Could you help pastors care for town revellers?
MAIDSTONE Street Pastors’ new co-ordi- nator is on the lookout for more volunteers to help town centre revellers. Nigel Downes (pictured
left), a graphic designer with a local newspaper back- ground, has attended St Luke’s Church for 10 years. As one of his first tasks in his new role, he is looking for re- cruits.
Every Saturday, a team of volunteers takes
to the streets of Maidstone between 10pm and 4am to engage, help and care for any- one who may be vulnerable. As well as pastoring on the streets, a num-
ber of the group helped out at the town’s river festival. “Street pastors go out with a minimum of three people. They are there to help anybody who is in distress, perhaps
Bowled over AN 18-lane super-fast bowling alley has opened in Maid- stone’s Lockmeadow Complex. More than £2m has been
spent on the Hollywood Bowl, which replaces Jumpin’ Jacks nightclub and AMF Bowls in King Street. The hi-tech scoring system
will allow players to post their strikes on Facebook. General manager Brad Milo,
who relocated from the King Street site, said he was thrilled to be working at the new venue, which is the latest addi- tion to the entertainment offer- ing at Lockmeadow.
Street pastors on duty at the river festival
through, drink, drugs, homelessness or other difficulties,” said Nigel. “They seem to be well respected by the police, the coun- cil and the town centre management. “The role is not about preaching, but one
of listening, caring and helping.” The street pastors provide practical assis- tance such as water and flip flops for those
who need them, and are in contact with a team of prayer pastors, who provide spiri- tual back-up. Maidstone founder member Gordon Mackley who has been a street pastor since 2008, said he was attracted by the opportu- nity to represent God’s love in a practical way on the streets. He said: “My faith has been strengthened by witnessing the large number of instant responses to prayer and I have been pleased to see a reduction in vi- olent crime and an increase in warmth to- wards the church.” Volunteers must be over 18, belong to a church and provide a reference from a faith leader. They will need to undergo training and a DBS (formerly CRB) check. For details or to make a donation, call
Nigel on 07817 250705 or email Maid-
stone@streetpastors.org.uk.
Medical campus plan revealed
PLANS have been submitted for another large medical facility off J7 of the M20 near Bearsted. The outline application, for land south of
KIMS (Kent Institute of Medical Science), now nearing completion, will add a further 98,000 square metres of floorspace to the complex, of- fering more clinics and consultation rooms, as well as a rehabilitation centre, education and training facilities, with residential accommoda- tion. The applicant,Harvestore Systems (Holdings),
is the landowner of Newnham Court Shopping Village and separate to KIMS, which insists it is not behind the scheme. It wants the MaidstoneMedical Campus to be
a world leader in both training and treatment andwould complete the provision of the educa- tional facilities, intended to link the campus with other leading hospitals and universities around the globe. It would have a specialist women’s health
unit, including a new birthing unit, and a spe- cialist paediatrics unit, plus research and devel- opment and post-grad facilities. The application, submitted by DHA planning
on behalf of Maidstone Medical Campus Ltd, will be determined by the planning committee in the next few weeks. Full details of the plans can be found at the online consultation site -
http://www.maidstone-medical.co.uk.
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Come and meet our Hearing Aid Audiologist Sheila Barrett. Sheila has been with Hidden Hearing for 10 years in July and has been based at Maidstone since the branch opened in February 2009.
“I enjoy meeting people from all walks of life and being able to provide a service which can enrich and sometimes even transform people’s quality of life at home, at work and in social activities through easier, clearer hearing. There have been some ‘wow’ moments which I shall never forget.”
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