Town Talk


MEMBERS of Snodland Working Mens Club in Holborough Road helped raise £1,200 for a seri- ously ill little girl suffering from cancer. Harper Lynch, who is 16 months


Blake and Freya wait for the fireworks to start


Crowds enjoy


the fireworks THOUSANDS of people crowded into Potyns Sportsground, Snod- land for the annual fireworks dis- play. For the first time the fair was not present, although entertainment was provided by the fairground families in Constitution Hill. Snodland Town Council's chief executive officer Karen Sowten said: "The fireworks night is so popular that there is not enough space to include the fair as well. "We have had lots of compli-


ments from people saying how lovely the display was." She added that the fairground families were offered the use of Potyns on the Halloween week- end, but this was not taken up. The council spent £3,650 on the fireworks and £1,165.38 was put into the collecting buckets.


old, was diagnosed in September with neuroblasloma cancer stage 4, which had spread to her bones, bone marrow, liver, skin and other organs.Within a week emergency chemotherapy was started as the tumour in her stomach was so big it was affecting her heart rate. Nicky Cocks, who lived in Snod-


land before moving to Sitting- bourne, is the son of Ray Cocks of Ashbee Close, a member of the club. Nicky is the second cousin of Harper, who lives in Motting- ham.


Nicky said: "Harper is due to Ray (left) and Nicky with Harper


have the tumour removed on De- cember 15, when the real hard work starts for her as the cancer has spread so far she will have to


Local news for Snodland and Halling Club’s £1,200 to give Harper a holiday


have intensive chemo, bone mar- row treatment and radiotherapy. "She is doing so well in fighting


this and her mum and dad and our whole family can only hope she carries on fighting her way to a full recovery." Ray organised a charity golf day


for members of the club who also collected from colleagues at work and it was decided that themoney raised would be used for a family holiday once Harper has beaten her illness. Harper's parents James and


Dee said: "Without people like Ray, Nicky and Con Smith, from the club, this would never have happened. It means so much to us and Harper. Thank you to everyone who donated to Harper, from the bottom of our hearts."


Hard work and relaxation on students’ Ecuador trip


SEVEN students from Holmes- dale Technology College, Snod- land have been on a month-long trip to Ecuador to work with local communities. In the first week the students (pictured), who had spent a year raising funds for the trip, worked in the cloud forest to help with re- forestation and build a volleyball stand. The group also worked for three


days on projects that helped maintain and improve the sur- roundings in the Maquipacuna nature reserve. In the second week they worked


in two villages in the steamy Ama- zon rainforest, extending a fish pond and building a community centre. They also played two foot- ball matches with the locals, win- ning one and losing one.


The third week was spent in the Andes, when the cold weather ne- cessitated a visit to a local market to buy extra layers of clothing be- fore painting and decorating classrooms in the local school. The students spent their final


week in the relative luxury of a hostel with hot water. They re-


Double celebration for golden couple


MICK Terry and June Withams have celebrated their 70th birth- days and golden wedding an- niversarywith a party at Snodland Working Men’s Club. They were both born in Snod-


land, lived opposite each other in Covey Hall Road, attended the same school, went on their first date at 17 and were married at 20. Mick worked for Reed Corru-


gated Cases for 31 years after leaving school. He was then made redundant and started caring first for peoplewith learning difficulties and then wheelchair-bound peo- ple in Maidstone. They moved to Hemel Hemp-


stead for five years and then Uck- field, Sussex, where Mick had


driving jobs. They moved to Townsend Road, Snodland, in February. June worked in local shops,


Townsend Hook paper mill, Mid KentWaterCompany, Jubilee Hall canteen and Pilgrims View before training for the priesthood in 2008. She was ordained as a deacon in 2011 and as a priest in 2013.


She is now attached to the RochesterDiocese where she can officiate at any church. She is based at All Saints’ and Christ Church, Snodland. Mick and June have two sons,


Paul and Lee, and four grandchil- dren aged from three to 22, and are pictured with members of their family.


ported that the scenery and wildlife were out of this world and they snorkelled with sea lions, tur- tles and fish, as well as meeting giant tortoises. They also had time for some well-needed rest and recupera- tion, with afternoons spent enjoy- ing the white sandy beaches.


Bowls changes


THE chairman, secretary and treasurer of Townsend Hook Bowls Club, Snodland resigned at the an- nual


general


meeting. The new chair-


man is Bridget Cork (pictured), who is also chair- man of STARA (Snodland Town Active Retirement Association).


Chris Brown is the new secretary


and Jim Cork has taken over as treasurer. Bridget said the season starts in


April and members will be notified of a pre-season meeting. The club is looking for new members and anybody interested in joining can call Bridget on 01634 241759.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48