Town March 2016

News History is the remedy

LONELY old people are being pre- scribed a trip to Maidstone Mu- seum to get them out and about and meeting new friends. Museums on Prescription (MoP)

is a three-year research project being carried out by University College London (UCL), funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Its aim is to connect lonely older people at risk of social isolation to museums in central London and Kent. The research team has been look-

ing at the role of museums in im- proving health and wellbeing for several years, with a special focus on the benefits of touch and object handling, for people in hospitals and healthcare settings. The study follows on from a similar project, Heritage in Hospitals.

The team plans to bring groups

of elderly and housebound people to Maidstone Museum to investi- gate the value of heritage encoun- ters in “social prescribing” – linking people to sources of com- munity support to improve their health andwell-being. Similar projects already operate

inAustralia,NewZealand, Canada and the United States. The research teamwants to com-

pare how schemes work in an urban setting – London – and a re- gional setting – Maidstone. They alsowant to look at the value of an MoP scheme in a small museum as opposed to

a

national museum, such as the British Museum. The project is headed by Dr

Helen Chatterjee, a senior lecturer in biology at UCL’s School of Life

BLACKBOX Solutions, a provider of office equipment and services across London and the South East, has opened a new head office in Maidstone. The office in The Old Printworks,

Medway Street,was opened by the Mayor of Maidstone Councillor Daniel Moriarty, whowas joined at

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and Medical Science, assisted by Dr Linda Thomson, cognitive psychol- ogist at UCL; Professor Paul Camic, professor of psychology & public health and research director at Can- terbury Christ Church University; Dr Bridget Lockyer, postdoctoral research fellow at Canterbury Christ Church University; and Dr Theo Stickley, professor of mental health at Nottingham University. Curators at Maidstone Museum

large

are now looking at a range of ses- sions that could best benefit the elderly, including painting on parchment, clay oil lamp making, vase painting and corsage making. Aswell as the main museum, of-

fering fine art, Japanese and Egypt- ian sections, local and natural history exhibits and tours could also take place in the Carriage Mu- seum in Mill Street.

the ceremony by the leader of Maidstone Council, Cllr Fran Wil- son and the council’s chief execu- tive Alison Broom. Cllr Moriarty said he was confi-

dent the new officewaswell placed to continue its growth story. The company has more than doubled in size every year since it

downsmail.co.uk

Council tax facing big hike

THE cost of caring for elderly and vulnerable adults in Kent means ratepayers will have a 4% increase in their KCC council tax bill from April. KCC is taking advantage of new legislation allowing it to increase council tax by 2% to meet the costs of funding this sector. That is in addition to the 1.99% general increase already proposed to help meet the costs of other services, such as education, refuse collection and highways. The extra 2% will raise about

£11m, but the county council spent almost £350m on adult social care last year and says it needs a further £42m this year to keep social care at its current levels. The KCC portion of the bill for a

band D property will rise from £1,089.99 to £1,133.55 from April.

Blackbox Solutions opens new head office

was launched in 2012. The new offices now accommo-

date all of Blackbox Solutions’ sales, servicing and client support staff and also incorporate a drop-in print, scan and copy service. The mayor is pictured with Blackbox MD Colin Griffin and sales director Jonathan Devito.

T.01622 201078

M.07854 529434 jlb.property@yahoo.co.uk

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