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downsmail.co.uk Veteran guest at centenary service


ABLINDwar veteran from Bearsted has taken part in a centenary service atWestminster Abbey. Pete Bradshaw (80) and his wife


Mr Bradshaw started to lose his


Ann were among 1,800 veterans, staff and supporters of Blind Veter- ansUKto mark the military charity’s 100 years of service and support to blind and vision-impaired ex-ser- vicemen and women. The charity, formerly known as St Dunstan’s, was founded in 1915 to support soldiers blinded in World War I. The organisation has gone on to help more than 35,000 blind vet- erans and their families, spanning WorldWar II to recent conflicts in- cluding Iraq and Afghanistan. MrBradshaw joined the Royal Air


Force in 1950, when he was just 15, and served as a telegraphist in the 90 Signals group. Heworked in different areas from intelligence to air traffic control, serving in Germany, Singapore,


Councillor to head choir


MAIDSTONE Councillor David Pickett has been appointed president ofMaidstone Choral Union. Cllr Pickett comes from a


musical family and his love of singing started when he was 10, at the Royal Naval School in Malta. When he


was 16 he was asked to stage- manage a school production of The


Pirates of Penzance. Although no longer a singing member of Maidstone Choral Union, Cllr Pickett sang with the choir formore than 10 years, performing regularly in Maidstone and joining the choir’s European tours. He was chairman from 2004 to 2008 and still supports the choir in many ways. His ambition is to see a funded


arts centre inMaidstone for the use of every field of performing arts in the town. He said: “I want to help


preserve and nurture the legacy of the choir and endeavour to help increase local audiences’ interest in livemusic and great classical works, with emphasis on attracting young people to MCU events.”


Formore local news 48


sight in 2001 and was later diag- nosed with age-related macular de- generation. He started receiving help and support from Blind Veter- ansUKin 2005. He said: “The worst thing about


losing most of my sight was having to give up driving. That really came as a shock.” Mr Bradshaw has received train-


Veteran Pete Bradshaw and his wife Ann atWestminster Abbey


Bahrain and Christmas Island. He left the RAF as a sergeant after 25 years of service. He worked as a carpenter for a


time before taking up a role in com- munications for theHomeOffice.He later worked for Kent Police in the criminal records office.


ing and equipment from Blind Vet- erans UK to help him live independently with sight loss, in- cluding magnifying aids and tools for woodturning. He is also part of the Blind Veter-


ans UK bowling team that goes to the charity’s Brighton centre twice a year for competitions. He said: “Blind Veterans UK has been great. It helped give me back


Call for lorry parks for truckers to take breaks


KENT County Council leader Paul Carter has called on the Govern- ment to create a network of na- tional lorry parks to prevent residents being blighted by HGVs which park up overnight. In an angry outburst at the Maid-


stone Joint Transportation Board, the county council leader called on Highways England to spend some of the levy it receives from foreign lorry companies to provide ade- quate parking facilities for the trucks.


Residents in Sandling have been blighted for years by HGV drivers parking overnight in a layby on Old Chatham Road, leaving litter and humanwaste in the verges and gardens of neighbouring proper- ties.


Committee chairman David Bur-


ton said villagers in and around Marden experienced similar prob- lems from lorries which were forced to park up for the night. Foreign hauliers have been charged to use UK roads since April 2014. Cllr Carter said: “It is time the treasury spent some of the money it charges foreign lorries to use our roads – and spend it in Kent.


“These drivers have nowhere else


to go when their tachograph runs out. And police will not take en- forcement action if they have nowhere else to go – and there is nowhere to go! It is time Highways England funded lorry parks across the country, close to motorway net- works.”


Layby changes to remain


THE Joint Transportation Board has agreed tomakepermanent a se- ries of temporary measures brought in six months ago to prevent anti- social behaviour by lorry drivers parking in Old Chatham Road, Sandling. The board heard there were still


some issues caused by overnight parking in the layby close to Blue- bells estate, but the traffic manage- ment bollards had been a success. Residents have complained for


www.downsmail.co.uk Maidstone East November 2015


years about the constant noise from refrigerated lorries andwaste being dumped in the hedgerows. Resident Barry Stevens told the meeting he had found toilet tissue in his garden where his four-year- old child played, while Doris Even- den said the layby had become a


magnet for fly-tippers, with televi- sionsbeingdumpedalongside bot- tles of urine. Work will now be undertaken to improve the path which is shared by pedestrians, horse riders and cy- clists, which bypasses the layby, as this is unfit for use in its present state. As the path is part of a national


cycle route,KCCis confident of re- ceiving funding so the work can proceed. CllrWendy Hinder said: “It is not perfect, but it has resolved a lot of the problems. The layby is rela- tively free from litter and is no longer being used as a toilet. Any return to its previous state would have been a retrograde step and disastrous for the residents.”


my independence. The Brighton centre feels like home and everyone there has been such a help. “I’ve been toWestminster Abbey before, but this was the first time I have attended a service. My wife and I were excited to be part of the celebrations. We thought it was a moving service, nicely conducted and the musicwas incredible. “The reading by {EastEnders ac-


tress} BarbaraWindsor was special and the daywas memorable.” The service of thanksgiving was conducted by the Dean ofWestmin- ster, the Very Reverend Dr John Hall, and sung by the Choir ofWest- minster Abbey. There was also a performance


from Welsh soprano Gwawr Ed- wards and a reading from David Dimbleby.


Surprise at ban on dogs at park cafe


FRUSTRATION over a ban on dogs at Cobtree Park’s café has been ex- pressed by those who believe Maid- stone Council is missing a trick by making the diner out of bounds to hounds.


One owner, from Stockbury, was stunned to find that after a walk in the park with her dog her pet was banned from the diner, which meant her and her husband re- turned home for lunch. Sue Sellens said: “We’d had a


lovely time at the park, which looks brilliant. We had a great walk around and were ready for a cup of tea and a bite to eat. So, we were sur- prised to learn from other pet walk- ers that the council has imposed a ban on dogs in the café.


“It seems it is shooting itself in the foot by opening a new café and then banning one of its key user groups.” A designated area is available out- side for smokers.


A spokesman for Maidstone Council said: “The cafe has a five- star food hygiene rating and does not allow dogs inside, except guide dogs. We will be adding new tie- points outside so that owners can leave their dogs while they enjoy their refreshments in cafe. There are lots benches outside where anyone can enjoy a drink or a meal.” Professional dog walker Tracy Hawkes, from Snodland, said: “Dog thefts are so common there is no way I would leave my dog tied up outside. For hygiene’s sake a sepa- rate area could be created and if top- end restaurants up and down the country can do it, I see no reason why the council can’t either.”


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