News
Festival moves to showground
THE Social music festival, which led to dozens of complaints last year, will not be held in Maid- stone’s Mote Park this summer. The organisers say the music
event – planned for September 9 and 10 – will take place at the Kent County Showground in Detling. It follows increased pressure for tighter stewarding at the event, which attracted 10,000 music fans to the park, but left Maidstone Council with a major clean-up op- eration and 53 residents’ com- plaints to contend with. Cllr Clive English said: “The So-
cial Festival proved to be the most anti-social event ever held at the park, so I am pleased it will not be held in town. It had outgrown the site and attracted younger people who caused problems for the local community outside of the event.” He dismissed fears that the Maid-
stone economy would miss out on the £1m spent by festival-goers in the area last year, saying income would be spent in another part of the borough. He said the park could instead host a more family- orientated celebration from the or-
ganisers of The Social. The move follows a successful
winter Social at the Kent County Showground in February, which at- tracted 4,500 people. The summer event will make use
of both the covered and outdoor fa- cilities provided at the showground for the festival on Friday night and Saturday. Organiser Luke Bendall said:
“After three years in Maidstone we did experience problems – not on site, but with the number of people leaving the venue on foot. “The showground’s event man-
agers have been brilliant – the best we have worked with – and the venue will provide a better experi- ence for festival-goers and allow us to limit our environmental and noise impact on the area.”
downsmail.co.uk Charity farce is a high-flyer
BOOKa seat for some top flight entertainment at The Hazlitt Theatre and help raise money for Maidstone’s Macmillan support service. Half the £12 cost of tickets from the production of Boeing Boeing!
by the Willington Players on Thursday, April 14 will go straight to the charity. The farce, set in the 1960s, tells of a bachelor’s high-flying life dat-
ing three air hostesses – all oblivious of each other, at least until Robert, bachelor Bernard’s friend flies in and forgets who’s sched- uled to arrive. The entertainment starts at 7.30pm. For tickets, call Macmillan’s He- lene Poursain on 07764503484 or email
hpoursain@macmillan.org.uk.
School bus service back
NUVenture has stepped in to take over a replacement bus service for students travelling from Marden to school in Maidstone. The company gave up the No 28 service in January, saying it felt “unable to meet passenger expec- tations”. It was claimed problems had been aggravated by road- works and congestion on the route. However, the company is now
back in the driving seat after a string of mechanical problems forced the replacement bus com- pany – 1st Bus Stop, based in Gravesend – to quit, just a month after being appointed by the
county council. The bus company failed to turn
up for grammar school students waiting in Marden on several days, with a Facebook alert system finally implemented to let parents know when their children would not be picked up. In this most recent turn of
events, parentswere told Nu Ven- ture would run the service again until July. However, the Downs Mail has
been told by the county council: “Nu Venture is running the serv- ice as it was in a position to pro- vide it again. This is not a temporary measure.”
For more local news
www.downsmail.co.uk
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