No cash for community centre
WITHOUT a donation of £500,000, the dream of turning this building in Foley Street, Maidstone, into a community centre is over. The former builder’s yard was bought by St Luke’s Church three years ago, with the inten- tion of refurbishing it. But, after extensive work inside and out, the church has been forced to pull the plug on the community centre project after it faced a further £160,000 bill to finish it. A private consultant has now
been brought in to consider the future of the building. Rev Arthur Houston,minister
at St Luke’s, said: “There are limited options for the building, unless someone kindly gives us £500,000. We will just have to see what the consultants say.” The vicar said it had become
clear over the last year that, in spite of the generosity of church
Crime chief Ann
talks to forum ANN Barnes, police and crime commissioner for Kent, ad- dressed more than 100 older people at the Maidstone Older Persons’ Forum thismonth. The forum, run by Voluntary Action Maidstone, also heard from Barbara Hagan, manager of the Maidstone and Malling car- ers project, on the support, infor- mation and advice available to carers, and from Sarah Robson at the borough council who con- sulted the group on the council’s initiatives with older people. Peter Spearink’s term as chair-
man of the forum ends in Janu- ary. Anyone who is over 55 and interested in issues affecting older people can apply for the role. Call Voluntary Action Maidstone on 01622 677337 or email
office@vam-online.org.uk.
Caravan site
pitches agreed BEARSTED Caravan Club has been given planning permis- sion to replace 14 existing grass pitches with loose stone sur- faced pitches for use in all weathers. Thirteen of these pitches will measure 9m x 9m with one being 12m x 9m to accommo- date larger motor vans on site. A short length of Tarmac road will be constructed to facilitate all-weather access from Ash- ford Road to these pitches. Maidstone Council gave the go-ahead but emphasised that the caravans remain holiday ac- commodation and should not be used as a person’s sole or main place of residence. The Caravan Club says there
are no plans to expand the site, as a previous application had suggested.
24 East
Museum chief
on the move MAIDSTONE’s museum and heritage manager Simon Lace is to leave his position. After 10 years in the job, Mr
members, it would not have the money to complete the project. He added: “Like many chari-
ties, we too have felt the effects of the economic recession. This is too much to expect an urban community to raise, which has less affinity with the building or its uses than perhaps a village might have.” He said the PCC had made the
clear decision towithdraw from the plans after a consultation period in church and lots of dis-
cussion about how the centre might be used. “This is the kind of decision
that is reached with much sad- ness and regret. “We are sorry that we have not been able to complete this project.” He said the church was work-
ing with the local community and believes it can make better use of the church, which is op- posite the building, to further strengthen itswork and services to the community.
Award for visitor service
MAIDSTONE Visitor Informa- tion Service has been selected as a finalist in the “Tourism Information Service” category at the 2013 Beautiful South Tourism Awards. The awards ceremony was
due to take place on Novem- ber 27, when Maidstone will be awarded a gold, silver or highly commended award. The judging took account of
the entry form along with web searches, reviews, emails, telephone calls and visits, plus additional evidence. Maidstone council’s cabinet member for economic and
Tree ‘too tall’ JAMES Johnson wants to fell a leylandii tree in the Holling- bourne Conservation Area. His planning application to remove the tree at Brushings Cottage, PilgrimsWay, is due to it “undermining a brick bound- ary wall, causing excessive shading, and gaining height rapidly (now considerably taller than the house)”. His application, which will
be determined by Maidstone Council, also requests the pruning of another leylandii tree to avoid telephone wires.
’Allo ’Allo by The Chandeliers Drama Group
commercial services, Council- lorMalcolm Greer, said: “This is a very significant achieve- ment and I’d like to congratu- late everyone involved in providing such a fantastic vis- itor information service in the borough.” In May 2011, the Visitor In- formation Service moved to MaidstoneMuseum and at the end of March 2012, a new combined Museum and Visitor Information reception and shop opened, providing an im- proved service for visitors both to the museum and the borough.
Gatehouse plan A SCHEME has been unveiled to turn the cemetery gatehouse at Maidstone Graveyard in Sutton Road into a three-bed- room house. Stuart Andersen has submit-
ted a planning application to restore the vacant grade II listed lodge, which originally provided accommodation for cemetery staff. The building has been dam-
aged by the weather and will require a thorough restoration project, a supporting statement said.
Lace was due to leave his post on November 15 as part of a cost-cutting restructuring move. The council decided some months ago it needed to reduce the cost of its culture and leisure services and has already hived off management of the Hazlitt Theatre to Parkwood Leisure in a move destined to save taxpayers £3.2m over the next 15 years. Mr Lace was a key figure in pushing for the museum’s con- troversial east wing extension and has brought numerous spe- cialist exhibitions to the town since it opened two years ago. Buthis jobistobeabsorbed
into a new post of cultural serv- ices manager – a position which will entail managing parks and leisure facilities, as well as the council’s cultural assets and events. The post holder will report to
a new head of commercial and economic development, Dawn Hudd, who is due to start work with the council on Monday, December 2. Dawn is currently head of culture and enterprise at Can- terbury City Council and has extensive public and private sector experience. Maidstone’s regeneration and communities director, Zena Cooke, said: “I would like to take this opportunity to thank Simon for his commitment to the museum and the work he has done and to wish him the very best for the future.” The advertisement for the
new post is due to go out in the middle of November, and an ap- pointment is expected to be made by early in the New Year, according to the council.
Bid to fell tree axed BARRY Smith’s proposal to re- move a protected common hornbeam at the front of 19 Lombardy Drive, Vinters Park, has been withdrawn. His application form said the
tree had grown too large, result- ing in the roots potentially un- dermining the house foundations.
Cast embraces challenges of popular TV show JOHN
WHEN a popular television show is transferred to the stage it does present problems for the director. In ’Allo ’Allo, there are 15
scene changes. The Chande- liers had a pretty effective back stage team, butwe still did see a lot of them. Director Geraldine Boorman
didn’t even try to change every- thing on the stage for each
MUNSON SHOW TIME
scene. Edith and Rene’sbed- room worked very well - the set and costumes were excellent and the lighting in Larkfield Village Hall worked well. Sandra Stanley’s Edith was par- ticularly convincing, and Mar-
tyn Mitchell’s Gruber caught the fun of the piece as did Adrian Cheesman’s Bertorelli. Roger Boorman, as Rene, car- ried a huge responsibility for the success or otherwise of this production. He came alive in the second act and obviously enjoyed the part. In a huge cast, everyone worked hard in what was a touring show. The Chandeliers deserve credit for presenting this play.
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