Town Talk


Local news for Snodland and Halling Soccer star entertains guests


THE “Romford Pele” himself, former England and Arsenal footballer Ray Parlour, was the main guest at Snodland Town Football Club's Sportsman's Evening at the community centre. The evening began with a heads and tails quiz about Ray before a hi-


larious set from comedianWillie Thompson. There was a break for a hot supper, followed by a raffle. Club chairman Mel Rayfield said: “Ray regaled us with stories from


Ray Parlour (centre) with sponsors Adam Idle, of G I Landscapes, and Peter Misy of Peter David Associates


his time as an Arsenal and England player.Hewas an excellent speaker and kept the whole hall enthralled and amused with tales about Martin Keown, ArseneWenger, Kevin Keegan andmany others.” It was the third consecutive year the club has held a sportsman's evening at the community centre. Previous speakers were Paul Mer- son and "Razor" Ruddock.


Ticket office re-opens at refurbished station


Celebrating


golden years TOM Coles was helping run a Sal- vation Army youth club in Strood when in walked Avrel Annett – and they have just celebrated 50 years of married life with their golden wed- ding. Avrel was born in Snodland and


Tom is from Norfolk. The couple married at the Congregational Church in the High Street and have lived in Snodland all their married life. Tom worked at Reeds Paper Mill,


Aylesford. He played bowls for Cob- down Bowls Club for 30 years, be- fore changing to Townsend Hook Bowls Club, Snodland. Avrel worked at Snodland Post Of-


fice and Rectory Close, Snodland. She has been active in the Salvation Army and used to run the over 60s club until it closed down. She is a member of the WI and a trustee of the almshouses and used to make the teas at Cobdown. Both are members of Snodland


Town Active Retirement Association (STARA). Tom and Avrel have two children, Nicola, a teacher, and Sharon, a martial arts trainer. They have four grandchildren: Robert, Amy, Ellen and Louisa. All the family went to Bridgewood Manor Hotel, Walder- slade for a surprise party. Avrel says a highlight of her life


was meeting Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2005. She was invited by then MP, Jonathan Shaw, in appre- ciation of her work in the community. "Whatever your political inclina-


tion, it is an honour to be invited to meet the Prime Minister," she said at the time. As a result of Avrel's recognition,


Town Talk appealed for readers to nominate local Good Samaritans and they were awarded a Certificate of Merit by Snodland Chamber of Commerce.


RESIDENTS of Snodland were overjoyed at the re-opening of the town's railway station, which has been refurbished at a cost of £1.1m. The ticket office at the 150-year-


old station has been closed since 1986 and, together with the car park, needed a great deal of work to be carried out. The high speed service to and from St Pancras in the mornings and early evenings started in January 2015. Chatham & Aylesford MP Tracey Crouch was joined by David Statham, managing director of Southeastern, to perform the opening ceremony. He said: “We are over the moon


to be re-opening the station ticket office and upgrading the station building at Snodland. Since the in- troduction of high speed services, the number of passengers using Snodland station has grown sig- nificantly, and we want to give those passengers who use the station a better experience.” The work was jointly funded by


the Department for Transport with £600,000 from its National Station Improvement


Programme, £485,000 from Kent County Coun-


Snodland’s refurbished railway station and right, David Statham of Southeastern and MP Tracey Crouch


cil and £32,000 from the Railway Heritage Trust. Tracey Crouch said: “It's fantas-


tic to see that after years of being closed the station ticket office is now in use again for passengers. This is much needed as housing developments in the area are completed, seeing more and more people use the station. “This is a welcome investment


to the town of Snodland and I'm very humbled to be asked to offi- cially open the station building.”


A new ticket vending machine


has been installed and there is better access for motor vehicles, buses, cyclists and pedestrians. The car park has 44 spaces, up from seven, and there is a new CCTV system and security light- ing.


Cheque towards replacement hall


THE Rev Hugh Broadbent, Rector of Snodland, is pictured receiving a cheque for £2,537.11 from rep- resentatives of Snodland Town Active Retirement Association. From left, they are: Sheila Last, Bridget Cork, John Filmer, Alan Champion and Joan Holdstock. The money has been raised to-


wards the replacement of the Vic- toria Room, the hall at Christ Church, Malling Road, which is coming to the end of its useful life. Thanking the club for its gen- erosity, he explained the hall was used by many clubs and associa-


tions in the town but as so much of it needed replacing, it had been decided that rather than


keep carrying out repairs to the building a new one would be built. The hall was built in 1897.


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