News


downsmail.co.uk Football team looks smart thanks to £1,200 grant


KINGS Hill under-16 footballers can run onto the pitch in a smart new away kit thanks to a grant from Kent County Councillor Matthew Balfour. The team was awarded £1,200


through his member’s grant scheme to buy amore professional kit. Manager MartinWatson said:


“Kings Hill under-16 team members have played together formany years and during this time have built up great friendships and team spirit. “The kit will make them feel proud


to represent their team when they run onto the pitch at away games.” Two 18-year-olds have


volunteered to help the under-16 with football training and the club is supporting them to get their coaching badges.


Riding centre hit by killer virus


A common virus which can be fatal in horses has struck a popular stables in Leybourne. Strangles, which is like human


flu, has run rife through the yard at Leybourne Grange Riding Centre for the Disabled. It has had a devastating impact


on the charity, which says it has lost £1,000 a month since the illness struck two horses in January. Riding instructor Natalie Harper


was this week hopeful of getting the all-clear from vets for the 26 an- imals. She said: “They have been suffer-


ing from a lack of appetite, lethargy and feeling dull. When the stables are opened in the morning and the lively ones are waiting at the back rather than eager to get out for food, then you know they are poorly.


“Strangles can be fatal. It can at-


tack the organs or the brain and cause abscesses. Fortunately, that is rare and hasn’t happened in our


Hospice concert STRAIGHT Eight & Friends have organised a St George’s Day con- cert in support of Aylesford-based Heart of Kent Hospice at Net- tlestead Place . The concert starts at 5pm on Sun-


day, April 23, and includes pieces ranging from John Rutter’s Feel the Spirit and The Son of God Mass by James Whitbourne to traditional St George’s Day anthems such as Land of Hope and Glory and Rule Britannia. Tickets, priced at £15 each, in-


clude entrance to the stunning gar- dens for an hour before the concert, drinks and canapes. All proceeds go to Heart of Kent Hospice. Call the hospice fundrais- ing team on 01622 790195 or book online at www.hokh.org/events.


4 Malling March 2017


Rider James with horse Finn at Leybourne Grange


case, but it is not a nice virus.” According to the website Equine Strangles: “Strangles can be fatal in 1% of cases, when abscesses de-


velop in other body organs which grow and rupture, a form known as ‘bastard strangles’. It also says Strangles is extremely contagious. The symptoms are:  depression;  loss of appetite or difficulty eat- ing;  raised temperature;  cough;  nasal discharge;  swollen glands in the throat re- gion;  rupture of glands with abscess material/pus. Lessons at Leybourne have been suspended while the sick horses were quarantined. Those unaf- fected or recovered have been back at work in the fields. People – both able-bodied and disabled – travel from Maidstone, Tonbridge and Malling and the Medway Towns for lessons and


Natalie estimates the cost of can- celled lessons and vet fees is £17,000. She said: “We have been lucky.


Some of the horses have been very poorly, but most have shown minor symptoms but have needed to be quarantined. “If we get the all-clear this week,


they can start to be worked and strengthened to be able to give les- sons again in a few more weeks. They can’t start giving lessons straight away. “Riders have been very patient


andwe are grateful for that, butwe hope to be back on our feet and running at 100% by Easter.” It is the 25th anniversary of the centre, in Birling Road, which started in 1992. Donations can be made at Ley- bourne Grange’s fundraising page at uk.virginmoneygiving.com.


Warmemorial pictureswanted


THE history of West Malling's war memorial is being re- searched by the Rev David Green, prior to a possible her- itage listing and commemoration of its unveiling in 1921. The memorial was funded by public subscription and cost £525. The cross of Scottish gran- ite may have originally been much taller at about 4.3m high. The architect was W K McDer- mott, and J Davisonwas the con- struction firm. An article in The South Eastern Gazette of the day said: “In sim- plicity and beauty of its design, as well as dignity and impres-


siveness, the Mmemorial will be surpassed by few in Kent, if not in the country.” The parish magazine recorded


in the following month of July 1921 the statement of receipts and expenditure, with the final sum as £525 0s 7d – all raised by the people ofWest Malling. In today’s money, that would


be more than £21,000. If any resident has information


or photographs of the construc- tion or unveiling of the memo- rial, they are asked to contact the parish clerk, ClaireChristmas, on 01732 870872 or at clerk@west- mallingpc.org.


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