News Christmas
concert date WELL-loved carols and seasonal songs will feature in Maidstone Choral Union’s Christmas concert. The concert takes place at 7.30pm on Saturday, December 13 at Maid- stone Leisure Centre, when the au- dience will be invited to join the choir in favourite songs.
Children from St John’s Primary School, Grove Green, and St Michael’s Primary School, Ton- bridge Road and Kent Festival Brass will also perform.
Tickets are £7 to £16 from Freda Crispin (call 01622 726193 or email
freda@me169lb.fsnet.co.uk) or the leisure centre booking office (0845 155 2277) and Maidstone Museum Visitors’ Centre (01622 602169).
Quiz success MAIDSTONE Mencap has thanked
everyone for their support for its apple pie quiz which made a profit of £650, after deducting the cost of the fruit pastries and cream.
For more local news, community events and information, go online
www.downsmail.co.uk
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£750k flats planned for former NHS mansion
A ONE-TIME country retreat for Britain’s nobility in the Royal British Legion Village will soon open to the man in the street. Work is set to begin on convert- ing Preston Hall, the grade II-listed Jacobean mansion on the A20, into 36 luxury apartments.
The one, two and three-bedroom flats are expected to cost between £175,000 and £750,000 when they go on the market next year. Restoration specialist Weston Homes has bought the 5,000sqm property set in 2.5 acres of land- scaped grounds and aims to open its first show home in the New Year. Bob Weston, chairman of Weston Homes, said: “Preston Hall is one of the most prestigious, challenging and unique restoration projects we have undertaken to date.
“Our vision is to create one of the most sought-after residential ad- dresses in Kent – luxury apartments in a restored Jacobean mansion.” Preston Hall, in use most recently as health authority headquarters, dates back to 1102. In Tudor times, it was home to the
Former hospital Preston Hall is to be turned into luxury apartments, with flats costing up to £750,000
Culpeper family. Joyce Culpeper was the mother of Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of King Henry VIII. Sir Thomas Culpeper (1514-1541), a distant cousin of Joyce, was a courtier to Henry VIII and was Catherine’s secret lover – for which they were executed. Since then, Preston Hall has been a country residence for several wealthy families including Edward Ladd Betts (1815-1872), a railway baron who was responsible for building the local railway station and branch line, as well as the rail network into London Victoria and London Bridge stations.
In 1850 he commissioned archi- tect John Thomas (1813-1862) to re- furbish Preston Hall into the magnificent building it is today. By 1925 it had become a hospital and convalescent facility for the Royal British Legion and from 1945 to 2012 it served as an NHS facility. The elegant ceilings including the hammer-beamed ceiling with coats of arms; the rich wood wall pan- elling and marquetry, turrets and towers will now be carefully re- stored and the principal reception rooms, with their high ceilings, and ornate panelling, the orangery and stables will become flats.
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