News


downsmail.co.uk Repair work starts on church


URGENT repair work has started onAll Saints’Church, Snodland whichwas closed before Christ- mas as the architectwas unable to give a written assurance that itwas safe to use. The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF)


has given a grant of £226,000 and more than £35,000 has been raised locally towards the cost of the first phase which is about £300,000. A summer garden party for the Friends of All Saintswas held at the Rectory, St Katherine's Lane, and the Rector of Snodland, the Rev Hugh Broadbent, gave the friends an update. He said the work would take at


least four months, but it was diffi- cult to be precise especially at such an early stage, as unexpected prob- lems or issues do sometimes arise with old buildings like All Saints. He continued: "We are enor- mously appreciative of the generous donations received from other grant-making bodies and from indi- viduals, families, clubs and organi- sations within Snodland and further


Rotary names


new president ROSEMARY Casswell (pictured) has taken over as the president of Malling Rotary, which she joined three years ago. Thirty Rotarians and guests wel- comed her at a celebration meal, when she was handed the badge of of- fice by her predecessor Felix Collins. He was pre- sented with a gift of fine


wines as thanks for his year in of- fice, during which money was raised from events such as West Malling Christmas Lights, East Malling Picnic in the Park and a Neil Diamond tribute night. As a result, the club donated


more than £8,600 to charities in- cluding Slideaway, PolioPlus, sal- vation Army, Spadework and Kent search and Rescue. Rosemary said: “Malling Rotari-


ans are an amazing bunch of peo- ple who work hard to raise money for charities at home and abroad, whilst managing to have a lot of fun at the same time.” She hopes to focus on children’s


welfare charities such as Slideaway and Dandelion Time as well as the Royal Agricultural Benevolent In- stitution (RABI), which supports farmers suffering hardship. Malling Rotary meets for a meal


at Spadework in Offham three times a month on a Tuesday.


8 Malling July 2017


around £500,000. The work has been split in two phases, the first being the urgent work and the sec- ond the less urgent. He added that all HLF projects


afield. There were people who thought that finding this match- funding would be 'mission impossi- ble', but thanks to people like you, we have done it and work is now


going ahead." MrBroadbent asked the friends to


keep giving their support as the re- pair work required to put the build- ing back on an even keel would cost


had two main parts. The firstwas to repair or restore the building and then an activity plan to enhance the use of the building by the wider community. Volunteer Welcomers are re- quired, there will be three circular walks incorporating the church in conjunction with the KentWildlife Trust, there will be a primary school education programme entitled the 'Journey of Life' and there will be concerts, talks and small art exhibi- tions. "To do thiswe would be delighted


to hear from musicians, speakers or local artistswhomight be interested in contributing in anyway."


School fair boosts learning


SNODLAND CE Primary School summer fair was a “huge success”, raising more than £2,200 for school funds to help buy a new mobile classroom. Headteacher Holley Hunt said


the school was overwhelmed by the number of families who attended, and the beautiful weather certainly helped to raise so much money. She said: "Our new Learning


Retreat will be a classroom used to support social and emotional group work, one-to-one speech and language sessions and other interventions that we run in school to support our children.”


Designer Lewis siing prey


A WEST Malling student has tri- umphed at New Designers, a na- tional exhibition which celebrates emerging talent, where he won the John Lewis Award for Design and Innovation. Lewis Calderwood (pictured),


who is on the BA (Hons) design products course at Ravensbourne, a specialist design and digital media college in London, created a modular sofa system called Morf. The product uses a household


vacuum cleaner to compress the sofa to make it smaller in size for easy moving and storage. Lewis was inspired by design for small space living and wanted to create furniture which was ideal for peo-


ple who moved house regularly. The judges’ citation said itwas “a


highly credible response to ‘gener- ation rent’ and nomadic living. Thoughtful, useful and excellently resolved.’” Lewis receives £1,000 towards fu-


ture projects and a chance to go into the John Lewis studios to ob- serve their design processes. He said: “I’m delighted to have


won. I’d like to carry this project on and develop the technical aspects so it would have a feasible chance of releasing to market.” Lewis also recently designed an


air freshener that blends in with its environment for which he won an award.


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