News


downsmail.co.uk Hop farm festival ‘will go on’


THE Hop Farm insists it is confi- dent its music festival will go ahead next summer after an at- tempt was made to strike off the company that organises the event. A spokesman for promoter UK


Events Production Limited told the Downs Mail after this year’s July event at the PaddockWood attrac- tion that it was “already talking about next year”. However, an application has been


made to strike off the company, whose sole shareholder is Neil Butk- eraitis. He has also resigned from another company, Hop Farm Music Festival Ltd, along with its three other directors.


MrButkeraitis is quoted as saying


that the festival will no longer go ahead, but the Hop Farm’s head of marketing, Miguel Fenton, told the Downs Mail: “It is not for Mr Butk- eraitis to speak on behalf of theHop Farm. I amvery confident it will go ahead next July.” MrFenton said the festival, which


was cancelled in 2013 due to poor ticket sales, had been an “absolute success” this year and feedback had been favourable. However, he agreed the event had lost money. He added: “This was not the de-


sired outcome and we have plans for the next few festivals, which ad- dress the niggles and areas that we


Park life captured on film


THIS picture won Robert Toombs £250 in shopping tokens in the annual Mote Park photographic competition. Robert topped a shortlist of


12 from 372 entries with his picture of running water over rocks. Second-placed Amanda Harrison received a £50 voucher for The Mall with her wintry scene overlooking the lake and Andrew Masters’ photograph of Mote House gave him third place and a £20 voucher for The Mall.


can improve, such as layout. “We appointed Mr Butkeraitis,


but if a third party can’t make it a success then this will have to be re- viewed also.” Hesaid theHopFarmwould con-


sider managing the event in-house, if necessary. Mr Fenton added: “This is the


only family-orientated music festi- val in the South East, if not the UK. It’s not just about music andwe are determined to keep it running.” He said early discussions with


artists were taking place as well as talks about possible changes to the line-up in future to encourage more home-grown talent.


TESTONCricket Club has applied to build a replacement clubhouse at its premises near Barham Court in Tonbridge Road. The club says the existing pavil-


ion is aging, “unattractive and de- crepit” and needs to be demolished. A new clubhouse would be built 8m north-east and 4m south-east of the existing club- house “to align it with the cricket square”. Teston Parish Council supports


“We are looking at creating more


of a balance between big names and a bigger focus on local music, which we had hoped to do this year, but it did not happen.However, there will always remain a need for strong names as a draw,” he said. MrFenton said that given the size


of the event, a decision about who would run the festival would be taken by the spring. The festival began six years ago


and has attracted names such as Prince, Bob Dylan and the Eagles. This year’s event starred James Blunt, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Ray Davies, Billy Ocean, 10cc and come- dian Jo Brand.


Cricket club’s pavilion plan


the scheme, but was concerned about solar panels that might be visible from grade II-listed Barham Court and the access road to Barham Mews. Maidstone Council will determine the planning appli- cation. The club has occupied the ground since it was formed in 1895, when the land was made available for the use of staff of Alfred Reader’s iconic Reader’s cricket and hockey ball factory.


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8 Malling October 2014


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