported in Town Talk in April. Miss Blount has taught at the school for nine years and was made deputy head in 2009. Her ambition as a child was to be a teacher and during her training at Canterbury Christ Church Uni- versity, she said she would be a head by the time she was 30 years old – which she achieved.


Supported


by Ashley Bentley, who has been pro- moted to deputy head, the senior leadership team and “out- standing teachers and staff”, the school was judged by Ofsted inspectors to be “close to outstanding”. It gained outstanding grades


for its Christian character, col- lective worship and leadership and management by the Statu- tory Inspection of Anglican and


Bluebell walk boosts fund


THE annual Bluebell Wood charity walk in Upper Halling raised £949 for the Eve Appeal. The walks support research into gynaecological cancer at University College, London and are or- ganised by Pat Lawry ofMeadow Crescent, Upper Halling in memory of his wife, Greta, who died of ovarian cancer. He said: “About 30 people took part in the walk


and I would like to thank them, their sponsors and all those who could not walk but gave a donation.”


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St. Katherine’s Lane, Snodland ME6 5EJ www.stkatherineskent.co.uk


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Local news for Snodland and Halling


A Downs Mail supplement produced in conjunction with the Snodland Chamber of Commerce.


Church opens its door to pets


A SERVICE of animal welfare was held at All Saints’ Church, Snodland.


Owners were invited to


bring along their pets, as long as they were well- behaved, and as our pic- ture shows, they all were!


Deputy head takes over at school


Methodist Schools. Miss Blount said: “I am look-


ing forward to leading the school to an outstandingOfsted report.” Work starts next month on building two new classrooms. Planning permission has been granted by Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council, and the Dio- cese of Rochester has given £380,000 of LCVAP funding. Building should be completed


by February and the school will have 345 pupils by September, up from 298 two years ago. Miss Blount thinks that the school will be full with 420 pupils in the next three years.


Bank closure under review


FOLLOWING a change in management, the pro- posed part-closure of the NatWest bank in Snod- land has been reconsidered. Several different options will be considered taking into account the growing nature of the area. Town council chairman Anne Moloney said: “Fol- lowing a visit to the bank, one of the newmanage- ment team was surprised at how busy the bank is and also a bit taken aback by the comments from local people about the proposed closure.”


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