News
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
‘Hamlet site’
is proposed A NEW hamlet could be created in Collier Street after borough council- lors decided 10 homes would be suitable for a brownfield site in Clay- gate Road. Officers from Maidstone Council
felt Bentletts scrapyard should not be one of the housing sites on the draft local plan because it is inanun- sustainable location and could be isolated by floods. However, Collier Street Parish Council was in favour of the devel- opment. Cllr Fay Gooch told the strategic planning committee: “This could be a development of a delight- ful hamlet. The houses could con- tribute towards the community.” The strategic planning committee
voted to include an allocation of 10 homes in the draft local plan – lower than the 29 houses and two bunga- lows requested in a planning appli- cation to be determined by Maidstone Council.
28 Maidstone South August 2015
Friends shave to support James Ben Hughes, George Majin, Robert Devonald and Ben Donnelly
THREE Maidstone school boys and their teacherhave shavedtheir heads to raise money for a cancer charity. The boys from Oakwood Park
Grammar School came up with the idea after their friend, James Morri- son (17), from Matfield, was diag- nosed with cancer of the spine. He is paralysed from the waist down and has been told hemay not walk again. George Majin (17), fromChart Sut-
ton, said: “It was a massive shock to hear that James had cancer. “As a side effect of his chemother- apy, James has lost his hair sowe will
be shaving our heads.” George, Ben Donnelly, from Head-
corn and Ben Hughes, from Cran- brook were joined in the head shave by PE teacher Robert Devonald. The boys’ Just Giving page has already received pledges of more than £2,600. Donations can be made at
www.justgiving.com/ShaveForJames.
Photo: Andy Archer Wind spreads
noise issues THE strong westerly wind during theweekend prompted residents in Madginford, Downswood, Grove Green,VintersPark andThurnham 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- mously positive, withmanypraising the quality of the performances and
Boost for town By Neil Nixon
I WILL 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 live music.
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 48 formal complaints. A spokesman said: “We have also re- ceived 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.
Homes scheme
TWOparish councils havemanaged to overturn an officer recommenda- tion that would have stopped a po- tential housing development. Planners felt land east of Hub-
bards Lane, opposite Cornwallis Academy was inappropriate for eight homes because a hedge and the openness of the land would be lost.
But Loose and Boughton Monchelsea parish councils felt the land should be allocated in the local plan and Maidstone Council's strate- gic planning committee agreed.
Clerk vacancy
ULCOMBEParish Council has a va- cancy for a part-time clerk and re- sponsible financial officer. The appointment is for 40-50
hours per month. Contact the clerk, Liz McLaren on 07921809161 or email
ulcombepc@outlook.com with a copy to the chairman at
pjt888@hotmail.com.
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