News
downsmail.co.uk Support growing for rural pub
CAMPAIGNERS hoping to buy the Hook and Hatchet pub in- Hucking have received backing from supporters and pledges of more than £160,000 in just two months. The group has also won asset of
the community status for the Church Road pub, which gives campaigners time to prepare a business plan. Group member Samantha Mabb
(43), from Scragged Oak Road, is pictured with Dora and Jeff Pilking- ton from the steering committee. She said: “We are proud that the Hook and Hatchet has been regis- tered as an asset of the community
Cornish tea
MAIDSTONE MENCAP pre- school will receive more than £900 from a Cornish tea held at Holling- bourne Village Hall. It was staged by the president of
the Rotary Club of Maidstone, William Perry, in his home village to celebrate St Piran, the patron saint of Cornwall. Mr Perry, origi- nally from Newlyn, spoke of the artists, painters, potters and crafts- people of West Cornwall and dis- played samples of their work.
and would like to thank everyone for any help they have given.” In the meantime, campaigners,
whowould like to buy the Shepherd Neame-owned hostelry – on the market for £450,000 – are calling for others to join the cause to keep the pub in business by pledging sup- port on their website, Facebook page and Twitter account. The campaign group’s next meet-
ing will be arranged after Easter. Shepherd Neame told the Downs
Mail it understands that the dead- line for the community group to ex- press an interest is May 5. If it does, the brewery will not be able to sell
the pub to anyone else until Sep- tember 24, 2015. Shepherd Neame’s property and services director George Barnes said: “TheHook and Hatchet closed at the end of November 2014, and after careful consideration, the brewery has decided to sell the pub. If the community group is able to fund acquisition at the asking price, we would be happy to sell the pub to them.” To back the campaign visit
www.thehookandhatchet.co.uk,
www.facebook.com/pages/The- Hook-Hatchet/396510927178202 or
twitter.com/HuckingPub
Prescription improvement
MORE details have emerged of a scheme to motivate Maidstone and West Kent GPs to improve the prescribing of medications and dressings. The plan also includes a significant saving in local NHS costs (£67m a
year: 14% of the annualWest Kent total budget). All GP practices will be encouraged by NHSWest Kent Clinical Com- missioning Group (CCG) to participate in a scheme that will reward qual- ity prescribing linked to sound patient healthcare. Annual savings of £1.2m are forecast, largely through prescribing more generic drugs and fewer antibiotics and reviews of new oral anti-coagu- lants and erectile dysfunction drugs. A points system of up to £1 per patient per year has been devised for
rewarding GPs. The estimated cost inWest Kent is £370,000 in the first year.
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