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downsmail.co.uk Festival rocks county town
THE biggest rock music event in Maidstone’s history drew amassive and international crowd of about 20,000 to Mote Park on the lastweekend of July.
The Ramblin’ Man Fair was or- ganised by Classic Rock magazine and offered three stages on both days, with onsite camping, park and ride buses and car parking. The billwas rich in American and European acts, with several exclu- sive attractions including German heavy rock titans The Scorpions making their only UK festival ap- pearance this year and acts like Pol- ish prog rockers Riverside. The Downs Mail was on site on
both days, speaking to fans from all over Europe, and even as far away as San Francisco. The range of acts was breathtaking, with many pro- ducing stunning performances. Inside the arena the atmosphere
was celebratory, thewarm Saturday weather making for a party feel and the rain for the first half of Sunday’s schedule forcing the early perform- ers to push the limits as they tried to warm up the crowd. Icelandic heavy rockers Solstafir joked that the weather made them feel at home. Sunday ended with a main stage performance from American rock legendGreggAllman,whose former band The Allman Brothers had a huge hit with Ramblin’ Man. The fair offered more tickets than Maidstone’s previous biggest rock concert, Radio One’s BigWeekend in 2008. There was a bonus for busi- nesses, with hotels, bars and restau- rants reporting increased trade. Maidstone Grammar School of-
fered camping on its playing field. The stream of people clutching Sainsbury’s bags packed with food as they headed to the site suggested
Apology for
supercar jams LEEDS Castle has apologised for the traffic chaos caused by its Supercar Siege event. The event, which attracted a
record 7,500 people, caused major congestion on the M20. Astatement issued by Leeds Cas-
tle admitted it “got it badly wrong”. It said: “Ahuge apology to any of
you who got caught up in the traffic tailbacks or were otherwise incon- venienced. “We’ve held this event for several
years and it normally attracts about 5,000 people. Our normal proce- dures, staffing, car parks and so forth are usually more than ade- quate to accommodate the visitors without too much disruption. This yearwe got it wrong.” It has promised that all reserve car
parks will be open and extra staff will be on hand to assist the next time the event is run.
20 Maidstone East August 2015 Photo: Andy Archer Wind spreads
noise issues THE strong westerly wind during theweekend prompted residents in Madginford, Downswood, Grove Green,VintersPark and Thurnham to complain about noise. Natasha Bastone, from Grove Green, said the music drowned out the film she was watching on tele- vision with her family. She said: “I love to party but
the Romney Place supermarket had done a roaring trade. Reactions on social media from
festival-goers were almost unani- mouslypositive, withmanypraising the quality of the performances and
Boost for town By Neil Nixon
IWILL not bore you withmy music obsession but my first published journalism as a student was about rock music and I am still writing books on the subject today. Whatever the judgments about
noise and nuisance I can only say that the festival was one of the best-organised events I have ever attended. The quality of acts lower down the bill was life-affirming: standouts were the pristine beauty of Camel and the incendiary blues of Joanne Shaw Taylor. To have such an event of this
quality in town is a bonus to allwho love their livemusic.
well-chosen line-ups on each stage. However, there were complaints about poor information on the park and ride bus service and many resi- dents complained about the level of noise during the two days.
Cash donation
THE Rock Collective, which organ- ised the Ramblin’ Man festival has announced a fund to support proj- ects in the Maidstone area. The fund of about £10,000 will
help groups to deliver cultural, en- tertainment or sports-related proj- ects to thank the town for supporting the festival, which was expected to bring at least £700,000 into Maidstone's economy. Anyone can apply to the fund to
help to stage a community event or run a community project. Applicants should contact
info@ramblinmanfair.com for more details. Applications close on Sep- tember 4. Successful applicants will be notified by the end of September.
when you have a young child, this booming music over the whole weekend was too loud. I have no problem with the festival return- ing, but the organiser needs to do something about the volume.” On Maidstone Council’s Face-
book page, Sandra Woodfall said: “We live on the PilgrimsWay and can hear the music above the noise of the motorway.We find it disap- pointing that when the council is promoting an event it doesn’t pro- vide an out-of-hours service that covers the duration of the event so that complaints can be dealt with.” Maidstone Council said it had re-
ceived just two formal complaints. A spokesman said: “We have also received positive comments about how the festival handled issues such as traffic and litter. All feed- back received will be considered when looking at future events.” The spokesman said noise did
not breach the licence terms and confirmed the organiser is looking to return on July 23 and 24, 2016.
Patients pleased with GP surgery
A GOVERNMENT health watch- dog has rated BearstedGPsurgery as good across the board, follow- ing an announced inspection. Patients at Bearsted Medical Practice questioned by Care Qual- ity Commission inspectors said they felt supported by staff and were given enough time during consultations. They said the prac- tice was well-managed, clean and tidy and they had no difficulty
making appointments. The in- spectors spent two days checking paperwork and monitoring work- ing practices and agreed. They also looked at the results
of theNHSChoices online survey, which showed reviews for the Yeoman Lane centre ranged from “in the middle” for the percentage of patients who would recom- mend the practice, through to “av- erage” for scores for consultations
War games in woods questioned
THURNHAMParish Council has supported a freedom of information request to be made aboutwar game activities at Stockbury valley. It follows reports that wire and boulders have been used to block
paths and bridleways in Squirrel Woods off the A249. Sherrie Babington, council clerk for Thurnham and Stockbury, said Maidstone Council’s planning department had been asked repeatedly if the activity, run through website Apocalypse249, had planning per- mission. She said: “I think theway forward is a freedom of information request.”
with doctors and “worse than av- erage” for consultations with nurses. Nevertheless, 87% of pa- tients rated it as good or very good.
Inspectors commended the medical centre on its care for chil- dren, families and the vulnerable and for those at work, noting its late night surgery on Monday and early morning “commuter surger- ies”.
Sexual charges THE landlord of a Hollingbourne pub has been charged with nine of- fences of sexual assault. Gary Hitch (57), of the Sugar
Loaves, Eyhorne Street, is alleged to have committed the offences be- tween July 1, 2014 and January 12, 2015. He was bailed to appear at Maidstone Magistrates’ Court as Downs Mailwent to press.
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