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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 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 such as Polish 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, and the stream of people clutching Sainsbury’s bags packed with food as they headed to the site suggested
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- mouslypositive, withmanypraising the quality of the performances and
Boost for fans 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.
School contribution query
A DEVELOPER contribution from a housing development in Fant has been questioned because itwas felt itwas being put towards the wrong school. In February, planning permission
was given to replace an industrial estate with 22 homes behind Milton Street and Hartnup Street. In a recent planning committee meeting to agree financial contri- butions, itwas revealed that the de- veloper would help finance the expansion of Maidstone Grammar
A MAIDSTONE woman has been jailed for stealing a bottle of wine. Shaina Marston (22), of Brunswick Street, pleaded guilty to shoplifting, common assault and assaulting a police officer. Marston stole wine worth £4.99
from a supermarket in Loose Road, Maidstone, where she also as-
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School in Barton Road. Cllr Paul Harper, a local ward member, said: “It’s five minutes’ walk from Oakwood Park Gram- mar School, which has three sec- ondary schools on site. Surely we need a contribution towards one of those rather than a school that is not going to be a choice of residents living in the new development.” However, the other members of
the committee voted to sign off the existing agreement with the devel- oper. Cllr Harper abstained.
Wine theft adds to jail sentence
saulted a man and a police officer. She was sentenced to 56 days in
prison but because the offences were committed during a sus- pended sentence, the overall length of sentencewas 98 days. Shemust also pay £54 compensa-
tion, £150 criminal courts charge, £85 costs and £80 victim surcharge.
Maidstone Town September 2015
Left to right: Neil Richardson, Ian Sharp, Paul Body, Janine Brown, Tony Harris and Derrick Lovell
Archers target sports park
MORE than 50 archers came to Kings Hill Sports Park to take part in the Sir Thomas Wyatt Tournament, hosted by Allington Castle Archers. The tournament has been held for
almost 30 years at various venues in Kent and is named after Sir Thomas Wyatt, who was born at nearby Allington Castle in the 16th century andwas a close friend of Henry VIII. The two-day tournament saw archers using all types of bow, from Hi-Tec Compound and Olympic Re-
curve bows through to more tradi- tional English longbows. Some very high scores were
achieved on both days and the hon- ourswere handed out by sports park manager Janine Brown. Allington Castle Archers will be holding a one-day “Whitefriars” tournament at the sports park on Sunday, August 30. For details call Janine on 01732 872271 or email sportspark@king-
shillparish.gov.uk.
well-chosen line-ups on each stage. However, there were complaints about poor information on the park and ride bus service and some resi- dents complained about the level of noise over 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.
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