News


Trust to extend Hucking Estate


THE Woodland Trust has thanked local donors for helping the charity to extend Hucking Estate with the purchase of 116 acres of farmland. The conservation group launched


a campaign in February for the £750,000 needed to buy the large plot of land between Maidstone and Sittingbourne to secure its future from development. The trustwas given the option by


the landowner to buy the plot by the end of May, otherwise it would have gone back on the market. The targetwas met, with £100,000


from people in Kent, on top of funds raised from Woodland Trust mem- bers and supporters throughout the UK, aswell as charitable trusts. Site manager Clive Steward said


the trust was incredibly grateful to donors and amazed at the speed with which the money was raised. He said: “Thanks to supporters we’ve reached our £750,000 target to extend Hucking Estate. “A big slice of land coming up for


sale next door to Hucking Estate will almost certainly not happen again.” The trust bought the 573-acre


Hucking Estate, which surrounds the village near Hollingbourne, in 1997. Located in the Kent Downs Area of Natural Beauty, it was then the charity’s largest stretch of wood- land in the country. “Since then, the trust has worked


hard to restore the land, planting 238,000 native trees to buffer and protect the ancient woodland and managing the coppice woodland for the benefit of wildlife.” The estate is now one of the Woodland Trust’s top 10 bluebell woods, providing a habitat for di- verse wildlife species including 10 threatened bird types, 21 types of butterfly and three bat species. The trust, which has 30 other sites


in Kent, says: “In 50 years, Hucking will be a truly resilient landscape against a backdrop of restored chalk grassland.” A summerwalk to explore Huck-


ing Estate will be led by naturalist Heather Lacey on Saturday, July 22, from 11am to 1pm. The walk is free but booking is essential. For details, visit woodlandtrust.org.uk/get-in- volved.


John is triathlon hero


THE fourth Leeds Castle triathlon attracted almost 1,000 competitors. Among them was 80-year-old John Brown (pictured), from Maidstone,


who crossed the finish line as the oldest competitor. John finished the race in 2hrs 25mins – the swim in just over 31


minutes, the bike ride in an hour and 12 minutes and the final leg in 35 minutes. The weekend was divided into three separate races: sprint, standard


and junior aquathlon. The fastest person to cross the finish line in the sprint race was Andrei Belonogoff, who completed the triathlon in just 1 hour 17 minutes and 31 seconds. He was competing against 547 others. The sprint race took place on Saturday and included a 750m open


water swim, 26k road cycle and 5k run across the castle estate. In the afternoon, there was a junior aquathlon for children aged eight to 14, which was won by Liam Budd with a time of 18minutes and 47 seconds. The standard triathlon on the Sunday included an Olympic 1,500m


swim, 40k cycle and a 10k run. The overall winner was Peter Doubleday with a time of 2 hours 15 minutes, 24 seconds.


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