downsmail.co.uk Town celebrates Mela
THE 12th Maidstone Mela burst on to the streets of Maidstone to drum up support for the Sunday festival in Mote Park. About 400 children from seven schools joined a Friday parade through the town centre, from County Hall to Brenchley Gardens. It showcased arts and music from
a range of bands, including the Four by Four Dhol Drummers and Bloco Fogo samba band. Two days later, the bands emerged again as part of a colour- ful song and dance extravaganza, which attracted record numbers to what is now the largest culturally diverse arts festival in Kent. It featured talented local singing
trio Imminent, the Kitka Bulgarian Folk Dance Group, Bollywood Blast, Gypsy Stars and the Cohe- sion Plus produced “Afro-Bhangra Fusion”. The headline actwas award-win-
ning singer Ruby Turner. In addi- tion there were more than 50 stalls selling food and products from around the world, with informa- tion stands provided by public and voluntary sector partners. The event is organised in a part- nership between KCC, Maidstone Council, Cohesion Plus and Kent
Winners of curry award 2010-11, 2011-12
Equality Cohesion Council. Gurvinder Sandher, artistic di-
rector of the Mela, said: “I have been working on the Mela since its inception in 2003 and this yearwas our biggest attendance to date. “The Maidstone Mela has
evolved into one of the biggest cul- turally diverse celebrations in Kent and underlines how the arts can be used to bring different communi- ties together. “The Mela is now an established
date in the Maidstone diary and has grown so much since its incep- tion andwe are very grateful to the on-going support being provided by all partners, volunteers and the local community for enabling this to happen.”
Open 5.00pm -10.30pm 7 days a week
News Studio home
turned down AN ART teacher’s plan to extend a studio to create a home inMar- den has been refused. Pam Bowles trains art students
and exhibits textile art all over the world. Her most recent project has been touring with World Quilt in the USA. She applied to enlarge a studio
at Weaver’s Cottage, Copper Lane, Howland Road, to form a new dwelling and then sell up, but Maidstone Council’s planning committee turned it down for being contrary to policy. A representative of Ms Bowles,
who also volunteers as a craft or- ganiser and tutor to Guiding UK, told the committee that the home would consume just a fifth of the energy of an average home due to the use of materials and in- sulation during construction. Cllr Steve McLoughlin, local
ward member for Marden, was in favour of the scheme. He said: “The studio is used for community events and we should support something like this.” But the scheme for a new home
KCC chairman Peter Homewood with his escort Sue Baldock, stiltwalkers and drummers
was refused for being in an unsus- tainable location in the open countryside.
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