downsmail.co.uk


MPs join guests to mark 20 years of Downs Mail


THE Downs Mail hosted a party to celebrate 20 years of newspaper publishing in Maidstone and Malling with a gathering of friends and distinguished guests. In his address at the Museum of


Kent Life, the newspaper's founder and former editor Dennis Fowle told guests: "I think the most excit- ing memory is the way the people of Maidstone and Malling have taken the Downs Mail to their hearts." His daughter Claire Procter –


now chairman of Mail Publications Ltd – remembered the early days of the business creating "wonderful and unique" newspapers that have gone from strength to strength, with the creation of a fifth edition in the popular Downs Mail series in Novembe 2016. She said: “At a time when other newspapers are struggling to retain their readership, it is wonderful to have a loyal and growing audience that enjoys reading every issue cover to cover. “We are also pleased to have the continued support of our advertis- ers who recognise this and have


backed our newest developments, including our Daily Downs Mail initiative online.” The Downs Mail, which is based


in Bearsted, is now posted through the doors of 85,000 homes across Maidstone and Malling each month, with more signing in to its website and enjoying its quarterly, colour lifestyle magazine, Mid Kent Living.


Maidstonemayor Cllr Derek But-


ler was among those to celebrate the publication’s 20th anniversary, cutting a birthday cake with Den-


From left, Downs Mail chairman Claire Procter, president and founder Dennis Fowle and mayor of Maidstone Cllr Derek Butler cut the Downs Mail birthday cake


nis and Claire before guests en- joyed ferret racing in aid of Heart of Kent Hospice and anowl display laid on by the Kent Owl Academy. Other guests included Maidstone


MPs Helen Grant and Helen Whately, Heart of Kent Hospice chief executive Sarah Pugh, council leader FranWilson, Bearsted parish councillors and Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidates David Naghi and Emily Fermor. Other organisations represented included the YMCA and Black- thorn Trust.


News Control Tower


show now on ANEXHIBITIONof works by artists working in various mediums isnow on show in the Control Tower at Kings Hill. They include atmospheric land-


scapes by critically acclaimed pho- tographer David Anthony Hall whose work has been exhibited at the RoyalAcademy of Art in theUK and internationally at venues from New York to Hong Kong. Visitors will also be able to see ‘Hubcap Creatures’ by Ptolemy El- rington,whoreshapes found and re- cycled materials – such as shopping trolleys, scrap metal and car wheel trims – into life forms. Onshow in the ControlTower is a


giant spidermadefrom bits of petrol strimmers, trains, shopping trolleys and computer monitor arms. Others include figurative oils by prize-winning Alice Trull, oils on handmade linen boards by Nessie Ramm, wood carvings by Nicholas Cheesman and paintings by Debo- rah Petch. The Control Tower exhibition is


open 9am - 5.30pm, Monday to Fri- day until the end of May. Details of each artist together with an example of their work is listed on http://www.kings- hill.com/live/kings-hill-art- exhibitions/current-exhibition.


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