Re-opening of towpath delayed
A STRETCH of towpath beside the River Medway in Aylesford is to remain closed until at least 2015 after parts of the bank col- lapsed. A 1km stretch of the public riverside path between the village and Allington Lock was closed by KCC two years ago because it was deemed too dangerous to use. The council is investigating funding options but the repairs would be expensive so the proposed reopen- ing date has been delayed. The only alterna- tive route is along busy ForstalRoad and then rejoining the riversidewalk via a footpath op- posite the entrance to Cobtree Park. Local Open Spaces Society representative
David Thornewell said: “This is an important link in the towpath which is continuous all the way from New Hythe into Maidstone.
A FORMER head boy at St Simon Stock School was put through his paces when he took part in the Tahitian Olympics. David Constable (29), from St Luke’s Avenue,
writes as a freelance journalist and frequently finds himself sent off to exotic locations. Having been given an assignment in Tahiti for
Tatler magazine, he decided to stay on a few days and get to know more about Polynesian way of life, by ‘roughing it’ with local tribes. Soitwashefound himself caughtupin“Heiva
I Tahiti” – the games and celebrations for the Polynesian islands. David, who is pictured at the games, said:
“Polynesiancommunitieshavelongparticipated in island celebrations and physical activities. “The first explorers noted the importance of
The section through Maidstone is now in a very good condition, following the work car- ried out with external funding. “KCC obviously has great financial prob-
lems and I know they are exploring all the options. “In the meantime I think it is important that
they provide amap of the alternative route to get round the closed section.” David Munn, KCC’s public rights of way manager for West Kent, said: “A study has been commissioned to look at the alternatives for providing a long-term solution to the on- going problem on this stretch of the river and a number of options have been identified. However, the costs for all these options are very high and funding opportunities are being looked at.
Ex-head boy’s island ‘Olympics’ challenge
thesemanifestationsandthegreat fervourPoly- nesians had for such festivities, particularly dancing and feats of athleticism.” David found the feats quite a challenge and
confessed: “I wasn't prepared for the gruelling events and my inexperience gave me away in- stantly. All the tribal bodies were the colour of walnuts, inked with tribal symbols and warrior
vernacular.Mymilky limbs stood out by amile!” A few weeks before this, David was in Sal-
vador, Brazil, for theMetro newspaper and this year he has also visited Andorra, Kansas City, LA, Lisbon,Budapest, SloveniaandMontenegro. He attended St Simon Stock from 1996 to
2003and, after hisA-levels,attendeduniversity in America, before doing a masters degree at Loughborough University.
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other interested parties resolved that one op- tion in particular should be given priority and the county council will be carrying out more work looking at the feasibility of this option in the coming weeks and months. “The current period of closure extends to
2014 but, given the scale of both the funding and technical problems associated with this section of the river path, it is likely that this period of closure will have to be extended. “In the meantime, improvements have
been made to the section of the path that runs west from Allington and to a linking path to Forstal Road at Aylesford to at least provide an alternative route whilst the path is closed, although it is acknowledged that this is not an ideal solution.”
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