Top brass A MUSICAL feast to mark the 110th anniversary of the birth of Eric Ball OBE takes place at Maidstone’s Salvation Army Hall in Union Street, with a guest contribution from Mr Ball himself! The former Salvation Army officer andworld famous brass band composer died in 1989 – but he will introduce items in the concert via material recorded while he was alive. Eric Ball was born in Bristol
in 1903. He was awarded the OBE in 1959. The concert, at 7pm on Saturday, October 19, features The Medway Band (Championship Section) and the South London Fellowship Band. Admission is free, but there will be a retiring collec- tion.
Hospice recital THE Hospice Festival Choir and Orchestra are presenting Haydn’s Creation in aid of the Heart of Kent Hospice on Sat- urday, November 2. The performance at Mote
Hall, Maidstone at 7.30pm,will be conducted by Martin Hind- marsh as part of Voices for Hos- pices 2013, the world’s largest singing event. To buy tickets, which cost
from £10 to £16, telephone 01622 790195, email fundrais-
ing@hokh.co.uk or go to the website at
www.hokh.org.
Charities join to help homeless
TWOMaidstone charitieswhichsupport the homeless and vulnerable have merged. Maidstone ChristianCare, whichoperates the Maid-
stone Day Centre and Food for Thought, has linked with Goodsell House, a hostel for homeless men, to form a newcharity – Homeless Care. TheMayor of Maidstone, Cllr Clive English, and Cllr
Peter Homewood, vice chair of KCC, were at a cele- brationevening tomark themerger, held at Maidstone Day Centre in Knightrider Street. Chairman of trustees Mike FitzGerald presented a
cheque for£15,000 to Homeless Careonbehalf of En- terprise Training Maidstone – a company of which he is a director and which used to provide YTStraining to young people in the town. Themoney will be used to provide additional “move
on” accommodation tomeetthe growing needsof the homeless in Maidstone. Mr FitzGerald thanked the people, the businesses,
the shopsandretailers, churchesandschools of Maid- stone who had supported the charity over the years and said: “Without their support,wewouldnot be able to serve those vulnerable in our society.”
Mike
FitzGerald presents a cheque for £15,000 to Rev David Bond of Homeless Care
He said the merger would enableMaidstone to re-
spond to the needs of the homeless and vulnerable, and said: “This merger is just one stepon the ladderof change. If we can continue to lead the way in Maid- stone, perhaps it will persuade our nation to rise up and deliver for the poor and leastwell-off in society. “There is no reason foranyone togohungry inMaid-
stone because of the generosity of its people and I thank God for that – and the people here today.” Cllr English said: “It is inspiring to see some of the
work that has taken place in Maidstone in the past fewyears – but a lot of challenges remain.”
Churches offer beds to town’s rough sleepers Continued from page one Be over 18.
Referred (no access on the door). Assessed. Arrive between 7.30-9pm. Leave the church by 8am.
Observe codes of conduct on drinking, drugs, swearing and dress. Mr Clifton said: “Churches
will be manned by a team of at least four at all times and an
arrangement will be made with the police so they are aware of the shelter’s location each night and ready to respond in the event of an incident.” Churches Together vice chair
Rev BillMiller said: “Ifwe don’t tackle this desperately sad story, the homeless will still be in Maidstone, but on the streets. I think this option of providing somewhere supervised is safer and better for everyone con- cerned and gives us a chance to
reach out to these people and find a way for them to move on to a better life.” To donate to the cause or vol- unteer your help go to
www.maidstoneshelter.org.uk
Details of the project, which has theendorsementof Churches To- gether in Maidstone, will be pub- licised to 50 churches across Maidstone and the surrounding area in the comingweeks.
4 Malling
You can e-mail the Downs Mail —
info@downsmail.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40