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River festival sinks but carnival set to return
Hostel plan for
former hotel MAIDSTONE Council has bought a hotel for £600,000 to use for emer- gency accommodation. The authority has submitted a planning application to convert Aylesbury House, at 56 London Road, into a 12-bedroom hostel for people it has a duty to accommo- date when they become homeless, such as families. A spokesman said it would save
the council money. “Often place- ments are made outside the bor- ough, which impacts negatively on the health and well-being of those households,” said a supporting statement, which added that the hotelwas no longer viable. The council was unable to reveal
how much the buildingwould cost to convert or maintain as the devel- opment was going out to tender. The council’s planning committee will determine the application.
Extra trains
proposed COMMUTERS could get a third peak service into London by De- cember.
Southeasternwants to introduce
a rush-hour service from Maid- stone East into Blackfriars, stop- ping atWest Malling. A spokesman said: “The with-
drawal of our limited peak service into Cannon Street in December 2009was pretty unpopular.We are proposing this service into Black- friars as a half-way house.” Also proposed is an extension to
the Victoria service via Maidstone East, providing an off-peak, stop- ping service to Canterbury West via Ashford International.
Hospice’s story
THE story behind the creation of the Heart of Kent Hospice in the 1980s, is told in a re-printed book by the appeal organiser, Ul- combe’s Molly Poulter. “Building the Heart of Kent Hos-
pice,” illustrated with photo- graphs, costs £7.99 and is available from the hospice’s 13 shops or from Mrs Poulter (01622 842988). The aim is to raise £5,000.
34 Maidstone South March 2014
Katie Barr, Lulu Pankhurst, Ben Lawrence and Charlie Hadley celebrate Australia Day with Amanda Jacobs
Pupils celebrate AustraliaDay
PUPILS at Sutton Valence Prep School got the chance to combine geog- raphy, cultural studies and music in a celebration of all things Australian. To mark Australia Day some of the children camedressed up as Aussies,
some clutching kangaroos, others sporting the trademark cork-laden hats, andwere entertained with a range of activities compiled by year 3 teacher Amanda Jacobs, who comes from Bathurst, New SouthWales. Amanda covered the origins of Australia day, how Australians celebrate
and read them her favourite story – ‘Wombat Stew’. A blind tasting al- lowed pupils to sample Marmite and Vegemite and vote for their favourite –Marmite won.
Oak can be axed Nursery bid to
PLANNING permission has been granted to remove a protected oak tree on land behind 81 Bathurst Road, Staplehurst. The applicant said the tree had
been damaging the foundations of the property. Maidstone Council ordered that a replacement tree be planted.
Longer hours
AUTOMOTIVE Distributors Ltd (ADL) has been allowed to extend Saturday working hours at Unit 9 of the Wheelbarrow Estate in Patten- den Lane, Marden from 7am-1pm to 7am-7pm.
extend hours BRISHING Barn Nursery in Boughton Monchelsea wants to cater for older children. The nursery, in Brishing Lane, is restricted to looking after a total of 76 youngsters up the age of five. Maidstone Council is now being
asked to permit pre-, after-school and holiday clubs for children up to the age of 10. No increase in the overall number of children permit- ted is proposed. The original condition was im-
posed to safeguard quality of life for the neighbours.
THE plug has been pulled on the long-standing Maidstone River Festival – but that could mean the revival of an even older town-wide celebration. Maidstone Carnival, which in-
volved a parade with floats from community groups and businesses, was founded almost 100 years ago, but fizzled out after its heyday in the 1970s. Now, organisers behind the River
Festival say they hope it can be re- vived on a bigger and better scale, starting and ending at the town’s Mote Park, with a funfair and Mardi Gras. The River Festival peaked in
2009, when it celebrated its 30th an- niversary by expanding from a day to a full weekend festival with a firework finale. However, being entirely depen-
dant on the goodwill and support of volunteers and local sponsors, the festival has struggled during the recession. It was shelved for the Olympics
and Royal Jubilee in 2012, but re- vived on a smaller scale in 2013. Martin Cox, who chaired the
group of volunteers behind the River Festival,warned then that its future was uncertain without sup- port from business sponsors. The economic climate, together
with health and safety issues asso- ciated with the river, means costs have been rising and administra- tion has become more complex. Last year’s festival was close to
sinking, but Mr Cox managed to salvage things at the 11th hour. The River Festival was tradition-
ally held on the last Saturday in July, during the school holidays, and is thought to have pulled up to 10,000 visitors into the county town each year. The council is actively looking at
ways of promoting events in the town centre – and making greater use of the river as an amenity and attraction. Cllr John Wilson, chair of the community and leisure serv- ices committee, said: “We want to see many events in Maidstone and are looking at opportunities to bring them together in a festival.”
Music boss
stands down KENT Music’s county groups man- ager Geoff Dixon has organised his final concert after 22 years with the education charity. In that time he has worked with
more than 1,500 young musicians, many of whom have gone on to forge professional careers. Geoff joined Kent Music in April
1992 as a supervisor on county group courses and took up the role of music librarian in 1994. In 2000 he became manager ofKent
County Youth Orchestra and in 2009 general manager for the county groups. He has toured with KCYO to South America and given the orches- tra opportunities to play in venues such as the Royal Albert Hall.
New events hall
A NEW £1.5 million conference and events facility is due to open at the Kent County Showground in Detling this spring. The facility will seat up to 4,000
people in theatre style, and should be ready to start hosting events from the end of April. It will be offi- cially opened by the Kent County Agricultural Society at the Kent County Show in July.
Lighting allowed
PLANNING permission was granted for external lighting on Maidstone Town Hall. The Town Team project, funded
by Maidstone Council, will light up the central bays to the Jubilee Square and High Street facades.
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